Then your south border shall be from the wilderness of Zin by the coasts of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt-sea eastward: And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbin, and pass on to Zin: and the goings forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass on to Asmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea. : 66 And as for your western border, ye shall have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border. And this shall be your north border from the great sea ye shall point out for you Mount Hor. From Mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hameth: and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad: And the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazar-enan to Shepham: And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward: and the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt-sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about." Such was the geographical chart of the promised land: it was infallible wisdom that dic tated it; and one of the judges delivered it to the people. It was within the temperate zone, and was bounded on the west by the great sea, on the east by Arabia, on the south by Sichor, and on the north by the lofty chains of Libanus and Antilibanus. The land of Canaan previous to its occupation by the Israelites, was possessed by the descendants of Canaan the youngest son of Ham, who divided his country among his eleven sons. They resided here seven centuries, and founded numerous states and kingdoms. In the lifetime of Abraham this region was occupied by many different tribes. These nations the children of Israel were ordered to dispossess and utterly to exterminate. Within the period of seven years Moses conquered two kingdoms on the west of Jordan, and gave their land to the Israelites, but some of the inhabitants were allowed to remain in their native countries, to prove their conquerors whether they would hearken to the commands of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. The nations thus spared were permitted to trouble the Israelites, nor were they finally subdued till the reigns of David and Solomon, who reduced them to the condition of slaves; and the latter employed many thousands in the most servile parts of his works. The Philistines, the descendants of Mizraim; the Midianites, the descendants of Midiam; the Moabites and Ammonites, the descendants of the incestuous offspring of Lot; and the Amalekites, the descendants of Amalek; were nations devoted to the anger of the Almighty, for their depravity, licentiousness, superstition and idolatry, and they were either settled in the land or in its immediate environs at the arrival of the Israelites. On the conquest of Canaan, Joshua divided the land of Israel among the twelve tribes, which they drew by lot, according to their respective rank and dignity, and every tribe received its share distinct and separate from that of the other tribes. Each tribe was a distinct province, and descended from the same patriarch. It was not permitted that an estate should be alienated from one tribe to another, even by marriage. Every man's possession was unalienable; this constitution provided for a release of all debts every seventh It was ordered by the law of Jubilee year. (which was every fiftieth year) that all lands should be restored, and that the estate of every family should return to its original proprietors. "Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof; and it shall be a Jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man to his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. And the land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine and ye are sojourners therein." By this law estates were to be unalienable, and always to be kept in the same family. It was an excellent arrangement to make this equal division of the land: it provided against the ambitious designs of private persons, or of persons in authority, against the public liberty; and this equal and moderate provision for every person wisely prevented the means of luxury. The Hebrew nation was on that account a peaceful and orderly people; industrious, sober, frugal, brave, but unambitious, with a lawful and well restrained liberty. In the division of the land by Joshua, the tribes of Asher, Naphtali, Issachar, and Zebulon, were allotted the nothern parts; those of Ephraim, and the one half tribe of Manasseh, the middle parts; and Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, and Dan, the southern parts: the country beyond Jordan was allotted to the tribes of Gad and Reuben, and the other half tribe of Manasseh. The tribe of Levi did not possess any real lands. They were appointed by the express command of Jehovah to minister in holy things, without any secular incumbrance, and the tenth of the first fruits of their brethren was assigned them. Forty eight cities were appropriated for their residence, and these Levitical cities were dispersed among the twelve tribes. When the light of reason began to dawn upon the idolatrous nations surrounding the Holy Land, and the mists of ignorance were dispersing before the rays of knowledge and science, and when writings on different subjects were published, the Levites had a more comprehensive knowledge of them, and of what they inculcated, than the other tribes, and they were, in short, the Jewish literati, the doctors and professed expounders of their law, in all its branches. But though the Israelites under the conduct of Joshua obtained a settlement in the Holy Land, they were far from obtaining complete possession of it. They were not able from their unwarlike habits, and from other causes, |