The divine design, in thus setting apart one family from the rest of mankind, was to preserve the true religion in the world, the existence of God's design which became endangered by the prevalence of polytheism, herein was to and to prepare the way for the great work of redemption preserve the true by Jesus Christ. God promised to protect, bless, and religion, &c. multiply his posterity in an extraordinary manner, and made the significant and cheering declaration, applicable to the Saviour, who according to the flesh descended in the line of Abraham, that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed.

tribe or nation.

The sons of Isaac are Esau and Jacob.

Abraham having acquired a name by his wealth and piety, and having passed through various scenes of prosperity and trial, died at an advanced Leaves Isaac age, leaving behind him several sons, of whom Isaac only as the child of was the child of promise. Ishmael, by Hagar, the maid promise. of Abraham's wife, became the progenitor of a distinct The Arabs, to this day, claim to be descended from the son of Hagar. Two sons were the progeny of Isaac, viz. Esau and Jacob, the former of whom sold his birth-right to Jacob, who also, by artifice, obtained his father's blessing. Esau was the ancestor of the Edomites or Idumeans. In the line of Jacob, The Israelites whose name was changed to Israel, were the Israelites descended in the descended. His twelve sons gave the names to the twelve line of Jacob. tribes, of which the nation was composed. Jacob closed an eventful life, 1689 years B. c., in making a prophetic declaration of the future state of his descendants, and the period of the coming of the Messiah. He had previously been brought out of Canaan into Egypt, by means of his son Joseph, whom his brethren, through envy and malice, sold into that country.

The different occurrences by which Joseph became minister to the king of Egypt speak the immediate interposition of divine providence, which was preparing for the accomplishment of the promises made to the patriarch Abraham. Of these occurrences, which carry on the history of the Hebrews for a period, the following summary is given.

Joseph, who was much loved by his father, and hated by his brethren, upon a certain occasion which was presented, fell into the power of the Occurrences latter, who sought to slay him. This horrid design, howin the life of ever, being providentially prevented, they availed themJoseph. selves of the opportunity of selling him to a company of Ishmaelite slave-merchants, who carried him into Egypt, where he was bought by Potiphar, an officer of the court. Here, at length, he was wrongfully thrown into prison, by a false accusation of Potiphar's wife; but being proved to be an interpreter of dreams, he was released from his confinement, and introduced to the notice of Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, who, on a certain occasion, wanted his services in this capacity. His success in interpreting the king's dreams, and his subsequent conduct, procured for him the highest distinction; and he became the administrator of the government. During the famine which he had predicted in interpreting those dreams, and which reached the land of Canaan, all his brethren, except Benjamin, came to him to buy corn. Joseph knew them, although they did not know him; and, by an innocent contrivance, having brought them into Egypt the second time with their brother

Benjamin, he declared to them that he was Joseph, whom they had persecuted and sold. Their surprise, mortification, and terror, were at first overwhelming; but their distressing apprehensions were, in duc The family of time, alleviated by his assurances of pardon and kindness; Jacob or Israel and inviting his father and the whole family into Egypt, invited into he allotted them a portion of the territory. Here he proEgypt. tected them; and under his auspices they became flourishing

and happy.

oppressed in

Joseph continued to rule over Egypt after the death of Jacob, who had sojourned in that country seventeen years. His own decease, which occurred 1635 years B. C., left the Israelites without a protector. In less The Israelites than forty years from this event, they found a cruel tyrant and oppressor in another king who knew not Joseph. This Egypt. king, perceiving that the Hebrews had become numerous and mighty, resolved to enfeeble them; and, therefore, condemned them to slavery, and ordered that every new-born son among them should be cast into the river. The object in view was defeated; for the people increased in an unexampled manner.

The history of the Israelites now assumed a very marked character. Oppressed by the Egyptian monarch, they cried unto God for deliverance, and a divine deliverance they experienced. Moses, a Hebrew by birth, whose life was preserved in an extraordinary manner, notwithstanding the edict of the king, was selected as the instrument of saving his countrymen, He was in due time called to his work, and after a series of miracles, Delivered from which he performed by the divine assistance, he led the their bondage in people out from before Pharaoh, into the region bordering that land. on the promised land. The consequence to many of the Egyptians was their destruction; for Pharaoh and his army, pursuing the Israelites through the Red Sea, were overwhelmed with its waters.

verance.

The people were no sooner delivered from the Egyptians, than they murmured against Moses, on account of the want of food; to satisfy them They murmur God sent first a great quantity of quails, and the next after their deli- morning, manna, which fell regularly every day except on Sabbath-days, during the time in which they remained in the wilderness. Again, the people murmured for water, and Moses, by the Lord's command, caused a supply to issue from a rock. At this juncture the Amalekites attacked Israel, and were defeated by Joshua, who afterwards became their leader. The people soon after They receive arrived at Mount Sinai, from which God gave them his law. During, however, the absence of Moses in the mount, they were guilty of an act of idolatry, in consequence of which three thousand of them were put to death.

the law at Sinai.

In the course of the second year after the retreat from Egypt, Moses numbered the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upwards, and

The people

numbered the 2nd year after their retreat.

there were found six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men, able to go to war, besides the Levites. About this time, twelve men were sent to spy the land of Canaan, who, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, reported unfavourably; a circumstance which caused the people to murmur. Upon this offence, God condemned all those who were twenty years and

wilderness.

upwards when they came out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness, except Joshua and Caleb. As a punishment for their murmurs, the Israelites They wander began to travel in the wilderness, 1489 years B. C. At this 40 years in the juncture, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, revolting against Moses, were swallowed by the earth with two hundred and fifty of their associates. After wandering in the wilderness forty years, and frequently rebelling against God, this people were conducted by the hand of Moses in sight of Canaan, when he died, without entering it himself. His death occurred on Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab, after he had first taken a view of the promised resting-place of Israel.

Moses died on Mount Nebo.

The successor of Moses was Joshua, who conducted the people at last into Canaan. Having led them to the banks of the Jordan, whose waters Joshua conduct- divided to afford them a passage, he brought them safely ed the Israelites over it into their fair inheritance. He conquered thirty-one into Canaan. cities in the course of six years.

The people, though they had been highly favoured, were perpetually inclined to forsake the worship of Jehovah, and to pollute themselves with the abominations of the heathen, who dwelt among and around them. For these sins they were repeatedly brought into bondage and consequent distress. With a view to their deliverance at such times, certain leaders, called Judges, were divinely appointed, who directed the people, Judges raised with some intermission, during the space of three hundred and fifty years. Occasions arose in which these leaders performed the most meritorious services. They defeated the enemies of their country, and contributed much to establish the nation in its possessions. The people paid a high respect to these officers, and also to the priests, but they acknowledged no other king than God.

up for them.

The commu

As this state of things, so long continued, became irksome to the Israelites, and they desired a king, so as to be like the nations around them, a king was granted to them, but with the expressed disapprobation of their great spiritual Ruler. Saul, the son of Kish, was the nity of the Is- first king of Israel. Having been privately anointed by raelites becomes Samuel, he was afterwards publicly proclaimed, 1079 years a monarchy. B. C. The nomination of Saul took place by divine instruction, but may be admired on the plainest principles of human policy. He was selected from a tribe which could not well be an

king of Israel.

Saul the first object of jealousy, like the great rival tribes of Judah and Ephraim, and he belonged to a part of the country which was most exposed to enemies, and which of course felt most interested in repelling them. Besides, nature had marked him out as no common man. He possessed a tall and striking person—an eminent distinction in the Eastand he proved himself, at times, capable of lofty aims. His reign was prosperous at first; he gained important victories over his enemies, particularly the Ammonites, Philistines, and Amalekites; but his evil propensities, at length, obtaining the mastery over him, he spent the last part of his life in a most unhappy manner, and met with signal disasters and ill success in the management of his kingdom. He perished miserably. Being at war with the Philistines, his army was routed, three of his sons were slain, and he himself

Perishes miser

ably.

having received a wound, and fearing to fall into the hands of his enemies, took a sword and fell upon it.

David succeeds Saul.

He was succeeded by David, who had been previously anointed king. This prince reigned at first only over the tribe of Judah: but after the death of Ishbosheth, a son of Saul, who had assumed the government of the tribes, he reigned over the whole of Israel. He spent a very active and perilous life, and among the people whom he conquered were the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Syrians. By his wise and vigorous administration he raised his people to the highest pitch of national prosperity and happiness. He had, towards the latter part of his reign, some domestic troubles, and was in danger from an insurrection of his subjects, a portion of whom had attached themselves to his ambitious son Absalom; but he lived to see his enemies destroyed,—and he left a rich and flourishing realm to his successor. David, though he greatly erred in some instances, His character. was a man of distinguished talents, bravery, and piety. As a composer of sacred poetry for the use of the church, he will be remembered and admired to the end of the world.

The wise and rich Solomon was his son and successor. From the accession of this prince to the throne of the Israelites, a period of profound peace and prosperity was enjoyed by that people throughSolomon king out his reign. The most important undertaking of Solomon

of Israel.

was the building and dedication of the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem. This temple was completed in seven years. It was a most magnificent, sumptuous, and costly edifice. The value of Builds the the materials, and the perfection of the workmanship, rank temple. it among the most celebrated structures of antiquity. It was not very large, being little more than ninety feet in length, thirty in breadth, and forty-five in height; but was finely proportioned, and, together with a grand porch, was splendidly ornamented.

And other structures.

wealth.

As soon as Solomon had finished this noble structure, he employed his artificers upon three other buildings, two for himself, and a third for Pharaoh's daughter. He was occupied almost thirteen years in erecting them; so that he finished three famous edifices, with all their costly furniture, utensils, and ornaments, within the space of twenty years. To supply all these, and his other vast expenses, he built a navy upon the coast of the Red Sea, Sources of his and put it under the care of some expert Tyrian sailors, who, with his own men, went with it to Ophir, which was probably situated on some part of the eastern coast of Africa, and in about three years brought back an immense weight of gold and silver, besides several kinds of precious stones, spices, ebony, and other rarities. Besides these, there was the traffic of the Mediterranean, carried on through the Tyrian merchants, and the inland commerce of Egypt, Arabia, and Assyria, all of which were highly important. From these various sources it was, that the precious metals, and all other valuable commodities, were in such abundance that, in the figurative language of the sacred historian, "silver was in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees as sycamores.”

Besides the works already mentioned, Solomon built some fortresses in Lebanon, probably to secure a free communication between his kingdom

of Tadmor and Baalath.

and that of Syria. He built two cities, as stations, to protect his inland Builds the cities commerce; these were Tadmor and Baalath, the one the celebrated Palmyra, and the other Baalbec. These, and many others, which time forbids us to particularize, were the works by which his peaceful reign was distinguished. No wars occurred, except in the instance of bringing under his yoke the remainder of the Canaanites, and making them tributary.

Solomon exceeded in wisdom all who went before him; but in his old age he took many wives and concubines out of the idolatrous nations around him, who corrupted his heart. The Lord, therefore, His character. declared by the prophet Abijah, that he would divide the kingdom after his death, and give ten tribes to Jeroboam, one of his domestics. As an immediate punishment of his effeminacy and idolatry, the Lord stirred up certain adversaries against him; and though the principal evil threatened against Israel was not to occur in his day, yet he had the mortification of knowing that it would be inflicted under the administration of his son, and that his own conduct was the procuring We cannot but think that he repented of his awful defection from duty, though nothing is recorded in the Bible on this subject; and it is certain that all ought to be profited by the memorials which he has left of his wisdom, and by his sound religious maxims. He died after a reign of forty years, and with him expired the glory and the power of the Hebrew monarchy.

cause.

Rehoboam succeeds Solo

mon.

Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, began to reign over the Israelites 975 years B. C. Having refused to lighten the yoke his father had imposed on his subjects, ten tribes revolted, and followed Jeroboam, as had been denounced by the prophet. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin alone remained faithful to Rehoboam. The national Thus the national union was dissolved, and the Hebrew union dissolved. kingdom never recovered this fatal blow. From this time Judah and Israel are separate kingdoms. Although Rehoboam, at first, thought of having recourse to arms to compel, if possible, the revolted portion of his people to submission, he thought better of the subject, and turned his attention wholly to the fortifying of his own dominions.

Jeroboam king of the ten tribes.

ner.

The kingdom of the Ten Tribes, or the Israelites, was governed by a succession of vicious and idolatrous monarchs; and wars and feuds, treachery and murder, marked their history in a shocking manJeroboam, the son of Nebat, of the tribe of Ephraim, was their first king. It is emphatically said of him in Scripture, that he made Israel to sin. To prevent his subjects from going to Jerusalem to sacrifice, which place he feared might Causes Israel become again the centre of the national union, he set up two golden calves, the one in Bethel and the other in Dan, which the people worshipped. Concerning these calves it has been observed, that they were not, strictly speaking, idols, but were speciously contrived as symbolical representations, probably preserving some resemblance to the cherubim, of which the ox was one of the four constituent parts. Still, they were set up in no less flagrant violation of the law, than if they had been the deities of Egypt, to which they bore a great likeness. For this

to sin.