people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like to them. And Balac said to Balaam: What is that thou doest? I sent for thee to curse my enemies: and thou contrariwise blesseth them. He answered him: Can I speak any thing else but what the Lord commandeth? Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence.

Still wavering between his knowledge of the true God and his desire to please Balac, Balaam agreed to this vain proposal. A second sacrifice upon seven altars was offered up, and again he spoke under the inspiration of the Almighty. Stand, O Balac, he said, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor: God is not as a man, that He should lie, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed. Hath He said then, and will He not do? hath He spoken, and will He not fulfil? I was brought to bless; the blessing I am not able to hinder. There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there an image-god to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him; and the sound of the victory of the king in him. God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros. There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor divination in Israel. In their times it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God hath wrought. Behold, the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion it shall not lie down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

Again Balac led him to another spot, hoping that there at length he would curse the dreaded Israelites. But seeing that it was in vain to expect that the Eternal God would change to please a sinful man, he now gave himself up at once to the inspiration which was sent him, and prophesied of the prosperity of the people of Israel, and of the Saviour who should be born from among them. And Balac's anger was kindled against him, and they parted with one another upon the spot.

Yet Balaam could not even now withstand the temptation of Balac's promised gifts. With the true spirit of the devil, he taught the Moabitish monarch how to bring destruction upon the Israelites, by ensnaring them into sin and idolatry, that so God might withdraw His protection, and Himself become their destroyer. By his advice, Moabitish women were sent into the camp of the people, and by their allurements they led them astray in great multitudes, and brought down the heavy wrath of God upon their heads. Those who were faithful to God were sent to smite the sinners, and they slew of them four and twenty thousand. Those that remained were led by Moses against the Moabites, whom they defeated, and slew with terrible slaughter, burning their towns and villages, and seizing their cattle and all their property.

CHAP. XIV. The Death of Moses.

THE time was now at hand for the entrance into the promised land. Forty years had nearly expired since the Israelites came forth from Egypt; and of those men who crossed the Red Sea scarcely any remained alive. Their children and their grandchildren were about to take possession of Chanaan in their place. Moses, therefore, prepared for the conquest of the idolatrous Chanaanites, by repeating to the people the various commandments of the law, and solemnly bade them hold fast to their obedience, promising them every possible blessing as a reward for their faithfulness. He also reckoned up the whole numbers of the Israelites, according to their twelve tribes, and made arrangements for the parcelling out the country they were about to conquer among them. The twelve sons of Jacob were Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Juda, Dan, Nephtali, Gad, Aser, Issachar, Zabulon, Joseph, and Benjamin; but the Levites being set apart for sacred offices, the tribe of Joseph was divided into two parts, the descendants of Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasse, and the country allotted accordingly. To the Levites were assigned forty

eight cities, with their suburbs, in various parts of the whole country, and a tenth part, or tithe, of the possessions of the people were to be devoted to their support.

Josue, the son of Nun, one of the two spies who had alone trusted in the Divine promise of protection, was appointed to take the place of Moses, as commander of the Israelites; and Moses himself, now 120 years old, but still vigorous, and with body and mind alike unimpaired by age, went up, by God's command, to a high mountain, from which he could see the promised land spread out before him. From Mount Nebo he looked towards Chanaan, and beheld the fertile plains beyond the river Jordan, which his people were about to conquer and dwell in. And there he died, alone, in the presence of God and His holy angels; and the Almighty buried him in the mountains, and the place of his sepulchre was never known to the children of Israel. learn, however, from one of the books of the New Testament, that the body was sought by the devil, probably for the purpose of being set up as an idol to be worshipped by the Israelites, and that his guilty plans were defeated by the archangel Michael.

We

BOOK III.

THE CONQUEST OF CHANAAN, AND THE JUDGES.

CHAP. I. The Passage of the Jordan, and the taking of Jericho. FOR thirty days the Israelites mourned for Moses, and then made ready for the conquest of the idolatrous nations, whose country God had given into their hands. It is likely that, among all the various nations of the time throughout the world, none were more guilty in the sight of God than these Chanaanites, and that in commanding the Israelites to take possession of their territory, God at the same time executed vengeance on them for their sins, while He fulfilled His promise to Abraham, that this very country, in which he had dwelt as a childless stranger, should be possessed by his posterity.

The town of Jericho, now separated from the Israelites by the river Jordan, was to be the first point attacked; and Josue sent forward two men to go secretly into the place, and bring back a report of what they found. These men were entertained in Jericho by a woman named Rahab; but tidings reached the ears of the king of the place that they were spies from the Israelites, and he sent to bid Rahab give them up. She, however, touched by the reports she had heard of the wonders God had wrought for His people, and believing in His name, hid the men among a quantity of flax on the roof of her house, and dismissed the king's messengers with an excuse. As soon as they were gone, she went to the two spies, and offered to let them safely down by a rope from the window of her house, outside the town; for her house was close upon the walls, and they would thus escape without passing through the

gates. Before they went, they gave her a pledge that she and all her household should be spared when the place was taken by the conquering Israelites, if she would hang a scarlet cord out of the window, that her house might be known. They then descended by the cord, and fled away in safety.

On their reaching the camp, Josue made ready immediately for an advance upon Jericho, the hand of God pointing the way by a new miracle. The whole multitude were formed into procession, led by the ark of the covenant borne on high by the priests, at a distance of more than half a mile in advance of the main body of the people. And they marched straight upon the banks of Jordan; and the moment the feet of the priests touched the stream, the tide of waters stopped, so that on one side was raised a mighty mountain of waves, as they flowed down and were held back by the hand of God, while on the other the bed of the river became dry, by the waters flowing on to the sea; and all the people passed through on dry ground. And they took twelve stones from the bed of the river, and set them up as a monument of what God had that day done for them. The manna also now ceased to appear, and the people were supported by the natural food of the country they had come into.

Then, by the Divine directions, Josue gave instructions for the attack upon Jericho. He called the priests, and said to them: Take the ark of the covenant: and let seven other priests take the seven trumpets of the jubilee, and march before the ark of the Lord. And he said to the people: Go, and compass the city, armed, marching before the ark of the Lord. And when Josue had ended his words, and the seven priests blew the seven trumpets before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and all the armed men went before, the rest of the common people followed the ark, and the sound of the trumpets was heard on all sides. But Josue had commanded the people, saying: You shall not shout, nor shall your voice be heard, nor any word go out of your mouth; until the day come wherein I shall say to