rded in Judges 17 and 18. The little tribe of the
Danites, finding the pressure of their kinsmen on the north and
east and that of the Philistines on the west too strong, captured
the Canaanite city of Laish at the foot of Mount Hermon and thus
found a permanent home in the upper Jordan valley.

It was a cruel, barbarous age in which might was regarded as right.
Thus, Ehud the Benjamite, who treacherously gained admittance to
the presence of Eglon, secretly slew this Moabite oppressor of the
Hebrews. This act instead of being condemned was regarded then and
even by later generations as an example of courageous patriotism.
Was his act justifiable? How would it be regarded in America
to-day?

V.

DEBORAH'S RALLY OF THE HEBREWS.

The growing numbers and strength of the Israelites at last alarmed
the Canaanites. A certain leader by the name of Sisera formed a
coalition of the strong Canaanite cities encircling the Plain of
Esdraelon. The centre of this coalition was the powerful city of
Megiddo, the ruins of which on the south-western side of the plain
still remain to testify to the natural strength of this ancient
stronghold. The policy of the Canaanites was to keep the different
Hebrew clans apart and thus prevent united action. In the words of
the ancient song:

In the days of Jael the highways were unused,
And travellers walked by round-about paths.
The rulers ceased in Israel;
A shield was not seen in five cities
Nor a spear among forty thousand.

The one who alone appears to have understood the crisis and to have
been able to stir the Israelites to action was Deborah, the
prophetess of the central tribe of Issachar. Israel's struggle for
independence is graphically recorded in the ancient poem found in
Judges 5. The later prose version of the incident, found in Judges
4, supplements the earlier poem. To a chief of a northern tribe of
Napthali, a certain Barak, she turned as the natural leader in the
struggle for independence. Together they sent out the summons to
the different northern tribes. The southern tribes of Judah and
Simeon were apparently ignored. The distant tribes of Asher, Dan
and Reuben were engrossed in their local interests and failed to
respond. The tribesmen who rallied forty thousand strong on the
northern side of the Plain of Esdraelon represented the great
central Hebrew clans. The ancient song, sung by the women as they
met the returning warriors, makes it po