where the desert in most parts bordered upon the cultivated soil, the
limits of the several possessions could not at all times be distinctly
marked. It is well known, besides, that the native inhabitants were never
entirely expelled by the victorious Hebrews, but that they retained, in
some instances by force, and in others by treaty, a considerable portion
of land within the borders of all the tribes,--a fact which is connected
with many of the defections and troubles into which the Israelites
subsequently fell.




CHAPTER II.


_History of the Hebrew Commonwealth_.

Form of Government after the Death of Joshua; In Egypt; In the Wilderness;
Princes of Tribes and Heads of Families; Impatience to take Possession
of Promised Land; The Effects of it; Renewal of War; Extent of Holy
Land; Opinions of Fleury, Spanheim, Reland, and Lowman; Principle of
Distribution; Each Tribe confined to a separate Locality; Property
unalienable; Conditions of Tenure; Population of the Tribes; Number of
Principal Families; A General Government or National Council; The Judges;
Nature of their Authority; Not ordinary Magistrates; Different from Kings,
onsuls, and Dictators; Judicial Establishments; Judges and Officers;
Described by Josephus; Equality of Condition among the Hebrews; Their
Inclination for a Pastoral Life; Freebooters, like the Arabs; Abimelech,
Jephthah, and David; Simplicity of the Times; Boaz and Ruth; Tribe of
Levi; Object of their Separation; The learned Professions hereditary,