By nature a martial people, cruel in war, and ambitious to be free, the children of Benjamin received that wild highland tract from the Jordan to Bethhoron, and from Jerusalem to Bethel. Here, on his impregnable heights, with a courage, an independence, a ferocity, at one time successfully resisting the combined attack of all the tribes, “Benjamin shall raven as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.”[41] The Vale of Hinnom being his southern frontier, Jerusalem originally belonged to Benjamin, but, failing to dispossess the Jebusites, it was reserved for David, with the warriors of Judah, to capture the strong-hold of Jebus, and elevate it to the dignity of an imperial city.[42] It was to this proximity to the Holy City that Moses refers in those remarkable words, “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him.” The Temple being Jehovah’s dwelling-place, “The Lord shall cover or protect Benjamin all the day long;” and as Zion represents the throne and Moses the church――God’s two shoulders――“he shall dwell between his shoulders.”[43] There is an air of freedom and an aspect of defiance about the bold, rugged summits of Benjamin; and moulded among the crags of Gibeon and Gibeah, of Ramah and Ophrah, of Geba and Michmash, and the mind partaking of the features of the place of birth, it is no marvel that this tribe gave to the nation Ehud, the judge;[44] Saul, the king;[45] Jonathan, the warrior;[46] the inflexible Mordecai,[47] the resolute Esther,[48] and the heroic Paul.[49]