"In his mountain passes,—the ancient haunts of beasts of prey, Benjamin 'ravined as a wolf in the morning,' descending into the rich plains of the Philistines on the one side, and of the Jordan on the other, and returned in the evening to 'divide the spoil.' "Later in their history, they seem to have joined themselves to Judah, drawn together by their proximity, and by their being both royal tribes, Benjamin having furnished Saul, and Judah David, to the throne. "But Moses' blessing is a very beautiful one. You may read it now." Donald read Deut. xxxiii. 12: "And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders." "In Joshua xv. 63 it says, 'As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day.' While Joshua (xviii. 28) says 'Jebusi, which is Jerusalem. This is the inherit ance of the children of Benjamin according to their families.' "It is evident, then, that part of Jerusalem was on the territory of Judah and part on that of Benjamin. Even the temple itself was believed to stand partly on the lot of Judah and partly on Benjamin, so that whilst the altars, and the holy place, stood within the borders of one tribe, the courts of the temple extended into the borders of the other. Hence he was beloved of the Lord and dwelt in safety. This tribe and Judah did not apostatise as the others did. "It was an honoured tribe too, for Ehud, the second judge, and Saul, the first king, were of Benjamin; so also were Esther and Mordecai. But greater than all, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was of this tribe. "Mark how eloquent are the words of blessing on all the tribes (verses 27-29.) 'Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord,' &c. The words of blessing in these three verses are the last recorded words of Moses, the great lawgiver and great ruler, and certainly one of the noblest of men. "In tracing the history of these various tribes, and comparing it with the prophetic ; blessings of Jacob and Moses, we have fresh evidence of God's faithfulness to His promises. 'God is not a man, that He should lie neither the son of man, that he should repent. Hath He said it and will He not do it; or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?'" "I like these blessings almost as much as the story of the Kenite," said Donald, as he kissed his mother good-night, preparatory to going to bed. |