l!eparo.ted from the last word of the previous rently a lasting place in Judnh (Judg. i.16), ,•erse. rhe families of the soribes is Jinked while Saul was careful to urge them to save on by the conjunction and (which has themselves when he was about to smite the coupled the former sons of Salm& also two ;Amalekites (l 8nm: xv. 6). '!'hough nothing and two) with '' the Zorites." This sixth 1s known of the lmk of connection given set of descendant.s from Sa.Ima is exhibited here in the nnme Hemath (of which the to us in the shape of a trio of scribe Vulgate gives the rendering, Qui ve11er1111t families, the heads of which will have heen, de celose patris), yet the house of the presumably, Tira, Shimea, and Suchah. They Rechabites is well known (2 Kings x. 15, are said to have dwelt at .Tabez, a place not 23; Jer. xxxv. 2, 5, 18; and cf. 2 Sam. iv. &SCert.ained; and scarcely to be put into con- 2, particularly 3). 3. In ver. 51 Hareph nection with the Jabez of eh. iv. 9. The (ElJ,';) only here; though El'."1v, found Neh. Vulgnte has trans/,ated the names of these vii. 24; x. 20; Ezrn ii. 18, may possibly be three families : Canentea et resonantes et connected with it. There is nothing further in tabernaculis commorantes ; " and Ber- said of any people derived from him except theau advocates the interpretation. 'fhese that he was father of lleth-gader. The families, it appears, were not purely of identification of this place is not certain. Judah; but very interesting it is that, Gesenius thinks it perhaps the Bllme with though of the people whose land and pos- Gederah (Josh. xv. 36), but it is moro isessions were to yield to the descendants of probably the Gedor of some chapter (fifty. Abraham (Gen. xv. 18-21), yet friendship eighth verse), on the ro11d between Hebron and intermarriage had found them appa- and Jerusalem.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS, Vers. 1-55.-The human family. These verses present a series of family pictures; they remind us that "God setteth the solitary in families" (Ps. lxviii. 6). By thus ordering human life he has provided for the maximum of happiness and of spiritual well-being. We are reminded of- I. ITS VARIOUS RELATIONSHIPS. Here we have husband and wife, father and mother, son and daughter, brother and sister. How excellent is God's loving-kindness in thus binding our hearts and lives together in such happy and sacred bonds, refining our souls and multiplying our joys! II. ITs VARIOUS DISPOSITIONS. In some cases we have parents and children com- plete; in others, parents without children at all (ver. 30); in others, daughters without sons; in others, sons without daughters; in another case a child born after its father's death (ver. 24); in another a servant elevated to e. son-in-law (ver. 35). What almost endless va1ieties there are in the circumstances and relations in which our family lifo is found I III. ITS PRICELESS ADVANTAGE TO OUR RACE. 1. It is the guardian of a nation's purity ; the morals of a people are high or low as it respects or disregards the family bond. 2. It shields young life from the perils by which it would otherwise be cor- rupted. 3. It calls forth from maturity the best virtues which manhood and womau- hood can show. Vile are thus led to- IV. THE DISCIPiINE IT PROVIDES FOR EACH STAGE OF LIFE. 1. In childhood it nurtures obedience, submission. 2. In youth, industry, concession. 3. In young man- hood, hardihood; in young womanhood, delicacy of feeling. 4. In maturity, pntience, self-command, unselfishness, mutual concession, intercessory prayer. V. ITS DEARING ON HUMAN PIETY. We could not have known and trusted and loved God as our heavenly Father, but for human parentage; we could not have learned how to cultivate the right spirit for reception into and acceptance within the kingdom, but for human childhood (Matt. xviii. 2); we could not have known how best to regard our fellows and feel toward them, but for human brotherhood (Matt. xxiii. 8).-C. Ver. 7.-A transqressor and troubler. In most instances in the genealogies of this book the names of the successive members of the families of Israel o.re mentioned with~ut remark. But now and then a memorable personage is named, and some trait of l,is character, some incident in his life, is recorded, or rather referred to, by the chrouicler. This is the case eveu when the record is one of shame and infamy. So ii; it ,YiLb Acban. dll, II. 1-65.] THE FIRS1' BOOK Ol<' Tt1E CHRONICLES.