29.) The Edomites bore their subjection with great impatience; and, at the end of Solomon's reign, Hadad the Edomite, who had been carried into Egypt during his childhood, returned into his own country, where he procured himself to be acknowledged king. (1 Kings xi. 21, 22.) It is probable, however, that he reigned only in the eastern part of Edom; for that part which lay directly to the south of Judæa continued subject to the kings of Judah until the reign of Jehoram, against whom the Edomites rebelled. (2 Chron. xxi. 8-10.) They were also discomfited by Amaziah king of Judah, who slew one thousand men, and cast ten thousand more from a precipice. But their conquests were not permanent. When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, the Edomites joined him, and encouraged him to raze the very foundations of the city (Ezek. xxv. 12-14., xxxv. 3-5.; Obad. 10-16.; Psal. cxxxvi. 7.; Lam. iv. 21.): but their cruelty did not continue long unpunished. Five years after the capture of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar humbled all the states around Judæa, and particularly the territory of the Edomites. During the exile of the Jews the Edomites appear to have pressed forward into the south of Palestine, of which they took possession as far as Hebron; where they were subsequently attacked and subdued by the Maccabees, and were compelled to adopt the laws and customs of the Jews.1

IV. On the conquest of Canaan by the children of Israel, JOSHUA DIVIDED IT INTO TWELVE PARTS, which the twelve tribes drew by lot according to their families: so that in this division every tribe and every family received their lot and share by themselves, distinct from all the other tribes. Thus each tribe remained a distinct province, in which all the freeholders were not only Israelites, but of the same tribe, or descendants from the same patriarch: and the several families were placed together in the same neighbourhood, receiving their inheritance in the same part or subdivision of the tribe. Or, each tribe may be said to live together in one and the same county, and each family in one and the same hundred; so that the inhabitants of every neighbourhood were relations to each other, and of the same families. Nor was it permitted that an estate in one tribe should become the property of any person belonging to another tribe.

In order to preserve as nearly as possible the same balance, not only between the tribes, but between the heads of families and the families of the same tribes, it was further provided that every man's possession should be unalienable.

The wisdom of this constitution had provided for a release of all debts and servitudes every seventh year (Deut. xv. 1, 2. 12.), that the Hebrew nation might not moulder away from so great a number of free subjects, and be lost to the public in the condition of slaves. It was moreover provided, by the law of jubilee, which was every fiftieth

See an interesting and accurately compiled history of the Edomites in the Biblical Repository, vol. iii. pp. 250-266. (Andover, Massachusetts, 1833); in Dr. Robinson's Biblical Researches, vol. ii. pp. 557-568.; and in Dr. Wilson's Lands of the Bible, vol. ii. pp. 723-740.

year, that then all lands should be restored, and the estate of every family, being discharged from all incumbrances, should return to the family again. For this there was an express law. (Lev. xxv. 10.) Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man to his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. It is further enacted, And the land shall not be sold for ever; (or, as in the margin, be quite cut off, or alienated from the family;) for the land is mine, for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

By this agrarian law of the Hebrews, all estates were to be kept in the same families, as well as the same tribes to which they originally belonged at the first division of the land by Joshua; so that how often soever a man's estate had been sold or alienated from one jubilee to another, or through how many hands soever it had passed, yet in fifty years every estate must return to the heirs of the persons who were originally possessed of it.

It was at first an excellent constitution, considering the design of this government, to make so equal a division of the land among the whole Hebrew nation, according to the poll: it made provision for settling and maintaining a numerous and brave militia of six hundred thousand men, which, if their force was rightly directed and used, would be a sufficient defence not only against any attempts of their less powerful neighbours to deprive them of their liberty or religion; but, considering, moreover, the natural security of their country, into which no inroads could be made but through very difficult passes, it was a force sufficient to defend them against the more powerful empires of Egypt, Assyria, or Babylon.

The wisdom of this constitution is yet further observable, as it provided against all ambitious designs of private persons, or persons in authority, against the public liberty; for no person in any of the tribes, or throughout the whole Hebrew nation, had such estates and possessions, or were allowed by the constitution to procure them, that could give any hopes of success in oppressing their brethren and fellow-subjects. They had no riches to bribe indigent persons to assist them; nor could there, at any time, be any considerable number of indigent persons to be corrupted. They could have no power to force their fellow-subjects into a tame submission to any of their ambitious views. The power in the hands of so many freeholders in each tribe was so unspeakably superior to any power in the hands of one or of a few men, that it is impossible to conceive how any such ambitious designs should succeed, if any person should have been found so weak as to attempt them. Besides, this equal and moderate provision for every person wisely cut off the means of luxury, with the temptations to it from example. It almost necessarily induced the whole Hebrew nation to be both industrious and frugal, and yet gave to every one such a property, with such an easy state of liberty, that they had sufficient reason to esteem and value. them, and endeavour to preserve and maintain them.'

Lowman on the Civil Government of the Hebrews, pp. 46-49.

In this division of the land into twelve portions the posterity of Ephraim and Manasseh (the two sons of Joseph) had their portions, as distinct tribes, in consequence of Jacob having adopted them. The northern parts of the country were allotted to the tribes of Asher, Naphtali, Zebulon, and Issachar; the middle parts to that of Ephraim, and one half of the tribe of Manasseh; the southern parts to those of Judah, Benjamin, Dan, and Simeon; and the Country beyond Jordan (which was first conquered by the Israelites, before the subjugation of the whole land of Canaan) was allotted to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the other half tribe of Manasseh. The tribe of Levi, indeed (which formed in effect a thirteenth tribe), possessed no lands. By divine command there were assigned to the Levites, who were appointed to minister in holy things, without any secular incumbrance, the tenths and first-fruits of the estates of their brethren. Forty-eight cities were appropriated to their residence, thence called Levitical cities: these were dispersed among the twelve tribes, and had their respective suburbs, with land surrounding them. Of these cities the Kohathites received twenty-three, the Gershonites thirteen, and the Merarites twelve; and six of them, three on each side of Jordan', were appointed to be CITIES OF REFUGE, whither the inadvertent man-slayer might flee, and find an asylum from his pursuers, and be secured from the effects of private revenge, until cleared by a legal process. (Numb. xxxv. 6-15.; Deut. xix. 4— 10.; Joh. xx. 7, 8.) The way to these cities the Israelites were commanded to make good, so that the man-slayer might flee thither without impediment, and with all imaginable expedition; and, according to the Rabbins, there was an inscription set up at every cross road "Asylum, Asylum." It has been thought that there is an allusion to this practice in Luke iii. 4—6., where John the Baptist is described as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight. He was the Messiah's forerunner, and in that character was to remove the obstacles to men fleeing to him as their asylum, and obtaining the salvation of God.3

It is remarkable that all the sacerdotal cities lay within the southern tribes, eight belonging to Judah and four to Benjamin, and only one to Simeon, which is supposed to have been situated on the frontier of Judah, and to have remained under the control of the latter tribe. This was wisely and providentially designed to guard against the evils of schism between the southern and northern tribes. For by this arrangement all the sacerdotal cities (except one) lay in the faithful tribes of Judah and Benjamin, to maintain the national worship in them, in opposition to the apostasy of the other tribes. Otherwise the

'The cities of refuge on the eastern side of Jordan were Bezer, in the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth Gilead, in that of Gad; and Golan, in the half tribe of Manasseh. Those on the western side of Jordan were Hebron, in the tribe of Judah; Shechem, in that of Ephraim; and Kadish-Naphtali, in that of Naphtali.

Most of the North American nations had similar places of refuge (either a house or a town), which afforded a safe asylum to a man-slayer, who fled to it from the revenger of blood. Adair's History of the American Indians, pp. 158, 159. 416.

Godwin's Moses and Aaron, p. 78. Jennings's Jewish Antiquities, book ii. ch 5. p. 295. Edinb. 1808.

kingdom of Judah might have experienced a scarcity of priests, or have been burdened with the maintenance of those who fled from the kingdom of Israel (2 Chron. xi. 13, 14.), when the base and wicked policy of Jeroboam made priests of the lowest of the people to officiate in their room.

Of the country beyond Jordan, which was given by Moses to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh (Deut. iii. 12-17.; Josh. xii. 1—6., xiii.), the tribe of REUBEN obtained the southern part, which was bounded on the south from Midian by the river Arnon; on the north, by another small river; on the east, by the Ammonites and Moabites; and on the west, by the river Jordan. Its principal cities were Ashdod-Pizgah, Bethabara, Beth-peor, Bezer, Heshbon, Jahaz, Kedemoth, Medeba, Mephaath, and Midian. The territory of the tribe of GAD was bounded by the river Jordan on the west, by the canton of the half tribe of Manasseh on the north, by the Ammonites on the east, and by the tribe of Reuben on the south. Its chief cities were Beth-aram (afterwards called Julias), Debir, Jazer, Mahanaim, Mizpeh, Penuel, Rabbah, or Rabboth (afterwards called Philadelphia), Succoth, and Tishbeh. The region allotted to the HALF TRIBE OF MANASSEH, on the eastern side of the Jordan, was bounded on the south by the territory of the tribe of Gad; by the sea of Cinnereth (afterwards called the lake of Gennesareth and the sea of Galilee), and the course of the river Jordan from its source towards that sea, on the west; by Mount Lebanon, or more properly Mount Hermon, on the north and north-east; and by Mount Gilead on the east. Its principal cities were Ashtaroth-Carnaim, Auran, Beeshterah, Bethsaida, Gadara, Gerasa, Geshur, and Jabesh-Gilead. This tribe was greatly indebted to the bravery of Jair, who took threescore cities, besides several small towns or villages, which he called Havoth-Jair, or the Dwellings of Jair. (1 Chron. ii. 23.; Numb. xxxii. 41.)

The remaining nine tribes and a half were settled on the western side of the Jordan.

The canton of the tribe of JUDAH was bounded on the east by the Dead Sea; on the west, by the tribes of Dan and Simeon, both of which lay between it and the Mediterranean Sea; on the north, by the canton of the tribe of Benjamin; and on the south, by KadeshBarnea, and the Desert of Paran or Zin. Judah was reckoned to be the largest and most populous of all the twelve tribes; and its inhabitants were the most valiant; it was also the chief and royal tribe, from which, in subsequent times, the whole kingdom was denominated. The most remarkable places or cities in this tribe were Adullam, Azekah, Bethlehem, Bethzor, Debir, or Kiriath-sepher, Emmaus, Engedi, Kiriath-arba, or Hebron, Libnah, Makkedah, Maon, Massada, Tekoah, and Ziph.

The inheritance of the tribes of DAN and of SIMEON was within the inheritance of the tribe of Judah, or was taken out of the portion at first allotted to the latter. The boundaries of these two tribes are not precisely ascertained; though they are placed by geographers to the north and south-west of the canton of Judah, and consequently

1

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bordered on the Mediterranean Sea. The principal cities in the tribe of Dan, were Ajalon, Dan or Lesham, Eltekeh, Eshtaol, Gath-rimmon, Gibbethon, Hirshemesh, Joppa, Modin, Timnath, and Zorah. chief cities in the tribe of Simeon were Ain, Beersheba, Hormah, and Ziklag.

The canton allotted to the tribe of BENJAMIN lay between the tribes of Judah and Joseph, contiguous to Samaria on the north, to Judah on the south, and to Dan on the west, which last parted it from the Mediterranean. It did not contain many cities and towns, but this defect was abundantly supplied by its possessing the most considerable, and the metropolis of all, the city of Jerusalem. The other places of note in this tribe were Anathoth, Beth-el, Gibeah, Gibeon, Gilgal, Hai, Mizpeh, Ophrah, and Jericho.

To the north of the canton of Benjamin lay that allotted to the tribe of EPHRAIM, and that of the other HALF tribe of Manasseh. The boundaries of these two districts cannot be ascertained with precision. The chief places in Ephraim were Bethoron the Nether and Upper, Gezer, Lydda, Michmash, Naioth, Samaria, Schechem, Shiloh, and Timnath-Šerah. After the schism of the ten tribes, the seat of the kingdom of Israel being in Ephraim, this tribe is frequently used to signify the whole kingdom. The chief places in the half tribe of Manasseh were Abel-meholath, Bethabara, Bethshan (afterwards called Scythopolis), Bezek, Endor, Enon, Gath-rimmon, Megiddo, Salem, Ophrah, and Tirzah.

To the north, and more particularly to the north-east of the half tribe of Manasseh, lay the canton of ISSACHAR, which was bordered by the celebrated plain of Jezreel, and its northern boundary was Mount Tabor. The chief cities of Issachar were Aphek, Bethshemesh, Dothan, Kishon, Jezreel, Naim or Nain, Ramoth, and Shunem. On the north and west of Issachar resided the tribe of Zebulun. Its chief places were Bethlehem, Cinnereth or Chinnereth, Gathhepher, Jokneam, Remmon-Methoar, and Shimroncheron.

The tribe of ASHER was stationed in the district to the north of the half tribe of Manasseh, and west of Zebulun: consequently it was a maritime country. Hence it was said (Judg. v. 17.) that Asher continued on the sea-shore, and abode in his creeks. Its northern boundary was Mount Libanus or Lebanon; and on the south it was bounded by Mount Carmel, and the canton of Issachar. Its principal cities were Abdon, Achshaph, Helkath, Mishal, and Rehob. This tribe never possessed the whole extent of district assigned to it, which was to reach to Libanus, to Syria, and Phoenicia, and included the celebrated cities of Tyre and Sidon.

Lastly, the tribe of NAPHTALI or Nephtali occupied that district in the northern part of the land of Canaan, which lay between Mount Lebanon to the north, and the sea of Cinnereth (or Gennesareth) to the south, and beween Asher to the west, and the river Jordan to the east. Its chief places were Abel or Abel-Beth-Maachah, Hamoth-dor, Harosheth of the Gentiles, Kedesh, and Kiriathaim.

V. The next remarkable division was made by king SOLOMON, who divided the kingdom, which he had received from his father