And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the Ark of the LORD: and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon of Ashdod unto this day."

In addition to this humiliating destruction of their supposed god, the inhabitants of Ashdod were visited by a pestilence which attacked great numbers; so that they sent to the lords of the Philistines to desire that the Ark might be removed, "for the hand of the God of Israel is sore upon us and upon our god." Their demand was complied with, and the Ark was carried to Gath: but thither pestilence and death followed it; and the people rose, and sent the Ark away to Ekron. But terror preceded it here also ; and the inhabitants of Ekron cried out, that they had brought the Ark of the God of Israel to slay them and their children. In this manner the Ark was sent from city to city, during seven months; pestilence and death every where followed it, until the Philistines, reminding each other of the judgments which had fallen upon the Egyptians for detaining the chosen people of God, resolved not to harden their hearts, as Pharaoh and his people had done, but to send back the Ark with honor, accompanied with presents and offerings, to appease the anger they

had incurred. To place beyond all doubt the real cause of the evils which had befallen them, the priests and diviners who were consulted, desired the people to place the Ark upon a new cart, and to take two milch kine upon which there had come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them:" then, if the kine, contrary to their natural instinct, left their calves, and proceeded with the Ark without guidance along the coast to the nearest city of the Israelites, the people would be convinced that they had been smitten by the hand of God; but, if not, they might suppose the pestilence had been accidental: "a chance that happened to them." This was accordingly done: the kine were fastened to the cart, and instantly took the straight way to Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left: and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.

"And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat-harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the Ark, and rejoiced to see it. And the cart came into the field of Joshua a Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt-offering unto the LORD. And the Levites took down the Ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold

320 THE ARK REMOVED FROM BETH-SHEMESH.

were, and put them on the great stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed sacrifices, the same day, unto the LORD. And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day."

Whilst the Ark remained at Beth-shemesh, the people, contaminated by the practice of idolatry, to which they had addicted themselves, would have lost their reverence for this sacred symbol of their Creator's presence, but for a memorable and awful example: disregarding the law which forbad all but the Levites to approach the Ark of the Covenant, the people crowded round, and examined it with profane and irreverent curiosity; a pestilence immediately followed, and warned them that their God was not like an impotent idol of wood and stone, but an unseen Spirit of infinite knowledge and power, whose commands could not be disobeyed without suffering, and whose favour must be gained by a reverential obedience to his will. Terrified at the awful punishment they had incurred, the people of Beth-shemesh sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, praying them to fetch away the Ark, which they accordingly did, and conveyed it to the house of Abinadab, a priest, whose son Eleazer, was sanctified, in order to take charge of it: here it remained during twenty years, until removed to Jerusalem by David.

Eli, the High-priest, being dead, Samuel, whose prophetic mission had for many years been fully known and acknowledged, became the Judge of the Israelitish nation; and all the people looked up to him for guidance. He solemnly exhorted them to put away the strange gods of the nations round, and return with their whole hearts to Jehovah, as the sure and only means of obtaining His mercy and protection. The people, humbled and penitent, obeyed; "they did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only." Having given this proof of their sincerity and repentance, Samuel once more commanded them to assemble at Mizpeh; and there offering sacrifices, and humble petitions for forgiveness, he prayed God to favor once more his people, and deliver them from their oppressors. His prayer was answered: the Philistines hearing of the Israelites being collected together at Mizpeh, attacked them, but were themselves defeated with great slaughter. The victory was decisive: the Philistines were driven back into their remote fastnesses; the cities they had taken from the Israelites were restored, and the land enjoyed again the blessings of peace.

"Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house; and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the LORD."

DURING the administration of Samuel, the people of Israel enjoyed the blessings of a just and well-ordered government: they were prosperous at home, and were preserved from the power of their foreign enemies by the protection of the Supreme being, to whose pure worship they had returned. By the annual progress which he made through the country, Samuel watched over the interests of all classes of the people; and so impartially did he execute his high office of Judge, that when afterwards he resigned his charge to the king whom the nation demanded, he was enabled to challenge any individual to prove against him a single instance of corruption. Amongst the regulations which he introduced for the improvement and instruction of the people, was one entitled "the schools of the prophets;" which seem to have been established in the cities of the Levites for the purpose of instructing them in the laws, and the religious duties of their office, and in psalmody; here were educated the future priests, lawyers, and instructors of the nation; and from these seminaries David afterwards selected his various courses of Levites