their enemies. Such was Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, who judged Israel after Ehud. And when the Israelites had fallen into the hands of Jabin, king of one of the Canaanite cities, she was commissioned to call on Barak, the son of Abinoam, of the tribe of Napthali, to raise an army and deliver his nation. He refused to go unless she went with him. Deborah consented, but she warned him that the journey would not tend to his honour, for that in consequence of his faintheartedness, the Lord would deliver up Sisera, the enemy's general, into the hands of a woman, not of herself, but the wife of Heber the Kenite. Accordingly, though the Canaanites were defeated, Sisera was slain by the hand of a woman.

The song of Deborah on this occasion ends thus:

"So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord,
But let them that love Him be as the sun
When he goeth forth in his might."

Again, some of these deliverers were simply men of great valour, unusual strength, and skill in war, which qualities were of course increased by the elevating thought that they were called by God to deliver their nation. Such was Ehud, who delivered the children of Israel out of the hands of the Moabites, and who lived before Deborah's time. Such was Gideon, whom God commanded first to destroy the altar of Baal in his native city, and then to deliver his people out of the hands of the Midianites, whose idolatries they had followed. His commission was confirmed to him by a miracle. Jephtha the Gileadite, who saved Israel from the Ammonites, was another of these warlike deliverers. And Samson, the son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, was another also to whom God gave vast strength, but who per

formed no great act of deliverance, because his own obedience was very imperfect. He was permitted to show forth the divine power, indeed, against the Philistines, when he pulled down the pillars of their idol hall, but he involved himself in their destruction, after having judged Israel in an irregular manner for twenty years. After the death of Samson, we hear of no judge or deliverer in Israel for many years. The people occasionally inquired of the Lord, through the high priest. But they sunk into a lawless state, and “ every man did what was right in his own

eyes."

The state of things was not much better while Eli the high priest judged Israel for forty years. He was not himself wicked, but he knew that his sons disobeyed God's laws, and "he restrained them not. Therefore was the Lord displeased against Eli and his sons, for they caused Israel to sin. And the people went out against the Philistines, and were smitten by the Philistines; then in their presumption, thinking they should be victorious if the ark of God were among them, the elders of Israel sent to Shiloh, and brought the ark into the camp, and the two sons of Eli came with it. And a great shout of joy was raised in the camp, but vain was the shout and the confidence, ---the ark indeed was there, but the Lord was not present with the ark. And the Philistines came upon them with great slaughter, and carried it off.

Old Eli sat by the road side watching (for he trembled for the ark), when one who had fled from the field of battle arrived and told the dreadful news-"Israel has fled before the Philistines; thy two sons, Hophni and Phineas are slain, and the ark of the Lord is taken." And when mention was made of the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his seat and died.

The ark, indeed, was taken by the idolatrous Philistines, but it proved a terrible evil to them. Wherever they carried it during the seven months it remained with them, there the people were smitten with a sore disease: so they sent it back to Israel with peace-offerings. And it was brought at last to a place called Kirjath-jearim, where it remained twenty years.

But the Lord had not been all this time without a witness; for Samuel the prophet lived, and was a faithful teacher of righteousness, and reprover of sin. He was the son of Elkanah and Hannah, both faithful worshippers of God, and had been granted to their prayers. In pious gratitude they devoted him to the service of the Lord from his childhood, and he was brought up by Eli in the tabernacle. When still very young the Lord made him the bearer of a solemn warning to Eli of the ruin which was coming on his house. This was before the ark was removed from Shiloh. After that event, and the death of Eli, Samuel, who had long been established as a prophet in Israel, judged the people for many years. He endeavoured to reform them, and persuaded them to put away their idols, and turn with sorrow and repentance to the Lord; then they implored him to pray for them. So the Lord was again favourable to them through the prayer of Samuel.

But when Samuel was old, his sons became judges, and they walked not in their father's way: they were unjust, and the people grew tired of their government, and desired a king,-forgetting that the Lord their God was their King, and that their prosperity did not depend on their judges so much as on their own obedience.

Samuel consulted the Lord, and was commanded to make them a king.

LESSON VI.

PART I.—HISTORY OF THE ISRAELITES, FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY TILL THE REVOLT OF THE TEN TRIBES.

AFTER Israel had been under the government of judges such as those spoken of in the last chapter-for more than 400 years, they demanded a king; and though reproved for that low state of feeling which made them dissatisfied with the government which God had appointed for them, they were indulged in their desire. Samuel the prophet was directed to choose Saul, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, a young man of unusual strength and stature, and to anoint him king over Israel. This anointing, or pouring oil on the head, was a solemn rite among the Jews; it marked a man chosen by God, and was used for the high priest as well as for the king. Hence the king was called the Lord's anointed, and Christ was afterwards so called, though he did not use this rite, because his kingdom was not of this world. But God, though he had permitted his people to choose a supreme governor, did not leave them to their Kings; and Saul, though a brave warrior, soon showed how little he was able to set before his people the example of obedience to God, and self-command.

From this time the nation was never left without a prophet or inspired teacher, who should reprove both kings and people when they sinned, and should keep them up to their duty towards their great invisible Ruler. For as the priests confined themselves chiefly to the outward cere

monies of their religion, it was the prophets who kept alive the true spirit and practice of it. So thence a king, high priest, and prophet, were the three most important offices in the Hebrew nation. Samuel then ceased to be a judge, but he continued to exercise the higher office of prophet all his life. And when Saul committed an act of disobedience and falsehood towards God, Samuel was sent to reprove him, and to declare that the kingdom was rent from him, that is, from his family (for Saul reigned nearly forty years). Then the king was very sorry, and endeavoured to detain the prophet by laying hold of the skirt of his robe; but Samuel rent it from him, saying, "The Lord hath rent from thee the kingdom of Israel this day, and given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou." So he departed. Now Samuel was sorry for Saul, and he mourned for him, but he went no more to see him, because his advice and warnings had been in vain.

The person whom Samuel was commissioned to choose as Saul's successor was David, then a very young man, who belonged to the tribe of Judah. He was the youngest son of Jesse, and the great grandson of Boaz and Ruth. Ruth, his great grandmother was a Gentile, a Moabitish woman, who, having married an Israelite, became a worshipper of the one true God. It is important to notice king David's family, because our Lord Jesus Christ was (according to the flesh) descended from him. And we should observe, that Christ, who was to be the Saviour of both Jew and Gentile, was descended from a Jew and a Gentile, from Boaz and Ruth.

The choice of David was a step in the completion of God's promises, and of prophecy. It was promised to Abraham, that "in his seed all the