CHAPTER II.

CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS.

JOSH. VII.-XI. B. C. 1451.

THE passes into the central hills being thus secured, Joshua without delay sent men to reconnoitre the position of AI, a royal city, strongly posted beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, “at the head of the ravines running up from the valley of the Jordan.” The spies reported it as easy of capture, and suggested that two or three thousand men would be amply sufficient for the undertaking. Acting on their advice Joshua dispatched the suggested number, who advanced boldly up the ravine, but only to meet with an unexpected and disastrous repulse. The men of Ai, strong in their high position, chased them down the "steep descent" from the gates, and slew about thirty-six men.

This unlooked-for reverse excited the profoundest despondency in the Israelitish camp. Joshua and the elders, with dust upon their heads, lay till eventide upon the ground before the Ark, which had so lately been led triumphantly round Jericho, anticipated nothing less than a general attack of the collected Canaanites, emboldened by the discomfiture of the people. From this dejection they were roused by the Voice of the Captain of the Lord's Host informing them that the Israelites themselves were the cause of this defeat; they had not kept themselves from the accursed thing in the devoted city of Jericho, but had taken and concealed a portion of the spoil, nor till atonement was made for this sin, could they expect any further success to attend their arms.

On the morrow, therefore, all Israel was assembled by their tribes, and an appeal was made to the sacred

Lot to discover the offender. The tribe of Judah having been taken, its clans, families, and households were successively led forth, and at length the transgressor was found in the person of ACHAN, the son of Carmi. Adjured by Joshua to make a full confession, he owned that from the spoils of Jericho he had secretly set aside a richly ornamented Babylonish or Assyrian robe1, 200 shekels of silver, and a solid wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels, and had hidden them in the ground under his tent. Thither messengers were sent, and there the stolen property was found, and spread before the assembled host. Achan was then taken to a valley south or south-west of Jericho, and there stoned to death, together with his sons, his daughters, and all his family; their remains together with his tent, the stolen property, and all his possessions were then burnt with fire, while a great mound of stones was set up over the scene of the execution, and the valley was henceforth known as that of Achor (trouble).

The host was now in a position to resume the attack upon Ai. Selecting 30,000 men from his forces, Joshua set out from Gilgal, and on reaching the neighbourhood of the city detached 5,000 men to place themselves during the night in ambush behind it. Meanwhile he himself, with the rest of his army, took up his position on an eminence near the north side of the town. Early the following morning he descended into the valley, and the king of Ai no sooner detected them than he advanced with all his forces to the encounter. Thereupon the Israelites feigned a retreat, and were hotly pursued

1 Probably a stiff embroidered robe, made in the loom with the needle and of several colours. See Layard's Nineveh, II. 319, quoted by Kitto, Bib. Illustrations, II. 204. This seems to indicate the existence of a trade between CaLaan and Mesopotamia.

2 See Keil's Commentary on Joshua, p. 208. And for the situation of Ai, Smith's Bib. Dict., Article Ai.

by their foes towards the desert of the Jordan', while at the signal of Joshua's uplifted spear the ambuscade rushed into Ai and set it on fire. The smoke of their city ascending up to heaven was the first announcement to the inhabitants of the success of the stratagem practised by the Israelites. Attacked before and behind they were utterly routed, and their whole population, numbering 12,000, were put to the sword. The city itself was sacked and burnt, and its king having been taken prisoner was hanged upon a tree till sunset, when the body was taken down, and a huge heap of stones was piled up over his grave.

After this signal victory the Israelitish leader determined to take advantage of the terror which the success of his arms had inspired in the hearts of the Canaanites, and carry out the command of Moses touching the ratification of the Law with imposing and solemn ceremonies, on the mountains Ebal and Gerizim (Deut. xxvii.). From Ai, to the north of which the host had already advanced, Ebal was about 20 miles distant. Thither accordingly the host repaired; an altar of unhewn stones was erected, and burnt-offerings and peace-offerings were sacrificed to Jehovah. The stones were then plastered with lime, and the words of the Law, probably the Ten Commandments, or the Blessings and Cursings contained in Deut. xxvii. inscribed thereon3. Half of the assembled tribes then ascended the summit of Ebal, the other half that of Gerizim. In the intermediate valley'

1 Stanley's S. and P. p. 203.

2 See above, p. 196.

3 "Such writing was common in ancient times: I have seen numerous specimens of it certainly more than two thousand years old, and still as distinct as when they were first inscribed on the plaster." Thomson's Land and the Book, p. 471, Mill's Modern Samaritans.

The acoustic properties of this valley are interesting, the more so that several times they are incidentally brought to

stood the priests and Levites with the Ark, surrounded by the elders, officers, and judges, with Joshua at their head. Of the blessings and cursings of the Law each was then read aloud by the Levites, and as they read, to each curse the six tribes on Ebal responded with a unanimous loud Amen, and to each blessing the assembled thousands on Gerizim similarly testified their acquiescence1.

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On their return from this solemn ratification of the Covenant the Israelites assembled at Gilgal'. Here they were met by an embassy from GIBEON, now ElJib. It was a royal city, situated exactly opposite the opening of the pass of Ai," inhabited by the commercial Hivites, and was at this time the head of a small group of confederate cities, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim (Josh. ix. 17). Alarmed by the successes of Joshua, the Canaanite kings of the hills, the valleys, and the sea-coast had mustered their forces for a general attack upon him. In this the Gibeonites had

our notice in Holy Writ (comp. Josh. viii. 33; Judg. ix. 7). It is impossible to conceive a spot more admirably adapted for Joshua's purpose than this one, in the very centre of the newly acquired land, nor one which could more exactly fulfil all the required conditions...A single voice might be heard by many thousands, shut in and conveyed up and down by the enclosing hills. In the early morning we could not only see from Gerizim a man driving his ass down a path on Mount Ebal, but could hear every word he uttered as he urged it on; and in order to test the matter more certainly, on a subsequent occasion two of our party stationed themselves on opposite sides of the valley, and with perfect ease recited the commandments antiphonally." Tristram's Land of Israel, pp. 149, 150.

1 It was probably on this occasion that the Egyptian coffin containing the embalmed body of their great ancestor was laid by the two tribes of the house of Joseph in the parcel of ground near Shechem, which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor (Gen. xxxiii. 19; l. 25).

2 Or another place of the same name now called Jilgilia, situated near Bethel in the direct route from Shechem to Ai.

resolved to take no part, but determined if possible to make a league with the Israelites. For this purpose they sent ambassadors arrayed in old and tattered garments and clouted shoes, carrying old sacks upon their asses, dry and mouldy bread, and goat-skin bottles patched and shrivelled, the better to keep up the appearance of being toil-worn travellers from a far country (Josh. ix. 3—13).

Completely deceived by this wily embassage, without waiting to take counsel of the Lord, Joshua and the princes concluded a covenant with them, and solemnly swore that they would spare their lives. Within three days, however, they arrived in the midst of their cities, and ascertained that instead of being very far off, they were their near neighbours. Loud was the murmuring of the people against their chiefs, when they saw how they had been duped. But the latter nobly determined to abide by their oaths, and in place of putting the Gibeonites to death reduced them to the condition of bondmen, and made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord1.

Meanwhile news of the capitulation of Gibeon having reached the ears of the southern kings, they resolved to attack the recreant city, and five powerful chiefs, the king of JEBUS, the king of HEBRON or KIRJATH-ARBA, the king of JARMUTH, the king of LACHISH, the king of EGLON, marched against it, and commenced a regular siege. In their alarm the Gibeonites sent an urgent message to Joshua at Gilgal, bidding him slack not his hand, but come to their aid with the utmost speed, and deliver them from their powerful foes. Perceiving that

1 They became "slaves of the Sanctuary," Deo donati. Comp. Ezra viii. 20; 1 Chron. ix. 2; Num. viii. 16, 19. On the subsequent breaking of this compact by Saul, see 2 Sam. xxi. 1-5.