a full current into the sea, except in the time of the rains, but percolates through the sands which interpose between it and the Mediterranean. It has been immortalized in the song of Deborah and Barak: "The kings came and fought; then fought the kings of Canaan in Tanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." The confederate kings took no gain for money; they were volunteers in the war, stimulated only by hatred and revenge. But they strove in vain; the hosts of heaven fought for Israel; the stars in their courses, against the powerful bands of Jabin. By the malignant influences of the heavenly bodies, by the storms of hail, thunder, and rain, produced, it is probable, by the power, and directed by the sagacity of holy angels, the confident hopes of Sisera were blasted, and a mark of eternal infamy stamped upon his name. From heaven, says the Chaldee Paraphrast, from heaven, the place where the stars go forth, war was commenced against Sisera; the God of heaven shot forth his arrows, and discomfited the hostile armies; and the river of Kishon, swelled over all its banks by the furious tempests, engaged also in the warfare, by the command of its sovereign Lord, and swept the fugitives away. For this stroke of vengeance, the Kishon was ordained of old: and this is the reason the inspired bard applies to it the distinguishing epithet in the text: "The river of Kishon swept them away; that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength."-PAXTON. Ver. 25. He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. Though the bowls and dishes of the vulgar Arabs are of wood, those of their emirs are, not unfrequently, of copper, tinned very neatly: La Roque takes notice of this circumstance in more places than one. I have met with a like account, I think, in other travellers. May we not believe that the vessel which Jael made use of, to present buttermilk to Sisera, and which Deborah in her hymn calls a lordly dish, or a dish of nobles, was of this sort? Her husband certainly was an Arab emir; the working of metals much more ancient than her time, Gen. iv. 22; and the mere size of the vessel hardly could be the thing intended. La Roque, indeed, tells us, that the fruits that were brought in at the collation, that the grand emir of the Arabs, whom he visited, treated him with, were placed in a large painted basin of wood; its being painted was, without doubt, a mark of honour set on this vessel of the grand emir, which distinguished it from the wooden bowls of the commonalty; but a painted wooden vessel would have been not so proper for buttermilk, as one of copper tinned, which therefore most probably was the sort Jael used.-HARMER. Speaking of the hospitable manner in which he was received at a house in Tronyen in Norway, Dr. Clarke says, "If but a bit of butter be called for in one of these houses, a mass is brought forth weighing six or eight pounds; and so highly ornamented, being turned out of moulds, with the shape of cathedrals set off with Gothic spires, and various other devices, that, according to the language of our English farmers' wives, we should deem it almost a pity to cut it. Throughout this part of Norway, the family plate of butter seemed to be the state dish of the house: wherever we sat down to make a meal, this offering was first made, as in the tents of the primeval Arabs, when Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, brought forth butter in a lordly dish."-BURDER. Ver. 30. Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needle-work, of divers colours of needle-work on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil? See on Is. 3. 18. CHAPTER VI. Ver. 19. And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. All roasted meat is a delicacy among the Arabs, and rarely eaten by them, according to La Roque; stewed meat also is, according to him, only to be met with among them at feasts, and great tables, such as those of princes, and consequently a delicacy also; the common diet being only boiled meat, with rice pottage and pillaw. This is agreeable to Dr. Pococke's account of an elegant entertainment he met with at Baalbeck, where he tells us they had for supper a roasted fowl, pillaw, stewed meat, with the soup, &c.; and of a grand supper prepared for a great man of Egypt, where he was present, and which consisted, he tells us, of pillaw, a small sheep boiled whole, a lamb roasted in the same manner, roasted fowls, and many dishes of stewed meat in soup, &c. This soup, in which the stewed meat is brought to table, or something very much like it, was, we believe, the broth that Gideon presented to the angel, whom he took for a mere mortal messenger of GOD. Many a reader may have wondered why he should bring out his broth; they may have been ready to think it would have been better to have kept that within, and have given it to the poor after the supposed prophet, whom he desired to honour, should be withdrawn, but these passages explain it the broth, as our translators express it, was, I imagine, the stewed savoury meat he had prepared, with such sort of liquor as the eastern people at this day bring their stewed meat in, to the most elegant and honourable tables. What then is meant by the flesh put into the basket, Judg. vi. 19?" And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour; the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it." The preceding quotations certainly do not decipher this perfectly; but I have been inclined to think, there is a passage in Dr. Shaw that entirely unravels this matter, and affords a perfect comment on this text. It is in his preface: "Besides a bowl of milk, and a basket of figs, raisins, or dates, which upon our arrival were presented to us, to stay our appetites, the master of the tent where we lodged, fetched us from his flock, according to the number of our company, a kid or a goat, a lamb or a sheep, half of which was immediately seethed by his wife, and served with cuscasoe; the rest was made kabab, i. e. cut into pieces and roasted; which we reserved for our breakfast or dinner next day." May we not imagine that Gideon presenting some slight refreshment to the supposed prophet, according to the present Arab mode, desired him to stay till he could provide something more substantial for him; that he immediately killed a kid, seethed part of. it, made kabab of another part of it, and when it was ready, brought the stewed meat in a pot, with unleavened cakes of bread which he had baked; and kabab in a basket for his carrying away with him, and serving him for some after repast in his journey? Nothing can be more conformable to the present Arab customs, or a more easy explanation of the text; nothing more convenient for the carriage of the reserved meat than a light basket; so Thevenot informs us he carried his ready dressed meat with him in a maund. What others may think of the passage I know not, but I never could, till I met with these remarks, account for his bringing the meat out to the angel in a basket. As for Gideon's leaving the supposed prophet under a tree, while he was busied in his house, instead of introducing him into some apartment of his habitation, and bringing the repast out to him there, we have seen something of it under the last observation; I would here add, that not only Arabs that live in tents, and their dependants, practise it still, but those also that live in houses, as did Gideon. Dr. Pococke frequently observed it among the Maronites, and was so struck with this conformity of theirs to ancient customs, that he could not forbear taking particular notice of it: laymen of quality and ecclesiastics, the patriarchs and bishops, as well as poor obscure priests, thus treating their guests.-HARMER. Ver. 37. Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth besides, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said. In Palestine, as in Greece and Italy, the floor was for the most part in the open air. Thus the thrashing-floor of Gideon appears to have been an open uncovered space, upon which the dews of heaven fell without interruption. "I will put a fleece of wool in the floor, and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry on all the earth besides, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand as thou hast said." But a barn, or covered space, had been unfit for such an experiment. The thrashing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, seems also to have been an open area, else it had not been a proper place for erecting an altar, and offering sacrifice. In the prophecies of Hosea, the idolaters of Israel are compared to the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor. Hence it was designedly prepared in a place to which the wind had free access on all sides; and from this exposed situation it derived its name in Hebrew. In Greece, the same kind of situation was chosen; for Hesiod advises his farmer to thrash his corn in a place well exposed to the wind. From this statement, it appears that a thrashing-floor (rendered in our translation a void place) might well be formed near the gate of Samaria, which was built on the summit of a hill; and afford a very convenient place for the kings of Israel and Judah, giving audience to the prophets.-PAX ΤΟΝ. Ver. 38. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. It may seem a little improbable to us who inhabit these northern climates, where the dews are inconsiderable, how Gideon's fleece, in one night, should contract such a quantity, that when he came to wring it, a bowl full of water was produced. Irwin, in his voyage up the Red Sea, when on the Arabian shores, says, "difficult as we find it to keep ourselves cool in the daytime, it is no easy matter to defend our bodies from the damps of the night, when the wind is loaded with the heaviest dews that ever fell; we lie exposed to the whole weight of the dews, and the cloaks in which we wrap ourselves, are as wet in the morning as if they had been immersed in the sea."-BURDER. Ver. 4. And the LORD said unto Gideon, The The Arabs lap their milk and pottage, but not their water. On the contrary, D'Arvieux tells us, that after they have eaten, they rise from table, and go and drink large draughts out of a pitcher, or, for want of that, out of a leathern bottle, which they hand to one another round and round. Few of the Israelites, if they did in common sup their milk and pottage out of their hands, as the Arabs do, would have been disposed to lap water in the same manner, if they drank too as the Arabs now drink. Two considerations more will complete the illustration of this part of the History of Gideon. The one is, that the eastern people are not wont to drink standing. Busbequius, the imperial ambassador at Constantinople, in his celebrated letters concerning the eastern people, affirms this in a very particular manner; the other, that the lapping with their hands is a very expeditious way of taking in liquids. "They are not restrained in their choice," says Dr. Russell. "When they take water with the palms of their hands, they naturally place themselves on their hams to be nearer the water; but when they drink from a pitcher, or gourd, fresh filled, they do not sit down on purpose to drink, but drink standing, and very often put the sleeve of their shirt over the mouth of the vessel, by way of strainer, lest small leeches might have been taken up with the water. It is for the same reason they often prefer taking water with the palm of the hand, to the lapping it from the surface. D'Arvieux, in that accurate account of the Arabs of Mount Carmel, expressly takes notice of this, observing that this may be the reason why spoons are so universally neglected among the Arabs, as a man would eat upon very unequal terms with a spoon, among those that use the palms of their hands instead of them. Until I met with this passage of Busbequius, I could not tell what to make of that particular circumstance of the history of the Jewish judge, that all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. It appeared to me rather the putting themselves into an attitude to lap water, than any thing else; as I supposed the words signified that they kneeled down by the side of some water in order to drink. But the matter is now clear: three hundred men, immediately upon their coming to the water, drank of it in the quickest manner they could, in order to be ready without delay to follow Gideon; the rest took up water in pitchers, or leathern bottles, or some kind of vessel, and bending down so as to sit jointly upon their heels and knees, or with their knees placed upright before them, either of which might be called bowing their knees to drink, though the last is the posture Busbequius refers to, they handed these drinking vessels with ceremony and slowness from one to another, as they were wont to do in common, which occasioned their dismission. So two-and-twenty thousand of those that were fainthearted were first sent away; then all the rest, excepting three hundred men of business for which they were designed, but visibly unequal peculiar alacrity and despatch, the most proper for the to the task of opposing the Midianites; and without some miraculous interposition of GOD, absolutely unequal.HARMER. A dog lappeth by means of forming the end of his tongue into the shape of a shallow spoon, by which he laves or throws up the water into his mouth. The Hottentots have a curious custom, resembling the dog and the three hundred chosen men of Gideon's army. On a journey, immediately on coming to water, they stoop, but no farther than what is sufficient to allow their right hand to reach the water, by which they throw it up so dexterously, that their hand seldom approaches nearer to their mouth than a foot; yet I never observed any of the water to fall down upon their breasts. They perform it almost as quickly as the dog, and satisfy their thirst in half the time taken by another man. I frequently attempted to imitate this practice, but never succeeded, always spilling the water on my clothes, or throwing it against some other part of the face, instead of the mouth, which greatly amused the Hottentot spectators, who then, perhaps for the first time, perceived that there was some art in it.-AFRICAN LIGHT. CHAPTER VII. Ver. 12. And the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the children of the East, lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seaside for multitude. This animal remembers an injury long, and seizes with great keenness a proper opportunity of revenge. A camel's anger is, among the Arabians, a proverb for an irreconcilable enmity. They estimate their riches by the number of their camels. They can sustain great labour and fatigue upon the poorest means of subsistence; travelling four or five days without water, while half a gallon of beans and barley, or a few balls made of the flour, will sustain him for a whole day. Dr. SHAW says, that before drinking, they disturb the water with their feet, first of all thrusting their heads a great way above the nostrils into the water, and then, after the manner of pigeons, make several successive draughts. "Nature has furnished the camel with parts and qualities adapted to the office he is employed to discharge. The driest thistle and the barest' thorn is all the food this useful quadruped requires; and even these, to save time, he eats while advancing on his journey, without stopping, or occasioning a moment of delay. As it is his lot to cross immense deserts, where no water is found, and countries not even moistened with the dew of heaven, he is endued with the power, at one watering-place, to lay in a store, with which he supplies himself for thirty days to come. To contain this enormous quantity of fluid, nature has formed large cisterns within him, from which, once filled, he draws at pleasure the quantity he wants, and pours it into his stomach, with the same effect as if he then drew it from a spring; and with this he travels patiently and vigorously all day long; carrying a prodigious load upon him, through countries infected with poisonous winds, and glowing with parching and never-cooling sands." (Bruce.)— BURDER. Ver. 13. And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley-bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. The Barley-bread is in some regions of Persia commonly used by the lower orders. It must not however be omitted, that in making bread, barley was used before any other sort of corn; for it is reported, says Artemidorus, that this was the first food which the gods imparted to mankind; and it was, according to Pliny, the most ancient sort of provision. But in more civilized ages, to use the words of the same author, barley-bread came to be the food of beasts only; yet it was still used by the poorer sort, who were not able to furnish their tables with better provisions; and in the Roman camp, as Vegetius and Livy inform us, soldiers who had been guilty of any offence, were fed with barley, instead of bread corn. An example of this punishment is recorded in the history of the second Punic war. cohorts that lost their standards, had an allowance of barley assigned by Marcellus. And Augustus Cesar commonly punished the cohorts which gave way to the enemy, by a decimation, and allowing them no provision but barley. So mean and contemptible, in the estimation of the numer ous and well-appointed armies of Midian, was Gideon, with his handful of undisciplined militia; but guided by the wisdom, and supported by the power of the living God, he inflicted a deserved and exemplary punishment on these proud oppressors. The meagre barley-cake was put into the hand of Midian by the God of armies, as a punishment for disobedience of orders, not to make a full end of his chosen people. "And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barleybread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel; for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host."-PAXTON. Ver. 16. And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. Though it must, one would think, be much more convenient to carry water in skins or leathern bottles, when water must be carried, and accordingly, such we find are generally made use of in the East in travelling; yet, whatever the cause may be, they sometimes content themselves with earthen jars. Thus we find, in the beginning of Dr. Chandler's expeditions, in search of the antiquities of these countries, though he was equipped under the direction of a Jew of that country, of such eminence as to act as the British consul at the Dardanelles, and was attended at first by him, yet the vessel in which their water was to be carried, was an earthen jar, which not only served them in the wherry in which they coasted some of the nearer parts of Asia Minor, but was carried upon the ass of a poor peasant, along with other luggage, when they made an excursion from the seaside up into the country, to visit the great ruin at Troas. This may serve to remove our wonder that Gideon should be able to collect three hundred water-jars from among ten thousand men, for we have no reason to suppose the method he was to make use of, to surprise the Midianites, was not suggested to him before he dismissed all the army to the three hundred. In an army of ten thousand Israelitish peasants, collected together on a sudden, there might be many goat-skin vessels for water, but many might have nothing better than earthen jars, and three hundred water-jars, collected from the whole army, were sufficient to answer the views of divine Providence.-HARMER. CHAPTER VIII. Ver. 7. And Gideon said, Therefore, when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness, and with briers. Thus did Gideon threaten the inhabitants of Succoth; and thus do masters, fathers, and schoolmasters, swear the force of the figure, it must be kept in mind that the they will punish those who have offended them. To see people are almost in a state of nudity. To tear a man's naked body, therefore, with briers and thorns, would be no small punishment. See poor travellers sometimes, who, in consequence of a wild beast, or some other cause, have to rush into the thicket; before they can get out again, in consequence of thorns, they are literally covered with blood. There have been instances where a master, in his anger, has taken the jagged edge of the palmirah branch, to tear the naked body of his slave, and nothing can be more common than to threaten it shall be done to those who have given offence. People also often menace each other with the repetition of the old punishment of tying the naked body in a bundle of thorns, and rolling it on the ground.ROBERTS. This threat probably relates to a cruel method of torture used in those times for putting captives to death, by laying briers and thorns on their naked bodies, and then drawing over them some heavy implements of husbandry. Drusius thinks, that persons put to death in this manner were laid naked on thorns and briers, and then trampled on.BURDER. Ver. 18. As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king. Of a person who is beautiful or of a fair complexion, who is courageous and stately in his gait, it is said in the East, "He is like the son of a king." "He is as the son of Manmathon (Cupid.") "He is the son of a god.”— ROBERTS. CHAPTER IX. Ver. 8. The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olivetree, Reign thou over us. The people of the East are exceedingly addicted to apologues, and use them to convey instruction or reproof, which with them could scarcely be done so well in any other way. Has a man been told a secret, he says, in repeating it, for instance, "A tree told me this morning, that Kandan offered a large bribe to the Modeliar, to get Muttoo turned out of his situation." Does a man of low caste wish to unite his son in marriage to the daughter of one who is high, the latter will say, "Have you heard that the pumpkin wants to be married to the plantain tree?" Is a wife steril, "The cocoa-nut tree in Viraver's garden does not bear any fruit." Has a woman had children by improper intercourse, it is said of her husband's garden, "Ah, the palmirah-trees are now giving cocoa-nuts." Has a man given his daughter in marriage to another who uses her unkindly, he says, "I have planted the sugarcane by the side of the margossa (bitter) tree."-ROBERTS. Ver. 27. And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech: In the East they still tread their grapes after the ancient manner. "August 20, 1765, the vintage (near Smyrna) was now begun, the juice (of the grapes) was expressed for wine; a man, with his feet and legs bare, was treading the fruit in a kind of cistern, with a hole or vent near the bottom, and a vessel beneath to receive the liquor." (Chandler's Travels in Greece.)-Burder. Ver. 33. Then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion. The Hebrew has, "As thy hand shall find." (1 Sam. x. 7, margin.) In asking a favour, it is common to say, "You must not deny me, sir; but as your hand finds opportunity, so you must assist me."-" Well, my friend, when I have the opportunity of the hand, I will assist you." "The man has assisted me according to the opportunity of his hand; what can he do more ?"-ROBERTS. Ver. 36. And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there come people down from the top of the mountains. And Zebul said unto him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men. Our translation of the book of Judges, from the Hebrew, represents Zebul as saying to Gaal, upon his being alarmed at seeing troops of men making to him, Thou seest the shadows of the mountains as if they were men; whereas, Josephus represents him as telling him, he mistook the shadow of the rocks for men. A commentator might be at a loss to account for this change, that had not read Doubdan's representation of some part of the Holy Land, in which he tells us, that in those places there are many detached rocks scattered up and down, some growing out of the ground, and others are fragments, broken off from rocky precipices, the shadow of which, it appears, Josephus thought might be most naturally imagined to look like troops of men at a distance, rather than the shadow of the mountains.-SHAW. The dreariness of the far-stretching ruins was dismally increased by the shadowy hour of our approach; and be ing again in the region of the Bactriani descents, our own flitting shades, as we passed between old mouldering walls and the moonlight, sometimes bore an alarming interpretation. Our mehmander was ready to embattle every frowning heap with a murderous legend.-SIR R. K. POR TER. CHAPTER X. Ver. 4. And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass-colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. To ride upon an ass was, in the days of the Judges, a mark of distinction, to which it is probable the vulgar might not presume to aspire. This is evident from the brief notices which the inspired historian gives of the greatness and richness of Jair, the Gileadite, one of these judges: "he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass-colts; and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair unto this day," Abdon the Pirathonite, another of these judges, "had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass-colts." It is reasonable to suppose, that the manners and customs of the chosen tribes underwent a change when the government became monarchical, and the fascinating pleasures of a court began to exert their usual influence; still, however, the ass kept his place in the service of the great. Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul, rode on an ass; as did Ahithophel, the prime minister of David, and the greatest statesman of that age. Even so late as the reign of Jehoram, the son of Ahab, the services of this animal were required by the wealthy Ísraelite: the Shunamite, a person of high rank, saddled her ass, and rode to Carmel, the residence of Elisha, to announce the death of her son to the prophet, and to solicit his assistance.-PAXTON. Ver. 8. And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel eighteen years. The Hebrew has, "crushed." Of a severe master it is said, "He crushes his servants." "Ah! my lord, crush me not. "When will the king cease to crush his people?"-ROBERTS. CHAPTER XI. Ver. 30. And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into my hands, 31. Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering. One species of vow called Cherem, (for which, in German, we generally use the terms Bann, Verbannen, &c.; but in a thing altogether foreign to us, I rather choose to abide by the Hebrew word,) was, from ancient usage, more sacred and irremissible than all others. Moses nowhere mentions what Cherem was, nor by what solemnities or expressions it was distinguished from other vows; but presupposes all this as already well known. But from Lev. xxvii. 21, every one must see, that there was a difference between a Cherem and other vows; for if a man had vowed his field, and omitted to redeem it, it devolved unto God in the same way as the field of Cherem, for ever, and beyond the power of future redemption; and in ver. 28, 29, it is expressly ordained, that a Cherem can never be redeemed like other vows, but continues consecrated to God; and if it be a man, that he shall be put to death. I have already stated, that of the formalities which distinguished the Cherem from common vows, we know nothing; nor does the etymology of the term at all aid our conjectures, for the radical word in Arabic means, to consecrate; but every thing vowed or devoted, was consecrated. The species of Cherem with which we are best acquainted, was the previous devotement to God of hostile cities, against which they intended to proceed with extreme severity; and that with a view the more to inflame the minds of the people to war. In such cases, not only were all the inhabitants to death, put but also, according as the terms of the vow declared, no booty was made by any Israelite; the beasts were slain; what would not burn, as gold, silver, and other metals, was added to the treasure of the sanctuary; and every thing else, with the whole city, burnt, and an imprecation pronounced upon any attempt that should ever be made to rebuild it. Of this the history of Jericho (Josh. vi. 17-19, 21-24, and vii. 1, 12-26) furnishes the most remarkable example. In Moses' lifetime we find a similar vow against the king of Arad, Numb. xxi. 1-3. The meaning, however, as we see from the first-mentioned example, was not, that houses might never again be built on the accursed spot; for to build a city, here means to fortify it. Joshua himself seems to explain it thus; for in his curse he makes use of this expression, "Cursed be he who rebuilds this city Jericho; for his first-born son shall he found it, and for his latest, set up its gates." The beginning, therefore, of the building of a city, is to found it; which can hardly be to lay the foundation stone of a single house, (for who, whether Hebrew or not, ever called that founding a city?) but of the city walls; and its conclusion, is to set up its gates. The history still further confirms this, as the meaning of the term to build; Jericho was so advantageously situated for all manner of trade, because near the usual passage across the Jordan, that it could not long remain a place entirely desolate. In fact, as early as the time of the Judges, Jericho, or, as it was then called, the city of palms, appeared again as a town, subdued by the Moabites; (Judg. iii. 13, compared with Deut. xxxiv. 3;) and in David's time, we have unquestionable proof of the existence of a city of the name of Jericho. See 2 Sam. x. 5. But notwithstanding all this, Joshua's imprecation was not yet trespassed; but, at least 100 years after David's death, Jericho was first rebuilt (that is, fortified) by Hiel the Bethelite; and in lay |