ericho, the walled city. It
was shut up for fear of the Israelites, and there was no one to be seen.

Suddenly Joshua saw a warrior standing with a drawn sword in his hand.

"Art thou for us," said Joshua, "or for our adversaries?" and the
warrior angel answered,

"Nay! but as Captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come," and
Joshua fell on his face before him.

He knew then that it was the Lord who would conquer Jericho, and he was
told how the people were to help him.

So Joshua called the priests, and told them to take up the Ark, and he
told seven priests to go before it bearing trumpets of rams' horns.
Then the army of Israel, ready for war, followed, half of them marching
before the Ark, and half of them coming after, and as the trumpets gave
a great sound, they marched once around the city, and then went to
camp. This they did once every day for seven days, but on the seventh
day they marched around the city seven times, and as the priests blew
the trumpets for the last time, Joshua cried with a mighty voice,

"Shout! for the Lord hath given you the city."

Then as a great shout went up from the people, the walls of the city
fell down flat, so that the soldiers of Israel went up, every man
straight before him, and took Jericho.

And Rahab was not forgotten. The Lord cared for her little house on
the wall, and she, with all her family, were brought into the Camp of
Israel.

And so by the conquest of Jericho the new nation of Israel began to
possess its land.

CHAPTER XV.

SAMSON THE STRONG.

All the days of Joshua--and he lived to be an hundred and ten years
old--the Israelites were conquering the people who lived in Canaan, and
dividing it among the tribes. Joshua was a father to them, as Moses
had been, and when at last they were at rest, each tribe within its own
borders, and they had begun to build their houses, and plant their
fields, Joshua spoke words of loving counsel to the people, and they
set up a stone under an oak tree, as a sign that they would always
serve the Lord and keep the law, and then he went to be with God.
After his death Israel was ruled by wise men called judges, who helped
them to conquer the land little by little. Some of them were good men
and brave warriors as Othniel and Gideon and Jephthah and one was a
prophetess named Deborah, a noble mother in Israel, and one was a
mighty man of strength, Samson, the son of Manoah.

The people of Israel had turned a