After the conquest of the fertile territories over which Sihon and Og had reigned, some of the Israelitic tribes began to think that they could do no better than settle there; particularly as they were in the possession of

of which was given to the great body of the men fit for war who had remained at home, subject to a deduction of one-fiftieth part for the Levites; the other half belonged to the smaller body who had been actually engaged, subject only to the deduction of a five-hundredth part for the priests. It seems that, in order to render the division more equal, the flocks, cattle, and captives, were all publicly sold, and the money which they produced was divided into these portions.

It also appears, from tho example offered on this occasion, that when the army returned home, and before it was disbanded, the officers took an account of the men under their charge, and reported to the chief magistrate the number missing.-Kitto's Palestine, vol. i. chap. 6.

As the relations of the Hebrews with some of the neighboring nations were much affected by the transactions above alluded to, the following statement on this subject may tend to render subsequent circumstances more intelligible. A curious test of the degree of relative estimation in which the several nations were held, is afforded by the number of generations which were required to elapse before the descendants of persons belonging to these nations, who had joined themselves to the Israelites, could be regarded as Hebrews, and admitted to the full civil and religious privileges which belonged to that character.

The language of the law with respect to the Egyptians, is kinder than might be expected. It seems to have been considered that the sacred obligations of the original and long-continued hospitality and kindness of the Egyptians, had not been cancelled by the subsequent conduct of their kings. Further reason may be found in the fact, that as the Egyptians and the Hebrews had, to some extent, intermarried, (Lev. xxiv. 10) and as the "mixed multitude" that were amalgated with the Hebrews, consisted probably in great part of Egyptians, there existed much relationship between the Hebrews and the people of Egypt. The law in respect to the Egyptians, therefore was, "Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a sojourner in his land. The children that are begotten of them may, in the third generation, enter into the congregation of Jehovah."-Deut. xxiii. 7, 8. This put the Egyptians on a level with the most favored nation; for there was no other, save the Edomites, equally privileged.

The latter are indeed mentioned together with the Egyptians, and in precisely the same terms. A disposition was manifested to regard the tribes allied to the Hebrews with as much distinguishing friendship as consisted with the preclusion of social intercourse. The descendants neither of Lot nor Esau were to be molested: and as to the Edomites, their forbearance, and even kindness, while the Hebrews marched along their eastern border, seems to have been regarded as a sufficient atonement for their refusal to the Hebrew host to pass through the mountains occupied by them. Hence, war against, them was forbidden, and they might be admitted, in the third generation, to the congregation of Jehovah. But this implied a corresponding peaceableness on their part, and this condition they appear to have observed till the time of David; when the ambitious plans of this king awakened hostile sentiments in that people towards the Hebrews, and led to war. From the cruel treatment to which they then were subjected, there grew up a hatred against the Jews, which they never failed to manifest when occasion offered.

Although the Moabites and Ammonites did not go to open war against the Hebrews, their deep-laid plots for their ruin, which had been attended with such disastrous consequences, were remembered against them, and determined their position among the nations. They were never to be admitted into the congregation of Jehovah: and although the Hebrews were not commanded to war with them, and perhaps the original prohibition was considered in force, they were ordered to take no interest in promoting the future prosperity of the descendants of Lot. However, as we know, the latter took the first opportunity of com

numerous flocks and herds, which would find plenty of pasture on the luxuriant meadows of Bashan and the verdant hills of Gilead. Among these tribes where those of Reuben and Gad, who, therefore, applied to Moses, desiring to have this region assigned to them for their inheritance; in consideration of which they were willing to relinquish all claim to a possession in Canaan. Moses at first hesitated, but when he understood that they were quite willing that all the men but such as might be necessary to be left for the protection of their families and property, should pass over Jordan with the other tribes, to assist them in their wars, he approved of their proposal and agreed to their request. But as this territory seemed disproportionately large for these two tribes only, he included half the tribe of Manasseh in the grant. The Reubenites got the southern part, which the Amorites had taken from Moab, and re-established Heshbon.* The tribe of Gad received the central part, which the Amorites had formerly conquered from the Ammonites, including more than half of Gilead; and the half-tribe of Manasseb received the most northern portion, comprehending the rest of Gilead with the terriroties of Og, king of Bashan, of which the chief towns were Ashtaroth and Adree.†

The time was now at hand when the Hebrews were to attempt the conquest of Canaan. But he, who under the guidance of an almighty Fovidence had planned this great enterprise, was not permitted to be

mencing hostilities themselves against the Israelites, and sometimes distressed them greatly, until, in the end, they were completely subdued by David.

No particular law was given, as far as we know, concerning the Midianites. The tribes which allied themselves with the Moabites against Israel were, as we have seen, destroyed or dispersed. But against the nation at large there was no decree of hereditary enmity; and those tribes which did not participate in the plot against the Hebrews, seem to have been included among the nations with whom political alliances might be formed. But in later times they acted in so hostile a manner, that no permanent peace could be preserved with them.-Judg. vi.-viii.

The Amalekites were, for the reasons already shown, put under a ban of utter extermination, to be executed as soon as the Israelites might find it in their power. The manner in which this was executed I have already related in the history of this people. This was the only nation, not settled in Canaan, against which this doom was pronounced; but all the tribes of Canaan were subjected to it. We see, hence, that Moses judiciously forebore to stir up more enemies than what was necessary for the accomplishment of the great object in view.

*The site of this ancient capital of the Amorites is supposed still to be recognizable under the same name, about eight miles to the east of Jebel Attarous, or Mount Nebo. Here are ruins of a considerable town, covering the sides of an insulated hill; but scarcely a single edifice remains entire. The view from the summit of the hill is very extensive, embracing the ruins of a vast number of towns, standing at short distances from one another, and the names of some which the Hebrew writings assign to places in this quarter.

This site is supposed to be found in the land of Bashan, at the distance of about twentyfive miles from the southern end of the lake of Genesareth-Ed-Draa, the present pronunciation, is quite identical with the name it anciently bore. This is a deserted place, seated in a deep valley.

hold its final accomplishment. The closing scene of the life of Moses, as represented in the poetical narrative of the Pentateuch, was worthy of the great lawgiver.

After a new census had been taken of the people, the result of which showed that there had been an insignificant decrease of the whole population, since their number was first taken after the departure from Egypt, Moses caused the assembly of all Israel to be summoned to receive his final instructions. Though they, as well as the song in the same book, generally attributed to Moses, are in all probability the production of later writers, there can be little doubt, I think, that these writings are an embodiment of the substance of the exhortations which Moses, at the approach of his death, addressed to the Hebrews. Anxious to bind the people still more strongly to the institutions which he had founded, and before every thing, to hold them faithful to the worship of Jehovah, it was very natural that he should cause all of them, even the women and children, again to take a solemn oath of obedience, and that not only for themselves, but for their posterity also.

After having commissioned the heroic Joshua to lead the Hebrews to the conquest of Canaan, and committed the law to the Levites to be deposited in the sanctuary within the ark of the covenant, and thus closed his mission on earth, the venerable lawgiver ascended to the top of the Mount Abarim, or Nebo, from whence his sight was greeted with an expansive and sublime view of the rich pastures that decked the hills of Gilead, of the flowering meadows interwoven by the silvery waters that lay beneath his feet, of trees embowered in living groves, and the whole skirted afar by the towering mountains of the country of the Jebusites. While gazing on these beautiful scenes, we are told that Moses fell in the sleep of death.

Though the mysterious veil that has so long surrounded the life of this eminent man is now partly riven asunder, and though the originality of many of his institutions can no longer be maintained, still his glory shines undiminished; and were it not for a few spots which no sincere man can deny, and which it will be my duty, in the course of this work, to make still more visible, his character would appear almost blameless. Still we should fondly cherish his memory; because through him it pleased God to purify eternal truths from the dross of Egyptian superstition, and to

* This decrease amounted to one thousand eight hundred and twenty persons. This song is in some parts very sublime, but to rank it among the master-pieces of oratory and poetry, as some blind admirers have done, is an evident exaggeration of its merits as a mere literary production. In regard to the sentiments it contains, it is indeed not in all respects what a Christian would expect, and represents the Supreme Being rather as a warlike God than a Benign Father of the human race, as He is pictured by Christ. + Deut. xxix.

teach a religion susceptible of the most sublime and most noble ideas of the Deity. True, we cannot attribute to Moses the conception of all the truths which the Hebrew religion, in its farther development, embodied, but to him belongs the imperishable glory of having sown the seed which brought forth the golden harvest. Thus his works attest his divine mission. Though not blind to his frailties, and to the culpable means he often employed, yet when considering the circumstances in which he was placed, and the incorrect notions of right and wrong that at his time prevailed, we cannot withhold our reverence from this great man, into whose hands was committed the accomplishment of so signal a part in the plan which Providence is executing for the advancement and happiness of mankind.

LETTER VII.

THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN BY THE ISRAELITES.

PROVIDENCE is never in want of an instrument. Everything in the government of the world attests the harmony that exists in the designs of Infinite Wisdom. The lawgiver who from the most discordant elements had organized a nation, and raised an admirable social structure capable of braving, for many centuries, internal dissensions and external hostilities, had breathed his last on the mountain-top that opened a view to the reward promised to those who had sworn obedience to his laws. But this reward was to be acquired by deeds which required unimpaired bodily strength, together with courage and consummate skill in military affairs. Therefore to Joshua, the experienced warrior, was committed the charge of leading the Hebrew host.

There have been raised the questions: what right had the Hebrews to invade Canaan with the intention of taking possession, and appropriating it to their own use?—what right had they to declare a war of extermination against the inhabitants of Canaan, who had never given them any cause of offence? Michaelis, and after him Jahn, has given an answer to the first question, which has gained much approbation. This answer alleges, "that the Canaanites had appropriated to their own use the pasture grounds occupied by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and expelled from their possessions those Hebrews who had occasionally visited Palestine, during their residence in Egypt;" and that consequently the Israelites now, sword in hand, claimed the lands, wells and cisterns, of which the Canaanites had taken possession. But even admitting that the Israelites consid

ered themselves to have such a claim, it extended but to a small portion of the country, and could constitute no good foundation for their claim to the whole of Canaan. Still it cannot fairly be denied that there appears to be reason to infer, that not only a claim to the whole country was supposed really to exist, but also an ancient vital injury, which, according to the then prevailing notions, called for vengeance. These intricate considerations, however, are too much involved in darkness to allow us to entertain the hope that they will ever be unravelled. But were not the conjecture too hazardous, I should be inclined to say, that the former inroads of Canaanitish tribes into Egypt, and temporary conquest of a part of that country, may perhaps at last have brought destruction home to themselves. Though the justification of the conquest of Canaan and the war of extirpation waged by the Israelites against its inhabitants, is undoubtedly to be found in the ulterior plans of Providence; still the Israelites, under that plea, cannot be excused for having undertaken the conquest, and still less for the inhumanity of which they made themselves guilty in its accomplishment. The excuse, if there be any, is solely to be founded upon the barbarous customs and imperfect notions of right and wrong which prevailed in those times. The attempts made to screen the bloody deeds committed by the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan, under the pretence that they were perpetrated according to the immediate direction of the Deity, are, to use no stronger term, at least, very inconsiderate; because these sanguinary acts were evidently violations of the law of God; and as his perfection does not admit of any commands involving a contradiction of his own unalterable law, these acts cannot have been ordered by him. Neither do I admit that the Hebrew writings warrant attempts to charge on the Deity what evidently originated in man, because such views are built solely upon wrong interpretations, which first the Jews and then the Christians have given to expressions that are but corresponding with the form of government under which the Hebrew people then lived.*

The Hebrews remained on the plains of Moab during the thirty days allotted to the solemn mourning of their departed lawgiver. When this tribute had been duly paid to the memory of Moses, whose burial-place was kept a secret, but whose name was to be inscribed with imperishable letters upon the pages of history, the Hebrews prepared themselves, agreeably to the command of Joshua, to accomplish the great plan of the illustrious dead.

Joshua despatched spies to obtain information of the strength of Jericho, then a very powerful city on the other side of the Jordan, near the place

* It should be observed that the Jewish authorities allege that the alternatives of submission, flight, or battle, were offered by Joshua to the Canaanites. But whether the alternative of flight was offered to them or not, it was obviously in their own power; and we know that many did not lose this opportunity of saving their lives.