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? 25. And the Bene 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 Bene Dan went their way and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned, and went back unto his house. 27. 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. 28. And they built a city, aud dwelt therein. 29. 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. 30. And the Bene Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan Ben Gershon Ben Manasseh, he and his sons were priests of the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. 31. And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of god was in Shiloh. From Joshua. The story of this Danite migration is introduced into Joshua before its time. Joshua xix. 47. The coast of the Bene Dan went out too little for them; therefore the Bene Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father. Josephus (Ant. V. iii. 1) says in effect that the Canaanites prepared their chariots and gathered their soldiery together, their cities also combined together, and drew over to them Askelon and Ekron, which were within the tribe of Judah, and many more of those that lay in the plain. They forced the Danites to fly into the mountainous country, and left them not the least portion of the plain country to set their foot on. Since then these Danites were not able to fight them, and had not land enough to sustain them, they sent five of their men into the midland country to see for a land, to which they might remove their habitation. So these men went so far as mount Libanus, and the fountains of the lesser Jordan, at the great plain of Sidon, a day's journey from the city, and when they had taken a view of the land and found it to be good and exceeding fruitful, they acquainted their tribe with it; whereupon they made an expedition with the army, and built there the city Dan, of the same name with the son of Jacob, and of the same name with their own tribe. THE STORY OF THE LEVITE'S CONCUBINE THE MASSACRE OF BENJAMIN AND JABESH-AND THE RAPE OF THE MAIDENS OF SHILOH.-The collector of Judges could not find any chronological place for this tale, and put it at the end of his collection. His only indications of date are "when there was no king in Israel" that the congregation was gathered from "Dan to Beersheba," "at Mizpeh." Josephus places it (Ant. V. ii. 8) soon after the conquest of Judah in southern Palestine. But, if historical, the war against Bethlehem could not have occurred until after the migration of Dan, and until after the animosities between the Cis and Trans-Jordanic districts, which lasted throughout the time of Jephthah, had been allayed. It was probably founded on a legend of a ferocious internecine The numbers of the combatants and the slain are enormously exaggerated. war. If Benjamin was an important tribe in the time of Samuel, its extermination could not have been so nearly complete; and, consistently with the account of Jabesh-gilead in the time of Saul, that city could not have been reduced to so utter a state of desolation, as described in this tale. With great allowance for exaggerations, it gives a graphic description of the condition, sentiments, habits and manners of the Israelites at this indefinite early time, which must be fixed between that of Jephthah and Saul. It exhibits a disgusting state of immorality, and a horrible picture of revenge. The summons by the mangled limbs of the murdered concubine is the least offensive feature; that was to tell the terrible tale, with the same impressive rapidity, as the missive limbs of Saul's oxen, or the fiery cross. But superstition and savagery are exhibited in their most atrocious forms, in the massacre of almost all the warriors, and of all the unoffending women and children of the refractory clan ; then the massacre of almost all the inhabitants of Jabesh, one of their principal cities, to supply the deficiency of wives, for the remnant of Benjamites, which their previous barbarity had made -and then as a further device for evading a horrible vow-the ravishment, under the authority of the pious elders, of the daughters of their own sacred Shiloh while dancing under the safeguard of their sanctuary. The rape of the Sabines, compared with that of the daughters of Shiloh, was a gallant exploit. This story and those of Barak and Gideon, and of the gathering under Saul for the relief of the same Jabesh, before he was generally accepted as king, indicate that occasional extensive confederacies of Israelites or Palestinians had begun, before they had any recognized head. Such confederations prepared the way for the establishment of the kingdom. But this was the only gathering of all Israel, until the time of Saul. In it first appear Judah and all Gilead, except Jabesh, in confederation with the northern clans, and the gathering seems to have taken place at Mizpeh, the sanctuary of the eastern clans. The Story.-Judges xix. i. And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain levite, sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah. 2. And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Beth-lehem-judah, and was there four whole months. And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. And his father-in-law, the damsel's father, retained him: and he abode with him three days: so they did eat and drink, and lodged there. 5. And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he rose up to depart: and the damsel's father said unto his son-in-law, Comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way. And they sat down and did eat and drink, both of them together: for the damsel's father had said unto the man, Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thine heart be merry. And when the man rose up to depart, his father-in-law urged him: therefore he lodged there again. And he arose early in the morning of the fifth day to depart; and the damsel's father said, Comfort thine heart, I pray thee. And they tarried until afternoon, and they did eat both of them. 9. And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said unto him, Behold, the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry, and to-morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home. But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him. And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in, into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside into the city of a stranger, that is not of the Bene Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah. And he said unto his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah. : 14. And they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin. And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging. And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites. And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city. 17 And the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence camest thou? And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehem-judah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I: and I went to Beth-lehem-judah, but I am now going to the house of Adoni; and there is no man that receiveth me to house. Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man, which is with thy servants: there is no want of anything. And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me, only lodge not in the street. So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses; and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink. 22. Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you; do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. Behold, here is my daughter, a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you; but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning and when the day began to spring, they let her go. 26. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house, where her lord was, till it was light. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine, was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. : STORY OF THE GATHERING OF ISRAEL, AND MASSACRE OF BENJAMIN.-Judges xix. 29. And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel. And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done, nor seen from the day that the Bene Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds. Judges xx. 1. Then all the Bene Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto Adoni in Mizpeh. And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of god, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. (Now the Bene Yamin heard that the Bene Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the Bene Israel, Tell us how was this wickedness? And the levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah which belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all |