Abimelech, in the meanwhile, having withdrawn his forces out of sight, the Shechemites thinking that there was no immediate danger, went out into the fields, the following day, to pursue their usual employments. They were soon surprised by their enemies, who had been lying in ambush for the purpose. One party, with Abimelech at their head, took possession of the gate of the city, while two others rushed upon the Shechemites, who, having no way of retreat, were entirely destroyed. Abimelech then took the city after a severe contest, putting all the inhabitants to the sword. He razed its walls and buildings to their foundations, and sowed it with salt, as emblematical of what he supposed would be its perpetual desolation. In this, however, he was mistaken. It was afterwards rebuilt, and became a place of so much importance, that the Israelites resorted to it, to make Rehoboam king.

A portion of the Shechemites were still left in a tower not far distant, whither they had resorted for safety. But seeing the strength of their enemies and the entire destruction of the city, they feared they would be unable to resist Abimelech, and withdrew into a strong hold belonging to the temple of their god Berith. The sacredness of the place, at least, if no other means of defence was left, would, they hoped, afford them protec. tion. But Abimelech's ambition was not to be re

strained by any superstitious fears. He led his army to Mount Zalmon, in the neighborhood of Shechem, so called from the extensive shade which its forests cast over it. Taking an axe in his hand, and cutting down a large bough from a tree, he placed it on his shoulder, and ordered all his soldiers to do the same. His example was soon followed. Abimelech and his army, thus equipped, resorted immediately to the strong hold in which the remaining Shechemites were assembled, and piling up around it the boughs which they carried, set them on fire. The place was soon in flames, and all who were in it perished, about a thousand in number.

Abimelech not satisfied with these victories, next marched against Thebez, a city in the tribe of Ephraim, and near Shechem, of which he soon made himself master. He did not do this, however, before the inhabitants had retreated from their dwellings, and shut themselves up in a strong tower that stood within the city. His late success in a similar case, led Abimelech to suppose that the work of destruction would again be easy. Approaching the door of the tower to burn it, and thus gain access for himself and his followers, he was descried by a woman on its top, who casting down a piece of a millstone upon his head, it broke his skull. He felt that death must be near, and abhorring the disgrace of this

manner of it, he called out to the young man who attended him as armor-bearer to despatch him on the spot, that it might not be said that he fell by the hand of a woman. His command was quickly obeyed; and thus terminated the life and the ambitious projects of Abimelech. His partisans, deprived of their leader, immediately disbanded, and returned to their respective homes.

"Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abi melech which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren: and all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal."

An old writer (Bishop Hall) makes these truly appropriate and forcible remarks, in view of the transactions of the period which we have been considering. "There now lies the greatness of Abimelech. On one stone he had slain his seventy brethren, and now a stone slays him. His head had stolen the crown of Israel, and now his head is smitten. O the just succession of the revenges of God! Gideon's ephod is punished with the blood of his sons; the blood of his sons is shed by the procurement of the Shechemites; the blood of the Shechemites is shed by Abimelech; the blood of Abimelech is spilt by a woman. The retaliations of God are sure and just, and make a more due pedigree than descent of nature."

TOLA, of the tribe of Issachar, was the next judge of the Israelites after Gideon. His residence was Shamir in Mount Ephraim. He continued in office twenty-three years, when he died, and was succeeded by JAIR, a Gileadite. The power of this latter ruler is described by referring to his thirty sons who rode on asses, (the people generally going on foot,) and who had the government of thirty cities. Jair died after being judge twenty-two years. During the earlier part of his government, and the whole of that of his predecessor, it would seem that the Israelites preserved their allegiance to Jehovah; worshiped and served him as the true God; and abandoned their idolatrous practices. Security, and a prosperous condition of their affairs, was the result; and having the Lord on their side, they bade defiance to any attacks or encroachments of their

enemies.

But temptations again assailed them, to which their own evil hearts yielded. The spirit of idolatry, so hard to be eradicated, and which nothing but the severest chastisements could even temporarily subdue, revived with new force. It spread wider, and showed itself in more flagrant forms than it had ever done before. The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and

the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord and served not him." The worship of the true God was utterly abandoned, and a pantheon, as it were, of all the heathen deities was established in the heart of this besotted and sinful people.

This state of things took place eighteen years before the death of Jair, and we are told that

the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,

and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon." The oppression of these nations was excessively severe. In the emphatic language of the original, the Israelites were crushed and broken to pieces by these their enemies on each side, as if by two opposite mill-stones grinding to powder what is between them.

In their anguish they cried unto the Lord, "We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim." His reply reproached them for their frequent backslidings, and held forth no promise of relief. Go," said he, "and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation."

But they ceased not to make supplication. They prostrated themselves still lower before their offended Sovereign. "We have sinned: