PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 j Shelf. ■■ Xianbei 
 
 Dh-isim ., Ji. ^ . ). .1 . J / 
 
r^' 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY OF JOSHUA 
 
 VIEWED IN 
 
 CONNECTION WITH THE TOPOGRAPHY OF CANAAN, 
 
 AND THE CUSTOMS OF THE TIMES IN 
 
 WHICH HE LIVED. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. THORNLEY SMITH, 
 
 ACTHOR OF 'THE HISTORY OF JIOSES,' ETC. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, 
 
 42 BLEECKER STREET. 
 
 1875. 
 
MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBURGH, 
 PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, 
 
PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 Since tlie publication of the First Edition of this work, several 
 attacks have been made on some of the Historical Books of 
 the Old Testament, and especially on the Pentateuch and the 
 Books of Joshua. But these books have stood the test, and it 
 may be safely affirmed that they rest upon as firm a basis as 
 ever, and one from which future criticism will not remove them. 
 In the Keil and DeHtzsch series of translations, pubhshed 
 by the Messrs. Clark, another Commentary on Joshua has 
 appeared, similar in character to the larger work to which 
 frequent reference is made in these pages. The writer says: 
 "Even if the Book of Joshua was not composed till some time 
 after the events recorded (and the authorship cannot be deter- 
 mined with certainty), this does not affect its historico-jproijlietic 
 character^ for both the contents and form of the book show it to 
 be an independent and simple work, composed with historical 
 fidehty, and a work which is as thoroughly pervaded with the 
 spirit of the Old Testament revelation as the Pentateuch itself," 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 On the standing still of the sun, the writer makes no reference 
 to Keil's interpretation in the larger work, but speaks of it as 
 an optical stoppage of the sun, or rather a continuance of the 
 visibility of the sun above the horizon, by celestial phenomena 
 which are altogether unknown to us, or to naturalists in general. 
 I confess, however, that I still lean to the view given in this 
 volume ; nor do I see any reason for alteration in other parti- 
 culars of importance. The work is re-issued with the hope that 
 it will still commend itself to the judgment of careful readers of 
 the word of God, and be found a help in the study of this 
 portion of inspired Scripture. 
 
 T. S. 
 
 Octoler 28, 1869. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 A History of Joshua must necessarily differ in many respects 
 from a Commentary on the Book of Joshua. It will be seen, 
 however, that this volume comprises such explanations of each 
 chapter of that book as to render it almost as valuable as a 
 commentary, and to the general reader it will perhaps be more 
 attractive in this form than it would have been in another. The 
 utmost care has been bestowed on its preparation, and all avail- 
 able helps have been made use of; yet it has not been written 
 amidst learned leisure, but amidst numerous ministerial duties, 
 often in hours stolen from recreation and rest. 
 
 Our language contains but few works on the subject. The 
 Commentaries of Calvin and of Keil, which have been translated 
 into it, and the Notes of Bush, an American writer, are the 
 principal. It cannot, then, be said that such a work as this is 
 uncalled for ; the only question will be, whether it supplies the 
 desideratum felt. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 Among the old folios of the seventeenth century, is a work 
 by Thomas Fuller, entitled 'A Pisgah Sight of Palestine and the 
 Confines thereof.' This work, which is now somewhat scarce, 
 professes to give a geographical account of the Holy Land, and 
 is illustrated by a number of curiously-executed maps. Con- 
 sidering its date, it is a remarkable book, and it is full of the 
 quaint observations for which its author was so celebrated. But 
 it furnishes a striking contrast with modern works on the sub- 
 ject ; and the comparison shows how great an advancement has 
 been made in recent times in the knowledge of the geography of 
 the land of Canaan. Fuller's work has suggested to the author 
 some valuable thoughts. 
 
 It has very recently been observed, that the close, microscopic 
 examination of the Eook of Life is daily bringing its secret 
 beauties into clearer light. There are some readers of that 
 book, however, who care very little for its secret beauties ; and 
 as for its topography and antiquities, they never trouble them. 
 For anything they know of the physical character of Palestine, 
 the events of which it was the theatre might have taken place in 
 America or in Japan ; and, as a necessary consequence of their 
 ignorance, they have no vivid picture before them of the scenes 
 depicted in the Bible, and are quite unable to understand many 
 of its allusions. For such readers a work like the present will 
 have no attnactions, and the probability is, that, if they open it at 
 all, it will soon weary them. But there is another class of Bible 
 readers — and it is believed that the number is constantly increas- 
 ing — who deem nothing that the Holy Spirit has thought proper 
 to place on the pages of inspiration unimportant, even though 
 
PREFACE. VU 
 
 it be only a genealogical table, or a list of towns and cities. 
 For Bible readers of this class, the author has written, with the 
 hope of affording them a little help to the better understanding 
 of this portion of the Word of God. He has not written for the 
 learned, but for inquirers, he being but an inquirer himself, and 
 glad to avail himself of all such aids as are furnished by others, 
 of whatever name. Critical remarks he has introduced but 
 seldom; historical and topographical inquiries he has entered 
 into with some minuteness. It will be found that, for the sake 
 of clearness, and to prevent the necessity of referring the reader 
 back to a previous page, a topographical statement has occasion- 
 ally been repeated. It has been thought best to quote, in most 
 instances in which they are referred to, the words of Robinson 
 and other travellers, rather than to give the substance of what 
 they say, that so the reader who has not access to their works 
 may have the benefit of their own remarks. 
 
 As no special reference is made in the body of this work to 
 the Authorship of the Book of Joshua, it is desirable that the 
 question should be considered here. Neology has done its 
 utmost to prove that the work is fragmentary, and that it was 
 written by different persons, and at different times. But the 
 shafts of its criticisms have been turned aside; for it is abundantly 
 evident, as Keil and others have shown, that the book consists 
 of three portions only : the first, chap. i. to xii., containing an 
 account of the conquest of Canaan ; the second, chap. xiii. to 
 xxi., an account of its partition among the tribes of Israel ; and 
 the third, chap. xxii. to xxiv., a narrative of the return of the 
 Reubenites to their possessions, and of the last days and death 
 
Vlii .PREFACE. 
 
 of Joshua. Nor can any unprejudiced mind, especially after 
 reading Keil's introduction, entertain a doubt either as to the 
 unity of the work, or as to its early date. Havernick is of 
 opinion that the first half of it was written by Joshua himself; 
 and, though Keil doubts this, there is very much to be said in 
 its favour. It is highly probable that Joshua, following the 
 example of Moses, his illustrious predecessor, would write a 
 history of the conquest in some form or other ; and that he did 
 write something, is expressly stated in chap. xxiv. 26. It is 
 true that, in the first part of the book, the expression, * unto this 
 day,' several times occurs — chap. iv. 9, v. 9, vi. 25, vii. 26, etc., — 
 as it also does in the second part of the book ; a fact which 
 seems to intimate, that the first part of the book must have 
 been written after Joshua's death. It is remarkable, however, 
 that Joshua makes use of this phrase when addressing the 
 Reubenites, chap. xxii. 3, 17, xxiii. 8, 9 ; and though in these 
 passages it bears a somewhat different sense, yet, as he Hved 
 several years after the conquest, he may very well have used it in 
 the sense in which it occurs in chap. iv. 9, where it is said of the 
 stones set up in the Jordan, that ' they are there unto this day ;' 
 and in chap. vi. 25, where of Eahab it is said, ' she dwelleth in 
 Israel unto this day.' Both these passages, and especially the 
 latter, are surely decisive against the opinion that the book was 
 written even as late as the times of Saul ; and hence, if Joshua 
 himself was not the author of it, or of any portion of it,- in its 
 present form^ he must have left materials for it; for who but him- 
 self could have furnished the accounts he gives of his interviews 
 with the Lord Jehovah, chap. i. 1-9, v. 13-15, etc. ? And it must 
 
PKEFACE. ix 
 
 have been compiled from such materials, and others possessed 
 by the writer, within a few years after Joshua's death. Calvin 
 ascribed it to Eleazar, Lightfoot to Phinehas, and Keil to one 
 of the elders who outlived Joshua. The latter view meets all the 
 necessities of the case, and is, on the whole, the most satisfactory. 
 What more probable than that one of these elders, spared for 
 some years after the death of Joshua, and well acquainted with 
 the events which appear to have taken place subsequent to 
 Joshua's death — as the capture of Hebron, of Debir, and of 
 Leshem — would be led by the Holy Spirit to place the entire 
 history of Joshua on permanent record, for the instruction of 
 succeeding generations ? It would have been strange if this had 
 not been done ; and we can no more conceive that the events of 
 these times were left for several generations to the uncertainty of 
 tradition, than that those of the times of Moses were so left. 
 
 But there is a class of critics in this country who, following 
 in the wake of Ewald and others, of the German school of 
 Rationalists, are determined, if possible, to get rid of the histo- 
 rical books of the Old Testament, and who hold that both the 
 Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua were compiled from ancient 
 documents, and especially from two, called respectively the 
 Elohistic documents, and the Jehovistic; and, moreover, that 
 these books did not assume their present form until a short time 
 before the captivity of the Jews in Babylon! Any one must 
 see that, if this theory is correct, but very little dependence can 
 be placed on the historical accuracy of these works ; and, indeed, 
 it is the object of the writers referred to, to prove this. What 
 success have they met with ? In Germany their theory has been 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 long since exploded ; and, though it is still thrust forward before 
 the eyes of the British public, its fate is sealed, as may be seen 
 from the able and unanswerable work of the Rev. D. Macdonald 
 — ' Introduction to the Pentateuch' — recently issued from the 
 press of Messrs Clark of Edinburgh. A more thorough work 
 on the subject has not appeared either in this country or in any 
 other ; it is one of the most valuable contributions to our Theo- 
 logical Literature of recent date, and will, no doubt, operate as 
 an antidote to much of the poison which has lately come forth 
 from higher quarters. 
 
 The usual objections to the authenticity of the Book of 
 Joshua are referred to in the following pages. Its place in the 
 Jewish Canon has never been disputed, and there are several 
 references to it, as to a well-known work, in the Scriptures of 
 the New Testament: Acts vii. 45 ; Heb. xi. 30, 31 ; James ii. 
 25. Some editions of the Septuagint contain the following 
 passage at the close of the book :— ' In that day the children of 
 Israel took the ark of God, and carried it about among them : 
 and Phineas became priest instead of Eleazar his father, until 
 he died, and he was buried in Gabaar, his own place. But 
 the children of Israel departed every one to their own place, 
 and to their own city. And the children of Israel worshipped 
 Astarte, and Astaroth, and the gods of the nations round about 
 them ; and the Lord gave them into the hands of Eglon, king 
 of Moab, and he reigned over them eighteen years.* But this 
 passage has no authority, and is evidently made up from Judges 
 ii. 12-14, iii. 7-12. 
 
 The present volume completes the series of three Scripture 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 Biographies — Joseph, Moses, Joshua — which the Author con 
 templated. He acknowledges with gratitude the kind reception 
 given to the two former, especially beyond his own section of 
 the Church ; and should the third be deemed worthy of an 
 equal measure of attention, he will venture to hope that he has 
 done something, though but little, towards the elucidation of these 
 eventful histories. There are other Old Testament Biographies 
 which require similar treatment, especially those of Daniel, 
 Queen Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah ; but whether providential 
 circumstances will permit the Author of this series to deal with 
 them, the future must decide. 
 
 Bolton. Feb. 10, 1802. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Pagk 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Joshua the Minister of Moses, ..... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Joshua the Successor of Moses, . . . . .18 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 The Spies sent to Jericho, . . . . . .33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Passage of the Jordan, . . . . .50 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Siege of Jericho, . . . . . .67 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Sin and Punishment of Achan, . . . .85 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 The Destruction of Ai, . . . . . .101 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 The Gibegnites, ....... 119 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Defeat of the Five Kings, . . . . .136 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 FdRTHER Victories, . . . . . . . £56 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 The Inheritance of Caleb, , . . . . .174 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Lot of Judah and Benjamin, . . . . .187 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 The Lot of Simeon and Dan, . . . . . 200 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Lot of Ephraim and Manasseh, .... 213 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The Lot of Issachar and Zebulun, .... 226 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Lot of Naphtali and Asher, ..... 237 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 The Levitical Cities and the Cities of Refuge, . . 247 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIL 
 The Last Years and Death of Joshua, . . . . . 264 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Vignette Title. 
 
 Pagb 
 
 Moses and Joshua in the Tabernacle, 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Bashan, .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 House on the Wall, 
 
 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 Memorial Stones, 
 
 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 Jericho, .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 67 
 
 Casting Dust on the Head, . 
 
 
 
 
 
 85 
 
 Ebal and Gerizim, 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 101 
 
 Hewers of Wood, 
 
 
 
 
 
 119 
 
 Valley of Ajalon, 
 
 
 
 
 
 136 
 
 Sidon, .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 156 
 
 Hebron, Lower Pools, 
 
 
 
 
 
 174 
 
 Defile between Jerusalem and Jericho, 
 
 
 
 
 
 187 
 
 Joppa, 
 
 
 
 
 
 200 
 
 Joseph's Tomb, 
 
 
 
 
 
 213 
 
 Mount Tabor, . . • = 
 
 
 
 
 
 226 
 
 Sea of Galilee, 
 
 
 
 
 
 237 
 
 Hebron, .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 247 
 
 Joshua's Last Charge to Israel, 
 
 
 
 
 
 264 
 
MOSES AND JOSHUA IN THE TABEBNACLB. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 JOSHUA THE MINISTER OF MOSES. 
 
 ^N writing the life of any man of eminence, the biographer 
 seldom fails, if he possesses the requisite materials, to 
 commence with some account of the parentage, the 
 birth, and the childhood of his hero ; while upon the events of 
 his boyhood, and the circumstances under which his mental 
 powers began to be developed, he usually dwells with very special 
 interest. And if, as a poet of our own has said, ' the child is 
 
2 JOSHUA THE MINISTER OF MOSES. 
 
 father of the man,' this is but natural, for every one is gratified 
 in being able to trace the story of a life to its source ; and to 
 study the connection between the boyhood and the manhood of 
 an illustrious individual, is often both a pleasant ^nd an instruc- 
 tive task. 
 
 But of the early lives of some great men we know next to 
 nothing. Like the sources of some of the grandest rivers, they 
 are wrapped in obscurity and mist. How little, for instance, 
 do we know of the boyhood of our great dramatist, WilKam 
 Shakespeare ! Beyond the fact that he was born at Stratford- 
 upon-Avon, April 23, 1564, the notices which have come down 
 to us of his early life — that he received his education at the 
 Free Grammar School of Stratford, that he was bound appren- 
 tice by his father to a butcher, and that whilst comparatively a 
 young man he became a schoolmaster in the country — are but 
 traditional and uncertain ; and hence the great secret of the 
 spring and origin of his power remains to this day unexplained. 
 
 Such is the case with respect to Joshua, the faithful minister 
 and the vahant successor of Moses, the deliverer and lawgiver 
 of the Israelites. We were able to begin the History of Moses 
 with an account of his birth, of his infancy, and of his early perils 
 and deliverances ; but the very first notice in the Bible of Joshua 
 is as the victorious commander of the Israelites in the battle 
 fought with Amalek.^ Thus suddenly does he step forth on the 
 great theatre of life, fully armed, like Minerva from the head of 
 Jupiter ; and respecting his early days we can gather but a few 
 incidental facts. 
 
 He was a descendant of Joseph through his younger son 
 Ephraim ;' and it is somewhat remarkable that his pedigree is 
 preserved in the First Book of Chronicles in a more perfect form 
 than that of any of his contemporaries.^ If the genealogical 
 tables of that book are genuine — and there is no reason to sup- 
 
 » Ex. xvii. 8-16. - 1 Chron. vii. 20-27. 
 
THE TIME OF HIS BIRTH. 6 
 
 pose them otherwise — loetween Ephraim and Joshua there were 
 eighteen generations, — a fact to which we referred in a former 
 work as one proof, among others, of the lengthened sojourn of 
 the Israehtes in Egypt.^ Bertheau and Kurtz, however, read 
 the passage thus : — ' The sons of Ephraim are Shuthelah, and 
 his son Bered, and his son Tahath, and his son Eladah, and his 
 son Shuthelah, and Ezer and Elead. And the men of Gath that 
 were born in that land slew them (Ezer and Elead), for they 
 had gone down to take their cattle : and their father Ephraim 
 mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him. 
 And he went in to his wife, and she conceived and bare a son, 
 and called his name Beriah, for it went evil with his house.' 
 Supposing the correctness of this explanation, Ephraim was the 
 father of Beriah, and between Ephraim and Joshua there were 
 ten generations, namely, Ephraim, Beriah, Rephah, Kesheph, 
 Telah, Tahan, Laadan, Ammihud, Elishama, and Nun. But on 
 a very moderate calculation these ten generations are amply 
 sufficient to fill up the 430 years of the sojourn in Egypt, and 
 our former conclusion on that point remains, therefore, un- 
 .disturbed.2 
 
 There is every reason to suppose that Joshua was born in the 
 land of Goshen ; and it is not improbable that his father was one 
 of Pharaoh's slaves, and was subject to the lash of the Egyptian 
 taskmasters. The year of Joshua's birth is uncertain ; but if we 
 suppose, with Jewish chronologers, that he lived in Canaan 
 twenty-seven years after its conquest, we must infer that at the 
 time of the Exodus he was forty-three ; for he lived forty years in 
 the wilderness, and at his death he was a hundred and ten years 
 old. Now, according to the Hebrew chronology, the year of the 
 Exodus was 1491 b.c, and 43 added to 1491 is 1534, whence it 
 follows that this was the year of Joshua's nativity. At the time 
 
 » ' The History of Joseph,' p. 173. 
 
 ' See Kurtz on 'the Old Covenant,' vol. ii., p. 178. Clark. 
 
4 JOSHUA THE MINISTER OF MOSES. 
 
 of the Exodus Moses was eighty years of age, so that Joshua was 
 thirty-seven years younger than he ; and as Moses was upwards 
 of forty years of age^ when he fled into the land of Midian, 
 Joshua was at that time an infant three years old. 
 
 It was, then, during the period of the residence of Moses in a 
 strange land that Joshua grew up to youth and manhood, — a 
 period this of great sorrow and affliction to the Israelites, for 
 then it was that they were greatly oppressed, and ' sighed by 
 reason of their bondage, and cried.' As Joshua, or, as he was 
 then called, Hoshea,^ became old enough to understand the 
 nature of things, his father Nun, and perhaps his mother too, 
 though she is nowhere mentioned, would relate to him the history 
 and fortunes of their people, and would tell him, especially, 
 of Joseph, their own illustrious ancestor. In their custody, 
 probably, was Joseph's mummy, standing upright in its case in 
 some corner of their dwelling ; and pointing to it, they would 
 say to the boy, — ' We are now an enslaved and afflicted people, 
 but ere Joseph, our great progenitor, died, he said, " God will 
 surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land 
 which He sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and ye 
 shall carry up my bones from hence." ^ And see! his bones are in 
 that cofiBn, waiting for the day when our bonds shall be broken 
 asunder, and our liberty proclaimed.' And oh ! how the youth 
 would exult in the prospect, and how ready he would be to take 
 the oath of fidelity to Joseph, which had probably been taken by 
 all Joseph's descendants ! * On Joshua, if his father had died in 
 Egypt, would have devolved the task of taking charge of Joseph's 
 mummy ; but as his grandfather Elishahia was alive at the time 
 of the Exodus,^ it is probable that his father Nun was alive 
 also. Yet a high honour would Joshua deem it to take any part 
 in the preservation of that treasure, and the constant sight of it 
 
 » Acts vii. 30. - Num. xiii. 16. » Gen 1. 24. 
 
 ♦ Gen. 1. 25. ' See Num. i. 10. 
 
ELISHAMA AND NUN. 5 
 
 would inspire his mind with hope. He would hear, too, from 
 the lips of his parents and his friends the remarkable story of 
 Jochebed and her son ; of Moses' refusal to become the son of 
 Pharaoh's daughter ; and of his flight from Egypt, they knew 
 not whither. And what would be his joy when, having arrived 
 at man's estate, he heard one day that this same Moses had 
 returned, bearing a commission from the God of Israel to demand 
 of Pharaoh the liberation of the tribes ! His father Nun (or his 
 grandfather EHshama) was probably one of the elders to whom 
 Moses and Aaron announced the fact of their commission, and 
 Joshua would doubtless receive the intelligence with the highest 
 satisfaction. Nor would the long delay shake his confidence in 
 the promises of God. He would hear of the interviews of Moses 
 with Pharaoh, and he would witness the plagues which desolated 
 the land ; and when, at length, the night of the deliverance came, 
 he would partake, with the family of which he was a member, of 
 the paschal lamb ; and, in a dwelling, the door-posts of which 
 were sprinkled with its blood, would wait the signal which pro- 
 claimed them free. That signal was soon given. A great cry 
 was heard in Egypt ; for there was not a house in which there 
 was not one dead. The pride of Pharaoh was humbled ; the 
 might of the oppressor was destroyed ; all was ready, and pre- 
 sently the tribes were on their march to Rameses, where probably 
 they were organized for their future journeys. 
 
 The tribe of Ephraim, to which Joshua belonged, occupied, 
 at a subsequent period of the march, the seventh place in the 
 order of the tribes, and was immediately preceded by the 
 Kohathites bearing the sanctuary.-^ This was probably its posi- 
 tion from the first ; and from the first, EHshama, the grandfather 
 of Joshua, was at its head.^ Where, then, was Joshua himself 
 but with his honoured grandsire, commanding, under him, a 
 division of the tribe, which numbered no less than forty thousand 
 
 ^ See Num. x. 21, 22. 2 Num. x. 22. 
 
6 , JOSHUA THE MINISTER OF MOSES. 
 
 and fi^e hundred ? ^ Strong, vigorous, and heroic, he was pre- 
 pared to contend with the difficulties of the journey, and was 
 perhaps often seen encouraging the faint-hearted, and cheering 
 the more feeble of the tribe. A wise commander never places 
 an untried soldier in a position of extraordinary difficulty ; and 
 we may be sure, therefore, that ere Moses summoned Joshua to 
 choose out men and to fight with Amalek, he had had ample 
 proof of his bravery and skill. Does a young man aspire to 
 some post of honour in the great battle-field of life ? He must 
 show himself worthy of it by faithfully discharging the duties of 
 the station he already occupies. Mere drones can never be 
 entrusted with the leadership of an enterprise. Joshua was 
 already a man of mark, or he would not have been chosen to the 
 command of the army which was to conquer the Amalekites. 
 The Jew Philo calls Joshua ' the friend and pupil' of Moses ; 
 and says that he ' lived with him under the same roof, and shared 
 the same table with him ;' and that he ' performed other services 
 for him in which he was distinguished from the multitude, being 
 almost his lieutenant, and regulating, with him, the matters re- 
 lating to his supreme authority.' ^ Whether this was the case or 
 not, one thing is certain, that Moses had the most perfect con- 
 fidence in Joshua, and knew him to be a valiant soldier, worthy 
 to be entrusted with this most important enterprise. 
 
 Nor did Joshua disappoint the expectations of his friend. 
 As Moses made choice of him to take the command of the army, 
 so did he himself make choice of others to compose that army ; 
 and, with a number of picked men in whom he could confide, he 
 rushed forward, sword in hand, to meet the first enemies of the 
 Israelites in the wilderness. On a lofty hill in Horeb sat Moses, 
 with uplifted hands, from morning until sunset, watching the 
 fierce onset of the wild Arab horde ; ' and it came to pass, 
 when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed ; and when 
 
 » Num. i. 33. 2 py^Q < 0,1 Hamanity/ ii. 
 
THE BATTLE WITH AMALEK. 7 
 
 he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.' We have elsewhere 
 represented the upHfted hands of Moses as the sign of prayer ; 
 but Kurtz entertains another view, which is perhaps worthy of 
 attention. ' The attitude of Moses was rather that of a com- 
 mander, superintending and directing the battle. This is evident 
 from the simple fact, that the elevation of the hand was only a 
 means ; the raising of the staff, which was held up before the 
 warriors of Israel as the signal of victory, was really the end. It 
 was not to implore the assistance of Jehovah that the hand and 
 the staff were raised, but to assure the Israelites of the help of 
 Jehovah, and serve as the medium of communication. It was 
 not a sign for Jehovah, but for Israel : it was rather a sign/ro??i 
 Jehovah, of whom Moses was the representative. So long, there- 
 fore, as the warriors could see the staff of God lifted up, by which 
 so many miracles had already been wrought, their faith was re- 
 plenished with divine power, inspiring confidence and ensuring 
 victory ; and they became strong to smite Amalek in the name 
 of the Lord.' 1 
 
 We must suppose, then, that the hill on which Moses sat 
 was behind the Amalekites, and right in front of Joshua and his 
 band. But the hands of Moses were heavy, and now and then 
 the rod dropped, in spite of his utmost efforts to hold it up. 
 Aaron and Hur, therefore, ' stayed up his hands, the one on the 
 one side, and the other on the other ;'- and then Joshua's forces 
 were encouraged, and, though the battle was severe, and lasted 
 until the going down of the sun, the victory was at length won, 
 and the enemy was put to jQight. 
 
 That was an eventful day in the history of Joshua. Accord- 
 ing to the above representation of the case, Moses was, in one 
 sense, the commander of the army, but Joshua was in fact its 
 leader, and to Joshua belonged, in great part, the honour of the 
 victory. Had he been timid, faint-hearted, and fearful, the 
 
 » ' History of the Old Covenant,' vol. iii. 51, 52. 2 ^x. xvii. 8-13. 
 
O JOSHUA THE MINISTER OF JVIOSES. 
 
 Amalekites would have smitten his forces to the ground ; but he 
 led on his followers with the bravery of a true hero, inspired 
 them with confidence, and thus won the day. 
 
 When David won his first victory — the victory over Goliath, 
 the champion of the PhiUstines — the women of Israel came out 
 with instruments of music, and sang in praise of the youthful 
 hero, with exulting joy ; and when, in later times, our own illus- 
 trious commander, Wehington, as Colonel Wellesley, gained his 
 first victory — the battle of Assaye — he returned to England as 
 a Knight of the Bath, and was everywhere received with the 
 highest honours. Was no honour done to Joshua by the hosts 
 of Israel ? were no songs chanted in his praise by the females of 
 the tribe of Ephraim? The sacred narrative is silent on these 
 points, but we may be sure that some demonstrations of gladness 
 would be witnessed in the camp ; and, that the event might not 
 be forgotten, Moses was commanded to write it for a memorial 
 in a book, and to rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, inasmuch as, 
 on account of Amalek's unprovoked attack upon His people, God 
 had determined to put out his remembrance from under heaven.^ 
 jEHOVAH-nissi, said Moses, as he built an altar on the spot, — 
 ' The Lord is my banner ;' and to Amalek's ultimate destruction 
 he looked forward with confidence and hope. 
 
 From that day Joshua would become dearer to him than 
 ever. He had proved himself worthy of the confidence reposed 
 in him, and Moses felt assured that in him he had a friend on 
 whom he would ever be able to rely. We are not surprised, 
 therefore, to find, that when Moses went up into the mount of 
 God, Joshua accompanied him, and that he went farther than 
 even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu ; for they were evidently left 
 behind, whilst Moses and Joshua proceeded towards the summit.^ 
 Yet into the midst of the cloud— into the presence chamber of 
 Jehovah — Moses went alone, leaving Joshua, as it were, to watch 
 
 ' Ex. i-vii. 14; Num. xxiv. 20: Deut. xxv. 19. * Ex^ xxiv. 13, U. 
 
THE AID-DE-CAMP. 9 
 
 and wait until he returned. And watch and wait he did durinf>" 
 the whole period of Moses' absence, sustained miraculously, as 
 was Moses himself ; for no intimation is given that he returned 
 to the camp, but, on the contrary, when Moses was descending 
 with the tables of stone in his hand, there was Joshua still in the 
 mount ; and, hearing the noise of the people as they shouted on 
 the plain below, he said unto Moses, ' There is a noise of war 
 in the camp/ Alas ! no ; it was worse than that. Moses had 
 already learnt from God, what Joshua had not, that the people 
 had made the molten calf, and were worshipping it ; and he 
 replied, ' It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, 
 neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome ; but 
 the noise of them that sing do I hear.'^ How would the noble- 
 minded Joshua grieve at this intelligence ! To him, as well as to 
 Moses, that scene of revelry and mirth would, as they approached 
 it, appear most revolting, and he would almost wish that he had 
 been in the camp to remonstrate against an act so foolish. But 
 there were probably other remonstrants there, for the Levites 
 had not yielded to the tempter's power ; and they, led perhaps by 
 Joshua, were now called to execute summary justice on the people. 
 Joshua is designated the minister of Moses, — a word which 
 signifies servant or attendant, and which, in military language, 
 would be expressed by aid- de-camp. Never, perhaps, did any one 
 fulfil the duties of such an office more honourably ; never, per- 
 haps, was any one more truly a helper to the general under whom 
 he served. Upon the fidehty and heroism of an aid-de-camp has 
 the result of many a momentous conflict been suspended ; and 
 in how many instances Moses found Joshua of essential service 
 to him in the numerous difficulties he met with in the wilderness, 
 who can tell ? Joshua never betrayed his trust ; and, as in 
 modern times a faithful aid-de-camp has sometimes, after the 
 death of his commander, succeeded to the generalship of the 
 
 » Ex. xxxii. 17, 18. 
 
10 JOSHUA THE MINISTER OF MOSES. 
 
 army, so Joshua was ultimately called to fill the place of his 
 illustrious guide and friend. 
 
 When the tabernacle had been set up in the wilderness, the 
 princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, brought 
 their offerings to the Lord ; and among them came Ehshama the 
 son of Ammihud, prince of the children of Ephraim ; and his 
 offering was ' one silver charger, the weight whereof was an 
 hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, 
 after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour 
 mingled with oil, for a meat-ofeing : one golden spoon of ten 
 shekels, full of incense : one young bullock, one ram, one lamb of 
 the first year, for a burnt-offering : one kid of the goats for a 
 sin-offering : and for a sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five 
 rams, five he-goats, five lambs of the first year. This was the 
 offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud.'^ Was Joshua stand- 
 ing by, as his worthy grandsire brought these gifts to the door 
 of the tabernacle ? or did he himself assist in their presentation ? 
 That he took some part in the ceremony we cannot doubt ; and 
 happy would he be to witness the imposing scene, and to help 
 his aged relative in the task. The offerings of all the princes 
 were alike, and very valuable they must have been ; but God had 
 first given unto them, ere they left the land of Egypt, and of His 
 own only did they render to Him again. But very beautiful must 
 have been the sight, as, for twelve successive days, the twelve 
 princes of the people came to Moses, accompanied, no doubt, by 
 many of the elders of their respective tribes, bringing those gifts 
 for the service of the sanctuary ; and very gratifying would it be 
 to all concerned — and to Joshua no less than to others — to see 
 their offerings accepted, and to know that Jehovah deigned to 
 confer on His people the honour of contributing to the worship 
 of the tabernacle. 
 
 One incident is mentioned in the Book of Numbers which 
 
 1 Num. vii. 48-53. 
 
Joshua's jealousy. 11 
 
 shows that Joshua was not a little jealous for the honour of Moses. 
 The seventy elders were prophesying near the tabernacle, when 
 the Spirit came clown upon two others also, Eldad and Medad, 
 and they likewise prophesied. What said Joshua ? Thinking 
 that they had no right to prophesy, he said, ' My lord Moses, 
 forbid them.'^ No doubt Joshua's motive was pure enough ; but 
 in this instance he was mistaken, as many perhaps are who would 
 prevent others from doing good because, as they happen to think, 
 they have not been ordained or set apart to the work. Or per- 
 haps Joshua thought that they had no right to prophesy because 
 they remained in the camp, and did not come unto the tabernacle ; 
 just as, in the days of our Lord, John said to Him on one occa- 
 sion, ' Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and 
 we forbade him, because he followed not us.'^ But to Joshua's 
 request Moses said, ' Enviest thou for my sake? Would God 
 that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord 
 would put His Spirit upon them !' A noble answer, and one 
 which only a generous mind could have conceived. And why, 
 indeed, should one servant of God grieve because honour is 
 conferred upon another? St Paul rejoiced though Christ was 
 preached even of envy and strife. ^ And thankful should we ever 
 be if good be done, though it be done by those who are not of 
 our party ; for there is ample room in the world for every one to 
 work who will, and ample need, too, that every one should work 
 who can. Joshua was silent, for he perhaps saw his error ; and 
 though himself one of the elders, as some at least have supposed, 
 he was wilhug that Eldad and Medad should continue to prophesy 
 as the Spirit gave them power. 
 
 Four days after this event the children of Israel pitched in 
 the wilderness of Paran, on the borders of the land of promise ; 
 and thence, Moses, by the commandment of the Lord, sent spies 
 to visit the country, of whom Oshea, or Joshua, was one. The 
 
 » Num. xi. 27-29. 2 L^ke ix. 49, comp. John iii. 26. ^ pj^ii. i xg. 
 
12 JOSHUA THE MINISTER OF MOSES. 
 
 number of the spies was twelve, one being selected from each 
 tribe ;^ and Joshua and Caleb seem to have been the leaders 
 of the party. It was on this occasion that Moses called Oshea 
 Jehoshua or Joshua — the one . name signifying ' salvation,' the 
 other ' the Lord of salvation.' The latter name occurs previously, 
 not because, as Hengstenberg thinks,^ that it was given before, 
 and now only renewed, but by a prolepsis, of which other 
 examples occur in the Pentateuch. ' The alteration in Joshua's 
 name,' says Kurtz, ' was a God speed. There was something 
 apparently significant in the fact that they had an Oshea among 
 them. Moses not only brought this to mind, but strengthened 
 it, by connecting the name of Jehovah, which brings salvation, 
 with that of Oshea, which promised salvation ; whilst his previous 
 life was a pledge that Jehovah is salvation.'^ Philo represents 
 this change of Joshua's name as displaying the distinctive quali- 
 ties of his character; 'for,' he observes, 'the name Oshea is 
 interpreted " What sort of a person is this ?" but Joshua means 
 " the salvation of the Lord," being the name of the most ex- 
 cellent possible character ; for the habits are better with respect 
 to those persons who are of such and such qualities being influ- 
 enced by them : as, for instance, music is better in a musician, 
 physic in a physician, and each art of a distinctive quality in each 
 artist, regarded both in its perpetuity, and in its power, and in 
 its unerring perfection with regard to the objects of its specula- 
 tion.' * This, after Philo's manner, is somewhat too recondite ; 
 yet Joshua was doubtless worthy of this distinguished title, and, 
 as we shall hereafter see, the name then given to him was pro- 
 phetic of the great work he was to accomplish for God's people.^ 
 
 ' That of Levi excepted, Num. xiii. 5-16. 
 
 2 ' Authenticity of the Pentateuch,' vol. ii., p. 323. 
 
 ' ' History of the Old Covenant,' iii., p. 284. 
 
 * * On the Change of Scripture Names,' xxi. 
 
 * The Septuagint calls him 'incrovs, which is also the name given him in 
 Heb. iv. 8. 
 
 V 
 
THE MURMURIXGS. 13 
 
 With this ' God speed' the party set out upon their important 
 errand. We have elsewhere followed them on their journey to 
 Rehob in Mount Hermon, and thence back to Hebron and the 
 Valley of Eshcol, where they obtained grapes, and pomegranates, 
 and figs ; and we have also referred to the report they brought 
 of the land, and to the timidity of ten out of the twelve spies, 
 who greatly exaggerated the difficulties of its conquest, and 
 thereby discouraged the congregation of the people.-^ Caleb was 
 the first to still them, and said, ' Let us go up at once, and 
 possess it, for we are well able ;' - and subsequently Joshua also 
 assured the murmurers that they had nought to fear.^ But he 
 and Caleb had well nigh lost their lives for their fidelity ; for, had 
 not God interfered on their behalf, the people would have stoned 
 them. That was a sad and calamitous day ; for the ten unfaith- 
 ful spies died by the plague before the Lord, and from that 
 hour the tribes were driven back into the wilderness, there to 
 wander for forty years, until that generation perished, Caleb and 
 Joshua alone excepted. ' Your carcases,' said the Lord, ' shall 
 fall in this wilderness ; and all that were numbered of you, 
 according to your whole number, from twenty years old and 
 upward, which have murmured against Me, doubtless ye shall 
 not come into the land concerning which I sware to make you 
 dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the 
 son of Nun.'* 
 
 It is seldom that God grants to any one a certain lease of life, 
 even for a year ; but here were two men who were assured that 
 they should live for at least forty years, and that they should 
 see, during that period, a whole generation gathered to their 
 fathers. What must have been the emotions of Caleb and Joshua 
 at this intelligence ! Let the reader imagine that he himself is 
 informed that he will certainly live for nearly half a century, and 
 
 » See the ' History of Moses,' p. 258, etc. - Num. xiii. 30. 
 
 ' Num. xiv. 6-9. * Num. xiv. 29, 30. 
 
14 JOSHUA THE MINISTER OF MOSES. 
 
 that he will see, meanwhile, all his coadjutors and friends drop, 
 one after another, from the stage of time, and an entirely new 
 race spring up before his eyes. Would not feelings of sadness 
 predominate in his breast ? and would he not be disposed to 
 shrink from the ideas that would naturally enter his mind ? It is 
 Tvell, then^ that as a rule men are kept in ignorance of the future ; 
 and foolish beyond measure is the man who attempts to draw 
 aside the curtain that hides it from his view. But Joshua and 
 Caleb received the promise of lengthened days as a reward for 
 their fidelity ; and though they would probably start back at the 
 thought of seeing all who had come up with them out of Egypt 
 die in the wilderness, the more youthful part of the community 
 excepted, yet, trusting in the all- sufficiency of God, they would 
 at the same time look forward, through the long vista of forty 
 years, to the day of their entrance on the land of promise, and 
 exult in the thought that that land would, after all, become the 
 inheritance of the tribes of Israel. 
 
 Of Joshua's fortunes during the years the people wandered 
 in the wilderness we know nothing. Those years are a blank in 
 his history, as they are in the history of the Israelites generally. 
 We must, therefore, pass them over, and must now look at 
 the events which occurred, in relation to our hero, on the plains 
 of Moab, just prior to the death of Moses. Philo represents 
 Moses as lifting his virgin hands towards heaven, and saying, 
 ' Let the Lord God of the spirits and of all flesh look out for Him- 
 self a man to be over this multitude, to undertake the care and 
 superintendence of a shepherd, who shall lead them in a blameless 
 manner, in order that this nation may not become corrupt hke a 
 flock which is scattered abroad as having no shepherd.' ^ But the 
 very words of his prayer, as given in the saci'ed narrative, were, 
 ' Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man 
 over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which 
 
 ' * On Humanity,' ii. 
 
MOSES' PRAYER FOR A SUCCESSOR. 15 
 
 may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which 
 may bring them in ; that the congregation of the Lord be not as 
 sheep which have no shepherd.'^ Moses had sons ov grandsons 
 living. The descendants of Gershom and EKezer were ahve, 
 though they — Gershom and Ehezer — in all probability, were 
 not. But he was not so anxious for the honour of his own family 
 as for the general welfare of the people ; and he would not, there- 
 fore, appoint either Shebuel the son of Gershom, or Rehabiah 
 the son of EKezer,^ to the important oflBce ; but besought God 
 Himself to choose a successor, knowing that human wisdom was 
 inadequate to the task, and that no one but the man whom the 
 Lord appointed would be equal to the enterprise of leading the 
 people into Canaan. 
 
 The prayer of Moses was heard, and he was commanded to 
 lay his hand upon Joshua, a man in whom was the Spirit, and 
 to set him before Eleazar the priest, and before the congregation. 
 Moses was by no means grieved or disappointed because one of 
 his own kindred was not chosen to succeed him, for he himself 
 probably thought that there was no man so worthy of the honour 
 as his long-tried friend and minister ; and he proceeded, there- 
 fore, to fulfil the important task of presenting him to the people 
 as their future guide. It was a deeply solemn and interesting 
 occasion. Aaron was now dead, and Eleazar, his son, was the 
 high-priest in his stead. And now, clad in his pontifical robes, 
 he is standing at the door of the tabernacle, before which a vast 
 concourse of people is assembled, as if waiting for some great 
 event. Presently the venerable form of Moses is seen approach- 
 ing, and with him the manly and noble-minded Joshua. A 
 solemn silence pervades the assembly, and Moses addresses them, 
 and says, 'I am an hundred and twenty years old this day ; I 
 can no more go out and come in : also the Lord hath said unto 
 me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan. The Lord thy God, 
 
 » Num. xxvii. IG, 17. 2 j Chron. xxiii. 16, 17. 
 
16 JOSHUA THE MINISTER OF MOSES. 
 
 He will go over before thee, and He will destroy these nations 
 before thee, and thou shalt possess them : and Joshua, he shall 
 go over before thee, as the Lord hath said.' And, having further 
 encouraged the people, he calls Joshua forward, sets him before 
 Eleazar the priest, and laying his hands upon him, says, Be 
 strong, and of a good courage : for thou must go with this people 
 unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to 
 give them ; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the 
 Lord, He it is that doth go before thee ; He will not fail thee, 
 neither forsake thee : fear not, neither be dismayed.' ^ 
 
 History presents no parallel to this scene. That of Samuel 
 anointing David king over Israel in the place of Saul is, perhaps, 
 the nearest approach to it ; and that of Hamilcar, the Cartha- 
 ginian general, causing his son Hannibal to take a solemn oath 
 at the altar of eternal hostihty to Rome, can only be mentioned 
 as a striking contrast. True, Joshua was to look upon the 
 Canaanites as his enemies and not to spare them ; but it was be- 
 cause they were the enemies of the Lord Jehovah, and had 
 now filled up the cup of their iniquities. Did he accept the task 
 assigned him? He had no alternative, for it was God's re- 
 quirement ; and to have shrunk from it would have been an act 
 of rebellion against Heaven. However arduous an enterprise may 
 be, the man who is called to undertake it by the Lord Jehovah 
 and refuses, does so at his peril, even though he may plead as 
 the ground of his refusal, his unfitness for the work. But Joshua 
 grasped the banner which was put into his hands, confiding in 
 the strength of the Lord God of his fathers ; and Moses, well 
 satisfied to leave the future guidance of the people in his hands, 
 went to the top of Pisgah, beheld the land, and died. 
 
 It is a great satisfaction to the monarch of an empire, or to 
 the commander of an army, to know that when he dies the sceptre 
 or the sword will be wielded by skilful hands ; and many an il- 
 
 ^ See Deut. xxxi. 2-8 ; and comp. Num. xxvii. 18-23. 
 
Joshua's nomination. 17 
 
 lustrious general has resigned his charge to his successor with 
 the utmost pleasure, knowing him to be a man of the highest 
 courage, integrity, and skill. But perhaps there never was an 
 instance in which an eminent functionary gave the baton of office 
 to another with greater confidence, than did Moses to his minister 
 Joshua ; and doubtless this was one of the circumstances which 
 rendered the death of Moses, solemn and mysterious as it was, 
 so calm and peaceful to himself. How Joshua fulfilled his trust, 
 it will be our object in the following chapters to show. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 JOSHUA THE SUCCESSOR OF MOSES. 
 
 i^JHE greatest men have no successors, taking that word 
 in its widest acceptation. Every representative man 
 occupies a niche in the great temple of society which, 
 when vacated by his death, is never occupied by an individual 
 man again, — ^the great purpose for which he was raised up and 
 placed in it having been accomplished by his personal labours. 
 The Prophet Samuel had no successor, nor the Psalmist David, 
 nor John the Baptist, nor Paul the Apostle. Nor had Cyrus 
 any successor, nor Alexander the Great, nor JuKus Caesar, nor 
 the Emperor Constantine. Neither, in later times, can any one 
 
NOT IN HASTE TO COMMAND. 19 
 
 be named as the successor of Wicklifife, or of Luther, or of Knox, 
 or of Cromwell. All these men, and others who might be named, 
 stood related to the age in which they lived as no other men did ; 
 and when they passed away, it was found that, though they had 
 left behind them large gaps in society, yet that none were ready 
 to step forth and fill them, and that each gap must be filled, if 
 filled at all, not by one man, but by several men. 
 
 If, then, we speak of Joshua as the successor of Moses, we 
 use the term in a limited sense only. As a legislator, Moses had 
 no successor. ' There arose not a prophet since in Israel like 
 unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.'^ His work 
 was done, his mission was accomphshed. No one could fill the 
 place he filled, nor was it requisite that any one should. He 
 had left nothing unaccomphshed but the conquest of Canaan ; 
 and only as the captain of the hosts of Israel was one now needed, 
 — only as the captain of the hosts of Israel was Joshua appointed 
 as his successor. 
 
 Joshua's induction into office probably took place immediately 
 after that great man's death. God said unto him, perhaps in a 
 dream or vision of the night, ' Moses My servant is dead : now 
 therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, 
 unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of 
 Israel.'- 'Moses My servant is dead!' Was this the first cer- 
 tain intimation of the fact which Joshua received ? It may have 
 been ; for no one was on Mount Nebo when Moses died, and no 
 one, therefore, could be sure of his demise unless informed of it 
 by God. Yet Joshua, no doubt, knew that Moses had gone up 
 to the mount to die ; and, as Moses did not return, he would 
 naturally conclude that his death had taken place, and that now 
 their illustrious leader was no more. He was not in haste, how- 
 ever, to assume the responsibilities of office, and hence God had 
 to summon him to the work before him. How would he receive 
 
 » Deut. xxxiv. 10. 2 jogh. i. 2. 
 
20 JOSHUA THE SUCCESSOR OF MOSES. 
 
 the announcement ? what would be his feelings when at length 
 the solemn fact rushed upon his mind, that the reins of govern- 
 ment were actually in his hands? We have heard of princes 
 and of rulers who, at the moment of their accession to the throne, 
 have wept under an almost overwhelming sense of the magnitude 
 of the task they saw before them ; and that Joshua would thus 
 feel, on taking the command of that vast multitude, is more than 
 probable. Hence the promise, which he doubtless needed : 'There 
 shall not a man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy 
 life : as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee : I will not fail 
 thee, nor forsake thee.' Encouraging words ! Well did Joshua 
 know that God had been with Moses, — with him when an infant, 
 exposed to the waters of the Nile ; with him when a youth, amidst 
 the fascinations of Pharaoh's court ; with him when a man, an 
 exile in a foreign land ; and with him when the leader of the hosts 
 of Israel through all the toils and perils of the wilderness. And 
 now Joshua was assured that God would be with him in hke 
 manner ; and that, whatever difficulties might arise, he should 
 bring the people into the land which God sware unto their fathers 
 to give them. Yet the promise was conditional. He niust be 
 strong, courageous, and obedient to all the injunctions of the 
 law. His prosperity and success were to depend upon his 
 fidehty. Day and night he was to meditate in that book which 
 Moses had left for the instruction of the people, and, with un- 
 wavering confidence in the power of God, he was to prosecute 
 the enterprise which was now before him. Then, not a man 
 would be able to resist him ; then, not an enemy would have 
 courage to withstand him ; then, not a weapon formed against 
 him would prosper. Resistless as the Hghtning, he would be 
 able to scatter all his foes as the leaves are scattered by the 
 autumnal blast ; and, ere he terminated his career, victory would 
 crown his arms, and he would see the Israelites in peaceful 
 possession of the land. 
 
THE SECRET OF PROSPERITY. 21 
 
 The true secret of prosperity in any enterprise, great or 
 small, lies in obedience to the divine commands. This lesson we 
 may learn not only from the history of Joshua, but from that 
 of Joseph,^ from that of Moses,^ from that of Saul,^ from that 
 of Uzziah,* and from that of Hezekiah.^ Nay, it is the great 
 lesson which runs through the pages of inspiration, and which is 
 enforced by universal observation and experience. Wicked men 
 may appear to prosper for a while, and God's people are some- 
 times staggered, as David was, because they seem to flourish 
 like a green bay tree. But their triumphing is only for a season. 
 Often, very often, are their schemes thwarted and their plans 
 frustrated, and often is the cup of pleasure dashed from their 
 lips just when they imagine that they have reached the object of 
 their ambition, and are about to grasp the wreath of honour and 
 of fame. Or, if godless men prosper even to the end of life, — 
 if every plan they undertake succeeds, — if every purpose they 
 devise is realized, — if they amass riches, and dwell in palaces, and 
 ride in chariots, and are clothed in purple, — if their persons are 
 had in honour, and men bow down at their approach, — and if, 
 when they die, they are buried with funereal pomp, and a marble 
 cenotaph is erected over their dust, and poets and historians 
 hand down their names to future generations, and tell posterity of 
 their riches and their glory, — to what does it amount, and what 
 does it all avail ? Will such prosperity secure the happiness of 
 the deathless spirit ? We know that it will not ; and hence, 
 when the Psalmist understood their end, he ceased to fret at their 
 success ; for he said, ' How are they brought into desolation, 
 as in a moment ! they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a 
 dream when one awaketh ; so, Lord, when Thou awakest, 
 Thou shalt despise their image.' ^ 
 
 To Abram God said, ' Unto thy seed have I given this land, 
 
 » Gen. xxxix. 23. 2 Exod. iii. 12. ^ 1 Sam. xv. 23. 
 
 * 2 Chron. xxvi. 5. ^ 2 Chron. xxxi. 21. ^ pg, ix^iii, 19^ 20. 
 
22 JOSHUA THE SUCCESSOR OF MOSES. 
 
 from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Eu- 
 phrates.' ^ And now, in allusion to this original promise, God 
 says to Joshua, ' Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread 
 upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From 
 the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the 
 river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great 
 sea, to the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.' These, 
 then, were the utmost boundaries of the land to be possessed. 
 Far in the north were the mountain ranges of Lebanon and Anti- 
 Lebanon, their summits capped with perpetual snow, and their 
 sides adorned with the cedar and the fir. On the west was the 
 Mediterranean Sea, into which the evening sun seemed to drop 
 as into a bed, amidst a flood of golden light. Eastward was 
 the Euphrates, on the banks of which Babylon was already rising 
 in her pride, the destined scourge of Judah, when Judah should 
 forget her God. And on the south was the wilderness, stretch- 
 ing far away to Egypt's famous Nile, the river of whose luscious 
 waters the Israelites had so often drunk. It was a wide and 
 ample territory, and it lay in the very centre of the then civilized 
 world. But the limits here given do not correspond with the 
 actual limits attained;^ for no one advanced as far as the Eu- 
 phrates ere David did, nor did the Israelites ever extend their 
 boundaries to the Nile, or ever think of doing it. Yet the words 
 D''"i!4D nnj in Gen. xv. 18, rendered in our version 'the river of 
 Egypt,' undoubtedly refer to the Nile, and not, as some have 
 supposed, to the brook of Egypt — D'll^D ^ni — mentioned in Num. 
 xxxiv. 5; Josh. xv.-4, 47, etc., etc., which was unquestionably 
 the Wady-el-Arish, near the village of that name, anciently called 
 Khinocura. How, then, are the discrepancies to be met ? We 
 reply, with Hengstenberg,^ Keil,'^ and others, that these promises 
 
 ' Gen, XV. 18. ^ See Num. xxxiv. ; Josh. xiii. xix. 
 
 ^ ' Genuineness of the Pentateuch,' vol. ii. p. 216. 
 ^ ' Commentary on Joshua,' p. 67 Clark. 
 
PREPARATIONS. 23 
 
 partake of a rhetorical character, and merely indicate in a general 
 way certain well-known points that were to constitute the hmits 
 within which the land to be gi\ren to the Israelites would lie ; as 
 is evident from this fact, among others, that between the Nile 
 and the Euphrates nations such as the Ammonites and the 
 Moabites dwelt, whose extinction or expulsion was expressly 
 and strictly forbidden to the Israehtes. 
 
 Animated by the divine promises which were thus addressed 
 to him, Joshua proceeded at once to make the necessary prepar- 
 ations for taking possession of the land. There were certain 
 ofl&cers amongst the people, called shoterim or scribes (ypafifxaTels), 
 whose duty it was to take charge of the genealogies of the tribes, 
 and who assisted in levying troops for military service. These 
 were commanded by Joshua to pass through the host, and to say 
 to the people, ' Prepare you victuals ; for within three days ye 
 shall pass over Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the 
 Lord God giveth you to possess it.' A skilful general is always 
 attentive to the commissariat of his army, well knowing that if 
 the temporal necessities of the forces under his command be not 
 supplied, they will be unfitted to sustain the difficulties of the 
 campaign. This, then, was a wise and prudent measure ; and 
 the officers, seeing its importance, would hasten to fulfil the task 
 assigned to them. Their numbers were probably considerable ; 
 and they were soon in the midst of the host, passing from tribe 
 to tribe, and from tent to tent, and animating the people to pre- 
 pare for the conquest of the land. In three days from that time 
 they were to be ready to cross the Jordan, though, as we shall 
 hereafter see, they did not actually cross it until at least seven 
 days after. How busy, then, they presently became! They 
 were to prepare victuals ; by which we are not to understand 
 manna, as, although that had not yet ceased, it would not have 
 kept longer than a day ; besides which, they were in an inhabited 
 country, and had already conquered several of the nations on 
 
24 JOSHUA THE SUCCESSOR OF MOSES. 
 
 that side the river. What the victuals were, then, it is not dif- 
 ficult to conceive. They consisted of corn, sheep, oxen, and 
 other produce of the neighbourhood, which, though not scanty, 
 would nevertheless require considerable effort to collect. Now, 
 therefore, the young men would sally forth into the country round 
 about, and would gather in whatever provisions they could find 
 in the conquered territory ; and now each family would be em- 
 ployed in the preparation of these victuals, that, when the com- 
 mand to advance was issued, there might be no lack of food and 
 no unnecessary waste of strength. In some respects the scene 
 now witnessed would be similar to that of the solemn night when 
 they prepared and ate the paschal lamb, just prior to their de- 
 parture from Egypt. And yet how different were the two events ! 
 Not the present generation, but a former one, ate of that lamb ; 
 and there were few who would remember the events of that 
 night. Would they not, however, be reminded of those events ? 
 and would they not converse about them on this occasion? It 
 is not improbable ; and, as they contrasted their condition with 
 that of their fathers, and thought of God's goodness to them 
 during their wanderings in the wilderness, their hearts would 
 glow with holy gratitude, and they would be encouraged to 
 place confidence in the promise they had received. 
 
 Another proof of Joshua's foresight presents itself before 
 us. The tribes of Reuben and Gad, having a great multitude of 
 cattle, had, at their own request, been permitted by Moses to 
 choose their inheritance on the east of the Jordan ; for ' when 
 they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, 
 the place was a place for cattle ; they spake unto Moses, and to 
 Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, 
 saying, Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Hesh- 
 bon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon, even the 
 country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, 
 is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle : wherefore, said 
 
vows AND PROMISES SACEED. 25 
 
 they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given 
 unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jor- 
 dan.' It appeared to Moses a selfish request, and, moreover, 
 calculated to discourage the hearts of the people ; so that at 
 first he opposed it, and remonstrated with them. But they as- 
 sured him that their object was not to shrink from taking their 
 share in the conquest of the country beyond the Jordan ; for 
 that, leaving their cattle and their little ones behind, they them- 
 selves would go armed before their brethren and assist them in 
 their arduous enterprise. The proposal was an honourable one, 
 and the conditions were accepted. 'If ye will do this,' said 
 Moses, ' if ye will go armed before the Lord to war, and will go 
 all of you armed over Jordan before the Lord, until He hath 
 driven out His enemies from before Him, and the land be subdued 
 before the Lord ; then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless 
 before the Lord, and before Israel ; and this land shall be your 
 possession before the Lord,' etc.^ And, lest they should forget 
 their obligation, Moses, at a somewhat later period, reminded 
 them of their promise ;^ and now Joshua calls upon them to fulfil 
 it. ' Remember,' said he, ' the word which Moses, the servant of 
 the Lord, commanded you, saying. The Lord your God hath 
 given you rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, your 
 little ones, and your cattle, shall remain on this side Jordan ; but 
 ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of 
 valour, and help them ; until the Lord your God have given 
 your brethren rest, as He hath given you, and they also have 
 possessed the land which the Lord hath given them ; then ye 
 shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which 
 Moses, the Lord's servant, gave you on this side Jordan, toward 
 the sun-rising.'^ 
 
 Yows and promises should never be forgotten. It often 
 happens that men make them without intending to keep them ; 
 
 » Num. xxxii. 1-24. 2 Deut. iii. 18-20. ^ josh. i. 13-15. 
 
26 JOSHUA THE SUCCESSOR OF MOSES. 
 
 and in that case, when they are reminded of them, and are called 
 upon to perform them, they profess to have forgotten them, or 
 treat them lightly. Happily for the Reubenites, they were of 
 another spirit. God held them to their word, and they were 
 ready to go whithersoever Joshua would send them. They felt 
 themselves under a solemn obligation to assist their brethren, 
 and they were quite prepared to take their share in the difficulties 
 connected with the conquest of the country. 
 
 And under a solemn obligation they were ; for had not their 
 brethren assisted them in the conquest of the territory which they 
 had received for an inheritance? Would the Reubenites, and 
 the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, have been able of 
 themselves to gain possession of the fertile territories of Jazer 
 and of Gilead ? No. In the war with the Midianites a thousand 
 of each tribe of the Israelites were engaged ; and thus the two 
 tribes and a half were greatly indebted to their brethren, and 
 were in justice bound to stand by them to the end. 
 
 Let us survey for a moment the country of which they had 
 become the possessors. The territory of Reuben was bounded 
 on the south by the river Arnon and the land of Moab, on the 
 west by the Dead Sea and a small portion of the Jordan, on the 
 north by the territory of Gad, and on the east by the land of 
 Ammon. In the days of Abraham it was occupied by a numer- 
 ous race of giants called the Emim, whose name is said to signify 
 terror,^ but the Moabites had dispossessed them of it ;^ and they, 
 m their turn, were driven out of it by the Amorites, in whose 
 possession it was when the Israelites conquered it.^ Its capital 
 was Heshbon, which afterwards became one of the Levitical 
 cities,'* and the site of which was visited by Seetzen, Burckhardt, 
 Irby and Mangles, and other travellers, who found, on the side 
 of an insulated hill, considerable ruins bearing the name of Hesh- 
 bon, and who saw from the summit of the hill the ruins of many 
 
 » Gen. xiv. 5 - Deut. ii. 10. ^ -^xxxn. xxi. 2G. * Josh. xxi. 39. 
 
 V^ 
 
THE TEERITORY OF REUBEN. 27 
 
 other cities. Here too, on the north bank of the river Arnon, 
 was Aroer/ the name of which is still attached to a heap of ruins 
 discovered by Burckhardt, on the summit of a lofty wall of rock 
 which bounds theModjib or Arnon. Three miles north of Aroer 
 stood Dibon, called also Dibon-Gad, because it was fortified by 
 the Gadites after the conquest.^ Bamoth-baal, or the heights 
 of Baal, from which Balaam saw the outskirts of Israel, was also 
 situated, in the vicinity of the Arnon ; and under the name of 
 Myun, Burckhardt discovered Beth-baal-meon, about two miles 
 south-east of Heshbon. The positions of Jahaza, where Sihon 
 was defeated,^ of Kedemoth, Mephaath, Earjathaim, and other 
 towns mentioned in Joshua xiii. 18-20, have not been satis- 
 factorily identified with any existing ruins ; but Beth-peor is 
 said to have stood opposite Jericho, and not far from it were 
 the cliffs of Pisgah, whence Moses was permitted to survey the 
 land. 
 
 The Reubenites were not mistaken when they said that this 
 country was a place for cattle. It is ' a land of which travellers 
 say, that m beauty and fertility it as far surpasses western Pales- 
 tine as Devonshire surpasses Cornwall,'^ — a remark which also 
 applies to the territories which fell to the tribe of Gad and the 
 half-tribe of Manasseh. Buckingham observes, that east of 
 Jordan there are two ranges of hills, the first of which consists 
 in general of white limestone, and the second of a mixture of 
 many other kinds of rock. Both these ranges are comparatively 
 barren ; but no sooner has the traveller passed the western one, 
 than he finds himself on plains eight hundred feet above the 
 stream of the Jordan, and different from anything to be seen 
 in Palestine. ' We were now,' says our authority, ' in a land 
 of extraordinary richness, abounding with the most beautiful 
 prospects, clothed with thick forests, varied with verdant slopes, 
 
 1 Deut. ii. 36. ^ ^um. xxxii. 34. ^ iq-^^m. xxi. 23 ; Deut. ii. 32. 
 
 * Stanley's ' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 332. 
 
28 JOSHUA THE SUCCESSOR OF MOSES. 
 
 and possessing extensive plains of a fine red soil, now covered with 
 thistles as the best proof of its fertihty, and yielding in nothing 
 to the celebrated plains of Zabulon and Esdraelon in Galilee and 
 Samaria.' ^ 
 
 'Let Reuben live, and not die,' said Moses ; 'and let his men 
 be few.' It was even so. Unstable as water, he did not excel. 
 The tribe had to strive hard for existence, and never attained to 
 any particular eminence — never took part in the great struggles 
 of the nation. Instead of going up with Deborah against Sisera 
 and Jabin, the Reubenites abode by their rivers and their sheep- 
 folds, where, as Deborah afterwards complained in her beautiful 
 ode, there were great thoughts of heart — great deliberations and 
 debates — but no resolution to engage in the struggle. Far more 
 agreeable to them was the bleating of the sheep ^ than the sound 
 of the trumpet ; and, for anything they cared, Sisera and Jabin 
 might drive Deborah and Barak from the field. At a later 
 period, however, — in the days of Saul, — there were among the 
 Reubenites some vahant men, who, together with some of the 
 Gadites and of the half-tribe of Manasseh, made war upon the 
 Hagarites, and took from them fifty thousand camels, two hundred 
 and fifty thousand sheep, two thousand asses, and a hundred 
 thousand men.^ But this was the only great exploit recorded 
 of the tribe ; and, the first of the Israelites to gain their inheri- 
 tance, they were the first to lose it ; for they transgressed against 
 the Lord Grod of their fathers, and were carried away captives 
 into Assyria by Tiglath-Pileser, in the days of Pekah king of 
 Israel.* 
 
 To the tribe of Gad was assigned the principal portions of 
 the mountains of Gilead ; respecting which Buckingham observes, 
 ' We continued our way over this elevated tract, continuiug to 
 behold with surprise and admiration a beautiful country on all 
 
 * ' Travels in Palestine,' vol. ii., p. 104, 2d edit. 1822. 
 
 * Judg. V. 15, IG. 3 I Chron. v. 18-21. * 2 Kings xv. 21). 
 
THE CHARACTER OF GAD. 29 
 
 sides of us ; its plains covered with a fertile soil, its hills clothed 
 with forests, at ev^ery new turn presenting the most magnificent 
 landscapes -that could be imagined.' The eastern boundary of 
 this tribe is not defined ; but to the south it extended to Jazer, 
 supposed by Seetzen to be represented by the ruins of Szir, 
 fifteen miles north-west of Heshbon, and to Aroer that is before 
 Kabbah, — the latter town being the capital of the Ammonites, 
 which probably remained in their possession. Northward, the 
 territory of Gad seems to have diminished in breadth to a narrow 
 tract along the Jordan, so that the domain of the half-tribe of 
 Manasseh extended on its north-eastern border. The principal 
 towns of Gad were, Ramoth-Gilead or Ramoth-Mizpeh, which 
 was probably identical with the present es-Salt, and which was 
 given to the Levites and became one of the cities of refuge, 
 and Mahanaim on the north of the Jabbok, where Ishbosheth 
 was proclaimed king, and whither David fled from Absalom. 
 
 ' Gad, a troop shall overcome him : but he shall overcome at 
 last,' was Jacob's prophecy. Whilst Moses said of him, ' Blessed 
 be he that enlargeth Gad : he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the 
 arm with the crown of the head. And he provided the first part 
 for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he 
 seated ; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed 
 the justice of the Lord, and His judgments with Israel.'^ His 
 name signified 'a troop of plunderers;' and the prophecy of 
 Moses was fulfilled, and the character of the tribe illustrated, 
 when (in the days of David) Ezer, Obadiah, Ehab, and several 
 others, whose ' faces were like the faces of lions, and who were 
 swift as the roes upon the mountains,' crossed the Jordan when 
 it had overflowed all its banks, and joined the outlawed David, 
 and helped him against the band of the rovers.^ In the days of 
 Solomon twelve oflBcers were appointed to provide victuals for 
 the king and his household, each man for one month in a year;^ 
 
 > Deut. xxxiii. 20, 21. 2 i Chron. xii. 8-21. ^ i Kings iv. 7-14. 
 
30 JOSHUA THE SUCCESSOR OF MOSES. 
 
 and of these, Geber the son of TJri is said to have been the only 
 officer in the country of Gilead, whilst his son was prefect in 
 Ramoth-Gilead and several other towns, and Ahinadab the son 
 of Iddo had charge of Mahanaim and the territory round about 
 it. "We may infer from this fact, that the fruits and products of 
 this land were plentiful ; and rich, no doubt, would be the supply 
 of provisions which Solomon would receive from these purveyors. 
 And, indeed, it was to this trans-Jordanic territory that Moses 
 specially referred when he said, ' The Lord hath made him to 
 ride upon the high places of the earth, that he might eat the in- 
 crease of the fields ; and He made him to suck honey out of the 
 rock, and oil out of the flinty rock ; butter of kine, and milk of 
 sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and 
 goats, with the fat of the kidneys of wheat ; and thou didst drink 
 the pure blood of the grape.' ^ 
 
 The half-tribe of Manasseh had not joined in the request of 
 the tribes of Reuben and Gad ; but the children of Machir, the 
 first-born of Manasseh, were animated with a martial spirit, and 
 took the land of Gilead from the Amorites who dwelt there. Jair 
 took sixty cities or villages, and called them Havoth- Jair, that is, 
 hut-villages of Jair ; and Nobah took Kenath and its villages, 
 and called it after his own name.^ Moses, therefore, gave them 
 this territory ; and a rich and ample one it was. It extended 
 from Mahanaim on the south, and included not only the province 
 of Bashan, but the whole kingdom of Bashan, which embraced 
 the northern portion of Gilead with its two principal cities, 
 Ashtaroth and Edrei.^ Ashtaroth was the residence of Og king 
 of Bashan, and became one of the Levitical cities. Edrei is sap- 
 posed by Porter and others to be identical with Edhra or Adraha, 
 a village on the south banks of the Wady ed-Dan. Of this 
 country as a whole Buckingham says, ' The general face of the 
 
 1 Deut. xxxii. 13, 1-1. 2 Num. xxxii. 39-42 ; Josli. xiii. 29-31. 
 
 * 1 Chron. v. 23, 21 
 
TERKITORY OF THE HALr-TRIBE OF MANASSEH. 31 
 
 region improved as we advanced farther in it, and every new 
 direction of our path opened upon us views which surprised and 
 charmed us by their grandeur and beauty. Lofty mountains 
 gave an outKue of the most magnificent character ; flowing beds 
 of secondary hills softened the romantic wildness of the picture ; 
 gentle slopes, clothed with wood, gave a rich variety of tints, 
 hardly to be imitated by the pencil ; deep valleys, filled with 
 murmuring streams and verdant meadows, offered all the luxuri- 
 ance of cultivation ; and herds and flocks gave life and animation 
 to scenes, as grand, as beautiful, and as highly picturesque, as 
 the genius or taste of a Claude could either invent or desire.' 
 Nor is this description of it at all exaggerated, for it is almost 
 surpassed by that of Lord Lindsay ; and every traveller who has 
 visited the region speaks of it with like enthusiasm. 
 
 This territory included one half of Gilead, the other half of 
 which lay in the country assigned to Gad. The mountains of 
 Gilead commence at a little distance from Mount Hermon, and 
 extend southwards to the sources of the Jabbok and the Arnon. 
 * As it was thus first occupied by the Israelites, so it subsequently 
 became the border-land between Palestine and the nations of 
 eastern Asia. From its midway position it necessarily bore the 
 brunt of all the incursions of the Syrians of Damascus, when 
 Ramoth- Gilead became the scene of so many sieges and battles, 
 as the fortress for which both kingdoms contended ; and for the 
 same reason it was the first to resist and the first to fall before 
 the arms of the Assyrian Tiglath-Pileser. In this respect the 
 range of Gilead remained faithful to the description given by 
 the two patriarchs who of old parted on its summit, as the 
 boundary-line between the tribes of Canaan and those of Meso- 
 potamia. " This heap is a witness between me and thee this 
 day. . . . The. God of Abraham and the God of Nahor 
 judge betwixt us."'^ 
 
 1 Stanley's ' Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 320, 321. 
 
32 JOSHUA THE SUCCESSOR OF MOSES. 
 
 Such is but a hasty view of the trans-Jordanic territories 
 assigned to Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 
 Having received such an inheritance, it was but just and right 
 that they should not sit down and rest until the country west of 
 the Jordan was also conquered ; and, as we shall hereafter see, 
 a considerable portion of them went with Joshua to the war, 
 and subsequently returned to the lands assigned to them. Joshua, 
 like Moses, was a lover of justice; and though he could doubt- 
 less have conquered Canaan without the aid of the two tribes 
 and a half, yet he chose to act on the principles of his prede- 
 cessor, and demanded as a right what was not perhaps a matter 
 of necessity. 
 
EOUSE ON THE WAiL. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SPIES SENT TO JERICHO. 
 
 §HE Israelites still abode in Shittim, where they had en- 
 camped prior to the death of Moses. It was in the 
 desert plains of Moab ; and was so called from the 
 acacia groves which line both the eastern and the western banks 
 of the Jordan. ' Their tents were pitched,' observes Mr Stan- 
 ley, ' from Abel-Shittim on the north, to Beth-Jeshimoth on the 
 south (Num. xxxiii. 49), — from the ^^ meadow" which marked 
 
34 THE SriES SENT TO JERICHO. 
 
 the limit of those '^groves,'' to the ^'hamleV or '^ house'' which 
 stood in the ^^ wasted' or the shores of the Dead Sea.' Very 
 beautiful must have been the view of them which Balaam saw 
 from 'the top of the rocks' on which he stood, and thus he 
 described the scene before him : — 
 
 ' How goodly are thy tents, Jacob \ 
 Thy tabernacles, Israel ! 
 
 As the valleys are they spread forth, 
 
 As gardens by the river's side, 
 
 As the trees of lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted, 
 
 As cedar-trees beside the waters.' 
 
 Just opposite their encampment, and sixty stadia east of the 
 Jordan, was Jericho, the city of palm-trees ; and here, the frontier 
 town of the land of promise. It was one of the walled cities of 
 which ten of the spies who went to search out the land were so 
 much afraid, and of which they brought so alarming an account. 
 Yet it was absolutely essential that Joshua should take it, for it 
 was the key of Palestine, and would form the basis of all future 
 operations. And take it he would, for God had promised it to 
 liim. But he was cautious, and neglected no means likely to 
 facilitate its conquest. For his own satisfaction, as it would 
 appear, he sent two spies, saying unto them secretly or apart, 
 ' Go view the land, and especially Jericho.' ' He sent them away 
 privately,' says Keil, ' partly in order that the inhabitants of the 
 land might not receive any intimation of it, and partly also that 
 the Israelites themselves might not be disheartened by the re- 
 port, if it should prove unfavourable, as they had formerly been 
 in the time of Moses.' ^ 
 
 If the Jordan was now overflowing its banks, the two spies 
 must have crossed it by swimming ; and no sooner were they on 
 the opposite bank, than they proceeded towards Jericho and 
 entered one of its gates. Against the wall of the town they 
 
 ^ ' Commentary on Joshua,' p. 79. Clark. 
 
RAHAB. 35 
 
 found the house of a harlot named Rahab, and, to avoid suspicion, 
 they entered it and there lodged. Some have supposed that 
 Rahab was not a harlot, but an innkeeper ; but there is no evi- 
 dence that inns were kept in those days, and the word rendered 
 harlot, njir, is certainly from the root n:T, to commit ivhoredom, and 
 not, as Schleusner and others have represented, from f^T, to feed. 
 
 They, of course, told the woman their errand, and probably 
 informed her — what, indeed, she must have heard already — that 
 their people were encamped in vast numbers on the eastern bank 
 of the river, that they intended to invade the land, and that 
 Jericho was doomed to fall into their hands. She beheved their 
 words, and resolved to aid them to the utmost of her power. 
 Fearing that the entrance of the spies into her house had been 
 observed, and that the king of Jericho would hear of it and send 
 messengers to seize them, she took them to the top of the build- 
 ing, which was flat, and there hid them under the stalks of flax 
 which she had laid in order on the roof. In Egypt flax grows 
 to the height of three feet and upwards ; and, as the chmate of 
 Jericho was similar to that of Egypt, the plant would attain 
 the same height in that neighbourhood. Now these long stalks 
 of flax had been piled up on the top of Rahab's house to dry in 
 the sun, and were very suitable for the purpose to which they 
 were now put.^ 
 
 The king of Jericho speedily received intelligence of the ar- 
 rival of the spies ; for there were, no doubt, guards appointed to 
 watch the city gates, and to give notice to the king of the en- 
 trance of any strangers. And, as Rahab had apprehended, the 
 king's messengers soon appeared at her door, and demanded that 
 she should give up the men who had lately entered her dwelling. 
 
 1 From Exod. ix. 31, it appears that flax and barley ripened together. But 
 this was the time of the barley harvest in Canaan, and, "we may infer, of the flax 
 harvest too. Hence the flax on Eahab's house had just been gathered in. See 
 Blunt's 'Undesigned "Coincidences,' p. 105, 6th edit. 
 
36 THE SPIES SENT TO JEKICHO. 
 
 It may appear surprising that they did not forcibly enter the 
 house and search it, as would be done under such circumstances 
 in our day ; but in the East, as Dr Kitto observes, the privacy 
 of a woman was respected, even to a degree that might be called 
 superstitious ; and no one will enter the house in which she lives, 
 or the part of the house she occupies, until her consent has been 
 obtained, if, indeed, such consent be ever demanded.'^ The 
 king's messengers, then, only appeared at the door of Rahab's 
 house, and there made their demand. But the spies had been 
 already hid — for it is not likely that the messengers were kept 
 waiting at the door whilst she was concealing the two men — and 
 she was resolved not to comply with the king's request. Kahab 
 said therefore, ' There came men unto me, but I wist not whence 
 they were : and it came to pass, about the time of shutting of 
 the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out ; whither the 
 men went, I wot not : pursue after them quickly : for ye shall 
 overtake them.'- She was a sharp-witted woman ; and very artful 
 was this reply. But what shall we say of the falsehoods it con- 
 tained? Was it a lawful deception which Bahab thus practised 
 on the messengers ? or may we conclude, with Grotius, that 
 'before the Gospel, a lie which contributed to the safety of 
 good men was not regarded as a sin?'^ No ; a lie is a lie, 
 and was such in all ages ; and of the sin of lying, Bahab was 
 unquestionably guilty. But she was a heathen, and her notions 
 of morality were doubtless of the lowest kind. Had sha been 
 better taught, she would have known that to resort to any such 
 sinful expedient as this was quite unnecessary, inasmuch as God 
 would have taken care both of her and of His servants. But, 
 though Bahab had a little faith — faith to believe that God was 
 about to give the victory to the Israelites, her faith did not go 
 so far as this, and hence she deemed it necessary to tell a false- 
 
 * ' Daily Eeadings,' vol. ii., p. 243. 2 josh. ii. 4, 5. 
 
 • Quoted by Koil, Comm. in loco. 
 
THE king's messengers. 37 
 
 hood in order to screen the spies from harm. Yet ^ her faith 
 was counted unto her for righteousness, and her sins, which were 
 many, were forgiven.'^ And according to St James, she was 
 justified by works also;^ 'because her works were a necessary 
 part of that inherent righteousness which must be in every one 
 that lives by faith.' — ' Had she said unto these messengers only 
 thus — I believe the God of heaven and earth hath given you 
 this whole land for a possession, yet I dare not show you any 
 kindness in this city — her belief would have been as dead as a 
 body without breath or motion.'^ But her faith was a living, 
 operative faith ; and by her works it was made manifest, and 
 became acceptable to God. 
 
 It has always been customary in the East to close the gates 
 of walled cities in the evening, and not to permit any person to 
 pass through them without special authority. The messengers 
 of the king had such authority, and they immediately sallied forth 
 in quest of the supposed fugitives. It was getting dusk, for the 
 sun had already set ; but it is probable that the men spent three 
 days in pursuit of the spies, perhaps, as is often done in some 
 countries to this day, following upon what they fancied were 
 their foot-prints with the utmost care. There were several fords 
 over the Jordan, which, if the river was not yet full, they might 
 have crossed. But it is scarcely probable that they would ven- 
 ture to the opposite bank ; for there the Israelites were encamped, 
 and they would be in danger of being taken prisoners. 
 
 But now Rahab returned to the two spies. There they 
 were on the top of the house, trembhng with apprehension lest 
 they should be betrayed, or lest the messengers, whose approach 
 they had heard, should force their way to their hiding-place, 
 when Rahab came to them and quieted their fears. She told 
 them that she knew something of their history, — how the Lord 
 
 1 Heb. xi. 31. ^ james ii. 25. 
 
 * Dr Thomas Jackson's Works, vol. iii., p. 182. Oxford edit 
 
38 TOE SPIES SENT TO JERICHO. 
 
 liad dried up the waters of the Red Sea before them, — how they 
 had smitten Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites, — and 
 how, whea these tidings reached the ears of her countrymen, 
 their hearts melted and their courage failed them ; and she now 
 entreated them to swear that, when they entered the city as con- 
 querors, they would show kindness to her and to her family, and 
 save her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and her sisters 
 from death. It was a touching appeal. Harlot as she was, she 
 had not lost her affections for her kindred. In some other part 
 of the city her parents were living, and her brethren, and her 
 sisters; and for these, as well as for herself, she interceded with 
 the spies, believing that they would be able to preserve them from 
 the general destruction which awaited the inhabitants. How 
 could the spies resist her appeal ? They knew the doom that 
 hung over the city, for they knew that God had commanded 
 Joshua to slay utterly old and young ; but they doubted not 
 that, having experienced such kindness from Rahab, they might 
 give her the assurance of protection. She urged her request 
 on the ground of the favour she had conferred on them. ' I have 
 showed kindness to you,' she said ; ' swear therefore that ye 
 will also show kindness unto me.' They promised that they 
 would. ' Our life for your?,' they replied, ' if ye utter not this 
 our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the 
 land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.' 
 
 It is observable that in this address of Rahab the . name 
 Jehovah occurs; but was she — a heathen woman — acquainted 
 with this mysterious name, or was it merely put into her lips 
 by the historian? That she knew its .full import, or that she 
 had already become a worshipper of Jehovah, we cannot sup- 
 pose ; but that she might have heard that this was the name of 
 the God of the Israelites, is just as probable as that she had re- 
 ceived the intelligence of their passage through the Red Sea. 
 It may be difficult to some minds to conceive how she could re- 
 
THE OATH OF THE SPIES. 39 
 
 ceive intelligence respecting them at all ; but surely such stirring 
 events as had occurred on the east of the Jordan would be re- 
 ported on the west of it. Would there not be many stragglers 
 from the armies of Sihon and of Og who would seek refuge 
 beyond the river, and carry with them the alarming tidings of 
 the people who had come out of Egypt, and who were sweeping 
 away everything before them t If Balak king of Moab heard of 
 Israel's conquests and took the alarm ere yet the territory east 
 of the Jordan was entirely in their hands, well might the king 
 of Jericho hear of them and tremble when the Midianites also 
 had been subdued. 
 
 Rahab would be satisfied with nothing but an oath from the 
 spies. ' Swear unto me by Jehovah,' said she ; or, literally, ' give 
 me a token of truth.' ' The material man is not contented with 
 a word alone ; for greater security he requires a material token, 
 a visible pledge of the word, which may serve either to remind 
 the other of his oath, or, if he break it, to convict him of perjury. 
 It has therefore been a custom with all nations to give such 
 tokens in connection with oaths and treaties. They have only 
 been driven out by the written signature of oaths, contracts, 
 and other things of the same description, the document in writing 
 taking the place of a token chosen at pleasure.' ^ And with the 
 words, ' Our life for yours,' or ' our souls shall die for you,' the 
 spies took the required oath ; for they meant by this, ' We place 
 our life and soul in the hand of God, as a pledge for thee, in 
 order that He may destroy us if any one injures thee or thine.' 
 
 But how were they to know Rahab's house again? or how 
 were Joshua and his people to distinguish the habitation in which 
 she and her family would remain ? In the storming of a city it 
 is no easy thing for the conquerors to show favour to a single 
 family within it ; for there is generally so much confusion, and 
 the inhabitants crowd together in such wild consternation, that 
 
 * Keil on ' Joshua,' p. 88. Clark. 
 
40 THE SPIES SENT TO JERICHO. 
 
 families are lost one among another, and the nearest relatives 
 are often unable to recognise each other. The spies therefore 
 required Rahab, as the conditions on which their oath should be 
 binding, that she should bring all the members of her family into 
 that house, and that from its window she should bind a scarlet 
 cord, which, it is probable, they themselves gave her for the 
 purpose. It was a cord spun of crimson threads, a colour 
 obtained from the insect Coccus illicis, the dead bodies of the 
 females of which, together with their eggs, furnish a splendid 
 deep red dye. This insect ' is found abundantly upon a small 
 species of evergreen oak {Quercus cocciferd), common in the south 
 of France and many other parts of the world, and has been em- 
 ployed to impart a blood-red or crimson dye to cloth from 
 tiie earliest ages, and was known to the Phoenicians before the 
 time of Moses under the name of Tola or Tolath (y?in), to the 
 Greeks under that of Coccus (Kokkos), and to the Arabians and 
 Persians under that oi Kermes or Alhermes; whence, as Beckman 
 has shown, and from the epithet venniculatum, given to it in the 
 Middle Ages, when it was ascertained to be the produce of a 
 worm, have sprung the Latin coccineus, the French cramoisi and 
 vermeil, and our crimson and vermilion.'^ In the passage be- 
 fore us — Josh. ii. 18 — the word used is simply shani, ""Jtr, which, 
 according to some authorities, signifies double-dyed, or, accord- 
 ing to others, deep red, bright dye.^ As the curtains of the 
 tfil)ernacle contained threads of this colour (Exod. xxvi. 1), it is 
 probable that the spies had had the scarlet cord with them ; and 
 its brilliant colour rendered it the most suitable for the purpose 
 to which it was now to be appUed, as it Could be easily observed 
 at a consi(Jerable distance. 'Behold,' says Bishop Hall, 'this 
 is the Ravnig colour: the destroying angel sees the door-cheeks 
 of. the Israelites sprinkled with red, and passes over them ; the 
 
 ' Kirl.y and Spence's •Entomology,' one vol., edit. 1858, pp. 181, 182. 
 
 ' See Bockmaus 'History of Inventions,' vol. i., pp. 392, 393. Bohn's edit. 
 
THE SCARLET CORD. 41 
 
 warriors of Israel see the window of Rahab dyed red, and save 
 her family from the common destruction. If our souls have this 
 tincture of the precious blood of our Saviour upon our doors 
 'and windows, we are safe.'^ 
 
 When the king's messengers left the city in pursuit of the 
 spies, 'they shut the gate.' It was therefore impossible for the 
 two men to depart in the ordinary way that night ; and had they 
 remained until the next day, the vigilance of the king's servants 
 would have prevented their escape. Under these circumstances, 
 there was but one expedient to which they could resort. Happily 
 for them, Rahab's house was on the town- wall — the back of it, in 
 which there was a window, probably jutting out beyond the wali 
 over the path beneath. What then does this friendly woman ? 
 With a strong cord she lets them down, one after the other, out 
 of this window, and in a few moments they are both safe outside 
 the city. That a woman could let down two men in such a 
 way, may seem incredible ; but she would have the assistance 
 of one of them whilst the other was let down, and the first 
 would no doubt assist his companion in his descent. Besides 
 which, we need not suppose that the window was very high ; so 
 that, with care, the task would easily be accomplished.^ 
 
 We have already mentioned the conversation relative to the 
 scarlet thread ; but it should be observed that it actually took 
 place under the window of the dwelling, — for they said, ' Behold, 
 when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet 
 thread in the window which thou didst let us down hy ; ' so that 
 both the order in which the circumstances are narrated, and the 
 form of the words here employed, lead to the conclusion that 
 this arrangement was made with Rahab after she had let them 
 down out of the window. The scarlet thread, however, was not, 
 
 ^ ' Contemplations,' Book viii. 
 
 '^ In a similar manner did Saul of Tarsus escape from the city of Damascus. 
 Acts ix. 25. 
 
42 THE SPIES SENT TO JERICHO. 
 
 as some have supposed, the cord she used, for that is called by 
 another name, chevel (^in) ; so that they no doubt fastened the 
 scarlet thread to the rope, which she drew up and took care of 
 until the time when it would prove of such essential value. 
 
 Rahab had probably provided them with food, and advised 
 them to go into the mountain and hide themselves three days, 
 lest the pursuers should meet them. They acted on her advice, 
 and fled to the mountain. There were mountains on the west of 
 the town, on the north, and on the south. It is not probable 
 that they would go to the west, as they should then have been 
 at a considerable distance from the camp; they would most 
 probably choose the north, where the mountains are situated, 
 to which the name Quarantana was afterwards given, and by the 
 Arabs Kuruntal. Following the tradition that this was the scene 
 of our Lord's temptation, Milton happily describes it thus : — 
 
 ' It was a mountain at whose verdant feet 
 A spacious plain, outstretclied in circuit wide. 
 Lay pleasant ; from his side two rivers flowed, 
 Th' one winding, th' other straight, and left between 
 Fair champaign with less rivers interveign'd, 
 Then meeting, joined their tribute to the sea; 
 Fertile of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine ; 
 "With herds the pastures thi'ong'd, with flocks the hills ; 
 Huge cities, and high tower'd, that well might seem 
 The seats of mightiest monarchs ; and so large 
 The prospect was, that here and there was room 
 For barren desert, fountainless, and diy. 
 To this high mountain, too, the tempter brought 
 Our Saviour, and now train of words began.'* 
 
 Josephus places the ancient Jericho near a fountain, called the 
 fountain ^ of Elisha, which ' runs very plentifully, and is very fit 
 for watering the ground.' 2 Most modern travellers admit that 
 he is correct ; and if so, tlie spies would have but a quarter of a 
 
 ■ ' Paradise Kcgaiued,' Book iii. 256. 
 
 - ' Wars of the Jews,' Book iv. chap. viii. 3. 
 
REPORT OF THE SPIES. 43 
 
 mile to walk ere they found themselves on the mountain-side. It 
 rises precipitously twelve or fifteen hundred feet above the plain, 
 and its eastern front is full of natural caverns and artificial 
 grottoes, once the abodes of superstitious hermits.^ In one of 
 these caverns the spies might easily hide themselves from their 
 pursuers ; and here it was, no doubt, that they remained three 
 days, patiently waiting until they could, without much danger, 
 venture back to the camp. They were worthy men, and performed 
 their task well. But as they were absent so long, Joshua would 
 perhaps be somewhat anxious respecting them ; and when at 
 length they stood before him, he would give them a most cordial 
 greeting. 
 
 Very different was their report to that of the ten men who 
 had accompanied Joshua and Caleb nearly forty years before, 
 and glad would Joshua be that their fears on this point were 
 not realized. ' They told him all things that befell them : and 
 they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath delivered into our 
 hands all the land : for even all the country do faint because of 
 us.' It was principally to gain information relative to the feel- 
 ings of the Canaanites that Joshua sent the men, and now this 
 is their report : The people are afraid of us ; they have heard of 
 our conquests, and are faint-hearted and discouraged ; they are 
 filled with consternation on account of what Jehovah has done 
 for us, and they are utterly unprepared to resist our arms. 
 Quickly the tidings would spread throughout the camp ; and 
 instead of the murmurings which were heard aforetime, there 
 would now be rejoicings and congratulations, and with brave 
 hearts and fearless spirits the people would prepare to march 
 forward to the conquest. 
 
 And would not the name of Kahab be in honour ? She had 
 protected and shown kindness to the spies. But for her, they 
 might have been taken prisoners and put to death. To her, 
 
 ' Robinson's 'Eesearclies,' vol. i., p. 567. 2d edit. Murray. 
 
44 THE SPIES SENT TO JERICHO. 
 
 therefore, the whole multitude were not a little indebted, and 
 every one would approve of the promise given her of protection, 
 and be willing to pledge himself that the promise should be 
 kept. How it was kept, and how Rahab was preserved, we 
 shall see hereafter ; but we must here glance for a moment at 
 her subsequent history. She doubtless abandoned heathenism, 
 and with it the sins to which she had been addicted ; and sucli is 
 the divine mercy, that she obtained the righteousness whicb is of 
 faith, was received as a proselyte into the Jewish Church, and 
 became a partaker of the privileges of God's people. Hebrew 
 tradition affirms that she became the wife of Joshua himself, 
 and the ancestress of Jeremiah, Maaseiah, Hanameel, Shallum, 
 Baruch, Ezekiel, Neriah, Seriah, and Huldah the prophetess.^ 
 But from Matthew i. 5 it appears that she was married to Sal- 
 mon the son of Naason, or Nahshon, and became the mother of 
 Boaz, and through his line an ancestress of our Lord and Sa- 
 viour. It is true that doubts have been entertained, on chrono- 
 logical grounds, whether the Rachab of this passage was the 
 Rahab of the Book of Joshua ; but, as Olshausen observes, the 
 expression 17 'Paxa/3 (with the article) clearly points to the known 
 Rahab, and the chronological difficulties are by no means in- 
 surmountable. ' Nahshon, the father of Salmon, the prince of 
 Judah (1 Chron. ii. 10), offered his offering at the setting up of 
 the tabernacle (Num.vii. 12), thirty-nine years before the taking 
 of Jericho. So that Salmon would be of mature age at or soon 
 after that event, at which time Rahab was probably young, as 
 her father and mother were living.' 2 The difficulty, however, 
 lies in tiie fact, that according to the received chronology, a 
 period ejapsed between Rahab and David of upwards of four 
 hundred years, which would give for the four generations men- 
 
 ' See Lightfoot's ' Ilor. Ileb.' in loco. 
 
 ' Alfonl's 'Greek Test.,' vol. i., Matt. i. 5 ; and Lange's Com. on St Mati, 
 p. Gi. Clfirk. 
 
THE HONOUR PUT ON RAHAB. 45 
 
 tioued — Salmon. Boaz, Obed, and Jesse — an average of more 
 than one hundred years. Either, then, the chronology is incorrect, 
 and must be considerably reduced, as several authorities affirm, 
 or Matthew has not included all the generations, as Olshausen, 
 KeiV and others suppose. And this is the more probable solu- 
 tion of the difficulty, as it is certain that the Jews did not insert 
 all names into their genealogical lists. 
 
 What an honour, then, was conferred on Kahab, that she, a 
 poor Gentile, should become, however remotely, an ancestress of 
 the Messiah ! The same honour was conferred on another Gentile 
 woman — Ruth the Moabitess;^ and thus the genealogy of our 
 Lord is not purely Jewish, but contains these Gentile elements, 
 as if to intimate that He was to become, as we know He has be- 
 come, the Saviour of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews. And 
 that Kahab had her full share in the blessings of redemption, who 
 can doubt ? Whether her faith apprehended the promise of the 
 Messiah, received by tradition through Abraham, we know not ; 
 but when she became the wife of Salmon, if not before, she would 
 doubtless hear of the expected Deliverer, and would believe ir 
 Him. Dante, therefore, places her in Paradise, and says : — 
 
 ' Know, then, the soul of Kahab 
 Is in that gladsome harbour, to our tribe 
 United, and the foremost rank assign'd. 
 She to this heaven, at which the shadow ends 
 Of your sublunar world, was taken up, 
 First in Christ's triumph, of all souls redeem'd : 
 For well behoved, that, in some part of heaven, 
 She should remain a trophy, to declare 
 The mighty conquest won with either palm ; 
 For that she favour'd first the high exploit 
 Of Joshua on the Holy Land.' ^ 
 
 This is not mere poetry. Rahab was indeed a trophy of 
 redeeming love ; and her history, like that of many others, affords 
 
 ' ' Comm. on Joshua,' p. 172, note. ^ Rutii iv. 17, comp. Matt. i. 5. 
 2 Carey's Dante, ' Paradise,' Canto ix. 
 
46 THE SPIES SENT TO JERICHO. 
 
 ground of hope for sinners of more than ordinary guilt. If this 
 poor Gentile harlot obtained mercy, while yet the Gentiles as a 
 race were strangers to the covenant of promise, who need now 
 despair, since the door of faith has been opened to the Gentile 
 and the Jew alike? But her history presents to us another 
 lesson also. It reminds us of the saying of St Paul, ' Be not 
 forgetful to entertain strangers : for thereby some have enter- 
 tained angels unawares.'^ To her the spies were as angels, sent 
 to warn her of coming judgments. She received them, she lodged 
 them, she sent them away in peace ; ' therefore her reward was 
 sure, so that she was not only preserved in life, but received 
 more grace unto salvation, for the sake of her vigorous first faith. 
 And with her we may compare those who are disposed to come 
 out of the world, and enter among the people of God, who re- 
 ceive the disciples of Christ and give them food in His name, 
 because they are His disciples.' ^ None such shall lose their re- 
 ward ; for an act of kindness done to one of His servants is con- 
 sidered by our Lord as done to Himself, and He will remember 
 it in the day when He shall call the nations to His bar. To 
 such as Bahab it will be said in that day, 'I was a stranger, and 
 ye took Me in.' 
 
 Returning to the narrative, we find the vast camp of the 
 Israelites once more in motion ; for ' Joshua rose early in the 
 morning ; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, 
 he and all the children of Israel' (chap. iii. 1). The words are 
 brief, but they present to us a picture of the most lively interest. 
 Several months had elapsed since the people pitched their tents 
 in that locality, during which many events of thrilling importance 
 in their history had occurred, such as the stratagem of Balak, 
 the defeat of Sihon, the battle at Edrei, and the death of Moses ; 
 but now their tents were once more struck, and, with the ex- 
 ception of the famines of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of 
 
 • Hob. xiii. 2. ■-' Sticr ou 'St James, p. 359. Clark. 
 
PEEP>VBATIONS FOR THE PASSAGE. 47 
 
 Manasseh, the whole assembly of the children of Israel left the 
 desert plains of Moab, and moved towards the valley of the Jor- 
 dan, preparatory to the transit of the river and their entrance 
 on the promised land. This valley, which is called by the Arabs 
 El Ghor, is here fifteen miles in breadth, two-thirds of which 
 lie on the western side of the river ; so that the people must have 
 spread themselves up and down its banks for a distance of several 
 leagues. Forty years before, their fathers had stood in like 
 manner on the banks of the Red Sea, soon after their departure 
 from Egypt; and, as children, many of the present generation 
 too were there. But the greater number of them would have 
 but a faint recollection of that event; and though they had 
 heard from their parents of the wondrous miracle which God 
 then wrought on their behalf, they would possess but a very in- 
 adequate conception of the scene which then occurred. Now, 
 however, they were about to witness another display of Jehovah's 
 power ; and their enemies would hear that He who had divided 
 the waters of the Red Sea before them, was still their Dehverer 
 and their God. 
 
 Three days were spent in this locality, during which all 
 possible attention would, of course, be paid to the preparations 
 necessary for conducting the host, the women, the children, and 
 the cattle, over the river with as little confusion as possible. 
 At the end of the three days the Shoterim went through the 
 host, giving instructions to the people that when they saw the 
 ark of the covenant of the Lord their God, borne by the Priests 
 and Levites, they should follow it; leaving, however, a space 
 between it and them of two thousand cubits, that they might 
 know the way by which they should go, for they had not passed 
 that way before. It has been supposed that this injunction was 
 given because of the sacredness of the ark ; but this space was 
 to intervene that the people might see their way, for, as Keil 
 observes, had they 'followed en masse close upon the heels of 
 
48 THE SPIES SENT TO JERICUO. 
 
 the priests who were carrying the ark, from the pressure of the 
 crowd, those who were nearest it would have completely hidden 
 it from the rest, and thus have prevented the more distant from 
 seeing the way which it opened before them.' And now the 
 voice of Joshua was heard, and his words were conveyed to the 
 utmost extremity of the camp — 'Sanctify yourselves; for to- 
 morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.' It was a similar 
 command to that given by the Lord to Moses just prior to the 
 promulgation of the law : ' Go unto the people, and sanctify them 
 to-day and to-morrow, and let. them w^ash their clothes, and be 
 ready against the third day.'^ God was about to reveal His 
 presence in an extraordinary manner on the following da}^, and 
 to perform a miracle before the eyes of the people, equalled only 
 by the dividing of the Red Sea ; and now, therefore, they were 
 to prepare themselves for His coming, by washmg their clothes, 
 by abstinence from all sensual enjoyments, and by a renewed 
 consecration of themselves to His service. The solemn injunc- 
 tion was obeyed ; and that night the camp would present an ex- 
 traordinary scene of humiliation, fasting, and prayer ; whilst many 
 thousands would perhaps wash themselves in the waters of that 
 river, on the opposite shores of which they were soon to stand. 
 
 When an entire people is on the eve of some great national 
 event, the excitement increases as the anticipated hour draws 
 nigh. How intense must have been the emotions of the Israel- 
 ites as the hours of that evening sped away, and as the dawn of 
 the following morning broke upon the camp ! Early would their 
 slumbers cease, and soon the entire multitude would be in readi- 
 ness for the expected sign. And what congratulations would 
 be heard among the different tribes ! ' We are to pass over the 
 river this day. This day we are to take possession of the land 
 which God promised unto our fathers. We are now about to 
 begin the conquest of the country which is to be our resting-place 
 
 • Exod. xix. 10, 11, and 14, 15. 
 
COxVFIDENCE OF SUCCESS. 49 
 
 and home.' Thus would parents address their children, and thus 
 would friend converse with friend ; and every countenance would 
 beam with joy, and every heart be animated with hope. No 
 anxiety would be felt as to the result, for the people's confidence 
 in God, and in His servant Joshua, was now firm and fixed. 
 For murmuring there was no room. They saw that the Lord 
 Jehovah was in their midst ; they were satisfied that their com- 
 mander was acting under His directions and control ; and, what- 
 ever difficulties they might have to encounter, they believed that 
 before the advancing hosts all such difficulties would give way. 
 
:LIEiIORIAL STONES 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 
 
 ] ^LL was ready, and early that morning Joshua said unto 
 the priests, ' Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass 
 over before the people' (chap. iii. G). 
 But ' the Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of 
 harvest' (iii. 15); a statement which is confirmed by other pas- 
 sa,u:es in the writings of the Hebrews. In 1 Chron. xii. 15 it is 
 said, ' Tliese are they that went over Jordan in the .first month 
 (about the latter end of March), when it had overflown all its 
 banks.* From Jcr. xlix. I'J, 1. M, we learn that these sv/ellings 
 
THE SOUKCES OF THE JORDAN. 51 
 
 drove the lion from his lair ; aud the writer of the apocryphal 
 book of Ecclesiasticus says, ' He maketh the understanding to 
 abound like Euphrates, and as Jordan in the time of harvest' 
 (chap. xxiv. 26). To understand the position of the Israelites 
 at this moment, it will be necessary to inquire into the nature of 
 these ^ sweUings,' and to ascertain, if possible, their extent ; the 
 more so, as several objections have been raised to the accuracy 
 and truthfulness of the BibHcal representation. ' It is,' however 
 * a plain and honest statement of a simple fact, as literally true 
 now as when Joshua led the ransomed tribes into Canaan. All 
 we need in order to clear the passage from obscurity and doubt, 
 is an adequate acquaintance with the phenomena of the country 
 and the river.' ^ 
 
 The Jordan — or, as the word signifies, 'the Descender' — 
 takes its rise in the far north, at the base of the snowy Hermon. 
 Here there are innumerable springs and fountains, which find 
 their way southwards, and probably unite with what are sup- 
 posed by most authorities to be the two principal sources of 
 the river, — the cave of Banias, and the hill of Dan. Of the 
 former, Josephus, who calls it Panim, says, ' This is a very fine 
 cave in a mountain, under which there is a great cavity in the 
 earth ; and the cavern is abrupt and prodigiously deep, and full 
 of still water. Over it hangs a vast mountain, and under the 
 cavern arise the springs of the river Jordan.' The latter is 
 called by the same writer the source of the Lesser Jordan ; but 
 it is here that the largest fountain in Syria takes its rise ; and as 
 Dr Thomson witnessed it, he thus wrote : — ' The young Jordan ! 
 type of this strange life of ours! Bright and beautiful in its 
 cradle, laughing in its merry morning away through the flowery 
 fields of the Huleh ; plunging, with the recklessness of youth, 
 into the tangled brakes and muddy marshes of Merom ; hurrying 
 
 ' ' The Land and the Book,' by W. M. Thomson, D.D., p. 619. English 
 edit. Nelson. 
 
52 THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 
 
 thence, full-growD, like earnest manhood with its noisy and bus- 
 tling activities, it subsides at length into life's sober midday in 
 tlie placid Lake of Gcnnesaret. When it goes forth again, it is 
 do^Yn the inevitable procUvity of old age, sinking deeper and 
 deeper, in spite of doublings and windings innumerable, until 
 finally lost in the bitter sea of Death, that melancholy bourne 
 from which there is neither escape nor return.'^ 
 
 There is reason to believe that there are at least four principal 
 sources of the Jordan, with several smaller ones, all which meet 
 before the river enters the Lake Huleh, and all which are more 
 or less affected by the melting of the snows of Hermon. ' The 
 Jordan is made up from the joint contributions of great per- 
 manent springs ; and in this fact we find the explanation of the 
 overflow of the river so late in the season as March. These 
 immense fountains do not feel the efTects of the early winter 
 rains at all. It requires the heavy and long-continued storms of 
 mid-winter before they are moved in the least ; and it is not until 
 toward the close of winter, when the melting snows of Hermon 
 and Lebanon, with the heavy rains of the season, have penetrated 
 through the mighty masses of these mountains, and filled to 
 overflowing their hidden chambers and vast reservoirs, that the 
 streams gush forth in their full volume. The Huleh — marsh 
 and lake — is filled, and then Gennesaret rises, and pours its ac- 
 cumulated waters into the swelling Jordan about the 1st of 
 March. Thus it comes to pass that it does actually " overflow 
 all its banks during all the time of harvest;" nor does it soon 
 subside, as other short rivers do, when the rains cease. These 
 fountains continue to pour forth their contributions for months 
 with undim'inished volume, and the river keeps full and strong 
 all through March into April, and the proper banks of the river 
 arc still full to overflowing in the time of harvest.' 
 
 Such is the explanation of the swelling of the Jordan given 
 ' ' The Land and the Book,' p. 214. 
 
SWELLING OF THE JORDAN. 53 
 
 by Dr Thomson, who also observes, that he visited the scene of 
 the miracle on the 1st of April, and ' found the river full to the 
 brim, and saw abundant evidence that it had overflowed its banks 
 very recently.'^ Dr Robinson, however, says that the Hebrew 
 expressions signify nothing more than that the Jordan ' was full, 
 or filled up to all its banks,' meaning ' the banks of its channel.' 2 
 Yet he himself observes, that when he saw it on the 12th of May 
 1838, the low banks of the channel, in the vicinity opposite 
 Jericho, were covered with water, and that there was a still, 
 though very rapid, current. That the Jordan does not, like the 
 Nile, cover a vast tract of country by its overflow, is acknow- 
 ledged ; but the river may be said to have ' three sets of banks ; 
 viz., the upper or outer ones, forming the first descent from the 
 level of the great valley; the lower or middle ones, enclosing 
 the tract of canes and other vegetation ; and the actual banks of 
 the channel.' Now the water sometimes rises to the very tops 
 of these inner banks, and even reaches to the roots of the bushes 
 in the middle ones ; the breadth of the stream is then from eighty 
 to a hundred feet, its depth ten or twelve feet, and its current 
 so strong that an experienced swimmer will be carried down 
 several yards in crossing.^ 
 
 The course of the Jordan is not more, in a straight line, 
 than 70 miles ; but such is its tortuosity, that its actual length 
 was found by the American expedition, under Captain Lynch, 
 to be at least 200 miles. The Sea of Tiberias is 328 feet below 
 the level of the Mediterranean, and the Dead Sea 1311 feet,— a 
 difference in the level of the two seas of 983 feet, giving room 
 for three cataracts, each equal to the Niagara. And cataracts 
 there are, with many rapids. Captain Lynch passed down 27 of 
 the latter which were very threatening, together with several 
 
 » ' The Land and the Book,' p. 619. - ' Kesearches,' vol. i., p. 53G. 
 
 3 Robinson, vol. i., p. 536, etc. ; comp. ' Lord Lindsay's Letters,' and Van 
 de Velde's ' Syria and Palestine,' vol. ii., p. 322, etc 
 
4 
 
 54 THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 
 
 others of a less fearful character.^ Well, then, may the river be 
 called the Descender, and well may its current, when it oyerflows 
 its banks, be formidable to encounter, even by those accustomed 
 to such tasks. 
 
 We may now form a conception of the position of the Is- 
 raeUtes at this moment. They had encamped in the Ghor, on 
 the upper banks of the river ; but they were now commanded to 
 strike their tents and to proceed towards the lower banks, which 
 were covered with bushes of luxuriant green. There, however, 
 the waters were before them, rolling down, if not impetuously, 
 yet with considerable rapidity, and reaching to the roots of the 
 trees that ran along the river's side. What was that vast multi- 
 tude of men, women, and little children, together with all their 
 droves of cattle and of sheep, to do ? How were they to pass 
 the flood, and to reach in safety the farther side of the stream ? 
 When, in the fourth century of the Christian era, the Goths, 
 amounting to nearly a milHon of persons of both sexes and of all 
 ages, crossed the Danube, which had been swelled by incessant 
 rains, a large fleet of vessels, of boats and of canoes, was pro- 
 vided ; yet many days and nights they passed and repassed with 
 indefatigable toil, and, notwithstanding the most strenuous efforts 
 of the oflBcers, many were swept away and drowned by the rapid 
 violence of the current.^ But here were two milHons of people, 
 who, in some way or other, must be transported to the opposite 
 banks of the river which was before them. It is evident, then, 
 that God must interfere on their behalf. And interfere He did. 
 ' This day,' said He to Joshua, 'will I begin to magnify thee in 
 the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with 
 Moses, so I .will be with thee. And thou shalt command the 
 priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are 
 
 ' I-yncli's 'Narrative of the Uuitcd States Expedition.' 
 ' 6co tho account in Gibbon's ' Decline and Fall,' etc., Milman's edit, 
 Tol. iii., ji. 321. 
 
ZARETAN AND ADAM. 55 
 
 come to the brink of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan' 
 (chap. iii. 7, 8). Joshua then addressed the people, and said, 
 'Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God;' and, 
 repeating, as it were, God's message, he told them that, as a 
 pledge of future victories over the Canaanites and other inhabit- 
 ants of the land, the ark of the covenant of the Lord would pass 
 over before them into the river, and that as soon as the soles of 
 the priests' feet rested on the river's brink, it would be cut off, 
 and the waters above would stand upon a heap. The people 
 doubted not his word. All were ready to obey the signal. All 
 were prepared to follow their guides. 
 
 And now the ark of the covenant, which, from the dedication 
 of the tabernacle, had been the appointed symbol of God's 
 gracious presence, is lifted up on the shoulders of the priests, 
 and borne towards the brink of the descending river. When 
 the Red Sea was divided before the Israelites, Moses lifted up 
 his rod, for then the ark had not 'been made; but 'where the 
 ordinary means of grace exist, the goodness and power of God 
 operate through them, and not directly;'^ and, therefore, now 
 the miracle is wrought through the medium of this symbol of 
 Jehovah's power. Slowly and solemnly the priests advance 
 with their precious treasure, when no sooner do their feet touch 
 the Jordan, than instantly its progress is arrested, and the waters 
 stand up in a heap, ' far from the city Adam, which is beside 
 Zaretan,' leaving the channel of the river dry for a distance of 
 several miles. 
 
 Zaretan is no doubt identical with the Zarthan of 1 Kings 
 vii. 46, where all the brazen vessels of the temple were cast, 'in 
 the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and 
 Zarthan.' Succoth lay on the eastern bank of the Jordan, not 
 far from Beisan or Bethshean ; and accordingly Yan de Yelde 
 identifies Zaretan with Surtabeh, on the western bank, a pe- 
 
 ^ Keil's Comm. in loco. Clark. 
 
56 THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 
 
 culiar mountain group in the Ghor, south of Wadj-el-Feirah, 
 on the highest peak of which, called Kurn el-Surtabeyh, he 
 found 'the ruins of an ancient castle, probably the citadel of 
 the proper town of Zarthau, which must have been at its base.' 
 The city Adam he supposes to have stood between the mountain 
 and the Jordan, where large hewn stones are found scattered 
 about ; but the name of the city has not been preserved.^ 
 
 Here, then, ten miles above Jericho, and upwards of twenty 
 above the Dead Sea, did the waters of the Jordan stop, as if a 
 bar of ice had suddenly been formed across the river to pre- 
 vent their progress ; and this entire space, of between twenty 
 and thirty miles, formed a passage for the mighty host. For 
 the waters below would, of course, rapidly run off into the 
 sea, and, though the bed of the river would not become 
 perfectly dry, it would be sufficiently so to render the pas- 
 sage easy even for children; nor would there be, even on the 
 right hand of the people, any sign of danger, for ' the heap,' 
 into which the river ' rose up,' would be far away out of their 
 sight. 
 
 Having entered the bed of the river, there the priests remain ; 
 and so long as the ark of the covenant is there, the waters are 
 obedient to their Creator's word. ' How observant are all the 
 creatures to the God that made them ! How glorious a God 
 do we serve, whom all the powers of the heavens and elements 
 are willingly subject unto, and gladly take that nature which 
 He pleases to give them ! He coulu have made Jordan Hke some 
 solid pavement of crystal for the Israehtes' feet to have trod 
 upon, but this work had not been so magnificent. Every strong 
 frost congeals the water in a natural course ; but for a river to 
 stand still, and run on heaps, and to be made a hquid wall for 
 
 • ' Syria and Palestine, vol. ii., p. 323, and Memoir accompanying the Map, 
 p. 354. Comp. Stanley's ' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 302, and Keil's ' Commentary 
 on 1 Kings,' vol. i., p. 135. Clark. 
 
THE WATERS CUT OFF. 57 
 
 the passage of God's people, is for nature to run out of itself, to 
 do homage to her Creator.' ^ 
 
 At the distance of a mile from the ark of the covenant the 
 people commenced their march, and thus the vast host see clearly 
 the way which it has gradually opened up before them. The 
 foremost ranks soon reach the bed of the river, where they find 
 the ark resting on their right ; and rank after rank of soldiers 
 clad in armour, of women and of children, and of herdsmen with 
 their droves of cattle, pass through the Jordan, some of them 
 but just able, if at all, to see the symbol of the divine presence 
 by which they are preserved, but all of them exulting in the 
 mighty work which the Lord Jehovah is performing before their 
 eyes. And none of that great multitude, save those who have 
 already received their inheritance, are left behind. ' The priests, 
 that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, stood firm on 
 dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed 
 over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over 
 Jordan.' 2 And now they wend their way up the western banks 
 to the vast plain — which, according to Robinson, is from ten 
 to twelve miles in breadth,^ — that lies on the western side of 
 the river ; the foremost ranks reaching it, ere the hindermost 
 have entered the river's bed. We hear of no song of praise as 
 they set foot in the land promised to their fathers, like that with 
 which they rent the air after their passage through the waters 
 of the Red Sea ; but could they refrain from giving expression to 
 their emotions ? Would there be no burst of joy and thankfulness 
 for this signal proof of God's goodness and power? Doubtless 
 there would : for the Lord magnified Himself that day before 
 their eyes, and gave them a pledge of glorious conquests here- 
 after to be won. 
 
 It was fitting that some memorial should be raised to cele- 
 
 ^ Bishop Hall's ' Contemplations,' Book viii. ^ Josh. iii. 17. 
 
 ' 'Researches,' vol. i., p. 559. 
 
58 THE PASSAGE OF THE JOEDAX. 
 
 brate the event, and to perpetuate the knowledge of it to future 
 generations. Ah'eadj twelve men had been chosen, one from 
 each tribe, who were now commanded to go into the midst of 
 the Jordan, and take thence each man a stone, such as he could 
 bear upon his shoulder ; and these stones were brought together, 
 and placed in the midst of the camp. Whether thej were set 
 up side by side, or one upon another, w^e are not informed ; but 
 Josephus says that an altar was constructed of them, and Dr 
 Kitto observes, that ' as the stones were not, singly, larger than 
 one man could carry, this seems not unhkely.'^ 
 
 But ere these stones were actually set up, ' Joshua set up' 
 other ' twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place 
 where the feet of the priests who bare the ark of the covenant 
 stood.' ^ Commentators and critics have stumbled at this verse, 
 and have supposed it to be spurious ; whilst others have con- 
 tended that it is a short and somewhat different account of the 
 same event. Both these views are manifestly incorrect. It is 
 true that w^e do not read of any command given to Joshua to 
 set up these twelve stones, but the divine commands are not 
 all expressly reported in this book; and if it be objected that 
 such a memorial, erected in the bed of the river, would have 
 been of no use, we may reply, with Calvin, that 'the top of 
 the heap may have been sometimes seen when the river fell.' 
 Keil supposes that the priests did not stand in the bed. of the 
 river, but upon the eastern banks, and that these stones were 
 set up there ; so that when the waters returned to their proper 
 channel, the stones would be left dry.. And what if this me- 
 morial did not remain long ! It was designed for the existing 
 generation, and especially, perhaps, for the two tribes and a half 
 whose inheritance w^as on the eastern side of the river. We 
 have no doubt, then, that the historian is perfectly correct ; and 
 that, as the LXX. and the Vulgate read the passage, ' other 
 
 ' ' rictorial Bible ' in loco. 2 JosL. iv. 9. 
 
THE PASSAGE COMPLETED. N^ 59 
 
 twelve stones' — aWovs ScoSfxa \t6ovs — were set up here, to ma'irk 
 the very spot where the feet of the priests had stood. Perhaps 
 they were larger stones than the others; and it may be, that if they 
 were ever thrown down by the violence of the current, the people 
 would re-erect them, and thus preserve the memorial for years. 
 
 Let us now picture to ourselves the scene at this moment. 
 The day is far spent ; the twelve stones have been set up in the 
 Jordan — the priests bearing the ark still waiting there, until this 
 work also is accomplished; the twelve men with the other twelve 
 stones are proceeding towards the place where the people are 
 to encamp ; and the whole of the nine tribes and a half, together 
 with forty thousand armed men of the other two tribes and a 
 half, have reached in safety the western plain; when Joshua, at 
 God's command, says to the priests, ' Come ye up out of Jordan.' 
 Solemnly, and not in haste, they also cross the river, and, per- 
 naps passing through the midst of the vast assembly, proceed 
 again to the front ; and no sooner are the soles of their feet 
 planted on the dry land, than the waters return unto their 
 place, and flow over all their banks as they did before. Thus 
 does the Lord magnify Joshua in the sight of all Israel. Yet 
 'this was not,' as Calvin observes, 'the chief design of the 
 miracle, to exalt the power and authority of Joshua. But as 
 it was of the greatest importance to the people generally that 
 the government of Joshua should be firmly established, it is very 
 properly mentioned as the crowning advantage resulting from 
 it, that he was, as it were, invested with sacred insignia, which 
 produced such veneration among the people that no one dared 
 to despise him.' 
 
 To the spot whither the people journeyed that day, was 
 subsequently given the name Gilgal, which occurs in chap. iv. 
 19, 20, by anticipation. According to Josephus, it was about 
 six miles from the river, and ten from Jericho ;^ and in the time 
 
 1 ' Antiq.' V. 1, 4. 
 
GO THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 
 
 of. Jerome the site of the encampment was still distinguishable. 
 But the exact position of Gilgal has not been ascertained. Dr 
 Thomson observes, that if Joshua crossed due east of Jericho, 
 and if Josephus is correct in his numbers, then Gilgal must have 
 been very near the present Riha ; an opinion also entertained by 
 Dr Ixobinson. There are, however, no traces of antiquity here, 
 except a fragment of sienite granite, and some foundations of 
 unhewn stones; so. that if Gilgal became an inhabited place, it was 
 probably abandoned at an early period.^ 
 
 Here, then, the ' sons of Israel,' b^']\^] ""pB, as they are called, 
 because each one represented the tribe to which he belonged, 
 set up the twelve stones which they had taken out of the river ; 
 and then Joshua addressed the people, and said, ' When your 
 children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying. What 
 mean these stones? then ye shall let your children know, say- 
 ing, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord 
 your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until 
 ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, 
 which He dried up before us, until we were gone over ; that all 
 the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that 
 it is mighty ; that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.'^ 
 It was a solemn and interesting scene ; and the address of Joshua 
 intimates that the design of the two miracles v*'as to prove to 
 the heathen the omnipotence of Jehovah, and to induce the Is- 
 raelites to continue in the practice of the worship of their father's 
 God. National favours call for national acknowledgments and 
 praise ; and the erection of these stones was a significant mode 
 of giving expression to the feelings of the people, as well as 
 of raising a memorial which should perpetuate the remembrance 
 of the event in future years. Similarly did Jacob, centuries 
 
 ' 'Tlie Land and the Eook,' p. 612; Robinson's 'Researches,* vol. i., p. 
 ' Josh. iv. 21-24. 
 
MEMOKIALS. 61 
 
 before this, set up the stone which had served for his pillow at 
 Bethel, and pour oil upon the top of it;^ and similarly did 
 Samuel, two hundred years after, set up a stone between Mizpeh 
 and Shen, and call it Ebenezer, or the stone of help, saying, 
 'Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.'^ These twelve stones, like 
 Samuel's one, might have been called, and were called in effect, 
 Ebenezer also, for God had hitherto helped His people in an 
 extraordinary way ; and well might they have sung — as perhaps, 
 indeed, they did — ' Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed Thy 
 people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. The waters saw Thee, 
 God, the waters saw Thee : they were afraid ; the depths also 
 were troubled.' — ' Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the 
 great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known.' ^ 
 
 It is to be regretted that in modern times memorial stones 
 are not more frequently set up. We rear, in these days, monu- 
 ments to great men: why should we not more frequently rear 
 alms-houses or sanctuaries in remembrance of great national 
 events ? We have heard of memorial trees planted in comme- 
 moration of royal visits, and a memorial church is to be erected at 
 Cawnpore in remembrance of the sad events and gracious deli- 
 verances which occurred there during the Indian Mutiny ; but 
 why should not this Christian land be studded with memorial 
 buildings commemorative of plentiful harvests, of the cessation 
 of war, of rehgious progress, and of other national events which 
 often call for our gratitude as a people ? The memory of the 
 nation is not more retentive of its mercies than is that of the 
 individual; and hence we need such public monuments to remind 
 us of our obligations to the Great Supreme — monuments to 
 which we could point our children, and say, ' In such a year God 
 delivered us from the pestilence ;' or, ' In such a year He gave us 
 abundant harvests ; ' or, ' In such a year He visited us with a 
 great revival of religion.' Such memorial buildings would be 
 
 > Gen. xxviii. 18. 2 i g^m. yii. 12. « Ps. Ixxvii. 
 
62 THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAX. 
 
 ornaments to our country, and would do honour to our country's 
 piety and zeal. 
 
 At Gilgal Joshua was commanded to renew the rite of cir- 
 cumcision, which, during the thirty-eight years' wanderings in 
 the wilderness, had not been observed. All the males who came 
 out of Egypt forty years before were circumcised, but they fell 
 in the wilderness ; and their sons, who were born in the wilderness, 
 had not been circumcised. Now, therefore, must this rite, which 
 had been instituted in the days of Abraham, and which was the 
 outward sign of the covenant into which God had entered with 
 Abraham's posterity, be solemnly regarded, and performed on 
 all the males. The instruments used are called ' sharp knives,^ 
 but literally ' knives of flint,' — such instruments being frequently 
 employed both in earher and in later times.-^ 
 
 In answer to the question, Why was this sign of the covenant 
 not observed during the sojourn in the wilderness ? Kurtz re- 
 plies, — ' The circumcision of the new-born was omitted from the 
 time of the departure from Egypt, — at first, no doubt, on account 
 of the difficulty of the journey ; for, when the camp was broken 
 up, and the orders were given to advance, it was impossible 
 to make allowance for any of the families which might require 
 longer rest, on account of the new-born infants being ill at the 
 time with the fever which followed circumcision. On the other 
 hand, they could not be left behind ; and therefore nothing re- 
 mained but to suspend the circumcision altogether. The whole 
 period of the journey through the desert was one of affliction, 
 which fully warranted the omission. It was undoubtedly their 
 intention at the time to repair the omission on reaching the Holy 
 Land. And this continued to be the case even after the sentence 
 of rejection, by which the entrance into the promised land was 
 postponed for thirty-eiglit years.' 
 
 We cannot but think, however, though Dr Kurtz repudiates 
 
 > Josh. V. 2-8. 
 
CIRCUMCISION. GILGxVL. 63 
 
 the notion, that this was not the only, nor the principal reason ; 
 but that the covenant itself was for a time suspended, and that, 
 therefore,, the sign of it during that period was omitted. The 
 rising generation, it is true, were not the parties on account of 
 whose guilt the entrance into the promised land was postponed; 
 but that generation necessarily shared in the consequences of 
 their fathers' sins, and during the whole of the thirty-eight years 
 the entire nation suJBfered a partial withdrawal of the divine 
 favour, and bore the punishment of their iniquities.^ For His 
 own sake, and for the sake of their progenitors, God did not 
 utterly cast them off ; but for a while they were under a dark and 
 mysterious cloud, lost to history, and exposed to the perils of the 
 wilderness; and only when the new generation emerged from 
 behind that cloud did the covenant into which God had entered 
 with them again come into force, and therefore not until then 
 was the sign of the covenant observed. 
 
 And that this view of the case is the correct one, appears 
 from the fact, that the Lord said unto Joshua, ' This day have 
 I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you.' Now, as 
 Keil observes, by the reproach of Egypt, is necessarily meant 
 ' the reproach which is cast upon you by the Egyptians.' And 
 what was that reproach ? That they were an uncircumcised 
 people ? No ; for there is no evidence whatever that the Egyp- 
 tians themselves were all circumcised, and hence they could not 
 reproach the Israelites on this ground. The reproach was 
 nothing less than that God had brought them into the wilder- 
 ness to destroy them. The Egyptians had often said — just 
 what Moses often feared they would say — ' For mischief did He 
 bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume 
 them from off the face of the earth ;'2 for during the thirty-eight 
 years' wanderings they would doubtless hear of their condition, 
 and this was the conclusion to which they would naturally come. 
 » See Num. sir. 34. « Exod. xxxii. 12 ; Num. xiv. 13-16 • Deut. ix. 28. 
 
64 THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 
 
 The subject of reproach was their rejection, -whicli was made 
 manifest by the cessation of the outward sign of the covenant. 
 But now God had re-admitted them into His favour ; now He 
 had brought them into the land of promise ; now the sign of the 
 covenant was restored ; and now, therefore, the reproach of the 
 Egyptians was for ever rolled away. Hence to the place of 
 their encampment where the rite was renewed, the name Gilgal 
 was given; i.e., a rolling away.^ 
 
 And now that the covenant was renewed, and the reproach 
 was rolled away, the plains of Jericho witnessed also the cele- 
 bration of the Passover. The first Passover the Israelites ob- 
 served after leaving Egypt was at Sinai, in the second year of 
 their journey in the desert. That same year they were driven 
 back into the wilderness from Kadesh-Barnea, and from that 
 time the feast of the covenant had never once been kept for eight 
 and thirty years. But the period of its celebration had now 
 arrived. On the tenth day of the first month, they had crossed 
 the Jordan ;^ during the three days following, the rite of circum- 
 cision was performed ; and now the fourteenth day of the month 
 Nisan^ (on the evening of which day, just forty years before, 
 the Passover was instituted in the land of Egypt) dawned upon 
 them, and found them once more in close covenant-relationship 
 with God. Now, therefore, the paschal lamb was slain, and its 
 blood sprinkled upon the mercy-seat, in the tabernacle, which 
 had been pitched for the first time in the land of promise. What 
 joy and rejoicing would there be on the occasion ! With what 
 grateful feelings would that vast assembly join in the celebration 
 of the feast ! To the greater portion of them it would have the 
 charm of novelty ; and, as they sat down in their tents and par- 
 
 ■' Tho name Gilgal occurs in Dcut xi. 30 ; whence it follows that the name 
 was not now given to tho locality for the first time. It was now, however, called 
 Gilgal again, in reference to the event which harl just occurred. 
 
 ' Josh. iv. 19. 3 1^3^0(1. j^-ij^ 18 ; Lev. xxiii. 5 ; "N'um. xxviii. IG. 
 
THE PASSOVER CELEBRATED. 65 
 
 took of the repast, they would contrast their position with that 
 of their fathers on the night when first the festival was observed, 
 and they -would eat it with a glad and thankful heart. 
 
 But by ' the Passover,' in chap. v. ver. 10, is included, at least 
 in part, the feast of unleavened bread ; for in the succeeding verse 
 it is said that on the morrow after the Passover they ate of the 
 produce of the land ; and, according to the law, this could not be 
 done until the sixteenth day of the month, after the presentation 
 of the first fruits to the Lord. Our translators say, ' They did 
 eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the Passover ; ' 
 but the Hebrew word does not bear this meaning, but signifies 
 merely i\\Q fruit ov produce of the land.^ The plains of Jericho 
 are exceedingly fertile ; and, according to Dr Robinson, the 
 wheat-harvest is not completed until about the 13th of May. 
 Doubtless, then, abundance of corn was still standing in the 
 neighbourhood of Gilgal, and thus were the necessities of the 
 people met. But the law said, ' Ye shall neither eat bread, nor 
 parched corn, nor green ears, until the self-same day that ye 
 have brought an offering unto your God;'^ and this offering was 
 to consist of a sheaf of barley, and was to be presented on the 
 16th day of the month Nisan, or on 'the morrow after the Sab- 
 bath.' There is no difficulty in conceiving how all this was done, 
 if we suppose that the historian uses the term 'Passover' not in 
 its hmited sense, but as including, in part, the feast of unleavened 
 bread which followed. The law was in every point strictly 
 observed. On the fourteenth and fifteenth days the paschal lamb 
 was eaten, and the feast of unleavened bread commenced. On 
 the sixteenth day a sheaf of barley was presented to the Lord, 
 the produce of the land in which the people had encamped; 
 they then were at liberty to eat of the corn now ready for the 
 
 * The word is n^ay, and is rendered by the LXX. fflro;, and in the Vulgate 
 frux, in the plural. 
 
 * Lev. xxiii. 14, 15. 
 
66 THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 
 
 sickle ; and the self-same day they made of it unleavened cakes, 
 or baked it at the fire.^ 
 
 The manna now ceased to fall: 'Neither did the children 
 of Israel eat manna any more.' In Esod. xvi. 35 it is said, 
 ' And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until 
 they came to a land inhabited, until they came unto the borders 
 of the land of Canaan.' We are not to understand from these 
 passages that manna was the only food of the Israelites during 
 their sojourn in the wilderness; quails were sometimes sent; 
 and there can be little doubt that they were able to procure 
 many other kinds of food. Manna, then, was the extra supply ; 
 and, miraculous in its nature, it continued to fall, in greater or 
 in less quantities, as it was required ; until, now that the people 
 had come into a land inhabited, it definitely ceased. In its 
 failure, they must have seen 'an additional attestation of the 
 kindness of God, inasmuch as it was thence apparent that the 
 manna was a temporary resource, which had descended, not so 
 much from the clouds, as from a paternal Providence.'^ 
 
 For all these ceremonial observances the season of the year 
 was highly favourable, as, in Palestine, no rain falls during the 
 time of harvest.^ In the open air, under a bright and beautiful 
 sun, could the vast thousands of Israel enjoy their solemn feasts. 
 Nor were they under any fear of being molested by the inhabitants 
 of the land ; for the inhabitants of the land were smitten with 
 terror and had no heart to venture out of their cities to attack 
 them. How easy a prey would the Israehtes have been, just 
 after they had received the rite of circumcision ! But their 
 enemies \yere held back by an invisible hand, and neither the 
 Amorites nor the Canaanites had any power to injure them. 
 
 ' Parcbed corn is much used in the East, and, mixed with honey, butter, or 
 spices, is greatly relished. See Harmer's * Observations,' vol. i., p. 475, etc. 
 • Calvin in loco. 3 See 1 Sam. xii. 17. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF JERICHO. 
 
 I^RT thou for us, or for our adversaries ? ' said Joshua, 
 with some degree of trembHng and anxiety. He had 
 left the camp at Gilgal, and had come near to Jericho, 
 probably to reconnoitre, when suddenly ' there stood a man over 
 against him, with a drawn sword in his hand.' There was doubt- 
 less something in the aspect of the warrior of unusu'al majesty, 
 and, not knowing who or what he might be, Joshua unhesitatingly 
 inquired whether he was on their side or on that of their enemies. 
 The reply was, ' Nay ; but as prince of the army of Jehovah am 
 I now come.' The ' nay' implied that he was neither a Canaanite 
 
gg THE SIEGE OF JERICHO. 
 
 nor an Israelite; the words which followed it were an assurance 
 to Joshua that the stranger was on their side, and that they had 
 nought to fear. 
 
 Who was this august personage? Does He now appear on 
 the stage of history for the first time, or have we any records of 
 Ilim previously ? To Moses God said, just after the giving of 
 the law in Mount Sinai, ' Behold, I send an Angel before thee, 
 to keep thee in thy way, and to bring thee into the place which 
 I have prepared,' etc. Can there be a doubt in any unprejudiced 
 mind that this was any other than that same Angel ? Invisibly 
 He had been with the Israelites in all their wanderings ; but now 
 that a decisive blow was to be struck. He appeared to Joshua 
 in the form of a man, to reassure him of His presence, and to 
 encourage him in the prosecution of his task. 
 
 But was he merely a created angel ? Such was the opinion 
 of the Jewish Rabbins, who went so far as to affirm that he was 
 the archangel Michael, whom they supposed to be a created 
 angel only. And this view of the case has been advocated in 
 recent times by many able commentators, among whom may be 
 mentioned Dr Tholuck^ and Dr Kurtz.^ But, on the other 
 hand, Hengstenberg and Keil have, we think, proved most con- 
 vincingly, that this Angel was none other than the second person 
 of the Trinity, the Son of God, — the great Revealer of the 
 Father from the earliest times. For what says this Angel to 
 Joshua ? He claims divine honour, and says, as He did to Moses 
 in the bush, 'Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place 
 whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua,' who had already 
 fallen on his face and worshipped Him, ' did so.' Besides, in 
 chap. vi. 2 the Angel is expressly called Jehovah ; ' for,' as Heng- 
 stenberg observes, 'it is evident that we are not to think of 
 another divine revelation then given to Joshua in some other 
 
 ' ♦ Commentary on St John,' pp. 58, 59. Clark. 
 
 * ' Historj' of the Old Covenant, vol. i., p. 189, etc. ; vol. iii., pp. 175, 176. 
 
THE CAPTAIN OF THE LORD's HOST. 69 
 
 way, as some interpreters suppose; because, in that case, the 
 appearance of the Captain, who only now gives command to 
 Joshua, would have been without an object. In chap. v. the 
 directions would be wanting; in chap. vi. we should have no 
 report of the appearance.'^ 
 
 And this glorious Being now comes as Captain or Prince of the 
 army of the Lord. But by the army of the Lord we are not to 
 understand, as some have done, the Israelites ; for they are never 
 called the army, or the host, of the Lord. The army of the Lord 
 is the heavenly host ; whence the Lord is called Jehovah Sabaoth, 
 or the Lord ofhosts.^ As their Captain did this august Being now 
 appear, to lead them, as it were, to the conflict in which Joshua 
 was now about to engage, and thus to discomfit all his enemies. 
 How would Joshua be inspirited as he heard these words ! He 
 would perceive that this glorious personage before him had 
 come with the omnipotent help of Jehovah, and of all the forces 
 of heaven, to drive out the heathen before him, and to give to the 
 Israelites the conquest over all their foes ; and if previously he had 
 any doubts or fears, now they would be dissipated, and now his 
 confidence would be more firm than ever. 
 
 With equal confidence may the Church rely upon her Saviour 
 now ; for as the Captain of the heavenly hosts He was seen by 
 John in the apocalyptic vision. *And I saw heaven opened, 
 and behold a white horse ; and He that sat upon him was called 
 Faithful and True ; and in righteousness doth He judge and make 
 war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were 
 many crowns ; and He had a name written, that no man knew but 
 He Himself: and He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood : 
 and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which 
 were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine 
 linen, white and clean, ' etc. ^ With such a leader, what have the 
 
 » ' Christology of the Old Test.,' vol. i., p. 121. Clark. 
 2 See Keil in loco. ' Eev. xix. 11, 16. 
 
70 THE SIEGE OF JERICHO. 
 
 servants of Christ to fear ? Their foes may be numerous, but 
 more numerous are their friends. Their adversaries may be 
 mighty, but their Captain is mightier than they all. 'Out of 
 His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite 
 the nations ; and He shall rule them with a rod of iron : and He 
 treadeth the wme-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty 
 God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name 
 written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.' 
 
 In what mode, and for what object, this Angel now revealed 
 Himself to Joshua, we have already intimated. It was not in a 
 dream or by an inward vision that this personage appeared to 
 him, but by an actual manifestation to his outward sight ; and 
 the design of the manifestation was to give Joshua instructions 
 as to the mode in which Jericho should be taken.^ In the suc- 
 ceeding chapter the Angel Jehovah addresses him, and says, 
 * See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, 
 and the mighty men of valour ;' and then He proceeds to instruct 
 him what to do, and assures him that the plan, strange as it 
 might appear, would be followed by complete success. Joshua 
 had been wondering how he was to take the city, walled as it 
 was and straitly shut up, and had perhaps been devising some 
 plan of his own, when he was thus informed that God Himself 
 would interfere miraculously, and that neither stratagem nor force 
 would be required. And Joshua believed the word of Jehovah. 
 His faith took hold upon the promise, and, with his mind relieved 
 and liis courage strengthened, he returned back to the camp to 
 make preparations for the compassing of the city. 
 
 It is highly probable that the ancient Jericho occupied the 
 site of the modern village Riha, taking in the great fountain 'Ain 
 OS Sultan, formerly called the fountain of Elisha. Bursting forth 
 
 » The division of the chapters just here is most unfortunate, and breaks the 
 continuity of the whole narrative. Ver. 1 of chap. vi. is merely a parenthetical 
 remark ; and vor. 2 stands in close connection wiih vcr. 15 of chap. v. 
 
THE FOREST OF PALM-TREES. 71 
 
 at the easterD foot of a double group of mounds, more than a 
 mile in front of the Quarantana, this fountain pursues its course, 
 joined by other streams, through the Wady Kell to the Jordan, 
 spreading beauty and fertility of such extraordinary richness as 
 almost to ' recall the scenery of an English park.' Such is the 
 case even now ; but in the days of Joshua the neighbourhood 
 must have been far more beautiful, for then an extensive forest 
 of palm-trees, reUcs of which were seen by Mariti and Shaw, 
 but the last of which has recently disappeared, then lay between 
 Gilgal and the city, recalling to the mind of Israel's leader ' the 
 magnificent palm-groves of Egypt, such as may now be seen 
 stretching along the shores of the Nile at Memphis.'^ This 
 forest, according to Mr Stanley, ' was nearly three miles broad 
 and eight miles long,' and, majestic as the palm-tree is, must have 
 presented to the Israelites a most enchanting spectacle ; whilst 
 above it they would behold Jericho itself, * high, and fenced up 
 to heaven,' and behind it ' the jagged range of the white lime- 
 stone mountains of Judea, here presenting one of the few varied 
 and beautiful outlines that can be seen amongst the southern 
 hills of Palestine.' 
 
 Among the solemn feasts instituted by the law of Moses, was 
 the Eeast of Tabernacles, during which the Israelites were to dwell 
 seven days in booths, constructed of the boughs of goodly trees, 
 branches of palm-trees, and willows of the brook. And no sooner 
 have they entered the land of promise than they see before them 
 a whole forest of palm-trees, by which they perceive that it will 
 not be difficult to obtain a supply of palm branches, either for 
 the Eeast of Tabernacles or any other occasion. Of this beautiful 
 production of nature, the varieties are numerous, and the uses 
 many. There is the cocoa-nut palm (Cocus nucifera), with its 
 
 ^ See Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 304-5 ; Robinson's 'Researches,' 
 vol. i., p. 554, etc. ; Thomson, ' The Land and the Book,' p. 617: and Van de 
 Velde's Map, with the Memoir. 
 
72 THE SIEGE OF JERICHO. 
 
 unbranched stems, crowned with leaves and clusters of fruit, 
 every particle of whose substance — stem, leaves, fruit, sap — 
 may be turned to good account, so that it is said that this tree 
 is applied to at least a hundred useful purposes. There is the 
 talipot-palm (Corypha umbra cuUfera), the stem of which some- 
 times attains a height of a hundred feet, and the magnificent fan- 
 hke leaves of which, when laid upon the ground, will form a semi- 
 circle of 16 feet in diameter, and cover an area of nearly 200 
 superficial feet. There is the Palmyra palm (Borassus Jlahelli- 
 forinis), which grows in profusion in North Ceylon, and which 
 yields to the inhabitants palm-wine, oil, and sugar ; whilst its 
 leaves serve as a substitute for paper, as well as for a covering 
 for the roof of dwellings. There is the Piriguao palm, whose 
 smooth stem, nearly 70 feet in height, is adorned with dehcate 
 flag-like leaves, having curled margins, and which bears a large 
 and beautifully coloured fruit, which, in its yellow and crimson 
 tints, much resembles the peach. And to mention but one other 
 species, there is the date-palm (Phcenix dactylifera)^ the Tamar of 
 the Scriptures, remarkable for its erect and cylindrical stem, its 
 feather-hke leaves, and its much-esteemed fruit, the date.^ It 
 was no doubt this last species which grew in such abundance on 
 the plains of Jericho ; and as ' the first opening shoot of the date- 
 palm announces the coming of balmy spring,' the forest must now 
 have presented to the Israelites a most beautiful and luxuriant 
 aspect. The fruit, however, would not be ready, as it does not 
 ripen until August or September.^ 
 
 Of all the remarkable sieges described in history or celebrated 
 in song, that of Troy is one of the most famous and romantic. 
 It took plaee, according to the Arundelian Marbles, about 1184 
 years b.c, and consequently upwards of 250 years after the events 
 
 ' See on the subject of the palm, Sir E. J. Tennent, ' Ceylon,' vol. i., pp. 
 109-111. Humboldt's 'Views of Nature,' p. 223, etc. Bohn. 
 
 ' See Humboldt's ' Cosmos,' vol. ii. Bohn. Eohr's Palestine, p. 67. 
 
PREPARATIONS. 73 
 
 we are now relating. Homer has immortalized it in the Iliad ; 
 and Virgil, catching some of the fire of Homer's genius, has 
 given another aspect of the story in the ^Eneid ; and so long as 
 poetry of the highest order has charms for the human mind, 
 will these two productions of the Greek and Roman bards be 
 read both by young and old. But far more glorious was the 
 siege now to be related : and nobler far was Joshua than Aga- 
 memnon ; Caleb than Achilles ; and other leaders of the host of 
 Israel, though their names are not conspicuous, than were Ajax, 
 Patroclus, Nestor, or Ulysses. That was a siege against an 
 unoffending city — save that a woman had been carried captive 
 thither by Paris ; this was a siege, undertaken at the command 
 of the Most High, against a people who had filled up the cup of 
 their iniquity ; and, whilst the siege of Troy occupied ten years, 
 and terminated only by the city being betrayed, that of Jericho 
 lasted but seven days, when God Himself gave victory to the 
 besiegers, in such a way as a victory was never won. 
 
 We may picture to ourselves the scene. On the vast plain 
 east of the city, the hosts of Israel are encamped. And now 
 Joshua, having received his instructions from the Angel Jehovah, 
 appears in the midst of the camp, and, summoning the priests, 
 commands them to take up the ark of the covenant — that sacred 
 symbol of the Divine presence — and, preceded by a number of 
 armed men, and by seven priests bearing rams' horns, to pass on 
 toward the city. The procession is thus formed : — It consists, 
 first, of the armed men of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the 
 half tribe of Manasseh ; next, of the seven priests, with the rams' 
 horns ; then of the ark of the covenant borne by other priests ; 
 and lastly, of the whole of the warriors of the other nine tribes 
 and a half. And, leaving the women, the aged, and the young 
 upon the plain, it advances towards the high-walled town. All 
 is still. Jericho is straitly shut up. Its inhabitants are full of 
 terror and alarm, and no one ventures beyond the gate. Perhaps 
 
74 THE SIEGE OF JEEICHO. 
 
 there are watchmen on the walls ; and, doubtless, in the city there 
 is many an inquiry relative to the approach of the expected foe. 
 And the foe comes on, and on, and on ; at first silently, without 
 shouting, without noise ; until at length is heard the loud blast 
 of the rams' horns, which becomes louder, and still louder ; and 
 continues to sound — alas ! it is the death-knell of the inhabitants 
 of the city — as the vast procession encompasses the walls. But 
 that procession, having gone round the city, now retires, and 
 presently the watchers on the walls report that their enemies 
 have disappeared. 
 
 What strange thoughts and feelings must have occupied the 
 minds of the people of Jericho that night ! ' Is this all that these 
 Israelites can do?' some would probably say; 'and do they 
 think that they will get possession of our city by such paltry 
 means as these?' But there would, doubtless, be others more 
 shrewd and far-seeing, who, remembering what Jehovah had 
 already done for His people, would view the conduct of the foe 
 as ominous of their victory ; and would be all the more afraid, 
 because of the calm and confident manner in which that mysterious 
 procession had gone round the city. 
 
 But the morning dawns ; and, at an early hour, the foe is seen 
 advancing towards the city again : on, and on, in the same order, 
 and again the city is encompassed, and again the foe retires. 
 And for seven days in succession this scene is Avitnessed from the 
 walls of Jericho, by some, perhaps, with laughter and derision ; 
 but by others, with increasing dread. But why was not a single 
 march round the city sufficient? Why was it repeated these 
 several times ? Why does the number seven appear so conspicu- 
 ous in their arrangements? In reply to the latter question, it is 
 observed by Keil, that ' the number seven, amongst the Israelites, 
 was the seal of the covenant between Jehovah and Israel ; and 
 by this march of seven days, and the repetition of it seven times 
 on the seventh day, together with the seven priests walking before 
 
THE SEVEN DAYS. 75 
 
 the ark of the covenant, and blowing seven trumpets, the host 
 of Israel were to show that they were the people of the covenant ; 
 and that, a? the gracious presence of God was bound up with 
 the ark of the covenant, they had in the midst of them their 
 God and Lord, and were fighting in His name.' ^ But was the 
 repetition of the march intended as a challenge to the inhabitants 
 of Jericho to come out and fight with Israel ? The very com- 
 mand of Joshua, ' Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with 
 your voice,' seems to indicate the contrary ; for, if the Israelites 
 had intended to challenge the inhabitants of Jericho, they would 
 surely have called upon them to come and meet them in the field. 
 The one design of the several days' march was, to exercise the 
 faith of the Israelites in the faithfulness and power of God. 
 ' God orders them,' says Calvin, ' to make one circuit round the 
 city daily, until the seventh day, on which they are told to go 
 round it seven times, sounding the trumpets, and shouting. The 
 whole looked like nothing more than child's play; and yet it 
 was no improper test for trying their faith, as it proved their 
 acquiescence in the Divine message — even when they saw in the 
 act itself nothing but mere disappointment.' * There was an 
 additional trial of their faith, in the repetition of the circuit of the 
 city during seven daysj For, what could seem less congruous 
 than to fatigue themselves with six unavailing circuits ? Then, 
 of what use was their silence, unless to betray their timidity, 
 and tempt their enemy to come out and attack besiegers who 
 seemed not to have spirit enough to meet them? But as pro- 
 fane men often, by rash intermeddUng fervour, throw everything 
 into confusion, the only part which God here assigns to His 
 people is, to remain calm and silent, that thus they may the 
 better accustom themselves to execute His commands.' ^ 
 
 Most true it is, that God's ways are not as our ways, nor 
 His thoughts as our thoughts. Very difi'erent would have been 
 
 * Commentary on JosLua, p. 159. ^ Commentaiy on Joshua, p. 93. 
 
76 THE SIEGE OF JERICHO. 
 
 the plan of besieging Jericho, had it been left to the Israelites, or 
 to their commander, Joshua. But what plan of man's devising 
 could have been successful ? The walls of the city were strong 
 and lofty ; the Israelites had no siege train or battering-rams 
 with which to attack them, such as appear on the monuments 
 of Nineveh ; and to have reduced the city to a famine, would 
 have occupied several months. God's plan, then, was the best; 
 and in quietness and confidence was the people's strength. 
 Severe was the test by which their faith was tried ; for every- 
 thing, down to the use of the rams' horns, instead of the silver 
 trumpets deposited in the sanctuary, seems to set aside human 
 strength and glory ; whilst the lapse of a whole week, ere the 
 least sign appeared of any breach in the city's walls, was calcu- 
 lated to excite impatience and discontent. But happily they had 
 learnt, by the experience of the past, to wait and trust; and Hhe 
 happy fruit of their endurance teaches us, that there is nothing 
 better than to leave the decisive moments and opportunities of 
 acting at God's disposal, and not, by our haste, anticipate His 
 providence, in which, if we acquiesce not, we obstruct the course 
 of His agency.' 
 
 The seventh day has now arrived ; and ' about the dawning 
 of the day,' the Israelites rise early, and again the procession is 
 on its march. On and on it again advances ; but instead of re- 
 turning to the camp when they have encompassed the city once, 
 the men of war, the seven priests with the rams' horns, the priests 
 bearing the ark, and the warriors following them, go round the 
 city six times more. They have just completed the seven circuits, 
 and during the whole day no noise has been heard but the sound- 
 ing of the rams' horns ; but now JoshuE^ lifts up his voice and 
 says, ' Shout ; for the Lord hath given you the city.' In a 
 moment the war-cry rises from the mighty host; and the priests, 
 who for awhile had left off blowing the trumpets, once more 
 blow them, perhaps with a much louder blast, when instantly 
 
FALLING DOWN OF THE WALLS. 77 
 
 the walls of the city fall down flat, and every man enters it 
 straight before him. 
 
 'By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were 
 compassed about seven days.'^ There was, of course, no con- 
 nection between the shouting of the people and the falling down 
 of the walls, nor was their faith the cause of the event; but, 
 simultaneously with the shout, the miraculous power of God was 
 exercised, and the confidence which had been reposed in Him 
 was thus signally honoured. As for the attempt of rationahsts 
 to account for this event on natural grounds, they are utterly 
 unworthy of a moment's consideration. It is evident that the 
 writer of the narrative intended to relate a miracle ; and if we 
 give credence to his history at all, we must believe that a 
 miracle was really wrought. To the IsraeHtes themselves it was 
 another proof that the Lord was with them. Without any 
 exertion on their part, the first city of the land of Canaan was 
 given into their hands. They had now in their possession one of 
 the strongest of the fortified cities, and, moreover, the key to the 
 whole country into which they had come : and what had they 
 then to fear ? A pledge was thus offered to them of yet further 
 conquests, and they had but to rely on the arm of the Omnipotent, 
 and Canaan would, ere long, be theirs. 
 
 Jericho, like the cities of Canaan generally, had long been a 
 wicked and rebellious city. Its crimes are not told, but they 
 were doubtless of a heinous character, and, even as those of 
 Sodom and Gomorrah in earlier times, had often cried for ven- 
 geance from on high. And vengeance, slow of step, but of keen 
 and piercing eye, had come at last. ' The city shall be accursed,' 
 said Joshua, ' even it and all that are therein, to the Lord;' and, 
 with the exception of Rahab and her family, all that were in the 
 city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox. and sheep, 
 and ass, were destroyed with the edge of the sword, ' The word 
 
 1 Heb. xi. 30. 
 
78 THE SIEGE OF JERICHO. 
 
 Din, in ver. 17, signifies the ban, which was the devotion of 
 either persons or things to Jehovah, as irreclaimable and irre- 
 deemable property, in the execution of which men and animals 
 were killed, and other things . either completely destroyed, or 
 set apart for ever for the purposes of the sanctuary.'^ 'All 
 the dreadful things that can possibly be thought of are included 
 in this one word,' says Hengstenberg. It is rendered in the 
 margin of our version devoted^ but it is not applied to a holy or 
 devoted thing generally, but to a thing which is holy in the sense 
 of being devoted to God hy being destroyed, for ' the temporal de- 
 struction of anything which does not serve God, makes known 
 His praise.'^ In some instances the Cherem was pronounced 
 upon the persons of the Canaanites only ; and their cities and 
 possessions the Israelites took for themselves ; but, in the case 
 of Jericho, whatever was not destroyed — the silver and the gold, 
 and vessels of brass and iron — were consecrated unto the Lord. 
 
 Terrible must have been the scene when the Israelites entered 
 the banned city. ' The men of Jericho fought against them,'^ but 
 the strength of the men of Jericho was paralysed, and they fell 
 on every hand, smitten by the conquerors' sword. Nor was any 
 mercy shown either to the aged or the young, to women or to 
 children ; but all were indiscriminately put to death. Well may 
 it be asked, On what principle can this be accounted for ? and 
 we admit that the subject is not without its difficulties. But let 
 us look at it in the light of analogy and reason. It is involved 
 in another and still wider question, namely, ' What right had the 
 Israelites to the land of Canaan?' And to this question, there- 
 fore, we must first reply. 
 
 Palestine was not originally the land of the Hebrews, and 
 the right of the Israelites to that land could uot, therefore, as 
 
 ' Keil, in loco ; and see Num. xxi. l-S ; Deut. xiii. lG-18. 
 ' See Hengstenberg's ' Christology,' vol. iv., p. 227. Clark. 
 ' Joshua xxiv. 11. 
 
THE WAR JUSTIFIABLE. 79 
 
 some have represented, be founded on immemorial claims. This 
 notion was entertained by the learned Michaehs, and has found 
 several advocates in more recent times. But the hypothesis is 
 quite untenable. The earliest possessors of the soil of Palestine 
 appear to have been the Rephaim, a race of giants, or very tall 
 people, two of whose tribes, the Emim and Zamzummim,^ were 
 conquered and nearly exterminated by the Moabites and the 
 Amorites ; and others of whom, who lived on the west of the 
 Jordan, the Canaanites, or descendants of the fourth son of Ham, 
 partly conquered and drave out. It is true that some of the 
 pasture lands of the country remained unoccupied by the 
 Canaanites ; so that, when Abraham and Lot came out of Ur of 
 the Chaldees, they were allowed the use of some of those lands 
 wherein to feed their flocks. But such use of the unoccupied 
 territory did not imply a claim to the land as an inheritance, 
 and hence Abraham looked upon himself as a stranger in the 
 land;^ and when he wanted a burial-place for Sarah, he secured 
 the right of a parcel of a field by purchase. He knew — for God 
 had told him — that the land would hereafter be the inheritance of 
 his seed ; but he laid no claim even to a sepulchre in it, ere he 
 had paid its full value, for he was but a sojourner in the country 
 until a brighter day should dawn.^ 
 
 Nor was the claim of the Israelites to Canaan founded simply 
 upon mighty as others have represented, under the idea that, in 
 those early times, the rights of property were not strictly defined. 
 There is no doubt that those rights were as strictly defined then 
 as they are now, for they are founded on the immutable principles 
 of justice and of truth ; so that the Israelites would have been as 
 guilty in dispossessing the Canaanites of the soil of Palestine, 
 had they done it merely because they had the power to do it, 
 as were the Spaniards in making war upon the inhabitants of 
 
 Gen. xiv. 5 ; Dent. iii. 11. 2 Gen. xxiii. 4, xxvi. 3. 
 
 ' Gen. xxiii. 4-16. 
 
80 THE SIEGE OF JERICHO. 
 
 Mexico and Peru. ' It is founded, ' says Hengstenberg, ' in the 
 arrangements of Providence, — of which the recognition is im- 
 planted in every human breast, — that every land, that, in short, 
 everything, which hitherto has had no owner, from the instant 
 that a nation takes possession of it, becomes their lawful property. 
 From that instant it is to be regarded as a gift of Divine Provi- 
 dence, so that, whoever seeks to deprive them of it, fights against 
 God.'i 
 
 But, when a nation which has obtained possession of a land, 
 whether in this or in any other way, becomes notoriously wicked 
 and increasingly rebelHous against the government of the Most 
 High, God has a right, and that not a mere arbitrary one, but a 
 right founded upon the eternal principles of justice, to sw^eep 
 away that nation by famine, by pestilence, or by the sword. 
 Now, what had been the conduct of the Canaanites ? They had 
 themselves made war upon the aboriginal possessors of the soil, 
 and partly driven them out ; and when they had thus obtained 
 authority over the land, instead of fearing and honouring the 
 true Jehovah, they had pursued a course of flagrant transgression 
 against the law written upon the heart, had become worshippers 
 of idols, had changed the truth of God into a lie, and had given 
 themselves up to vile affections, to work all manner of uncleanness 
 with greediness. Long had they been spared, for they were in the 
 land in the days of Abraham ; but God then said of them, 'the 
 iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full,' ^ and for upwards of five 
 hundred years they were dealt with leniently, and time and op- 
 portunity given them for repentance. All, however, was in vain ; 
 and now their iniquity was full to the very brim. God, there- 
 ibre, was utterly weary of them, and the land itself groaned for 
 deliverance from their hated presence. AVhat was to be done ? 
 Destroyed they must be ; and God chose, as the agents of His 
 
 ' Authenticity of the Pentateuch, vol. ii., pp. 402-3. English trans. 
 ' Gen. XV. 16. 
 
god's justice. 81 
 
 vengeaDce, not the waters of a deluge, not fire and brimstone, 
 not pestilence and famine, but the people whom He had brought 
 up out of the land of Egypt. Was there anything unjust in this ? 
 Was it less righteous in God to use the sword for their extermi- 
 nation, than it would have been to use fire, or water, or wild 
 beasts, or the plague ? And that God did employ the Israelites 
 as the agents of His vengeance, that He did command them to 
 destroy the Canaanites, is evident from the entire narrative of the 
 conquest. Had they invaded Canaan on their own authority, 
 they would no doubt have been justly ranked with the vilest 
 banditti, and the worst of all murderers ; but they were bidden 
 to do all, and more than they accomplished : and, moreover, God 
 Himself went before them, so that ' they got not the land in pos- 
 session by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them;'^ 
 but the right hand of the Lord, and His mighty arm, wrought 
 for them the victories they achieved. 
 
 If it be asked, But why did not God destroy the Canaanites 
 by an immediate judgment from heaven? We reply with Heng- 
 stenberg, that ' no man reaches Canaan without strugghng for 
 it;' and that 'had God led the Israelites into a land already 
 emptied of inhabitants, they would soon have forgotten that He 
 had made it so : they would have ascribed the operation to natural 
 causes.' ^ Nor is it true that their being employed in such a 
 work would necessarily render them cruel and ferocious ; for they 
 were not bidden to torture their enemies, but to kill them : and 
 they knew that they were but the executors of God's wrath upon 
 a wicked people, and that, moreover, they would themselves merit 
 a similar punishment if they became guilty of similar crimes. 
 But were they not themselves as wicked as the Canaanites ? and 
 is it not strange that God should commission them to punish 
 their companions in sin? They were not as wicked as the 
 Canaanites ; for whatever they had been during their sojourn in 
 
 » Ps. xliv. 3. ^ Authenticity, etc., vol. ii., p. 412. 
 
 / 
 
82 THE SIEGE OF JERICHO. 
 
 the wilderness, they were now a submissive and obedient people, 
 and had recently, as we have seen, been readmitted into covenant 
 relationship with the Lord Jehovah, i ■ Individuals among them 
 were perhaps vile enough ; but, as a whole, they were now a very 
 different people from what they had ever been, and were now, 
 therefore, well fitted to accomplish God's design, in executing 
 summary vengeance on a guilty race. 
 
 Such, in brief, we hold to be a satisfactory reply to the ob- 
 jections which have been advanced against the justice of this 
 procedure, — an ample vindication of the wisdom and the right- 
 eousness of God in destroying the Canaanites, and in doing it by 
 such means. ' It is our Lord Himself who expresses the general 
 principle, of which the extinction of the Canaanites was only a 
 special application : " JVhere the carcase is, there will the eagles he 
 gathered together;" — where sin has become rank, there will the 
 Divine punishments fall.' It has been so in very many instances 
 already ; it will be so, we fear, in many others, in days and years 
 to come. Nations are employed to chastise nations ; and though 
 we may long for the day when wars of every kind shall cease, 
 yet we must own, in many of the conflicts which from time to 
 time occur, that God still sitteth above the water-floods, and 
 reigneth King for ever. 
 
 Terrible, then, as was the scene of slaughter when the Israel- 
 ites entered the city of Jericho, it was but the righteous infliction 
 of a punishment which its inhabitants had long merited • and the 
 Israelites had no alternative but to execute the Divine commands. 
 Their feelings of humanity might have induced them to spare the 
 women and the unoffending children • but they had learnt that 
 the sins 'of fathers were often visited on their posterity, and spare 
 they could not, because they were forbidden. Yet there was an 
 exception. The promise given to Rahab by the spies was faith- 
 fully fulfilled ; for at Joshua's command the two young men went 
 
 ' See Judges ii. 7. 
 
PKESERVATION OF RAHAB. 83 
 
 in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and 
 her brethren, and all that she had ; and they brought out all her 
 kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. A petty ob- 
 jection to the narrative has sometimes been advanced, on the 
 ground that Rahab's house was on the town- wall, which is re- 
 presented as having fallen down ; but ' it troubleth me not to 
 conceive,' says Fuller, 'how the rest of the wall falling flat, 
 Rahab's house, built thereon, should stand upright ; seeing Divine 
 power, which miraculously gave the rule, might accordingly make 
 the exception.! 
 
 It was not lawful for males who were uncircumcised, or for 
 females who had not made a public profession of the Jewish re- 
 ligion, to enter the camp ; and if Rahab and her family had been 
 admitted there at once, they would probably never have become 
 conscious of their own impurity. That the Israelites might not, 
 then, be defiled with their society, and that they themselves 
 might be induced to lay aside the heathenism in which they had 
 been brought up, they were placed in a state of safety, but apart 
 from the congregation of God's people, until such time as they 
 were prepared to renounce the religion of the Canaauites, and to 
 acknowledge the Lord God of the Israelites. It was a wise ar- 
 rangement, and there is reason to believe that it was followed by 
 the desired result ; for of Rahab herself it is said by the writer, 
 ' She dwelleth in Israel^ even unto this day,' and, as we formerly 
 observed, she subsequently became the wife of Salmon, and thus 
 an ancestor of the house of David. 
 
 The city of Jericho is now destroyed ; but that it might be 
 a perpetual memorial of God's power and justice, Joshua com- 
 pleted the ban by pronouncing this adjuration : ' Cursed be the 
 man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city 
 Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, 
 and in his youngest son shall be set up the gates of it.' That 
 
 » ' Pisgah Sight of Palestine,' p. 252. 
 
3i THE SIEGE OF JERICHO. 
 
 this curse was not to light on any one who should merely build 
 houses on the site of Jericho, is evident from the fact that the 
 city was allotted by Joshua to the tribe of Benjamin,^ and is 
 subsequently spoken of as an inhabited place.^ Rather was it 
 to fall upon the man who should build a wall around it, and 
 erect gates, and thus constitute it what it had been, a fortified 
 city. Upwards of five hundred years afterwards, or in the reign 
 of Ahab, king of Israel, the attempt was made by Hiel the 
 Beth-elite, and was followed by the consequences which Joshua 
 foretold. He laid the foundations of the city, and lost his first- 
 born son, Abiram; he set up the gates thereof, and lost his 
 youngest son, Segub.^ ' Strange that, seeing his first son drop 
 away, he desisted not from that design ; but such the precipice 
 of bad projects, once step in, and seldom stop in the way of 
 wickedness.'* Hiel was not unacquainted with the ban pro- 
 nounced by Joshua on the city, but the fear of God had vanished 
 from his mind ; and perhaps he thought — if, indeed, he thought 
 at all — that, seeing so long a period had elapsed since the curse 
 was uttered, it was not likely to be fulfilled. But it is not the 
 manner of the Lord Jehovah to forget either His promises or 
 His threatenings ; and hence the daring conduct of this Beth- 
 elite met with the punishment it deserved. Whether during the 
 building of the city all his sons perished, from the first even to 
 the last, or whether he lost the eldest and the youngest only, 
 we are not able to decide ; but if only the two fell, it was a 
 stroke which no father in Israel would consider light, and Hiel 
 would have the bitter reflection that his two sons were taken 
 from him because he rebelled against an express command of 
 the Most 'High. 
 
 * Joshua xviii. 21. 2 Judges iii. 13; 2 Sam. x. 
 
 ' 1 Kiugs xvi. 34. * Fuller. 
 
CASTING DUST ON THE HEAD. 
 
 CHAPTER YL 
 
 THE SIN AND PUNISHMENT OF ACHAN. 
 
 ^, >jl^N the progress of our history, the curtain now rises on 
 
 a solemn and impressive scene. It is eventide; and 
 Joshua and the elders of Israel, with their clothes rent, 
 and with dust upon their heads — the well-known signs of deep 
 sorrow and distress — are prostrated before the ark of the 
 covenant of the Lord. And the noble-minded warrior addresses 
 himself in prayer to God, and says : — 
 
 ' Alas, Lord God, wherefore hast Thou at all brought this 
 people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, 
 to destroy us ? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on 
 the other side Jordan ! Lord, what shall I say, when Israel 
 turneth their backs before their enemies ? For the Canaanites 
 and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall en- 
 viron us around, and cut off our name from the earth : and what 
 wilt Thou do unto Thy great name?' (chap. vii. 7-9). 
 
 But what has happened to call forth such expressions, and to 
 awaken fears so sad and distressing as these ? Jericho has been 
 
3(5 THE SIN OF ACHAN. 
 
 conquered ; and never was Joshua more honoured and beloved 
 than now. Yes ; but part of his army has suffered a defeat, and 
 8ix-and-thirty of his men have been smitten by the people of the 
 land. 
 
 West of Jericho was a city called Ai, the site of which we 
 shall indicate hereafter ; and to this city Joshua had §ent spies, 
 saying to them, ' Go up and view the country.' They had obeyed, 
 and returned with the information that the inhabitants of Ai were 
 but few; and that, therefore, two. or three thousand men would 
 be sufficient to take it. This number had been sent, but, to 
 Joshua's utter surprise, they had fled before their enemies ; and 
 the men of Ai had smitten thirty-six of them, and had chased 
 the rest from the gate, so that the hearts of the people had 
 melted and become as water. 
 
 That this defeat was not to be attributed to the smallness of 
 the force which had been sent against the city, Joshua was well 
 aware. Perhaps it was too small, and perhaps there was a want 
 of foresight in not despatching a superior army ; but God could 
 save by many or by few ; and Israel's leader, having the most 
 perfect confidence in God, never anticipated a defeat of any kind. 
 Ordinary commanders reckon upon what are called ' the chances 
 of war ;' but Joshua had no idea of such chances, but supposed 
 that every battle would be followed by a victory — every siege by 
 a speedy capture. Thus early, however, he was disappointed, and 
 his prayer was indicative of the real state of his mind. He was 
 greatly discouraged ; he was apprehensive that this defeat would 
 lead to others ; he was jealous of the honour of God's great name. 
 What coulcl he do but take the matter to the Lord ? True, he 
 might have made a second attempt to capture Ai, by sending 
 against it a much larger force ; but he had not courage to do 
 this : all he could do, was to humble himself in the dust and pray. 
 
 And it was well he did ; for immediately his prayer was heard. 
 'Get tliee up,' was the answer; ' wherefore liest thou on thy face? 
 
JOSHUA IN DISTRESS. 87 
 
 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant 
 which I commanded them : for they have taken of the accursed 
 thing, and have also stolen, and have dissembled also, and they 
 have put it even among their own stuff,' etc. (ver. 10, 11). 
 
 When the people were about to enter Jericho, this was the 
 express command which was given them : ' And ye, in any wise, 
 keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves 
 accursed when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp 
 of Israel a curse, and trouble it.' Everything in the city, as we 
 have already seen, was placed under the ban, and was therefore 
 to be destroyed, or to be consecrated to the service of the Lord. 
 Whoever, then, should appropriate to himself any of the spoils, 
 would be guilty of theft ; for he would be robbing God of that 
 which He had already claimed as specially His own. Through 
 every part of the camp would the prohibition be made known ; 
 so that no one might be able to excuse himself for a breach of it 
 on the ground of ignorance ; and little, perhaps, did Joshua think, 
 that there was one among the people that would be so daring as 
 to violate it, accompanied as it was with a warning so terrible. 
 But what will avarice not dare ? what will covetousness not take ? 
 The cupidity of a man will sometimes lead him to violate every 
 law of honour, truth, and justice ; and not only to risk the wel- 
 fare and the life of others, but even to sacrifice his own. There 
 was a troubler in the camp. There was, even after all the dis- 
 ciplinary training through which Israel had passed, one who 
 could take of the accursed thing. And, so long as the sin re- 
 mained unpunished, the guilt of it rested on the whole of the 
 people. ' Israel hath sinned,' said God ; ' therefore they could 
 not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before 
 their enemies, because they were accursed ; neither will I be with 
 you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you' 
 (ver. 12). 
 
 It may be asked. On what ground could the sin of one man 
 
88 THE SIN OF ACHAN. 
 
 be laid to the charge of the whole nation ? And to this inquiry 
 there is but one satisfactory reply : ' The participation of the 
 people in the guilt of Achan,' says Keil, ' can only be explained 
 on the ground that Achan was a member of the nation, and that 
 the sin of one member affected the entire body, — robbing it 
 of the parity and holiness with which it ought to appear in the 
 presence of God, and withdrawing from it the favour of God, 
 which the nation enjoyed, as being God's pure and holy church. 
 However truly the whole Scriptures speak of each man as indi- 
 vidually an object of divine mercy and justice, they teach just as 
 truly that a nation is one organic whole, in which the individuals 
 are merely members of the same body, and are not alone isolated 
 from one another and the whole. The state is thus treated as a 
 divine institution, founded upon family relationships; and intended 
 to promote the love of all to one another, and to the invisible 
 Head of all' There was then no injustice done to Israel, or to 
 the three thousand who were defeated by the men of Ai. The 
 whole camp was one, and, by the sin which had been committed, 
 the whole camp was under the curse of the violated law. 
 
 What, then, could be done ? God might have revealed to 
 Joshua the name of the guilty individual, just as easily as He 
 revealed to him the general fact that some one had taken of the 
 spoil. But the people must be proved. They must themselves 
 search out the man who had rebelled. They must voluntarily 
 become parties to a strict and rigorous investigation. ' Up, 
 sanctify the people,' said God to His servant, ' and say. Sanctify 
 yourselves against to-morrow ; for thus saith the Lord God of 
 Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel : 
 thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the 
 accursed thing from among you.' Joshua was also informed 
 how to proceed, and was required to state to the people the plan 
 by which the culprit would be brought to light ; and, moreover, 
 the punishment that must be inflicted upon him. It was a sad 
 
THE LOT. 89 
 
 event ; and as Joshua heard these words, his noble spirit would 
 doubtless be oppressed with deep and poignant grief. 
 
 That very evening, the intelligence spread through the camp 
 — * There is an accursed thing among us ; some one has taken 
 of the spoils.' And oh, how the hearts of many would tremble, 
 lest the offender should be one of their own tribe or family. To 
 Achan himself, that must have been a night of utter wretchedness ; 
 and it is surprising that he did not at once go and throw himself 
 at the feet of Joshua, and make confession of his crime. Had he 
 done so, who can tell but that there might have been some miti- 
 gation of his punishment? But he was probably still deceived 
 by the hope that he might perchance escape detection; and 
 thus blinded by the god of this world, he ventured to await the 
 approaching ordeal. 
 
 The morning dawned, and the heads of the tribes and families 
 of Israel were called into the presence of their leader, Joshua. 
 Though the lot is not expressly mentioned, yet this was no doubt 
 the method employed to discover the guilty individual. The 
 use of it was easy, inasmuch as there had grown up among the 
 Israelites, from patriarchal times, a natural division of the people 
 into tribes, clans, famihes, and households. The tribes were 
 founded by the twelve sons of Jacob and the two sons of Joseph ; 
 these were again divided into clans, ^ which were founded by the 
 sons or grandsons of the twelve patriarchs ; and these again were 
 subdivided into fathers' houses, or groups of famihes,^ which 
 were once again divided into households, which were named and 
 numbered according to the men. When, therefore, the lots were 
 cast, the heads of the people were present ; and we may suppose 
 that, first the names of the tribes being written upon small stones, 
 and these stones cast into an urn, some one would be appointed 
 to draw out one of the stones, it being understood that in the 
 
 * Ji'ins'ii'o. See Num. xxvi. 20, etc. 
 
 2 n'cs'n-^^. See Exod. vi. 25; Josh. xxi. 1; and see Keil in Iocg. 
 
90 THE SIN OF ACHAX. 
 
 tribe whose name was written upon it, the guilty party would 
 be found. This was done, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 
 Next the names of the clans of that tribe would be written on 
 stones in like manner, and one of these stones taken out of the 
 urn. It contained the name of the clan of the Zarhites, Then 
 the names of the several households of that clan would be written, 
 and in the same way it would be found to whose household the 
 guilty one belonged. The household of Zabdi was taken. Thus 
 gradually was the circle reduced within which the culprit lay, as 
 it were, concealed, until at length this breach of the command 
 was brought home to a certain family. The scene must have 
 been a deeply impressive one. At first anxiety would be de- 
 picted on every countenance, and, as the process went on, whilst 
 some would be relieved in part, others would become more 
 anxious still. At length the moment comes when the individual 
 himself would be marked out as the transgressor. Man by man 
 of Zabdi's household passes through a similar ordeal, and Achan 
 the son of Carmi is taken.^ When, in a similar way, but for a 
 very dissimilar end, Saul the son of Kish was taken, he could 
 not be found, having hidden himself among the stuff; and per- 
 haps Achan, lashed by a guilty conscience and trembling for the 
 issue of the terrible investigation, was not immediately within 
 sight ; but he would soon be discovered, and conducted from his 
 hiding-place into Joshua's presence, for no one would dare to 
 attempt to screen him, lest he should share in his guilt and 
 punishment. 
 
 ^ 'The exact process followed iu casting the lot,' says Dr Kitto, 'is not 
 known, nor is the matter of much importance ; but we incline to the opinion of 
 thosA who conceive that tickets, marked with the names of the twelve tribes, 
 were put into an urn, and the lot fell upon the one that was taken out; that 
 then they cast as many tickets as there were ancestral families, or clans, in the 
 tribe whose name was drawn ; then as many as there were households in that 
 family, and lastly as many as there were heads in that household.'— Zlaz'/y 
 Headings, vol. ii., pp. 281, 282. 
 
THE LOT PERFECT. 91 
 
 Grod had given a ' perfect lot,' and there could be no doubt, 
 in the mind of Joshua, of Achan's actual gilt ; yet he addresses 
 him, and says, 'My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord 
 God of Israel, and make confession unto Him ; and tell me what 
 thou hast done ; hide it not from me.' How gentle are these 
 words ! There is no harshness, no severity, but a true paternal 
 pity for the man who has placed himself in so fearful and perilous 
 a position. 'By this example,' observes Calvin, 'judges are 
 taught that, while they punish crimes, they ought so to temper 
 their severity as not to lay aside the feehngs of humanity, and, 
 on the other hand, that they ought to be merciful without being 
 reckless and remiss ; that, in short, they ought to be as parents 
 to those they condemn, without substituting undue mildness for 
 the sternness of justice.'^ Eew things are more unbecoming 
 than stern severity, on the part of an administrator of the law, 
 towards one who has broken it ; and the judge who weeps as he 
 passes sentence on a prisoner, will be far more likely to lead him 
 to repentance, than he would were he to address him in terms 
 of harshness. That this was the effect of Joshua's appeal, how- 
 ever, can scarcely be affirmed. Achan ingenuously confessed his 
 crime, but it is to be feared that it was somewhat as Judas 
 did when he had betrayed his Master, — from terror, rather 
 than from true repentance. There is, in fact, no virtue in a 
 man's confessing his sins when they can no longer be hid. Had 
 Achan acknowledged himself the transgressor prior to his de- 
 tection by the lot, we might have indulged the hope that he 
 had truly repented, and was deeply sorry ; but it was not until 
 he was dragged into the hght, and his guilt exposed, beyond 
 the possibility of being further concealed, that he uttered a word 
 relating to the matter. 
 
 But let us hear his words and learn the extent of his crime. 
 ' Indeed,' said he, ' I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, 
 
 ' * Commentary on Joshua,' pp. 114, 115. Calvin Translation Society. 
 
92 THE SIN OF ACHAN. 
 
 and thus and thus have I done : When I saw among the spoils 
 a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, 
 and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, 
 and took them ; and, behold, th^y are hid in the earth in the 
 midst of my tent, and the silver under it.' 
 
 Jericho was a city of considerable wealth. It seems to have 
 had commercial intercourse with the far-famed Babylon, and to 
 have obtained some of its treasures. The Babylonish garment 
 or cloak, called by the LXX. yjnXrj ttoikIXtj, and by the Vulgate 
 vallium coccineum, was probably a superior work of art, composed 
 of various coloured materials. Josephus calls it ' a royal gar- 
 ment interwoven with gold.'^ It is observed by Dr Kitto, that 
 the literal rendering of the words of the text would be, * a mantle 
 of Shinar, of which Babylon was, in after times, the famous and 
 dominant capital.'^ But Shinar was, in fact, the earlier name 
 for Babylon," so that the rendering of our version is strictly 
 correct ; and we know that, in later times at least, Babylon be- 
 came celebrated for its sumptuous robes, one of which coming 
 into the possession of Cato by inheritance, he commanded it to 
 be sold, his simple habits being opposed to all luxuries. Recent 
 discoveries in the ruins of ancient Nineveh, have brought to 
 light remarkable illustrations of the state of the arts of weaving 
 and embroidering on the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates ; 
 and the probability is, that this Babylonish garment was some- 
 what similar to one, in which a king appears clothed, on a slab 
 described and pictured by Mr Layard. ' The dress of the king,' 
 he observes, ' consisted of a long flowing garment, descending to 
 the ankles, and elaborately embroidered and edged with fringes 
 and tassels. It was confined at the waist by a girdle, to which 
 were attached cords with large tassels, falling down almost to 
 the feet. Over this robe, a second, nearly of the same length, 
 but open to the front, appears to have been thrown. It was 
 
 I Amiq. V. 1, 10. 2 pict. Bible in loco. ' Gen. x. 10. 
 
COVETOUSNESS. 93 
 
 also embroidered and edged with tassels.'^ The two hundred 
 shekels of silver would probably be worth from L.20 to L.25 ; 
 and the wedge, or tongue, of gold, which some suppose was a 
 golden ornament, weighing fifty shekels, would be valued at 
 from L.90 to L.IOO. 
 
 These valuable articles Achan first saw, then coveted, and 
 then took. * When lust hath conceived, it briugeth forth sin ; 
 and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.' Herein was 
 Achan's guilt; not that he saw, but that he coveted, or gave 
 way to the lust of the eye, and that then he took what he knew 
 was not his own. And these articles he had hid in the earth, 
 in the midst of his tent, the silver being put under them, or 
 under the Babylonish garment. Thus, as God had said (ver. 11), 
 he had ' stolen and dissembled also,' — dissembled, that is, in con- 
 cealing the stolen property ; thus saying, in effect, that he had 
 not taken it. But now he was compelled to confess his crime, 
 now his base and sacrilegious conduct was fully brought to light. 
 So true it is, as Lord Bacon says, that ' dissimulation is but a 
 faint kind of policy;' on which aphorism Archbishop Whately 
 observes, ' Nothing but the right can ever be the expedient, since 
 that can never be true expediency which would sacrifice a greater 
 good to a less.' 2 Too late did Achan learn, as it is to be feared 
 many do, that by grasping at a little he lost all, and that his 
 attempt to conceal his fault only rendered it the more disgraceful. 
 
 According to the Mosaic law, two witnesses were sufficient 
 to establish a person's guilt ; and, now that Joshua had the evi- 
 dence of the lot and Achan's own confession, he might have 
 proceeded at once to the execution of the sentence. But he 
 acted the part of a kind and generous judge ; for, anxious to be 
 sure of Achan's guilt, and to present the evidences of it before 
 
 ^ ' Nineveh, and its Kemains,' vol. ii., p. 319. See also Vaux's ' Nineveh 
 and Persepolis,' p. 293. 
 
 ' ' Bacon's Essays, with Annotations,' by Archbishop Whately, p. 81. 
 
94 THE SIN OF ACHAN. 
 
 the people, he sent messengers to the tent to search for the 
 stolen goods. There they found them, ' and they took them out 
 of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and 
 unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the 
 Lord.' Probably before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, 
 and in the presence of the elders of the people, the Babylonish 
 garment, the two hundred shekels of silver, and the wedge of 
 gold, were laid down, as a sign that they belonged to Jehovah, 
 and ought to have been destroyed; and also as a witness of 
 Achan's guilt, and of the desert of the punishment which he was 
 about to suffer. Deep must have been the impression made 
 upon the spectators' minds. They would see the folly of trans- 
 gressing God's commands. They would learn that it was im- 
 possible to hide anything from Him. They would perceive how 
 hateful sin was in His sight, the act of one man having brought 
 sorrow on the whole congregation of Israel. And they would 
 be prepared to acknowledge the justice of the penalty which 
 was to fall on the transgressor, and also to take part in the speedy 
 execution of it. 
 
 And now the hour of vengeance has arrived. Into a valley 
 not far from Jericho, Joshua and all Israel took Achan, together 
 with his sons and daughters, his oxen, his asses, his sheep, his 
 tent, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, 
 and all that he had ; and there Joshua addressed him, and said, 
 ' Why hast thou troubled us ? the Lord shall trouble thee this 
 day.' Troublers of others, and especially of the Church, generally 
 bring trouble on themselves. Achan had brought the ban upon 
 all Israel ; now it is to be removed from them, and to fall with 
 tremendous violence on himself. No mercy could be shown him, 
 for his crime was of an aggravated character, and had" already 
 cost the people the shame of a disastrous defeat. 
 
 Stoning was the legal method of inflicting the punishment of 
 death upon criminals. ' Thou shalt bring forth,' said the law, 
 
STONING. 95 
 
 Uhat man or that woman which have committed that wicked 
 thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt 
 stone them with stones until they die.'^ It was by no means a 
 cruel mode of deahng with a culprit, for death would ensue im- 
 mediately that a heavy stone fell upon the head or upon the chest ; 
 nor was it ever accompanied with torture or mutilation, such 
 as the seven brothers and their mother suffered, by command of 
 Antiochus, in the times of the Maccabees ;2 or such as some poor 
 victims of Papal wrath suffer even in our day, in the dungeons 
 of the Inquisitions of Italy and Spain. No ; the law of God, 
 stern and inexorable as it doubtless is, gives no authority even 
 to magistrates to inflict tortures of this kind on criminals of any 
 class. It sanctions capital punishments ; but it does so, not that 
 revengeful passions may be gratified, but only for the benefit of 
 the state. 
 
 Achan and all his were first stoned, and then burned with 
 fire ; after which a great heap of stones was raised on their 
 remains. Even the gold and the silver were consumed : for, as 
 Calvin observes, God ' would not allow the sanctuary to be pol- 
 luted by the proceeds of theft;' and, therefore, although such 
 things found in Jericho were to be consecrated to the Lord, and 
 to be brought into His treasury, these He could not accept. 
 Stolen property can never be offered to God with His approval, 
 even for the benefit of the poor or for the service of the Church. 
 To obey is better than sacrifice. Justice must be done before 
 deeds of charity are wrought. It is to be feared that many a 
 sacred edifice has been built with money which has been obtained 
 by fraud or by oppression ; but it is impossible that the God of 
 truth and righteousness can smile upon such deeds. No offerings 
 can be acceptable to Him on which the ban or curse of the law 
 rests; and, therefore, none can be acceptable but such as are 
 gained by honest means. 
 
 1 Deut. xvii. 5 : and see Num. xv. 32-36. - 2 Mace vii. 
 
96 THE SIN OF ACHAN. 
 
 By throwing stones upon the spot where Achan was consumed, 
 the people expressed their detestation of his crime ; and there they 
 heaped stones as a memorial to posterity of the sad event, and 
 perhaps, as Calvin suggests, Ho prevent any one from imprudently 
 gathering particles of gold and silver on the spot.' Nothing that 
 belonged to Achan was hereafter to be touched by any of the 
 people ; and hence, everything was done that could be, to oblite- 
 rate them from the sight of man. 
 
 Bat are we to understand that the sons and the daughters of 
 Achan, together with his oxen, his asses, and his sheep, shared 
 the same fate ? To some, this has appeared so unreasonable and 
 so unjust, that they have endeavoured, in various ways, to prove 
 that it was not so ; or that, if it was, God Himself did not so 
 order it. Recourse has been had to verbal criticism : and as in 
 vers. 25 and 26 the singular pronoun is used — 'All Israel stoned 
 him with stones ;' — ' and they raised over him a great heap of 
 stones' — it has been supposed that only Achan himself suffered, 
 and that his children were brought down to the valley merely to 
 witness the execution of the sentence. ^ But, as Keil observes, 
 this by no means follows, as the singular suffix is used inter- 
 changeably with the plural ; — because Achan was the person most 
 prominent in the punishment, he is therefore repeatedly mentioned 
 alone. Again, it has been supposed that the members of Achan's 
 family were included in his doom, ' by one of those sudden im- 
 pulses of indiscriminate popular vengeance to which the Jewish 
 people were exceedingly prone ; and which, in this case, it would 
 not have been in the power of Joshua to control by any authority 
 which he could, under such circumstances, exercise.'^ But in the 
 15th verse,. God says expressly, 'And it shall come to pass that 
 he that is taken with the accursed thing, shall be burnt with fire, 
 
 • See Dr A. Clarke's 'Commentary' in loco, where it is denied that his chil- 
 dren suffered with him ; whereas Josh. xxii. 20 certainly implies that they did. 
 3 See Kitto's ' Cyclopaedia of Bib. Lit. ;' art. ' Achan.' 
 
97 
 
 he and all that he hath' jNor is there any indication in the narra- 
 tive of a sudden outburst of popular feehng; but, on the contrary, 
 the sentence appears to have been executed with the greatest 
 calmness and solemnity. 
 
 Yet the law of Moses enjoined, that ' the fathers should not be 
 put to death for the children, nor the children for the fathers ;' ^ 
 and we cannot suppose that God would now order a violation of 
 His own commands : for He visits the sins of the fathers upon 
 the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate 
 Him;^ not upon children who love Him, and are obedient to His 
 commands. Hence, though no mention is made of the fact, we 
 must suppose either that Achan's children had been accomplices 
 in his deed, or that they had become accessories to it expostfacto^ 
 and had assisted him in conceahng the property in his tent. As 
 innocent persons, they could not be put to death. ' They shared 
 in the corrupt nature and desires which prompted their father to 
 the act.' They were his children not in a corporeal sense only, 
 but morally and spiritually. And God knew their hearts : He, 
 from whom no secret can be hid, was perfectly acquainted with 
 their inmost thoughts, and saw how they had connived at their 
 father's conduct, and thus made themselves partakers of his guilt." 
 God is love ; and, under the Old Testament dispensation as well 
 as under the New, ever dealt righteously with men, and was 
 more disposed to mercy than severity, — when mercy could be 
 exercised with safety to His government. ' Thou showest loving- 
 kindness unto thousands,' said the prophet Jeremiah, ' and recom- 
 pensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children 
 after them : the Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of Hosts, is 
 His name ; great in counsel, and mighty in work : for Thine eyes 
 
 ^ Deut. xxiv. 16 ; coinp. 2 Kings xiv. 6 ; 2 Chron. xxv. 4. 
 
 2 Exod. XX. 5, xxxiv. 6, 7. 
 
 3 See Keil and Hengstenberg's ' Authenticity of tlie Tent.,' vol ii., p. 448, 
 etc. 
 
98 THE SIN OF ACHAN. 
 
 are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one 
 according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.'^ 
 
 Thus we vindicate this procedure, believing it to have been 
 most just and righteous. It was, however, a terrible judgment. 
 ' The actor alone doth not smart with sacrilege ; all that concerns 
 him is enwrapped in the judgment. Those that defile their hands 
 with holy goods are enemies to their own flesh and blood. '^ ' It is 
 a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' Loudly 
 too, does this narrative speak against the sin of covetousness. 
 ' The love of money is the root of all evil ; which while some 
 coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced them- 
 selves through with many sorrows.'^ Yet, with all the solemn 
 warnings which they have before their eyes, men continue to bow 
 down to and to worship mammon ; and numbers there are who, 
 if they cannot obtain wealth by honest means, will obtain it by 
 dishonest: for wealth they must and will have, though their 
 gold and their silver become cankered, and the rust of them wit- 
 nesses against them, and eats their flesh as it were with fire. 
 
 Men's names are sometimes expressive of their character.* 
 Achan is derived from achor, which signifies trouble or disturb- 
 ance ; and a great disturber of the happiness of Israel had this 
 man been. And now his name was transferred to the valley in 
 which he suffered, 'for the name of the place was called the 
 valley of Achor unto this day.' It is elsewhere mentioned in 
 Isa. Ixv. 10, and Hos. ii. 15, and in both instances with reference 
 to this event. But its situation cannot be accurately determined. 
 * Jerome says that it was situated on .the north of Jericho, near 
 to Gilgal, and that even in his day the inhabitants called it by 
 its ancient name. But the assertion merely rests upon an un- 
 certain tradition, which had its origin in the present chapter, 
 and does not accord with chap. xv. 7. According to this passage, 
 
 1 Jer. xxxii. 18, 19. 2 Bishop HaU. 
 
 ' 1 Tim. vi. 10. ♦ See Gen. xxvii. 36. 
 
VALLEY OF ACHOR. 99 
 
 the northern boundary of the tribe of Judah ran through the 
 valley of Achor ; ' and, therefore, the valley must have been on the 
 south or -south- west of Jericho, since this town was not within 
 the territory of Judah.' ^ Whether, then, it was a gloomy valley, 
 or one of considerable loveliness and beauty, we cannot tell ; but 
 a valley of trouble it certainly was, partly to Israel, but especially 
 to Achan himself, the troubler. And yet it was changed into a 
 door of hope ; for the Lord turned from the fierceness of His 
 anger, and the ban was removed from the congregation of the 
 people. Let a nation or a church upon whom the displeasure of 
 God has fallen, put away from it the accursed thing, and His 
 anger against it will soon cease; but if, as in the church at 
 Corinth in early times,^ sin is committed, and the members of 
 the church are puffed up, and fail to excommunicate the wicked 
 person, and thereby make themselves sharers of his guilt, God 
 cannot smile upon them, but will take away their candlestick out 
 of its place. A diseased member must be cut off, or the whole 
 body will be infected, and will perish. 
 
 There are Achans in almost every camp. Men there are, 
 both in the State and in the Church, who, under a fair exterior, 
 pleasing manners, and a smooth tongue, hide a selfish and covet- 
 ous disposition ; and whilst professing, perhaps, and that loudly, 
 to be anxious to promote the welfare of others, are, in fact, 
 secretly plotting to secure their own. Such men are the gan- 
 grene of society, and, were it not for the checks they meet with, 
 would eat out its moral and spiritual life. But the eye of the 
 Omniscient One is upon them ; and though they may continue to 
 deceive their fellow-men for a while. Him they cannot deceive. 
 Nor will He fail to bring them to the light. Not by means of 
 the lot is the Church to search them out, for that mode of dis- 
 covering offenders has no longer the Divine sanction ; but God 
 Himself will, in His own time, take off the mask they wear, and 
 
 ^ Eeil, in loco. ^ 1 Cor. v 
 
100 THE SIN OF ACHAN. 
 
 make them known, and then will they be covered with shame and 
 ignominy, and their doom will be worse than that of Achan. 
 
 For the punishment of Achan did not necessarily involve the 
 destruction of his soul. His repentance, though late, was ingenu- 
 ous, and perhaps sincere; and this may have been one of those cases 
 which are delivered ' unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, 
 that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.' But if he that 
 despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three wit- 
 nesses, of how much sorer punishnaent shall he be thought worthy, 
 who sins against clearer light, and richer privileges, and a superior 
 economy, and thus treads under foot the Son of God, and counts 
 the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy 
 thing, and does despite unto the Spirit of grace ? It is impossible 
 for one favoured with the blessings of the Christian dispensation 
 to be no more accountable to God than one who lived under the 
 law of Moses ; and it is impossible, therefore, that the guilt of both 
 should be viewed in the same light, even though they violate one 
 and the same law. An Achan under the New Testament economy 
 would be a worse man, and liable, therefore, to a sorer punishment, 
 than an Achan under the Old Testament economy ; and hence, 
 whatever became of the soul of the Achan of our narrative, the 
 Achans of our own day may well tremble for the consequences of 
 their covetousness and dissimulation ; and the sooner they take 
 vengeance on their sins, and destroy them utterly, as the real 
 troublers both of themselves and others, the greater hope there 
 will be that they will escape the wrath which is to come. But 
 if they think of a death-bed repentance, let them know, as Jeremy 
 Taylor says, that ' no man can in a moment root out the long 
 contracted habit of vice, nor upon his death-bed make use of 
 all that variety of preventing, accompanying, and persevering 
 grace, which God gave to man, because man would need it all;' 
 and that, therefore, to procrastinate so great a work, is to render 
 it all but certain that it will never be accomphshed at all. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE DESTKUCTION OF AI. 
 
 ?S when a dense cloud charged with the elements of de- 
 struction, which has for some time hung over a country, 
 is suddenly dispersed, and the sun's bright beams once 
 more gladden all nature, so now were the Israelites relieved 
 from the apprehensions they had suffered since the sm of Achan 
 had placed them under the ban. They had wiped their hands 
 of his crime, they had put away from them the accursed thmg ; 
 and now the cloud of the Divine displeasure had rolled away, 
 and a ray of hope again gleamed upon the camp. 
 
102 THE DESTRUCTION OF AI. 
 
 *Fear not, neither be dismayed/^ said God to Joshua, when 
 He called him to accept the leadership of His people. Tear 
 not, neither be dismayed,'^ was the word of encouragement with 
 which he was again addressed. And this word was followed by 
 an assurance that Ai and her king would be given into his hand ; 
 that as He placed Jericho and her king under the ban, and had 
 destroyed them, so should He do also to Ai and her king ; and 
 that, in this case, the people would be permitted to take the 
 spoil and the cattle, as a prey, unto themselves. Who can con- 
 ceive the joy and gladness with which the valiant commander of 
 God's people would hear these words ? Afraid he had been, and 
 considerably dismayed ; but all his fears were now given to the 
 winds, and with reanimated courage he proceeded a second 
 time to attack the city. 
 
 Ai is described as 'beside Beth-aven, on the east side of 
 Beth-el.'^ Both Ai and Beth-el existed in the time of Abram ; for 
 when Abram entered Canaan, and had passed through the land 
 to the plain of Moreh, it is said ' he removed from thence unto a 
 mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having 
 Beth-el on the west and Hai (Ai, ''yn) on the east.'* According 
 to Gen. xxviii. 19, the original name of Beth-el was Luz, and its 
 later name (i^X rT'H, the house of God) appears to have been 
 given to it by Jacob, first, after he had seen the vision of the 
 ladder, and again on his return from Padan-aram (Gen. xxxv. 7). 
 It is mentioned by Jerome as situated twelve miles from Jeru- 
 salem, on the right hand of the road to Shechem ; and here, on a 
 hill, Dr Robinson found some ruins, which cover a space of three 
 or four acres, called by the Arabs Beitih. ' There is little room 
 for question, that both the name and the site of Beitin are iden- 
 tical with those of the ancient Beth-el;'^ and on one of these 
 
 ^ Josh. i. 9 ; Deut. xxxi. G, 8. - Josh. viii. 1. 
 
 3 Josh. vii. 2. * Gen. xii. 8, 9, xiii. 3. 
 
 * Eobinson's ' Kesearches,' vol. i., p. 449. 
 
SITE OF AI. 103 
 
 heights Abram no doubt built his altar, and called upon the 
 name of the Lord.^ Di* Keil, however, does not agree with 
 this identification ; but, following Thenius, contends that Beth-el 
 must have stood on or near Sinjil, three miles further north, and 
 he then identifies Ai with Turnus Aya, a village situated upor 
 a low mound a little east of Sinjil. Here, however, says Yan 
 de Yelde, * there is no deep valley, and Michmash, which, accord- 
 ing to 1 Sam. xiii. 5, was near to Ai, is at least three or three 
 and a half hours south of Turnus Aya.'^ 
 
 Where, then, was Ai ? Dr Robinson found a village called 
 Deir Diowan, in an uneven rocky basin, one hour south-east of 
 Beitan (Beth-el), ' the position of which,' he observes, ' would 
 answer well to that of Ai.' But there are no ruins here, nor 
 does its position agree exactly with the scriptural account of the 
 position of Ai. Hence even Dr Robinson himself seems doubt- 
 ful, and Van de Yelde fixes upon another spot, discovered by Mr 
 Finn, called by the natives Tell-el-haja, that is, ' the Mount of 
 Stones.' It is an isolated mount, thirty-five minutes east of 
 Beth-el, and answers exactly to the scriptural requirements for 
 Ai, whilst an old cistern and huge heaps of stones indicate the 
 site of an ancient town.^ 
 
 This identification we are disposed to adopt, as by far the most 
 probable solution of the difficulty ; and we will now attempt a 
 description of the siege. 
 
 On the former occasion the expedition against Ai consisted of 
 but 3000 men, but now Joshua was commanded to take with him 
 'all the people of war;' for, their courage having been damped, 
 it was necessary to consult their weakness, and to animate them 
 
 1 Van de Velde, 'Syria and Palestine,' vol. ii., p. 282; Stanley, ' Sinai and 
 Palestine,' pp. 215, 216. 
 
 2 Memoir accompanying the map, p. 283. Narrative, vol. ii., p. 278. 
 
 3 Van de Velde, ' Syria and Palestine,' vol. ii., p. 279, etc. ; comp. Stanley, 
 p. 202, 204. 
 
104 THE DESTRUCTION OF AI. 
 
 for the attack, by the thought that they were numerous. It is not 
 necessary, however, to suppose that ' all the people of war,' meant 
 all who were capable of bearing arms, but, as Keil observes, ' a 
 proportionate number' from the several tribes, and that the 
 actual number employed was the thirty thousand mighty men of 
 valour, mentioned in verse 3. 
 
 By God Himself, Joshua was commanded to lay an ambush 
 behind the city (ver. 2), and to take it by means of stratagem. 
 And is it lawful, then, ask some, to employ wiles and stratagems 
 in war ? If war is lawful at all, undoubtedly it is ; for war con- 
 sists not merely in the use of physical force, but in seeking to 
 obtain victory by skilful manoeuvres. ' Those are the best com- 
 manders,' says Calvin, ' who accomplish more by art and counsel 
 than by mere violence.' Laws, then, are to be observed in war- 
 fare, which no true soldier will on any account violate ; but it 
 has never been understood, either in former or in later times, that, 
 to take a besieged city, the besiegers were not at liberty to have 
 recourse to stratagem, and hence stratagem has been employed 
 whenever it was thought needful. 
 
 But who formed the ambuscade ? It would seem, from the 
 narrative, that it was composed of the thirty thousand mighty 
 men; yet it is difficult to conceive how so numerous a force 
 could be employed in such a service without attracting the 
 attention of the inhabitants of the city. Hence several methods 
 have been proposed of meeting the difficulty ; some suggesting an 
 emendation of the text, and others that there were two ambus- 
 cades, one of 30,000 concealed at a distance from the town, and 
 another of 5000 in the immediate neighbourhood. But the most 
 plausible interpretation is that of Keil, who observes that it is 
 characteristic of Semitic historians, to announce as far as possible, 
 at the very outset of a narrative, the termination of the whole 
 affair, and then to complete the historical sketch by proceeding 
 with their description of the intermediate occurrences. The 
 
THE AMBUSH. 105 
 
 writer does this in the account before us. He tells us what 
 arrangements were made bj Joshua for marching against Ai 
 (ver. 3-8),. and then he informs us that thej were carried into 
 execution (ver. 9). Afterwards follow the details of the story 
 (ver. 10-20) ; and it is from this point that we are to mark the 
 progress of the narrative. 
 
 Having received his instructions from the Lord, Joshua 
 selected 30,000 men, and rose up with all the people of war to 
 advance towards Ai, and that night he lodged among the people. 
 Early in the morning he reviewed his troops, and then set them 
 in motion in the direction of the city. The distance from Jericho 
 to Tell-el-hajar is about twenty miles ; so that they would reach 
 the spot where they encamped, on the north side of the city, 
 towards the evening of that day. Immediately on their arrival, 
 Joshua sent five thousand to lie in ambush between Beth-el and 
 Ai, on the west side of the city, saying to them, ' Behold, ye shall 
 lie in wait against the city, even behind the city ; go not very far 
 from the city, but be ye all ready : and I, and the people that 
 are with me, will approach unto the city ; and it shall come to 
 pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will 
 flee before them, (for they will come out after us,) till we have 
 drawn them from the city ; for they will say. They flee before 
 us, as at the first : therefore we will flee before them. Then ye 
 shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city : for the 
 Lord your God will deliver it into your hands,' etc. (ver. 4-8). 
 
 * Beth-el,' says Van de Velde, ' though lying quite near, in the 
 direction of west by north, cannot be seen from Tell-el-hajar ; 
 two rocky heights rise between both places, just as the laying of 
 an ambush to the west of Ai would require.' Here, then, the 
 five thousand take their position, hid from the observation of the 
 inhabitants of Ai, and waiting the signal which is to call them 
 to the attack. Meanwhile, Joshua remains with the five and 
 twenty thousand on the eminence north of the town, and during 
 
106 THE DESTRUCTION OF AI. 
 
 the night conducts his army into the midst of the valley, ' a deep 
 and steep-sided glen,' which lies between him and the fated city. 
 The morning dawns, and the king of Ai observes his enemies in 
 the valley, and immediately sallies forth with all the men of the 
 city to attack the Israehtes on the plain. They offer no resist- 
 ance, but, as if they are afraid of them, they fly towards the 
 wilderness, so that all the male inhabitants of the city are allowed 
 to follow them; whilst those of Beth-el^ also, who see the flight 
 of the Israelites, but do not see the ambuscade that threatens 
 them, rush forward to share in the victory. 
 
 The Israelites reach an elevated spot north-east of Ai, where 
 they can be seen by the ambuscade stationed in the valley. And 
 now the preconcerted signal is given. Joshua, at the Divine 
 command, stretches out his spear ^ towards Ai; and the men in 
 ambush rush into the city, whose gates are left open, and hastily 
 set it on fire. At the same time, the Israelites turn round upon 
 their pm'suers, who, seeing the smoke rising from their dwellings, 
 are seized with consternation, and have no power to flee this way 
 or that. Terrible is the slaughter. Numbers fall before the 
 sword of Joshua, and others, who rush towards the city, are met 
 by the five thousand who have caused the conflagration ; so that 
 now the men of Ai are between two companies of the Israelites, 
 and escape is utterly impossible. Not a man survives. In the 
 field or in the wilderness all are slain, the king only excepted ; 
 
 ^ From Judges i. 22, 23, we learn that Beth-el, which was a walled city, was 
 taken subsequently by the tribe of Joseph. Its king, however, may have been 
 slain on this occasion (Josh. xii. 16), and it is probable that its fighting men had 
 already come to Ai as allies. 
 
 - This wjis probably a long spear with a small flag attached to it, by which 
 it would be rendered conspicuous at a distance. Calvin says, ' It is scarcely 
 possible to believe that the spear was seen by the ambuscade, when we consider 
 the long space that intci-vened, and more especially that Joshua was standing 
 in a valley.' But there is no evidence that lie was standing in a valley, and 
 there may have been persons stationed at different posts to watch for the signal, 
 and to convey it to the men in ambush. 
 
THE SPOIL. 107 
 
 and now the entire army of the Israelites enter Ai, when the rest 
 of the inhabitants — the women and the children — are also slain, 
 and 12,000. people thus fall a sacrifice to the avenging sword. 
 
 ' The cattle, and the spoil of the city, Israel took for a prey 
 nnto themselves.' We are not then to understand, by their setting 
 the city on fire, that they did so with the design of consuming it 
 utterly, for then there would have been no spoil left. ' The fire 
 was indeed applied so as to let both armies know that the city 
 was in possession of the Israelites, but it was not actually de- 
 stroyed by fire. It was not practicable in a moment of time to 
 seize and carry off the booty, nay, to bring the vessels and a 
 large part of the property without the walls ; and it would have 
 been absurd voluntarily to destroy spoil which God had granted. 
 We see, then, that the first fire was not kindled for the purpose 
 of destroying the whole city, but was merely a partial conflagra- 
 tion, giving intimation of its capture, and that the Israelites had 
 entered at the open gates without bloodshed or struggle. This 
 is confirmed shortly after, when the burning is ascribed to Joshua 
 himself, not only because it was burnt under his command, but 
 because he was careful, after returning from the battle, to see 
 that it was utterly destroyed ; as it is immediately added that 
 he made it a heap of stones, in order that it might be a perpetual 
 desolation.'^ 
 
 Of Joshua it is said, that he ' drew not his hand back where- 
 with he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed 
 all the inhabitants of Ai.' Intrepid warrior ! ' As if his hand 
 had been fastened to the spear, he exhorts the soldiers to look 
 to God alone, to whom he resigns the success of the battle.' 
 There was, however, no mystical power in the spear of Joshua, 
 as there was in the elevation of the hands of Moses during the 
 battle with the Amalekites. Rather is the fact mentioned as 
 illustrative of the noble spirit of perseverance displayed by Israel's 
 
 ^ CalviD, in loco. 
 
108 THE DESTRUCTION OF AI. 
 
 commander, for he was a man who feared neither toil nor danger 
 so long as duty called him to the work. Would that all God's 
 servants were like him ! But how many are there, who, long 
 before the battle is won, draw . back the hand, and sheath the 
 sword, and retire from the conflict, leaving their enemies in pos- 
 session of the field ! Let the reader be upon his guard. Called 
 to contend with spiritual adversaries, let him buckle on the 
 armour, and take the spear or the sword, and resolve never to 
 lay it down until the victory is sure. Joshua is a noble example 
 for the Christian warrior ; and our own national history presents 
 other noble examples which we shall do well to imitate. Nelson, 
 WeHington, Havelock, and others we might name, were men 
 who drew not back their hands, but went on bravely, in spite of 
 weariness and pain. Perseverance was their motto. Nil des- 
 perandum was their constant watchword. Look at Havelock 
 before Cawnpore. With a thousand British soldiers and three 
 hundred Sikhs, who had marched twenty miles in the hottest 
 day of the hottest season of the year, he encountered a force of 
 five thousand native troops, well trained and disciplined; and 
 when his horse was shot he mounted a common hack, and, before 
 a withering fire, led forward his noble band, and bore down upon 
 the enemy with irresistible force. Cawnpore was won — won by 
 courage, faith, and perseverance; and these are the principles 
 which every Christian warrior should cultivate, if he intends to 
 carry off the prize before him. Men who draw back their hands 
 are not the men to conquer in the great battle which we are 
 called to wage against sin and Satan. Yictory is awarded to 
 those who, like an eminent modern traveller, think that, if God 
 is served' at all, it should be done in a manly way, and. who are 
 determined to succeed or perish in any great enterprise to which 
 they may be called. 
 
 The kings of the Canaanitish cities were treated with greater 
 severity by Joshua than their subjects, for they were doubtless 
 
THE KING OF AI. 109 
 
 the leaders and instigators of the people in their career of crime. 
 The king of Ai was spared in the general overthrow ; but sub- 
 sequently he was put to death, and then hung upon a tree or 
 stake until the evening. As we have already seen, the mode of 
 executing the sentence of death adopted by the Israelites was 
 that of stoning, so that we are not to suppose that the king of 
 Ai was hung alive. He was, in all probability, either stoned or 
 slain with the sword ; and being under the ban, he was afterwards 
 hung upon the stake. But the law required that bodies thus 
 hung should not remain upon the tree all night, but should be 
 buried the same day;^ and Joshua, therefore, gave orders that 
 the carcase of the king should be taken down before the setting 
 of the sun, buried at the entrance of the gate of the city, and 
 covered with a heap of stones.^ All this was done, and the city 
 itself was burnt, and became, like Jericho, a scene of desolation. 
 The word Ai, or Ha-ai, signifies 'ruins;' and the name Tel-el- 
 Hajar means ' the Mount of Stones,' which, says Dr Stanley, 
 ' certainly agrees well with the curse on Ai, — Tel being the same 
 word used to express " the heap" which was to take the place of 
 the city, and the " Hajar," or mound of stones, corresponding to 
 the cairn over the dead king.'^ 
 
 Under the name of Aija,* this city is spoken of after the 
 captivity, but it appears to have been rebuilt at an earlier 
 period ; for it is said by Isaiah, that, when the Assyrian army 
 was advancing towards Jerusalem, they came to Aiath, passed 
 on to Migron, and laid up their carriages at Michmash.^ Yet 
 the ruins of the former city may have remained, and the new city 
 may have been erected at a short distance from them. Now 
 however, the very name itself has disappeared, and Ai seems 
 
 > Deut xxi. 22, 23. * Josh. viii. 29. 
 
 ' ' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 202, note. 
 
 * Nell. xi. 31 ; comp. vii. 32, and Ezra i;. 28^ where it is called Ai 
 
 * Isa. X. 28. 
 
110 THE DESTRUCTION OF AL 
 
 doomed to be what Joshua designed it should become — ' a 
 perpetual desolation, a heap for ever.' 
 
 The siege and capture of Ai taught the Israelites some 
 valuable lessons. It taught them that, whilst they honoured 
 God by a strict obedience to His commands. He would honour 
 them, and not forsake them ; it taught them that they had nothing 
 to fear from the inhabitants of the land, for that God could 
 always find a way to baffle and overcome them ; and it taught 
 them that to obtain the conquest of the country, they must put 
 forth their own efforts, and not expect that God would always 
 work miracles on their behalf. Lessons such as these naturally 
 suggest themselves to our own minds, and it is highly probable 
 that they would be presented to the minds of many of these 
 people. They were still being trained for the service of the 
 Lord Jehovah ; and the battles they were called to fight, together 
 with the victories they won, were part of the discipline which 
 God employed to fit them for greater and nobler work. 
 
 Ai having been destroyed, and the inhabitants of the land 
 sufficiently awed to deter them from attempting to attack the 
 Israelites, the way was now opened for the assembling of the 
 tribes on a spot which Moses had mentioned before his death, 
 commanding the people there to set up great stones, and to 
 build an altar unto the Lord their God. To the commands of 
 the illustrious lawgiver Joshua paid due regard, as soon as it 
 was practicable, after they had crossed the Jordan ; and into 
 the valley between Ebal and Gerizim he now led the mighty 
 host. 
 
 Mounts Ebal and Gerizim still retain their names.^ The 
 former name is thought by some to signify, ' stript of -leaves ;' 
 the latter name is supposed to have been derived from an ancient 
 
 ^ Gerizim is now called by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood Jebel-et- 
 Sur, but the Samaritans know it by its ancient name. The modern name of 
 Ebal is Jusad-ed-Deen, the ' pillar of religion.' 
 
EBAL AND GEEIZIM. Ill 
 
 tribe, called the Gerizi, or Gezerites, who are mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture only once (1 Sam. xxvii. 8). From Beth-el (Beitin) to these 
 mounts the- distance is upwards of thirty miles ; whence it has 
 been affirmed that the event now before us is not recorded in 
 the order of time, but must have occurred at a later period : for 
 how, it is asked, could the whole body of the Israelites journey 
 so many miles through a country still in the undisputed possession 
 of the enemy ? To meet this difficulty, the Septuagint inserts 
 the episode, if such it may be called, after the account of the 
 league of the Amorites given at the commencement of chapter 
 the ninth. But this, says Keil, ' is merely another example of 
 the arbitrary manner in which the translators made transpositions 
 in the text to suit their own taste;' nor is the difficulty insur- 
 mountable after all. Other victories may have been obtained 
 over the inhabitants of the intervening territory, though they 
 are not recorded ; or it may have been, as we have intimated 
 above, that the people were so terrified by the destruction of Ai, 
 as to retire before the advancing host, and leave to Joshua an 
 open path, by which he could proceed to the locality he wished 
 to reach. 
 
 Two days' march northwards from Ai, through the Wady-el- 
 Lubban, and then over the great plain of Mukhna, would bring 
 the Israelites to the valley of Nabulus (Shechem), out of which 
 Mount Gerizim and Ebal rise in steep rocky precipices, to about 
 nine hundred feet in height. Gerizim, which lies to the south 
 of the valley, has been described as fruitful and picturesque; 
 Ebal, on the contrary, as desolate and sterile. Dr Robinson, 
 however, speaks of them both as equally naked and barren, the 
 only exception in favour of Gerizim being a small ravine opposite 
 the west end of Nabulus, which is full of springs and trees. On 
 the summit of Gerizim is a table-land, stretching to the west and 
 south-west, from one point of which there is a commanding view 
 of the valley, and of Mount Ebal on the opposite side of it, the 
 
112 THE DESTKUCTION OF AI. 
 
 top of which also spreads into a table-land, but more rocky and 
 broken, and less susceptible of cultivation.^ The breadth of the 
 valley, from the foot of Mount Ebal to that of Mount Gerizim, is 
 not more, in one spot at least, than five hundred yards vi^ide, 
 extending from south-east to north-west ; and here, probably, 
 the elders of the people were assembled, whilst the vast masses 
 occupied the adjacent slopes. Eusebius, and after him Jerome, 
 objected to this locaUty as the scene of the events, on the ground 
 of the wide interval between the two mountains, and maintained 
 that the Ebal and Gerizim of Joshua were near to Gilgal : but 
 the interval is not so great; and though Deut. xi. 30 — where it 
 is said, * Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way 
 where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which 
 dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal ' — would lead us to 
 look for the mountains in the neighbourhood of Jericho, yet 
 the mention in the same passage of the terebinths of Moreh,^ 
 which, according to Gen. xii. 6, were near to Sichem, renders it 
 certain that the common view is correct. 
 
 The first act of Joshua, on arriving at this spot, was to erect 
 an altar unto the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal. It was 
 written in the law, ' And if thou wilt build Me an altar of stone, 
 thou shalt not build it of hewn stone : for if thou lift up thy tool 
 upon it, thou hast polluted it.'^ It was therefore built of whole 
 stones, over which no man had lifted any iron tool ; for ' had 
 the stones been hewn, they would not have represented earth in 
 its elementary state, and would not therefore have tallied with 
 the essential meaning of an altar, since every bloody sacrifice 
 was immediately connected with sin and death, by which man, 
 the creature of earth, is brought to earth again.'* How false, 
 in this Hght, is the character of the altars so called, elaborately 
 
 ^ Robinson's Eesearches, vol. ii., p. 278, etc. ; Olin's Travels, vol. ii., 346, etc. 
 ^ See Stanley, p. 286, note ; Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Art- ' Ebal.' 
 » Exod. XX. 25. < See Keil, in loco. 
 
THE ALTAR ON MOUNT EBAL. 113 
 
 wrought of the most costly marble, erected in the cathedrals of 
 the Church of Rome. But, iu fact, they are not altars, nor 
 should the. Lord's table be ever so designated ; for Christianity 
 has but one altar — the cross of Christ, on which He offered up 
 Himself once for all. 
 
 On this altar 'they offered burnt-oJQferings, and sacrijQced 
 peace-offerings.' The burnt-offerings were symbolical of the 
 solemn dedication of the people to the Lord ; and the peace- 
 offerings, with which thank-offerings were associated, and a 
 sacrificial feast, indicated the joy of the congregation on this 
 renewal of the covenant, all the blessings of which they would 
 now again have a right to claim. Most impressive must have 
 been the scene when, upon that lofty eminence, and in sight of 
 the vast multitudes assembled on the plain below, the priests pre- 
 sented these offerings on the altar, and the smoke of the burnt- 
 sacrifices ascended up to heaven. Many a heart would beat with 
 deep emotion, and that of Joshua himself would, we may be sure, 
 be the seat of extraordinary joy. For what had God done for 
 him since he became the commander of the people ? He had 
 enabled him to surmount the greatest difficulties ; He had given 
 him the victory over powerful enemies ; and now He had brought 
 him into the very midst of the land which was to be the in- 
 heritance of the sons of Jacob. Well, then, might Joshua rejoice ; 
 and well may we conceive that that day was one of the happiest 
 of his life. 
 
 But another duty Joshua had also to perform. ' And it shall 
 be,' said Moses, ' on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto 
 the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt 
 set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster. And thou 
 shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art 
 passed over ; that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord 
 thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; 
 as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. Therefore 
 
 h 
 
in THE DESTRUCTION OF AI. 
 
 it shall be, when ye are gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up 
 these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount Ebal, and 
 thou shalt plaster them with plaster.'^ This important work 
 Joshua accomplished ; for ' he wrote there, upon the stones, a 
 copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the 
 children of Israel.'^ 
 
 Were these stones the stones of the altar, as Josephus and 
 others represent ? This is by no means likely ; for the stones of 
 the altar would be comparatively small; and, moreover, they 
 were left in their natural state, and not covered over with 
 plaster. These stones were no doubt additional to the stones of 
 the altar, and were probably set up on the sides of it. But 
 what was written on them ? Not, as some have supposed, the 
 whole of the Thorah, or law, moral and ceremonial; for that 
 would have been far too lengthy : nor, as others, the blessings, 
 and the cursings, of Deut. xxvii. ; for they were not the law, but 
 only motives added to impel or adjure the people to keep it : 
 nor yet the Decalogue, as the substance of the law; for the 
 Decalogue is not specially referred to either by Moses or in 
 the narrative of Joshua. Calvin supposes that, by 'the law' 
 here, is meant the substance and sanctions of the law; and 
 Hengstenberg, Keil, and others, understand by it, ' the so-called 
 second law,' contained in the book of Deuteronomy, from chap. 
 iv. 44 to chap. xxvi. 19. This, it is true, may appear a large 
 portion to write on stones ; but when we look at the extent of 
 the writings on the immense slabs recently dug out of the 
 mounds of Nineveh, and when we consider especially that this 
 writing was not on the stones themselves, but on the plaster 
 which covered them, we can easily conceive that the whole of 
 that portion of Deuteronomy was written upon them ; for the 
 stones were large, and the number of them was not limited. 
 
 But, was the law written upon the plaster ? or was it en- 
 ' Deut. xxvii. 2-4. 2 Josh. viii. 32. 
 
WKITING ON PLASTER. 115 
 
 graven on the stones, and tlien covered with plaster, that the in- 
 scriptions might remain uninjured, and at a later period, when 
 the plaster- should fall off, appear to view for the first time ? A 
 device of this kind was adopted by Sostratus the architect, who, 
 being ordered to engrave the name of the king of Egypt on a 
 block of marble, engraved his own name first, then covered it 
 with plaster, and upon that inscribed the name of the king ; so 
 that soon the king's name perished, whilst his own continued on 
 the block. But there is no foundation for the opinion that 
 Moses commanded anything of this sort to be done. It is 
 evident, from the text quoted above, that the law was written 
 upon the plaster with which the stones were coated. Such 
 writing was common in ancient times. * I have seen numerous 
 specimens of it,' says Dr Thomson, 'certainly more than two 
 thousand years old, and still as distinct as when they were first 
 inscribed on the plaster.'^ 'In this hot chmate, where there 
 is no frost to dissolve the cement, it will continue hard and un- 
 broken for thousands of years, which is certainly long enough. 
 The cement on Solomon's Pools remains in admirable preserva- 
 tion, though exposed to all the vicissitudes of the climate, and 
 with no protection. The cement in the tombs about Sidon is 
 still perfect, and the writing on them entire, though acted upon 
 by the moist, damp air always formed in caverns, for perhaps 
 two thousand years. What Joshua did, therefore, when he 
 erected the stones at Mount Ebal, was merely to write in the 
 soft cement with a stile, or, more likely, on the pohshed sur- 
 face when dry, with red paint, as in ancient tombs. If properly 
 sheltered, and not broken away by violence, they would have 
 remained to this day.' 
 
 Here, then, on this lofty eminence, were these stones erected ; 
 and for many years afterwards, in all probability, they stood as 
 a monument of the fideHty of Joshua, but especially as witnesses 
 
 1 ' The Land and the Book,' p. 471. 
 
116 THE DESTRUCTION OF AI. 
 
 for the Lord Jehovah. Many a traveller, attracted to the spot, 
 would read there the most solemn and impressive words ; and, 
 had those stones been listened to, what calamities would the 
 Israelites, as a people, have escaped ! 
 
 We must linger around Ebal for a little while longer, that 
 we may witness a scene which, for grandeur and solemnity, 
 has not been equalled since the giving of the law upon Mount 
 Sinai. In the valley which lies between Ebal and Gerizim 
 stands the ark of the covenant of the Lord ; half the people 
 being on the one side of it towards the former mount, and 
 half of them on the other side towards the latter. And not 
 only are the elders of the people there, with the ofl&cers and the 
 judges, but all the congregation of Israel, with the women, the 
 little ones, and even the strangers that walked among them — the 
 descendants, perhaps, of the mixed multitude that came with 
 them out of Egypt, or such as, like Rahab and her family, 
 had already become proselytes from among the inhabitants of 
 Canaan. All are there, for all must understand the obligations 
 of the covenant into which they have been admitted, and learn 
 to fear its curses and to aspire after its benefits and blessings. 
 Beautiful is that valley, and beautiful is the whole scene. On a 
 carpet of most lovely green, the tints of which are deepened here 
 and there by the shadows of the mountains, thousands of men, 
 women, and children are reclining, in expectation of some great 
 event. Lovely melodies are caused by the gentle movements of 
 numerous olive trees, and by the rippling of the waters of a 
 hundred little rills ; and a delightfully cool and pleasant atmo- 
 sphere pervades the spot, and renders it a welcome resting- 
 place for Israel's hosts."^ The Levite priests take their stand 
 upon Mounts Ebal and Gerizim : and beneath those who stand on 
 the former mount are the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulon, 
 
 ' See the description of this vale by Van de Velde, * Syria and Palestine, 
 ii. 293 
 
THE CURSES AND THE BLESSINGS. 117 
 
 Dan, and Naphtali ; beneath those who stand on the latter mount 
 are the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and 
 Benjamin. • The vast multitude is silent, all nature is calm and still, 
 and first the deep voices of the Levites who stand upon Mount 
 Ebal utter the words — 
 
 * Cursed he the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an 
 abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, 
 and putteth it in a secret place.^ 
 
 And from the tribes at the foot of the mount there arises a 
 loud AMEN — SO BE IT, which is repeated at the close of each 
 curse uttered from above.^ 
 
 Then the voices of the Levites who stand upon Gerizim are 
 heard saying — 
 
 ' If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy 
 God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command 
 thee this day, it shall come to pass that the Lord thy God ivill set thee 
 on high above all nations of the earth : and all these blessings shall 
 come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice 
 of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed 
 shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and 
 the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy 
 kine, and thefiocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy 
 store. Blessed shalt thou be ichen thou comest in, and blessed shalt 
 thou be when thou goest out.^ ^ 
 
 And as each blessing is pronounced, the Amen rises louder 
 and yet louder from the tribes at the foot of Mount Gerizim, 
 until at length the last Amen is heard, and dies away on the air. 
 
 * Deut. xxvii. 15-26. That the curses should be pronounced from the mount 
 on which the altar was erected, appears to some incongruous ; and the Samari- 
 tan text of the Pentateuch represents the altar as erected on Gerizim. 
 
 - Deut. xxviii. 1-6. It would seem that all these words were uttered on 
 Mount Gerizim ; but whether the whole chapter was repeated by the Levites 
 may be considered doubtful. If it was, part of it— vers. 15-68— must have been 
 uttered from Mount Ebal. 
 
118 THE DESTRUCTION OF AI. 
 
 Deep was the impression which this event must have produced 
 upon the minds of that vast assembly. God had promised ample 
 rewards to His servants who should obey the law. On the other 
 hand, curses were denounced in order to deter transgressors. 
 'Each is now forced to subscribe to his own condemnation, 
 while an amen is the response to every single sentence. For in 
 this way they not only hear themselves condemned by the mouth 
 of God, but, as if they had been heralds sent by Him, they de- 
 nounce the punishment which may await themselves. A similar 
 promulgation was made in the plain of Moab beyond the Jordan; 
 but now they are bound more solemnly, and acknowledge on what 
 condition they are to dwell in the land of Canaan. It added no 
 little weight to the whole, that the children also were admitted 
 as witnesses.' — (Calvin.) 
 

 HEWERS OF "WOOD. 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 THE GIBEONITES. 
 
 ^EARLY lialf-waj between Beth-el and the vale of 
 Shechem, on the road leading from Jerusalem to the 
 latter, is a village now called Jiljiha, which stands on 
 a lofty eminence, and affords an extensive view over the great 
 plain to the Mediterranean Sea.^ The name Jiljilia corresponds 
 with the ancient name Gilgal ; and there is little doubt that it 
 was here, and not at the Gilgal near to Jericho, that Joshua 
 encamped after the scene which occurred at Mount Gerizim. 
 Eor that, after advancing so far into the interior of the country, 
 he would retrace his steps, and bring that vast multitude back to 
 
 ' Eobinsons ' Eesearclies,' ii., p. 265. 
 
120 THE GIBEONITES. 
 
 the Gilgal on which they first encamped, is altogether improbable ; 
 whilst JiljiUa, which was but a few miles south of Gerizim, was 
 a most eligible spot from which to direct his future operations. 
 ' Who can believe that this commander, after he had long left 
 the valley of the Jordan, and penetrated so far into the moun- 
 tainous country, would retire with his whole army behind Jericho 
 into the Jordan vale, in order to undertake further operations ? 
 To so improbable a supposition it was necessary to yield, only 
 if another Gilgal had not existed in Palestine, — if Gilgal over 
 against Ebal and Gerizim had not already been made known 
 to Moses.' ^ But another Gilgal is mentioned in Deut. xi. 30; 
 and we meet with it again, at a later period, in the history of 
 the prophet Elijah, of whom it is said, that, being at Gilgal 
 with Elisha, he '■went down to Beth-el,'^ — an expression which 
 would be wholly incorrect if the Gilgal referred to was that 
 near Jericho, but not if it were the Gilgal now pointed out ; for 
 the former is considerably lower than Beth-el, whilst the latter 
 is somewhat higher. 
 
 Here, then, Joshua and his army are encamped (Josh. ix. 6), 
 when a confederacy is formed against him by several of the 
 kings of the country, who, having partly recovered from the 
 panic occasioned by his victories, are resolved to give him battle, 
 and to prevent, if possible, his further progress. This was 
 natural, and by no means surprising. There was, however, one 
 tribe that did not join in the confederacy, but, to secure their 
 own welfare, took a very different course ; and before the histo- 
 rian proceeds to narrate the circumstances of the conflict with 
 the hostile nations, he pauses to describe the plan adopted by 
 this one tribe, together with the results that followed (chap. ix. 
 3-27). 
 
 ' Keil's Commentary on Kings, vol. i., p. 340, note ; Clark. See also his 
 Commentary on Joshua, p. 232 ; and Van de Velde's Map and Memoir, p- 316. 
 2 2 Kings ii. 2. 
 
GIBEON. 121 
 
 Gabaon, or Gibeon, which signiiaes literally a high hill, was 
 one of the royal cities of Canaan, and was situated, according to 
 Josephus, -fifty stadia, or rather more than six Roman miles, from 
 the city of Jerusalem. ^ Somewhat farther from Jerusalem than 
 this, is a village situated on the summit of a hill, called el- Jib, 
 respecting which Dr Robinson observes, ' It is not difficult to 
 recognise in el-Jib and its rocky eminence the ancient Gibeon of 
 the Scriptures, the Gabaon of Josephus ; although the specifica- 
 tions which have come down to us respecting the position of that 
 place are somewhat confused. There is, however, enough in 
 connection with the name to mark the identity of the spot. 
 The name Jib in Arabic is merely the abridged form of the 
 Hebrew Gibeon ; and presents perhaps the most remarkable 
 instance that occurred to us, in which the 'Ain of the Hebrew, 
 that most tenacious of letters, has been dropped in passing over 
 into the Arabic.'^ Such then was the site of the city of the 
 Gibeonites, who seem to have been accounted a brave people,^ 
 and who formed part of a republic, governed by elders, which 
 also embraced the towns Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath- 
 jearim. Chap. ix. 17. 
 
 These were the people who stood aloof from the confederacy. 
 The other tribes resolved to resort to force in order to resist the 
 progress of Joshua ; the Gibeonites, on the other hand, had re- 
 course to craft. 
 
 Having heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 
 they went to work wilily, even as the sons of Jacob had done 
 to some of their ancestors several centuries before.'* Theirs, 
 however, was a wiser and more righteous stratagem, and dis- 
 played no little tact, prudence, and foresight. ' I commend their 
 wisdom in seeking peace,' says Bishop Hall ; ' I do not commend 
 iheir falsehood in the manner of seeking it.' What did they ? 
 
 ^ Wars ii. 19, 1 ; comp. Antiq. vii. 11, 7, where it is said to be 40 stadia. 
 2 ♦ Eesearches' i., p. 455. ^ Josli. x. 2. * Gen. xxxiv. 25-28. 
 
122 THE GIBEONITES. 
 
 Wait until the army of Joshua surrounded their cities, and then 
 sue for peace ? To have done that, would have been useless ; for, 
 whether they knew it or not, Joshua had no authority to spare 
 any of the inhabitants of the land. At once, and notwithstanding 
 the scorn and derision of their neighbours, who would probably 
 charge them with treachery and cowardice, they resolved to send 
 ambassadors to the camp at Gilgal, and to make such represen- 
 tations to the commander of the Israelites as they thought would 
 be hkely to excite his pity. Our version says, that * they made 
 as if they had been ambassadors,' but they were truly ambassa- 
 dors ; and ' hence,' says Keil, ' the whole passage should be trans- 
 lated, " they went and travelled as ambassadors," or, "they started 
 on their journey as ambassadors/' ' 
 
 Observe them carefully, and take notice of their equipment. 
 They are covered with old garments ; on their feet they have old 
 shoes strongly mended;^ their bread is dry and crumbled ;2 
 and their asses they have laden with their provisions, in old 
 worn-out sacks, and old leathern bottles^ made of the skins of 
 goats, torn and tied up. In this apparently miserable plight 
 they commence their journey to Gilgal, where, as we have 
 seen, Joshua's army is encamped. The distance is about fifteen 
 Roman miles ; so that in the course of two or three hours they 
 arrive at the spot, and in their singular attire present themselves 
 
 * Or clouted, S-i',s^t:»p. 2 Qr mouldy, W'f:. 
 
 ^ E.g., wine-bottles ; but such bottles, used also for water and milk, were made 
 of leather, or of skins prepared in the manner described by Dr Robinson, as fol- 
 lows :— ' These are merely the skins of goats stripped off whole, except at the 
 neck ; the holes at the legs and tails being sewed up. They are first stuffed out 
 full, and strained by driving in small billets and chips of oak wood, and are then 
 filled with a strong infusion of oak bark for a certain time, until the hair-becomes 
 fixed, and the skin sufficiently tanned. This constitutes the whole process. 
 Not less than fifteen hundred skins were lying, thus stuffed, in rows about the 
 yard. They are sold at different prices, from fifteen up to forty piastres.' — 
 Researches ii. 79. We have seen many such skins, similarly prepared, and 
 others differently, in South Africa, where they are used chiefly as milk-sacks. 
 
REPLY OF THE AMBASSADORS. 123 
 
 before Joshua and the elders of the people. Of their number 
 we are not informed, but it was probably not large ; yet at once 
 they attract attention, and, addressing Joshua and the men of 
 Israel, they say, ' We be come from a far country ; now there- 
 fore make ye a league with us.' But ' peradventure ye dwell 
 among us,' is the reply ; ' and how shall we make a league with 
 you V That the Israelites should not form an alliance with any 
 of the inhabitants of Canaan, was the express command of God. 
 * When the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou 
 shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them ; thou shalt make no 
 covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them.'^ Such was 
 the injunction of the Most High ; for, as we have already seen, 
 the nations of Canaan had now filled up the measure of their 
 iniquities, and were henceforth to be dealt with as incorrigible 
 sinners. How, then, could the Israelites make a league with any 
 of them ? This was their difficulty. * Who are ye ? and from 
 whence come ye ? ' said Joshua, therefore, to the Gibeonites. 
 They answered, ' From a very far country thy servants are come 
 because of the name of the Lord thy God : for we have heard the 
 fame of Him, and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did 
 to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to 
 Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was 
 at Ashtaroth. Wherefore our elders, and all the inhabitants of 
 our country, spake to us, saying. Take victuals with you for the 
 journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them. We are your 
 servants : therefore now make ye a league with us. This our ^ 
 bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the 
 day we came forth to go unto you ; but now, behold, it is dry, 
 and it is mouldy : and these bottles of wine which we filled were 
 new ; and, behold, they be rent : and these our garments and 
 our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.' 
 Yers. 9-13. It was a strange story, and almost as full of false- 
 
 ^ Deut. vii. 2, comp. Exod. xxiii. 32, xxxiv. 12. 
 
124 THE GIBEONITES. 
 
 hoods as of words. As to the ' very far country,' Joshua might 
 have asked, Where is it ? Eastward it could not be ; for from 
 the other side Jordan, in that direction, the IsraeUtes had them- 
 selves come. Westward it could not be ; for but a few miles 
 distant was the coast of the Mediterranean, or Great Sea. Could 
 it then be southward ? What nations resided in that direction, 
 beyond the boundaries of the land of Canaan? 'They might 
 possibly have come from the north ; for there, among the moun- 
 tains, there were perhaps tribes and nations beyond the borders 
 of the land which God had given to His people ; and perhaps 
 Joshua thought that their home was really there. But he might 
 have asked again, ' If you dwell at so great a distance, why are 
 you so anxious? for we are come, not to molest you, but 
 only to drive out the inhabitants of the country we are now in.' 
 Joshua, however, seems not to have thought of this ; and these 
 Gibeonites, anxious only to save their lives, supposed that if they 
 only induced the Israelites to make a league with them, they 
 would certainly be spared, even though it would ultimately appear 
 that they had acted falsely, and had spoken hes. 
 
 The injunction given to the IsraeUtes not to make a covenant 
 with the nations, did not extend to those nations that dwelt 
 beyond the boundaries of Canaan ;^ and of this fact the Gibeon- 
 ites had probably become aware. Joshua might, then, supposing 
 that their story was true, very innocently receive them into his 
 service; and this he did, for ' the Israelites took of their victuals, 
 and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. And Joshua 
 made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let 
 them live : and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.' 
 
 * Deut. XX. 10, 11 : ' "When tliou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, 
 then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee an answer of 
 peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found 
 therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.' There can be 
 little doubt that these directions related, not to the cities within the boundaries of 
 Canaan, but to those without them. See our former remarks in chap, v., p. 80. 
 
HYPOCRISY. 125 
 
 * They took of their victuals/ not, as some have supposed, in 
 sign of friendship, or as a ratification of the treaty ; nor yet, as 
 others think, to taste them, in order to ascertain whether they 
 were really old ; but they took them in their hands, credulously- 
 believed their story, and looked closely at their provisions, 
 instead of asking ' counsel at the mouth of the Lord.' 
 
 It is surprising how the usual foresight and sagacity of Joshua 
 failed him here. His duty was, in a case like this, to have 
 recourse to the Urim and Thummim of the high priest, and 
 thereby to ascertain whether the account these strangers gave 
 of themselves was true or not. And had he entertained any 
 doubt respecting them, this he would certainly have done. But 
 he and the elders of Israel were too ready to listen to their story; 
 and ridiculous, and even absurd as it really was, gave to it at 
 once their imphcit credence. Though it is not well to cultivate 
 a suspicious temper of mind, yet to be over-credulous is also 
 dangerous. Too confident and trustful in the word of God we 
 cannot be ; but in the word of man, deceitful and cunning as he 
 often is, we may be. We do not, it is true, like to be suspected 
 of falsehood or of hypocrisy ourselves, and therefore we ought 
 not, on slender grounds, to suspect others. But in deahng with 
 perfect strangers, of whose character we are wholly ignorant, 
 prudence would dictate that we should not give them our entire 
 confidence hastily, but suspend our judgment for a while, until 
 we have had sufficient time to form a correct one. Joshua 
 might have said to the ambassadors, ' The account you give of 
 yourselves seems plausible ; but we cannot at once comply with 
 your request, until we see whether or not you are inhabitants of 
 the laud.' But he did not wait even one day, but at once con- 
 fided in their word. 
 
 His great error was, however, in not asking counsel of the 
 Lord. It was his special privilege, as the leader of God's 
 people, to take every matter of difficulty to the high priest, 
 
126 THE GIBEONITES. 
 
 who, by the Uriin and ThummhTi in his breastplate, could 
 inquire of the Lord respecting it, and receive such an answer as 
 would wholly solve it.^ How many evils arise from a similar 
 neglect ! Too often do we fail to. ask counsel of the Lord, and 
 hence we fall into innumerable errors. If, in seasons of per- 
 plexity and doubt, when our way is hedged up, and the dark 
 clouds of adversity are hanging over us, and we know not what 
 course to adopt, or what path to pursue, we were to carry our 
 difficulties to the throne of grace, and ask the wisdom which is 
 profitable to direct, we should doubtless escape a host of diffi- 
 culties. But, instead of this, we either form and act upon a 
 hasty decision of our own, or we take the advice of erring 
 mortals like ourselves; nay, there are some amongst us who, 
 hke Saul, seem disposed to seek counsel of those who profess to 
 have a familiar spirit, like the witch of Endor, who put confidence 
 in clairvoyants, and media, and other such foolery, rather than in 
 the living God! 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of 
 God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it 
 shall be given him,' is a promise applicable both to secular and 
 to sacred things ; and facts innumerable go to prove that those 
 who are in the habit of carrying the perplexities of daily life 
 directly to the Most High, and asking counsel at His mouth, 
 are often — may we not say invariably? — led aright. Not miracu- 
 lously, not by an audible voice from heaven, but by the finger 
 of Providence and the silent teachings of the Holy Spirit, do 
 those who ask counsel of the Lord in humility and in faith 
 obtain the counsel they ask; and, taught of Him, guided in 
 every step of life by Him, they avoid many errors into which 
 others fall. ' 
 
 But to return to the narrative : Joshua granted the Gibeonites 
 peace, and made a league with them, to let them live ; and this 
 covenant was ratified by the solemn oath of the princes of the 
 
 1 See 1 Sam. xxviii. 6 : Ezra ii. 63 : Neh. vii. 65. 
 
THE PLOT DISCOVERED. 127 
 
 congregation, so that the ambassadors would return to Gibeon 
 satisfied that they had fully succeeded in their enterprise. 
 
 Three, days elapsed, and then the Israelites discovered that 
 they had been deceived. It was scarcely possible that the truth 
 of the matter could be hidden long, and perhaps the G-ibeonites 
 themselves were not desirous that it should ; yet they were not 
 the first to reveal it, for the Israelites came on the third day to 
 their cities, Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath- 
 jearim, and then found that they belonged to the very people 
 with whom they had made a league. The position of the first 
 of these cities we have already pointed out. Chephirah was 
 afterwards assigned to Benjamin, Josh, xviii. 26, and mention 
 is made of it subsequent to the captivity.-^ 'It is now,' says 
 Yan de Yelde, ' a ruin called Kefir, on the heights south of Wady 
 Soleimon, about one hour east of Talo.'^ Yalo Dr Robinson 
 regarded as the ancient Aijalon, and he observes, ' At Yalo we 
 were told of a ruin in the mountains, on the east, said not to be 
 far off, called Kefir. It was, however, now too late for us to 
 visit it from Yalo ; nor were we able afterwards to make an ex- 
 cursion to it from Jerusalem. But in the name Kefir it is im- 
 possible not to recognise the ancient Chephirah, a city of the 
 Gibeonites, afterwards assigned to Benjamin, and after the cap- 
 tivity again inhabited by the returning exiles.'^ It is about 
 7^ Roman miles west of Gibeon, and 15 south-west of Gilgal. 
 Beeroth was identified by Dr Robinson with the modern el- 
 Bireh, a village 10 miles north of Jerusalem, on the road to 
 Shechem (Nabulus), and five miles north of Gibeon. ' The corre- 
 spondence of the names,' says Robinson, ' is in itself sufficiently 
 decisive. And further, according to Eusebius, Beeroth was 
 seen by the traveller in passing from Jerusalem to Neapohs, at 
 the seventh Roman mile. This road was the present camel-path 
 
 " 1 Ezra ii. 25 ; Neh. vii. 29. - ' Memoir,' p. 303. 
 
 ' ' Kesearclaes,' vol, iii , p 146. 
 
128 THE GIBEONITES. 
 
 from Jerusalem to Ramleh, passing near el- Jib. And to this 
 day the description of Eusebius holds true.'^ It is ' remarkable,* 
 observes Dr Stanley, ' as the first halting-place of caravans on 
 the northern road from Jerusalem, and therefore, not improbably, 
 the scene of the event to which its monastic tradition lays claim 
 — the place where the "parents" of Jesus "sought Him among 
 their kinsfolk and acquaintance ; and when they found Him not, 
 turned back again to Jerusalem." '^ Kirjath-jearim, or Hhe city 
 of forests,' called also Kirjath-baal, or *the city of the sanctuary,' 
 is now represented by a village named Kuriet el-Enab, ' the city 
 of grapes,' situated nine Roman miles from Jerusalem, on the 
 way to Ramleh and Lydda.^ It was a frontier city of Judah 
 and Benjamin;* and at a later period was the place to which 
 the ark of the covenant was brought from Beth-shemesh.^ 
 
 Thus all the cities of the Gibeonites have been identified, 
 and they all lay within a comparatively narrow circuit. The 
 children of Israel did not destroy them, or even injure them, 
 * because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them 
 by the Lord God of Israel.' But were they then bound to stand 
 by a treaty which they had entered into under false impressions ? 
 This is a question of considerable importance, and has perplexed 
 commentators not a little. Some have supposed that legally 
 they were under no obligation to keep the treaty, inasmuch as 
 it was made with the understanding that the Gibeonites did not 
 belong to the tribes of Canaan ; whilst others think that, inasmuch 
 as no proviso was introduced into the treaty, to the effect that 
 it should be binding only if the story of the Gibeonites was found 
 true, the Israelites could not violate it without gross injustice. 
 The former is undoubtedly the more correct view of the case ; 
 for though there was no such proviso in the exact terms of the 
 
 ' ' Eesearches,' vol. i., p. 452. - ' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 211. 
 
 5 Eobinson, vol. ii., p. 11. * Josh, xviii. 14 ; Judg. xviii. 12. 
 
 • 1 Sam. vi. 21. 
 
MURMURS OF THE PEOPLE. 129 
 
 treaty, yet such was the representation of the Gibeonites, and on 
 that representation the treaty was framed. The Israelites might, 
 therefore, have said, ' We did indeed form a league with you, 
 and promise you, with an oath, that we would not injure you ; 
 but it was, as you yourselves must acknowledge, under the false 
 impression that you came from a distance. "We are not, then, 
 bound to fulfil our promise, for we have no authority to make 
 peace with any of the nations of Canaan ; and you, as well as the 
 rest, must fall before the avenging sword.' 
 
 At the same time, there is something so solemn in the nature 
 of an oath, that even when ' a man sweareth to his own hurt' he 
 ought not to change, unless, by standing to his word, he injures 
 not himself only, but society at large. Perhaps it will be said 
 that this was just a case of that kind, and that the princes of 
 the congregation, by honouring their treaty, were dishonouring 
 their own people, and placing them in great jeopardy. Hence 
 *all the congregation murmured against the princes,' for they 
 doubtless felt afraid that the Gibeonites would become a plague 
 to them, or that some such calamity would occur, as happened 
 when Achan took of the spoils in disobedience to God's command. 
 Yery different was the murmuring of the Israelites, on this occa- 
 sion, from the murmurings of their ancestors against Moses and 
 against God. These murmurings were founded on the fact that 
 Joshua and the princes had spared a nation which the divine 
 mandate required them to destroy ; the earlier murmurings were 
 those of an ungrateful and discontented race, whom it was almost 
 impossible to please. For these murmurings, then, the Israelites 
 are not to be condemned; yet the princes said in reply, 'We 
 have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel : now, there- 
 fore, we may not touch them;' and, inasmuch as they felt their 
 oath so sacred, neither in this respect are the princes to be con- 
 demned. They did wrong in giving credence to the story of 
 the Gibeonites without asking counsel of the Lord; and they 
 
130 THE GIBEONITES. 
 
 did wroDg in making a league with them, and ratifying that 
 league by swearing to them in the name of the Lord Jehovah. 
 But as they conscientiously believed that their oath was binding 
 on them, now that it was made, they did right in observing it ; 
 and their doing so was not, as Calvin affirms, a fresh violation 
 of the will of God, for even an oath imprudently taken cannot be 
 violated without sin, if the conscience of a man tells him that he 
 ought to keep it ; and they were afraid that, if they did disregard 
 their oath, the divine wrath would fall upon them for their sin."" 
 But what, then, could be done ? Could the Gibeonites, now 
 that their falsehood was found out, be permitted to live among 
 the Israelites in perfect freedom, and to retain possession of 
 their lands and cities? JS^o. They had sinned, and their sins 
 deserved punishment, as both the people felt and the princes 
 themselves acknowledged. The latter, therefore, said, 'Let them 
 live; and let them be hewers of wood, and drawers of water, unto 
 all the congregation:' and this being agreed to, the Gibeonites, 
 or their ambassadors, were summoned into Joshua's presence to 
 hear their doom. They came, and with mingled feelings of 
 satisfaction at the thought that they had saved their lives, 
 yet perhaps of fear, if not of terror, lest their fate should be 
 even worse than death itself, they stood before the illustrious 
 commander of the Israelites. With becoming dignity he ad- 
 dresses them, and says, ' Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, 
 We are very far from you ; when ye dwell among us ? Now 
 therefore ye are cursed ; and there shall none of you be freed 
 from being bondmen, and hewers of wood, and drawers of water, 
 for the house of my God,' They hsten, and this is their reply: 
 ' Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the Lord 
 thy God commanded His servant Moses to give you all th-e land, 
 and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, 
 
 ^ Sec Calvin's 'Commentary' in loco, -where this question is discussed at 
 length ; and compare the remarks of Keil. 
 
HEWERS OF WOOD AND DRAWERS OF WATER. 131 
 
 therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of jou, and 
 have done this thing. And now, behold, we are in thine hand : 
 as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.' 
 
 We have ah'eady seen how intelHgence of the conquests gained 
 by the Israehtes had spread through the land of Canaan; and 
 this intelligence having reached the ears of the Gibeonites, they 
 were, and well might be, afraid of their lives. It was for their 
 lives that they devised this stratagem : for all that a man hath 
 will he give for his life. Liberty is precious, and men will some- 
 times risk their lives to secure it, and perish in the attempt ; but 
 give a man, or give a people, the choice between bondage and 
 death, and it is all but certain that the former will be jDreferred. 
 The love of hfe is instinctive in us all ; and only when the hope 
 of another and a happier life is implanted in the breast, are we 
 disposed to surrender it without a struggle. No wonder, then, 
 that the Gibeonites, ignorant as they were of the higher prin- 
 ciples of morality, should have recourse to stratagem and false- 
 hood for tlie security of their lives. They were willing, however, 
 to submit to whatever task might be imposed on them ; and they 
 became henceforth hewers of wood and drawers of water for the 
 congregation, and for the altar of the Lord. 
 
 Hewers of wood and drawers of water are both very useful 
 servants in the East ; but the work is often laborious, and is 
 generally assigned to the lowest class of menials. The hewers 
 of wood have to fetch it from the forest, and then to cut it up 
 into pieces suitable for burning. The drawers of water have to 
 go to the rivers or to the wells outside the town, and bring it in 
 vessels on their heads, or in prepared goat-skins on their backs, 
 or on the backs of camels or of asses. 'In a time of pubHc 
 calamity,' says Dr Kitto, ' the water-carriers are the last to dis- 
 continue this ; and their doing so is a sure indication that the 
 distress has become intense and imminent, and is, indeed, a great 
 calamity in itself. The writer remembers that, when this hap- 
 
132 THE GIBEONITES. 
 
 pened in the time when a severe plague was raging, Europeans, 
 who were quite alive to the importance of maintaining a strict 
 quarantine in their own houses, were, nevertheless, obliged to 
 go out from the town to fetch water for themselves from a 
 distant river.' To have abundance of coal with which to supply 
 our fires, instead of having to hew wood for the purpose, is a 
 great advantage ; and to have water conveyed by pipes through 
 our streets and into our houses, is one of the benefits of modern 
 civiHsation, the value of which, even as a saving of labour only, it 
 is impossible to over-estimate ; whilst to see drinking fountains 
 at every few yards' distance, as we now do in some of our popu- 
 lous towns and cities, is a sight most refreshing to the eye, and a 
 Jl^essing for which many a thirsty one will give thanks. 
 
 It is a mistake, however, to suppose that the Gibeonites 
 were made domestic slaves to the Israelites, and thence to derive 
 an argument in favour of such slavery as existed a few years ago 
 in some of our British colonies, or as now exists in the Southern 
 States of America, and elsewhere. No ! though, as descendants 
 of Canaan, the son of Ham, they were under the curse, and 
 though they had forfeited, by their crimes, their liberties and even 
 their lives, yet they were not made slaves to the Israelites, as 
 the Israelites had been slaves to the Egyptians, but were ap- 
 pointed to relieve the congregation in the work of hewing wood 
 and drawing water for the service of the sanctuary. Somewhat 
 onerous would this service be, during the great festivals of the 
 nation especially ; but the Gibeonites appear to have discharged 
 their task with considerable fidelity : and it is a remarkable fact, 
 that at Gibeon, which became one of the Levitical cities, the 
 tabernacle, was set up for many years under the reigns of David 
 and Solomon, the ark of the covenant being at Jerusalem ; for 
 David left ' Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before 
 the tabernacle of the Lord, in the high place that was at 
 Gibeon, to offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord upon the altar 
 
THEIR SUBSEQUENT HISTORY. 133 
 
 of the burnt-offering continually morning and evening, and to 
 do according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which 
 he commanded in Israel.'^ It was here that Joab laid hold on 
 the horns of the altar in the tabernacle, and at Solomon's com- 
 mand was slain;- and it was here that, shortly after, Solomon 
 went up to sacrifice — for it was the great high place — a thousand 
 burnt-offerings upon the altar before the Lord, and that the Lord 
 appeared to him in a dream by night, and said, ' Ask what I 
 shall give thee,' and, at Solomon's request, gave him a wise and 
 understanding heart.^ Dr Stanley is of opinion that ' the great 
 high place' above mentioned, on which the tabernacle stood, 
 was ' the lofty height of Nebi-Samuel, towering immediately over 
 the town El- Jib ;' and if the fact that this height is more than 
 a mile from El-Jib, is not a vaUd objection to this view, we may 
 consider it as at least highly probable. And how imposing, in 
 that case, must have been the scenes here witnessed ! Erom the 
 city itself, which lay always where its modern representative hes 
 now, on the lower eminence, the Gibeonites 'hewed the wood' 
 of the adjacent valley, and ' drew the water' from the springs 
 and tanks with which its immediate neighbourhood abounds, and 
 carried them up to the sacred tent ; and there attended the ' altar 
 of the Lord,' which, from its proud elevation, overlooked the 
 wide domain of Israel.^ 
 
 That the Israelites were bound to observe their engagement 
 with the Gibeonites, appears from the fact that there was famine 
 in the days of David three years, year after year, and that when 
 David inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered and said, ' It is 
 for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.' 
 We have no account of Saul's doing this in the history of his 
 reigu ; but it appears that, in his zeal for the children of Israel, 
 and perhaps with a view of taking possession of the landed pro- 
 
 1 1 Chron. xvi. 39, 40, and see 2 Chron. i. 3, 4. ^ 1 Kings ii. 28. 
 
 ' 1 Ivincrs iii. 5-13. , * ' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 214. 
 
134 THE GIBEONITES. 
 
 perty of the Gibeonites, he slew a considerable number of them, 
 and devised a general massacre of the rest. It was a cruel, un- 
 just, and daring act, and, as yet, it had not been avenged upon 
 his house. David, therefore, called the Gibeonites, and said, 
 'What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the 
 atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?' 
 They might have accepted a fine of the house of Saul, but they 
 had a right to demand blood for blood ; and their request was, 
 that seven of Saul's sons should be delivered up to them to be 
 slain ; and David said, 'I will give them.' It is not improbable 
 that these persons had participated in their father's crime, for, 
 according to the Mosaic law, the children were not to be put to 
 death for their father's sin; and from the expression, 'Saul and 
 his bloody house,' we should infer that his family was a wicked 
 one, and deserved to die. Jonathan, the best of them, and 
 David's friend, had been already slain, and for his sake David 
 spared Mephibosheth his son ; but the two sons of Aiah, whom 
 she bare unto Saul, and the five sons of Michal the daughter of 
 Saul, and therefore Saul's grandsons, he delivered into the hands 
 of the Gibeonites, Avho first slew them, and then hanged them in 
 Gibeah of Saul, where they remained until the drought ceased, 
 and ' water dropped upon them out of heaven.'^ The Gibeonites, 
 however, were no doubt reprehensible in allowing the bodies to 
 hang so long, as the sight of them would be highly exasperating 
 to the Israelites. Yet no one interfered, save one lone woman ; 
 and all that she could do was to sit down upon the rock, on 
 which she had spread a piece of sackcloth, and there protect the 
 bodies from the birds of the air by day, and the beasts of the 
 field by night. Yes, such was the noble conduct of Rizpah, the 
 daughter of Aiah, and the mother of two of the slain; and when 
 David heard of it he had the bodies taken down, and, together 
 with the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son, buried in Zelah, in 
 
 1 2 Sam. xxi. 1-10. 
 
LESSONS. 135 
 
 the country of Benjamin.^ How deep and tender is a mother's 
 love ! Who does not admh-e this remarkable display of it ? and 
 who can help sympathizing with the sorrowing Rizpah, as she 
 sits and watches these corpses dangling in the air? Poor 
 woman ! and could she defend them from the beasts of the field ? 
 She thought she could, and at least she was resolved to try. 
 
 Of the Gibeonites at a later period we know but little. One 
 of David's mighty men, Ismaiah, was a Gibeonite ; so also was 
 Melatiah, who assisted Nehemiah in repairing the wall of Jerusa- 
 lem after the captivity: so that the race appears to have been 
 perpetuated for at least several centuries, and did not become 
 extinct even during the captivity in Babylon. 
 
 Not without its lessons is this remarkable episode ; and to 
 some of these we have adverted in the preceding pages. The 
 only one we would further mention is, that if, to save their lives, 
 the Gibeonites would submit to any servitude, and stoop to the 
 meanest and most abject labour, we surely ought to be willing 
 to accept any conditions which God may impose, in order that 
 we may save our souls from death ; — to be willing to sacrifice 
 property, ease, rank, honour, or whatever else we may possess, 
 and to become ' hewers of wood ' or ' drawers of water ' in the 
 Church of Christ, if such is the position assigned us, counting it 
 a privilege to have any place, however humble, in His sanctuary, 
 if we may but hope to be admitted hereafter to a higher sphere. 
 And many whose lot in this life is comparatively mean, who are 
 now little better, to all appearance, than menials in the Church, 
 will doubtless, if they are faithful, and if they perform their work 
 with a cheerful and ready mind, be one day kings and priests 
 unto God and the Father, and be raised to the noble service of 
 the temple of the skies, 
 
 » 2 Sam. xxi. 10-13. 
 
VALLEY OF AJALON, 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS. 
 
 iOSHUA had returned to Gilgal, leaving the Gibeonites 
 
 I 
 
 ^ in quiet possession of their cities, until a fitting oppor- 
 
 tunity should occur to employ them in the services 
 they were hereafter to fulfil, when, one day, their ambassadors 
 again stood before him, and, with deep anxiety, said, ' Slack not 
 thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save 
 us, and help us : for all the kings of the Amorites, that dwell in 
 the mountains, are gathered together against us ' — chap. x. 6. 
 
 And such was, in fact, the case. Adoni-zedek, the king of 
 Jerusalem, having heard that Joshua had conquered Ai, and 
 
SALEM. 137 
 
 that the Gibeonites had made peace with the invaders of the 
 land, was greatly alarmed ; for Gibeon was a large city, and its 
 inhabitants were renowned as mighty men. He probably, and 
 very naturally, thought that, if a royal city like Gibeon, whose 
 people, he knew, were brave and courageous, feared so much the 
 armies of the Israelites as to sue for a dishonourable peace, 
 there would be little probability of his being able to defend 
 himself against so formidable an enemy; and that, therefore, 
 the sooner he entered upon an offensive movement the better. 
 But what could he do ? He had not courage to go and offer 
 battle, in the first instance, to the Israelites themselves ; but he 
 might attack the Gibeonites, who, as he thought, had basely 
 and meanly cringed at the feet of Joshua, and, by becoming his 
 allies, had shut themselves out from the brotherhood of the 
 surrounding tribes. Yet, even on this expedition, he was afraid 
 to enter alone; and he therefore 'sent unto Hoham king of 
 Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king 
 of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying, Come up 
 unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon : for it hath 
 made peace with Joshua, and with the children of Israel.' 
 
 Canaan, as we have already seen, was, at this time, divided 
 into a number of petty states, each one governed by its own inde- 
 pendent king. Five of these are here mentioned. Adoni-zedec, 
 whose name signifies, lord of righteousness (equivalent to Melchi- 
 zedec, king of righteousness^), was the king of the Jebusites, 
 whose capital was Jerusalem, and whose kings were so called just 
 as the kings of Egypt were called Pharaohs.^ The most ancient 
 name of Jerusalem was Salem, or Shalem^ (P^.f)^ which signifies 
 peace ; but when it came into the possession of the Jebusites, it 
 was called Jebus, or Jebusi,^— that, probably, being the name of 
 the third son of Canaan.^ On the import and derivation of the 
 
 1 Gen. xiv. 18. 2 Comp. Judges i. 5. ^ Gen. xiv. 18 ; Ps. Ixxvi. 2. 
 * Judges xix. 10, 11. * Gen. x. 16. 
 
138 THE DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS. 
 
 name Jerusalem, there is a diversity of opinion : Gesenius, who 
 is followed by many, says it signifies ' the foundation,' or « the 
 house of peace;' Hitzig, 'the district or territory of Salem.* 
 But Hengstenberg maintains that it is a compound of t^llS 
 possession, and nb\^, peaceful, and signifies, therefore, *the 
 peaceful possession;'^ and it appears to have received this name 
 even before the days of Joshua. Its situation, says Stanley, ' is 
 in several respects singular amongst the cities of Palestine. Its 
 elevation is remarkable, occasioned, not from its being on the 
 summit of one of the numerous hills of Judea, like most of the 
 towns and villages, but because it is on the edge of one of the 
 highest table-lands of the country. Hebron, indeed, is higher 
 still, by some hundred feet; and from the south, accordingly, 
 the approach to Jerusalem is by a slight descent. But from 
 every other side the ascent is perpetual ; and, to the traveller 
 approaching Jerusalem from the west or east, it must always 
 have presented the appearance, beyond any other capital of the 
 then known world — we may add, beyond any important city that 
 has ever existed on the earth — of a mountain city ; breathing, as 
 compared with the sultry plains of the Jordan, or of the coast, 
 a mountain air ; enthroned, as compared with Jericho or Da- 
 mascus, Gazer or Tyre, on a mountain fastness.'^ Its distance 
 from Gibeon was rather more than five Eoman miles. 
 
 Hebron, of which Hoham was the king, was a celebrated 
 city in the history of the patriarchs, and, previous to its capture 
 by the Israelites, was called Kirjath-arba, or the city of Arba, 
 the father of the Anakim.^ Like the modern city, el-Khulil — z.e., 
 ' the friend,' so called from Abraham, the friend of God — it was 
 situated in a deep valley, twenty-two Roman miles so.uth of 
 Jerusalem, which, in the present day, abounds with vineyards, 
 the grapes of which are the finest in Palestine. Jarmuth, where 
 
 * Hengstenberg on the Psalms, vol. ii., p. 436 ; and Keil on Joshua, p. 245. 
 ' * Sinai and Palestine,' p. 168. 3 jogj^^ ^iv. 15, xv. 13. 
 
ADONI-ZEDEC. 139 
 
 Piram reigned, was situated in the lowland country, on the road 
 between Jerusalem and Eleutheropolis, and is now represented 
 by a village called Yarnuk. Lachish, the capital of Japhia's 
 territory, is supposed by many, though Robinson doubts it, to 
 have been situated on a site now called Um-Lakis, between 
 Gaza and Beit-Jibrin, thirty-eight Roman miles distant from 
 Jerusalem. And Eglok is no doubt identical with Aiglan, a 
 heap of ruins not far distant from Lachish. 
 
 These five kings dwelt, then, within a comparatively small 
 circle ; and hence Adoni-zedec would be able to communicate 
 with Hoham, Piram, Japhia, and Debir in the course of a few 
 hours. And this was his request : ' Come up with your forces, and 
 help me to take vengeance on the Gibeonites, who have made 
 peace with our enemies, the invaders of the land.' They imme- 
 diately complied ; and from some lofty eminence might have been 
 seen the armies of these kings gathering together to a place of 
 rendezvous, for the purpose of preparing for a general attack 
 upon their former friends. It was a melancholy display of envy, 
 malice, and revenge ; yet, heathens as they were, we are not 
 surprised that they should engage in such an enterprise : nor is 
 their conduct without its parallels in the history of later times. 
 And now, what could the Gibeonites do but have recourse to 
 Joshua? They had a claim on his protection. They had a 
 right to expect his immediate succour. Nor do they ask for it 
 in vain. Generous and noble-minded as he was, he could not 
 see these Gibeonites attacked, and make no attempt to defend 
 them. At once, and without delay, he summoned his army ; 
 and, by a forced march from Gilgal ' all night,' arrived ' sud- 
 denly ' on the spot, ere the allied forces had time to commence 
 their attack upon the city. The rapidity of his movements was a 
 proof of his skilful generalship. To delay, at such a moment, 
 might have been fatal to his purpose; and therefore, not trusting 
 to the superiority of his forces, nor yet to any miraculous aid 
 
140 THE DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS. 
 
 from heaven, Joshua made haste and rushed to the rescue of the 
 Gibeonites with the utmost speed. 
 
 But was he indeed under any obligation to assist them? 
 Which of us would not have thought Joshua had a good pre- 
 tence for his forbearance, and have said, ' You have broken j^our 
 league with me : why do ye expect help from him whom ye 
 have deceived ? All that we promised you was a suflerance to 
 live ; enjoy what we promised, we will not take your life from 
 you. Hath your faithfulness deserved to expect more than our 
 covenant ? We never promised to hazard our lives for you ; to 
 give you life with the loss of our own.' But that good man 
 durst not construe his own covenant to such an advantage. He 
 knew little difference between killing with his own sword and 
 the sword of an Amorite : whosoever should give the blow, the 
 murder would be his. Even permission in those things we may 
 remedy makes us no less actors than consent : some men kill as 
 much by looking on, as others by smiting. We are guilty of 
 all the evil we might have hindered.^ 
 
 It is probable, however, that Joshua felt this enterprise to be 
 a perilous one, and that he set out with no little anxiety respect- 
 ing the result. He took with him ' all the people of war, and all 
 the mighty men of valour.' Not knowing what forces the allied 
 kings had mustered, or what was the military character of their 
 armies, he would be unable to judge of his ability to conquer them. 
 But it was in no arm of flesh that he relied. Whilst he em- 
 ployed such means as were at his command, he placed not his 
 confidence in them alone, but trusted, as he had ever done, on 
 the arm of God. And if, for a moment, he felt any fear, that 
 fear was ^oou dispelled by the repetition of the divine word, 
 'Fear them not;' and by the promise which accompanied it, 
 ' I have delivered them into thine hand ; there shall not a man 
 of them stand before thee.' It was a seasonable and reanimating 
 
 * Bishop Hall's ' Contemplations,' Book ix. 1. 
 
THE DISCOMFITURE. 141 
 
 word ; and as he heard it the courage of our hero would be 
 renewed, and he would rush to the conflict with the certainty of 
 complete success. 
 
 No ordinary commander, however skilful, can be quite sure 
 of the victory. His forces may be numerous, and his soldiers 
 brave ; the foes he has to encounter in the field may have already 
 been disheartened by losses and defeats, and he may appear to 
 possess every advantage requisite for a successful battle ; yet 
 such are the chances of war, that some minute circumstance or 
 other, wholly unforeseen, may turn the tide against him in a mo- 
 ment, and he may be compelled to fly from before the face of his 
 enemy. But Joshua's victory was already certain ; and so, also, 
 is the victory of every soldier of the cross : for God has said to 
 him likewise, ' Fear not,' and has given him the promise of a 
 glorious triumph, conditioned only on his fidelity to the cause 
 he has espoused. 
 
 The morning dawns, and finds Joshua and his army near to 
 Gibeon, whilst right before him are the forces of the allied kings. 
 Little, perhaps, did those kings expect that the Gibeonites would 
 obtain such succour, or they would not have ventured on their 
 fooHsh expedition ; and now they would doubtless have returned 
 if possible; but their doom was sealed, and nothing remained for 
 them but to defend themselves as best they could. How feeble 
 was their defence ! How terrible was their overthrow ! ' The 
 Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great 
 slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up 
 to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.' 
 ' The Lord discomfited them,' and yet He used the sword of 
 Joshua for the purpose; for, as Calvin observes, 'Joshua did 
 not abuse the divine promise by making it an excuse for sluggish- 
 ness, but felt the more vehemently influenced after he was 
 assured of a happy issue. Many, while they ostentatiously 
 express their faith, become lazy and slothful from perverse 
 
142 THE DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS. 
 
 security. Joshua hears that victory is at hand, and, that he 
 may gain it, runs swiftly to the battle. For he knew that the 
 happy issue was revealed, not for the purpose of slackening his 
 pace or making him more remiss, but of making him exert 
 himself with greater zeal. Hence it was that he took the 
 enemy by surprise.' 
 
 There is no reason to suppose, as some have done, that in 
 the tenth verse other means of discomfiture, not particularly 
 described, are alluded to, as lightning or thunder of a very 
 terrible kind. An attack was, doubtless, made by Joshua, and 
 that attack was signally successful ; but its success depended on 
 the special aid afforded by the Lord Jehovah, who, doubtless, 
 animated Joshua's army with courage, whilst their enemies were 
 seized with fear. Hence it is said, 'the Lord discomfited 
 them ;' for all the glory of the victory belonged to Him, and the 
 Israelites were but instruments in His hand, which He could 
 as well, had it pleased Him, have done without. 
 
 Ten miles distant from Gibeon was the higher Beth-horon — 
 ' the house of the cavern ' — now Beit 'Ur el-Foka, which was 
 separated from the lower Beth-horOn by a pass, called both the 
 ascent and descent of Beth-horon, leading from the region of 
 Gibeon (el-Jib) down to the western plain.^ Dr Robinson 
 describes the ascent as very rocky and rough ; and says, that 
 ' the rock has been cut away in many places, and the path 
 formed into steps, showing that this is an ancient road,' 2 
 Down this path Joshua chased the allied armies, and smote 
 them until they reached Azekah and Makkedah. According 
 to 1 Sam. xvii. 1, Azekah was near to Shochoh (Shurveikeh) ; 
 and betw-een these two places was Ephes-dammin, which Van 
 de Velde indentifies with a ruined city called Khirbit Damun, 
 on the route from Beit-Jibrin to Jerusalem. A mile and 
 
 ' Comp. Josh, xviii. 13, 14 ; 1 Mace. iii. 16, 24. 
 ^ Researches, vol. iii., p. 250-1. 
 
HAIL-STOEMS. 143 
 
 a half north of Damiin, he found a village on a hill-top 
 called Ahbek; and this he identifies as Azekah, its position 
 answering exactly with that where the Onomasticon places 
 Azekah, and corresponding perfectly with the scriptural require- 
 ments.^ Makkedah is probably identical with Summeil, a con- 
 siderable village on an elevation in the plain, about two hours 
 and a half north-west of Beit-Jibrin, where Yan de Velde was 
 assured that there was a large cavern, though he himself was 
 unable to visit it. 
 
 Observe the progress of the battle. It began at Gibeon, 
 and, at the first onslaught, the alhed armies were smitten before 
 the Israehtes, when, seized with terror, they fled precipitately 
 towards Beth-horon-the-upper. Many of them fell by the sword, 
 but the rest, gaining upon their pursuers, rushed madly down 
 the pass towards Beth-horon-the-lower. And now a fearful 
 storm overtook them; for the Lord cast down great stones 
 from heaven upon them, which continued to fall until the five 
 kings themselves, with a few others, reached Azekah and Mak- 
 kedah, in a cave in which latter place those kings sought refuge, 
 both from the pitiless storm and from the sword of Joshua. 
 To the allied kings and their armies it was a terrible day. Many 
 were slain by the hand of the Israelites, but still more by the 
 hailstones which fell upon them from heaven ; yet these did no 
 injury to their pursuers, nor does it appear that Joshua lost in 
 the affray a single man. 
 
 Grotius, Calmet, and other commentators, are of opinion that 
 actual hail could hardly have killed so many men, and, therefore, 
 suppose that they were real stones that fell upon these armies 
 and destroyed them. Nor is the supposition beyond probability, 
 as, not only have single stones fallen from heaven at different 
 periods and in different countries; but showers of stones in 
 considerable quantities. Many remarkable phenomena of this 
 
 1 ' Memoir,' p. 290. 
 
144 THE DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS. 
 
 kind are well authenticated ; and one especially, which occurred 
 at Crema, on the shores of the Adda, is described, says Hum- 
 boldt, 'with especial vivacity, but unfortunately in a rhetorical and 
 vague manner, by the celebrated Peterus Martyr, of Anghiera/ 
 ' On the plain of Crema, where never before was seen a stone 
 the size of an egg, there fell pieces of rock of enormous dimen- 
 sions and of immense weight. It is said that ten of these were 
 found weighing a hundred pounds each. Birds, sheep, and even 
 fish, were killed.' A fall of stones occurred at Benares, in Hin- 
 dostan, on the 13th of December 1798; another at Aigle on the 
 26th of April 1803 ; and another at Braunau on the 14th of 
 July 1847, when the stones were so hot that after six hours they 
 could not be touched without causing a burn.^ Some have 
 supposed that such aerolites are concretions formed in the 
 atmosphere ; others, that they are projected from volcanoes in 
 "ihe moon, which, coming within the sphere of the earth's attrac- 
 ion, necessarily fall upon it. But the latter view cannot be 
 correct, as these aerolites do not consist of lava, but of iron, 
 nickel, copper, zinc, carbon, and several other elements. Is 
 there, then, in the regions of space, an inexhaustible number of 
 bodies, too small to be observed, moving round the sun, the 
 planets, and even the satellites of the planets, which occasionally 
 come in contact with our atmosphere, and are drawn with con- 
 siderable velocity to the earth ? Such is the most recent view 
 entertained by scientific men,- and hence the destruction of the 
 Amorites might have been effected by a shower of real stones 
 from heaven. Still, these stones are said, in verse 11, to have 
 been hail-stones, nnnri '•jnx, Sept. \t6ovs x^'^^Cv^^ and such they 
 are calle'd by Josephus, and nearly all the commentators. Hail- 
 
 ' See Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. iv., p. 587 ; Dr Clarke's Commentary ; and 
 the Pictorial Bible, on Joshua x., where other instances of the kind are 
 mentioned. 
 
 ^ See Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. i., p. 117. Bohn. 
 
THE VOICE OF GOD. 145 
 
 storms are often exceedingly violent, and instances are on record 
 of hail-stones having fallen as large as pigeons' or even hens' 
 eggs. 'The masses and blocks of ice which have not unfre- 
 quently fallen,' says Mrs Somerville, 'appear to have been formed 
 of hail-stones of large size frozen together;' and, 'when large, 
 true hail is pear-shaped, and consists of a nucleus of snow coated 
 with ice, and sometimes of alternate layers of snow and ice.' 
 Such, we doubt not, was the nature of the storm which fell upon 
 the fugitives ; and though it did not transcend the laws of nature, 
 yet, like the hail of Egypt, it was brought about by the mira- 
 culous providence of God, for it fell with tremendous violence 
 on the Amorites, whilst to the Israelites it did no harm. The 
 power of the Lord Jehovah is resistless. Who can thunder 
 with a voice like His ? Who can stand before His cold ? ' The 
 Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave His 
 voice ; hail-stones and coals of fire. Yea, He sent out His arrows, 
 and scattered them ; and He shot out Hghtnings, and discomfited 
 them.' ^ Thus did He discomfit the five kings and their armies ; 
 and thus, at a later period, did He discomfit the Philistines: 
 nor is He ever at a loss for means whereby to deliver His own 
 people, and to destroy the foes by whom they are assailed.^ 
 
 In a celebrated battle fought by the Emperor Theodosius, in 
 A.D. 394, a violent tempest, such as is often felt among the Alps, 
 suddenly arose from the east, which blew a cloud of dust into 
 the faces of the enemy, disordered their ranks, wrested their 
 weapons from their hands, and diverted or repelled their inef- 
 
 1 Ps. xviii. 13, 14. 
 
 2 Of a hail-storm and its effects, which occurred at Constantinople in the 
 summer of 1831, a most graphic account is quoted by Dr Kitto in the Pictorial 
 Bible, from Commodore Porter, who says that large balls of ice fell from the 
 heavens, which broke the tiles on the houses, shattered the windows, desolated 
 the vineyards, killed two boatmen and wounded others, and that several pieces 
 of ice weighed three- quarters of a pound, and some a pound each. See also 
 Kitto's ' Daily Readings,' vol. ii., p. 293 ; and Bush on Joshua, in loco. 
 
 k 
 
146 THE DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS. 
 
 fectual javelins, whilst the army of Theodosius was sheltered by 
 their position from the impetuosity of the wind. The event was 
 looked upon as a special interference of Divine Providence on 
 the Emperor's behalf; it was celebrated in verse by the poet 
 Claudian, and Ambrose compared it to the miraculous victories 
 of Moses and of Joshua. That the hand of God was in that 
 storm we do not doubt, but we should by no means be disposed 
 to attribute it to any very special agency of Providence; nor can 
 we think, for a moment, of placing it in the same category as the 
 storm which destroyed the enemies of the Israelites. Par more 
 evidently providential was the storm which shattered many of the 
 ships of the Spanish Armada as they approached the shores of 
 Britain ; but neither was that event miraculous, but simply the 
 employment of the ordinary laws of nature to defeat an object 
 which, had it been successful, would have changed perhaps the 
 destinies of Europe and of the world. All nature is under God's 
 control, and, either by a temporary suspension of those laws, or 
 by a special guidance and direction of them, He can render them 
 tributary to His own extraordinary purposes, whenever He has 
 such purposes to fulfil. 
 
 But we must resume the narrative, for it records an event 
 far more extraordinary than the hail-storm, and one which, as- 
 suming its literality, transcended every law of nature with which 
 we are acquainted, even after all the discoveries that modern 
 science has opened to our view. ' Then spake Joshua to the 
 Lord, in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites be- 
 fore the children of Israel, and he said hi the sight of Israel, Sun, 
 stand thou still upon Gibeou ; and thou. Moon, in the valley of 
 Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the 
 people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this 
 written in the book of Jasher ? So the sun stood still in the 
 midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. 
 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the 
 
THE COMMAND OF JOSHUA. 147 
 
 Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man : for the Lord fought for 
 Israel. And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the 
 camp to Gilgal,' — vers. 12-15. 
 
 Now, is this the record of an actual fact ? or is it a poetical 
 adornment of the narrative of the battle, designed to celebrate 
 the greatness of Joshua 1 So long as the Ptolemaic system of 
 astronomy, which represented the earth as the centre of our 
 system, and the sun and all the planets as revolving round it, 
 held sway, no doubt was entertained on this subject ; but it was 
 believed that the sun and moon did actually stand still, as the 
 text taken literally declares, and this passage in sacred history 
 was for a long time one of the grand stumbling-blocks in the 
 way of the reception of the Copernican system, which is now 
 universally admitted to be the true one. But in the hght of the 
 modern astronomy, the difficulties that present themselves are 
 neither few nor small ; and hence the whole subject demands 
 the most careful consideration. 
 
 Now, it is expressly stated in the text, that the account of 
 the miracle is ' written in the book of Jasher ;' and we have 
 first, therefore, to inquire into the character of this book, and 
 whether it was a book of authentic history. We know, how- 
 ever, but little about it ; for it is mentioned but in one other 
 place in the Scriptures, viz., 2 Sam. i. 18 : ' Also he bade them 
 teach the children of Judah the use of the bow : behold, it is 
 written in the book of Jasher.' But, from its title — Sepher 
 Hayyashar, nti^»n "I2p, which, according to the best authorities, 
 signifies ' the Book of the Just' — it was, ' in all probability, a 
 collection of odes in honour of theocratic heroes, to which fresh 
 contributions were made at different times;' so that it may 
 have existed prior to the days of Joshua, and may have con- 
 tained songs in honour of the patriarchs and of Moses, to which 
 this song, if song it may be called, was added in honour of 
 Joshua ; and, at a later period, the elegy of David on the death 
 
148 THE DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS. 
 
 of Jonathan. Josephus makes no mention of the book of Jasher ; 
 but he is supposed, by some, to allude to it, where he appeals to 
 certain ' books laid up in the temple ' for confirmation of the 
 fact, that ' the day was lengthened at this time longer than 
 ordinary.'^ 
 
 Is, then, the whole of the passage — verses 12 to 15 — a quota- 
 tion from this book ? or does the quotation end with the words, 
 ' Is not this written in the book of Jasher ? ' The latter view is 
 maintained by most authorities ; but Keil advocates the former, 
 especially on the ground that verse 15 seems otherwise out of 
 place ; for, that Joshua returned into the camp to Gilgal prior 
 to the slaughter of the five kings at Makkedah, cannot be sup- 
 posed.^ But, whichever view is the correct one, the question 
 necessarily arises. Does the passage thus quoted record a simple 
 historical truth ? or did the writer merely intend to express, in 
 highly imaginative terms, the fact that Joshua uttered the wish 
 that the day might not end until the defeat of the enemy was 
 complete ? Certainly the entire passage is not poetical. All that 
 can be considered poetry is the following : — 
 
 ' Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon ; 
 And tliou, Mood, in the valley of Ajalon. 
 And the sun stood still. 
 And the moon stayed, 
 Until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. 
 
 What follows is pure prose, like the termination of the song 
 
 * Antiq , vol. i., p. 17. The views of the Talmudists and others respecting 
 the book of Jasher, will be found in Smithes Dictionaiy of the Bible, Art. 
 ' Jasher ;' and in Home's Introduction, vol. iv., p. 741, etc., eleventh edit., a 
 minute account is given of a spurious book, called the book of Jasher, an Eng- 
 lish edition of which was printed at Bristol in the year 1829. Of Dr Donaldson's 
 .' Book of Jasher,' which is a mere compilation of its author's, to which he Avas 
 pleased to give that title, nothing need be said, except that it attracted far more 
 attention than it deserved. 
 
 ' The verse is arbitrarily omitted by the LXX. ; others would fain alter 
 the text. 
 
THE MODERN ASTRONOMY. 149 
 
 of Moses — Exod. xv. 19 ; and, according to some critics, may 
 be thus rendered : ' Is it not written in the Sephar Haiashar ? 
 So the sun stood still midway in the heavens, and tarried to go 
 down, as if he had tarried the entire day.' There must, then, 
 have been some ground for the insertion of the passage into the 
 book of Joshua, and, indeed, for the origin of the passage itself. 
 What was that ground ? an ordinary event, or a miraculous one ? 
 That the sun and moon literally stood still, as the early fathers 
 of the Church, and even many later ones maintained, cannot be 
 supposed ; but Joshua, who knew nothing of the modern system 
 of astronomy, spoke after the manner of men, and indeed after the 
 manner in which we ourselves speak to this day. Had he spoken 
 otherwise, he would not have been understood ; for it was, no 
 doubt, the universal belief, at that time, that the apparent motion 
 of the sun is a real one — that it literally performs a journey round 
 the earth in four-and-twenty hours. But was the earth, by 
 whose diurnal motion on its axis the phenomena of day and 
 night are really caused, arrested in its course ? and was it by 
 this means that the light of the sun continued to shine upon the 
 field of battle? Such is the opinion of not a few; and one 
 popular commentator, Dr A. Clarke, maintains that the sun's 
 rotation on its own axis is in part the cause of the daily revolu- 
 tion of the earth, that Joshua said to the sun, ' Be silent, re- 
 strain thy influence,' that the sun ceased to revolve round its 
 axis, and that, therefore, the earth did the same! Whether such 
 an explanation of the case will satisfy any inquiring mind, we 
 know not ; it certainly does not satisfy ours. We believe that, 
 were the earth's diurnal motion to be stopped, even for a moment, 
 the utmost confusion would ensue upon its surface ; whilst, at the 
 same time, the whole of the planetary system would be thrown 
 into disorder. Doubtless the power of God could prevent this 
 if He chose. ' We are not even perplexed,' says Keil, ' by the 
 difficulty that, if the earth was thus suddenly stopped in its 
 
1 50 THE DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS. 
 
 rotation upon its axis, all the work of men's hands which existed 
 anywhere upon its surface would be destroyed, and the earth 
 itself, with its satellite the moon, would be thrown out of its 
 orbit; for we know that the almighty hand of God, which not 
 only first created the stars, and so arranged them that they move 
 with unvaried regularity in their orbits, but which continues to 
 move, preserve, and govern all things in heaven and on earth, 
 would not be too weak to ward off any such disastrous conse- 
 quences.' But in this case how stupendous a miracle it must 
 have been! All the miracles of Moses were as nothing in com- 
 parison with it. Before it, the plagues of Egypt, the passage of 
 the Red Sea, and the drying up of the Jordan, sink into the 
 shade. And yet, whilst these miracles are repeatedly referred to 
 in subsequent portions of the sacred Scriptures, not the slightest 
 allusion is anywhere made to this, either in the Old Testament 
 or the New.-"- Besides which, can we suppose it probable that, 
 for an end so inadequate as the routing of an army already con- 
 quered, God would in such a way interfere with the general laws 
 by which the universe is sustained ? Is He so lavish of miracles 
 as this supposes? Have not miracles, when wrought at all, 
 been wrought for some grand and lasting purpose ? 
 
 These objections apply, though with considerably less force, 
 to another conjecture — that the sun's course was retarded by 
 means of refraction, or that its disc appeared above the horizon 
 long after it had actually set. ' We must explain the miracle 
 thus,' says Peyrerius, as quoted by Keil: 'when the sun had 
 already set, without any change in the celestial and natural 
 order of things, the light of the sun, but not the sun itself, by a 
 very great'miracle, continued in the atmosphere, or in the region 
 
 ' The miracle is mentioned by an Apocryphal -writer, Jesus the son of Sirach, 
 xlvi. 4; but the passages from the Old Testament which have been adduced as 
 favouring it— Isa. xxviii. 21 ; Hab. iii. 11 ; Ps. xviii.— do no such thing, though 
 the first docs refer both to the battle and the victory. See the 'Journal of 
 Sacred Literature,' October 1850, p. 4C(5, etc. 
 
WAS THERE A MIRACLE ? 151 
 
 of vapour which was in the midst of the sky and the air, aboye 
 the city of Gibeon. The sunshine, however, fell upon the city 
 of the Gibeonites in such a way, that the reflected rays lighted 
 up the neighbouring valleys on all sides, and thus prevented 
 the Amorites, who were routed and flying, from escaping the 
 pursuit of Joshua, which, in fact, was the design of the miracle.' 
 This is the explanation, variously modified, of Grotius, Jahn, 
 Benj, Spinoza, Bush, Bishop Gleig, and others; and Gleig 
 renders the words of Joshua, 'Solar light, remain thou upon 
 Gibeon; and be thou, moon, stayed, or supported over the valley 
 of Ajalon.' ' To the apprehension of the Israelites,' says Dr 
 Kitto, ' this would have all the effect of staying the career of 
 the sun, and to ours that of arresting the earth's revolution on 
 its axis ; and this is all that the sacred text requires — all that 
 Joshua required — all that we need require.'^ 
 
 Not so, however, thinks Keil, the latest and the ablest com- 
 mentator on Joshua, and by no means of the rationahst school 
 of interpreters. He enters into a careful examination of the 
 passage, and the following are the results at which he arrives : 
 It was the early part of the day, and during the engagement 
 before Gibeon itself, the sun and the moon were both visible in 
 the heavens — the former above Gibeon, the latter over the valley 
 of Ajalon ; and Joshua, lifting up his hand, said, in the sight of 
 Israel, ' Sun, wait at Gibeon ; and Moon, in the valley of Ajalon, 
 till the people avenge themselves on their enemies,' — not, however, 
 intending to express a desire that God would work a miracle, 
 and make the sun and moon stand still ; but simply an anxious 
 wish that the victory should be decided before the sun went 
 down. And decided it was ; so that in the succeeding words the 
 poet announces the fact that the sun waited, and the moon stood 
 still, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. 
 True, it is said in verse 14, that ' there was no day like that 
 
 » 'Daily Eeadings,' vol. ii., p. 295. See also the Pictorial Bible, in loco. 
 
152? THE DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS. 
 
 before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a 
 man ;' but this does not necessarily imply that the day was super- 
 naturally lengthened, but refers only to the miraculous hailstorm 
 by which ' the Lord fought for Israel.' Truly there was no day 
 like that before it, or after it up to the time that the book of 
 Joshua was written; for whilst the miracles of Moses were 
 wrought by divine command, this — the discomfiture of Israel's 
 enemies by the storm — was wrought in answer to the prayer of 
 Joshua. 
 
 ' The stars in their courses fought against Sisera,' said De- 
 borah in her song ; ' He bowed the heavens, and came down, and 
 darkness was under His feet,' said David in the eighteenth Psalm ; 
 and Isaiah prayed and said, '0 that Thou wouldst rend the 
 heavens, that Thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might 
 flow down at Thy presence ! ' But none of these expressions are 
 to be interpreted literally; and neither, as Keil thinks, is the 
 address of Joshua, but only as a poetic form of representing the 
 rapidity of his victory over the Amorites, and the fact that he 
 was specially and remarkably assisted by the Lord Jehovah.^ 
 
 Such, in substance, is Keil's interpretation of this very re- 
 markable passage; and that it removes a difficulty which has 
 long been felt, especially in recent times, will be generally 
 acknowledged. Hence it has met with favour from some of the 
 most eminent writers of the day ;^ and though others hesitate to 
 accept it,2 they evidently feel that it would be a great relief to 
 their minds to do so. If, however, they cannot receive it, let 
 them at least be charitable, and not charge those who do with 
 favouring rationalism, or something worse ; for surely, on a ques- 
 tion of this kind, there may be diversity of opinion, without any 
 
 ' See Keil on Joshua, and also articles by J. von Gumpacli in the 'Journal 
 of Sacred Literature' for January 1849 and October 1850. 
 
 '* See Ayre's edition of Home's Introduction, vol. ii., p. 620, and Rawlinson'a 
 Bampion Lecture, p. 383. 
 
 ' See Lee on Inspiration, p. 409, note, 2d edition. 
 
THE VALLEY OF AJALON. 153 
 
 injury to the doctrine of the inspiration of the Scriptures. I 
 would say further, that if the idea of a miracle must be main- 
 tained (and I do not, by any means, assert the contrary), the 
 modus operandi must be left unexplained ; for it is evident that 
 every attempt to explain it hitherto has failed, whilst some such 
 attempts appear perfectly ridiculous.^ Doubtless God has means 
 at His disposal by which He could lengthen a day for several 
 hours, without interfering with the established order of things; 
 but it is no more possible for us to explain those means, than it 
 is for us to explain the means by which Christ multiplied the 
 loaves and fishes. Leaning to the side of Keil's interpretation, 
 I nevertheless hold, that if it were positively affirmed that the day 
 was lengthened, there is nothing at which we need to stumble 
 here, since the power of God is adequate to accomplish whatever 
 He pleases and whatever He will. 
 
 The valley of Ajalon was so called from a city of that name 
 which was subsequently given to the tribe of Dan. Dr Robinson 
 identifies the city with a village called Yalo, and describes the 
 valley to the north, now designated Merj Ibn Omeir, as a broad 
 and beautiful valley which runs out west by north, quite through 
 the tract of hills, and then bends off towards the great western 
 plain.2 Memorable region this ! It reminded Judas Maccabeus 
 that ' the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of an 
 host, but strength which cometh from heaven;' and, animated 
 with this thought, and with the recollection of Joshua's victory, 
 he, in the same locality, met and defeated Seron and his army, 
 and 'pursued them from the going down of Beth-horon unto 
 the plain, where were slain about eight hundred men of them ; 
 and the residue fled into the land of the Philistines.'^ 
 
 ' See Gausen's ' Theopneustia,' Baxter's edition, p. 192. 
 ' ' Eesearches,' vol. ii., p. 253 ; and see also ' The Land and the Book,' 
 pp. 533, 669. 
 
 ' 1 Mace. iii. 19-24. 
 
154 THE DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS. 
 
 In the chalk and limestone cliffs of Palestine there are many 
 large caverns, some excavated, but others natural ; and in one 
 of these, at Makkedah, now probably either Dhikkin or Siimeil, 
 the five kings, who had evaded their pursuers, hid themselves, 
 with the hope of saving their lives. But it was a forlorn hope. 
 Joshua was informed that they were there, and he commanded 
 great stones to be rolled upon the mouth of the cave, and men 
 to be set to watch it ; and when, at length, he had smitten the 
 hindermost of his enemies, and the last of the fugitives fell before 
 the sword, he and all the people returned to Makkedah in peace. 
 And now the mouth of the cave was opened, and the five kings 
 were dragged into the presence of the conqueror. No quarter 
 could be given them, for they had been the leaders of the expe- 
 dition against Gibeon ; besides which, they, like the rest of the 
 inhabitants of Canaan, were under the ban of an avenging God. 
 They were, therefore, sentenced to be slain ; and first, in the 
 presence of ' all the men of Israel,' Joshua said to the captains 
 of the men of war, ' Come near, put your feet upon the necks of 
 these kings,' — a piece of barbarism, some, perhaps, will be ready 
 to say ; but it was not so, but only a symboUc action intended 
 to intimate to the people how complete should be the subjection 
 of all their enemies.^ And, indeed, it was a common form of 
 expressing victory over enemies, as the sculptured rocks of 
 Egypt, Media, and other countries intimate. 'When,' says Mr 
 Roberts, in his 'Oriental Illustrations,' 'people are disputing, 
 should one be a little pressed, and the other begin to triumph, 
 the former will say, "I will tread upon thy neck, and after that 
 beat thee." A low-caste man insulting one who is high, is sure 
 to hear some one say to the offended individual, "Put yo.ur feet 
 on his neck." ' Such, then, was the treatment of these five kings, 
 who were then slain, and whose bodies were afterwards hung on 
 five trees until the evening. They were then cast into the cave 
 
 * Comp. Ps. xviii. 40, ex. 1. 
 
THE FIVE KINGS SLAIN. 155 
 
 in which they had been hid, and thus terminated this never-to- 
 be-forgotten conflict. 
 
 ' So let-Thine enemies perish, O Lord; but let them that love 
 Thee be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.' ' This 
 whole history,' says Calvin, ' holds up to us, as in a mirror, how, 
 when the Lord is seated on His tribunal, all worldly splendour 
 vanishes before Him, and the glory of him who seemed to excel 
 is turned by His judgment into the greatest disgrace.' Joshua 
 is here especially a type of the true Deliverer, whose foes, 
 though numerous, shall all be scattered ; whose enemies, though 
 mighty, shall lick the dust ; who still goes forth conquering and 
 to conquer, and who shall ultimately wield the sceptre of justice 
 and of mercy over all the kings and princes of the earth. Con- 
 queror, not of Canaan only, but of the world, Christ shall reign 
 from sea to sea, and from the river unto the uttermost parts of 
 the earth; and of those who refused to submit to His authority, 
 He will say, ' These Mine enemies, that would not that I should 
 reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before Me.' 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 FURTHER VICTORIES, 
 
 gHE most celebrated military commanders have generally 
 '^T^MT' ^^^^ distinguished for the rapidity of their movements. 
 ~~ ' They have not, after obtaining a signal victory, sat 
 down to enjoy repose ; but they have taken advantage of their 
 position, and, as quickly as possible, pushed forward their forces 
 to new efforts and to new conquests, until their latest foes have 
 been driven from the field. 
 
 But never, perhaps, was the spirit of enterprise and perse- 
 verance more signally displayed than in the conduct of Joshua, 
 the son of Nun. Six cities in succession — Makkedah, Libnah, 
 Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir — were, in succession, rapidly 
 
THE COUNTRY SMITTEN. 157 
 
 besieged and taken, and all their inhabitants smitten by the 
 sword ; for ' Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of 
 the south,' and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their 
 kings : he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that 
 breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded' — chap. x. 
 28-40. All the cities here named were situated in the south of 
 Canaan ; and some of them, as we shall see hereafter, were given 
 to the Levites. Makkedah was situated in the plain, and is 
 probably identical with a village now called Sumeil, two and a 
 half hours north-west of Beit-Jibrin. Libnah is identified by 
 Van de Yelde with the Tell of Arak-el-Menshiyeh, between 
 Sumeil and TJm-Lakhis. Lachish is, no doubt, represented by 
 the latter spot — Um-Lakhis — midway between Gaza and Beit- 
 Jibrin. Eglon is now Ajlan, ' a low mound, with a few scat- 
 tered building stones, one hour east of Lachish.' Hebron, or 
 Kirjath-arba, now el-Khulil, was the well-known city in which 
 Abraham dwelt ; and Debir is probably identical with a ruin 
 called Dibbeh, on the summit of a hill two hours south-west of 
 Hebron. All the cities, then, were comparatively contiguous, so 
 that Joshua's conquests can easily be conceived. He is said also 
 to have defeated and slain Horam, king of Gezer, who came 
 up to help Lachish ; but it is nowhere said that he took Gezer ; 
 for, in fact, it was too far out of his way, somewhere near the 
 coast towards Ashdod.^ 
 
 Of the five kings who were confederate against Joshua, and 
 whom he slew at Makkedah, three belonged to as many of these 
 cities, — to Lachish, Eglon, and Hebron : hence • the kings of 
 Lachish and of Eglon are not here mentioned ; but of the kings 
 of Makkedah, Libnah, and Debir, it is said that he did unto 
 them as he had done unto the rest. In verse 37 the king of 
 Hebron is spoken of ; but the words may have been interpolated, 
 or a successor to the former king may be referred to here. 
 ^ See, on all these places, Vau de Velde's Map and Memoir. 
 
158 FURTHER VICTORIES. 
 
 It is not to be understood that in this expedition Joshua 
 depopulated the whole territory. He did not search out the 
 hiding-places of those who fled, but destroyed only those who 
 fell in his way. Hence Hebron and Debir were at a later period 
 in the hands of the Anakim, who were driven out of the former 
 by Caleb, and out of the latter by Othniel ; ^ yet he smote the 
 country from Kadesh-barnea, in the desert of Sin,^ even unto 
 Gaza, the most southerly city of the Philistines, and all the 
 country of Goshen, so called from a city of that name in the 
 same neighbourhood,^ even unto Gibeon, ' at one time,' or in 
 one campaign, 'because the Lord God of Israel fought for 
 Israel.' 
 
 But now, Joshua having returned unto the camp to Gilgal, 
 another confederacy was formed against him, headed by Jabin, 
 king of Hazor, who had heard of these things, and who was, 
 no doubt, considerably alarmed. Hazor was situated in the 
 north of Canaan, near Lake Merom, and was ' the head of all 
 the kingdoms ' in that part of the country ; so that there Jabin 
 was probably what Adoni-zedek was in the south — the most 
 prominent and influential chieftain of the neighbourhood. And 
 as Adoni-zedek headed an alliance with the kings in his vicinity, 
 so Jabin sent to those near him, to the king of Madon, the 
 king of Shimron, the king of Achshaph, ' and to the kings that 
 were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains south of 
 Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the 
 west.' Nay, his messages went further still, ' to the Canaanites, 
 east and west ; to the Amorite, the Perizzite, and the Jebusite 
 in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land 
 of Mizpeh' — chap. xi. 2, 3. 
 
 Of this extensive tract of country it may be well to take a 
 brief survey, that we may be the better able to form a concep- 
 tion of the gathering together, from so many quarters, of the 
 
 1 See chap. xi. 21, xiv. 12, xv. 15-17. - Num. xx. 14. ^ chap. xv. 51. 
 
HERMON. 159 
 
 hosts who were now about to do battle with the Israelites. 
 Beginning at the north, there towers before us, the lofty Her- 
 mon, or the Jebel-esh-Sheikh, which rises to the height of ten 
 thousand feet above the Mediterranean Sea, and is partially 
 crowned with perpetual snow, which lies in ravines, and pre- 
 sents at a distance the appearance of radiant stripes. It is the 
 most southerly point of the chain of Anti-Libanus, and from its 
 south-eastern base, ' a low broad spur or mountainous tract 
 runs off towards the south, forming the high land which shuts 
 in the basin and lake of the Huleh on the east.'^ This is none 
 other than ' the land of Mizpeh,' and now bears the name of 
 Jebel Heish. It is a magnificent country, and was, in all 
 probability, thickly populated in the days of Joshua, even as it 
 now is by tribes who have recently been at deadly war. On from 
 this region southwards to the plains of Chinneroth, or to the Sea 
 of Galilee, thence far away to the west on the heights of Dor, 
 which stood upon 'the great sea' below the promontory of Car- 
 mel, and thence eastward over the mountain and across the plain 
 of Esdraelon to the valley of the Jordan, — was the territory 
 whence Jabin gathered ' much people, even as the sand upon 
 the sea-shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many.' 
 The sites of Madon, Shimron, and Achshaph are unknown ; but 
 that of Hazor is identical, according to Dr Robinson, with a 
 prominent Tell called Khuraibeh, a little north-west of the 
 waters of Merom, where he found stones which had apparently 
 been built up into houses at different epochs, and other signs of 
 the handiwork of man. The site agrees with the statement of 
 Josephus, that Hazor was situated over the Lake Samochonitis ; 
 and it equally agrees with the narrative before us, as the capital 
 of Jabin would naturally form the rallying point of the hosts he 
 mustered. 
 
 Here, then, was the battle-field ; for ' when all these kings were 
 
 ^ Eobinson's ' Eesearches,' vol. ii., 437-439. 
 
160 FUETHER VICTORIES. 
 
 met together, tliey came and pitched together at the waters of 
 Merom, to fight against Israel.' This was the Lake Samochonitis, 
 now el-Huleh, w^hich is about four or five miles long, and nearly 
 as broad, and through which the Jordan, after uniting its several 
 branches six miles northward, runs towards the sister Lake Gen- 
 nesaret. The plain and marsh above it are about ten miles 
 square ; and the former, being sufficiently dry for cultivation, is 
 the great granary of the surrounding country.^ ' On the east 
 and west the lake is bounded by mountain slopes ; and it was 
 probably on the rising ground on the western side that the allied 
 kings pitched their tents, for we find them, in verse 7, above the 
 waters of Merom.' 
 
 This locality was an ancient battle-field ; for here it was that 
 Abraham and his little band came upon the forces of Chedor- 
 jaomer and his allies, who had carried away captive Lot and 
 his family from the vale of Sodom. The spoilers were utterly 
 defeated, and Abraham brought back all that they had taken, 
 leaving the king of Elam and his confederates dead upon the 
 field.^ It now becomes the scene of a more terrible conflict. 
 Yast multitudes are here gathered together, 'even as the sand 
 that is upon the sea-shore in multitude, with horses and chariots 
 very many.' Their intention is to proceed towards Gilgal, and 
 there to attack the camp of the Israelites ; but Joshua is aware 
 of their movements and designs, and resolves not to wait their 
 coming, but to act on the offensive, and to proceed at once 
 towards the place of their encampment. 
 
 Several days must have been occupied in the movements of 
 the armies ; but Joshua stealthily advanced from Gilgal to Lake 
 Merom, 'and, on the day before the battle, pitched perhaps in 
 some valley where the enemy did not observe him. And here 
 he received encouragement to proceed. The forces he was about 
 to meet were more formidable than any he had yet encountered, 
 
 ' See ' The Land and the Book,' p. 214. ' Gen. xiv. 1-14. 
 
THE HOSTS OF JABIX. 161 
 
 consisting of infantry, cavalry, and chariots of iron ; and, as the 
 Israelites had no cavalry, it required extraordinary courage to 
 do battle with such a host. The Lord therefore said unto 
 Joshua, * Be not afraid because of them ; for to-morrow, about 
 this time, will I deliver them up all slain before Israel : thou shalt 
 hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.' '/will 
 dehver them up.' What is it that Omnipotence cannot do? 
 If God be for Joshua, who can be against him ? If Jehovah 
 fight for Israel, who will be able to injure or molest them? Yet 
 the Israelites were not to be mere spectators of the victory, but 
 were to attack the enemy, to render their horses useless, and to 
 destroy their chariots. Moses had left instructions for the future 
 king of Israel that he should not multiply horses to himself,^ lest 
 he should be led, like other kings, to trust in horses and in 
 chariots, rather than in the living God ; ' it was necessary, there- 
 fore,* as Calvin observes, * to render the horses useless for war, 
 by cutting their sinews, and to destroy the chariots, in order that 
 the Israelites might not become accustomed to the practices of 
 the heathen.' 
 
 The morning dawned, and suddenly, ere the mighty hosts of 
 Jabiu had time to get ready for the battle, nay, even before 
 they were aware that the foe they were intending to attack was 
 near them, Joshua and all the people of war fell upon them, 
 ' above the waters of Merom, and smote them.' ' The mighty 
 shout strikes terror into every heart. The shock is irresistible. 
 Jabin, with his confederate kings, wakes only to join the universal 
 rout. This vast theatre of plain and marsh, and valley and 
 mountain, is covered with fugitives and their wild pursuers. 
 Those whose homes lay beyond the mountains, to the north and 
 east, sought them by the great wady of the Upper Jordan, 
 now Wady et-Teim, or out east of Hermon, in the Hauran, the 
 land of Mizpeh. Those from the sea-coast of Acre and Carmel 
 
 * Deut. xvii. 16. 
 
 I 
 
162 FURTHER VICTORIES. 
 
 fled over those hills, and down south-west by Hazor to Misre- 
 photh-raaim, on the north border of the plain of Acre, now called 
 Musheirifeh. Thence they dispersed to their homes along the 
 sea-board as far south as Dor. . Joshua himself chased a third 
 division along the base of our mountain northward, past Abel- 
 Beth Maachah, through the plain of Ijon, down the tremendous 
 gorge of the Litany to the ford at Tamrah, or the bridge at the 
 Khutroch, and thence over the wooded spurs of Jebel Rihan 
 toward Great Zidon, behind whose lofty walls the flying host 
 alone could find safety. Returning southward, he recrossed the 
 Litany, stormed Hazor, the capital of king Jabin, and utterly 
 consumed it with fire.' 
 
 Such is Dr Thomson's vivid description of the victory, but 
 it is desirable that we should look at it still more minutely. 
 Brief as the narrative is, it is remarkably graphic and full of life. 
 The laws of modern warfare were not then in force ; and Joshua 
 was therefore under no obhgation to wait until his enemies were 
 prepared to meet him, but might, without giving them a moment's 
 warning, attack them suddenly whilst they were slumbering in 
 their tents. And this he did. There, on the plains east of the 
 Lake Merom, lay the hosts of the allied kings, like grasshoppers 
 for multitude, when, with the heroism of one who knew that he 
 had Omnipotence on his side, Joshua led his comparatively small 
 army, perhaps in three divisions, into the very heart of the en- 
 campment ; and such was the shout they raised, and such the 
 force of their attack, that the foe was smitten with terror and 
 confusion, and every man sought to fly with all the speed he 
 could command. Thousands probably fell at the very first on- 
 slaught ; and thousands more, some in one direction and some in 
 another, fled before the face of the conquering Israelites. One 
 portion of the army sought refuge towards the north-west, and 
 were chased by their enemies unto Great Zidon, thirty miles dis- 
 tant, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Zidon. or Sidon, 
 
THE PHCENICIANS. 1G3 
 
 was then the metropolis of PhcEnicia, and therefore designated 
 Great ; but, at a later period, its splendour was eclipsed by that 
 of Tyre, which then became the first of Phoenician cities. Of 
 Sidon mention is made in Gen. x. 19, xlix. 13 ; and we read of it 
 in Homer, for among the prizes offered to the racers by Achilles — 
 
 ' First, he produced 
 A silver goblet of six measures : earth 
 Own'd not its like for elegance of form ; 
 Skilful Sidonian artists had around 
 Embellish'd it, and o'er the sable deep 
 Phoenician merchants into Lemnos port 
 Had borne, and the boon to Thoas given.' ^ 
 
 Its name is said to signify ' fishing,' or ' a fishery ; ' and it lay on 
 the north-west slope of a small promontory, which jutted out 
 obhquely into the sea, towards the south-west. It is now called 
 Saida, and contains a population of seven thousand souls.^ 
 
 But was Jabin, then, a Phoenician, or were any of the vast 
 multitudes whom he had gathered together Phoenicians ? It is 
 not improbable that some of them were ; for, whatever may have 
 been the original home of the Phoenicians, there is little doubt 
 that they were descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. They 
 settled along the coast of the Mediterranean, from Mount 
 Lebanon to the promontory of Carmel, and were called Phoenicians 
 by the Greeks, as some think, from the fact that they traded 
 principally in purple (cfioivos), but, as others suppose, from their 
 sun-burnt complexion, the word <pohi^ signifying a red-brown 
 colour. No mention is made of them, under this name, in the 
 Pentateuch ; but in later books of the Bible their principal cities 
 are often spoken of, for they were not conquered by Joshua, 
 but continued to exist as an independent people, were in friendly 
 alliance with David and with Solomon, planted colonies in 
 
 ^ ' Iliad,' Cowper's trans., xxiii. 924. 
 
 2 Bobinson's ' Eesearches,' ii., p. 478, etc. ; Kendrick's ' Phoenicia,' p. 17. 
 
164 FURTHER VICTORIES. 
 
 Carthage and elsewhere, and, for a time, were the most poweiful 
 rivals and enemies of Rome. 
 
 Whether, then, there were any Phcenicians or not in league 
 with Jabin, the victory of Joshua, decisive as it was, did not 
 materially affect them. It is, indeed, related by Procopius, 
 that some of the nations of Canaan, on their expulsion by Joshua, 
 fled to Northern Africa; and that in the neighbourhood of 
 Tangiers there are two statues of white stone, engraved with 
 Phoenician letters, and bearing the inscription, ' We are they 
 who fled from the face of the robber Joshua, the son of Nun.* 
 But, though the genuineness of this inscription was at one time 
 admitted by several eminent scholars, there are, we believe, but 
 few who now hold this to be a correct translation of the inscrip- 
 tion.^ ' Had the original conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, 
 or their subsequent wars, given them possession of the towns of 
 the sea-coast, we might have expected,' says Mr Kendrick, Ho 
 find that the inhabitants, availing themselves of their fleets, had 
 withdrawn from the extermination or slavery which awaited 
 them, and settled in foreign countries.' But of this there is not 
 the slightest evidence, for the oldest genuine inscription in the 
 Phoenician character is not earlier than the fourth century ; and 
 we know that the inhabitants of the coast country were not 
 driven out of the land, or even conquered, either by Joshua or 
 by the kings of Israel. 
 
 But to return to the narrative. A second portion of the 
 alHed forces fled, and were pursued to Misrephoth-maim, — a word 
 respecting which there has been no. little diversity of opinion. 
 The LXX. took it as a proper name ; but many think that it 
 signifies burnings, salt-pits, glass-houses, or smelting-houses, — 
 there being in the neighbourhood of Zidon places of this kind in 
 very early times. Literally, it is said to mean ' burnings by the 
 
 * See Ivendrick's * Phoenicia,' p. 68. Eawlinson, however, is in favour of 
 the translation. ' Bampton Lectures ' for 1859, pp. 381-2. 
 
MISREPHOTH-MAIM. 165 
 
 waters ;' and it may refer either to Zidonian glass factories, to 
 hot springs, or simply to the burning of Jabin's chariots. Dr 
 Thomson, -however, in the passage quoted above, supposes it to be 
 identical with a place now called Musheirifeh, which he found on 
 the north border of the plain of Acre. ' This Musheirifeh,' he 
 observes elsewhere, ' with the noble fountains at the base of the 
 same name, I am disposed to identify with the Misrephoth-maim 
 (waters of Misrephoth) to which that part of the Canaanitish 
 host which came from Dor, etc., fled from the battle of Merom ; 
 and I do this notwithstanding the contradictory renderings of 
 these words in the margins of our Bibles, and all other philological 
 criticism whatsoever. The ancient and modern names are nearly 
 identical in form, and, I beUeve, in signification, and both were 
 suggested by the bright and glowing colour of those magnificent 
 cliffs which overhang the sea ; and any one who will study the 
 route which the division of Jabin's army that came from Dor 
 must have taken to escape Joshua's troops and reach home, will 
 see that this is the spot where they would most likely first find 
 a safe and convenient halting-place on the shore. The difficult 
 pass, commanded by a castle, where the present bay stands, 
 would be an effectual barrier against their enemies, and the 
 plain below, in possession of Achzib, which the Jews did not 
 subdue, would afford a delightful place for them to refresh 
 themselves after the fatigue of that disastrous day.'^ 
 
 It is gratifying to meet with such identifications ; and, with 
 Dr Thomson, we say, 'Let Musheirifeh, therefore, stand for 
 Misrephoth.' But if this be the case, then how much more is 
 wrapped up in the brief narrative of the flight than at first ap- 
 pears ! Whilst one part of the discomfited allies fled, as we have 
 seen, nearly due north, to Zidon, another fled, almost due west, to 
 Misrephoth or Musheirifeh, which was situated at the distance 
 of an hour from Achzib, the ancient Zib, and lies on the coast 
 
 » ' Land and the Book,' pp. 303-4 ; comp. Van de Velde's ' Memoir,' p. 335. 
 
166 FURTHER VICTORIES. 
 
 north of the Bay of Acre. These had come from this part of 
 the coast ; and whither, when tliey were defeated, should they 
 fly but to their homes ? Even in the confusion which resulted 
 from the attack of Joshua, they would instinctively turn to- 
 wards that part of the country in which their own habitations 
 lay ; and, instead of following those who fled towards Zidon, 
 would hasten thither, where safety would appear more sure. 
 Many of them doubtless succeeded in their object : nor was 
 this part of the coast conquered by the Israelites ; for though 
 it fell to the lot of the half-tribe of Manasseh, it is said in 
 Judges i. 27, ' Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants 
 of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor 
 the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of 
 Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and 
 her towns : but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.' 
 They became, however, tributary to the Israelites; and Solo- 
 mon stationed at Dor one of his twelve purveyors, whose duty it 
 was to provide victuals for his household, each man his month 
 in a year.^ 
 
 A third party of the fugitives took another direction, and 
 hastened towards ' the valley of Mizpeh eastward.' The word 
 Mizpeh signifies ' a watchtower,' and there were several places 
 which bore the name ; but ' the valley of Mizpeh' here mentioned 
 lay beyond the Wady et-Teim, in the Hauran, east of Hermon. 
 Of this there can be no doubt, though the name has not yet been 
 found in that particular locaHty. It is an extensive and richly 
 watered country, and probably contained in the days of Joshua 
 a very considerable population. Thence had part of Jabin's 
 forces been gathered, and thither such of them as escaped the 
 sword, belonging to this neighbourhood, fled. Thus from the 
 field of battle were these warrior- clans scattered, northward, 
 westward, and eastward, whilst, for a while, the Israehtes pur- 
 
 ' 1 Ivincrs iv. 7, 11. 
 
Joshua's defeat of jabin. 167 
 
 sued them in three divisions, till at length they reached their 
 respective fastnesses. 
 
 A more decided victory Joshua had not gained. It was the 
 death-blow to all the hopes of the Canaanites. It settled the 
 question, whose shall the country be ? And from the pursuit of 
 the fugitives Joshua turned back, smote the cities of these kings, 
 took possession of the cattle and the spoil, slew all the inhabi- 
 tants, and set Hazor, Jabin's capital, on fire. The other cities 
 he did not burn, but left them ' standing in their strength ; ' but 
 Hazor, ' which was the head of all those kingdoms,' and in which 
 Jabin himself had taken refuge, he did not spare, and the king 
 he smote with the sword. It was a terrible retribution, and we 
 dwell on these details not without pain ; but we deny that there 
 was any injustice in Joshua's proceedings, for he was but the 
 agent of Divine Justice, sent to chastise a people whose crimes 
 had long insulted Heaven and provoked the Majesty on high. 
 Joshua had authority for what he did. He was actuated, not by 
 cruelty, not by a spirit of blood-thirstiness and revenge, but by 
 a stern sense of duty ; for ' as the Lord commanded Moses his 
 servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua : he 
 left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses.' ^ 
 Shall we then condemn him ? We condemn him not. He was 
 a brave soldier of the Lord Jehovah, and only did what he was 
 commanded to do, mediately through Moses, or directly by God 
 Himself. 
 
 Of Hazor it should be observed that it was probably rebuilt ; 
 and we read of another Jabin in the book of Judges, who was 
 probably a successor of the Jabin of our narrative. Highly 
 important was the position of Hazor as a defence against the 
 eastern nations ; and hence Solomon built a wall round it, as he 
 did round Megiddo, Gezer, and Jerusalem. At a later period 
 
 1 Josh. xi. 15 ; comp. Exod. xxiii. 27-33 ; Num. xxxiii. 52 ; Deut. vii. 1, 
 XX. 16. 
 
i 68 FURTHER VICTORIES. 
 
 some of its iuhabitants were carried captives to Assyria ;i and, 
 later still, Jonathan Maccabeus went to the plain of Nazor (Hazor) 
 to meet Demetrius, whom, after some reverses, he put to flight.^ 
 
 Joshua's victory over Jabin all but completed the conquest 
 of the land, and verses 16 to 23 of chap. xi. contain a review of 
 what he had effected, whilst in chap. xii. is given a list of the 
 names of the kings subdued by Moses and by Joshua on both 
 sides of the Jordan. ' A long time did Joshua make war with 
 all those kings,' several years being occupied in the task ;^ but 
 ' he took all that land, the hills, and all the south country, and 
 all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the 
 mountain of Israel, and the valley of the same ; even from the 
 Mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir, even unto Baal-gad in 
 the valley of Lebanon, under Mount Hermon' — chap. xi. 16-23. 
 First, he conquered the south of the land, as related in chap. 
 X. 1-42, ' from a row of white chffs,' here called Mount Halak, 
 or the bald mountain, which ascends to Mount Seir on the 
 south of the Dead Sea, and thence crosses the Arabah or great 
 valley which Hes between that sea and the Gulf of Akabah;^ 
 and thence his conquests extended to the land of Goshen, which 
 probably lay on the coast between Gaza and Gibeon, to the 
 valley and the plain beyond, that is, the line of coast from Joppa 
 to Mount Carmel. Secondly, he conquered the north country as 
 far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon, under Mount Hermon, 
 which Bitter and others suppose to have been situated in the 
 neighbourhood of Hasbeiya, on the southern side of Jebel esh- 
 Sheikh, but which Dr Thomson identifies with Baalbek, much 
 farther north, where there are ruins of very high antiquity.'^ 
 
 Thus the whole land lay at Joshua's feet ; for, though the war 
 
 » 2 Kings XV. 29. = 1 Mace. xi. 67, etc 
 
 ' Josephus saj-s five (Antiq. v. 1. 19) ; the Eabbins say seven. 
 
 * See Keil in loco, and Eobinson's ' Eesearches,' vol. ii., pp. 183-4. 
 
 * This view of the site of Baal-gad is, however, very doubtful. 
 
HARDENING OF THE HEART. 109 
 
 was not one of utter extermination, since many of the tribes were 
 still permitted to remain in it, yet virtually it was in the hands 
 of Israel, dnd, save the inhabitants of Gibeon, not a city made 
 peace with them or sought their friendship. This is surprising; 
 but the explanation is, '■ It was of the Lord to harden their 
 hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He 
 might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour.' 
 They had long hardened their own hearts, and now their hearts 
 were hardened judicially by the Lord Jehovah ; and, as if reck- 
 less of the consequences, they rushed forward to the battle- 
 field, and met their fate. Does this doctrine of the obduration 
 of men's hearts seem harsh and mysterious? Let it be ob- 
 served that it does not imply any immediate operation of the 
 Divine will upon the human mind, but simply the withholding 
 from men those gracious influences which they have forfeited by 
 their neglect of them, so that they are left to themselves, and 
 therefore become more obdurate and more averse to good. ' If 
 a ray of divine light,' says Muller, 'has fallen upon one, he 
 cannot, as many would like to do, pass away from it with quiet 
 unconcern and indifference ; but if he closes himself up against 
 the light, he becomes driven to bitterness and wrath against it. 
 In relation to such an individual, the means of spiritual heahng, 
 the efficacy of which he has intentionally destroyed, not merely 
 loses its saving power, but operates in a directly opposite char- 
 acter.' ^ Now, the Canaanites had had the light of nature and 
 of conscience, and were, therefore, without excuse; but that 
 light they had rejected, that light they had repelled, that light 
 they had wilfully shut out from their minds. Hence the hght 
 itself became darkness, and God gave them up to work all manner 
 of uncleanness with greediness, until at length the measure of 
 their iniquities was full, and justice doomed them to destruction. 
 And now the Israelites stood in the midst of a scene of ruin 
 
 ' ' Doctriuc of Sin,' vol. ii., p. 468. Clark. 
 
170 FURTHER VICTORIES. 
 
 and desolation, upon which they can scarcely have looked without 
 sadness and distress. Well might the poet of the 'Christian 
 Year ' put into their lips such words as these, — 
 
 Where is tlie land with milk aud honey flowing, 
 
 The promise of our God, our fancy's theme ? 
 Here over shattered walls dank weeds are growing, 
 And blood and lire have run in mingled stream : 
 Like oaks and cedars all around, 
 The giant coi'ses strew the ground. 
 And haughty Jericho's cloud-piercing wall 
 Lies where it sank at Joshua's trumpet call. 
 
 ' These are not scenes for pastoral dance at even, 
 For moonlight ravings in the fragrant glades, 
 Soft slumbers in the open eye of heaven. 
 And all the listless joy of summer shades. 
 "We in the midst of ruins live. 
 Which every hour dread warning give ; 
 Nor may oiir household vine or fig-tree hide 
 The broken arches of old Canaan's pride.' 
 
 But other tasks were now before them. ' There still remained 
 very much land to be possessed' (chap. xiii. 1) ; and then the 
 whole country must be divided and assigned to the different 
 tribes, as Moses had commanded. It is said, indeed (chap, 
 xi. 23), that Joshua took ' the whole land,' but the expression is 
 not to be taken in its full and literal meaning ; and from the 
 first it was God's design to drive out the Canaanites ' by little 
 and little,' to prevent the rapid increase of the wild beasts of the 
 field, which would have taken place had the country been at once 
 depopulated of all its original inhabitants.^ ' Jehovah,' says 
 Havernick, ' is described (in the books of Joshua) as giving to 
 the Israelites the land of promise; and the work is so far com- 
 pleted by Joshua, that he is able to portion out the whole land. 
 This does not, however, place the Israelites in such a position 
 that they have nothing more to do. On the contrary, the strong- 
 
 > Deut. vii. 22 ; Exod. xxiii. 29, 30. 
 
THE TERRITOKY NOT CONQUEEED, 171 
 
 holds of the Cauaanites are to serve as a test of the faith even 
 of future generations. By means of these the question is to be 
 decided, whether Israel will henceforth continue to be what it has 
 been under the command of Joshua.' 
 
 What, then, had been done ? what yet remained to be done ? 
 The former of these questions has been already answered ; but 
 chap xii. presents us with a brief summary of the victories 
 achieved. On the other side Jordan, Moses had taken posses- 
 sion of the country from tbe brook Arnon, now the Wady Mudjib, 
 to Mount Hermon, and all the plain of the Jordan on the east ; 
 and had slain Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of 
 Bashan, and given their lands to the Beubenites, the Gadites, 
 and the half tribe of Manasseh (vers. 1-6). And on the western 
 side of the river, Joshua had smitten thirty-one kings, a catalogue 
 of whose names and cities is given (vers. 7-24), though some 
 of the cities were not taken until a later period.^ The second 
 question — what remained to be done ? or what portion of the 
 land was not yet subdued? — is answered in chap. xiii. 2-6. All 
 the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, which lay in 
 the desert between Palestine and Egypt,^ remained to be con- 
 quered. This territory reached to Sihor, or the black river, sup- 
 posed by some to be the Nile, but which was no doubt the brook 
 which flows into the Red Sea near Rhinocura, called elsewhere 
 'the waters of Egypt,' ^ and now the Wady el-Arish. On the 
 north it extended to Ekron, now called Akir, a village of con- 
 siderable size in a plain north of the Wady Surar ; and it em- 
 braced the cities Gaza, Ashdod, Eshkalon, and Ekron, with the 
 land of the Gittites and the Avites. The Avites, however, who 
 were no doubt Canaanites, are placed by the LXX. in the south 
 
 ^ On the alleged discrepancies in this chapter, see Keil, whose explanatioi:3 
 will satisfy every candid mind. 
 
 2 1 Sam. xxvii. 8. 
 
 3 Kuni. sxxiv. 5 • Josh. xv. 4 ; and comp. 1 Chron. xiii. 5. 
 
172 FURTHER VICTORIES. 
 
 of Philistia ; and this part of the territory remained also to be 
 conquered. Then, in the north-west, there remained Mearah, or 
 the cave of the Sidonians, and thence the whole breadth of the 
 country unto Aphek (now Fik, a village on the table-land east 
 of the lake of Gennesareth), even to the borders of the Amorites. 
 Farther, there was Gebal, the country of the Giblites, or hewers 
 of wood and stone, now Byblus, north of Beirout, and all 
 Lebanon towards the sun-rising, from Baal-gad even to Mount 
 Hermon, whose snowy peak glitters in the morning rays, and 
 which stands at the entrance of Hamath, the river of which, the 
 Orontes, rises at Lebweh, etc., under the lofty Lebanon,^ 
 
 ' Whose liead in wintry grandeur towers, 
 And whitens with eternal sleet ; 
 While summer, in a vale of flowers, 
 Is sleeping rosy at his feet.' 
 
 Such were the regions which were not yet in possession of the 
 Israelites ; but Joshua was now old and stricken in years, and, 
 therefore, could not be expected to survive until the whole 
 country was subdued. He had, however, done enough ; and 
 now he must proceed to divide the land, as if it were all con- 
 quered, and to assign the several portions of it to the different 
 tribes, leaving those who came after him to contend with such 
 of the inhabitants as might oppose them. He was not to exempt 
 from the division even the unconquered territory ; but, believing 
 that God would give it to His people, to obey His commands 
 v.'ithout fear of disappointment, inasmuch as, whatever He 
 promised to His people, He was able to perform. And, virtually 
 at least, the whole country did ultimately become the possession 
 of the Israelites ; for the kingdom of Solomon embraced the 
 whole country, and those of the Canaanites who were left in the 
 land he laid under tribute and made his servants (1 Kings ix. 21). 
 
 ^ See Robinson's ' Researches,' vol. iii., p. 538, etc ; ' Tlie Land and the 
 Book p. 239. 
 
THE DIVINE PROMISES. 173 
 
 We have thus reached a period in the history of Joshua, which 
 to himself must have been one of joy and satisfaction. Hitherto 
 he had been called to wield the sword, and now he was to lay it 
 aside, and to take up in its stead the instruments of labour and 
 of skill. The land was to be surveyed ; and he was to appoint, 
 by lot, the territory of each tribe. Three of the tribes had, 
 however, received their inheritance on the other side Jordan; 
 and the Levites were to have no inheritance, but to dwell in 
 cities scattered throuj^h the land. For eight tribes, therefore, 
 and the half tribe of Manasseh, Joshua had now to make pro- 
 vision ; and to this task he set himself with all the zeal and 
 generosity of a real patriot. But, first of all, his old friend and 
 companion, Caleb, must be remembered as one deserving: of 
 s])ecial honour. 
 
HEBRON, LOWER POOLS. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE INHERITANCE OF CALEB. 
 
 ^|lf ^T is gratifying to see merit well rewarded. In the school- 
 ^1 ^ room and in the camp, in the Church and in the State, 
 every generous mind looks on with pleasure, as one 
 who has toiled hard and faithfully obtains at last the honour 
 he deserves. We cannot fail, then, to read of Caleb's fortunes 
 with peculiar interest, and to admire at the same time the 
 readiness "with which Joshua acknowledged his claims to special 
 consideration. 
 
 Not without importance is the question of Caleb's genealogy. 
 He is said to have been the son of Jephuuneh,^ who was a 
 
 * Num. xxxiv. 19. 
 
CALEB S CHARACTEE. 175 
 
 descendant of Hezron, the son of Pharez, tlie grandson of Judah.^ 
 But Jephunneh is called the Kenizzite, whence it has been sup- 
 posed that he was descended on the father's side from the tribe of 
 that name, mentioned in Gen. xv. 19, who were, in all probability, 
 a clan of the Edomites. This is, however, a hasty conclusion ; 
 for the term Kenizzite here means simply a descendant of Kenaz, 
 of w^hom we know nothing more, but who must have belonged 
 to the posterity of Judah, and was probably a distinguished 
 member of the family ; for Othniel, the brother of Caleb, is 
 called his son,^ and one of Caleb's own sons was named Kenaz.^ 
 Seven years had elapsed since the entrance of the Israelites 
 into Canaan, when Caleb came to Joshua, and said, ' Thou 
 knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of 
 God, concerning me and thee, in Kadesh-barnea. Forty years 
 old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from 
 Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land ; and I brought him word 
 again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless my brethren that 
 went up with me made the heart of the people melt : but I 
 wholly followed the Lord my God' (xiv. 6-8). How deeply 
 would Joshua feel as his mind was thus thrown back to former 
 days ! and with what interest would he listen to his honoured 
 friend's appeal ! Well did he know the truth of this statement. 
 Well did he know that there was in it no exaggeration of the 
 truth. He himself w^as Caleb's companion when he went to 
 search out the land ; and he himself took part with Caleb when 
 ' he stiUed the people,' who, on the return of the spies, mur- 
 mured at the report given by the ten. Yes, his brethren who 
 went up with him made the heart of the people melt ; but he 
 followed the Lord wholly, and, confiding in His promised help, 
 said, ' Let us go up at once and possess the land ; for we are 
 well able to overcome it.' All this Joshua knew. He had 
 never forgotten it, and never could. The conduct of Caleb on 
 
 ' 1 Chrou. ii. 5, 18, 25. ^ Josli. xv. 17. ' 1 Chron. iv. 15. 
 
176 THE INHERITANCE OF CALEB. 
 
 that occasion was too noble, too generous, ever to be erased from 
 his recollection ; and to that conduct he owed not a little, as it 
 encouraged him also to deny the report of the faithless and 
 timid spies. 
 
 It is a great thing to follow the Lord fully. Not a few there 
 are who enter upon the path of duty well, and who are brave 
 and heroic enough when they first encounter the foes they have 
 to meet, but who, ere long, become timid and fainthearted, and 
 soon give up the contest in despair. To follow the Lord fully 
 requires courage, zeal, and confidence more than ordinary ; and 
 happy is the man who, possessing these, does not let ' good 
 beginnings vanish,' but in whom ' the last corresponds with 
 the first.' 
 
 The veteran soldier proceeds to remind Joshua, that Moses 
 sware unto him that day, saying, ' Surely the land whereon thy 
 feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's 
 for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord thy God.' 
 No record of any such oath is found either in Num. xiv. or in 
 Deut. i. ; all that we find there, is a promise given by God 
 Himself, that Caleb should enter the land of Canaan, and that 
 his seed should possess it. ' To him will I give the land that he 
 hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly 
 followed the Lord.' On what, then, was the claim of Caleb to 
 any particular portion of the country founded ? There can be 
 no doubt that, as Keil observes, ' the Lord God had made 
 an express declaration to Moses with reference to His faithful 
 servant, and that Moses had informed him of it, probably in the 
 hearing of Joshua also.' And what if that promise had not 
 been placed on the public records ? Was it, therefore, to fail ? 
 was it, therefore, not to hold good ? It could by no means fail ; 
 and now the time had arrived when Caleb saw that he might 
 *ay claim to the inheritance, and this was therefore his request. 
 
 * And now,' said he, * the Lord hath kept me alive, as He 
 
A GREEN OLD AGE. 177 
 
 Baid, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this 
 word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the 
 wilderness ; and now also I am this day fourscore and five years 
 old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that 
 Moses sent me : as my strength was then, even so is my strength 
 now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.' — ' I am this day 
 fourscore and five years old.' It was the second year after the 
 Exodus that the events referred to by Caleb occurred ; and, as 
 he says forty-five years had since elapsed, it has been inferred 
 that thirty-eight of these yeare were spent in the wilderness, and 
 seven in the conquest of the land of Canaan. Already, then, his 
 life had been toilsome, and, with the exception of Joshua, he 
 was twenty years older than the oldest of the people then alive ; 
 and yet his abihty for counsel and for action remained unim- 
 paired. A green old age is pleasant to contemplate. Beautiful 
 is the aged oak which, though gnarled and knotted, still throws 
 out young branches, and is covered with luxuriant foliage ; but 
 there is something specially attractive in an aged man who carries 
 about with him the elasticity and buoyancy of youth, and whose 
 manly frame seems as if it bade defiance to the ordinary ravages 
 of time. When Ulysses returned home to Ithaca, after long 
 sufferings, in the twentieth year, his strength was unimpaired ; 
 and the bow, which others had attempted to bend in vain, he 
 took, and with the utmost ease sent the arrow flying through the 
 rings. And often have we heard of aged men who, in like manner, 
 have put many younger to the blush by their bold and daring 
 feats. Usually, however, it is otherwise. ' Men of age,' says 
 Lord Bacon, ' object too much, consult too long, adventure too 
 little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the 
 full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success.' 
 But Caleb was of the opposite class. He was prepared to 
 adventure as much now as when he was sent to spy out the 
 land. He was as well able to drive the business home as when 
 
178 THE INHERITANCE OF CALEB. 
 
 first he entered on the task. Ko mediocrity of success would 
 satisfy him ; but, if he might, he would expel the Anakim from 
 the mountain, and take possession of it for himself and his 
 posterity. 
 
 The mountain for which he asked was that of Hebron, but it 
 was in possession of the giant race of the Anakim; for after 
 they had been driven out by Joshua,^ they had probably taken 
 the advantage of his absence in the north to return and re- 
 possess themselves of their former dwellings. Caleb knew that 
 they were there ; and knew, moreover, that to expel them would 
 be no easy task. Yet, strong, vigorous, and healthy as he 
 was, he would undertake the task, and perhaps the Lord would 
 be with him, and would enable him to drive them out. This 
 * perhaps,' however, or 'if so be,' does not indicate doubt on 
 Caleb's part. He distrusts himself, but he does not distrust 
 the power of God. He knows the difficulty of the enterprise, 
 but hope animates his breast ; and not in his natural strength 
 does he rely, but in the promised aid of the Lord Jehovah. 
 
 Some of the princes of Judah had accompanied Caleb into 
 the presence of Joshua — ver. 6, and, as he belonged to that tribe, 
 they doubtless seconded his request; for 'it was no less the 
 interest of the whole people than of one private family, that that 
 which as yet depended on the incomprehensible grace of God, 
 and was treasured up merely in hope, should be bestowed as a 
 special favour.' But was the lot of the children of Judah 
 already determined? and did Caleb ask for this mountain because 
 it was situated in the territory assigned them? There is no 
 evidence of this. On the contrary, the lot of Judah was deter- 
 mined subsequently; and in this the finger of God was manifest, 
 that it fell in the south of the country, where Hebron itself was 
 situated. 
 
 ' It was fit,' says Matthew Henry, ' that this phoenix of his 
 
 1 Chap. xi. 21. 
 
HEBEON. 179 
 
 age should have some particular marks of honour put upon him 
 in the dividing of the land;' and ready enough was Joshua to 
 comply -with the request of his old companion and friend. 
 ' Joshua blessed him/ and gave unto him Hebron with the 
 surrounding country for an inheritance. His blessing him was 
 a prayer for the successful issue of his efforts ; and admirable 
 was the spirit of Joshua in thus recognising Caleb's claims ; nor 
 would Caleb himself forget that interview, or fail to reciprocate 
 Joshua's kindness. The whole scene must have been one of 
 intense interest ; and well might the painter exercise his skill in 
 depicting it on the canvas in the highest style of art. 
 
 Beautiful was the territory thus assigned to Caleb, and beau- 
 tiful is that territory still. Describing his approach to it, Dr 
 Stanley says, 'The valleys now began, at least in our eyes, 
 almost literally " to laugh and sing." Greener and greener did 
 they grow ; the shrubs, too, shot up above that stunted growth. 
 At last, on the summit of farther hills, lines of spreading trees 
 appeared against the sky. Then came ploughed fields and 
 oxen. Lastly, a deep and wide recess opened in tTie hills ; 
 towers and minarets appeared in the gap, which gradually un- 
 folded into the city of " the Friend of God " — this is its Arabic 
 name: far up on the right ran a wide and beautiful uj^land 
 valley, all portioned into gardens and fields, green fig-trees and 
 cherry-trees, and the vineyards — famous through all ages ; and 
 far off, gray and beautiful as those of Tivoli, swept down the 
 western slope the oHve groves of Hebron.'^ 
 
 Hebron was a very ancient city, having been built seven 
 years before Zoan in Egypt, which was no doubt erected prior 
 to the time of Abraham. Hence Hebron was a well-known 
 town when Abraham entered the land of Canaan. 'Its name 
 before,' says the historian, ' was Kirjath-arba; which Arba was 
 a great man among the Anakims.' The Rabbins say that this 
 
 i ' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 99. 
 
180 THE INHERITANCE OF CALEB. 
 
 name signifies ' the city of the four,' and that the place was so 
 called because the four patriarchs, Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob, were buried there ! How foolish the story we need not 
 stop to prove. But was Kirjath-arba really its original name? 
 and did it now receive the name Hebron for the first time? This 
 cannot be supposed; for the latter name occurs in the Pentateuch, 
 and even as early as the days of Abraham.^ We conclude, then, 
 with Hengstenberg, that it was originally called Hebron ; that 
 subsequently it received the name Kirjath-arba, from a giant of 
 the race of the Anakim who had conquered it ; that it bore this 
 name, as well as that of Hebron, up to the times of Joshua ; and 
 that then its more ancient name was restored to it, by which it 
 was ever afterwards particularly distinguished.^ 
 
 And did Caleb accomplish the task of driving out the Ana- 
 kim from that mountain? He did, though not until after the 
 death of Joshua. It will give unity to this chapter, and will not 
 interfere with any subsequent portion of the work, if we here 
 trace the fortunes of Caleb and his family, and mark the circum- 
 stances under which they obtained possession of the inheritance 
 allotted to them. 
 
 These circumstances are narrated in Joshua xv. 14-19, and 
 again in Judges i. 10-15. It has been supposed that the latter 
 passage is a quotation of the former, or that the former is a 
 quotation from the latter ; but neither of these suppositions 
 is correct. The writers of these two books derived their in- 
 formation from a common source, — probably the original docu- 
 ments of the period ; and from the fact that the conquest of 
 Hebron is narrated in Judges in connection with other events 
 which did not take place until after the death of Joshua, that 
 event itself could not have occurred before his death. Nor is 
 it remarkable that this event should be narrated in the book of 
 
 ' Num. xiii. 22 ; Gen. xiii. 18. 
 
 ' See Hengstenberg's = Genuineness of the PeutateucL,' 7ol. ii., p- U'&. 
 
THE CHILDREN OF ANAK. 181 
 
 Joshua also ; for that book was written probably by one of the 
 elders after Joshua's decease, whose design it was to complete 
 the history of the division of the land among the tribes.^ 
 
 Joshua, then, was dead; and soon after Joshua's death, 
 Caleb, now an old man, verging towards ninety, put himself at 
 the head of an army of his own tribe, and made an attack on 
 the city of Hebron. The children of Anak were there — She- 
 shai, and Ahiman, and Talmai — who were of that race whose 
 stature so greatly alarmed ten of the spies who went to search 
 out the land. Whether the Anakim were really very tall men, 
 or whether they only appeared such in the imagination of the 
 spies, may admit of question ; but that there were, in early times, 
 men of gigantic stature, there can be little doubt ; for the Scrip- 
 tures allude to them in many places. The Greeks, too, had 
 their real or their fabled giants in the Trojan wars, of whom the 
 aged Nestor speaks in Homer thus : — 
 
 ' Their equals saw I never, never shall : 
 Exadius, Cseneas, and the god-like son 
 Of iEgeus, mighty Theseus ; men renown'd 
 For force superior to the race of man. 
 Brave chiefs they were, and with brave foes they fought, 
 With the rude dwellers on the mountain-heights. 
 The Centaurs, whom with havoc such as fame 
 Shall never cease to celebrate, they slew.' ^ 
 
 Nestor was courageous, but his prowess was surpassed by that 
 of Caleb ; for Nestor fought when in his prime, Caleb when he 
 was far advanced in life. A noble sight it must have been to 
 have seen the veteran warrior advancing to the attack of Hebron, 
 animating his companions to follow him up the mountain, and 
 perhaps putting to shame, by his heroism and his valour, many 
 that were considerably younger than himself. And his exploit 
 was successful : Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai were slain, 
 
 > See Keil, and also Calvin, in loco. 
 
 2 ' Iliad,' Book i. 327. Cowper's translation. 
 
182 THE INHERITANCE OF CALEB. 
 
 and all their followers driven out of Hebron. Nor did Caleb 
 stop when he had accomplished this object. On he went 
 to Kirjath-sepher, one of the royal cities of Canaan, which 
 Joshua had previously conquered, but which, like Hebron, 
 had again become inhabited by the Canaanites. It must have 
 been a noted place, as its name "iDDTi^iJp, Kirjath-sepher, or 
 n3D"n^"ip, Kirjath-sanna, is said to signify ' the town of books,' 
 or, ' the city of archives.'^ What can have given rise to 
 such a name ? Were the inhabitants exclusively occupied with 
 writing and the sciences? or was there in this city a famous 
 library, like that of Alexandria at a later period ? We need not 
 have recourse to either hypothesis ;. yet books there must have 
 been, and therefore the art of writing must have been known 
 by the Canaanites as well as by the Egyptians. The books 
 which the city contained were, however, probably few ; and, as 
 Dr Kitto conjectures, may have had reference to superstitious 
 rites, or may have been ' records and covenants ' of estates and 
 territories. What became of them, it is useless to inquire ; but 
 it is scarcely probable that they would escape destruction when 
 Caleb took possession of the city. ' It is by no means unHkely 
 that old Caleb threw the entire bundle of books that formed the 
 library of Kirjath-sepher into the fire.'^ The city was also 
 called Debir, which some think signifies 'a word,' or 'an oracle;' 
 others, that it signifies ' coming after,' and that the city was 
 so called because it stood behind the other cities towards the 
 west. 
 
 ^ Both names are rendered by the LXX. ?roX;; r^a^^arsajv, 'the city of 
 letters.' Josh. xv. 16, 4S. 
 
 2 Dr Kitto's ' Daily Readings,' vol. ii., pp. 301-303. Thomas Fuller calls 
 Kirjath-sepher, 'the City of a Book, conceived a Canaanitish university;' 
 and observes, 'Although the giant Anakims dwelling hereabouts may be 
 presumed but little booJcish, yet civilised countreys, in all ages, have allowed 
 Buch places for the education of youth, who are better unborn than unbred.' — 
 Pisgah Sifjht of Palestine, p. 277. 
 
OTHNIEL. 183 
 
 About two hours south-west of Hebron, Dr Stewart found 
 the ruins of a town, covering the hill to the north, called Birket 
 el-Dilbeh, 6f which he says, ' An Arab of the place pointed out 
 to me an aqueduct covered with large stones, which he said 
 brought down a constant supply of water from a spring near the 
 top. A stream of beautiful clear water was running in it. The 
 ruins bore the same name as the wadi and birket. The whole 
 valley was waving with corn. A little farther on, in the same 
 wadi, we came to an ancient draw-well, built with hewn stones, 
 the name of which is Bir el-Hugry. What may have been the 
 name of this town in ancient days? If we consider the Resh to have 
 been changed for the sake of sound into Lamed, we have in Dilbeh 
 a suflQciently exact representation of the name Debir to permit us 
 to conclude that this was the city taken by Othniel, Caleb's nephew, 
 by which exploit he won his wife, and got it for her dower.' ^ 
 
 Not, we may be sure, to spare himself, but rather to ani- 
 mate others with a spirit of enterprise, Caleb said, 'He tha: 
 smiteth Ejrjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah. 
 my daughter to wife.' Othniel, having perhaps some regard 
 for Achsah, was animated by the promise to make the attempt 
 his courage was rewarded with success, and the daughter of 
 Caleb became his wife. And who was Othniel? Some say, the 
 nephew of Caleb, as, had he been his brother, such a marriage 
 would have been illegal; and they read the words of Joshua 
 XV. 17; Judges i. 13, 'Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's 
 brother,' — making Kenaz Caleb's brother. But Keil observes, 
 ' The objection offered by earlier expositors, that marriage with 
 a brother's daughter was prohibited, is unfounded;' and certainly 
 the meaning of the sacred text appears to be that Othniel was a 
 descendant of Kenaz, and the younger brother of Caleb. Othniel 
 afterwards became the first judge in Israel.- 
 
 But Achsah was not quite satisfied with her dowry ; and, on 
 
 1 ' The Tent and the Khan,' p. 224. - Judges iii. 9. 
 
184 THE INHERITANCE OF CALEB. 
 
 arriving at her home, she urged her husband to ask of Caleb, 
 her father, an additional field. Othniel perhaps hesitated to do 
 this, though he no doubt approved of her wish ; and hence she 
 resolved to make the request herself; and having ridden to her 
 father, she lighted quickly from her ass, so that her father, 
 fearing that something was amiss, said, ' What wouldest thou ? ' 
 ' Give me a blessing,' was her reply : ' for thou hast given me a 
 south land ; give me also springs of water.' ^ He had given her 
 Debir as her marriage portion; but it was a south land, dry and 
 barren, and unfit for cultivation ; so that she wanted also lands 
 abounding with springs of water, so essential in Palestine, where 
 severe droughts occur, to the fruitfulness of the soil. There was 
 nothing wrong or selfish in this request. She had probably 
 examined the country, and, observing that Debir was not well 
 supplied with springs, she was anxious that an addition should 
 be made to the gift, of a field in the neighbourhood, which would 
 supply the lack. And with all the generosity of a loving father, 
 Caleb granted the request. He gave her 'the upper springs 
 and the nether springs,'-^ — ' a particular tract of land so called 
 from the springs within it both on the higher and the lower 
 ground ; ' for he saw, perhaps, that her wish was but a reason- 
 able one, and not, as Calvin represents it, ' the wicked thirst of 
 gain.' 
 
 We blame not Achsah, as, under the circumstances of the 
 case, she acted prudently. Let not the young, however, be dis- 
 satisfied with their ijhare in the patrimonial estate. Many are 
 the heartburnings in families occasioned by the grasping ambi- 
 tion of those who would claim more than by right belongs to 
 
 Josh. XV. 18, 19; Judges i. 14, 15. 
 ' The word here used is Gulloth (n'lVa), a word which only occurs in theso 
 two places — Josh. xv. 19, Judges i. 15. The root signifies to tumble or roll 
 over; in allusion, perhaps, to the welling up of the springs in a globular form. 
 See Stanley, Appendix, § 54. 
 
THE POSTERITY OF CALEB. 185 
 
 them, and who, even at the expense of their nearest relatives, 
 try to get possession of what they have long coveted. Selfish 
 and mercenary is such a spirit, and the man who displays it 
 does so at the cost of a good conscience and the smile of Heaven. 
 
 Far from possessing such a spirit was Caleb himself; for both 
 Hebron and Debir had already, at the time he conquered them, 
 been assigned to the Levites, — the former as a city of refuge : ^ 
 so that he had scarcely got possession of them ere he had to 
 give them up again, retaining only for himself and his posterity 
 ' the fields thereof, and the villages thereof.' That some of his 
 descendants would dwell in these cities there can be little doubt, 
 for the Levites only received in their cities as many houses as 
 their numerical strength required ; but those houses became their 
 inalienable possession, 2 and it must have been a sacrifice on the 
 part of Caleb to surrender much of what he had so hardly won. 
 It was, however, for the benefit of the whole nation ; and he did 
 not hold back from the conquest of Hebron, even after the lot 
 had determined that it should be partially possessed by others. 
 
 Respecting Caleb's posterity, we learn from 1 Chron. ii. 
 the following particulars. His first wife, Azubah, bare him a 
 daughter named Jerioth,^ and three sons — Jesher, Shobab, and 
 Ardon. His second wife, Ephrath, bare him a son named Hur. 
 Besides these, he had several other sons by his two concubines ; 
 so that his family was numerous, and his posterity is mentioned 
 in the times of David.'* He was a noble character, and God 
 honoured him with a long life and with many descendants ; and 
 though nothing is said of his death, yet we cannot doubt that he 
 went down to the grave in peace ; a grave, it may be, not far 
 distant from the field of Machpelah, where Abraham, the illus- 
 
 • Josh. xxi. 11, 15 ; 1 Chron. vi. 55-58. Lev. xxv. 33, 34. 
 
 ' Such at least is the reading of the Vulgate in 1 Chron. ii. 18 : ' Azuba. de 
 qua gemnit Jerioth.' 
 
 I Sam. xxv. 3, xxx. 14. 
 
186 THE INHERITANCE OE CALEB. 
 
 trioiis ancestor of all the tribes of Israel, was buried by the side 
 of Sarah his wife. 
 
 And what of Othniel, the brother of Caleb ? His sons were 
 Hathath and Meonothai ; ^ and he it was who became a judge 
 in Israel, and who, after they had been subject to Chushan-risha- 
 thaim eight years, delivered them from his yoke. The Lord 
 raised him up for that purpose: 'And the Spirit of the Lord came 
 upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war : and the 
 Lord delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into 
 his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim. 
 And the land had rest forty years' (Judges iii. 9-11). 
 
 ' 1 CLroi:. iy. 13, 14. 
 
DEFILE BETWEEN JERUSALEM AND JERICHO. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE LOT OF JUDAH AND BENJAMIN. 
 
 ]B.E camp of Joshua was still at Gilgal ; the land was 
 now at rest from war ; and at length the work began 
 of dividing Canaan among the several tribes who had 
 not yet received their inheritance. This was done by lot, which 
 decided, not the size of the inheritance— for that was determined 
 according to the numbers i— but the position which each tribe was 
 to occupy. ' The lot causeth contentions to cease, and decideth 
 between the mighty.'- For it is not regulated either by the 
 
 Num. xxvi. 52, 53. 
 
 - Prov. xviii. 1 8. 
 
188 JUDAH AND BENJAMIN. 
 
 opinion, the caprice, or the authority of men ; but — where, as in 
 this case, it has His sanction — by the Lord Jehovah Himself.^ 
 It was, therefore, a wise method to adopt ; and probably each 
 tribe would submit to the decision arrived at cheerfully, and 
 would view the inheritance assigned to it as the immediate gift 
 of God. 
 
 The mode in which the lots were cast has been variously ex- 
 plained. Some suppose that the names of the tribes were written 
 down, and cast into an urn ; and that the tribe whose name was 
 first drawn, selected that portion of the land which it deemed 
 best. Others think that the names of the provinces were cast into 
 the urn, and that each tribe drew according to its rank. But 
 neither of these methods would have been impartial ; and ' we 
 must therefore assume,' says Keil, ' that there were two urns — 
 one containing the names of the tribes, and the other those of 
 the ten divisions of the land — and that a name was taken at the 
 same time from each of the urns.' By such a plan there would 
 be no room left for any dispute ; and as Joshua and Eleazar are 
 mentioned as distributing the inheritance (xiv. 1), it is not im- 
 probable that the former drew the names from one of the urns, 
 and the latter from the other. 
 
 But the casting of the lots did not proceed without interrup- 
 tion ; for as soon as the tribes of Judah and of Joseph had re- 
 ceived their inheritance, the camp was removed from Gilgal to 
 Shiloh (chap, xviii. 1) : the land which had not been appro- 
 priated was carefully surveyed, and lots were then cast for the 
 seven tribes which remained. Different explanations of this fact 
 have been attempted by the commentators, some of which are 
 wholly at variance with the instructions originally given to 
 Moses, and therefore must be at once rejected. The true explana- 
 tion appears to be, that the casting of the lots commenced before 
 any very accurate survey of the land was made, founded on the 
 
 1 Prov. xvi. 33. 
 
CASTING THE LOT. 189 
 
 general knowledge of it already obtained by the people ; but 
 that the exact dimensions of each portion were determined after- 
 wards. Thus, whilst the camp was still at Gilgal, the country 
 was divided into nine different lots, which were named, perhaps, 
 according to their relative positions, but the boundaries of 
 which were not very clearly defined. The lots were cast, and 
 two of these portions fell to the tribes of Judah and of Joseph, 
 who at once took possession of them, under the direction of 
 their princes. Joshua himself belonged to the latter tribe, — that 
 is, to the tribe of Epbraim ; and it was natural, therefore, that 
 he should leave Gilgal, and pitch his camp in the midst of his 
 own tribe. This he did ; and Shiloh became, from that time, 
 the great centre of all his operations. For another reason also 
 this was done, — namely, that the worship of God, which had so 
 long been interrupted, might now be recommenced ; and the 
 probability is, that the spot was selected in accordance with the 
 divine command ; for God had said, ' When ye go over Jordan, 
 and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to 
 inherit, and when He giveth you rest from all your enemies 
 round about, so that ye dwell in safety ; then there shall be a 
 place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name 
 to dwell there: thither shall ye bring all that I command you' 
 (Deut. xii. 10, 11). Here, then, without further delay, the 
 tabernacle was erected, and here it continued until the days of 
 Saul. But we shall return to this locaUty again ; and meanwhile, 
 following as nearly as we can the topographical order ^ of the 
 tribes, from south to north, we will first survey the territories of 
 Judah and of Benjamin, which were contiguous to each other. 
 
 * This is not the order in which they were assigned ; — that order was 
 as follows:— Judah, Ephraim and Manasseh, Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, 
 Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan ; but it will be more simple and convenient to 
 take the topographical order, by which means we shall be able to proceed 
 through the country step by step, and obtain a general notion of its character, 
 and of the relative positions of the tribes. 
 
190 JUDAH AND BENJAMIN. 
 
 ' JuDAH, tliou art he whom thy brethren shall praise,' said 
 the aged patriarch Jacob ; and to Judah the first lot fell, he 
 having succeeded, in part, to the privileges of the first-born. 
 Rich and valuable was his inheritance in many respects : ' the 
 part of Palestine which best exemphfies its characteristic scenery 
 — the rounded hills, the broad valleys, the scanty vegetation -, 
 the villages or fortresses — sometimes standing, more frequently 
 in ruins — on the hill tops ; the wells in every valley, the vestiges 
 of terraces, whether for corn or wine. Here " the Hon of Judah " 
 entrenched himself to guard the southern frontier of the chosen 
 land, with Simeon, Dan, and Benjamin nestled around him.'^ 
 His boundaries were as follows : on the south it commenced 
 from the outmost coast of the Dead or Salt Sea eastward; thence 
 passed on to the south side of the heights of Akrabbim ; pro- 
 ceeded thence to Zin, not far from Kadesh, and thence to Hazar- 
 addar and to Azmon, places now unknown ; and from Azmon it 
 fetched a compass to the river of Egypt — the Wady el-Arish 
 thus extending far into the desert.^ Its western extremity here 
 was the Mediterranean Sea. A list of thirty-six cities, situated 
 in the south of the territory, is given in Josh. xv. 21-32, the 
 sites of which, with but few exceptions, are quite unknown. 
 Beersheba, where the patriarchs sojourned, and which was thirty- 
 one Roman miles south-west of Hebron, is one of the exceptions 
 to this general loss ; and Kerioth is perhaps identical with the 
 present 'Kereitein, ' a site of ruins on the hill-slopes on the west 
 side of the valley which descends southward from Ma'in towards 
 the desert.'^ 
 
 The eastern boundary was the whole length of the Dead 
 Sea; and the northern boundary passed from that sea,. where the 
 Jordan entered it, up to Beth-hoglah, and thence to Beth-arabah, 
 and to the stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben. Of the two 
 
 1 ' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 159. - Num. xxxiv. 3-5 ; Josli. sv. 2-4. 
 
 2 Van do Velde ; ' Memoir,' p. 328. 
 
THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY. 191 
 
 latter places we know nothing ; but Beth-hoglah was identified 
 by Dr Robinson with a fine fountain called 'Ain Hajla, two miles 
 west of the Jordan.^ Beth-hoglah was assigned, not to Judah, 
 but to Benjamin, as also was Beth-arabah (chap, xviii. 21, 22). 
 Through the valley of Achor, the boundary then went up to- 
 wards Debir, turned northward towards Gilgal,^ passed to 
 En-shemesh (the fountain of the sun), and thence to En-rogel 
 (the fountain of the spies), the so-called well of Job and Nehe- 
 miah, on the south-east of Jerusalem. Passing up by the valley 
 of the son of Hinnom, it went up to the top of the mountain 
 that lies before the valley of Hinnom westward ; and from the 
 top of the mountain it was drawn to the waters of Nephtoah, 
 probably the fountain of Lifta, which lies a little more than half 
 an hour west-north-west of Jerusalem.^ Thence it proceeded to 
 the cities of Mount Ephron (nowhere else mentioned), and on to 
 Baalah or Kirjath-jearim, ' the city of forests,' one of the cities 
 of the Gibeonites, identified by Robinson with ' Kuriet el-Enab.* 
 It now described a curv^e westward to Mount Seir, — not, of 
 course, the Idumean mountain of that name, but a range running 
 in a south-westerly direction, where Robinson discovered a village 
 named Soris or Sores, and near to which is another village 
 called Kesla. supposed to be identical with Chesalon or Mount 
 Jearim. Thence it proceeded to Bethshemesh, 'the house of 
 the sun,' now represented by ruins on the west side of 'Ain 
 Shems, south of Wady Surat ; and from this point it passed to 
 the Mediterranean Sea, embracing Timnah, Ekron, Shichron, 
 and Jubniel, — the latter now called Jubna, a town three hours 
 south-west of Ramleh. The sea formed its western boundary ; 
 but ultimately, as we shall hereafter find, the coast country was 
 
 ^ ' Eesearches, vol. ii., p. 544, 
 
 2 A place of that name distinct from tlie Gilgal of Josh. iv. 19. 
 
 Stewart, ' The Tent and the Khan,' p. 349. 
 * ' Researches,' vol. ii., p. 11 ; vol. iii., p. 156 ; Van de Velde's ' Memoir, 
 pp. 347 and 304 
 
192 JUDAH AND BENJAMIN. 
 
 assigned to the tribes of Simeon and Dan. In the low ground or 
 valley of the lot of Judah, were fifteen cities, the names of which 
 are given in Josh. xv. 33-36, and the sites of several of which 
 have been discovered. In the actual plain were sixteen cities ; in 
 the southern part of the hill country were nine cities ; on the 
 Philistine hue of coast were Ekron, Ashdod, and Gaza, with 
 their towns and villages ; in the south-western hills were eleven 
 cities ; north of these, around Hebron, were nine cities : east of 
 these was a group of ten ; north of Hebron a group of four ; to 
 the westward of Jerusalem, Kirjath-jearim and Rabbah ; and in 
 the wilderness or desert, between the mountains and the Dead 
 Sea, there were six cities (Josh. xv. 37-62). 
 
 From this enumeration of the cities assigned to Judah, we 
 should infer that the territory must have been somewhat thickly 
 populated by the original inhabitants ; but no doubt many of the 
 so-called cities were very small, and, like eastern villages of the 
 present day, were occupied by only a few families. The tribe 
 of Judah numbered, at this time, 76,500 who were twenty years 
 old and upwards ; and as they did not require so large a portion 
 of the country, many of the cities, as well as the line of coast, 
 were afterwards given up to the tribes of Simeon and Dan, 
 whilst nine cities were given to the priests (Josh. xxi. 9-19). It 
 is remarkable that Jerusalem, which afterwards became so pro- 
 minent in the history of the tribe, was not included in this allot- 
 ment, but was assigned to Benjamin. Attempts were probably 
 made by the children of Judah to wrest it from the Jebusites, 
 who then possessed it; but they were unsuccessful, and it 
 remained in the hands of the Jebusites until the days of David 
 the king!^ 
 
 The physical aspects of the territory of Judah were much 
 diversified. In the south was the undulating pasture-land, some- 
 times designated 'the wilderness of Judah ;'2 in the east, imme* 
 
 » Josh. XV. G3 ; 2 Sam. v. 6, 7. 2 judges I 16. 
 
PHYSICAL ASPECTS. 193 
 
 diately adjoining the Dead Sea, was Midbar, or the wilderness, 
 a wild and desolate country, full of rocks and caves, the haunts 
 of wild beasts and robbers, one of whose six cities— Engedi, ' the 
 fountain of the kid'— became celebrated in the history of Saul 
 and David.^ West of this was the hill country, on the mountain 
 tops of which were ' the fenced cities of Judah,' so similar in 
 position and appearance as not to be easily distinguished one 
 from another. Among these was Bethlehem, ' the house of 
 bread,' called originally Ephrath or Ephratah,^ which, though 
 little among even the thousands of Judah, became the birth- 
 place of David the son of Jesge, and afterwards of Him who was 
 David's Son and Lord. Its present representative, Beit-lahm, 
 stands on a hill of Jura limestone, six Roman miles east of Jeru- 
 salem, and near it may be seen flocks and shepherds as in days 
 of old ; and, in the time of barley harvest, reapers in the fields, 
 with women and children gleaning after them. The hills of 
 Judah are admirably adapted for the cultivation of the vine ; 
 and here, in the palmy days of the country, it grew luxuriantly 
 on terraces formed on the mountain sides, and carefully guarded 
 by walls and watch-towers. ' Binding his foal unto the vine, and 
 his ass's colt unto the choice vine ; he washed his garments in 
 wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes,' was the prophecy 
 of Jacob relative to his son Judah, indicating that the vine would 
 be as common as any other tree, and the wine obtained from 
 it as plentiful as water ; and, though the language is that of 
 poetry, the prediction was almost literally fulfilled, for to Judah 
 belonged ' the valley of Eshcol,' and other choice locahties, 
 where the vine abounded, and the grapes were the richest that 
 the whole land produced. 
 
 On the west, between the hill country and the Mediterranean 
 
 * 1 Sam. xxiv. 1-i. 
 
 2 The phrase, Ephratah, does not occur in the Hebrew of Josh. xv. 48-62, 
 but is inserted in the Septuagint version. 
 
 n 
 
194 JUDAH AND BENJAMIN. 
 
 Sea, was the Shephelah, or lowland, long the territory of the 
 Philistines, from whom the whole country received the name of 
 Palestine. But, as the tribes of Simeon and Dan were sub- 
 sequently located here, we shall reserve our remarks respecting 
 this part of the country for the next chapter. 
 
 The territory thus assigned to Judah was both prominent and 
 extensive, and singularly remarkable were the fortunes of the 
 tribe. In the days of the Judges, Othniel alone, among the 
 rulers, is named as belonging to it ; and, at a later period, the 
 Benjamite Saul was anointed king over the whole land. But in 
 the prophecy of Jacob the sceptre was given to Judah ; and when 
 it fell from the feeble hands of Saul, David the Bethlehemite 
 obtained it, and, with occasional interruptions, it remained in the 
 possession of the tribe until Shiloh came. Bright and glorious 
 was Judah's history during the reigns of David and of Solomon ; 
 and though, when Rehoboam came to the throne, the ten tribes 
 separated from the kingdom, yet it continued to prosper in spite 
 of all its enemies. Often pillaged of its wealth, that wealth, 
 partly acquired by maritime commerce carried on through the 
 ports on the Red Sea, remained considerable even to the last ; 
 and when the ten tribes were led away captive into Assyria, 
 Judah remained in her strongholds and bade defiance to Sen- 
 nacherib and his hosts.^ Nor would she have ever fallen but for 
 the practice of idolatry which several of her kings were deter- 
 mined to introduce ; and it was to cure her of that practice, 
 that the king of Babylon was permitted to set up his throne in 
 Jerusalem, and to lead captive into Babylon the inhabitants of 
 the land.^ And the end was answered ; for when, at the close of 
 the sevehty years' captivity, the Jews were permitted to return 
 to their own country, they did so, not to set up again altars unto 
 Baal, or to re-establish the grove-worship of Astarte, but to 
 rebuild the temple of the Lord God of their fathers, and hence- 
 
 ' 2 Kings xix. 2 2 Kings xxiv., xxv. 
 
THE BOUNDARIES OF BENJAMIN. 195 
 
 forth to worship only Him.^ That worship, it is true, degener- 
 ated into mere formality ; but it continued to be observed, to the 
 exclusion of the worship of the gods of the heathen, up to the 
 time when Jesus of Nazareth trode the hills of Judea, and walked 
 within the porches of the temple beautified by Herod. 
 
 Close upon the northern boundary of Judah was little 
 Benjamin with his flocks. His eastern boundary was the Jordan ; 
 his northern boundary coincided with the southern boundary of 
 Ephraim, passing through the mountains towards the west ; and 
 his western boundary, leaving that of Ephraim, which ran on 
 to the Mediterranean Sea, came down from the mountains to 
 Kirjath-jearim. Here the southern boundary commenced, and 
 coincided with the northern boundary of Judah. Two groups 
 of cities — the one of twelve, the other of fourteen — were found 
 in the territory of Benjamin.^ Of the former, Jericlw and Bethel 
 were the most distinguished : among the latter were Gibeon, 
 which already has been the subject of remark ; Mizpeh, where 
 Samuel dwelt as judge,^ and where Saul was elected king ;■* 
 Zelah, where Saul and Jonathan were buried;^ and Jebusi, ov 
 Jerusalem, which became the capital of the whole land of Pales- 
 tine, and the scene of the grandest and most momentous events 
 that ever occurred in the history of the world. Of Benjamin, 
 Moses said, ' The beloved of the Lord shall dwell safely by 
 Him ; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he 
 shall dwell between His shoulders;' and when, by 'the rocky 
 sides of Jerusalem,' the tribe of Benjamin took up its abode, the 
 prediction was literally fulfilled. Small was this tribe in number 
 —45,600— but distinguished was its history, and striking was 
 its character. ' In his mountain passes — the ancient haunts of 
 beasts of prey — Benjamin " ravined as a wolf:" in the morning 
 descended into the rich plain of Philistia on the one side, and of 
 
 1 Ezra iii., iv. ^ josh, xviii. 11-28, ' 1 Sam. vii. 16. 
 
 * 1 Sam. X. 17-24. 5 2 Sam. xxi. 12-14. 
 
196 JUDAH AND BENJAMIN. 
 
 Jordan on the other, and " returned in the evening to divide the 
 spoil." In the troubled period of the Judges, the tribe of Ben- 
 jamin maintained a struggle, unaided, and for some time with 
 success, against the whole of the rest of the nation. And to the 
 latest they never could forget that they had given birth to the 
 first king. Even down to the times of the New Testament, the 
 name of Saul was still preserved in their families ; and when a 
 far greater of that name appealed to his descent, or to the past 
 history of his nation, a glow of satisfaction is visible in the 
 marked emphasis with which he alludes to the " stock of Israel, 
 the tribe of Benjamin," and to God's gift of Saul the son of Kish, 
 a man of the tribe of Benjamin.'^ 
 
 The two distinguishing features of the territory of Benjamin 
 were its passes and its heights. The latter were of considerable 
 elevation, being 2000 feet and upwards above the level of the 
 maritime plain ; and the former, caused in part by the torrents 
 which ran down either side of this lofty water-shed, were the only 
 means of access to the land of the Philistines on the east, and to 
 the fords of the Jordan on the west. To some of the events 
 which occurred in these passes — the battle of Ai, in one of those 
 on the east, and the battle of Beth-horon, in one of those on the 
 west — we have referred already ; and in later times they were 
 the scenes of other conflicts not less important in the general 
 history of the land. Indeed, all the leading events in the fast- 
 nesses of the tribe of Benjamin received a special character from 
 the heights or the passes of the territory assigned to it; and some 
 of those events appear far more striking when viewed in con- 
 nection with the physical aspects of the localities where they 
 occurred. 
 
 Gibeah, or ' the hill,' will furnish us with illustrations of this 
 fact. Its site was discovered by Dr Robinson on a high Tell, 
 called Tuleil el-Ful, or the ^ hill of beans,' one hour and a quarter 
 
 » Stanley, pp. 198-9. 
 
GIBEAH. 197 
 
 north of Jerusalem, which commanded an extensive view of the 
 country in all directions, and especially towards the east. Near 
 to it, though distinct from it, was Gaba (Josh, xviii. 24), which Dr 
 Robinson identified with Jeba, a small village on another emi- 
 nence, and probably the ' Gibeah in the field' of Judges xx. 31 ; 
 from which, across the deep ravine on the north, could be seen 
 another village called Mukhmas, the ancient Michmash, lying 
 directly over against Jeba,^ in a direction about north-east. 
 The former Gibeah is not mentioned among the cities of Ben- 
 jamin in Josh, xviii. ; but we find it in the history of the Judges 
 as the scene of the sad and shameful story of the Levite and his 
 concubine, which gave rise to a disastrous war, in which there 
 fell of the Israelites and of Benjamites sixty-five thousand men. 
 The Levite having made the conduct of the men of Gibeah known 
 through all the land of Israel, a council of the tribes was held at 
 Mizpeh ; and it was resolved to go up against Gibeah, and to 
 demand the men who had committed that great sin. The Ben- 
 jamites refused, and came forth against the Israelites to battle, 
 and twice obtained a victory over them. But, having asked 
 counsel of the Lord, the Israelites made a third attack upon the 
 Benjamites. They set Hers in wait about Gibeah ; they then 
 went up against Gibeah as they had done before, and when the 
 Benjamites came out to attack them, they fled, and drew them 
 away from the city. The liers in wait then hasted and rushed 
 upon Gibeah, and ere long the Benjamites, who were in pursuit 
 of the Israelites in the valley, looked round and saw ' the flame 
 of the city ascending up to heaven.' They were dismayed ; they 
 turned their backs and fled towards the way of the wilderness. 
 But the battle overtook them — they were enclosed on every side ; 
 and there fell of them eighteen thousand men, who were all men 
 of valour. Seven thousand more fell in their flight towards the 
 rock Kimmon, and on that rock six hundred more abode four 
 1 ' Besearclies,' vol. i., pp. 440 and 577. 
 
198 JUDAH AND BENJAMIN. 
 
 months. This spot Robinson discovered in a village called Rum- 
 mon, situated on and around the summit of a conical chalky hill, 
 distant from Gibeah about seven Roman miles. It is described 
 by Mr Finn as a strong natural fortification on the south and 
 west sides, in the latter of which he found two caverns, and two 
 larger ones on the eastern side, in which we may well suppose 
 the six hundred fugitives took up their abode.^ 
 
 Gibeah was the home, if not the birth-place of Saul ; and 
 here, after he had been anointed king, a conflict took place 
 between him and the Philistines. The latter had fixed their 
 garrison at Michmash, which, as we have seen from Dr Robin- 
 son's remarks, was a little north of Gibeah, a deep ravine lying 
 between them called the Wady es-Suweinit. The Philistines 
 had sent spoilers out of Michmash, who spread themselves in 
 three different directions; when Jonathan, Saul's son, left his 
 father's camp at Gibeah, accompanied by his armour-bearer, 
 and proceeded through the passage towards the garrison of the 
 Philistines. * In this valley,' says Dr Robinson, ' are two hills 
 of a conical, or rather a spherical form, having steep rocky sides, 
 with small wadys running up behind each, so as almost to isolate 
 them.'^ And what says the Scripture narrative ? 'There was 
 a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other side: 
 and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other 
 Seneh.'^ Passing these rocks, Jonathan and his armour-bearer 
 ventured towards Michmash ; and when the men of the garrison 
 saw them, they said, * Come up to us, and we will shew you a 
 thing.' Jonathan took this as a sign that the Lord had de- 
 livered them into the hand of Israel ; and, climbing up the steep 
 ascent on" his hands and feet, he attacked the Philistines, and his 
 armour-bearer slew after him. A panic seized the garrison ; the 
 
 ' See Judges xx. ; ' Kesearclies,' vol. i., p. 440 ; Van de Yelde's ' Memoir,' 
 p. 345. 
 
 2 ' Eoscarclies,' vol. i., p. 441. s i gam. xiv. 1-23. 
 
JONATHAN AND THE PHILISTINES. 199 
 
 shock of an earthquake was just then experienced ; the PhiHs- 
 tines turned their swords one against another; and the watchmen 
 on the heights of Gibeah observed them melting away, and 
 wondered at the cause. Great was the discomfiture of the 
 Phihstines ; and the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle 
 passed over to Beth-aven. 
 
 It would lead us too far away to refer to other events which 
 occurred in the territory of Benjamin: and we mention these only 
 as illustrative of the character of the country allotted to that 
 tribe. Its hills and its passes were the scenes of many conflicts 
 and of many victories, extending through the whole history of 
 David and the kings, repeated subsequent to the captivity and 
 during the times of the Maccabees, and occurring again, more 
 terribly than before, after the rejection by the Jews of Jesus 
 the Messiah. Little did the Benjamites know, when they took 
 possession of their inheritance, that those hills would ever wit- 
 ness such events as those which came to pass. Wisely were 
 they hidden from them, even as the future of the history of 
 Palestine is wisely hidden from us. Its future will perhaps be as 
 momentous as its past ; but to man it is not given to uplift the 
 curtain which hides that future from our view, and all that 
 we can do is patiently to watch and avait. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE LOT OF SIMEON AND DAN. 
 
 HE congregation of the children of Israel had assembled 
 at Shiloh, and there the tabernacle had been set up 
 when, after some delay, — arising, as may be supposed, 
 from an unwillingness on the part of the people to prosecute the 
 work of dividing the land on such inaccurate a measurement as 
 that on which it had commenced, — Joshua proposed that three 
 men out of each of the seven tribes should go through the whole 
 country and describe it, and that, on their return, these seven 
 tribes should receive their inheritance by lot. See chap, xviii. 1-6. 
 The proposal was agreed to, and the men selected entered 
 on their task. Josephus says that Joshua sent with them ' some 
 geometricians, who could not easily fail of knowing the truth on 
 
LAND-SURVEYING. 201 
 
 account of their skill in that art;' and, moreover, that he 'gave 
 them a charge to estimate the measure of that part of the land 
 that was most fruitful, and what was not so good;' for some 
 portions of it being much better than others, Joshua thought that 
 it should be estimated, not by its extent, but by the richness of 
 its soil. The same writer says that the survey occupied seven 
 months, at the end of which period the men returned to the 
 camp at Shiloh.^ 
 
 It has been thought that this must have been an accurate 
 and scientific survey, for the men described the land by cities, 
 dividing it into seven parts, in a book or tablet ; and there can 
 be little doubt that they were well able to do this, as the Israel- 
 ites had learnt the art of mensuration in Egypt, where, on account 
 of the annual overflowing of the Nile, it had been practised from 
 the earhest times.^ ' It is reasonable to suppose,' says Sir J. G. 
 Wilkinson, * that, as the inundation subsided, litigation often oc- 
 curred between neighbours respecting the limits of their unen- 
 closed fields ; and the fall of a portion of the bank, carried away 
 by the stream during the rise of the Nile, frequently made great 
 alterations in the extent of land near the river side. A mode of 
 determining the quantity which belonged to each individual was, 
 therefore, very necessary, both for settHng disputes with a neigh- 
 bour, and for ascertaining the tax due to government. But it 
 is difficult to fix the period when the science of mensuration 
 commenced. If we have ample proofs of its being known in the 
 time of Joseph, this does not carry us far back into the ancient 
 history of Egypt ; and there is evidence of geometry and mathe- 
 matics having already made nearly the same progress at the 
 earliest period of which any monuments remain, as in the later 
 era of the Great Kemeses.' ^ 
 
 This valuable art, then, was acquired by the Israehtes during 
 
 » Antiq. V. i. 21. * Herod, ii. 109 ; Diod. i., p. 69. 
 
 ' ' Popular Account,' vol. ii., p. 248. 
 
202 SIMEON AND DAN. 
 
 their residence in Egypt, and now they were able to turn it to 
 account for their own mutual benefit. And yet it is doubtful, 
 after all, whether a complete geometrical measurement of the land 
 was taken ; for the Canaanites, who were still very numerous, 
 would scarcely have allowed the men to pass quietly through 
 every corner of it and measure it with a line.-^ Rather was it, 
 as we conceive, as accurate a survey as could be obtained under 
 the circumstances, and sufficiently so to enable Joshua to divide 
 the rest of the country among the seven tribes, who had not yet 
 received their inheritance, with a due regard to their respective 
 claims. That it did not embrace the territories already assigned 
 to Judah and Joseph, is expressly stated ; it was found, how- 
 ever, that the former had obtained a larger tract of country 
 than they required ; and this survey having proved, as we may 
 well suppose, that the unassigned lands were by no means too 
 extensive for the seven tribes, it was resolved that the children of 
 Judah should give up to Simeon a portion of their inheritance. 
 
 Accordingly, ' the inheritance of the children of Simeon was 
 within the inheritance of the children of Judah ' — chap. xix. 1, 9. 
 * But whether,' says Keil, ' it was a compact territory or not, 
 cannot be determined with certainty, because only the cities 
 allotted to Simeon are given, and the situation of many of them 
 is unknown.' 
 
 In the south of the territory of Judah, thirteen cities were 
 given to Simeon,^ together with the villages situated near them. 
 Among these were Beersheba, on the borders of Palestine 
 and the Wady es Seba ; Moladah, which Robinson identified 
 with el Milh, where he found two wells forty feet deep, and the 
 stones of" a ruined town, scattered over a space nearly. half a 
 mile square, all unhewn ; and Ziio^ag, which subsequently was 
 in the possession of Achish, king of Gath, and was presented by 
 him to David when he was persecuted by Saul, but at a little 
 
 * See Keil on Joshua, p. 414. ^ j^gi^^ ^.j^. 2, 6, comp. 1 Chron. iv. 28-51. 
 
THE CITIES OF SIMEON. 203 
 
 later period was set on fire by the Amalekites. The sites of the 
 rest are not known, with the exception, perhaps, of Hormah, 
 called also'Zephath, which Robinson identifies with the pass Es- 
 Sufah, on the extreme south of the Land of Promise. 
 
 A second group of four cities was ceded to Simeon— Ain, 
 Remmon, Ether, and Ashan — with all the villages that w^ere 
 round about them to Baalath-beer, or Ramah of the south. 
 The situation of Ain is unknown ; Remmon was in the southern 
 boundary of the territory of Judah; and Ether and Ashan 
 were in the Shephelah or low country of Judah, where Yan de 
 Velde heard of ruins and ancient sites, one of which was called 
 by the people at Beit- Jibrin, Tell 'Athar.^ 
 
 In some maps of Palestine, even of modern date, a distinctly 
 marked territory is assigned to Simeon on the borders of the 
 Mediterranean Sea ; but there is no evidence that the tribe ever 
 possessed more than a few cities and villages in that locality. 
 The prophecy of Jacob respecting it — ' I will disperse them in 
 Judah, and scatter them in Israel ' — was literally fulfilled ; and 
 reduced in numbers from 59,300 fighting men to 22,200,^ they 
 were but little capable of making aggressions on the tribes of 
 Canaan, and could scarcely retain what cities they had received. 
 Judah took Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron, cities of the Philistines, 
 and probably gave them to Simeon ; but the Philistines after- 
 wards retook them, and in their hands they were found in the 
 days of Samuel the prophet.^ 
 
 Yet in the days of Hezekiah the tribe of Simeon appears to 
 have possessed a spirit of enterprise of more than ordinary 
 daring. Finding themselves in want of pasture lands for flocks, 
 five hundred men of the tribe, having for their captains Pelatiah, 
 Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, made a brilliant 
 and successful attack on certain Hamitic tribes dwelling in tents 
 
 1 ' Memoir,' p. 311. ^ Comp. Num. i. 22, 23, xxvi. 12-14. 
 
 3 Comp. Judg. i. 18 ; 1 Sam. vi. 17. 
 
204 SI3IE0N AND DAN. 
 
 beyond the southern boundaries of Palestine. The locality was 
 ' at the entrance of Gedor,' or, as the LXX. read it, Gerar, on 
 *the east side of the valley,' which, there is little doubt, was 
 between the southern boundary of Judah and Mount Seir, 
 whither, it is said, these marauders went.^ It was a daring act ; 
 and had we the details of the story, they would probably prove 
 as romantic as many of the stories of Bedouin life. But doubtless 
 the parties were well repaid ; for ' they found fat pasture and 
 good, and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable,' — a de- 
 scription which agrees with the accounts of this territory given 
 by modern travellers. ' The wadys are full of trees, and shrubs, 
 and flowers ; while the eastern and higher parts are extensively 
 cultivated, and yield good crops. The general appearance of 
 the soil is not unlike that around Hebron, though the face of the 
 country is very different. It is, indeed, the region of which 
 Isaac said to his son Esau, " Behold, thy dwelling shall be the 
 fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above." '^ 
 
 No other facts are related of this tribe in the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures. It gave to the nation neither judge nor prophet, nor, 
 indeed, any other illustrious person, — excepting, perhaps, Judith, 
 who traces her descent from Simeon ;^ but her story is so roman- 
 tic as to render it doubtful whether she was more than the 
 heroine of a fiction. We may suppose, therefore, that this tribe 
 became absorbed in that of Judah; so that by nothing short of a 
 miracle, or rather a series of miracles, would any Israelite of 
 the present day, or indeed any Israelite after the captivity in 
 Babylon, be able to prove that he belonged to the house of 
 Simeon. 
 
 Dan was the next neighbour to Judah, the territory assigned 
 to that tribe being west of that of Benjamin, and its utmost 
 coast the Mediterranean Sea. Judah ceded to Dan some of his 
 
 ' 1 Chron. iv. 39-42. * Robinson's ' Researches,' vol. ii., p. 154. 
 
 » Judith ix. 2. 
 
TIMNATH AND EKRON. 205 
 
 northern cities, and Ephraim some of his cities in the south ; 
 and thus another tribe was provided for out of the over-abun- 
 dance of these two. 
 
 The lot of Dan was narrow in its boundaries, but rich and 
 fertile in its general character. It formed part of the great 
 maritime plain, the southern portion of which was occupied by 
 the Philistines, and was so fruitful as to be designated ' a little 
 Egypt.' ^ Some of its cities are of considerable interest. 
 
 Of these, Zorah and Eshtaol, on the south, were received 
 from the tribe of Judah. Of the latter there is now no trace ; 
 but the former, which became the birth-place of Samson, is now 
 represented by a village called Sur'ah, in the Wady es-Surar, a 
 few miles west of Jerusalem. In the same neighbourhood was 
 Ir-shemesh (the city of the sun), equivalent to Beth-shemesh 
 (the house of the sun), the ruins of which were found by Dr 
 Robinson near 'Ain Shems, consisting of many foundations and 
 the remains of ancient walls of hewn stone.^ This city was 
 assigned to the Levites,^ but, in the days of Ahaz, was taken by 
 the Philistines,^ who probably had in it a temple to the sun, 
 long prior to the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites. Shaal- 
 abbin and Jethlah are unknown; and Ajalon, Eltekeh, Gibbethon, 
 and Gath-riramon were given up to the Levites. Of the other 
 cities mentioned we know little or nothing, with the exception of 
 Timnath, Ekron, and Japho ; but these are somewhat celebrated 
 both in earlier and in later times. 
 
 Timnath, or Tiivinah, was recognised by Dr Eobinson in a 
 village called Tibneh, one hour south-west of Zorah ; and from 
 the latter place to the former there is a considerable descent, 
 whence it is said of Samson that he went down to Timnath, where 
 he saw the woman whom he wished to marry. At that time 
 Timnath had its beautiful vineyards; and such vineyards there 
 
 ^ See Stanley's ' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 256. 
 
 ' • Kesearches,' vol. ii., p. 224. ' Josh. xxi. 9, 16. * 2 Chron. xsviii. 18. 
 
206 SIMEON AND DAN. 
 
 are now in all these hamlets along the base of the hills and upon 
 the mountain sides, which, says Dr Thomson, extend ' far out 
 from the villages, chmbiiig up rough wadies and wild cKfifs, in 
 one of which Samson encountered the young Hon.'^ Ekron was 
 the most northerly of the cities of the Phihstines, and is at 
 present represented by a village called Akir, in a plain to the 
 north of the Wady Surar. No remains of antiquity exist at 
 'Akir; but 'this may be accounted for,' says Dr Robinson, 
 * by the circumstance, that probably the ancient town, like the 
 modern villages of the plain, and like much of the present Gaza, 
 was built only of unburnt bricks.' Josephus says that the god 
 of Ekron was a fly, and of that insect Dr Thomson found plenty 
 at this spot. It was from Ekron that the ark of the covenant 
 was sent back, after it had been captured by the Phihstines, 
 upon a new cart drawn by two milch-kine ; and these, being left 
 to their own course, took the ' straight way ' to Beth-shemesh. 
 ' In coming, therefore, from 'Ain Shems to Akir,' says Dr Robin- 
 son, ' we might almost be said to have followed the track of the 
 cart on which the ark was thus sent back.' 2 It was remarkable, 
 however, that the unguided oxen should find their way to Beth- 
 shemesh so readily, for it Hes by the side of a long rocky spur which 
 strikes down from the mountains south of Latron. ' It might 
 be said by those ignorant of the country, that, the whole distance 
 being a level plain, there was no great miracle needed to secure 
 the safe transmission of the ark over the comparatively short 
 distance; but let them make a similar experiment, and stake 
 their scepticism on its success, if they have courage to do so ; or 
 let them even try to reach Ain es Shems themselves without a 
 guide, anil see how they will succeed.'^ Doubtless, then, these 
 oxen were under the direction of that God, the symbol of whose 
 presence they had, as it were, in charge, and who can as easily 
 
 ' ' The Land and the Book,' p. 566. 2 ( Researches,' vol. ii., p. 228. 
 
 ' ' The Land and the Book,' p. 535. 
 
JOPPA. 207 
 
 guide the movements of inferior creatures as He can control the 
 wayward passions of mankind. 
 
 jAPHO,,or JoppA, was the celebrated harbour of Palestine, 
 no^^ called Jaffa, the history of which is full of interest, and 
 would, if written in detail, fill a large volume. It formed the 
 northern boundary of the territory of Dan, whose border ' went 
 up to,' or ' over against Japho,'^ and was distant from Jerusalem 
 about 36 miles. A very high antiquity is assigned to it by Mela, 
 who affirms that it existed prior to the Deluge ;2 and rabbinical 
 writers derive its name from Japhet, one of the sons of Noah, 
 whilst classical writers refer it to lopa, the daughter of Aeolus 
 and the wife of Cepheus. A few years ago a remarkable 
 Phoenician sarcophagus was found at Sidon, on the Hd of which 
 was an inscription of twenty-one long lines, in Phoenician cha- 
 racters. A copy of this inscription was sent by Dr Thomson to 
 the Chevaher Bunsen, by whom it was transmitted to Professor 
 Dietrich, who published a translation of it, accompanied by an 
 elaborate critique. From this translation, which is given at 
 length by Dr Thomson, we learn that the sarcophagus was that 
 of Asheminazer, king of the Sidonians, who says, among other 
 things, that Baal, lord of the kings, bestowed on him ' Dor and 
 Joppa, and ample corn-lands which are at the root of Dan.' Of 
 the date of this inscription nothing very certain can be affirmed, 
 but that it is very ancient there can be no doubt ; and Dr Thom- 
 son seems inclined to ascribe it to the times of the Judges, when 
 Laish, conquered by the Danites, was a Sidonian city.^ By the 
 Due de Lugnes, who deposited this sarcophagus in the Louvre 
 at Paris, and who has published a learned commentary on the 
 inscription, it is assigned to the end of the seventh century be- 
 fore the Christian era.* 
 
 1 Josh. xix. 46. 2 Pliny, 'Nat. Hist.' v. 13, 14. 
 
 5 ' The Land and the Book,' p. 138, etc. 
 * See Stanley, ' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 275. 
 
208 SIMEON AND DAN. 
 
 The whole territory of Dan was, as we have already re- 
 marked, exceedingly rich and fertile, being distinguished, like the 
 rest of Philistia, for its numerous corn-fields, ' the great source 
 at once of the power and the value of Philistia ; the cause of its 
 frequent aggressions on Israel, and of the unceasing efforts of 
 Israel to master the territory.' The history of Samson is bound 
 up with the physical characteristics of the country which was 
 the scene of his wondrous exploits. There was ' the standing 
 corn of the Philistines,' with *the vineyards and olives,' — the 
 former nearly ready for the sickle, the latter laden perhaps with 
 quantities of ripening fruit ; and Samson, having caught three 
 hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail, put burning firebrands 
 between their tails, and sent them into the midst of the standing 
 corn and burnt it.^ The rock Etam, to which he escaped for 
 refuge from his enemies,^ was in the territory of Judah, probably 
 in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem. Gaza, the gates of which, 
 with the door-posts, he carried away to the top of a hill near 
 Hebron, was a frontier city of the PhiHstines ; and here the brave 
 Nazarite, having betrayed to his wife the secret of his strength, 
 first lost his eyes and then sacrificed his life ;3 but he was buried 
 in the midst of his own people, between Zorah and Eshtaol,^ 
 doubtless with all the respect which his brethren and his father's 
 house could show him. In his administration of twenty years 
 was fulfilled the prophetic w^ord of Jacob, * Dan shall judge the 
 people;' but the dying patriarch added, 'Dan shall be a serpent 
 by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so 
 that his rider shall fall backward ;' for he judged the people 'not 
 without a certain blame and contempt, compared with the veno- 
 mous viper or cerastes, which, treacherously lurking in the sand 
 or the trace of the carriage-wheels, not easily noticed on account 
 of its grey colour, and suddenly darting forth, attacks with more 
 
 1 Judg. XV. 1-6. 2 Judg. sr. 7, 8 ; 2 Chron. xi. 6. 
 
 » Judg. xvi. 1-3, 21. « Judg. xvi. 31. 
 
THE CONQUEST OF LAISH. 209 
 
 tal bite horse and rider ; a reptile held by the ancients to be so 
 formidable, that they believed, if it was killed by a man on horse- 
 back with a spear, that "the poison would run up the weapon, 
 and kill, not only the rider, but the horse as well." ' ^ 
 
 The last census of the tribes of Israel showed that in the 
 tribe of Dan there had been an increase of 1700 fighting men; 
 the numbers being in the first instance 63,700, and in the second, 
 64,400. It is not surprising, then, to find that the territory of 
 the Danites proved too narrow for them,^ especially when it is 
 stated that ' all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among 
 the tribes of Israel.' -^ But they were a bold and enterprising 
 people, and, subsequent to the death of Samson, 'they sought 
 them an inheritance to dwell in.' They first sent five men of 
 their family as spies, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, who went to 
 Mount Ephraim, and lodged in the house of one Micah, who had 
 a Levite as his priest. From the Levite they obtained counsel, 
 and crossing the great plain of Esdraelon, they proceeded north- 
 wards beyond the waters of Merom, and came to Laish, a town 
 belonging to the Zidonians, situated ' on the reedy margin of the 
 marsh,' through which the Jordan first flows. It was several 
 miles from Zidon, the parent city ; and the spies found the inha- 
 bitants ' dwelling carelessly, after the manner of the Zidonians, 
 quiet and secure ;' moreover, ' they had nothing to do,' and ' there 
 was no magistrate in the land,' and therefore no government ; so 
 that the town was evidently in a defenceless state, and might 
 easily be taken by a small force. What did the five men? 
 They returned to Zorah and to Eshtaol, and said to their bre- 
 thren, ' Arise, that we may go up against them : for we have seen 
 the land, and, behold, it is very good.' At once six hundred men 
 were armed for the enterprise, who first pitched at Kirjath- 
 jearim, in the territory of Judah, a place identified by Robinson 
 with Kuryet-el-'Enab, near to Beth-shemesh ; thence they pro- 
 > Kalisch on Genesis, p. 757. ^ JqsL. xix. 47. ' Judges xviii. 1. 
 
210 SIMEOX AND DAN; 
 
 ceeded to the house of Micah, in Mount Ephraim, whom they 
 robbed of his ephod, his teraphim, and his priest ; and at length 
 thej arrived at Laish, and finding its inhabitants still quiet and 
 secure, smote them with the edge of the sword, and set the city 
 on fire. These lazy Zidonians well merited their fate ; but the 
 Danites were a set of wild and ' angry fellows,' almost equally as 
 lawless as were the victims of their cruelty. Their conduct was 
 unjust and base, and is mentioned by the writer of the book of 
 Judges only as an illustration of the character of the times. 
 
 On the site of the city they had destroyed they built another, 
 which they called Dan ; and here they set up the graven image 
 of Micah. ' And Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of 
 Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until 
 the day of the captivity of the land.'^ As long as the tabernacle 
 of the Lord Jehovah remained at Shiloh, the graven image 
 remained in Dan. And in the days of Jeroboam idol-worship was 
 again established in the city ; for there he set up a golden calf, 
 and thither the people went up to worship.^ In how many 
 instances has a city which was established by iniquity continued 
 for years, and even for centuries, to be a curse to its inhabitants 
 and to the surrounding country ! ' Woe to him that buildeth a 
 town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity ;' and woe 
 also to the town thus built, and to the city thus stabhshed; 
 for the character of its founder will be impressed upon it, and 
 upon it, therefore, must rest the frown of God.^ 
 
 *From Dan to Beersheba' became a common expression in 
 Israel ; and the meaning of it is explained by the fact, that Dan 
 
 Judges xviii. 30, 31 ; comp. Josh. xix. 47. 
 
 - 1 Kin^s xii. 29, 30 ; 2 Kings x. 29. 
 
 ^ There is a Dan mentioned in Gen. xiv. 14, which some suppose to be the 
 I>au-Jaan of 2 Sam. xxiv. 6, and to be a different town from the Dan men- 
 tioned above. (Kalisca on Genesis.) It is quite as probable, however, that 
 these places were all identical, and that the name Dan was inserted in the 
 MSS. of Gen. xiv. by a later copyist, the word originally having been Laish. 
 
DAN TO BEERSHEBA. 211 
 
 was the most northerly city in the land, and Beersheba the most 
 southerly, so that the two cities were, proverbially at least, the 
 extremities of Canaan. But ' Dan has ceased to be a city for 
 ages. Not one solitary habitation is there. The fountain still 
 pours forth its river of delicious water, but herds of black 
 buffaloes wash and wallow in its crystal pools. You cannot 
 even examine the site with satisfaction, so dense is the jungle of 
 briars, thorns, and thistles which have overspread it.'^ 
 
 It was to this northern colony of the Danites that the pro- 
 phecy of Moses pointed : ' Dan is a lion's whelp : he shall leap 
 from Bashau.' Of the southern Dan little more remains to be 
 noticed beyond the fact intimated in the song of Deborah, that, 
 when she summoned the Israelites to go forth against Sisera, 
 * Dan remained in ships ;' whence it would appear that, dwelling 
 as they did on the shores of the Mediterranean, the tribe had 
 already entered, to some extent, on a seafaring life. It is scarcely 
 probable, however, that they became anything more than fisher- 
 men; for none of the Israelites gave themselves to maritime 
 pursuits, but were content to trade by sea through the medium 
 of the Phoenicians. Perhaps, then, the ships in which the Danites 
 remained, were only Phoenician vessels, or but small fishing boats ; 
 and we imagine that, thorough landsmen as they were, all that 
 they did was to venture out a little distance from the land under 
 the care and direction of more expert seamen. That they were 
 on friendly terms with the Phoenicians at a later period, we 
 gather from 2 Chron. ii. 14, where we learn that Huram sent to 
 Solomon a cunning man, whose mother was of the daughters of 
 Dan, and whose father was a man of Tyre. Such intermarriages, 
 though forbidden by the law, were perhaps not infrequent ; but 
 whether they were or not, it is certainly a remarkable coin- 
 cidence that this one should be met with in the tribe of Dan, 
 whose intercourse with the Phoenicians was, no doubt, main- 
 
 » * The Land and the Book,' p. 216 
 
212 SIMEON AND DAN. 
 
 tained by means of the Tyrian mariners who visited the port of 
 Joppa. 
 
 The tribe of Dan is mentioned in 1 Chron. xxvii. 22, but is 
 omitted in the genealogies of 1 Chron. ii.-xii. It is also omitted 
 from the list of the tribes sealed in the Apocalypse (Rev. vii.), 
 and that because of its idolatry. ' On this account,' says Heng- 
 stenberg, ' did Ezekiel, ch. xlviii., in determining the respective 
 positions of the tribes, assign the most remote place on the north 
 to Dan, at the farthest distance from the sanctuary, to which 
 Judah immediately adjoined. John only proceeds a step farther, 
 and excludes Dan altogether.' As such, then, the tribe of Dan 
 has no place among the sealed ones ; and though we must by no 
 means infer from this that individuals belonging to it are not 
 found among the redeemed, yet are we admonished by the fact 
 of the sinfulness of idolatry, and warned against the danger of 
 setting up false gods in our hearts. '■ Little children, keep your- 
 selves from idols,' is the injunction of the same Apostle who wrote 
 respecting the sealing of the twelve tribes of Israel, and who 
 afi&rms that there shall in no wise enter into the New Jerusalem 
 ' anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, 
 or maketh a lie ; but they only which are written in the Lamb's 
 book of life.' 
 
THE TOMB OF JOSEPH. 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 Of 
 
 THE LOT OF EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. 
 
 ^N the very centre of the land of promise-the glory of 
 all lands, the land flowing with milk and honey— was 
 ^ the lot of Ephraim and of the half-tribe of Manasseh. 
 Joseph, Moses said, — 
 
 ' Blessed of the Lord be his land, 
 
 For the precious things of heaven, 
 
 For the dew, 
 
 And for the deep that coucheth beneath. 
 And for the precious things brought forth by the sun, 
 And for the precious things put forth by the moon, 
 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, 
 And for the precious things of the lasting hills. 
 And for the precious things of the earth, and fulness thereof, 
 And for the good-will of Him that dwelt in the bush : 
 
214 EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. 
 
 Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, 
 And upon the top of the head of him that was separated from 
 his brethren. 
 His glory is like the firstling of the bullock, 
 And his horns are like the horns of unicorns : 
 With them shall he push the people together to the ends of 
 the earth ; 
 And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, 
 And they are the thousands of Manasseh.'^ 
 
 In striking agreement is this beautiful language with the 
 blessing pronounced upon Joseph by his aged sire,^ so that we 
 shall expect to find the inheritance of the tribe one of great 
 value ; nor, if we look at it carefully, shall we be at all disap- 
 pointed. It is described in Joshua, chapters xvi. and xvii., first 
 as a whole ; after which, the portion allotted to Ephraim is 
 described more fully. ' It is remarkable, however,' says Keil, 
 ' that of the whole of the inheritance assigned to the children of 
 Joseph only the southern boundary is given, whilst nothing is 
 said respecting that on the north. But this may be explained 
 on the ground that this double tribe had no definite boundary 
 on the north, but merely had a number of cities allotted to 
 them within the line which formed the boundary of the tribes of 
 Asher and Issachar (chap. xvii. 10, 11) ; and partly from the 
 fact that the Josephites did not expel the Canaanites from the 
 northern part of the territory assigned them, but only gradually 
 brought them into subjection, and dwelt by the side of, or 
 amongst them. Hence the Kmits of their land in this direction 
 were not always the same ; and at . one time, when they ex- 
 pressed some discontent at the portion allotted to them, Joshua 
 told them that they might enlarge their possessions if they could 
 drive the Canaanites out.' 
 
 Of the southern boundary, then, it is said, that commencing 
 at the Jordan by the brook near Jericho, called ' the waters of 
 
 » Deut. xxxiii. 13-17. 2. Gen. xlix. 22-24. 
 
THE WATERS OF JERICHO. 215 
 
 Jericho on the east,' it passed to the north of that city, through 
 the desert, or the Wady Kelt, to the mountains in the vicinity of 
 Bethel. Thence it proceeded to the southern side of Bethel or 
 Luz, and passed along the territory of Archi to Ataroth, and 
 went down westward to the coast of Japhleti to Beth-horon the 
 nether, and to Gezer, coming out on the coast of the Mediter- 
 ranean Sea.^ 
 
 The position of Jericho has been already indicated. That of 
 Bethel, the ancient Luz (Gen. xxviii. 19), is now represented by 
 the vi'Jage of Beitin, twelve Roman miles north of Jerusalem, 
 the ruins of which occupy ' the whole surface of the hill-point, 
 sloping towards the south-east, and cover a space of three 
 or four acres.' ^ From the Arabs, who had pitched their tents 
 on this spot for the summer, to watch their flocks and fields of 
 grain, Dr Robinson obtained the finest milk and butter he found 
 anywhere in Palestine. The land of the Archites is supposed to 
 be :he district now called Beni-Zeid ; and Ataroth is identical 
 witl the modern Atara, four miles south of Jijilia, situated on 
 the summit of a high hill in the midst of a richly cultivated dis- 
 trict^ Beth-horon the nether, now Beit-Ur et Tahta, is on the 
 way from Jerusalem to Ludd, at a distance from the former of 
 tweve Roman miles. Gezer was probably situated between 
 Beti-horon and Lydda. The boundary-hne left the latter city 
 on the south, and running to the north-west, terminated at Joppa, 
 the celebrated port. 
 
 It is exceedingly difficult, as Keil has observed, to understand 
 the description of the northern boundary of Ephraim— -for such 
 it appears to be— given in Josh. xvi. 5-8; and hence he supposes 
 thai there is here a corruption of the text. But, referring the 
 critical reader to his pages, we may observe that none of the 
 places here mentioned — Michmethah, Taanath-shiloh, Tappuah, 
 
 ^ Josh. xvi. 1-5 -, comp. xviii. 11, 14. 
 
 2 Robinson's 'Re^arches,' vol. i., p. 448. ^ Ibid. vol. ii.. p. 265. 
 
216 EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. 
 
 and the river Kaiiali — have been identified with certainty;^ so that 
 all we really know, is that the territory of Joseph was divided 
 into two portions, somewhere near the midst, the southern portion 
 being the lot of Ephraim, and the northern portion that of the 
 half-tribe of Manasseh or the descendants of Gilead. The other 
 half-tribe of Manasseh, or the descendants of Machir, had already 
 its inheritance in the fertile districts of Gilead and Bashan, on 
 the east of the Jordan ; and now, partly adjoining it on the west 
 of the river, this second half found itself as well provided for. 
 Josh. xvii. 1, 2. 
 
 All the male descendants of Manasseh had been satisfied 
 when the daughters of Zelophehad, whose father had died in 
 the wilderness without any male issue, presented themselves 
 before Joshua, and before Eleazar the priest, and requested that 
 they too might have an inheritance ; for, after the death of their 
 father, they had received a promise from Moses, who had inquired 
 of the Lord on their behalf, that they should receive a possession 
 among their brethren.- The claim was a just one; and Mahlah, 
 Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, who remembered the pro- 
 mise given them by Moses, and who did well to urge their right 
 to an inheritance, received one without delay. There were six 
 families of the Manassites ; and their land was divided into ten 
 portions, five of which were assigned to Abiezer, Heiek, As';iel, 
 Shechem, and Shemida, and their descendants, and five to the 
 family of Hepher — that is, to the daughters of Zelophehad— his 
 son. Josh. xvii. 5, 6. 
 
 Several important cities were assigned to Manasseh wiihin 
 the territories of Asher and of Issachar ; namely, Beth-shean, 
 Ibleam, Dor, Endor, Taanach, and Megiddo ; but the Manas- 
 sites were unable to drive out the Canaanites from these cities. 
 When, however, the children of Israel became strong, they com- 
 
 ^ See Van de Velde's ' Memoir ' on tliese places. 
 2 Josh. xvii. 3, 4 ; comp. Num. xxvii. 1-&. 
 
THE EPHRAIMITES DISSATISFIED. 217 
 
 pelled the Canaanites to pay tribute, but did not utterly drive 
 them out.i The children of Joseph, including both the Manas- 
 sites and the Ephraimites, displayed some want of courage 
 and independence. Not satisfied with the inheritance they had 
 received, they came to Joshua, and urging that they were a 
 numerous people, asked why but one lot had been assigned to 
 them. But Joshua replied, ' If thou be a great people, then get 
 thee up into the wood-country, and cut down for thyself there in 
 the land of the Perizzites, and of the Rephaim, if Mount Ephraim 
 be too narrow for thee.' The region here referred to was the 
 mountainous tract near Beth-shean, which extended to Endor on 
 the coast, and which was originally in possession of the Periz- 
 zites and the Rephaim, and was thickly covered with wood. 
 Go then, said Joshua, and clear this country of the forest. But 
 they complained that they could not, because the inhabitants that 
 dwelt in the neighbouring valley had chariots of iron. It was a 
 cowardly reply ; and Joshua only repeated his instructions with 
 a delicate vein of irony. ' The captain gives the same reply as 
 before, but more fully and explicitly. Since, says he, you are 
 a numerous people, and possess great strength, unless you are 
 very timid you will easily obtain possession of the mountain ; 
 and, although it is covered with wood, you will clear. And not 
 only will you take the mountain, but all adjacent places ; for 
 you are furnished with such resources that you will easily con- 
 quer even the Canaanites, with all their chariots of iron.'^ 
 These mountains, which extended southwards towards the limits 
 of the inheritance of Benjamin, consisted of a range of limestone 
 hills, in the heart of which were wide plains, ' streams of running 
 water, and continuous tracts of vegetation.' And conquered 
 they were, so that even the members of other tribes wandered 
 to their heights for shelter and for power,^ and 'Mount Ephraim,' 
 
 1 Josh. xvii. 12, 13 ; comp. Judges i. 27, 28. 
 
 * Masiuo, quoted by Keil. ^ See Stanley, p. 229. 
 
218 EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. 
 
 the designation of the entire district, became the scene of many 
 a terrible conflict and of many a decided victory. 
 
 Almost in the centre of the lot of Ephraim the tabernacle 
 was erected by Joshua, and araund it gathered the whole con- 
 gregation of the children of Israel.^ This event took place, as 
 we have already observed, immediately after the tribe had re- 
 ceived its inheritance ; and a highly important event it proved. 
 The spot was called Shiloh, and the locality was 'on the north 
 side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up 
 from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah,'^— where 
 Dr Kobinson found ruins bearing the name of Seilun, which 
 answers perfectly to Shilon, the full form of the Hebrew name. 
 ' The position is in itself a fine one for strength, if it were ever 
 fortified, though it is commanded by the neighbouring hills. 
 Among the ruins of modern houses are many large stones, and 
 some fragments of columns, showing the place to have been an 
 ancient site. At the southern foot of the Tell is a small ruined 
 mosk, standing partly beneath a noble oak-tree.' ^ 
 
 Here, then, the tabernacle was reared ; here the ark of the 
 covenant of the Lord remained until the days of Eh the priest ; 
 liere was an annual feast to the Lord, during which the daugh- 
 ters of Shiloh came out 'to dance in dances,' who, on one of 
 these occasions, were carried off by the neighbouring tribe of 
 Benjamin as wives (Judges xxi. 19-23); and here Samuel was 
 dedicated to the Lord, and spent the days of his childhood in 
 the service of the sanctuary (1 Sam. i. 24-26). But ultimately 
 God forsook it; for He 'refused the tabernacle of Joseph, 
 and chose not the tribe of Ephraim ; but chose the tribe of 
 Judah, the Mount Zion which He loved.'-* The proud and 
 haughty spirit displayed by Ephraim in many instances, was 
 highly offensive in the sight of Heaven ; and, though long borne 
 
 ' Josli. xviii. 1-3. 2 Judges xxi. 19. 
 
 3 'Keseai'clies,' vol. ii., p. 269. * Ps. Ixxviii. 67, 68 ; Jer. vii. 12-1-4. 
 
THE VALE OF SHECHEM. 219 
 
 with, it was at length given up, and its glory and dominion passed 
 away. 
 
 Twelve miles north of Shiloh was the vale of Shechem, a 
 locality to which reference was made in a former chapter, in 
 connection with the event that took place on Mount Ebal and 
 Gerizim.^ We return to it again, inasmuch as its beauty 
 is illustrative not only of the prophecy of Moses, but also 
 of that of the dying Jacob. ' Here,' says Van de Yelde, in his 
 description of this vale, ' there is no wilderness ; here there are 
 no wild thickets, yet there is always verdure — always shade, 
 not of the oak, the terebinth, and the caroub-tree, but of the 
 olive grove, so soft in colour, so picturesque in form, that for 
 its sake we can willingly dispense with all other wood. Here 
 there are no impetuous mountain torrents, yet there is water — 
 water, too, in more copious supplies than anywhere else in the 
 land ; and it is just to its many fountains, rills, and water-courses 
 that this valley owes its exquisite beauty.' ^ Now it will be 
 remembered that to these lovely groves Abraham was attracted 
 when first he entered the land of promise ; and that here Jacob 
 settled after he had crossed the brook Jabbok and the northern 
 passes of the river Jordan ; for here ' he bought a parcel of a 
 field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children 
 of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of money.' ^ 
 And this parcel of a field, subsequently wrested from him by the 
 Amorite, but retaken from them by his quiver and his bow, he 
 gave to his son Joseph,'* blessing him also with ' blessings of the 
 heaven above, and blessings of the deep that heth under.' Here, 
 in particular, were ' the precious things of heaven, of the dew, 
 and of the deep that coucheth beneath ;' here were 'the precious 
 things of the lasting hills,' and ' the precious things of the earth, 
 and the fulness thereof;' for, though 'the valley is far from 
 
 » See Chap. VII. ^ ' Syria and Palestine,' vol. i., p. 386. 
 
 ^ Gen. xxxiii. 19. * Gen. slviii. 22 ; John iv. 3. 
 
220 EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. 
 
 broad, not exceeding in some places a few hundred feet,' yet the 
 herbage is everywhere rich and nutritious, and you are charmed 
 with the music of the murmuring brook, and with the melody of 
 numerous singing birds ; whilst, as you approach Samaria, two 
 hours distant, you pass through gardens plentifully stocked with 
 many kinds of fruit-trees, ' among the branches of which clusters 
 of grapes hang down in wreaths and festoons.' 
 
 It is not surprising that a spot so fertile, and moreover hal- 
 lowed by its connection with the lives of the patriarchs, should 
 become the first capital of the country after its conquest by the 
 Israelites. ' Its central position and its peculiar fertility made 
 it the natural seat of settled habitation in the north, even to a 
 greater degree than the vale of Mamre and Eshcol ensured, as 
 we have seen, the same early privilege for Hebron in the south.' ^ 
 The tabernacle and the ark of the covenant remained at Shiloh, 
 but the place where the national assemblies met was Shechem. 
 There Joshua gathered all the tribes together prior to his death ;^ 
 and there, at a much later period, all Israel came together to 
 make Rehoboam kiug.^ 
 
 It was at Shechem that the Israelites buried, probably with 
 the most solemn funeral rites, the bones of the patriarch Joseph. 
 The fact is not recorded until after the account of the death of 
 Joshua ; * but there can be little doubt that the rites of sepulture 
 were performed soon after the erection of the tabernacle at 
 Shiloh. The dying patriarch had said to his brethren, ' God 
 shall surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from 
 hence ;' and being carefully embalmed, his mummy was pre- 
 served in the family of Ephraim through the long period of the 
 bondage, through the forty years' wanderings in the wilderness 
 of Sinai, and through the wars of Joshua with the inhabitants of 
 Canaan ; and now, at length, the word of prophecy was fulfilled, 
 
 1 Stanley, p. 236. 2 Josh. xxiv. 1. 
 
 ^ 1 Kings xii. 1. * Josh. xxiv. 32. 
 
DEBORAH THE PROPHETESS. 221 
 
 and Joseph's remains were deposited in their last earthly resting- 
 place. 
 
 The history of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and its 
 connection with the territory they occupied, can be but very 
 briefly sketched. After the death of Joshua the house of Joseph 
 went up against Bethel, which was still in the hands of the 
 Cauaanites ; and being shown the entrance to it by one of its 
 inhabitants, they entered the city and smote it with the edge of 
 the sword, but suffered the man and his family to depart, who 
 went into the land of the Hittites, and there built a city which 
 he called Luz.^ Under a palm-tree near BetheF sat Deborah 
 the prophetess, who was probably a woman of Ephraim, and who, 
 when the Israelites had long been oppressed by Jabin, king of 
 Canaan, rose up, hke the modern Joan of Arc, to rescue her 
 people from the giant's grasp. She and Barak having gathered 
 the people together to Mount Tabor, a battle ensued with Sisera, 
 the captain of Jabin's army, near ' that ancient river, the river 
 Kjshon ;' and Sisera's army being discomfited, he himself fled to 
 the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, who, when he was 
 fast asleep and weary, cruelly put him to death. From the mag- 
 nificent ode of Deborah, sung after the victory, we learn that the 
 Ephraimites and the Manassites both took part in the struggle ; 
 for ' out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek ;' 
 ' out of Machir came down governors.' And it would have been 
 strange indeed if these tribes, so near the field of battle, had 
 stood aloof ; and had they done so, they must have shared in the 
 curse pronounced on Meroz, who ' came not up to the help of 
 the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.' 
 
 At a later period, when the Midianites had entered the land 
 of Canaan, and had pitched their tents in the great plain of 
 Esdraelon, whence they had made incursions as far as to Gaza, 
 destroying the produce of the earth, and compelHng the Israelites 
 
 1 Judges i. 22-26. ' Judges iv. 5. 
 
222 EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. 
 
 to take refuge in the dens and caves of the mountains, rose up 
 Gideon, a Manassite ; and this mighty man of valour, with his 
 three hundred men, armed only with trumpets, and with lamps 
 concealed in earthen pitchers, discomfited the Midianitish host, 
 though they were in number like grasshoppers for multitude. 
 And that first victory was followed up by a second ; for at 
 Beth-shittah, ' the house of the acacia,' and Abel-meholah, ' the 
 meadow of the dance' — places in the Jordan valley under the 
 mountains of Ephraim — the Ephraimites, to whom messages had 
 been sent, took the passages of the river, intercepted the flight 
 of the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and slew them there. 
 The proud spirit of the Ephraimites was somewhat roused, how- 
 ever, because Gideon had not called them into the conflict earlier, 
 and they chode with him sharply. But he knew how to deal with 
 them, and said, ' Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim 
 better than the vintage of Abi-ezer ? ' What had he done, that is, 
 in comparison with them ? They had slain even the princes of 
 Midian ; had he obtained a victory so signal ? ' Then their anger 
 was abated to him when he said that.' Their vanity was gratified, 
 and they cared for little else. They thought they had done a 
 greater thing than Gideon, and therefore they said no more !^ 
 
 ' Eaint, yet pursuing them,' Gideon and his three hundred 
 men followed the rest of the fugitives (at the head of whom were 
 Zebah and Zalmunna) over the Jordan eastward, and having 
 overtaken them beyond Succoth and Peuuel, the inhabitants of 
 which cities refused him bread, he chastised the men of Succoth 
 and broke down the tower of Penuel, and slew the princes Zebah 
 and Zalmunna, as they, by their own confession, had slain some of 
 the brethren of Gideon at Mount Tabor. After this the people 
 wanted to make Gideon king ; but he declined the honour, if such 
 it was, and said, ' I will not rule over you, neither shall my son 
 rule over you : the Lord shall rule over you.' 2 Sad it was that 
 
 ^ Judges viii. 1-3. 2 Judges viii. 4-23. 
 
THE PARABLE OF JOTHAM. 223 
 
 such a man should relapse into idolatry ; but of the golden ear- 
 rings of the Midianites ' he made an ephod,' implying not only 
 the preparation of a priestly garment, but the construction of a 
 graven image, which he set up in Ophrah, and which became a 
 snare to him and to his house. A natural result followed. After 
 his death his family was divided ; and Abimelech, one of his sons, 
 slew all his brethren, Jotham only excepted, and induced the 
 people to proclaim him king at Shechem. Jotham heard of it, 
 and on the top of Mount Gerizim uttered his remarkable parable 
 respecting the trees which desired a king, — a parable which 
 proved prophetic, for, three years afterwards, the men of She- 
 chem avenged upon Abimelech, their king, the blood of the sons 
 of Gideon which he had shed.^ 
 
 By another sad event is the history of the Ephraimites stained. 
 Jephthah the Gileadite having delivered Israel from the Am- 
 monites, the men of Ephraim, true to their character, went to 
 him and demanded why he had not called them to fight with 
 Ammon, and threatened that they would burn his house with 
 fire. A conflict ensued between the two tribes on the eastern 
 side of the Jordan, and the Ephraimites were smitten by the 
 Gileadites, and fled. But the Gileadites took before them the 
 passages of the river, and intercepted their flight. A difference 
 of dialect had arisen in Israel, and the Ephraimites were unable 
 to pronounce the aspirated sound sh ; and when an Ephraimite 
 came to the fords, and, denying that he was an Ephraimite, 
 asked permission to pass over, the Gileadites said to him. Say 
 now Shibboleth, T\%^ (that is, a stream or flood), but he said 
 Sibboleth, n^hp (that is, burdens), and was then slain without 
 mercy. Thus were the Ephraimites punished for their audacity, 
 for there fell of them at that time forty and two thousand.2 
 
 By the capture of the ark of the covenant in the days of Eli 
 the priest, and by its subsequent removal to the hill of Zion, 
 
 1 Judges ix. 1-27 " Jxidges xii. 1-6. 
 
224 EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH. 
 
 through the instrumentality of David the king,^ the pride of 
 Ephraim was once more humbled. But soon after the revolt of 
 the ten tribes, the erection of the city of Samaria by Omri gave 
 renown to the tribe of Ephraim ; for that city was situated in the 
 very heart of their territory, on an oblong hill, six miles from 
 Shechem, and almost on the edge of the great maritime plain. 
 ' This was the mountain Shomron (corrupted through the Chaldee 
 "Shemrin " into the Greek "Samaria") which Omri bought of 
 Shemer for the great sum of two talents of silver, and built 
 on the mountain, and called the name of the city which he 
 built Shomron (or Samaria), after the name of Shemer, owner of 
 the mountain.' ' What Omri in all probabiKty built as a mere 
 palatial residence, became the capital of the kingdom instead of 
 Shechem. It was as though Versailles had taken the place of 
 Paris, or Windsor of London. But in this case the change was 
 effected by the admirable choice of Omri, in selecting a position 
 which, as has been truly observed, combined in a union not else- 
 where found in Palestine, strength, beauty, and fertility. Its 
 fertility and beauty are shared to a great extent with Shechem, 
 in this respect the common characteristics of these later capitals, 
 all probably alike included in the bitter praise of the prophet, 
 "Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, 
 whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head 
 of the fat 'ravines' of them which are overcome with wine." 
 But having these advantages, which Shechem had, it had others 
 which Shechem had not. Situated on its steep height, in a plain 
 itself girt in by hills, it was enabled, not less promptly than 
 Jerusalem, to resist the successive assaults made upon it by the 
 Syrian and Assyrian armies. The first were baffled altogether ; 
 the second took it only after a three years' siege, that is, three 
 times as long as that which reduced Jerusalem.' - 
 
 1 2 Sam. vi. 1-12. 
 
 2 Stanley, p. 242 ; comp. Van de Yelde, vol. i., p. 374, etc. 
 
SAMARIA. 225 
 
 Samaria, or rather Sebaste, its successor, built by Herod, is 
 now represented by considerable remains, which consist princi- 
 pally of colonnades, the grandest of which runs along the south 
 side of the hill, down a broad terrace, which descends rapidly 
 towards the present village. Along this line are nearly one 
 hundred columns, and many others lie scattered about on lower 
 terraces. The glory of Ephraim has passed away, to return not 
 again until the millennial age, when the scattered tribes of Israel 
 shall be restored; when 'Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and 
 Judah shall not vex Ephraim;' when amity and peace shall 
 prevail among all nations, and the noise of battle shall be heard 
 no more. 
 
MOUNT TABOR, 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 THE LOT OF ISSACHAR AND ZEBULUN. 
 
 IpEXT to the mountains of Ephraim, and to the territory 
 W,^ assigned to Manasseh, lies the vast plain of Esdraelon, 
 or Jezreel, extending, in length, from Mount Carmel 
 on the west, to the Jordan on the east ; and, in breadth, from 
 En-gannim on the south, to Mount Tabor on the north. The 
 eastern part of this plain fell to the lot of Issachar ; the western 
 portion was assigned to Zebulun. 
 
 Of the sixteen cities which belonged to Issachar, mentioned 
 in Joshua xix. 17-22, nine are altogether unknown ; but the sites 
 of the remaining ^seven have been identified, and by means of 
 these, and the boundary lines of the neighbouring tribes, the limits 
 of Issachar's inheritance can be fixed with tolerable accuracy. 
 
THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON. 227 
 
 Commencing on the western side of the Jordan, a little south 
 of Bethshan, which belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, the border 
 passed under Mount Gilboa, and swept round the foot of the 
 range called the mountains of Ephraim to En-gannim ; thence 
 running north-westward to the foot of the range of Carmel, it 
 crossed the ri^er Kishon, turned to the east and ran to Mount 
 Tabor, and thence to the valley of the Jordan, a little below the 
 Lake of Gennesaret. 
 
 En-gannim, which was afterwards assigned to the Levites, 
 was identical with the Ginnea of Josephus, and with the present 
 town of Jenin, which lies on the southern edge of the plain, ' in 
 the midst of gardens of fruit-trees, which are surrounded by- 
 hedges of the prickly pear.'^ Six miles northward of it is 
 Jezreel, now Zerin, on the western extremity of Mount Gilboa. 
 It ' lies comparatively high, and commands a wide and noble 
 view, extending down the broad, low valley on the east to Bei- 
 san, and to the mountains beyond the Jordan ; while towards 
 the west it includes the whole great plam quite to the long ridge 
 of Carmel. It is a most magnificent site for a city ; which, being 
 itself thus a conspicuous object in every part, would naturally 
 give its name to the whole region. There could be little ques- 
 tion that, in and around Zerin, we had before us the city, the 
 plain, the valley, and the fountain of the ancient Jezreel.'^ The 
 name Jezreel, f'Xyip, signifies, ' God is sowing,' and indicates the 
 richness of the neighbouring soil. Here was the royal residence 
 of Ahab, and here the vineyard of Naboth, which the haughty 
 monarch demanded that he might turn it into a garden of herbs. 
 
 Nearly six miles north of Jezreel is Shunem, now Solam, 
 near to which, in all probability, were Haphraim and Shihon. 
 Chesulloth is supposed to be represented by the village of 
 
 1 Kobinson's ' Eesearclies,' vol. ii., p. 215 ; and Wilson's ' Lands of the Bible,' 
 vol. ii., p. 84. 
 
 2 Kobinson, vol. ii., p. 320. 
 
228 ISSACHAR AND ZEBTJLUN. 
 
 Iksal, the Xaloth of Joseplms, situated in a rich and fertile plain 
 at the foot of Mount Tabor, on which mount stood the city 
 Tabor, which must have belonged partly to Issachar and partly 
 to Zebulun, as it is mentioned as one of the sixteen cities of the 
 former tribe, but as given to the Levites by the latter. 
 
 Of the territory in which these cities stood it seems impossible 
 to speak in terms too high. The mountains which rise up from 
 the plain — Gilboa, Tabor, and the Little Hermon — are the birth- 
 places of innumerable springs and rivulets, which, running east 
 or west, spread beauty and fertility through their tracks ; and the 
 soil, being rich and loamy, is productive of the choicest vegeta- 
 tion, so that ' the aspect of the plain in spring time is that of a vast 
 waving corn-field, olive-trees here and there springing from it.* 
 One of its rivers is the Kishon, which takes its rise in Mount 
 Tabor,^ and, fed also from other sources, winds round to the 
 north-west, and, after running about seven miles, empties itself 
 into the Mediterranean near Mount Carmel. It was here that 
 the battle took place, already referred to, between the Israelites, 
 under the command of Deborah and Barak, and the host of 
 Sisera. ' And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah ; even 
 Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley.'^ 
 They met together on the broad summit of Mount Tabor, for it 
 is said, ' Barak went down from Tabor, and ten thousand men 
 after him ; ' whilst Sisera, with his nine hundred chariots of iron, 
 took up his position in the valley of Megiddo ; and there the 
 terrible conflict took place, and ' the stars in their courses fought 
 against Sisera.' * There came down from heaven,' says Josephus, 
 ' a great storm, with a vast quantity of rain and hail ; and the 
 wind blew the rain in the face of the Canaanites, and so darkened 
 their eyes, that their arrows and their slings were of no advantage 
 to them, nor would the coldness of the air permit the soldiers to 
 make use of their swords ; while this storm did not so much in- 
 
 ' See Bobinson's ' Eceearclies,' vol. ii., p. 364. ^ judges v. 15-^1. 
 
THE KISHON. 229 
 
 commode the Israelites, because it came in their backs.'^ Mean- 
 while the torrent of the Kishon was suddenly swollen, as it is 
 wont to be by heavy rains, and pouring down the valley in which 
 the hosts of Sisera lay, it swept them down before it, and ' they 
 had no alternative but to make for the narrow pass which led to 
 Harosheth.' ' The space, however, becomes more and more 
 narrow, until within the pass it is only a few rods wide. There, 
 horses, chariots, and men become mixed in horrible confusion, 
 jostling and treading down one another; and the river, here 
 swifter and deeper than above, runs zigzag from side to side of 
 the vale, until, just before it reaches the castle of Harosheth, it 
 dashes sheer up against the perpendicular base of Carmel. There 
 is no longer any possibihty of avoiding it. Rank upon rank of 
 the flying host plunge madly in, those behind crushing those 
 before deeper and deeper in the tenacious mud. They stick fast, 
 are overwhelmed, and swept away by thousands.' 2 
 
 In the same locality Gideon also gained his victory; and 
 here too it was that, at a later period, the prophets of Baal 
 were slain by command of the prophet Elijah, whence it is sup- 
 posed that the present name of the Kishon, Nahr Mukatta, or 
 the river of slaughter, took its rise. But many have been the 
 conflicts witnessed on the plain of Esdraelon, both in ancient 
 and in modern times. It has been, in fact, the great battle-field 
 of Palestine, and it may yet again be the scene of other contests 
 — contests which shall tell upon the future destinies of the land. 
 
 Moses said of Zebuluu and Issachar, ' Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy 
 going out ; and, Issachar, in thy tents. They shall call the people 
 unto the mountain ; there shall they offer sacrifices of righteous- 
 ness : for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of 
 treasures hid in the sand.' ' Issachar,' said Jacob, ' is a strong 
 ass couching down between two burdens : and he saw that rest 
 was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his 
 
 1 Antiq. v. v. 4. - ' The Land and the Book,' p. 43G. 
 
230 ISSACHAR AND ZEBULUN. 
 
 shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute.' The latter 
 words especially are strikingly descriptive of the character of the 
 tribe, which, though its numbers were considerable — amounting 
 at the conquest to 64,300 — dwelt, and rejoiced to dwell in tents, 
 living a nomadic life, and seldom taking part in the great strug- 
 gles of the nation. One of the judges, Tola, was of the tribe of 
 Issachar ; but we know nothing of him beyond the fact that he 
 dwelt at Shamir, in Mount Ephraim. Between two burdens, or 
 folds, as the word signifies, Issachar couched as a strong-boned 
 ass, such as was used in the work of the fields ; and seeing that 
 rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, he threw aside 
 the military character and betook himself to a pastoral and 
 agrarian life. To such an extent was this the case, that the men 
 of Issachar submitted to pay tribute to surrounding nations, 
 whilst to their neighbours the Manassites they gave up Beth- 
 shean, Ibleam, Taanach, and Megiddo, perhaps because they 
 could not take them from the Canaanites themselves, and thought 
 that the Manassites would be more successful. 
 
 But all this was characteristic of human nature. When men 
 CAN live in ease, they will. Who that inherits a magnificent 
 estate would not far rather dwell upon it, cultivating its soil, 
 developing its resources, and enjoying its productions, than go 
 into the battle-field and expose himself to the hardships of a 
 soldier's life ? A desire for military fame, or a sense of. duty to 
 his country, will often induce a man to take the latter course ; 
 but few there are who would not prefer the former, and to whom 
 it would not be a trial and a task to exchange a home of quiet- 
 ness for a scene of turmoil and of strife. 
 
 At a later period, however, the men of Issachar were of a 
 different spirit, for it is said, that 'among all the families of 
 Issachar were valiant men of might, reckoned in all, by their 
 genealogies, fourscore and seven thousand.' ^ Moreover, of the 
 
 ^ 1 Chi-on. vii. 5. 
 
THE CHARACTEK OF ISSACHAK. 231 
 
 numbers who went up to Hebron, ready armed, to make David 
 the king, were men of Issachar < that had understanding of the 
 times, to know what Israel ought to do : the heads of them were 
 two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command- 
 ment.'^ According to Josephus, there were of the armed men of 
 Issachar twenty thousand ; and it is supposed that those who 
 had understanding of the times were men who were distinguished 
 for their skill in astronomical and physical science, by which 
 they were enabled to predict the course of events. ' The learn- 
 ing of this tribe is no doubt particularly referred to here, because 
 it was matter of great importance that not the mihtary tribes, but 
 the tribe which was celebrated for its scientific attainments, and also 
 for its sound judgment in political questions, declared for David.'^ 
 
 Nor should it be forgotten that Baasha, one of the kings of 
 Israel, belonged to the tribe of Issachar ; but he was a fierce 
 and warlike man, and obtained the throne by the murder of his 
 predecessor. It was far more to the honour of the tribe that in 
 the days of Hezekiah many of them came, with a multitude of 
 Ephraim, Manasseh, and Zebulun, to keep the feast of unleavened 
 bread at Jerusalem. Long had they been separated from their 
 brethren of the south, and many years had elapsed since they 
 celebrated the Passover ; so that they seem to have forgotten 
 what was required of them, and ' had not cleansed themselves, 
 but ate the Passover otherwise than it was written.' Hezekiah, 
 however, prayed for them, and said, ' The good Lord pardon 
 every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God 
 of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purifi- 
 cation of the sanctuary.' His prayer was heard, and the Lord 
 healed the people. 
 
 Issachar and Zebulun were closely allied by birth ; and, as 
 tribes, they were not separated, for the inheritance of the latter 
 adjoined that of the former on the north. 
 
 » 1 ChroD. xii. 32. ^ Bertheau, Comraentaiy on 1 Chion. 
 
232 ISSACHAR AND ZEBULUN. 
 
 Its boundaries are described in Joshua xix. 10-16. It com- 
 menced a little below the southern extremity of the Lake of 
 Gennesaret, and proceeded westward towards the Mediterranean 
 Sea through Sarid, and as far as Maralah, — places, unfortunately, 
 not now known. It is further described as reaching to Dab- 
 basheth — ' the camel's hump ;' supposed, therefore, to have been 
 upon the heights of Carmel;*and to the stream that is before 
 Jokneam, — in all probability, the Kishon. Such is the general 
 boundary line on the south ; respecting which it is stated further, 
 that from Sarid it turned eastward toward the sun-rising, unto 
 the border of Chisloth-tabor, and then went to Daberath, and up 
 to Japhia, — places at the foot or in the vicinity of Mount Tabor. 
 In the district were also Gittah-hepher, or Gath-hepher, the 
 birth-place of the prophet Jonah (now represented by the village 
 el Meshad, about five miles north-east of Nazareth) ; Ittah-kazin, 
 which is not now known ; and Remmon-methoar, now Runman- 
 neh, seven miles north of Nazareth. Neah, Hanuathon, and 
 the valley of Jiphthah-el are not known, but these places were 
 on the northern boundary. Of the five cities mentioned in verse 
 15, none have been discovered except Bethlehem, now Beitlahm, 
 half way between Nazareth and Mount Carmel ; and three others 
 — Kartah, Dimnah, and Kitron, mentioned as belonging to the 
 tribe of Zebulun in chap. xxi. 34, or in Judges i. 30 — are not 
 included in this enumeration. 
 
 ' Zebulun,' said Jacob, ' shall dwell at the haven of the sea ; 
 and he shall be for an haven of ships : and his border shall be 
 unto Zidon.' And of Issachar and Zebulun Moses said, ' They 
 suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the 
 sand.' Remarkably were the prophecies fulfilled; for, though the 
 territory of Zebulun did not reach to the coast of th€ Mediter- 
 ranean, it extended towards it, and on the east it embraced a 
 considerable portion of the shores of that celebrated lake on 
 which, in after times, so many incidents occurred in connection 
 
TRADE AND COMMERCE. 233 
 
 with the history of our Lord. We can easily understand the 
 expression, ' His borders shall reach unto Zidon,' as signifying 
 that it should extend towards the land of the Phoenicians, of 
 which Zidon, and not Tyre, was at that time the capital. And 
 there is every reason to believe that, as tradition states, the 
 tribe of Zebulun traded on the sea in purple dyes, and perhaps 
 employed themselves in the manufacture and exportation of glass; 
 for is not glass a treasure hid in the sand ? It has been sup- 
 posed, indeed, that glass is a modern discovery ; but this is a 
 mistake, as it was made in Egypt as early as the times of Joseph ; 
 for the process of glass-blowing is represented on the paintings 
 at Beni-Hassan, belonging to the times of Osirtasen I., and glass 
 bottles have been found in the tombs of the kings, bearing the 
 names of the Pharaohs of that period.^ 
 
 The tribe of Zebulun was also celebrated for its scribes; 
 for ' out of Zebulun,' said Deborah, ' came they that handle the 
 pen of the writer.' ^ Their commercial pursuits would almost 
 compel them to the study of the arts and sciences ; and it ap- 
 pears that, as early as the times of the Judges, they had ac- 
 quired distinction in this line of business. Yet, when necessary, 
 they could lay aside the pen for the sword ; for they were ' a 
 people who jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high 
 places of the field.' ^ This is high praise, and leads us to think 
 of the Zebulunites as rushing, during the battle on the Kishon, 
 into the very midst of the enemy, and, utterly fearless of their 
 lives, pursuing them when pursuit was no longer necessary. 
 
 The population of this tribe was numerous, amounting, at 
 the conquest, to 60,500 ; yet they were not able to drive out the 
 Canaanites from their territories ; ' but the Canaanites dwelt 
 among them, and became tributaries.'^ The only judge of this 
 tribe was Elou, who 'judged Israel ten years ;' the only prophet 
 
 ' See Wilkinson's ' Popular Account,' ii., pp. 58-60. 
 
 2 Judges V. 14. ^ Judges v. 18. * Judges i. 30. 
 
234 ISSACHAR A^D ZEBULUN. 
 
 was Jonah, who was sent to preach unto the Ninevites. But it is 
 probable that some of our Lord's disciples, the fishermen of the 
 Sea of Galilee, belonged to it ; though of this we have no certain 
 proof. 
 
 Of the Zebulunites of David's time a noble testimony is given. 
 There went up to him to Hebron, 'of Zebulun, such as went 
 forth to battle, expert in war, with all instruments of war, fifty- 
 thousand, which could keep rank: they were not of a double 
 heart.' ^ The tribe, then, had retained its military character, 
 and possessed qualifications of the highest order. Soldiers who 
 can keep rank, who are expert in the use of warlike instruments, 
 and who do not waver in the hour of battle, will be prized by 
 any general or monarch; and such were the men who, from 
 among the Zebulunites, ralHed round the standard of David the 
 king. In the 68th Psalm — a Psalm written, as Hengstenberg 
 thinks, on the occasion of the removal of the ark to Mount 
 Zion — it is intimated by David that the princes of Zebulun were 
 there; and princes in character must the fifty thousand have 
 been; nor can we wonder that their name should be held in 
 honour. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to refrain from the mention of one 
 town situated in the territory of Zebulun, belonging though it 
 does to a later period of history. Nazareth was there, the never- 
 to-be-forgotten spot where He, of whom Joshua was a type, 
 spent the days of His childhood and His youth. It derives all 
 its importance from this fact, for it is nowhere mentioned either 
 in the Old Testament or by Josephus ; and it was so obscure 
 and insignificant a place, that Nathanael, himself a Galilean, in 
 which province it stood, said, ' Can there any good thing .come 
 out of Nazareth?' But it was immortalized by its connection 
 with the early life of the Lord Jesus ; and from the beginning 
 of the Christian era it has been deemed as second in interest only 
 
 1 1 Chron. xii. 33. 
 
MOUNT TABOR. 235 
 
 to Bethlehem, where Christ was born. It is situated six miles 
 W.N.W. of Mount Tabor, hid in a narrow vale, a picture of 
 quietness -and repose. Near to it are Nain, En-dor, Deburieh, 
 and Yaffa; the two latter places corresponding with the Da- 
 beroth and Japhia which we have already mentioned. 
 
 Of the general features of this neighbourhood, travellers 
 speak in the highest terms. ' Fifteen gently rounded hills seem 
 as if they had met to form an enclosure ' for this beautiful basin ; 
 'they rise round it like the edge of a shell, to guard it from intru- 
 sion. It is a rich and beautiful field, in the midst of these green 
 hills, abounding in gay flowers, in fig-trees, small gardens, hedges 
 of the prickly pear ; and the dense rich grass affords an abun- 
 dant pasture.'^ With Mount Tabor itself, and the prospect 
 from its summit, Dr Robinson was in raptures. It is, he says, 
 ' a beautiful mountain, wholly of limestone ; bearing among the 
 Arabs, like so many other mountains, only the general name, 
 Jebel et Tur. It stands out alone towards the south-east from 
 the high land around Nazareth ; while the north-eastern arm of 
 the great plain of Esdraelon sweeps round its base, and extends 
 far to the north, forming a broad tract of table land, bordering 
 upon the deep Jordan valley and the basin of the Lake of 
 Tiberias.'^ Its height is about one thousand feet above the 
 plain ; its summit is broad, and upon it are ruins belonging to 
 different ages. The view, as described by Dr Robinson and 
 others, is extensive and magnificent ; and if the men of Issachar 
 and Zebulun, when they took possession of their lands, climbed 
 this mountain, and took a survey of their country and of the 
 adjoining territories, they would see cause to be well satisfied 
 with the lot they had obtained. Indeed, the providence of God 
 was over each of the tribes ; and not by chance did the inherit- 
 
 ^ Stanley, p. 361 ; and Kichardson. See also ' The Land and the Book.' 
 2 ' Eesearches,' vol. ii., p. 351, etc See also ' The Tent and the Khan,' by 
 Dr Stewart, pp. 430-5. 
 
236 ISSACHAK AND ZEBULUN. 
 
 aiice of any one of them turn up, but by His special guidance 
 and direction. Nor is it by chance that the lot of any man falls . 
 to him ; but He who gave Canaan to the Israehtes, and placed 
 Judah in the south of it and Zebulun towards the north, gives 
 to each nation its country, and to each family of each nation its 
 estate therein, whether that estate consist of broad acres or of a 
 humble cottage without a foot of land. 
 
SEA OF GALILEE. 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 THE LOT OF NAPHTALI AND ASHER. 
 
 NAPHTALI, satisfied with favour, and full with the 
 blessing of the Lord ; possess thou the west and the 
 south.' ^ Such were the brief but significant words of 
 Moses relative to the tribe which sprang from the second of the 
 sons of Bilhah. The lot of this tribe fell to the north of Zebulun, 
 and extended from the tribe of Asher on the west, to the Jordan 
 toward the east. Its exact boundaries cannot now be ascertained, 
 as the places mentioned in Joshua xix. 33, Heleph, Adami, Nekeb, 
 Jabneel, and Lakum, are unknown; but supposing, with Keil, 
 Allon Zaanannim, ' the oak by Zaanannira,' to be the same as 
 that mentioned in Judges iv. 11, with the further explanation, 
 ' which is by Kedesh,' then, as Kadssh, or Kedesh, was situated 
 on the hills north-west of Lake Huleh, the boundary line in Joshua 
 xix. 33 is described as running from the south-west to the north- 
 east up to the sources of the Jordan. Josephus says, that the 
 
 1 Deut. xxxiii. 23. By the south in this passage, is probably meant the 
 south of the northern Dan, which had just been mentioned in the previous verse. 
 
238 NAPHTALI AND ASHER. 
 
 territory of Naphtali extended, in that direction, ' as far as the 
 city of Damascus and the Upper Galilee, unto Mount Libanus 
 and the fountains of the Jordan.'^ From the Jordan the bound- 
 ary turned westward to Aznoth-tabor, and thence to Hukkok, — 
 supposed by Dr Robinson and others to be identical with a 
 village called Yakuk, situated on the northern border of the plain 
 of Wady Sellameh, about seven miles west of the Lake of Gen- 
 nesaret.^ There can be no doubt, however, that the eastern 
 boundary of Naphtali was identical with the western shore of the 
 above lake until it joined the boundary of Zebulun. From Asher 
 on the west the southern boundary of Naphtali was identical 
 with the northern boundary of Zebulun, extending Ho Judah 
 upon Jordan toward the sun-rising.'^ 
 
 But what can be the meaning of this latter expression? 
 How could the boundary of Naphtali extend towards the terri- 
 tory of Judah ? The only satisfactory answer to the question 
 has been furnished by Kaumer, referred to by Keil, and is sub- 
 stantially the following : — On the eastern side of the Jordan and 
 of the Lake of Gennesaret were a number of ' villages of tents,' 
 which were taken by one Jair, and named, after himself, * Havoth- 
 Jair,' or ' Chavvoth- Jair,' z.e., villages or towns of Jair.^ This 
 Jair was, on his mother's side, descended from Manasseh ; but, 
 on his father's side, he was a descendant of Judah.^ Now, 
 according to the law of Moses, 'every one of the children of 
 Israel kept himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers ;' 
 and hence the possessions of Jair were reckoned as belonging, not 
 to the tribe of Manasseh, but to that of Judah, and thus it is 
 that the territory of Naphtali, which was just opposite to Havoth- 
 Jair, is said to extend ' to Judah towards the sun-rising.' 
 
 Of the sixteen fenced cities named in Joshua xix. 35-39, 
 Ziddim, Zer, Adamah, Ramah, Edrei, En-hazor, Iron, Horem, 
 
 * Antiq. v. 1, 22. - ' Eesearches,' vol. iii., p. 81. ^ jogi^. ^ix, 3i. 
 
 * Num. xxxii. 41. 5 i Cliron. ii. 21, 22. 
 
UAMMATH— HAZOR. 239 
 
 Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh, are altogether unknown ; but of 
 the remainder some few traces have been discovered, which it will 
 be sufficient briefly to mention. 
 
 Hammath, according to the Talmud, was the same as the 
 warm baths a little south of Tiberias : hence the name, which 
 is said to signify thermae, or springs. These warm fountains 
 are mentioned both by Pliny and Josephus ; Dr Robinson and 
 Dr Wilson visited them; and Dr Stewart speaks of ruins a 
 little to the south of them. Rakkath and Chinnereth were not 
 far distant. Speaking of these fountains, Dr Thomson says : 
 'I am inclined to think that this was the Hammath given to 
 Naphtali; and if so, then Rakkath, mentioned in connection 
 with it, may have been the ancestor of Karak, at the outgoing 
 of the Jordan. Tiberias itself vmy occupy the site of Chinnereth, 
 from which the lake derived its primitive name, as it now gets 
 that of Tiberias from its successor. We throw out these sup- 
 positions without vouching for their truth, or attempting to esta- 
 blish it. I cannot doubt, however, that there was a city near 
 Tiberias far older and more splendid than that built by Herod. 
 The granite columns mingled among the now visible ruins must 
 have an antiquity much higher than the first century of our era.'^ 
 
 Hazor is identified by Dr Thomson with the capital of Jabiu, 
 which, he says, was situated to the north-west of the Lake 
 Huleh, — an opinion with which Keil agrees ; but Yan de Yelde 
 supposes Hazor to be identical with Tell-Hazur, south-east of 
 Rameh ; whilst Robinson fixes the site on Tell-Khureibeh, south 
 of Kades. Of this latter place, Kades or Kadesh, which became 
 one of the cities of refuge, we shall speak hereafter. The only 
 city left is Migdal-el, probably the Magdala of Matthew xv. 39, 
 now a wretched little Mohammedan village called Mejdal, on the 
 western shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. 
 
 Of the territory of Naphtali, Josephus and others speak in 
 
 ^ ' The Land and tlie Book,' pp. 395-G. 
 
240 NAPHTALI AND ASHER. 
 
 the highest terms. ' The country that lieth ov^er agamst this 
 lake hath the same name as Gennesareth ; its nature is wonderful 
 as well as its beauty ; its soil is so fruitful, that all sort of trees 
 grow upon it ; and the inhabitants, accordingly, plant all sorts 
 of trees there.' ^ ' Naphtali was,' indeed, ' satisfied with favour, 
 and full with the blessings of the Lord ;' for in his territory, as 
 Josephus further says, ' there was a happy contention of the 
 seasons, as if every one of them laid claim to the country.' 
 There grew the walnut, which requires a bracing atmosphere ; 
 there the palm, which flourishes best in heat ; and there the fig, 
 which a temperate air suits best. To dwell upon the beauties of 
 the Lakes of Gennesaret and Huleh would lead us beyond our 
 limits ; and we must therefore refer our readers to the pages of 
 Wilson, Robinson, and other travellers. Of the latter lake Dr 
 Thomson says, that it is ' unrivalled in beauty, no matter where 
 and from what point you view it. From the distant heights of 
 Hermou, the hills of Naphtali, the plain of Ijon, or the groves 
 of Banias, in mid-winter or mid-summer, in the evening or the 
 morning — stop just where you are. There lies the Huleh, like a 
 vast carpet, with patterns of every shade, and shape, and size, 
 thrown down in nature's most bewitching neghgence, and laced 
 all over with countless streams of liquid light.' And thus far 
 north, if not considerably farther, extended the territory of the 
 favoured Naphtali. 
 
 The one event in the history of this tribe which is at all 
 prominent, stands connected with the exploit of Deborah. We 
 have already referred to her character, and to the victory gained 
 over Sisera, the captain of the hosts of Jabin ; but it must not be 
 forgottefi that a considerable share of the honour of that victory 
 is due to Barak, the son of Abinoam. He belonged to the tribe 
 of Naphtali, and, knowing well the prowess of that tribe, to him 
 Deborah sent, inviting him to take part in the glorious struggle. 
 
 * ' Wars,' iii. x. 8. 
 
BAKAK. 241 
 
 At first he hesitated ; for there was much timidity iu the charac- 
 ter of the men of Naphtali, and not a little want of self-rchance. 
 But roused, as it would seem, by the noble woman's appeal, 
 he, who was at first fearful, became bold as a lion and swift as 
 the hind, and, dashing forward at the head of his forces into the 
 high places of the field, he discomfited the adversary, and then 
 joined the wife of Lapidoth in the lofty strains of that inimitable 
 ode : ' Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the 
 people willingly offered themselves. — So let Thine enemies perish, 
 O Lord : but let them that love Thee be as the sun when he 
 goeth forth in his might.'^ 
 
 The boundaries of the inheritance of Asher are given in 
 Josh. xix. 24-31 ; but here, as in other cases, it is difficult to 
 trace them, as many of the places mentioned are quite unknown. 
 We can only give the general outliae. 
 
 The border began at Helkath, somewhere inland, on the 
 north-east (ver. 25), and extended thence toward the coast of 
 the Mediterranean to Mount Carmel ; and, skirting the foot of 
 it, reached to Shihor-libnath, a river said by some to be the 
 Belus of PKny and Tacitus, and so called because in its vichiity 
 glass was invented, — Shihor-libnath signifying the glass river. 
 The Belus, however, was north of Carmel; whereas this river was 
 the southern extremity of the tribe of Asher, and must have been 
 beyond Dor, as that place was included in the tribe, though 
 afterwards given to the Manassites (chap. xvii. 10). It was 
 probably the Nahr Belka. or else the Zarka, which is still farther 
 south.^ 
 
 From this river the border turned eastward to Beth-Dagon— 
 the house of Dagon — a place not now known, and reached to 
 the border of Zebulun in the valley of Jiphthah-el (ver. 27). 
 The eastern boundary running to the north is then given ; but the 
 
 1 See Judges iv. v. 
 
 ' See Keil ; but compare Stanley, and Van de Velde's ' Memoir,' etc. 
 
 Q 
 
242 NAPHTALI AND ASHEE. 
 
 places mentioned, Beth-emek, Neiel, Cabul, Hebron, Rehob, and 
 Hammon, are unknown. It ran to Kanah, a large village not 
 far from Tyre, and reached to Zidon the great. It then turned 
 southward to Ramah, somewhere between Zidon and Tyre, and 
 reached the fortified city of Tyre ; and turning thence to Hosah, 
 a place not now known, its outgoings were at Achzib, on the 
 coast, nine Roman miles from Acco, called by the Greeks 
 Ecdippa, and now known as Zib. The territory of Asher did 
 not, then, embrace the whole of the coast line, but only that 
 from Achzib to Shihor-libnath. Tyre and Zidon, however, 
 were assigned to this tribe ; though, like several other places, 
 they were never conquered.^ But was Tyre in existence at this 
 time? Josephus affirms that it was not erected until within 
 240 years before the building of the temple of Solomon ; and 
 hence it has been affirmed that the Tyre here mentioned was not 
 the insular Tyre, but a more ancient fortress, built upon the 
 mainland at a distance from the coast, and afterwards called 
 PalcBtyrus. But ' Josephus,' says Keil, ' is so thoroughly reck- 
 less in his statements and dates, that he never deserves credence 
 when other witnesses are opposed to him.' The great antiquity 
 of Tyre has been established on the clearest evidence, and it is 
 surprising that Dr Robinson and others should accept the date 
 of its origin given by the Jewish historian. Its Hebrew name, 
 Tsor (whence Syria), signifies 'the rock,' or 'the rock-city,' 
 which was quite unsuitable to Palsetyrus, as that place stood 
 upon a fruitful plain. Isaiah styles Tyre the 'daughter of 
 Zidon,' 2 — an expression which signifies, that it was a colony of 
 that city ; but Zidon itself (Sidon) was founded prior to the days 
 of Jacob,^ and the probability is that its ' daughter ' was born 
 not many years later. Mr Kendrick supposes that there was a 
 city on the mainland, near the coast, in the times of Joshua ; and 
 that, from the first, the island, from the excellence of its natural 
 
 1 Judges i. 31. 2 jg^^, ^^.j^i ^2. ^ Qe^. ^lix. 13. 
 
THE PHCENICIANS. 243 
 
 harbour, was a naval station to that city, and, as a place of 
 security, the seat of the worship of the national deities.^ 
 
 The cities of Asher are said to have been twenty-two in num- 
 ber; among which are mentioned, Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob, 
 — the last distinct from the Eehob before named (vers. 28, 30). 
 The names given in Joshua do not, however, tally with this 
 number, so that there were probably others which are not men- 
 tioned.^ 
 
 The occupation of the land of Canaan by the Israelites did 
 not materially affect the interests of the Phoenicians, for it does 
 not appear that the Israelites ever made war upon them ; and 
 Asher ' is simply said to have dwelt among the Canaanites, pro- 
 bably in friendly relations with his maritime neighbours.' ' Judah 
 and Benjamin, who inhabited the interior of the country of which 
 the Phihstines occupied the sea-coast, were the most warhke part 
 of the nation ; and the fertile district around the maritime cities 
 which were included in their grant (Josh. xix. 44-47), must have 
 appeared to them a very enviable possession, when contrasted 
 with their own mountains, and the desert region bordering on 
 the Dead Sea. Their hostilities were therefore perpetual. But 
 Issachar and Zebulun, Asher and NaphtaH, to whose share the 
 fertile region of Gahlee, the sea-coast, and the valley of the 
 Upper Jordan had fallen, were not urged by any similar motives 
 to make aggressions on their neighbours. Their agricultural 
 industry would find its reward in the markets of Tyre and Sidon, 
 whose population far exceeded the means of subsistence which 
 their own territory could supply. The traffic between Assyria, 
 Babylonia, Arabia, and the Phoenician cities must have passed 
 through their territories ; and throughout the East the merchant 
 is usually compelled to pay tribute to every tribe which gives 
 him passage and a safe-conduct.'^ 
 
 1 Kendrick's ' Phoenicia,' p. 345. ^ Comp. Keil in loco. 
 
 * ' Phoenicia,' pp. 63-i. 
 
244 NAPHTALI AND ASHER. 
 
 Jacob's prophecy respecting Asher was brief, but favourable 
 
 ' Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal 
 
 dainties ;'^ and that of Moses is equally expressive—' Let Asher 
 be blessed with children ; let him be acceptable to his brethren, 
 and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and 
 brass ; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.'^ The very 
 name Asher signifies ' happy ;' and in this fruitful territory 
 there was everything that could render the tribe such, — the 
 ' fat,' the ' royal dainties,' the ' oil,' and the ' iron and brass ;' 
 and it is not surprising that, in the midst of their plenty, the 
 Asherites took no part in the contest with Jabin. ' Asher con- 
 tinued on the sea-shore, and abode in his creeks.' ^ 'Being 
 merchants,' says Fuller, 'they preferred profit before peril, 
 especially being in a safe place where the iron chariots of Jabin, 
 king of Canaan, could not approach them.' 
 
 Moses prayed, 'Let Asher be blessed with children;' but 
 though the tribe numbered, at the second census, 53,400 adult 
 males, and was thus the fifth in population of all the tribes, yet 
 in the days of David it had become comparatively insignificant, 
 so that its name does not appear in the Hst of the rulers of the 
 tribes.* In the days of Hezekiah, when the tribes were invited 
 to celebrate the Passover, the posts passed from city to city, 
 *even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and 
 mocked them.' ' Nevertheless,' it is added, ' divers of Asher, and 
 Manasseh, and of Zebulun, humbled themselves, and came to 
 Jerusalem.'^ There is little doubt that the proximity of Asher 
 and Zebulun to the Phoenicians led them to forget the Lord 
 God of their fathers, and to do homage to the gods of Tyre and 
 Zidon. The religion of the Phoenicians was founded on a deifi- 
 cation of the powers of Nature. Baal, the sun, and Ashtoreth, 
 the moon, were its two principal divinities ; and to these, and also 
 
 » Gen. xlix. 20. ^ pe^,t, xxxiii. 24, 25. ' Judges, v. 17. 
 
 * 1 Chron. xxvii. 16-22 / 2 Chron. xxx. 10-12. 
 
RELIGION OF THE PHCENICIANS. 245 
 
 to Other gods, temples were erected and rites instituted, some 
 of which latter were most libidinous, and others cruel and 
 inhuman. The worship of Moloch was accompanied by the 
 practice of compelling children to pass through fire, and that of 
 Baal by loud cries and self-torturing of the body. The Israelites 
 found this religion fully established when they entered Canaan ; 
 and liow soon they became inoculated with the poison, their 
 subsequent history clearly testifies.^ In the time of the Judges, 
 and in the days of Samuel, they became worshippers of Baal 
 and of Ashtoreth ; and hence they were delivered into the hands 
 of their enemies, from whom they were delivered only when they 
 returned to the Lord God of their fathers. The tribe of Asher 
 was probably the first to fall into the snare. For it is surprising 
 how the human mind is fascinated with the rites of heathenism. 
 Heathenism seems to operate on those who come into contact 
 with it like a charm, so that they are often taken in the net 
 before they are aware of it. Its splendid temples, its gorgeous 
 ceremonies, its magnificent processions, its sensual gratifications, 
 make their appeal to the worst passions of our nature ; and 
 when once the barrier of principle is broken down, and the fear 
 of the true Jehovah is cast off, the heart becomes an easy con- 
 quest, and there false gods revel as they will. No wonder that 
 the northern tribes laughed the messengers of Hezekiah to scorn ; 
 for what cared they respecting the Passover at Jerusalem, if, as 
 is more than probable, they joined in the worship of Baal in 
 the cities of Tyre and Zidon ? 
 
 But the day of vengeance came. First the ten tribes were 
 led into captivity by the Assyrians ; and afterwards Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, the proud king of Babylon, laid siege to Tyre, and took 
 it; SLU event predicted hj the ]yTOi^]iet Ezekiel,^ but not recorded 
 in the Jewish scriptures.^ Nor was this the only judgment upon 
 
 1 Judges ii. 11-13. - Ezek. xxvi. 2-10. 
 
 * It is, however, preserved from the Tyrian Annals by Josephus, Ant. x. xi. 1. 
 
246 NAPHTALI AND ASHER. 
 
 Tyre. Having recovered something of its former greatness, it 
 was again besieged by Alexander the Great (b. c. 322) ; and, 
 after a long and obstinate resistance, taken and destroyed by 
 fire. Eight thousand persons were slain, and thirty thousand 
 were sold as slaves. The population was, in this way, nearly 
 exterminated, and Alexander sent colonists to occupy their place. 
 To its subsequent history we need not allude ; but its fall, 
 together with that of Zidon, was intended as a warning to all 
 nations who, in the pride of their hearts, set themselves to oppose 
 the one true God.^ 
 
 The tribe of Asher gave to the Israelites neither judge nor 
 ruler; but there is one name which stands connected with it, 
 which, though it belongs to the Christian era, should not be 
 overlooked. Anna the prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, a 
 widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not 
 from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night 
 and day, was of the tribe of Aser f and when the child Jesus 
 was brought into the temple, she recognised Him as the Christ, 
 gave thanks unto the Lord, and spake of Him to all them that 
 looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Thus was the honour of 
 this tribe rescued from oblivion by an aged and pious matron ; 
 but for whom, its name would scarcely have had a place in the 
 pages of the New Testament Scriptures. 
 
 ' See Ezek. xxvii. xxviii, * Luke ii. 86, 
 

 CHAPTER XYII. 
 
 THE LEVITICAL CITIES AlW THE CITIES OF KEFUGE. 
 
 il^LL the tribes, save one, had now been provided for ; the 
 Israelites had given to Joshua himself Timnath-serah, 
 in Mount Ephraim, for an inheritance; and, as the 
 several allotments were assigned to them, the people had pro- 
 bably repaired to those allotments, and had entered on the pos- 
 session of their lands. But for the tribe of Levi no provision 
 was yet made, and now therefore the heads of that tribe came to 
 Joshua and Eleazar at Shiloh, and reminded them that the Lord 
 had commanded Moses to give them cities to dwell in, with the 
 suburbs for their cattle.^ The number of cities they were to re- 
 ceive was in all forty-eight, including six cities of refuge ; and 
 
 * Josh. xxi. 1, 2, comp. Num. xxxv. 2-8. 
 
248 THE LEVITICAL CITIES. 
 
 these cities were to be chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, that the 
 Levites might be'scattered amoDg the people for the general good. 
 
 The Levites were the descendants of Levi, one of the sons of 
 Jacob by Leah ; and to this tribe belonged Moses, the lawgiver 
 of Israel, and Aaron, their high priest. It was specially set apart, 
 instead of the first-born of all the tribes, for sacerdotal purposes ; 
 and in the wilderness the office of the Levites was to carry the 
 tabernacle and its furniture from place to place.^ Highly 
 honourable was the task, and it was, no doubt, performed with 
 considerable pleasure; but now that the people had entered 
 Canaan, and that the tabernacle had been set up in Shiloh, the 
 work ceased, and another task would therefore devolve upon the 
 tribe. What that task was, we shall hereafter indicate. 
 
 The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari ; and 
 the tribe consisted accordingly of three branches. Of these the 
 Kohathites took the lead, and were subdivided into the families 
 of Amram (whose lineal descendants were Moses and Aaron), 
 Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.^ On the family of Aaron the priest- 
 hood was conferred;^ but the posterity of Moses were also 
 reckoned as Levites, and were placed on an equality with the 
 rest of the entire tribe."* The Levitical cities were chosen by 
 lot ; and the first lot was drawn by the Kohathites, the second by 
 the Gershonites, and the third by the Merarites. The following 
 tables represent the several allotments, the names of the cities of 
 refuge being printed in capitals, and the modern names of those 
 cities which have been identified being given in opposite columns. 
 
 I. (a) — The Kohathites in the' line of Aakon. 
 1. Cities in the territories of Judah and Simeon. 
 1. Hebron (Arba), . el Khulil, . 20 m. S. 
 
 . 2. Libnah, Arab el Mensbiyeh, 26|^ m. S.W. 
 
 ' Num. iii. 12, etc. - Exod. vi. 18. 
 
 ' Num. xviii. 1-7. ■• Num. iii. ; 1 Cbron. vi. 19, 20. 
 
CITIES OF THE PRIESTS. 249 
 
 3. Jattir, . 
 
 . 
 
 . Attir, 
 
 33 m. S. 
 
 4. Eshtemoa, 
 
 . 
 
 . Senaar, 
 
 24i m. S. 
 
 5. Holon, . 
 
 . 
 
 .... 
 
 ... 
 
 6. Debir, . 
 
 
 . Kirjath-Sophr, 
 
 23 m. S.S.W. 
 
 7. Ain, 
 
 . 
 
 .... 
 
 
 8. Juttah, 
 
 . 
 
 . Yutta, . 
 
 23 m. S. 
 
 9. Beth-shemesh, 
 
 • 
 
 . Ain Shems, 
 
 15 m. W.S.W. 
 
 2. 
 
 Cities 
 
 in the territory of Benjamin. 
 
 10. Gibeon, 
 
 . 
 
 . elJib, . 
 
 5i m. W.N.W. 
 
 11. Geba, . 
 
 . 
 
 . Jeba or Jiba, . 
 
 6i m. N.N.E. 
 
 12. Anathoth, 
 
 . 
 
 . Anata, . 
 
 2^ m. N.N.E. 
 
 13. Almon, 
 
 
 . 'Almit, . 
 
 4 m. N.N.E. 
 
 Such were the cities assigned to the priests ; and they were 
 all, as the figures in the third column indicate, within a com- 
 paratively short distance of Jerusalem, where ultimately the 
 tabernacle was set up, and the temple was erected, that being 
 the spot which God chose, in preference to Shiloh, to place His 
 name there. Could this be by chance ? No ; the hand of Pro- 
 vidence was in the matter. God Himself so ordered it, and so 
 disposed the lots, that just that portion of the tribe of Levi who 
 would be required to conduct the services of the temple should 
 live in its vicinity. And there, accordingly, we find them in the 
 days of David and Solomon, when, their number having consider- 
 ably increased, they were divided into twenty-four courses, each 
 course officiating in its turn during two weeks of the year. 
 
 I. (J)) — The Rest of the Kohathites. 
 
 1, Cities in the territory of Ephraim. 
 
 1. Shechem, . . . Nabulus, . . 32 m. N. 
 
 2. Gezer, .... el Kubab (?), . . 15 m. W.N.W. (?) 
 
 3. Kibzaim, ... 
 
 4. Beth-horon, . . . Beit-Ur, . .15 m. N.W. 
 
 2. Cities in the territory of Dun. 
 
 5. Eltekeh, ... 
 
 G. Gibbethon, ... 
 
250 
 
 7. Aijalon, 
 
 8. Gath-rimmon, 
 
 THE LEVITICAL CITIES. 
 
 . Yalo, . . . 11m. N.W. 
 
 3. Cities in the territory of Manasseh, W. 
 9. Taanach, . . . Ta'anuk, • . . 43 m. N, 
 10. Bileam(l Chron. vi. 70), ... . . 
 
 II. — The Gershonites. 
 1. Cities in the territory of Manasseh, E. 
 
 1. Golan, 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 2. Beeshterah, 
 
 . 
 
 . Mezarib(?), . . ? . 
 
 
 2. 
 
 Cities in the territory of Issachar. 
 
 3. Kishon, 
 
 . 
 
 ... ... 
 
 4. Dabareh, 
 
 . 
 
 . Debfirieh, . . 63 m. N. 
 
 5. Jarmuth, 
 
 . 
 
 . Rameh, . . .80 m. N. 
 
 6. En-gannim, 
 
 . 
 
 . Jenin, . . .46^ m. N. 
 
 
 3 
 
 . Cities in the territory of Asher. 
 
 7. Mishal, 
 
 . 
 
 . Misalli, . . . 73 m. N.W. 
 
 8. Abdon, . 
 
 . 
 
 . Abdeh, . . . 86 m. N.W. 
 
 9. Helkath, 
 
 . 
 
 . Ukkrith, . . 89 m. N. 
 
 10. Rehob, . 
 
 
 
 
 
 4. 
 
 Cities in the territory of Naphtali. 
 
 11. Kedesh, 
 
 . 
 
 . Kades, . . . 95 m. N. 
 
 12. Hammoth-dor, 
 
 ...... 
 
 13. Kartan, 
 
 • 
 
 III. — The Merarites. 
 
 
 1. 
 
 Cities in the territory of Zehulun. 
 
 1. Jokneam, 
 
 . 
 
 . el-Kaimun, . . 68 m. N.E. 
 
 2. Kartah, 
 
 
 . el-Harti, . . 73 m. N.E. 
 
 3. Dimnah, 
 
 . 
 
 . ' . 
 
 4. Nahalal, 
 
 
 . Malal, 
 
 
 2. 
 
 Cities in the territory of Reuben. 
 
 5. Bezer, 
 
 . 
 
 . Bozor(?), . . 80 m. E.N.E. (? 
 
 6. Jahazah, 
 
 
 . . ... . . . ... 
 
 7. Kedemoth, 
 
 . 
 
 ... ... 
 
 8. Mephaath, 
 
 
 
 
THE LEVITES HONOURED. 251 
 
 3. Cities in the territory of Gad. 
 9. Rajioth, . . . es-Salt, . . . 39 m. N.E. 
 
 10. Mahanaim, 
 
 11. Heshbon, . . . Heshban, . . 37 m. E. 
 
 12. Jazer, .... Seir, . . 37 m. E.N.E.» 
 
 It will be seen from these tables that nearly the same num- 
 ber of cities were assigned to the Levites from each of the other 
 tribes ; another proof, surely, that the hand of Providence di- 
 rected the drawing of the lots. Thus, according to the prophecy 
 of Jacob, were the Levites literally scattered in Israel ; whilst the 
 prayer of Moses for them was also answered: 'Bless, Lord, 
 their substance, and accept the "work of their hands.' God 
 honours those who honour Him. When the Israelites made the 
 golden calf and worshipped it, ' Moses stood in the gate of the 
 camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side ? let him come unto 
 me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto 
 him.' 2 They were commanded by the Lord God of Israel to 
 take their swords, and to slay every man his brother, and every 
 man his companion, and every man his neighbour ; and terrible 
 as the injunction was, they obeyed, and thus consecrated them- 
 selves that day to the Lord. To this event the song of Moses 
 has reference. ' By his untimely and ungodly zeal for the honour 
 of his own house, the forefather of the tribe of Levi brought a 
 curse upon himself, which still rested on his tribe (Gen. xlix. 5-7, 
 xxxiv. 25 sqq.) ; by their well-timed and holy zeal for the honour 
 of the house of God, his descendants had now extinguished the 
 curse, and changed it into a blessing. If their ancestor had 
 violated truth, fidelity, and justice, by the vengeance which he 
 took upon the Shechemites from a mistaken regard to blood- 
 relationship, his descendants had now rescued truth, justice, and 
 the covenant, by executing the vengeance of Jehovah upon their 
 own blood-relations. Hence Moses referred to this tribe in the 
 
 » Comp. 1 Chron. vi. 54-81. ^ ExocI. xxxii. 26-29. 
 
252 THE LEVITICAL CITIES. 
 
 following words (Deut. xxxiii. 9) : " Who says of his father and 
 mother, I saw them not; who is ignorant of his brother, and 
 knows notliing of his own sons." The disposition manifested by 
 Levi on this occasion, and his obedience in such difiScult circum- 
 stances, — viz., his readiness to esteem father and mother, friend 
 and brother, hghtly in comparison with Jehovah, — was that which 
 quaUfied the tribe of Levi, above every other, to serve in the 
 house of Jehovah, and rendered it worthy to be chosen as the 
 lot and inheritance of Jehovah (cf. Deut. xxxiii. 9, 10). The com- 
 mand of Moses to the Levites, who were assembled round him, 
 to avenge the honour of Jehovah on those who perished in their 
 rebellion, was a temptation intended to prove whether they were 
 fit for their future vocation, namely, to devote them entirely to 
 the service of Jehovah.'^ 
 
 Around each of the cities of the Levites a thousand square 
 cubits of land were granted to them for pasturage and cultiva- 
 tion, — equal to 305 English acres. But this was by no means an 
 equivalent for a twelfth portion of the whole land of Canaan ; 
 nor was it suSicient to meet the necessities of the tribe. Hence 
 the law of tithes was estabhshed ; and each of the tribes was 
 required to give a tenth of the produce of their flocks and of 
 their harvest to the Levites year by year, out of which, however, 
 the Levites gave one-tenth to the priests.^ 
 
 But essential service was rendered to the nation by the 
 Levites for all that they received. They became, to a great 
 extent, the instructors of the people. Not only did the priests* 
 lips keep knowledge, but the Levites, as a tribe, exerted great 
 influence in the land ; for, in the days of Jehoshaphat, for ex- 
 ample, 'they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of 
 the Lord with them, and went about through all the cities of 
 Judah, and taught the people.' In connection with the temple 
 
 ' Kurtz, ' History of the Old Covenant,' vol. iii., p. 1G9. 
 ^ Num. xviii. 
 
THE LEVITICAL INSTITUTE. 253 
 
 service, their office was ' to wait upon the sons of Aaron, in the 
 courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holj 
 things.' Gf the priests there were twenty-four courses ; but of 
 the Levites there were four times twenty-four, who officiated as 
 singers, porters, and servitors.^ And though, as a general rule, 
 the Levites, not of the sons of Aaron, were not at liberty to 
 exercise sacerdotal functions, yet Samuel, who, though a Levite, 
 was not of the line of Aaron, did offer sacrifices, — as, indeed, did 
 David, David's sons, and several others, who did not belong to 
 the tribe of Levi at all. This fact is somewhat difficult to 
 account for ; but the obvious inference is, that ' during a long 
 period after the conquest of Canaan, the Israehtes extensively 
 preserved the patriarchal organization of their households ; that 
 the head of the family, at regular intervals, performed the 
 sacerdotal functions in the name of the other members ; that, in 
 general, the priestly power remained combined with secular 
 authority. So that among the Hebrews, as was the case among 
 all ancient nations, kings, military leaders, or other public digni- 
 taries, offered sacrifices for the people, and discharged other 
 religious offices; that these rites were performed at any place 
 where an occasion arose, and not exclusively at the tabernacle ; 
 that the Levites, weakened and humbled in consequence of 
 political misfortunes and reckless warfare, were far from possess- 
 ing any special claim to the priesthood, could still less obtain or 
 exercise great hierarchical power, and appear almost everywhere 
 in a condition of dependence, and sometimes of helplessness.' ^ 
 
 Amid the varied fortunes of the Israelites, the tribe of Levi 
 exerted a powerful influence on the nation. But the Levitical 
 institute, being permanent and hereditary, was hable to abuse ; 
 and had it not been for the checks it received from the prophets 
 and their order, it would probably have degenerated much fur- 
 ther than it did. Wisely and mercifully did God raise up from 
 
 > 1 CLron. xxiii. xxiv. ^ Dr Kaliscli ou Gen. xlix. 1-2S. 
 
254- THE LEVITICAL CITIES. 
 
 amongst the people, and that irrespective of tribe, family, or 
 station, a number of men, from time to time, who, putting the 
 trumpet to their mouth, cried aloud and spared not, but de- 
 nounced the sins of the priests and Levites as well as of the 
 nation generally ; and thus they who in their ofi&cial pride called 
 themselves * the temple of the Lord,' and were disposed to think 
 themselves much holier than others, were taught that they too 
 were amenable to a higher power, and that God had respect, 
 not to ceremonial observances and to ritual institutions merely, 
 but to purity of heart and to holiness of life. 
 
 It would, however, lead us beyond our limits to dwell on the 
 history and character of the Levites ; nor are there many of 
 their cities, save the cities of refuge, which possess any consider- 
 able amount of interest. As the foregoing tables show, the sites 
 of several of them are unknown; but those of several others 
 have been discovered by recent travellers, where, as at Jazer in 
 Gilead, Nahalal, Mishal, and elsewhere, ruins have been observed, 
 manifestly of great antiquity.^ 
 
 But, passing by these cities, we proceed to speak of the cities 
 of refuge, and of the design of their appointment. They were 
 evidently selected before the Levitical cities were chosen, — three 
 of them, indeed, by Moses prior to his death, and the remaining 
 three by Joshua, just after the division of the land. The pur- 
 pose for which these cities were set apart, was to afford an asylum 
 from the blood-avenger for the person who had involuntarily 
 committed homicide. Both in patriarchal times and under the 
 law of Moses, human life was held in. the highest degree sacred. 
 The wilful murderer was to be put to death ; and even the man 
 who had accidentally killed another might be pursued by the Goel, 
 i^NS, or blood-avenger, — the person next of kin to the man slain, 
 — who might take vengeance on him for the loss of his relative.^ 
 
 * See Kobinson's ' Kesearches,' and Van de Velde's ' Memoii's.' 
 ' Num. XXXV. 10, 11 ; Joshua xx. 3-6. 
 
THE GOEL. 255 
 
 Here was justice ; but with it mercy was tempered : for the in- 
 voluntary manslayer might flee to one of the cities of refuge, the 
 roads to which were always open; and on arriving within a circle 
 of 2000 cubits, was safe from the avenger of blood, until at least 
 the case was investigated by the constituted authorities. 
 
 Ere we proceed further to explain the law, we will advert to 
 the cities selected for this purpose. They were, as we have seen, 
 all Levitical cities, or, rather, they were all given to the Levites 
 after being selected. Three of them were situated ou the eastern 
 side of the Jordan, and three on the western side ; and it is said 
 that the former three were, respectively, nearly opposite the 
 latter three. On the eastern side of the Jordan were ' Bezer in 
 the wilderness, in the plain country of the Reubenites ; and 
 Ramoth in Gilead of the Gadites ; and Golan in Bashan of the 
 Manassites.' ^ Bezer (Boaop) is supposed to have been nearly 
 opposite Jericho, and was probably one of the strong and great 
 cities mentioned in 1 Mace. v. 26 ; but its exact site has not 
 been ascertained. Ramoth, or Ramoth Mizpeh, has been 
 identified with the present es-Salt, a place in the mountains of 
 Gilead, visited by Burckhardt in the year 1810-11. Here 
 probably Jephthah dwelt ; here one of Solomon's chief governors 
 resided (1 Kings iv. 13); and here occurred the unfortunate siege 
 of Ahab, when, the city being in the hands of the Syrians, he 
 was persuaded to go up and attack it, was wounded in his 
 chariot, and lost his life. 1 Kings xxii. 3, etc. Golan was, no 
 doubt, situated somewhere on the eastern side of the Sea of 
 Galilee, and probably gave its name to the tract of country 
 called Gaulonitis ; but the site of it has not been ascertained.^ 
 
 The cities on the west of the Jordan are well-known sites. 
 Of Hebron we have already spoken. Connected as it was with 
 such hallowed associations, it is not surprising that it should be 
 chosen as a city of refuge; and ' lying in deep repose in the vale 
 
 1 Dent. iv. 43 : Joshua xx. 8. = Comp. Keil in loco. 
 
256 THE LEVITICAL CITIES. 
 
 of Mamre,' it looked like such a city — calm, peaceful, and secure. 
 It is now called el-Kulil, or 'the friend;' it is situated among 
 the mountains of Judah, twenty miles south of Jerusalem, and 
 contains at present a population of about five thousand. Every 
 traveller in Palestine pays it a visit ; and the descriptions given 
 of the beauty and fertility of the surrounding country lead us to 
 conclude that, in gaining such a possession, the Levites were 
 highly favoured. The surrounding lands were, however, retained 
 by Caleb. In the mountains of Ephraim, between Ebal and 
 Gerizim, was the second of the three, Shechem, a little to the 
 west of the present Nablous, or Neapolis.^ This city also was 
 known to the patriarchs ; and its situation, in ' a valley, green 
 with grass, grey with oKves,' with ' gardens sloping down on 
 each side,' and 'fresh springs rushing down in all directions,' 
 rendered it not less desirable as a residence than Hebron. And 
 what shall we say of Kedesh, in Naphtali? It still exists, 
 bearing the name of Kades, in a high tract of country on the 
 west of the Huleh, where there are remains which show that it 
 was once a place of considerable importance.^ 
 
 Such, then, were the cities of refuge. And now let us return 
 to the consideration of their purpose. Here is a man who has 
 unawares killed another. He has suddenly thrust him, or, not 
 seeing him, has let a stone fall upon him, and thus, though he 
 bore him no enmity, has caused his death. The nearest kinsman 
 of the person slain is made acquainted with the fact ; and it is 
 his duty at once to pursue the homicide, and to avenge upon him 
 the blood of his relative. But the homicide flees, and, finding 
 one of the roads leading to the nearest city of refuge, pursues it 
 with the utmost speed, the Goel following close upon his heels. 
 . If the latter is a revengeful man, and overtakes him ere he 
 reaches the borders of the city, he takes away his life ; if he is a 
 
 ' See Stanley's ' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 231. 
 
 ' Sec Robinson, vol. ii., p. 439; and ' The Land and the Book,' p. 266. 
 
THE LAW OF EEFUGE. 257 
 
 generous man, be gi^es him the advantage, and allows him to 
 reach the spot in safety. There he is received by the elders of 
 the city ; • and there, at the entering in of the gate of the city, 
 where was the forum, or place of judgment, the case between 
 the parties is investigated. If the elders find that, though he 
 has fled thither, the homicide is guilty of wilful murder, they at 
 once deliver him up to the Goel; but if they find that he is 
 really guiltless — that the act was indeed unintentional and unpre- 
 meditated, — they are bound to deliver him from the avenger of 
 blood, and he must remain within the precincts of the city until 
 the death of the then living high priest.^ 
 
 Heathen nations had their asyla — groves, temples, altars, and 
 even cities — to which offenders might flee for protection. But 
 in process of time they were much abused, and many of the 
 vilest characters were permitted to claim in them exemption 
 from punishment. The city of Ephesus, for example, was re- 
 sorted to as an asylum by wilful murderers ; and hence the 
 Emperor Tiberius deemed it necessary to interfere, and to Hmit 
 both the number and the privileges of such cities. The superi- 
 ority of the Jewish law, then, is evident. Even the altar itself 
 was to afford no asylum to the guilty; for the Mosaic ritual 
 said, ' If any man come presumptuously on his neighbour to slay 
 nim with guile, thou shalt take him from Mine altar.' Exod. xxi. 
 14. In no instance did the Jewish law connive at sin. It was 
 strict, even to severity ; yet, in the appointment of the cities of 
 refuge, there was mercy mingled with justice. Doubtless it was 
 a great trial for a man who had unfortunately killed another, to be 
 separated from his home and family for weeks, months, or even 
 years ; for he was strictly confined to the borders of the city, 
 inasmuch as if he went beyond them, and the Goel found him, 
 he might kill him. Num. xxxv. 26, 27. But in this way the 
 Israelites were taught to be specially careful of human life. Nor 
 
 ^ Num. xxxv. 2, 25 ; Deut. xix. 1-7 ; Josh. xx. 2-G. 
 
 r 
 
258 THE LEVITICAL CITIES. 
 
 was the punishment, after all, severer than that which our own 
 laws frequently inflict for manslaughter ; for in the city of refuge 
 the poor refugee was well provided for, and, though he might 
 not return to his home until the death of the high priest, his 
 friends and relatives might visit him and converse with him, and he 
 would look forward to the day of his release with hope and joy. 
 
 But why must the homicide remain in the city until the 
 death of the high priest? Not because, as some have repre- 
 sented, the high priest was the representative of the whole 
 people, and that his death, therefore, was so important that every 
 other death was forgotten, and could no longer be avenged ; but 
 because, being anointed with the holy oil, he was the mediator 
 of the people in the presence of Grod, and because he only could 
 enter the holiest place of all on the great day of atonement, to 
 present the annual expiation for the whole congregation of the 
 children of Israel. Thus ' his death might be regarded as a 
 death for the sins of the people, by which the unintentional 
 manslayer received the benefits of the propitiation, and, being 
 cleansed from that sin, might return to his native city without 
 further exposure to the revenge of the avenger of blood.' ^ To 
 the unfortunate homicide, then, the death of the high priest 
 would be a most desirable event ; and hence the Rabbins say, 
 that to induce such fugitives not to pray that it might be has- 
 tened, the relatives, and especially the mothers of the high 
 priests, provided them with food and clothing, thus making 
 their asylum as agreeable as they could. The Rabbins say 
 further, that if the fugitive died before the high priest, he was 
 buried in the city of refuge ; but that, after the high priest's 
 death, his bones were dehvered to his relatives to be reinterred. 
 
 A difficulty presents itself here, arising fom the fact, that the 
 punishment might, in some cases, extend over a considerable 
 period, and in others be exceedingly brief; for the high priest 
 
 * See Keil in loco. 
 
THE LAW OF REVENGE. 259 
 
 might live many years after an homicide had fled to one of these 
 cities, or he might die almost immediately after. To meet this 
 objection, Philo, after his usual method, has recourse to an inner 
 and allegorical interpretation, in which he represents the high 
 priest as signifying, not a man, but the Word of God. But so 
 mystical is his notion, that it is impossible to understand it ; and 
 it is doubtful, indeed, whether he understood it himself.^ There 
 is no need, however, to depart from the literal interpretation of 
 the words of the law. Whether the high priest died soon after 
 the fugitive had entered the city of refuge, or not until several 
 years after, there he must remain ; for the law said, ' Ye shall 
 take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, 
 that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death 
 of the priest.' Num. xxxv. 32. As to any injustice to the 
 fugitive, we may safely leave it to that Providence which watched 
 over the interests of every Israelite. He who ordained these 
 laws, would take care that they should not press with undue 
 severity on the persons whose welfare they had in view ; and, 
 under any circumstances, the city of refuge was a provision of 
 mercy, which few would fail gratefully to acknowledge. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact, that a law of blood-revenge exists 
 amongst the Bedouin Arabs to this day; and it is highly probable 
 that the Mosaic legislation on this subject was founded, in part, 
 on usages at that time existing in the East. But, among the 
 Arabs, affairs of blood are usually made up by a heavy fine ; 
 and it Is said in the Koran, that whoso killeth a behever by 
 mistake, the penalty shall be the freeing of a behever from 
 slavery, and a fine to be paid to the family of the deceased, 
 unless they remit it as alms.= Very different from this was the 
 law of Moses ; and far more sacred, therefore, is human life in 
 
 1 See his treatise on ' Fugitives,' wliicli is full of the strangest imaginable 
 notions concerning the cities of refuge. 
 
 2 See Sale's Koran, chap. iv. ; and Layard's ' Nineveh and Babylon,' p. 305. 
 
260 THE LEVITICAL CITIES. 
 
 the estimation of the Jewish code than in that of the Moham- 
 medan or of any other system. The Jewish code declares that 
 man was made in the image of God ; that whoso sheds man's 
 blood, by man shall his blood be shed ;^ and that even the homi- 
 cide, though not guilty of wilful murder, shall not be liberated 
 by the payment of a fine, but only by the atoning death of the 
 high priest ; and thus it proclaims the life of a man to be of 
 greater worth than thousands of gold and silver. 
 
 And here a somewhat interesting inquiry arises, to which we 
 must devote, at least, a few pages. Were the cities of refuge 
 typical of Christ ? Did they, in any way, shadow forth to the 
 Israehtes the better refuge provided for every transgressor of 
 the law ? That they are not spoken of as types, must be at once 
 admitted ; and if nothing was typical under the Old Testament 
 economy but what is expressly represented as such, then we 
 must unhesitatingly reply to this question in the negative. But 
 we are by no means disposed to admit this principle. It has 
 the sanction of Bishop Marsh and many other writers, but its 
 advocacy was simply a reaction from the opposite extreme of 
 the Cocceian and Hutchinsonian schools of interpreters; and 
 calmer views of the subject are leading us back into the middle 
 path, in which, here as well as almost everywhere else, it is 
 best to tread. If we look at the persons, such as Melchizedek, 
 Moses, David, and Jonah ; or at the events, such as the deliver- 
 ance of the Israelites out of Egypt ; or at the things, such as 
 the ark of Noah, and the brazen serpent, which are referred to 
 by the sacred writers as types ; we can scarcely suppose that 
 they intended these only to be regarded as such, but rather that 
 they mention them as specimens ; and certainly, if, as St Peter 
 
 ' Gen. ix. 6. In all heathendom human life is deemed of little value ; and 
 hence wholesale massacres of their subjects take place by the command of 
 kings and princes, sometimes to gratify their revenge, and often, as in 
 Dahomey and elsewhere, in accordance with ancient customs. How much wo 
 owe to Judaism and to Christianity ! 
 
CHRIST THE REFUGE. 261 
 
 tells us, the ark of Noah was a figure of Christ, the cities of 
 refuge may be considered as such. 
 
 For 'what is the position of a sinner? It is that of one who 
 is guilty of innumerable sins, and whom the law, just and inex- 
 orable, follows with its threats of vengeance, demanding nothing 
 less than blood for blood. What can he do ? He cannot turn 
 round and face the law, and plead that his offences were unde- 
 signed ; for many of them were not, but were premeditated and 
 deliberate. And even for sins of ignorance the law asks for 
 satisfaction, and will not listen to the plea that its requirements 
 were not known. In this condition he hears the angel of mercy 
 crying to him, ' Escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither 
 stay thou in all the plain ; escape to the mountain, lest thou be 
 consumed;' and he is pointed to Christ Jesus, the great High 
 Priest of the New Testament economy, whose death atoned not 
 only for unpremeditated violations of the law, but for sins of 
 the most deUberate nature ; and in Him he is assured he will 
 find a hiding-place. Claiming Christ as his substitute, who for 
 him has satisfied the law's demands, and for him has entered 
 into the holiest place, and for him presents the all-prevalent 
 intercession, he is safe — safe from the accusations of a guilty 
 conscience, safe from the threatening of the avenging sword. 
 
 That the Israelites, as a people, viewed the cities of refuge 
 in this light, and saw in them types of a better refuge than one 
 which was merely temporary, we do not affirm; but, as the 
 whole of the Mosaic institute was of a typical character, we can- 
 not doubt that the more pious portion of them did discern 
 through the veil a deeper meaning, and, conscious of their need 
 of a place of rest and safety for the soul, reposed by faith on 
 the promised Saviour — the Prophet like unto Moses, the Priest 
 like unto Melchizedek— who was afterwards to appear. Moses, 
 in his final address to Israel, said, ' The eternal God is thy re- 
 fuse, and underneath are the everlasting arras: and He shall 
 
262 THE LEVITICAL CITIES. 
 
 thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy 
 them.'^ And how often David spoke of God as his refuge, the 
 language of several of his Psalms testifies. ' The Lord also will 
 be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And 
 they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee : for Thou, 
 Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee.'^ Had he these 
 cities of refuge in view when he thus spake ? Did he think, in 
 particular, of Hebrdn, the royal city, and of the fugitives who 
 frequently repaired thither from the pursuit of the blood-avenger ? 
 It is possible, and not improbable ; and if so, to David and to 
 others like-minded, both before him and after him, these cities 
 would be looked upon with special interest ; and when they visited 
 them they would say, Here lias many a poor refugee found vshelter 
 and repose ; but in God, and in the Christ to be revealed, thou- 
 sands have found that rest from sin, and that spiritual repose, 
 without which the soul must ultimately sink and die. 
 
 But, in whatever light the Israelites viewed the cities of re- 
 fuge, to us they present lessons of the deepest interest, which we 
 shall do well to ponder. They tell us of the breadth and ma- 
 jesty of the law of God, which requires satisfaction even for sins 
 of ignorance, or for sins committed unintentionally ; so that for 
 such sins an atonement must be offered, as well as for sins of a 
 more flagrant character. They tell us, therefore, of the sinner's 
 need of a hiding-place from the angel of wrath, who is abroad, as 
 of old, executing vengeance on transgressors — a hiding-place in 
 which he can hear of one who has borne the penalty of his sin, and 
 to which he can appeal, and say, ' Here is my Substitute ; spare 
 me for His sake.' To every guilty one they cry. Flee! flee! tarry 
 not, but flee, lest the avenger overtake thee, and thou art slain ; 
 and they intimate that such a hiding-place as the sinner needs has 
 been provided, and to that hiding-place they urge him to repair. 
 
 Then comes in the teaching of the New Testament ; and here 
 
 * Deut. xxxiii. 27. 2 pj,. j^. 9, 10 ; comp. Ps. Ivii. 1, Ixii. 7, etc. 
 
THE SINNER AND THE SAVIOUR. 263 
 
 the true city of refuge stands before the sinner more conspicuously 
 than did Hebron, or Shechem, or Kadesh to the homicide, invit- 
 ing him to enter and find rest and peace. It is not the church, 
 it is not the altar ; it is Christ Himself who is the one and only 
 sacrifice for sin, and therefore the one and only hiding-place to 
 which the sinner can repair. A man under the condemnation of 
 the law may fly to a sacred building, or may rush to the altar as 
 the holiest place in it (and time was when human laws would not 
 touch him whilst he was there) ; but the law of God pays no 
 respect to sacred edifices or to consecrated shrines, and were a 
 man to die at the very foot of the altar ere he had found his way 
 to Christ, his sins would rest upon his head, and for those sins 
 he would have to give account. In no place, person, or thing 
 — in no buildings, sacrifices, or rites, is there any refuge for the 
 guilty, save the atonement of the cross ; but there such a refuge 
 is provided as will meet the case of sinners of every class, not 
 excepting the wilful murderer himself. 
 
 And once in this city of refuge, the refugee must never leave 
 it, but must make it his abiding home. For our High Priest 
 never dies. He died unto sin once ; but He now lives unto God 
 for ever. All, then, who repair to Him must dwell in Him con- 
 tinually; and, indeed, if they are right-minded, they will have 
 no desire to forsake Him for a moment. More and more closely 
 will they cleave to Him. Nearer and yet nearer will they strive 
 to walk with Him. The world, home, friend, will have no attrac- 
 tions for them, compared with those of their best and truest 
 Friend ; and with holy hope and joy will they anticipate their re- 
 moval from this world of toil, because they will then be for ever 
 u'ith their Lord. 
 
 ' Then, onward yet a step, thou hard-worn soul. 
 
 Though in the Church thou know thy place, 
 
 The mountain farther lies — there seek thy goal, 
 
 Thei-e breathe at large, o'erpast thy dangerous race. 
 
^^^l|i 
 
 JOSHUA'S LAST CHAEGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XYIII. 
 
 THE LATER YEARS AND DEATH OF JOSHUA 
 
 ffT is ever pleasant to contemplate the close of a goo-d and 
 great man's life. For though in many instances it is 
 spent in comparative rtjtireraent, yet there is generally 
 something connected with it which speaks both of the past and 
 of the future, which tells us of the blessedness of such a life, and 
 which assures us of the fidelity of Him who has said, ' I will 
 never leave .thee nor forsake thee.' The last days of Jacob "^re 
 calm and beautiful as the summer's setting sun ; the death of 
 Moses, though unseen by man, was like the entrance of a con- 
 queror into a royal city ; and the close of Joshua's career was 
 worthy of his former life — the going home of a victor crowned. 
 How eventful had the Hfe of Joshua been ! He had shared 
 
DISMISSAL OF THE REUBENITES. 265 
 
 the bondage of his people in the land of Mizraira ; he had wit- 
 nessed their deliverance from the oppressor's hand ; he had passed 
 with them through the waters of the Red Sea on dry ground ; 
 he had heard the law given on Mount Sinai, and had seen the 
 manifestation of the glory of the Lord ; he had journeyed through 
 the wilderness with the ransomed host; he had seen Miriam, 
 Aaron, and Moses taken from their midst ; he had left behind 
 him, in the desert, the bones of a whole generation of his people ; 
 he had crossed the Jordan, he had conquered Canaan, he had 
 driven out thousands of its godless tribes ; he had divided the 
 land by lot among the Israelites, and had witnessed, in part, their 
 settlement on the soil ; and now what more remained for him to 
 see or do ? He had accompKshed, if ever man did, the great 
 mission of his life ; now therefore he might retire with satisfaction 
 from the busy scenes of hfe, and wait until his Lord should call 
 hie to his rest. 
 
 But ere we come to his very last days, there are some other 
 events which demand attention, the record of which occupies the 
 whole of the twenty-second chapter. It will be remembered that 
 the Keubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had 
 accompanied their brethren over Jordan to aid them in the con- 
 quest of the land, but with the express understanding, that after- 
 wards they should return to the possessions granted them on the 
 east.^ And now, having fulfilled their engagements, they were 
 dismissed by Joshua with this address of commendation : ' Ye 
 have kept all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded 
 you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you : 
 Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, 
 but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your 
 God. And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your 
 brethren, as He promised them : therefore now return ye, and get 
 you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which 
 I Num. xxxii. 1-42 : Josh. iv. 12. 
 
266 THE LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF JOSHUA. 
 
 Moses, the servant of the Lokd, gave you on the other side 
 Jordan.' This was high praise, but these auxihary troops, as 
 they have been called, fully merited it ; and to them it must have 
 been gratifying beyond measure to receive from their illustrious 
 commander such approving words. History furnishes some 
 striking parallels. It has been the duty and the privilege of 
 many an eminent military general, at the close of an arduous 
 campaign, to dismiss a portion of his forces, and to send them 
 back to their country and their friends with the highest commen- 
 dations of their bravery and their heroism; and, to a soldier, 
 this is an honour of which he is justly proud ; and though he 
 returns, perhaps, laden with scarsj or with a mutilated body, yet 
 the thought of having done his duty to his country, and of re- 
 ceiving the approbation of his commander and his sovereign, 
 compensates him, to some extent, for all he has endured. 
 
 But Joshua was careful to add a word of instruction to these 
 auxiharies : ' Take diligent heed,' said he, * to do the command- 
 ment, and the law, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, charged 
 you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all His ways, and 
 to keep His commandments, and to cleave unto Him, and to 
 serve Him with all your heart, and with all your soul.' Such 
 advice was, no doubt, necessary ; for, isob.ted as they would be 
 from their brethren, these two tribes and a half would be specially 
 exposed to the danger of forgetting the Lord God of their fathers, 
 and of assuming an independent attitude even in matters of a 
 rehgious nature. Even the flowing of a river, and that not a 
 very large one, between one territory and another, has tended, 
 not a Uttlp, to distinguish the inhabitants, and to foster among 
 them differences of opinion both in politics and rehgion. This 
 word of exhortation, then, was valuable, and with it, and his 
 blessing, Joshua sent them away ; * and they went unto their 
 tents.' 
 
 The word tents is here used for houses ; for they had left their 
 
PERIOD OF THEIR RETURN. 267 
 
 families in walled cities, and therefore not in tents.^ It has been 
 supposed by some, that the 22d chapter is an interpolation ; and 
 by others,' that the event is not related in chronological order. But 
 without this chapter the history would evidently be incomplete ; 
 and whether the return of these tribes took place now or at an 
 earlier period, is a matter of no moment ; and, as one observes, 
 ' even if they did return at an earlier period, the account of their 
 return would be in its right place here, because it was proper 
 for the historian to relate everything which belonged to the sub- 
 jugation and occupation of the land, before he allowed the thread 
 of his narrative to be broken by descriptions of other events.'^ 
 At the same time, we see no reason for the opinion that the event 
 is not narrated in chronological order. It is more probable that 
 these troops would remain in the land until after its division 
 among the several tribes, than that they would be dismissed pre- 
 viously, as their presence might be necessary to prevent the 
 rising up again of the yet unconquered inhabitants of the country. 
 Their return must have been a somewhat imposing sight, and 
 must have been witnessed by their brethren with no little interest. 
 Their number was about fifty thousand ; and as rank after rank 
 and file after file crossed the Jordan, now no doubt at its lowest 
 ebb, and wended their way on the opposite banks towards the 
 mountains of Bashan, many who remained on the western banks 
 would watch them until they were lost to sight, and they them- 
 selves would bid adieu to their friends, not perhaps without regret, 
 and yet full of joy and hope at the prospect of a reunion with 
 their wives and children. And what scenes would be witnessed 
 when they reached their homes ! Weather-beaten and sun-burnt, 
 they would present to their friends a singular appearance ; and 
 not without difficulty, perhaps, would the parties be able to re- 
 cognise one another. We remember witnessing the landing on 
 
 ^ Num. xxxii. 17. 
 
 2 Lightfoot, quoted by KeiL ' Commentary on Joshua,' p. 460, note. 
 
268 THE LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF JOSHUA. 
 
 our shores of a regiment of soldiers who had survived the perils 
 of the Crimean war ; and we remember seeing them drawn up 
 soon after in the barrack-yard, the gates thrown open, and many 
 of their wives and children rushing in to welcome them. But 
 so altered were they in their appearance, — their faces being un- 
 shaven, and their aspect jaded and forlorn, — that in several in- 
 stances some time elapsed ere they were recognised even by 
 those who before had known them best. But a joyous meeting 
 it was at length ; and the big tear started that day from many 
 a brave soldier's eye as he clasped his loved ones to his embrace 
 again. The sacred writer tells us of nothing of this kind, nor 
 does he even refer to the meeting of these soldiers with their 
 friends. But imagination may be allowed to picture to itself 
 the scene ; and we cannot doubt that to many and many a 
 heart it would be a joyous one indeed. 
 
 Not without a share in the spoil did the Reubenites return 
 to their possessions, but ' with much riches, with very much 
 cattle, with silver, with gold, with brass, with iron, and with 
 very much raiment.' They had taken part in the conquest of 
 the country, and it was but right that they should have part of 
 the property of the Canaanites ; but Joshua requested that they 
 would share this booty with their brethren who had remained at 
 home, — thus following the example of Moses, who, after the 
 defeat of the Midianites, ordered the people to divide the spoil 
 into two equal parts, one of which was to be given to those who 
 took part in the war, and the other to those who quietly re- 
 mained within the camp.^ This was equitable in both cases ; 
 for those who tarried at home did so to take care of the women 
 and the children, and therefore they also had a right to a portion 
 of the booty. So said David at a later period : — ' As his part is 
 that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth 
 by the stuff, they shall part alike. And it was so from that 
 
 ' Num. xxxi. 25, etc. 
 
THE ERECTION OF AN ALTAR. 2G9 
 
 day forward, that lie made it a statute and an ordinance for 
 Israel unto this day.' The statute of David, however, was evi- 
 dently founded upon the earlier commands of Moses and of 
 Joshua. 
 
 But now an act of the Reubenites, in itself perfectly justifi- 
 able, though apparently far otherwise, caused no little anxiety 
 to Joshua and the people. On their way to their own terri- 
 tories, they erected, on the banks of the Jordan, a large and 
 imposing altar — ' a great altar to see to ;' hearing of which, the 
 children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, ajid 
 proposed to make war against their brethren. But were they 
 not in haste, and ought they not first to have inquired into the 
 motives of their brethren ? Some acts may be right or may 
 be wrong, according to the principle which leads to their per- 
 formance ; and the erection of the altar, as afterwards appeared, 
 was dictated by the purest motives. But the law which forbade 
 the erection of more than one altar for sacrifices was express ;^ 
 and it was to punish the Reubenites for a supposed violation of 
 this law that the Israelites proposed to make war upon them. 
 ' For they truly and wisely judged,' says Calvin, ' that the lawful 
 sanctuary of God was polluted, and His worship profaned ; that 
 sacred things were violated, pious concord destroyed, and a door 
 opened for the license of superstitious practices, if in two places 
 victims were offered to God, who had, for these reasons, so 
 solemnly bound the people to a single- altar. Not rashly, there- 
 fore, do the ten tribes, on hearing of a profane altar, detest its 
 sacrilegious audacity.' 
 
 With whom, and in what, then, lay the error ? Doubtless 
 with the builders of the altar, who ought to have consulted the 
 high priest, and to have considered not only what was lawful, 
 but what was also expedient. Well-nigh had their want of 
 forethought brought them into great distress. The sword was 
 
 1 Lev. xvii. 8, etc. ; Deut. xii. 4 and 13, etc. 
 
270 THE LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF JOSHUA. 
 
 already drawn ; and but for the wise precaution and the brotherly 
 regard of the ten tribes, thousands of the Reubenites would have 
 been put to death. But Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the high 
 priest, together with ten princes, one of each tribe, were sent to 
 inquire into the conduct of their brethren, and to remonstrate 
 with them on account of their supposed rebellion. Observe 
 them ! They cross the Jordan, following in the track of the two 
 tribes and a half ; they arrive in the land of Gilead ; and, 
 probably, to the great surprise of many, present themselves 
 before the chiefs and elders of the people. And how severe is 
 their address ! ' What trespass,' say they, ' is this that ye have 
 committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from 
 followiug the Lord, in that ye have builded you an altar, that 
 ye might rebel this day against the Lord V And referring to 
 the guilt and punishment which the people brought upon them- 
 selves in the wilderness when they went after Baal-Peor, and 
 again to the consequences of Achan's sin when he took of the 
 accursed thing, they ask whether these acts of transgression and 
 their results were not enough, but that they must again rebel 
 against the Lord, and provoke Him to be angry with His people. 
 So serious a charge might have been resented by the Reu- 
 benites with indignation, and they might have refused to give 
 an explanation of their conduct. They doubtless saw, however, 
 that this would be unwise and dangerous ; and hence they 
 answered mildly, that their motive was not to erect an altar of 
 sacrifice, and thus to contravene the Mosaic statute, but merely 
 to raise an altar of witness, that in time to come the descendants 
 of the ten tribes might not be able to ask their descendants what 
 they had to do with the Lord their God, seeing that they were 
 separated by the river Jordan. That altar — a pattern of the 
 altar reared at Shiloh — was to be a witness between the ten 
 tribes on the western side of the river, and the two tribes and 
 a half on the eastern side, that the latter had an equal right with 
 
THE KEUBENITES' ERROR. 271 
 
 the former to claim Jehovah as their God, and that they were not 
 a separate and distinct people, but belonged to Israel, though 
 the river was between them. * This anxiety was not altogether 
 uncalled for. In all the promises, only Canaan, the land on this 
 side of the Jordan, had been mentioned as the land which 
 Jehovah would give to His people for an inheritance; and, 
 therefore, at some future period it would be easy for the false 
 inference to be drawn, that only the Israelites who dwelt in 
 Canaan proper belonged to the people of Jehovah, and none 
 but they had part in Jehovah.'^ We cannot, then, blame the 
 Keubenites for erecting this altar. They had no desire to rebel 
 against the Lord, by building an altar for burnt-oflferings or 
 for sacrifices in addition to the altar that was before the taber- 
 nacle ; but the thought of being hereafter cut off from Israel 
 and from Israel's God they could not bear, and they had, there- 
 fore, reared this altar to be a perpetual sign of their relationship 
 to their brethren. 
 
 This explanation was highly satisfactory to Phinehas and 
 the princes, and not less so to the children of Israel, to whom 
 the matter was reported on the return of Phinehas and his 
 companions. All thought of war was relinquished, and the 
 people blessed God ; for they were thankful to find that they had 
 misunderstood the motives of the Reubenites, and that there was 
 no real cause of difference between them. 
 
 The altar was called by the Reubenites and Gadites 'a 
 witness between us that Jehovah is God.' 2 But where did it 
 stand? On the east of the Jordan, or on the west? Many 
 would reply, without hesitation. On the east; but if it was 
 to be a witness that the tribes on the eastern side had a 
 part with those on the western side, why should it be erected 
 
 * Keil in loco. 
 
 2 The word, Ed, ly (introduced into our version in verse 44), is not found 
 sither in the Septuagint or the Vulgate, and is probably an interpolation. 
 
272 THE LAST YEAES AND DEATH OF JOSHUA. 
 
 there ? Obviously the end would be accomplished better by 
 the altar being erected on the same side of the Jordan as 
 that on which the ten tribes remained ; for then, those on the 
 opposite side could say, ' See, here is the ^altar we erected 
 whilst yet we were on your side of the river.' And, accordingly, 
 it is said in ver. 10, that the Reubenites built the altar when, on 
 their way to their possessions, ' they came unto the borders of 
 Jordan.' Nor does ver. 11 contradict this view, which says, 
 that ' the altar was over against the land of Canaan ;' for ' these 
 words,' as Keil observes, ' are spoken from the stand-point of 
 those who built the altar, viz., the tribes who lived on the other 
 side of the Jordan. 
 
 To the mind of Joshua himself the settlement of this dispute 
 must have given great relief. He was now ' old and stricken 
 in age ;' his work was nearly done ; and he was looking forward 
 to the day when he should lay down his important charge, and 
 be gathered to his fathers in the spirit-land. True, he lived 
 some years after this event ; for it is said that ' a long time 
 after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from their enemies 
 round about,' he called for the elders and gave them his fare- 
 well address. But at whatever period of his life the occurrence 
 took place at which we have now glanced, it would give him 
 great satisfaction to know that the tribes on both sides the 
 Jordan were one in sentiment and heart ; and he would look 
 forward to the hour of his departure with the hope that one 
 they would remain. 
 
 Passing over the years of interval, respecting which we have 
 no record, we now come to contemplate another of those touching 
 scenes which the sacred narrative depicts. Affecting was the 
 last interview of Jacob with his sons, of Joseph with his bre- 
 thren, of Aaron with Moses and Eleazar, and of Moses with the 
 people whom he had brought up out of Egypt. Scarcely less so 
 was this of Joshua with the elders of Israel, at which we must 
 
Joshua's intervieav avitii the elders. 273 
 
 now look. What a picture for the artist's pencil ! There is the 
 venerable form of the heroic soldier to whom, under God, the 
 people owe the conquest of the land, — the last link, Caleb only 
 excepted, of the generation who had come out of the land of 
 Egypt ; and around him are gathered the heads of the tribes, 
 to listen once more to his sage counsel and advice. Eleazar 
 the high priest is there, and Phinehas his son; and doubtless 
 Caleb is there, in his green old age, and perhaps Othniel, with 
 many others. And Joshua addresses them ; and, reminding them 
 of what God has done for them, exhorts them to courage and 
 to constancy, and warns them of the consequences of departing 
 from the Lord, and especially of intermarrying with the remnant 
 of the nations round about them. Chap, xxiii. 1-13. ' Behold,' 
 he says, ' this day I am going the way of all the earth ; and ye 
 know in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that not one thing 
 hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God 
 spake concerning you ; all are come to pass unto you, and not 
 one thing hath failed thereof.' ' To-day,' as if he had said, ' I 
 am looking forward to my decease. But be consoled and com- 
 forted ,by the recollection that all God's promises to you have 
 been fulfilled, and that, though I am taken from you, He will still 
 be your protector and your God if you obey Him. But as He 
 has proved Himself true to His promises, so also, if you depart 
 from Him, will He certainly fulfil His threatenings.' Memorable 
 and never-to-be-forgotten words ! They were indicative of the 
 paternal soUcitude of Joshua for his people. Like the father of 
 a family who is anxious for his children's welfare after his depar- 
 ture, Joshua was desirous that when he was numbered with the 
 dead, the Israelites should still possess the approving smile of 
 Heaven. Could he but indulge this hope, he would die in greater 
 peace. 
 
 But this was not the last interview of Joshua with the elders. 
 At a little later period he summoned them to Sheehera, to a 
 
 s 
 
274 THE LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF JOSHUA. 
 
 solemn renewal of the covenant before the Lord. Shechem, and 
 not Shiloh, was chosen for this event, because it stood between 
 the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, where the covenant was first 
 renewed, soon after they had entered Canaan. The same spot 
 was to be the witness of the last renewal of the covenant before 
 Joshua's death, which had witnessed the first renewal of it after 
 he had become the successor of Moses. 
 
 There was, probably, a larger assembly on this occasion than 
 on the former one ; and from the expression, ' They presented 
 themselves before the Lord ' — chap. xxiv. 1 — many have supposed 
 that the ark of the covenant was brought from Shiloh to Shechem, 
 that the transaction might be performed in the most solemn 
 manner, and m the immediate presence of the Lord Jehovah 
 Himself.^ And what said Joshua to the elders on this occasion ? 
 He reviewed G od's mercies to His people from the call of Abra- 
 ham, who, together with his family, was originally an idolater, 
 dwelling in TJr of the Chaldees, on the other side of the river 
 Euphrates. This was the first of a long series of acts by which 
 God had displayed a special regard for the Israelites. Abraham 
 He had conducted through the land of Canaan, promising that 
 his seed should afterwards inherit it. To him He had given 
 Isaac, and to Isaac, Jacob and Esau. To Esau Mount Seir w^as 
 assigned for a possession ; but Jacob and his family went down 
 to Egypt. In Egypt Moses and Aaron were raised up, and the 
 plagues having devastated the land, the descendants of the patri- 
 archs were set free from Pharaoh's yoke. The Egyptians pur- 
 sued them, but were drowned in the Red Sea. The wilderness 
 became the. home of the ransomed people for a period of forty 
 years ; there the Amorites were conquered ; there the stratagems 
 of Balak and of Balaam were defeated ; and there innumerable 
 proofs were witnessed both of the goodness and the power of 
 God. Moreover, they had crossed the Jordan ; they had ob- 
 
 * See, however, Keil, Hengstenberg, and also Calvin. 
 
JOSHUA'S APPEAL. ~ 275 
 
 tained possession of the land of Canaan ; the hornet had driven 
 out their enemies before them ; and God had given them a land 
 for which they did not labour, and cities which they built not, 
 and vineyards and oliveyards which they planted not ; and now 
 they were in possession of this fair inheritance, and could boast 
 of a land which literally flowed with milk and honey. 'Now 
 therefore,' said Joshua, ' fear the Lord, and serve Him in sin- 
 cerity and in truth : and put away the gods which your fathers 
 served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt ; and serve 
 ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, 
 choose you this day whom ye will serve : whether the gods which 
 your fathers served, that were on the other side of the flood, or 
 the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell : but as for me 
 and my house, we will serve the Lord.' 
 
 Professedly, the Israehtes ivere worshippers of the Lord 
 Jehovah, and of Him only ; but in heart they still clung to the 
 gods of Chaldea and of Egypt, and hence Joshua here exhorts 
 them to serve the Lord in sincerity and truth. Outward idolatry 
 did not exist among them at this time, as some have supposed ; 
 for, if it had, they would at once have brought their idols in 
 responding to Joshua's appeal, and have destroyed them. The 
 family of Abraham were not gross idolaters, but mingled with 
 the worship of the true God a regard to their Teraphim or 
 household gods (Penates) ; and even in Egypt the one Supreme 
 Being was acknowledged, though in connection with many 
 idolatrous elements. What Joshua demanded, then, was the 
 putting away of all false gods from their hearts, and the service of 
 the One True God in all sincerity. But it was to be with them 
 a matter of free choice; and if it seemed evil to them to serve 
 the Lord, they were that day to decide whom they would serve— 
 the gods of their fathers beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of 
 the Amorites, in whose land they now dwelt. ' The real object 
 of Joshua was to renew and confirm the covenant which had 
 
27G THE LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF JOSHUA. 
 
 already been made with God. Not without cause, therefore, 
 does he give them freedom of choice, that they may not after- 
 wards pretend to have been under compulsion, when they bound 
 themselves by their own consent. Meanwhile, to impress them 
 with a feeling of shame, he declares that he and his house will 
 persevere in the worship of God.' ^ 
 
 The people answered this appeal, and acknowledging their 
 obligations to the Lord Jehovah, solemnly promised that they 
 would serve Him. But merely human resolutions are very feeble, 
 and Joshua, reminding them of the holiness of God, says, * Ye 
 cannot,' in your own strength, in your present state of mind and 
 heart, and without the help of divine grace, ' serve God : for Ho 
 is an holy God ; He is a jealous God ; He will not forgive your 
 transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the Lord, and serve 
 strange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt, and consume 
 you, after that He hath done you good.' 
 
 To take a religious vow, to enter into covenant with God, 
 to promise deliberately allegiance to His throne, is a most solemn 
 and momentous act ; for God is a jealous God, and requires of 
 all His people unbroken fidelity to their engagements ; nor will 
 He fail to visit with severity every breach of promise. But, so 
 full of gratitude were the people at this moment, that with these 
 views of the divine character before them, and fully conscious as 
 they must have been of the vast importance of the transaction, 
 they again declared that they would serve the Lord, and that 
 they were ready to renew the covenant which Ebal and Gerizim 
 had witnessed long before. 
 
 It was enough. Joshua was satisfied of their sincerity, and 
 that day the covenant was renewed accordingly. ' Ye are wit- 
 nesses,' said Joshua — witnesses, that is, against yourselves — 
 * that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve Him.' And they 
 repUed, ' We are witnesses.' And now the idols of their heart 
 
 1 Calvin in loco ; comp. Eeil. 
 
THE STONE OF WITNESS. 277 
 
 being put away, at Joshua's request, so that no vestige of idolatry 
 might remain amongst them, 'a statute and an ordinance' was 
 set in Shechem, — a statute binding the Israelites to observe the 
 law, and an ordinance giving them a title to expect that, on this 
 condition, the Lord Jehovah would be faithful to His promises. 
 And in the book of the law all the transactions connected with 
 this ratification of the covenant were written ; and then a large 
 stone was set up as a visible memorial of the event. This stone 
 was set up ' under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord ;' 
 which some interpret, ' at the threshold of the sanctuary, which 
 Joshua had caused to be brought with the ark to Shechem.' 
 But the sanctuary here referred to was none other than the 
 spot which Abraham had consecrated to the worship of the Lord 
 Jehovah, under a venerable oak, when he passed through the 
 land journeying towards the south, ^ and on which Jacob also 
 erected an altar, and afterwards buried all the strange gods of 
 his household.2 Memorable, then, was that spot in the history of 
 the chosen race, and most fitting to be the scene of this very 
 solemn and momentous engagement. And Joshua said unto all 
 the people, ' Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us ; for it 
 hath heard all the words of the Lord which He spake unto us : 
 it shall therefore be a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.' 
 In the language of poetry things inanimate are often said to see, 
 and hear, and speak ; and thus was this stone said to have heard 
 the words of God ; and as the people looked upon it, they were 
 to remember that, if they denied their Lord, it would be a wit- 
 ness against them of the heinousness of their sin. 
 
 Thus Joshua, following in the footsteps of the illustrious law- 
 giver, had done everything in his power to bind the Israehtes as 
 a people to their God. And now all that he could do more was 
 to dismiss them with his blessing. It was his last public act, 
 and he retired from that scene to gather up his feet and die. 
 
 1 Gen. xii. 6-8. ' Gen. xxxiii. 19, 20, xxxv. 2-4. 
 
278 THE LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF JOSHUA. 
 
 Of the death-scene we have no account. We know not where 
 it occurred, whether at Shiloh or at Shechem, nor who were 
 present to witness his departure and to close his eyes. The 
 historian merely tells us that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant 
 of the Lord, died, being a hundred and ten years old ; and that 
 they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath- 
 serah, which is in Mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill 
 Gaash. To the inheritance of Joshua reference has been already 
 made ; but the sites of Timnath-serah and the hill Gaash have 
 not been identified with certainty. Dr Eli Smith, however, found 
 a hill called Tibneh, covered with considerable ruins, and to the 
 south of it, another hill with remarkable sepulchral caverns, eight 
 miles south-east of Shiloh, which he supposed to be identical with 
 these two spots ; ^ and it is not improbable that the last resting- 
 place of the illustrious commander of the Israelites is here. 
 
 The influence of Joshua's example and instructions was such, 
 that Israel served the Lord all his days, and all the days of the 
 elders that overlived him, who had known the works of the Lord. 
 Like every good man who occupies a prominent position in 
 society, he left behind him a bright track of Hght, in which many 
 walked long after his departure. Of his character we cannot 
 speak too highly. It is transparent as the light itself. He was 
 indeed * strong and very courageous.' He feared no danger ; he 
 shrunk from no hardships ; he was deterred by no difficulties. 
 Arduous was the enterprise he was called to undertake, and, to 
 human appearance, the barriers to its accomplishment were all but 
 insurmountable. But Joshua had faith in God. Seldom, if ever, 
 did his confidence in the divine promises give way ; and if it did, 
 under special trials, for a moment waver, it rose again and took 
 hold on the arm of Omnipotence afresh. Two traits in his cha- 
 racter are peculiarly prominent — his disinterestedness, and his 
 fidelity to the trust reposed in him. 
 
 ■• See Van de Velde's ' Memoir' and Map. 
 
THE CHARACTER OF JOSHUA. 279 
 
 Joshua lived, not for himself, but for his people. Unhke 
 Alexander and other conquerors of the East, he sought no glorj, 
 was ambitious of no greatness, and aimed at no sinister purposes 
 or ends. There is not a circumstance in his history which indi- 
 cates that he had any personal designs to gratify ; for, indeed, he 
 was too great a man for this. True greatness consists not in 
 aspiring to place and power, not in the carrying out of ambitious 
 projects, not in trying to he great, and wishing that the world may 
 think us great; but in lowliness and humbleness of mind, and in self- 
 forgetfulness for the common good. Hence few of the conquerors 
 of the world — the Alexanders, the Caesars, the Attilas, and the 
 Napoleons, of human fame — were truly great, but miserably little. 
 But Joshua was great — great as a patriot, great as a com- 
 mander ; for his aim was one, that of promoting to the utmost 
 of his power the highest interests of the people of his charge. 
 Let our rulers, our statesmen, our military commanders, imbibe 
 the spirit of the noble-minded Joshua ; and, instead of that hunt- 
 ing after place which is now so common for the sake of personal 
 or family aggrandisement, there would be a prevalent desire to 
 lose sight of personal advantage for the sake of the public good. 
 Nor would society be in any way a loser, for the most disinter- 
 ested servant of the state is always its best and most eflScient 
 one. 
 
 Closely connected with this trait in the character of Joshua 
 was his fidelity to the trust reposed in him. He was not the 
 mere patriot. He was the servant of the people because he was 
 the servant of their God. He felt his responsibihty to the Lord 
 Jehovah, who had appointed him to the charge of the hosts of 
 Israel ; and whether he pleased the Israelites or not, please the 
 Lord Jehovah he must. Some men, through cowardice or 
 through fear, are no sooner placed in an eminent position in 
 society by the providence of God, than, to keep it, they have 
 recourse to all kinds of mean and dishonourable plans. Instead 
 
280 THE LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF JOSHUA. 
 
 of doing their duty, whatever it may cost them, they conform to 
 custom and court the favour and the smiles of men. There was 
 nothing of this kind in the conduct of Joshua. To be the idol 
 of the people at any price, was never his desire. His eye was 
 single, his aim was one. He thought of nothing but of fulfilling 
 the task assigned to him, and would sooner have laid down his 
 charge, and retired into private life, than have proved faithless to 
 his trust as the servant of the Lord his God. Hence there was 
 no vacillation in his policy. He was the same man from the time 
 he took the command of the hosts of Israel to the time that he 
 laid it down, and he pursued one hne of conduct through the 
 whole of his administration of affairs. If ever he erred, it was 
 in judgment only ; and his errors were so few, that they are all 
 but lost amid the cluster of the excellences which adorn his 
 character. He was a man in whom the Spirit of God was, and 
 that Spirit he retained to the close of his long and most eventful 
 life. 
 
 It would be easy, were we to look back on the history we 
 have sketched, to illustrate more fully these traits of the charac- 
 ter of this truly great man; but we have nearly reached the 
 limits of this volume, and the reader can supply such illustrations 
 for himself. There is but one other thought on which it is 
 necessary to dwell: — Joshua was, in one respect at least, an 
 eminent type of the Lord Jesus Christ. As he conducted the 
 chosen Israel into the rest of the earthly Canaan, so is Jesus, the 
 true Joshua, leading the Christian Israel into the rest of Chris- 
 tian hohness and of heaven. Centuries after the death of Joshua, 
 the Psalmist David said, ' To-day, if ye will hear His voice, 
 harden not your hearts.' And the author of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, adverting to these words, says, *If Jesus' — that is, 
 Joshua — 'had given them rest, then would he not afterwards 
 have spoken of another day.' That is, if Joshua had led God's 
 people into tlie true rest provided for them, then would not 
 
JOSHUA AND JESUS. 281 
 
 David, under the inspiration of the Spirit, have spoken of 
 another day or period in which rest may be obtained. ' There 
 remaineth therefore,' is the conclusion of the writer, ' a sabbath- 
 rest for the people of God.'^ Under the brighter economy of 
 the Gospel, there is a rest more true, more spiritual, and more 
 permanent than that of Canaan, — the rest of peace and purity 
 on earth, the rest of glory and of God in heaven. Yes, believers 
 shall enter even into the rest of God. As He, when He had 
 finished the work of creation, rested from His works and entered 
 on a sabbath which shall never end ; so, when they shall have 
 accomplished the task assigned them, shall they begin their 
 sabbath-rest, and that sabbath-rest shall be a rest in God and 
 with God which shall know no change or end. 
 
 But who is their conductor to that rest ? Who guides them 
 to its entrance ? Who arras them for the victory over the enemies 
 that assail them ? Who sustains them in the valley of the shadow 
 of death, causes the waters to divide, and leads them into the 
 promised land ? Jesus is their Joshua ; and He it is to whom 
 they look, and on whom alone they can depend. He is not only 
 their Prophet like unto Moses, and their Priest like unto Mel- 
 chisedec, but their Captain like unto Joshua ; and, enlisted under 
 His banner. He leads them on, * conquering and to conquer,' 
 until at length they triumph in His name over the last enemy, 
 and are admitted into the sabbath-rest of the incorruptible and 
 undefiled inheritance. That inheritance Moses entered, though 
 he saw the earthly Canaan only at a distance. That inheritance 
 Joshua himself obtained when he bade adieu to his inheritance 
 in Timnath-heres, and laid him down to die. And that in- 
 heritance thousands now possess, out of every nation under 
 heaven; whilst thousands more are on their journey thither, -with 
 the bright prospect of immortality in their view. This is the 
 sphere of toil and conflict ; but for every true follower of Christ 
 
 * Heb. iv. 9 " h<>% iroXiinrxi a'x^!ixri<ru.\; ru Xxi^ toZ Qiou, 
 
282 THE LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF JOSHUA. 
 
 there is an abode of perfect rest. But each one who gains that 
 rest, gains it not by his own unaided skill, but by the grace of 
 God in Christ ; and hence the song of the redeemed is one ' To 
 Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own 
 blood, and hath made us kings and priest unto God and His 
 Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever 
 Amen,'* 
 
INDEX. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 ?AG3 
 
 Abram, Promise to . 
 
 22 
 
 Bethlehem Ephratah, 
 
 193 
 
 Accursed Things, . 
 
 89 
 
 Bethlehem (Zebulun), 
 
 232 
 
 Achan, Sin of . 
 
 86 
 
 Bethshittah, . 
 
 222 
 
 Achan, Children of 
 
 97 
 
 Bezer, . 
 
 255 
 
 Achor, Valley of . 
 
 99 
 
 Birth-place, Joshua's, 
 
 3 
 
 Achsah, .... 
 
 184 
 
 Buckingham, quoted,' 
 
 . 24,28 
 
 Adam, City of 
 
 55 
 
 
 
 Adoni-zedec, . 
 
 137 
 
 
 
 Ai, City of . . . 
 
 86, 102 
 
 Caleb, . . . 
 
 . 13, 43, 175 
 
 Ai, King of . . . 
 
 109 
 
 Canaan, Boundaries of 
 
 202 
 
 Ajalon, Valley of . 
 
 153 
 
 Captain of the Lord's Hos 
 
 t, . 69 
 
 Altar on Mount Ebal, 
 
 113 
 
 Chederlaomer, 
 
 150 
 
 Altar of the Keubenites, . 
 
 269 
 
 Chephirah, 
 
 127 
 
 Amalek, Battle with 
 
 7 
 
 Chinneroth, Plains of 
 
 157 
 
 Ambassadors, . 
 
 122 
 
 Christ the Refuge, . 
 
 261 
 
 Ambush, .... 
 
 105 
 
 Circumcision renewed. 
 
 62 
 
 Ancestors, Joshua's 
 
 3 
 
 Covenant with the Gibeo 
 
 aites, 124 
 
 Aphek, .... 
 
 172 
 
 Covenant at Shechem, 
 
 274 
 
 Appeal, Joshua's 
 
 275 
 
 Covetousness, Sin of 
 
 93 
 
 Asher, Territory of 
 
 244 
 
 
 
 Astronomy, Modern 
 
 149 
 
 
 
 Asyla, .... 
 
 237 
 
 Dan, Territory of . 
 
 209 
 
 Azubah, .... 
 
 185 
 
 Dan, City of Northern 
 
 211 
 
 
 
 Dante, quoted, 
 
 45 
 
 
 
 Death of Joshua, 
 
 278 
 
 Babylonish Garment, 
 
 92 
 
 Debir, 
 
 157, 183 
 
 Bacon, Lord, quoted, 
 
 177 
 
 Deborah, 
 
 221 
 
 Balaam, Prophecies of . 
 
 27-34 
 
 Descender, The 
 
 57 
 
 Barak, .... 
 
 221, 241 
 
 Drawers of Water, . 
 
 . 131 
 
 Beeroth, .... 
 
 127 
 
 
 
 Beersheba, 
 
 202 
 
 
 
 Benjamin, Territory of . 
 
 215 
 
 Ebal, 
 
 111 
 
 Bethel (Luz), . 
 
 195 
 
 Edrei, . . . . 
 
 30 
 
 Beth-hoglah, . 
 
 191 
 
 Eglon, . . . 
 
 139, 157 
 
 Beth-horon, 
 
 142 
 
 Ekron, . . . . 
 
 171 
 
284 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 
 
 
 
 PACE 
 
 
 i 
 
 PAGR 
 
 Elders, The Seventy 
 
 11 
 
 Jordan, Swellings of 
 
 
 53 
 
 El-Ghor, Valley of . 
 
 47 
 
 Jordan, Banks of . 
 
 
 67 
 
 Elishama, . . . . 
 
 5,10 
 
 Josephus, quoted, . 
 
 42, 
 
 etc. 
 
 En-gannim, . . . . 
 Ephraim, Tribe of 
 
 227 
 
 Joshua, The Name 
 
 
 12 
 
 5,217 
 
 Jotham, Parable of 
 
 
 223 
 
 Esdraelon, Plain of 
 
 227 
 
 
 
 
 Eshtaol, 
 
 205 
 
 
 
 
 Etam, The Keck . 
 
 208 
 
 Keble, quoted. 
 
 
 170 
 
 
 
 Kedesh, . 
 
 
 
 256 
 
 
 
 Keil, quoted, . 
 
 ! 34 
 
 39 
 
 etc. 
 
 Faith, Joshua's 
 
 77 
 
 Kenaz, 
 
 
 
 183 
 
 Faith, Eahab's 
 
 46 
 
 Kirjath-jearim, 
 
 
 
 128 
 
 Forests, 
 
 71 
 
 Kishon, The River 
 
 
 
 229 
 
 
 
 Kitto, Dr, quoted, 
 
 
 36 
 
 etc. 
 
 
 
 Kurtz, quoted, 
 
 
 12 
 
 etc. 
 
 Gad, Tribe of . 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 Gad, Character of . 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 
 Gad, Territory. of . 
 
 28,31 
 
 Lachish 
 
 139 
 
 157 
 
 Gate of the City, . 
 
 41 
 
 Laish, Conquest of • 
 
 
 209 
 
 Gerizira, 
 
 111 
 
 Land-surveying, 
 
 
 201 
 
 Gibeah, 
 
 197 
 
 League with the Gibeonites, 
 
 
 126 
 
 Gibeon, .... 
 
 121 
 
 Levites, Cities of 
 
 
 248 
 
 Gibeonites, 
 
 119 
 
 Libnah, .... 
 
 
 157 
 
 Gilgal, . 
 
 . 59, 63 
 
 Lightfoot, referred to. 
 
 
 44 
 
 Gilgal, Jiljilia, 
 
 120 
 
 Lot, The ... 89 
 
 ,91 
 
 189 
 
 Goal, The . . . 
 
 255 
 
 
 
 
 Goshen, Land of 
 
 3 
 
 Maccabees, Times of the 
 
 
 199 
 
 
 
 Makkedah, . . 
 
 148 
 
 157 
 
 Hailstones, 
 
 143 
 
 Manna, Cessation of 
 
 
 6Q 
 
 Hammath, 
 
 239 
 
 Manasseh, Inheritance of 
 
 
 213 
 
 Hazor, . . . 159, 
 
 167, 239 
 
 Manasseh, Half-tribe of . 
 
 
 30 
 
 Hebron, .... 
 
 138, 179 
 
 Memorials, 
 
 
 61 
 
 Hengstenberg, quoted, 
 
 . 12, etc. 
 
 Merom, Waters of . 
 
 159 
 
 161 
 
 Hermon, .... 
 
 159 
 
 Messengers, King of Jericho's 
 
 
 37 
 
 Hewers of Wood, . 
 
 131 
 
 Midbar 
 
 
 193 
 
 Kiel the Bethelite, . 
 
 84 
 
 Miracles, Object of . 
 
 
 150 
 
 Hotner, quoted. 
 
 181 
 
 Mizpeh, Land of 
 
 
 159 
 
 Hoshea, Meaning of 
 
 4 
 
 Mizpeh, Valley of . 
 
 
 166 
 
 House on the Wall, . 
 
 41 
 
 Misrephoth-maim, . 
 
 
 165 
 
 Hypocrisy, Sin of . 
 
 125 
 
 Moab, Land of 
 
 
 26 
 
 Huleh, Lake 
 
 . 52, 240 
 
 Moses, Descendants of . 
 Moses, Death of 
 
 
 15 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 Moses, Prophecies of 
 
 28 
 
 etc. 
 
 Institute, Levitical . 
 
 253 
 
 Murmurings, . 
 
 
 129 
 
 Interview, Joshua's 
 
 273 
 
 
 
 
 Issachar, Territory of 
 
 228 
 
 Naphtali, Territory of 
 Nazareth, 
 
 
 236 
 232 
 
 Jabin, .... 
 
 IGl, 167 
 
 Nether Springs, 
 
 
 184 
 
 Jasher, Book of 
 
 147 
 
 Nomination, Joshua's 
 
 
 17 
 
 Jericho, City of 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 
 Jericho, Siege of 
 
 51 
 
 
 
 
 Jezreel, .... 
 
 227 
 
 Oath of the Spies, . 
 
 
 39 
 
 Joppa, .... 
 
 207, 215 
 
 Offerings of the Princes, 
 
 
 10 
 
 Jordan, Sources of . 
 
 61 
 
 Oshea, Meaning of 
 
 . 
 
 
 12 
 

 IXDEX. 
 
 285 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 PACE 
 
 Othniel, . 
 
 183 
 
 Stones, Falling of . 
 
 144 
 
 
 
 Stoning, . . , . 
 
 93 
 
 
 
 Stewart, Dr, quoted, 
 
 191 
 
 Palm-trees, 
 
 71 
 
 Stratagems, 
 
 104 
 
 Passover, Celebratio 
 
 n of . 64 
 
 Spies, The Two 
 
 35 
 
 Philo, quoted, . 
 
 • 6, 12, etc. 
 
 Spoil of Enemies, 
 
 107 
 
 Phinehas, 
 
 270 
 
 Successions of Great Men, 
 
 19 
 
 Piram, 
 
 137 
 
 
 
 Phcenicians, 
 
 163, 243 
 
 
 
 Plot, Discovery of 
 
 127 
 
 Tabor, Mount . 
 
 . 235 
 
 Preparations, . 
 
 . 47, 73 
 
 Thomson, Dr, quoted. 
 
 162, etc. 
 
 Priests, Cities of 
 
 249 
 
 Timnath, 
 
 205, 278 
 
 Prosperity, Secret ol 
 
 20 
 
 Type, Joshua a 
 
 281 
 
 Purple, Trade in 
 
 163 
 
 Tyre, .... 
 
 245 
 
 Quarantana, Mounta 
 
 ins of . 42 
 
 Ulysses, .... 
 
 177 
 
 
 
 Undesigned Coincidences, 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 Upper Springs, 
 
 184 
 
 Rahab, 
 
 . 35, 44, 83 
 
 
 
 Piamoth-Gilead, 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 Ranioth.-Mizpeh, 
 
 255 
 
 Van de Velde, quoted, . 
 
 . 53, etc. 
 
 Refuge, Cities of 
 
 249 
 
 Voice of God, 
 
 145 
 
 Reubenites, Dismiss^ 
 
 il of . 265 
 
 Vows, Importance of 
 
 276 
 
 Reubenites, Territor 
 
 y of . 27 
 
 
 
 Revenge, Law of 
 
 259 
 
 
 
 Rizpah, . 
 
 134 
 
 "Walls of Jericho, 
 
 77 
 
 Robinson, Dr, quote 
 
 i, . . 43, etc. 
 
 War, when Justifiable, . 
 
 79 
 
 
 
 Waters of Egypt, . 
 
 171 
 
 
 
 Wedge of Gold, 
 
 92 
 
 Salem, 
 
 137 
 
 Wilkinson, Sir J. G., quotec 
 
 201 
 
 Samaria (Sebaste), 
 
 221 
 
 Windows, 
 
 40 
 
 Sarcophagus, . 
 
 207 
 
 Writing on Plaster, 
 
 115 
 
 Scarlet Cord, . 
 
 . 39,41 
 
 
 
 Seven, The Number 
 
 76 
 
 
 
 Shechem, City of 
 
 219 
 
 Youth of Joshua, . 
 
 4 
 
 Shechem, Vale of 
 
 256 
 
 
 
 Shihor Libnath, 
 
 241 
 
 
 
 Shittim, 
 
 34 
 
 Zabdi, .... 
 
 90 
 
 Shoterim, The 
 
 . 23,47 
 
 Zaretan, 
 
 55 
 
 Sieges, Remarkable 
 
 73 
 
 Zebulun, Ten-itory of 
 
 232 
 
 Simeon, Territory o 
 
 201 
 
 Zelophehad, Daughters of 
 
 216 
 
 Stanley, Dr, quoted, 
 
 . 27, 31, etc. 
 
 Ziklag, .... 
 
 202 
 
 Stones, Memorial 
 
 58, 277 
 
 Zorah, .... 
 
 205 
 
 THE END. 
 

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