LIB. VIII. Of the q;beoniter. 919 ---- killed1the goods and treafure confifcate to God. A&hAns booty fuewes,that City was A both ricb and proud: yet Ifracl might be no whit thebetter for them,carying away nothing but e(llpty vi<llory : and now foure other Cities muft be exempted from their pillage. Many an envious looke did Ifrael therefore caft upon thefewals ; and many bitter words did they caft out againft their Princes, the ene(llies of their gaine; whether for fwearing,or for that they would not forfweare : Bm howfoever, the Princes might have faid in a return< to their fraud, We fwore indeed ro you, but not the people:yet, if any lfraelite had but pulled downe one !lone from their wals, or filed one drop ofGibeonitifu bloud,he had no leffe plagued all Ifrael for p<rjury, then Ach•n had before plagued them for facrilcdge. The fequell fuewes how God would havetakenic:For, whenthree hundred{.eares after, s••t (perhaps forgetting B che vow of his fore-fathers) flew fome ofthe e Gibeonites, although out ofawellmeant zeale;all Ifrael fmarted for the fatl, with a three yeares famine, and chat in DAviJr raigne, who received ehis Oracle from God; It it for SaRI, •»d for his bloudJ h•u(c; '""'(<heflew 1he Giheonittt. Neither could this wrong be expiated,bur by the bloud of s.uls fC:ven fonnes, hanged upatthe very Courc-gares oftheir father. Iofhu• and the Princes had promifed them life, they promifed them not liberty: no Covenant wasgaft again(! their fervicude. It was juft therofore wich the Rulers oflfrael,co make avery the price boch oftheir lives,and their d<edt. The lfraelites hod themfclves been drudges, if the Gibeonices had nor beguiled them, and lived. The old rags thereforewherewith cheycame difguifed,muO: now be their bell: fuics, and theirlife muft be toilefomely fpenc in hewing ofwood, and drawing of water c for all Jfrad.How deare is life to our nature,rhat men can be content eo purchafe it with fenitude ~ Ic is the wifedome of Gcds childrcn eo make good ufe of their over-lights. The ralh oath of Ifrad proves their adYantage : Even wicked men gaine by rhe our-fide of good a~ions : Good men make a benefit of their finncs.
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