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<div class='chaptertitle'>HOW JOSHUA AND JEPHTHAH FOUGHT FOR THE LORD.</div> When Mo-ses died, Josh-u-a took charge of the chil-dren of Is-ra-el, and sought to do God's will, as Mo-ses had done. And Josh-u-a sent word through the camp that in three days they would cross the Jor-dan. And when they set foot in the stream the waves stood back as they did in the Red Sea, and they went through Jor-dan on dry ground. And as[113] they came up out of the stream the waves closed up and there was no path-way through them. The chil-dren of Is-ra-el made their camp at a place called Gil-gal; and as there was no lack of food in this good land, the Lord ceased to rain down man-na for them to eat. The next day Josh-u-a left the camp and came near to the walls of Jer-i-cho. There he met a man with a drawn sword in his hand. And Josh-u-a said, Art thou for us or for our foes? And the man said, As prince of the Lord's host am I now come. And at these words Josh-u-a fell on his face to the earth; for he knew it was the Lord that spoke to him. <div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_039.jpg" width-obs="296" height-obs="400" alt="soldiers" /> PASS-ING THROUGH THE JOR-DAN.</div> The Lord told Josh-u-a to have no fear of the[114] king of Jer-i-cho, for the chil-dren of Is-ra-el should take the town. All their men of war were to march round the town once each day for six days. Some of the priests were to bear the ark, which held the things they made use of when they went in to talk with God, and some were to blow on rams' horns. And the next day—when the six days were at an end—they were to march round the town sev-en times, and the priests were to blow their horns. And when the men of Is-ra-el heard a long loud blast they were all to give a great shout and the wall would fall flat to the ground, and they could march in and take the town. Josh-u-a bade his men do all the Lord had said; and told them to make no noise with their voice as they went their rounds till he bade them shout. And when the priests blew their horns for the last time, Josh-u-a cried, Shout! for the Lord is with us! and there was a great shout and the wall fell, and they took the town; and the fame of Josh-u-a spread through all the lands. Josh-u-a fought with more than a score of kings and won their lands from them; but yet there was much land in Ca-naan for which the chil-dren of Is-ra-el would have to fight. But as the years went on, Josh-u-a grew so old that he could not lead his men to war as he used to[115] do. And he called his flock to him and told them how good the Lord had been to them. And he bade them love the Lord and serve him, and put from them all strange gods. He said, Choose ye this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_040.jpg" width-obs="550" height-obs="440" alt="Joshua" /> JOSH-U-A AND THE STONE OF WIT-NESS.</div> And the men said, The Lord hath done great[116] things for us, and him will we serve, for he is our God. And Josh-u-a took a great stone and set it up 'neath an oak tree that stood near where the ark was kept at Shi-loh. And this stone, he said, was to be a sign of the vow they had made there to serve the Lord. And when the talk was at an end, the men went to their own homes. And ere long Josh-u-a died. And they laid him in the part of the land that God gave him as his own, on the north side of the hill of Ga-ash. Then the chil-dren of Is-ra-el went to war with the tribes that were in the land of Ca-naan, as Josh-u-a had told them to do. But they did not drive them all out, as they should have done, but made friends with those that were left, and were led in-to sin, and were made to serve as bond-slaves. And when they were sick of their sins, and sought the help of the Lord, he sent men to rule them, and to lead them out to war and set them free from these friends who proved to be the worst kind of foes. Now there was a man in Is-ra-el whose name was Jeph-thah. He was a brave man, and had done great deeds, but the chil-dren of Is-ra-el were not kind to him, so he fled from their land, and went to live in the land of Tob. But when the Jews had need of a man to lead them out to war, they thought[117] of Jeph-thah. And they said, Come, and be at the head of us when we go out to fight the Am-mon-ites. And Jeph-thah said, If I go with you, and win the fight, will you make me judge in Is-ra-el? And they said they would. Now ere the fight took place, Jeph-thah made a vow that if the Lord would let him win he would give to God—that is, would slay and burn as if it were a lamb—the first who came out of his doors to meet him when he went back to his home. Jeph-thah should not have made this rash vow, and need not have kept it if he had asked God to for-give the sin. He went out to fight the Am-mon-ites, and by the help of the Lord the chil-dren of Is-ra-el were set free from them. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_041.jpg" width-obs="266" height-obs="400" alt="daughter dancing" /> JEPH-THAH AND HIS DAUGH-TER.</div> [118] When the fight was at an end Jeph-thah went back to his home, and the first to come out to meet him was his own child, a fair young maid, whose face was bright with joy. She was all the child that Jeph-thah had, and when he saw her he rent his clothes and told her of the vow he had made. And she said, My fath-er, if thou hast made a vow to the Lord, do with me as thou hast said. And he took his child and did to her as he had said he would, and all the young girls in Is-ra-el wept for her. Jeph-thah was a judge for six years, and then he died. <hr class="chap" /> <h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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