Footnote 273: Thus, in a despatch sent to one of the later Assyrian kings, the writer says, ‘I am a dog, a dog of the king his lord’ (Harper, _Assyrian and Babylonian Letters_, iv. p. 460). Footnote 274: Josh. xv. 49. In one of the Tel el-Amarna tablets Ebed-Tob of Jerusalem, when referring to the Khabiri or ‘Hebronites,’ speaks of Bit-Sâni, which may be the Kirjath-Sannah of the Old Testament. Winckler (_Tell el-Amarna Letters_, 185) has given a wrong translation of the passage, which is partly based on an incorrect copy of the text. The translation should be, ‘Behold Gath-Carmel has fallen to Tagi and the men of Gath. He is in Bit-Sâni, and we will bring it about that they give Labai and the land of the Sutê (Bedâwin) to the district of the Khabiri.’ Footnote 275: The determinative of ‘writing’ is attached to the word Sopher, showing that the Egyptian scribe was acquainted with its meaning. The name of Beth-Sopher (_Baitha-Thupar_) was first deciphered on the papyrus by Dr. W. Max Müller, and published in his _Asien und Europa_. Footnote 276: Not the pluperfect, as in the Authorised Version. Footnote 277: See above, p. 247. Footnote 278: The latter reading (Judg. ii. 9) is probably the more correct. The name of Timnath-heres, ‘the portion of the Sun-god,’ may have been changed to Timnath-serah, ‘the portion of abundance,’ on account of its idolatrous associations. Perhaps it is the modern Kafr Hâris, nine miles south of Shechem. CHAPTER V THE AGE OF THE JUDGES The Condition of Israel—The Destruction of the Benjamites—Story of Micah and the Conquest of Dan—Chushan-rishathaim- and Ramses III.—Office of Judge—Eglon of Moab—The Philistines—Deborah and Barak—Sisera and the Hittites—The Song of Deborah—Gideon—Kingdom of Abimelech—Jephthah—Sacrifice of his Daughter—Defeat and Slaughter of the Ephraimites—Samson—Historical Character of the Book of Judges. Israel has at last forced its way into the Promised Land. Mount Ephraim is in its hands, and it has already planted itself in other parts of Palestine. Joshua, the leader who taught it how to cross the Jordan and defeat the princes of Canaan, is dead. The age of wandering is over; the age of settlement has begun. But the age of settlement was a stormy one. The Canaanites were but partially subdued; the Israelites themselves were little better than a collection of raiding bands. They had brought with them, moreover, the nomadic habits of the desert, and were but little inclined to rebuild the cities which they had so ruthlessly destroyed. And in almost every direction they were encircled by enemies, better organised, better armed, or more numerous than themselves, who from time to time succeeded in overrunning their fields and reducing them to subjection. The tribes who had dreamed of conquering Canaan found themselves, instead, the prey of others.