his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every day's work required. (39) And Zadok the priest, and his brethren before the tabernacle of Adoni in the high place that was at Gibeon. And again (1 Chron. xxi. 28) “At that time when David saw that Adoni had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. For the tabernacle of Adoni, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to enquire of god; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of Adoni."

2 Sam. xxiv. 25, says: "And David built there (the threshingfloor of Araunah) an altar unto Adoni, and offered burnt offerings. and peace offerings," but it says not a word about the tabernacle at Gibeon, or any tabernacle which Moses had made; or of Zadok's office before the tabernacle at Gibeon. So, again, according to 1 Kings iii. 4: "The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place; a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar."

This certainly militates against the story in Joshua about the Gibeonites being reduced to drawers of water and hewers of wood; but there is not a word about the gorgeous tabernacle being there.

The chronicler, however, improves this story, as he had improved that of Araunah's threshingfloor, by an addition of his own. 2 Chron. i. 3: Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon: for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of god, which Moses the servant of Adoni had made in the wilderness. But the ark of god had David brought up from Kirjath-jearim to the place which David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. Moreover the brazen altar, that Bezaleel Ben Uri Ben Hur had made, he put before the tabernacle of Adoni: and Solomon and the congregation sought unto it. And Solomon went up thither to the brazen altar before Adoni, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it.

The tabernacle, house, or temple at Shiloh had perished, or was either not removable or not worth being removed; the tent erected by David is not described as exhibiting any magnificence, and it vanished when Solomon's temple was finished. And nothing more is heard of the tabernacle of Gibeon or of the inestimable treasures it contained.

According to the chronicler, there must have been two sanctuaries of Adoni, in direct contravention of pentateuchal law.

The only rational conclusion to be formed is that the sumptuous tabernacle ascribed to Moses was a fiction, introduced into a later edition of the pentateuch than that which existed when the first edition of Joshua was composed, although earlier editions may have spoken of some tent or tabernacle for the ark.

It is not improbable that the numbers mentioned in the pentateuch underwent similar improvements.

STORY OF THE THE WAR AGAINST AI.-The plain of Jericho was insufficient or not calculated for the permanent pasture of all the sheep and goats of such a horde. It was necessary to acquire the valley leading up to Ai and Bethel, and the hill country through which it ran.

A small force was at first deemed sufficient for the expedition; but it encountered a terrible defeat, a loss of about 36 men"wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and Joshua rent his clothes."

The real numbers of these invaders may be better estimated from the consternation occasioned by such a trifling loss, than from any other figures which the story supplies.

Legend.-Joshua vii. 2. And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people labour thither; for they are but few.

4. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men ; and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote them about thirty-six men; for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down.

5. Wherefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water. And Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of Adoni until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.

Appendix. Thus much was probably derived from a legend, but the Novelist supplements the disastrous tale with a conversation between Joshua and Adoni. Thus:

Joshua vii. 7. And Joshua said, Alas, O Adoni god, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into

the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to god we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Adoni, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth; and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?

10. And Adoni said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the Bene Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.

13. Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow for thus saith Adoni god of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel; thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes; and it shall be that the tribe which Adoni taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which Adoni shall take shall come by households; and the household which Adoni shall take shall come man by man.

15. And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all he hath; because he hath transgressed the covenant of Adoni, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.

16. So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: and he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites, man by man; and Zabdi was taken. And he brought his household man by man; and Achan Ben Carmi Ben Zabdi Ben Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19. And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to Adoni god of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.

20. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against Adoni god of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I

coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

22. So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent and the silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the Bene Israel, and laid them out before Adoni.

24. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan Ben Zerah, and the silver and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.

25. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? Adoni shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So Adoni turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called the valley of Achor unto this day.

Joshua viii. 1. And Adoni said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into thy hand the melech of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land; and thou shalt do to Ai and her melech as thou didst unto Jericho and her melech: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey for yourselves; lay ye an ambush for the city behind it.

Observations. This is not the picture which would have been exhibited by the legend of a pastoral horde. Had it attributed its defeat to necromancy, witchcraft, or theft, it would, very probably, have adopted some such ordeal. One, so like it, commonly is practised by conjurors, to detect the purloiners of linen and silver spoons. But a legendist was not equal to such a discussion between his hero and a god.

Here Adoni appears, complaining; as in Samuel and Kings he again and again appears, complaining of having been robbed in the present instance, of a Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver, and 50 shekels weight of gold,-in Samuel of his share of the fat.

The conversation is simply ludicrous; but it assumes a very serious form. (Joshua vii. 1.) "The Bene Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing; for Achan Ben Carmi Ben Zabdi Ben Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing; and the anger of Adoni was against the Bene Israel."

And this is the fashion in which the merciful Adoni "the Lord"

as he is called in the English Bible, assuages his anger. The Bene Israel, who knew nothing about their comrade's having secreted his plunder, are ignominiously defeated-36 men innocent of the concealment are slain, and not only Achan, the concealer, but his innocent sons, his innocent daughters, his innocent oxen, his innocent asses, his innocent sheep, and even his tent, which could not have been wilfully guilty, are burned with fire, after they had been stoned with stones.

The Babylonian garment, the 200 shekels of silver, the wedge of gold, are brought into the treasury, the fierce anger of Adoni is appeased, and a terrible lesson is taught of implicit submission to the priest.

In this account Joshua is represented as holding direct communication with Adoni: no mention has yet been made of ephod, Urim and Thummim, or high priest.

THE CAPTURE OF AI.-This has the appearance of having been fabricated out of two legends. According to one of them, Joshua sent 30,000 men in the evening to form an ambuscade between Bethel and Ai (Joshua viii. 3-8).

According to the other, he numbered the people in the morning and marched upon Ai, and (ver. 12) he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in the ambush between Bethel and Ai (Joshua viii. 9-13).

This story betrays the extravagance of the writer in point of numbers, and exhibits the absurdity of an ambuscade of 30,000 or even of 5,000 men.

According to verses 17, 25, and 26, there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel that went not out after Israel, and the slaughtered, including all the inhabitants of Ai "both of men and women," amounted to 12,000. The extravagance of this number is shown by vii. 3-"let two or three thousand go up to smite Ai; for they are but few," and viii. 14 indicates that when the melech of Ai saw the host of Joshua in the valley, it was apparently so small as to induce the expectation of an easy victory, and the whole army of Joshua was so manageable as to obey, for flight, for assault on the city and for rallying against the assailants, the directions of the spear which Joshua stretched out, until all the inhabitants of Ai were utterly destroyed.

But assuming the number of 12,000, and that Bethel was equally populous and sent all its warriors to the aid of Ai (say 2,000), the inhabitants of Ai would be about 10,000, and the mighty men about