very eminent on both accounts. He was of great courage and
magnanimity in action and in dangers, and very sagacious in procuring
the peace of the people, and of great virtue at all proper seasons. He
was buried in the city of Timnab, of the tribe of Ephraim [9] About the
same time died Eleazar the high priest, leaving the high priesthood to
his son Phineas. His monument also, and sepulcher, are in the city of
Gabatha.

CHAPTER 2. How, After The Death Of Joshua Their Commander, The
Israelites Transgressed The Laws Of Their Country, And Experienced Great
Afflictions; And When There Was A Sedition Arisen, The Tribe Of Benjamin
Was Destroyed Excepting Only Six Hundred Men.

1. After the death of Joshua and Eleazar, Phineas prophesied, [10] that
according to God's will they should commit the government to the tribe
of Judah, and that this tribe should destroy the race of the Canaanites;
for then the people were concerned to learn what was the will of God.
They also took to their assistance the tribe of Simeon; but upon this
condition, that when those that had been tributary to the tribe of Judah
should be slain, they should do the like for the tribe of Simeon.

2. But the affairs of the Canaanites were at this thee in a flourishing
condition, and they expected the Israelites with a great army at the
city Bezek, having put the government into the hands of Adonibezek,
which name denotes the Lord of Bezek, for Adoni in the Hebrew tongue
signifies Lord. Now they hoped to have been too hard for the Israelites,
because Joshua was dead; but when the Israelites had joined battle with
them, I mean the two tribes before mentioned, they fought gloriously,
and slew above ten thousand of them, and put the rest to flight; and in
the pursuit they took Adonibezek, who, when his fingers and toes were
cut off by them, said, "Nay, indeed, I was not always to lie concealed
from God, as I find by what I now endure, while I have not been ashamed
to do the same to seventy-two kings." [11] So they carried him alive as
far as Jerusalem; and when he was dead, they buried him in the earth,
and went on still in taking the cities: and when they had taken the
greatest part of them, they besieged Jerusalem; and when they had taken
the lower city, which was not under a considerable time, they slew all
the inhabitants; but the upper city was not to be taken without great
difficulty, through the strength of its walls, and the nature of the
place.