DAN AND BENJAMIN. 85

Marianne. What became of the man who shewed
them the way?

Grandfather. He went to Arabia, where a colony of
the Hittites had settled themselves. There he built a
city, which he called Luz, after the one he had formerly
lived in.

Marianne. You called it Bethel, grandfather ?

Grandfather. Bethel was the name given to it by
Jacob; in memory of the vision he saw there he called
it Bethel, which means the house of God. His descen-
dants called it by the same name when it came into their
hands, but its heathen inhabitants called it Luz, which
means an almond tree. The Canaanites inhabited a
great many towns in the territory of Manasseh. The chil-
dren of Manasseh thought, perhaps, that the heathen
would retire of their own accord, but they persisted in
staying, and the degenerate sons of Joseph were too
cowardly to expel them. When the Israelites grew
strong they put the Canaanites to tribute, a plan which
shewed the feebleness of their faith and the covetousness
of their hearts. Yet some of them had not even got this
advantage over the old inhabitants of Canaan, but lived
among them, seemingly by sufferance rather than by right.
The tribe of Asher was one which permitted itself to be
treated thus, and the children of Dan were forced up into
the mountains by the Amorites, and not allowed to come
down into the valleys of their portion.

Marianne. Surely the children of Israel had not done
what was right, grandfather, or their enemies would not
have had so much power.