While its bless'd beams a sun-like heat supply, 8. "Yet on they press, by reckless vengeance led, And range, unconscious, through the ocean's bed; With withering splendor blasted all their might, And brake their chariot-wheels, and marred3 their coursers' flight. 'Fly, Misraim, fly!' The ravenous floods they see, And, fiercer than the floods, the DEITY. 'Fly, Misraim, fly!' From Edom's coral strand 1 PRIS -TINE, early; original. HEBER. 13 BEE'TLING, overhanging; jutting over. 2 CHA'-Os, that confusion in which matter is 4 supposed to have existed before it was reduced to order by the creating power of 5 God. LESSON IV. ISRAEL UNDER THE JUDGES. 1. DURING forty years after the passage of the Red Sea the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness. Then they crossed the river Jordan, and in seven years, under the leadership of Joshua, completed the conquest of the greater part of the land of Canaan. 2. From the time of the death of Joshua to the election of Saul as king, the Israelites were ruled by judges; but often during this period they relapsed1 into idolatry, for which they were punished by being delivered into the hands of the surrounding nations. But from time to time the Lord raised up good and valiant men--Othniel, and Ehud, and Barak, and the prophet Gibeon, and Jephthah-who successively delivered them from the power of their enemies. 3. The history of Jephthah derives much interest from a sad event which changed into mourning the public rejoicings for a great victory which he had gained over the enemies of his people. Before engaging in battle he made a vow to the Lord, and said, "If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into my hands, then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering." He was triumphant; but on his return to his home at Mizpeh, who should come forth to meet him but his only child-his daughter! This sorrowful event has been well described in the following language: 4. 5. JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER. "The mighty Jephthah led his warriors on Were for the hero's scorn. His step was firm, His crest was Judah's kingliest'; and the look Might quell the lion. "A moment more', And he had reach'd his home'; when lo! there sprang Of light, to meet him. Oh! how beautiful'!- 6. 7. "She knew that he was stricken, then'; and rush'd Again into his arms'; and, with a flood Of tears she could not stay', she sobb'd a prayer Shot o'er her countenance; and then the soul Of Jephthah's daughter waken'd'; and she stood "The sun had well-nigh set. The fire was on the altar; and the priest Of the high God was there. A pallid man Was stretching out his trembling hands to heaven, And she was dead-but not by violence."-N. P. WILLIS. 5 8. Although the Bible tells us that Jephthah did with his daughter "according to his vow which he had vowed," yet some commentators, making the closing paragraph of his vow read, " or I will offer it up for a burnt-offering," suppose that he did not slay his daughter, but dedicated her to the Lord, and set her apart for the service of the tabernacle. The poet has made the supposition that before the appointed time of sacrifice she died, "but not by violence." 1 RE-LAPS'ED, fell back. 2 SHEK'-EL, here used for weight. 3 TAS-SEL, cluster of the tassel-like leaves of some species of pine. 14 WROTH (rawth), very angry. 5 COM'-MENT-A-TORS, those who write comments or explanations. LESSON V. RUTH AND NAOMI. 1. Ir was during a severe famine, while the Judges ruled Israel, that Elimelech, of the tribe of Judah, with his wife Naomi and his two sons, removed into the land of Moab, where the young men married. Death soon deprived Naomi of her husband and her sons: she then resolved to return to her native country, and her daughters-in-law generously offered to accompany her. 2. On representing the difficulties they would have to encounter, one of them was disheartened, and turned back; but the other, named Ruth, persevered. And Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." 3. When Naomi saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left speaking to her. So Naomi returned, taking her daughter-in-law with her; and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley-harvest. The story of Ruth pleading with Naomi has been very beautifully told in the following lines: 4. "Entreat me not to leave thee, but convert me to the truth;' 5. "Still spake Naomi, 'Turn again-thy home is not with me; 6. "And now the mother's love burst forth, and rose in accents wild; 8. On their arrival in Canaan Naomi found herself forgotten by her kinsfolk, and was obliged to depend for support on the labor of her affectionate daughter-in-law. While Ruth was gleaning in the lands of a wealthy man of that country, named Boaz, her beauty and modesty arrested his attention; |