of any image, and her ears to the repeated injunction against dedicating any place except the one centre of worship at Shiloh, and, in preparation for her self-chosen scheme of religion, hoarded up eleven hundred shekels' weight of silver.

When she found that this treasure had been stolen, she broke out into such curses on the unknown thief, that her son Micah, who had really taken the sum, was terrified, and confessed to her. She at once took back the curse and turned it into a blessing, and then she told him what her intention had been in laying by the silver. Micah at once came into the project, and used the silver to make a "molten image” (probably a calf, as it is the same word as is used for the calf at Horeb), a graven image, and teraphim, or little amulets like those that Jacob had taken away from his household; likewise an ephod, rich with precious stones, gold, and embroidery, such as that on which the High Priest wore his breastplate. They do not seem to have meant to set up absolute rival gods, but just to mix up together the favourite fashions of Israel, Canaan, Egypt, and Syria, and to profess to serve the Lord—just what Joshua had declared to be impossible. At first Micah made one of his own sons a priest, though he was of the tribe of Ephraim; but there was no one to hinder him, since there was no king, no central government, and every one thought for himself.

Soon it happened that a young Levite came in Micah's way, wandering about in search of a home where he might be maintained, and he accepted Micah's offer of food, clothing, lodgings, and payment of ten shekels a month for conducting this most disobedient and unholy worship. And it appears from the next chapter that this apostate Levite was Jonathan, the son of Gershom, and the grandson of Moses himself! What a fall! The Jewish scribes were so ashamed that they tried changing the letters and making the name Manasseh, but the oldest and best manuscripts witnessed to this most shameful degradation.

About this time the tribe of Dan, whose borders on the sea-coast were very narrow, needed more space; so they sent five men to look for a place beyond the bounds of all the other tribes, where they might form a settlement. These men came on their way to Mount Ephraim; they knew the voice of Jonathan the Levite,

and turning in to claim Micah's hospitality, they desired that Jonathan should consult the Ephod on their behalf, in imitation of the real High Priest; and this, either in profaneness or superstition, he did, and promised them a favourable journey. They went on far to the north, beyond Galilee, almost to the sources of the Jordan, and there fixed their eyes on the city of Laish, in the midst of a rich, well-watered country at the foot of the AntiLibanus mountains. It was settled by a colony of the Zidonians, the great merchant city on the sea-coast, and was full of quiet, prosperous, unsuspicious inhabitants, too far off to be succoured from their mother city, and therefore likely to be an easy conquest. With these tidings the five spies returned.

LESSON XXIII.

THE FOUNDATION OF DAN.*

B.C. 1406.-JUDGES xviii. 11-31.

And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed+ with weapons of war.

And they went up, and pitched in Kirjath-jearim,‡ in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan § unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim.

And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.

Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.

And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate.

And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.

*Not for the younger ones.

+ Provided.

The City of the Wood.

The Camp of Dan

And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?

And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest : is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?

And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage* before them.

And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.

And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?

And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?

And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household.

And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.

And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city

with fire.

And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.

And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.

And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh,

COMMENT. On the report of the spies, six hundred men with their families and cattle set forth from the cities belonging to the tribe of Dan, and passed through the territory of Judah, after which they climbed up Mount Ephraim. The five spies told them of the idolatrous shrine in the house of Micah, and these lawless and violent men decided on carrying off these objects of worship to

* Waggons.

set up in their own colony. So, while the band of armed men held the Levite in conversation at the gate, the five spies crept in and stole the images and the ephod; and when the Levite perceived what they were doing, they persuaded him to go with them, since he would be a greater man as priest to a whole city and settlement than to only one household.

Then they hastened on, putting the women, children, cattle, and goods in front, and the armed men keeping in the rear, prepared for resistance. Soon Micah and the men of the village around followed them; but they were too strong for him, and advised him in a half mocking, half friendly manner, not to complain too loudly, "lest angry fellows run on thee, and thou lose thy life;" so Micah was robbed as he himself had robbed his mother. It was a blessed loss to both if it sent them back to the sole acceptable worship of the Invisible God, without visible tokens, at Shiloh.

Meantime the Danite invaders proceeded, fell suddenly upon Laish, where the people, after the Zidonian custom, lived quiet and at ease in the midst of beautiful well-watered gardens, in a park-like country. They took the place by surprise, nor was there any possibility of a rescue from Zidon; they slew all the inhabitants, and built up a new city, to which they gave the name of Dan, after the father of their tribe. It was always the northern point of the land of Israel, as Beersheba was the southern, and "from Dan even to Beersheba" was always the expression for the whole length of the country.

It was beautifully placed on a hill, close to the delicious pool of clear water that forms one source of the Jordan, and whence could be seen the cool sheet of water forming Lake Merom, with Mount Hermon resting behind—a delicious home, where “Dan might judge his people."

But here it was that the idols of Micah were set up by the fallen and ambitious Levite. Here the grandson of Moses (for so all critics believe "Manasseh" should be read) conducted a self-willed mockery of devotion, in opposition to that carried on by the seed of Aaron; and this false consecration rendered Dan ever after a place of unholy idolatry, tainting the whole of the northern tribes; and Dan, the first of the tribes to set up a regular system of idolatry, the one tribe that is not named when St. John saw the sealing

of the chosen who should be gathered into the kingdom of heaven.

INTER-CHAPTER. THE WOLF-TRIBE OF BENJAMIN.
(Not for the Younger Ones.)

A sad and wild history, given likewise in the end of the Book of Judges, must not quite be passed over, because it greatly affected the fate of one of the tribes. In Gibeah, a town belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, the wicked and inhospitable inhabitants caused the death of a poor woman who had sojourned a night in the place. All the Israelites were indignant, and demanded that the wicked city should be destroyed, and the cruel men thereof put to death; but the rest of Benjamin, instead of thinking about right and justice, chose to stand by their own tribe, the Wolf of Benjamin, and would not give the guilty up for punishment, but rather fight against the whole of the other tribes, trusting to their craggy hills and likewise to their skill in arms. They had among them 700 men who could use the sling-a strip of leather for casting stones as well with the left hand as with the right-and thus could strike the enemy where he did not expect it, and the whole number of fighting men was 26,000. With these they chose to defend the bad cause of Gibeah. Their obstinacy so enraged the rest of the Israelites, that they swore an oath to punish them, root and branch, and that no man of another tribe should give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite. Their anger was just, but their wrath was cruel, and their oath presumptuous; it was taken without repairing to Shiloh, that Phinehas, the high priest, might ask God's will. However, they did ask of the Lord who should first attack Benjamin, and Judah was named. But Judah met no success; the fierce Benjamites sallied out of Gibeah and killed great numbers of them. They deserved chastising for their presumption, and this was given through the Benjamites; but they had to go on and keep their oath, though on the second day they were again defeated. On the third day's battle, by a stratagem like that at Ai, the Benjamites were drawn away from Gibeah, surrounded, and cut off; and then ensued a most horrible vengeance. The Wolf-tribe was treated like the Canaanites, and ravaged throughout-man, woman, child, and