42 BATTLES OF THE BIBLE.

ing a cubit at half a yard, it would be one yard and a
quarter long, three quarters of a yard broad, and three
quarters of a yard high.

Johnnie. Was it made of wood ?

Grandfather. Yes, but it was overlaid with pure gold
inside and outside, and it had two rings of gold on each
side, and staves put through the rings to carry it by.

Marianne. Was there anything kept in it ?

Grandfather. There were the two tables of stone on
which the ten commandments were written by the finger
of God ; there was a golden pot full of manna, kept as a
remembrance of the way in which the Lord fed them in
the wilderness; and there was Aaron’s wonder-working
rod ; all these were kept in the ark of the covenant.

The priests, agreeably to the command given by Joshua,
moved towards the river; they walked to its very edge;
they stepped into it, and as soon as the feet of these
priests touched the edge of the water, suddenly the
channel of the river was dry, for the waters which were
coming down from the sea of Galilee stood and rose up
in a heap, so that there was none to flow into the Dead
Sea; the space of sixteen or eighteen miles of the river
was thus left dry. The priests walked into the middle
of the Jordan ; there they stood firm on dry ground till
the whole of the people had passed over in safety. Then
twelve stones were erected in Jordan, on the place where
the priests had stood, and twelve stones were taken from
that place and laid on the ground where the children
of Israel encamped that night.