Settlement of the Tribes.

Jordan. John, how many divisions of countries are painted upon the east side of Jordan?

John. Three green, and yellow, and blue.

Teacher. Can you tell, by looking upon the map, what tribes were settled upon this side?

John. The green spot is marked Reuben: does that mean that the tribe of Reuben lived in that country?

Teacher. Yes the whole map is divided into portions, according as the country was divided among the tribes, and the name of the tribe is marked upon each.

John. The others upon the East side are Gad and Manasseh.

Roger. Half of Manasseh, it says.

Teacher. Yes only half of Manasseh was assigned to this side of Jordan. Can any of you find the other half? Samuel. Here it is, (pointing to the blue spot on the West side of Jordan.)

Teacher. Yes. Now these two tribes and a half had their inheritance upon the East side of Jordan, and the other tribes passed over the river, and established the camp at Gilgal.

John. Where is Gilgal?

Teacher. (Pointing to the map.) Here it is, just across the Jordan, not far from where they passed over. From Gilgal, the army of the Israelites went to attack the cities of Canaan. By God's assistance, they were successful in their enterprizes, and they took a great many towns, and conquered a great many tribes.

Roger. What right had they to take away the land and the towns from the people who lived there? Teacher. They would have had no not expressly required them to do so.

right, if God had

The country was

God's, and the Canaanites who dwelt in it were creatures of his power; and of course he had a right to do what he

The Canaanites.

Judah and Benjamin.

chose with them, or to direct any others to do what he wished. Now this was the land which he had designed for the country of his people, the descendants of Abraham; and now that they were ready to enter it, he had a perfect right to remove all who were there.

Samuel. Did the children of Israel destroy all the Canaanites ?

Teacher. No. Some they made slaves, and others God did not permit them to conquer. These remained in various parts of the country, and afterwards caused the Israelites some trouble by making war upon them. You will find, by looking into the first chapter of Judges, who these Canaanites were that were left, and what part of the land they inhabited.

The land, however, was generally conquered, and then divided among the tribes; so that there were nine tribes and a half upon the West side of the river, and two tribes and a half upon the East side. I shall not stop to have you learn where all the tribes were settled, but only ask you to notice two, Judah and Benjamin. You see this large green spot, West of the Dead Sea. This was given to Judah, and Benjamin had a small territory here, just North of it.

Samuel. Why must we notice these particularly?

Teacher. Because Judah was the tribe from which Christ was to be born, and Benjamin and Judah remained together for a long time, as we shall see presently.

After the Israelites were well established in the land, Joshua, their leader, who succeeded Moses, died and left them without any general head. They were, however, quietly settled in their various districts, and were gov erned by magistrates scattered over the country. But they soon forgot Jehovah, and began to worship idols, and other gods. In consequence, they were a great many

Judges.

Samuel.

Saul.

times delivered into the hands of their enemies, who made war upon and conquered them. When they repented, and forsook their sins, God raised up some champion to deliver them. This was the case a great many times, and the stories of these deliverances are all very interesting. You remember the account of Samson, the strong man; he was one of these champions. These stories are found in the book of the Judges.

Samuel. Why is it called the book of Judges?

Teacher. Because these champions were called Judges, and this book gives an account of the Israelites, while they were under the government of the Judges.

Roger. How long was this?

Teacher. This state of things continued until the people desired a king, and they made known their request to God, by means of Samuel, a very distinguished prophet, who was living among them at that time. God was displeased with their request, but he granted it, and gave them a king.

Roger. I should have thought that if he was displeased, he would have punished them by refusing to grant their request.

Teacher. No to refuse to give them a king, would have been no punishment. When men have vain and ambitious desires, the worst punishment, which can be inflicted, is to gratify them. The Israelites found this to

be the case.

Saul was the first king. But I cannot stop to go over all his history. You must read it carefully in the Bible. I can only say he commenced by pretending to obey God, but he really aimed at nothing but his own interest and power. He soon began to disobey God, in what he considered little sins: his transgressions became soon more open and more aggravated: he soon suffered the

Why Christ's coming was delayed.

bitter consequences of disobeying his Creator; but his difficulties and troubles did not lead him to repent, and to ask God's forgiveness; and at last he lost every thing for which he had been striving, and died a miserable death. John. How did he die?

Samuel. Was he not killed in battle?

Teacher. I believe we must not stop now to speak of the particular manner of his death; for you can read this and all the other particulars of his history in the Bible. Our object now is, you know, only to run over rapidly the train of Scripture events, so as to give you a connected view of the whole.

Samuel. I should like to ask one question before you go on. I think you mentioned that the reason why God chose Abraham and his descendants, to keep them a separate nation under his care, was, that he designed to bring the Saviour into the world among them. Why did not Christ come now, as soon as they were well settled in their country?

Teacher. The reasons are not given, I believe, in the Bible, though there were undoubtedly good reasons; as the time when Christ was born, is often alluded to as a time set or appointed long beforehand. There are, however, some reasons which I have thought of. One is, that the coming of a great Saviour was foretold early to the Jewish nation; and by waiting some time, until this prophecy should become thoroughly made known to this and to other nations,-until they should have waited a long time in expectation of its fulfilment, the appearance of the Saviour at last would excite more general attention, and produce greater impression. The other reason was, that the world was probably in a much better state for receiving the Christian religion afterwards, than it was

then.

David's life and actions.

Solomon's Temple.

But we must go on. God chose David to be the next king after Saul. You all remember something about him. He was at first a shepherd's boy; and the story of the manner in which he rose from his father's cottage to the throne is very interesting. He made Jerusalem his residence. Here you see the city, on the borders between Judah and Benjamin. This afterwards became a great city.

Roger. Did David build it first?

Teacher. No. A city was begun there before the Israelites came to Canaan. They did not get possession of the whole of it, however. There were some Jebusites in it, who went into a strong part of it, perhaps a part surrounded by a wall, and the Israelites could not drive them out. David, however, attacked and conquered them, and took the whole city into his power.

Not long after this, David thought of building a great temple for the worship of God. He collected a great many things necessary for building it; but God said to him that he should prefer to have Solomon, his son, build it. David reigned a great many years very prosperously, and saw the kingdom advancing in wealth, and power, and happiness.

John. Was he a good man?

Teacher. Yes: he was a very pious man, and loved and served God. He was, however, guilty of several great sins; but he sincerely repented of them, and God forgave him. At last he died, and his son Solomon reigned after him.

The reign of Solomon is remarkable for an important event-the building of the temple of God, at Jerusalem. This building was large and splendid, and is very often spoken of in the Bible. Solomon made great efforts to bring together large quantities of cedar-wood and stone, also gold and silver and brass and iron. He sent into all