The Holy Land and the Bible; . - unprepared,Laish fell an easy prey, but that did not save it; the town was burnedto the ground, after every creature in it had been put to the sword.Foolish enough, one would think; for the destruction of the place wasso much loss of capital and labor, that needed to be at once expendedanew, and the poor citizens would have been useful at least as slaves.But antiquity knew no kindness beyond the limits of a tribe and itsallies. Strangers were enemies, to be killed like wild beasts. Theworld has made some progress since those days, thank God. Themixture of relig

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The Holy Land and the Bible; . - unprepared, Laish fell an easy prey, but that did not save it; the town was burnedto the ground, after every creature in it had been put to the sword.Foolish enough, one would think; for the destruction of the place wasso much loss of capital and labor, that needed to be at once expendedanew, and the poor citizens would have been useful at least as slaves.But antiquity knew no kindness beyond the limits of a tribe and itsallies. Strangers were enemies, to be killed like wild beasts. Theworld has made some progress since those days, thank God. Themixture of religion and ruffianism in these Danites is passing strange.On their way they had plundered Micah of his gods, which were wortha great deal of money, and had carried oft his priest, ibr they musthave religion; and, finally, while their hands were still red with themassacre of a whole population, they set up the stolen idols, and 1 Gen. xiv. 15. 2 Judg. xviii. 27—29.. Xl^Vn.] MEROM. DAK, BELFOR. 587 thought themselves safe under divine protection; especially as a de-scendant of Moses was their priest.^ A little to the west lies the village of Abil—known, in Davidstime, as Abcl-betli-Maachah—on a hill on the east side of theDerdarah, one of the tributaries of the Jordan. Here it was that theembers of revolt headed by one Sheba, a Benjamite, were stamped outby Joab, after the latter had, on his march north, basely murdered hisrival Amasa, Davids nephew, at the great stone in Gibeon, leavinghim wallowing in his blood in the midst of highway, and striding onwith the spurted blood of his victim all over him, from his girdle tohis sandals. The rams were already battering the town walls when ashrewd woman from the top of the battlements proposed to buy peaceby throwing over the head of the rebel. This done, the assailantsretired. In those days Abel-beth-Maachah was a mother in Israel, that is, so prosperous that the villages round w^ere regarded as off