the narrow valley towards the east.

We went thither,

and found that the valley here breaks through a ridge, and is at first shut in by perpendicular walls of rock; then follows a more open tract; and here, at the left, fifteen minutes from Seilûn, is the fountain. The water is excellent; and issues from the rocks first into a sort of artificial well, eight or ten feet deep, and thence into a reservoir lower down. Many flocks and herds were waiting round about. In the sides of the narrow valley are many excavated tombs, now much broken away; near the fountain are also several. . .

"The position of Shiloh is very definitely described in the book of Judges, as "on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah."1 (These) circumstances correspond exactly to Seilûn ; for we were on the east of the great road between Bethel and Shechem, and in passing on towards the latter place, we came, after an hour, to the village of Lebonah, now El-Lubban. Here then was Shiloh,

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where the tabernacle was set up after the country had been subdued before the Israelites; and where the last and general division of the land was made among the tribes. The ark and tabernacle long continued here; from the days of Joshua, during the ministry of all the Judges, until the close of Eli's life; and here Samuel was dedicated to God, and his childhood spent in the sanctuary. In honour of the presence of the ark, there was a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly," during which "the daughters of Shiloh came out to dance in dances:" and it was on such an occasion, that they were seized and carried off by the remaining Benjamites as wives.2 The scene of these dances may not improbably have been somewhere around the fountain above described. From Shiloh the ark was at length removed to the army of Israel; and being captured by the Philistines, returned no more to its former place. Shiloh hence1 Judges xxi. 19-23. 2 Judges xxi. 19—23.

forth, though sometimes the residence of prophets, as of Ahijah, celebrated in the history of Jeroboam,1 is nevertheless spoken of as forsaken, and accursed of God. It is mentioned in Scripture during the exile, but not afterwards; and Jerome speaks of it in his day as so utterly in ruins, that the foundations of an altar could scarcely be pointed out.2-ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. iii. pp. 84-89.

LEBONAH. (EL-LUBBAN.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICE.

"... BEHOLD, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly, in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah." -Judges xxi. 19.

"Leaving Seilûn, we followed down the valley which takes the name of El-Lubban . . . for twenty minutes, passing a well on our left. The valley then turns west, and becomes level and fertile; the fields of millet were green and beautiful, perhaps a foot high; and here, for the first and only time, we saw people at work weeding the millet with a sort of hoe, but without loosening the earth around the plants. (In about an hour after leaving Seilûn) we were opposite the Khân El-Lubban, lying, perhaps, five minutes distant at the south end of the charming little plain into which the valley here enters, and at the foot of the mountain This khân is now in ruins ; but near by is a fine fountain of running water. From it the beautiful plain extends north... lying here deep among high rocky hills. On the slope of the mountain in the N. W. is seen the village of Lubban. (It is) considerably above the plain—is inhabited, and has the appearance of an old 11 Kings xi. 29. 2 Jer. xli. 5.

place. ...in the rocks above it are excavated sepulchres. There can be little doubt of its being the Lebonah of the old Testament, between Bethel and Shechem.

From the days of the book of Judges till the time of the crusades, I am not aware that there occurs any mention of this name or place."-ROBINSON's Researches, vol. iii. pp. 89-91.

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"AND Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land."-Genesis xii. 6.

"And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. And he bought a parcel of a field where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel."-Genesis xxxiii. 18-20.

"And . . . two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi... took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. . . The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city”. . . -Genesis xxxiv. 25, 27. (See whole chapter.)

“Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you and let us arise, and go up to Bethel ; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand . . . and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem."Genesis xxxv. 2—4.

"And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem ? Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again." So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem."—Genesis xxxvii. 12—14.

"And they appointed . . . Shechem in Mount Ephraim" (as one of the cities of refuge.)— Joshua xx. 7, xxi. 21.

"And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem ... and they presented themselves before God. . . So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem and the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they

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in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem . . . and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph."Joshua xxiv. 1, 25, 32.

"... And all the men of Shechem gathered together ... and went and made Abimelech king, by the plain (or oak) of the pillar that was in Shechem Then

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God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem . . . And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god. . . and cursed Abimelech And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem . . . And Abimelech . . . took the city . . . and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt. And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into an hold of the house of the god Berith .. And Abimelech gat him Mount Zalmon . . . and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it and laid it on his shoulder, and said unto the people that were with him . . . make haste, and do as I have done. And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women. . . And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads . . .”—Judges ix. 6, 23, 27, &c. (Read in whole chapter the account of Abimelech's cruelty, seconded by the Shechemites).

"God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth."-Psalm lx. 6, cviii. 7.

"(Jesus) left Judea, and departed... into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being