of Israel, at the waters of contradiction at Cades, and did not sanctify Me among the children of Israel." And Moses the servant of the Lord died there, in the land of Moab, by the commandment of the Lord. And He buried him in the valley of the land of Moab over against Phogor, and no man knoweth of his sepulchre to this present day.

THIRD SUBDIVISION. THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN-40 YEARS.

$38. Josue succeeds Moses.

After the mourning for the death of Moses was accomplished, the Lord spoke to Josue the minister of Moses, and said to him: "Moses my servant is dead; arise, and pass over this Jordan, thou and thy people with thee, into the land which I will give to the children of Israel. As I have been with Moses, so will I be with thee. Let not the book of the law depart from thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate on it day and night, that thou mayest observe and do all things that are written in it; then shalt thou direct thy way and understand it."

Josue assembled the people, and spoke all these words to them, and they replied: "As we obeyed Moses in all things, so will we obey thee also."

§ 39. The Faith of Rahab.

Josue now sent two men as spies to view the city of Jericho. They came into the town, and lodged at the house of a woman of the name of Rahab. The king of Jericho, hearing that spies were come to her house, sent to demand their being given up. But

ESCAPE OF THE SPIES.

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Rahab hid them, by covering them with the flax that

RAHAB LETS THE SPIES ESCAPE THROUGH THE WINDOW

was lying on the roof of her house; and answered the

king's messengers, saying: "I confess that they came to me, but I knew not whence they were. And at the time of the shutting of the gate, they went out both together: pursue after them quickly, and you will overtake them." The king's messengers accordingly pursued after them along the road leading to the fords of the Jordan. Rahab then went up to the top of the house to the two spies her guests, who were not yet asleep, and said to them: "I know that the Lord hath given this land to you, for the dread of you is fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land. have lost strength. We have heard that the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea at your going in, when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sehon and Og, whom you slew and hearing these things our heart hath fainted away; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath. Swear to me, therefore, as I have shown mercy to you, that you will save my father and mother, my brethren and sisters, and deliver their souls from death." They swore as she desired; and then she let them down with a cord, out of the window, for her house joined close to the wall. And she said: "Get you up to the mountains, lest perhaps they meet you as they return, and there lie hid three days, and so you shall go on your way." go on your way." The men did as Rahab directed, and came back to Josue, telling him all that had befallen them, and saying: "The Lord hath

St. Paul mentions Rahab as an example of faith in the power of God to fulfil His promises: "By faith Rahab perished not with the unbelievers, receiving the spies with peace." (Heb., xi., 31.)

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delivered all this land into our hands, and all the inhabitants thereof are overthrown with fear."

§ 40. The Ark of the Covenant passes the Jordan.

Josue now made a proclamation to the people: 66 'Be ye sanctified, for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you." And he said to the priests : "Take up the ark of the covenant, and go before the people." And they obeyed his commands, and took it up and walked before them. And it came to pass, as God had promised, that as soon as they came into the Jordan and their feet were dipped in part of the water which was then at the full, being harvest time, the waters that came down from above stood in one place, and those that were beneath ran down into the Dead Sea till they wholly failed. The people thus marched over against Jericho, and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, stood girded upon the dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all the people passed over the channel that was dried up.

When they were passed over, Josue commanded a memorial of their miraculous entry into Canaan to be set up. Twelve men, one of every tribe, were directed to take each a hard stone from the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark had rested in the bed of the Jordan, and to set it up in the place where they pitched their tents for the night. Josue said: "That this may be a sign among you: and when your children shall ask you in times to come, 'What mean these stones?' you shall answer them: The waters of Jordan ran off before the ark of the covenant of the

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Lord, when it passed over the same; therefore were these stones set up for a monument of the children of Israel for ever."

On the day that the children of Israel first ate of the corn of the land the manna ceased. And on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, the whole people kept the Pasch, in the plains of Jericho. The spot where the stones of memorial were set up was called