and we ourselves feel their loss very deeply; but most likely these children would suffer much less pain if put to death by the sword, than they would if languishing on a sick bed for several days or weeks, or even months: and we must always remember that life is a gift from God, and not our own property; and that he who gives it can take it away when he pleases, without being justly considered harsh and tyrannical.

D. You did not tell me how the tribe of Judah, and then the family, and lastly Achan himself, was chosen.

F. It may have been by lot; or, most probably, the whole congregation was made to pass before the high priest who would wear the Urim and Thummim, which was some accompaniment of the breast-plate worn by the high priest, and was used as a means of consulting with the Almighty. We do not know the exact manner of this use; but perhaps some peculiar appearance was visible on the breastplate when the particular tribe, or family, or individual was passing before it.

CHAPTER IX.

THE HISTORY OF THE JUDGES.

THIS history extends over a period of four hun. dred years, namely, from the death of Joshua to the time of Samuel, who was the last extraordinary judge, and who transmitted the power to Saul, the first king.

These judges did not follow each other in unbroken succession, as ordinary kings do, where one immediately takes the place of another at his death; but they were raised up by God at irregular intervals, for certain specific purposes. These were generally to rescue the Israelites from the oppression of some neighbouring nations under which they had fallen. They were several times permitted to fall into this state of bondage, as a punishment for their many apostasies from God and his sole worship.

And the miserable state of confusion in which they were living is painfully described in these words: "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." And this condition of theirs would prove to the Israelites (if any proof could at all be needful to those who had seen so much of God's dealings with them), that their desertion of his law was really a turning their backs upon everything that could make them happy, even in this life.

I will mention to you the most conspicuous judges, and the work which they were specially raised up to perform. Those, of whose history most is told us, were Deborah, Gideon, Samson, and Jephthah.

Deborah was a woman who made use of Barak as her coadjutor or helper; but he was not possessed of equal courage with herself, and refused to enter upon a warlike expedition, unless she shared in the work. In her time the nation had fallen under the dominion of Jabin, King of Canaan, who had a formidable general named Sisera; and his power is forcibly described when it is said, "He had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he

mightily oppressed the children of Israel." The dreadful state of misery and insecurity in which the people were placed, is very strikingly portrayed in the fifth chapter of the Book of Judges, which gives the triumphant song of Deborah and Barak after Sisera's defeat and death. It is there said, "The highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through by-ways. The inhabitants of the villages ceased in Israel, until that I, Deborah, arosethat I arose, a mother in Israel."

But when God had determined to deliver his people, Deborah encouraged Barak, saying, "Up, for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand; is not the Lord gone out before thee?" And the defeat of Sisera was so complete that it is said he had not a man left. And as he himself fled from the battle, and took refuge in the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, who was then at peace with Israel, he was killed by her, while asleep through intense fatigue. For she drove a nail of the tent through his temples; and when Barak pursued him, he found his enemy dead, as Deborah had prophesied in these words, "For the Lord shall sell Sisera

into the hands of a woman. The issue of this struggle was that the land had rest forty years.

After that, there was a cessation from the appointment of extraordinary judges, till the appointment of Gideon, otherwise called Jerubbaal. The people from whom he was to deliver the Israelites, were the Midianites; and God gave most striking proofs of having chosen Gideon by his miraculous interposition. Gideon first had an interview with an angel, who showed that he was a real, and not an imaginary being, by touching with his staff some cakes which he had bade Gideon make; and they were consumed by a fire which the angel caused to come out of the rock. In addition to this, Gideon's call to take upon himself the task of rescuing the people was made manifest by the two wonders which God expressly sent as signs, in answer to his request. On one night a fleece of wool was exposed in the open air; and while all the rest of the ground was dry, the fleece was so wet with dew that a bowl of water was wrung from it. On the following night the fleece was perfectly dry, while the ground all around was wet.

When he was prepared to undertake the