BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 169

the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul,
Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of
Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought
up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meho-
lathite:

And he delivered them into the hands of
the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the
hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven
together, and were put to death in the days of
harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of
barley harvest.

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sack-
cloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from
the beginning of harvest until water dropped
upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither
the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor
the beasts of the field by night.

In order to understand this romantic story we must go
back to the time of Joshua and the early days of Israel.
Shortly after the memorable conquest of Jericho and Ai, the
inhabitants of Gibeon became alarmed. The victorious march
of Joshua and the children of Israel filled them with such
terror that they were afraid for their very lives, and ready
to come to almost any terms to save themselves. If you
will turn to the ninth chapter of the book of Joshua, you will
see what a set of miserable cowards they were. There was
to be a great defensive battle. The original possessors of
the land were not disposed to give up the land of their
birth without a struggle. Nor can we blame them. Say
what we may, it was a hard thing for them to be driven
from their native land, even to make way for the Lord’s
chosen people. ‘The native tribes resolved upon making a
grand united effort to maintain their ground. Undaunted by
the fall of the walls of Jericho and the destruction of Ai,
the clans gathered, “the Hittite and the Amorite, the
Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite,