2. =The Danite Migration=, related in Judges 17, 18, took place about the same time. The tribe of Dan was crowded by the Philistines into two towns, Zorah and Eshtaol. A part of the warriors went upon an expedition northward, and finding Laish, at one of the sources of the Jordan, undefended, slew its Zidonian inhabitants, and made it their home and a sanctuary of idols, under a new name, Dan. This formed the northern outpost of the land of Israel. 3. =The Civil War.= (Judges 19-21.) This was caused by a crime among the people of one city, Gibeah, whose part was taken by the entire tribe, according to the Oriental view of honor among members of a clan. It led to a war between Benjamin and the rest of the tribes, at the end of which, by the battle of Gibeah, the one tribe was almost annihilated. [Illustration: MOUNT TABOR.] II. THE OPPRESSIONS AND THE JUDGES. From the times of Joshua to those of Saul, the Israelites were ruled by men raised up to meet the needs of the hour, not by succession or appointment, but by personal character and influence. Most of them ruled over a limited region, and more than one doubtless was in authority at the same time, in different parts of the land. They were called forth by a series of _oppressions_, which were sometimes invasions by foreign tribes, and sometimes the uprising of the native peoples against their Israelite conquerors, reversing the relation for a time. The judges were, in most instances, men who led the Israelites in throwing off the yoke of these foreign races. The oppressions are generally reckoned as seven, though the third was rather an invasion than an oppression; and the judges, as fifteen in number, though several were not judges, in the strict sense of the word. 1. =The Mesopotamian Oppression= (Judges 3:1-11) was the first, occurring soon after the death of Joshua. It resulted from the conquests of a king named Chushan-rishathaim, who reigned in Mesopotamia. From the two facts, that at this period the kings of Edom had Aramean names (Gen. 36), and that the deliverer of Israel was Othniel, of the tribe of Judah, the first judge, it has been concluded that the region of this oppression was the territory of that tribe, in the southern portion of Palestine. 2. =The Moabite Oppression.= (Judges 3:12-30.) The Moabites lived south of the torrent Arnon, on the east of the Dead Sea. In alliance with the wandering Ammonites, further eastward, and the Amalekites of the desert, under their king, Eglon, they took possession of Jericho (which stood as an unwalled town), and made it the centre of rule over the central portion of the land, chiefly Benjamin and Judah. Ehud, the second judge, assassinated Eglon, and then called upon his countrymen to assemble at Mount Ephraim. A decisive battle was fought at the "Fords of Moab" (where the Israelites had crossed the Jordan on their first entrance to the land), resulting in the defeat of the Moabites and the freedom of Israel.