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1. When Moses was taken away from among men, in the manner
already described, and when all the solemnities belonging to the
mourning for him were finished, and the sorrow for him was over,
Joshua commanded the multitude to get themselves ready for an
expedition. He also sent spies to Jericho to discover what forces
they had, and what were their intentions; but he put his camp in
order, as intending soon to pass over Jordan at a proper season.
And calling to him the rulers of the tribe of Reuben, and the
governors of the tribe of Gad, and [the half tribe of] Manasseh,
for half of this tribe had been permitted to have their
habitation in the country of the Amorites, which was the seventh
part of the land of Canaan, he put them in mind what they had
promised Moses; and he exhorted them that, for the sake of the
care that Moses had taken of them who had never been weary of
taking pains for them no, not when he was dying, and for the sake
of the public welfare, they would prepare themselves, and readily
perform what they had promised; so he took fifty thousand of them
who followed him, and he marched from Abila to Jordan, sixty
furlongs.
2. Now when he had pitched his camp, the spies came to him
immediately, well acquainted with the whole state of the
Canaanites; for at first, before they were at all discovered,
they took a full view of the city of Jericho without disturbance,
and saw which parts of the walls were strong, and which parts
were otherwise, and indeed insecure, and which of the gates were
so weak as might afford an entrance to their army. Now those that
met them took no notice of them when they saw them, and supposed
they were only strangers, who used to be very curious in
observing everything in the city, and did not take them for
enemies; but at even they retired to a certain inn that was near
to the wall, whither they went to eat their supper; which supper
when they had done, and were considering how to get away,
information was given to the king as he was at supper, that there
were some persons come from the Hebrews' camp to view the city as
spies, and that they were in the inn kept by Rahab, and were very
solicitous that they might not be discovered. So he sent
immediately some to them, and commanded to catch them, and bring
them to him, that he might examine them by torture, and learn
what their business was there. As soon as Rahab understood that
these messengers were coming, she hid the spies under stalks of
flax, which were laid to dry on the top of her house; and said to
the messengers that were sent by the king, that certain unknown
strangers had supped with her a little before sun-setting, and
were gone away, who might easily be taken, if they were any
terror to the city, or likely to bring any danger to the king. So
these messengers being thus deluded by the woman, and
suspecting no imposition, went their ways, without so much as
searching the inn; but they immediately pursued them along those
roads which they most probably supposed them to have gone, and
those particularly which led to the river, but could hear no
tidings of them; so they left off the pains of any further
pursuit. But when the tumult was over, Rahab brought the men
down, and desired them as soon as they should have obtained
possession of the land of Canaan, when it would be in their power
to make her amends for her preservation of them, to remember what
danger she had undergone for their sakes; for that if she had
been caught concealing them, she could not have escaped a
terrible destruction, she and all her family with her, and so bid
them go home; and desired them to swear to her to preserve her
and her family when they should take the city, and destroy all
its inhabitants, as they had decreed to do; for so far she said
she had been assured by those Divine miracles of which she had
been informed. So these spies acknowledged that they owed her
thanks for what she had done already, and withal swore to requite
her kindness, not only in words, but in deeds. But they gave her
this advice, That when she should perceive that the city was
about to be taken, she should put her goods, and all her family,
by way of security, in her inn, and to hang out scarlet threads
before her doors, [or windows,] that the commander of the Hebrews
might know her house, and take care to do her no harm; for, said
they, we will inform him of this matter, because of the concern
thou hast had to preserve us: but if any one of thy family fall
in the battle, do not thou blame us; and we beseech that God, by
whom we have sworn, not then to be displeased with us, as though
we had broken our oaths. So these men, when they had made this
agreement, went away, letting themselves down by a rope from the
wall, and escaped, and came and told their own people whatsoever
they had done in their journey to this city. Joshua also told
Eleazar the high priest, and the senate, what the spies had sworn
to Rahab, who continued what had been sworn.
3. Now while Joshua, the commander, was in fear about their
passing over Jordan, for the river ran with a strong current, and
could not be passed over with bridges, for there never had been
bridges laid over it hitherto; and while he suspected, that if he
should attempt to make a bridge, that their enemies would not
afford him thee to perfect it, and for ferry-boats they had none,
- God promised so to dispose of the river, that they might pass
over it, and that by taking away the main part of its waters. So
Joshua, after two days, caused the army and the whole multitude
to pass over in the manner following: - The priests went first of
all, having the ark with them; then went the Levites bearing the
tabernacle and the vessels which belonged to the sacrifices;
after which the entire multitude followed, according to their
tribes, having their children and their wives in the midst of
them, as being afraid for them, lest they should be borne away by
the stream. But as soon as the priests had entered the river
first, it appeared fordable, the depth of the water being
restrained and the sand appearing at the bottom, because the
current was neither so strong nor so swift as to carry it away by
its force; so they all passed over the river without fear,
finding it to be in the very same state as God had foretold he
would put it in; but the priests stood still in the midst of the
river till the multitude should be passed over, and should get to
the shore in safety; and when all were gone over, the priests
came out also, and permitted the current to run freely as it used
to do before. Accordingly the river, as soon as the Hebrews were
come out of it, arose again presently, and carne to its own
proper magnitude as before.
4. So the Hebrews went on farther fifty furlongs, and pitched
their camp at the distance of ten furlongs from Jericho; but
Joshua built an altar of those stones which all the heads of the
tribes, at the command of the prophets, had taken out of the
deep, to be afterwards a memorial of the division of the stream
of this river, and upon it offered sacrifice to God; and in that
place celebrated the passover, and had great plenty of all the
things which they wanted hitherto; for they reaped the corn of
the Canaanites, which was now ripe, and took other things as
prey; for then it was that their former food, which was manna,
and of which they had eaten forty years, failed them.
5. Now while the Israelites did this, and the Canaanites did not
attack them, but kept themselves quiet within their own walls,
Joshua resolved to besiege them; so on the first day of the feast
[of the passover], the priests carried the ark round about, with
some part of the armed men to be a guard to it. These priests
went forward, blowing with their seven trumpets; and exhorted the
army to be of good courage, and went round about the city, with
the senate following them; and when the priests had only blown
with the trumpets, for they did nothing more at all, they
returned to the camp. And when they had done this for six days,
on the seventh Joshua gathered the armed men and all the people
together, and told them these good tidings, That the city should
now be taken, since God would on that day give it them, by the
falling down of the walls, and this of their own accord, and
without their labor. However, he charged them to kill every one
they should take, and not to abstain from the slaughter of their
enemies, either for weariness or for pity, and not to fall on the
spoil, and be thereby diverted from pursuing their enemies as
they ran away; but to destroy all the animals, and to take
nothing for their own peculiar advantage. He commanded them also
to bring together all the silver and gold, that it might be set
apart as first-fruits unto God out of this glorious exploit, as
having gotten them from the city they first took; only that they
should save Rahab and her kindred alive, because of the oath
which the spies had sworn to her.
6. When he had said this, and had set his army in order, be
brought it against the city: so they went round the city again,
the ark going before them, and the priests encouraging the people
to be zealous in the work; and when they had gone round it seven
times, and had stood still a little, the wall fell down, while no
instruments of war, nor any other force, was applied to it by the
Hebrews.
7. So they entered into Jericho, and slew all the men that were
therein, while they were aftrighted at the surprising overthrow
of the walls, and their courage was become useless, and they were
not able to defend themselves; so they were slain, and their
throats cut, some in the ways, and others as caught in their
houses; nothing afforded them assistance, but they all perished,
even to the women and the children; and the city was filled with
dead bodies, and not one person escaped. They also burnt the
whole city, and the country about it; but they saved alive Rahab,
with her family, who had fled to her inn. And when she was
brought to him, Joshua owned to her that they owed her thanks for
her preservation of the spies: so he said he would not appear to
be behind her in his benefaction to her; whereupon he gave her
certain lands immediately, and had her in great esteem ever
afterwards.
8. And if any part of the city escaped the fire, he overthrew it
from the foundation; and he denounced a curse against its
inhabitants, if any should desire to rebuild it; how, upon his
laying the foundation of the walls, he should be deprived of his
eldest son; and upon finishing it, he should lose his youngest
son. But what happened hereupon we shall speak of hereafter.
9. Now there was an immense quantity of silver and gold, and
besides those of brass also, that was heaped together out of the
city when it was taken, no one transgressing the decree, nor
purloining for their own peculiar advantage; which spoils Joshua
delivered to the priests, to be laid up among their treasures.
And thus did Jericho perish.
10. But there was one Achar, the son [of Charmi, the son] of
Zebedias, of the tribe of Judah, who finding a royal garment
woven entirely of gold, and a piece of gold that weighed two
hundred shekels; and thinking it a very hard case, that what
spoils he, by running some hazard, had found, he must give away,
and offer it to God, who stood in no need of it, while he that
wanted it must go without it, - made a deep ditch in his own
tent, and laid them up therein, as supposing he should not only
be concealed from his fellow soldiers, but from God himself also.
11. Now the place where Joshua pitched his camp was called
Gilgal, which denotes liberty; for since now they had passed
over Jordan, they looked on themselves as freed from the miseries
which they had undergone from the Egyptians, and in the
wilderness.
12. Now, a few days after the calamity that befell Jericho,
Joshua sent three thousand armed men to take Ai, a city situate
above Jericho; but, upon the sight of the people of Ai, with them
they were driven back, and lost thirty-six of their men. When
this was told the Israelites, it made them very sad, and
exceeding disconsolate, not so much because of the relation the
men that were destroyed bare to them, though those that were
destroyed were all good men, and deserved their esteem, as by the
despair it occasioned; for while they believed that they were
already, in effect, in possession of the land, and should bring
back the army out of the battles without loss, as God had
promised beforehand, they now saw unexpectedly their enemies bold
with success; so they put sackcloth over their garments, and
continued in tears and lamentation all the day, without the least
inquiry after food, but laid what had happened greatly to heart.
13. When Joshua saw the army so much afflicted, and possessed
with forebodings of evil as to their whole expedition, he used
freedom with God, and said, "We are not come thus far out of any
rashness of our own, as though we thought ourselves able to
subdue this land with our own weapons, but at the instigation of
Moses thy servant for this purpose, because thou hast promised
us, by many signs, that thou wouldst give us this land for a
possession, and that thou wouldst make our army always superior
in war to our enemies, and accordingly some success has already
attended upon us agreeably to thy promises; but because we have
now unexpectedly been foiled, and have lost some men out of our
army, we are grieved at it, as fearing what thou hast promised
us, and what Moses foretold us, cannot be depended on by us; and
our future expectation troubles us the more, because we have met
with such a disaster in this our first attempt. But do thou, O
Lord, free us from these suspicions, for thou art able to find a
cure for these disorders, by giving us victory, which will both
take away the grief we are in at present, and prevent our
distrust as to what is to come."
14. These intercessions Joshua put up to God, as he lay prostrate
on his face: whereupon God answered him, That he should rise up,
and purify his host from the pollution that had got into it; that
"things consecrated to me have been impudently stolen from me,"
and that "this has been the occasion why this defeat had happened
to them;" and that when they should search out and punish the
offender, he would ever take care they should have the victory
over their enemies. This Joshua told the people; and calling for
Eleazar the high priest, and the men in authority, he cast lots,
tribe by tribe; and when the lot showed that this wicked action
was done by one of the tribe of Judah, he then again proposed the
lot to the several families thereto belonging; so the truth of
this wicked action was found to belong to the family of Zachar;
and when the inquiry was made man by man, they took Achar, who,
upon God's reducing him to a terrible extremity, could not deny
the fact: so he confessed the theft, and produced what he had
taken in the midst of them, whereupon he was immediately put to
death; and attained no more than to be buried in the night in a
disgraceful manner, and such as was suitable to a condemned
malefactor.
15. When Joshua had thus purified the host, he led them against
Ai: and having by night laid an ambush round about the city, he
attacked the enemies as soon as it was day; but as they advanced
boldly against the Israelites, because of their former victory,
he made them believe he retired, and by that means drew them a
great way from the city, they still supposing that they were
pursuing their enemies, and despised them, as though the case had
been the same with that in the former battle; after which Joshua
ordered his forces to turn about, and placed them against their
front. He then made the signals agreed upon to those that lay in
ambush, and so excited them to fight; so they ran suddenly into
the city, the inhabitants being upon the walls, nay, others of
them being in perplexity, and coming to see those that were
without the gates. Accordingly, these men took the city, and slew
all that they met with; but Joshua forced those that came against
him to come to a close fight, and discomfited them, and made them
run away; and when they were driven towards the city, and thought
it had not been touched, as soon as they saw it was taken, and
perceived it was burnt, with their wives and children, they
wandered about in the fields in a scattered condition, and were
no way able to defend themselves, because they had none to
support them. Now when this calamity was come upon the men of Ai,
there were a great number of children, and women, and servants,
and an immense quantity of other furniture. The Hebrews also took
herds of cattle, and a great deal of money, for this was a rich
country. So when Joshua came to Gilgal, he divided all these
spoils among the soldiers.
16. But the Gibeonites, who inhabited very near to Jerusalem,
when they saw what miseries had happened to the inhabitants of
Jericho; and to those of Ai, and suspected that the like sore
calamity would come as far as themselves, they did not think fit
to ask for mercy of Joshua; for they supposed they should find
little mercy from him, who made war that he might entirely
destroy the nation of the Canaanites; but they invited the people
of Cephirah and Kiriathjearim, who were their neighbors, to join
in league with them; and told them that neither could they
themselves avoid the danger they were all in, if the Israelites
should prevent them, and seize upon them: so when they had
persuaded them, they resolved to endeavor to escape the forces of
the Israelites. Accordingly, upon their agreement to what they
proposed, they sent ambassadors to Joshua to make a league of
friendship with him, and those such of the citizens as were best
approved of, and most capable of doing what was most advantageous
to the multitude. Now these ambassadors thought it dangerous to
confess themselves to be Canaanites, but thought they might by
this contrivance avoid the danger, namely, by saying that they
bare no relation to the Canaanites at all, but dwelt at a very
great distance from them: and they said further, that they came a
long way, on account of the reputation he had gained for his
virtue; and as a mark of the truth of what they said, they showed
him the habit they were in, for that their clothes were new when
they came out, but were greatly worn by the length of thee they
had been on their journey; for indeed they took torn garments, on
purpose that they might make him believe so. So they stood in the
midst of the people, and said that they were sent by the people
of Gibeon, and of the circumjacent cities, which were very remote
from the land where they now were, to make such a league of
friendship with them, and this on such conditions as were
customary among their forefathers; for when they understood that,
by the favor of God, and his gift to them, they were to have the
possession of the land of Canaan bestowed upon them, they said
that they were very glad to hear it, and desired to be admitted
into the number of their citizens. Thus did these ambassadors
speak; and showing them the marks of their long journey, they
entreated the Hebrews to make a league of friendship with them.
Accordingly Joshua, believing what they said, that they were not
of the nation of the Canaanites, entered into friendship with
them; and Eleazar the high priest, with the senate, sware to them
that they would esteem them their friends and associates, and
would attempt nothing that should be unfair against them, the
multitude also assenting to the oaths that were made to them. So
these men, having obtained what they desired, by deceiving the
Israelites, went home: but when Joshua led his army to the
country at the bottom of the mountains of this part of Canaan, he
understood that the Gibeonites dwelt not far from Jerusalem, and
that they were of the stock of the Canaanites; so he sent for
their governors, and reproached them with the cheat they had put
upon him; but they alleged, on their own behalf, that they had no
other way to save themselves but that, and were therefore forced
to have recourse to it. So he called for Eleazar the high priest,
and for the senate, who thought it right to make them public
servants, that they might not break the oath they had made to
them; and they ordained them to be so. And this was the method by
which these men found. safety and security under the calamity
that was ready to overtake them.
17. But the king of Jerusalem took it to heart that the
Gibeonites had gone over to Joshua; so he called upon the kings
of the neighboring nations to join together, and make war against
them. Now when the Gibeonites saw these kings, which were four,
besides the king of Jerusalem, and perceived that they had
pitched their camp at a certain fountain not far from their city,
and were getting ready for the siege of it, they called upon
Joshua to assist them; for such was their case, as to expect to
be destroyed by these Canaanites, but to suppose they should be
saved by those that came for the destruction of the Canaanites,
because of the league of friendship that was between them.
Accordingly, Joshua made haste with his whole army to assist
them, and marching day and night, in the morning he fell upon the
enemies as they were going up to the siege; and when he had
discomfited them, he followed them, and pursued them down the
descent of the hills. The place is called Bethhoron; where he
also understood that God assisted him, which he declared by
thunder and thunderbolts, as also by the falling of hail larger
than usual. Moreover, it happened that the day was lengthened
that the night might not come on too soon, and be an obstruction
to the zeal of the Hebrews in pursuing their enemies; insomuch
that Joshua took the kings, who were hidden in a certain cave at
Makkedah, and put them to death. Now, that the day was lengthened
at this thee, and was longer than ordinary, is expressed in the
books laid up in the temple.
18. These kings which made war with, and were ready to fight the
Gibeonites, being thus overthrown, Joshua returned again to the
mountainous parts of Canaan; and when he had made a great
slaughter of the people there, and took their prey, he came to
the camp at Gilgal. And now there went a great fame abroad among
the neighboring people of the courage of the Hebrews; and those
that heard what a number of men were destroyed, were greatly
aftrighted at it: so the kings that lived about Mount Libanus,
who were Canaanites, and those Canaanites that dwelt in the plain
country, with auxiliaries out of the land of the Philistines,
pitched their camp at Beroth, a city of the Upper Galilee, not
far from Cadesh, which is itself also a place in Galilee. Now the
number of the whole army was three hundred thousand armed
footmen, and ten thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand chariots;
so that the multitude of the enemies aftrighted both Joshua
himself and the Israelites; and they, instead of being full of
hopes of good success, were superstitiously timorous, with the
great terror with which they were stricken. Whereupon God
upbraided them with the fear they were in, and asked them whether
they desired a greater help than he could afford them; and
promised them that they should overcome their enemies; and withal
charged them to make their enemies' horses useless, and to burn
their chariots. So Joshua became full of courage upon these
promises of God, and went out suddenly against the enemies; and
after five days' march he came upon them, and joined battle with
them, and there was a terrible fight, and such a number were
slain as could not be believed by those that heard it. He also
went on in the pursuit a great way, and destroyed the entire army
of the enemies, few only excepted, and all the kings fell in the
battle; insomuch, that when there wanted men to be killed, Joshua
slew their horses, and burnt their chariots and passed all over
their country without opposition, no one daring to meet him in
battle; but he still went on, taking their cities by siege, and
again killing whatever he took.
19. The fifth year was now past, and there was not one of the
Canaanites remained any longer, excepting some that had retired
to places of great strength. So Joshua removed his camp to the
mountainous country, and placed the tabernacle in the city of
Shiloh, for that seemed a fit place for it, because of the beauty
of its situation, until such thee as their affairs would permit
them to build a temple; and from thence he went to Shechem,
together with all the people, and raised an altar where Moses had
beforehand directed; then did he divide the army, and placed one
half of them on Mount Gerizzim, and the other half on Mount Ebal,
on which mountain the altar was; he also placed there the tribe
of Levi, and the priests. And when they had sacrificed, and
denounced the [blessings and the] curses, and had left them
engraven upon the altar, they returned to Shiloh.
20. And now Joshua was old, and saw that the cities of the
Canaanites were not easily to be taken, not only because they
were situate in such strong places, but because of the strength
of the walls themselves, which being built round about, the
natural strength of the places on which the cities stood, seemed
capable of repelling their enemies from besieging them, and of
making those enemies despair of taking them; for when the
Canaanites had learned that the Israelites came out of Egypt in
order to destroy them, they were busy all that time in making
their cities strong. So he gathered the people together to a
congregation at Shiloh; and when they, with great zeal and haste,
were come thither, he observed to them what prosperous successes
they had already had, and what glorious things had been done, and
those such as were worthy of that God who enabled them to do
those things, and worthy of the virtue of those laws which they
followed. He took notice also, that thirty-one of those kings
that ventured to give them battle were overcome, and every army,
how great soever it were, that confided in their own power, and
fought with them, was utterly destroyed; so that not so much as
any of their posterity remained. And as for the cities, since
some of them were taken, but the others must be taken in length
of thee, by long sieges, both on account of the strength of their
walls, and of the confidence the inhabitants had in them thereby,
he thought it reasonable that those tribes that came along with
them from beyond Jordan, and had partaken of the dangers they had
undergone, being their own kindred, should now be dismissed and
sent home, and should have thanks for the pains they had taken
together with them. As also, he thought it reasonable that they
should send one man out of every tribe, and he such as had the
testimony of extraordinary virtue, who should measure the land
faithfully, and without any fallacy or deceit should inform them
of its real magnitude.
21. Now Joshua, when he had thus spoken to them, found that the
multitude approved of his proposal. So he sent men to measure
their country, and sent with them some geometricians, who could
not easily fail of knowing the truth, on account of their skill
in that art. He also 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 such is the nature of the land of Canaan, that one
may see large plains, and such as are exceeding fit to produce
fruit, which yet, if they were compared to other parts of the
country, might be reckoned exceedingly fruitful; yet, if it be
compared with the fields about Jericho, and to those that belong
to Jerusalem, will appear to be of no account at all; and
although it so falls out that these people have but a very little
of this sort of land, and that it is, for the main, mountainous
also, yet does it not come behind other parts, on account of its
exceeding goodness and beauty; for which reason Joshua thought
the land for the tribes should be divided by estimation of its
goodness, rather than the largeness of its measure, it often
happening that one acre of some sort of land was equivalent to a
thousand other acres. Now the men that were sent, which were in
number ten, traveled all about, and made an estimation of the
land, and in the seventh month came to him to the city of Shiloh,
where they had set up the tabernacle.
22. So Joshua took both Eleazar and the senate, and with them the
heads of the tribes, and distributed the land to the nine tribes,
and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, appointing the dimensions to
be according to the largeness of each tribe. So when he had cast
lots, Judah had assigned him by lot the upper part of Judea,
reaching as far as Jerusalem, and its breadth extended to the
Lake of Sodom. Now in the lot of this tribe there were the cities
of Askelon and Gaza. The lot of Simeon, which was the second,
included that part of Idumea which bordered upon Egypt and
Arabia. As to the Benjamites, their lot fell so, that its length
reached from the river Jordan to the sea, but in breadth it was
bounded by Jerusalem and Bethel; and this lot was the narrowest
of all, by reason of the goodness of the land, for it included
Jericho and the city of Jerusalem. The tribe of Ephraim had by
lot the land that extended in length from the river Jordan to
Gezer; but in breadth as far as from Bethel, till it ended at the
Great Plain. The half-tribe of Manasseh had the land from Jordan
to the city of Dora; but its breadth was at Bethsham, which is
now called Scythopolis. And after these was Issachar, which had
its limits in length, Mount Carmel and the river, but its limit
in breadth was Mount Tabor. The tribe of Zebulon's lot included
the land which lay as far as the Lake of Genesareth, and that
which belonged to Carmel and the sea. The tribe of Aser had that
part which was called the Valley, for such it was, and all that
part which lay over-against Sidon. The city Arce belonged to
their share, which is also named Actipus. The Naphthalites
received the eastern parts, as far as the city of Damascus and
the Upper Galilee, unto Mount Libanus, and the Fountains of
Jordan, which rise out of that mountain; that is, out of that
part of it whose limits belong to the neighboring city of Arce.
The Danites' lot included all that part of the valley which
respects the sun-setting, and were bounded by Azotus and Dora; as
also they had all Jamnia and Gath, from Ekron to that mountain
where the tribe of Judah begins.
23. After this manner did Joshua divide the six nations that bear
the name of the sons of Canaan, with their land, to be possessed
by the nine tribes and a half; for Moses had prevented him, and
had already distributed the land of the Amorites, which itself
was so called also from one of the sons of Canaan, to the two
tribes and a half, as we have shown already. But the parts about
Sidon, as also those that belonged to the Arkites, and the
Amathites, and the Aradians, were not yet regularly disposed of.
24. But now was Joshua hindered by his age from executing what he
intended to do (as did those that succeeded him in the
government, take little care of what was for the advantage of the
public); so he gave it in charge to every tribe to leave no
remainder of the race of the Canaanites in the land that had been
divided to them by lot; that Moses had assured them beforehand,
and they might rest fully satisfied about it, that their own
security and their observation of their own laws depended wholly
upon it. Moreover, he enjoined them to give thirty-eight cities
to the Levites, for they had already received ten in the country
of the Amorites; and three of these he assigned to those that
fled from the man-slayers, who were to inhabit there; for he was
very solicitous that nothing should be neglected which Moses had
ordained. These cities were, of the tribe of Judah, Hebron; of
that of Ephraim, Shechem; and of that of Naphthali, Cadesh, which
is a place of the Upper Galilee. He also distributed among them
the rest of the prey not yet distributed, which was very great;
whereby they had an affluence of great riches, both all in
general, and every one in particular; and this of gold and of
vestments, and of other furniture, besides a multitude of cattle,
whose number could not be told.
25. After this was over, he gathered the army together to a
congregation, and spake thus to those tribes that had their
settlement in the land of the Amorites beyond Jordan, - for fifty
thousand of them had armed themselves, and had gone to the war
along with them: - "Since that God, who is the Father and Lord of
the Hebrew nation, has now given us this land for a possession,
and promised to preserve us in the enjoyment of it as our own for
ever; and since you have with alacrity offered yourselves to
assist us when we wanted that assistance on all occasions,
according to his command; it is but just, now all our
difficulties are over, that you should be permitted to enjoy
rest, and that we should trespass on your alacrity to help us no
longer; that so, if we should again stand in need of it, we may
readily have it on any future emergency, and not tire you out so
much now as may make you slower in assisting us another thee. We,
therefore, return you our thanks for the dangers you have
undergone with us, and we do it not at this thee only, but we
shall always be thus disposed; and be so good as to remember our
friends, and to preserve in mind what advantages we have had from
them; and how you have put off the enjoyments of your own
happiness for our sakes, and have labored for what we have now,
by the goodwill of God, obtained, and resolved not to enjoy your
own prosperity till you had afforded us that assistance. However,
you have, by joining your labor with ours, gotten great plenty of
riches, and will carry home with you much prey, with gold and
silver, and, what is more than all these, our good-will towards
you, and a mind willingly disposed to make a requital of your
kindness to us, in what case soever you shall desire it, for you
have not omitted any thing which Moses beforehand required of
you, nor have you despised him because he was dead and gone from
you, so that there is nothing to diminish that gratitude which we
owe to you. We therefore dismiss you joyful to your own
inheritances; and we entreat you to suppose, that there is no
limit to be set to the intimate relation that is between us; and
that you will not imagine, because this river is interposed
between us, that you are of a different race from us, and not
Hebrews; for we are all the posterity of Abraham, both we that
inhabit here, and you that inhabit there; and it is the same God
that brought our forefathers and yours into the world, whose
worship and form of government we are to take care of, which he
has ordained, and are most carefully to observe; because while
you continue in those laws, God will also show himself merciful
and assisting to you; but if you imitate the other nations, and
forsake those laws, he will reject your nation." When Joshua had
spoken thus, and saluted them all, both those in authority one by
one, and the whole multitude in common, he himself staid where he
was; but the people conducted those tribes on their journey, and
that not without tears in their eyes; and indeed they hardly knew
how to part one from the other.
26. Now when the tribe of Reuben, and that of Gad, and as many of
the Manassites as followed them, were passed over the river, they
built an altar on the banks of Jordan, as a monument to
posterity, and a sign of their relation to those that should
inhabit on the other side. But when those on the other side heard
that those who had been dismissed had built an altar, but did not
hear with what intention they built it, but supposed it to be by
way of innovation, and for the introduction of strange gods, they
did not incline to disbelieve it; but thinking this defamatory
report, as if it were built for divine worship, was credible,
they appeared in arms, as though they would avenge themselves on
those that built the altar; and they were about to pass over the
river, and to punish them for their subversion of the laws of
their country; for they did not think it fit to regard them on
account of their kindred or the dignity of those that had given
the occasion, but to regard the will of God, and the manner
wherein he desired to be worshipped; so these men put themselves
in array for war. But Joshua, and Eleazar the high priest, and
the senate, restrained them; and persuaded them first to make
trial by words of their intention, and afterwards, if they found
that their intention was evil, then only to proceed to make war
upon them. Accordingly, they sent as ambassadors to them Phineas
the son of Eleazar, and ten more persons that were in esteem
among the Hebrews, to learn of them what was in their mind, when,
upon passing over the river, they had built an altar upon its
banks. And as soon as these ambassadors were passed over, and
were come to them, and a congregation was assembled, Phineas
stood up and said, That the offense they had been guilty of was
of too heinous a nature to be punished by words alone, or by them
only to be amended for the future; yet that they did not so look
at the heinousness of their transgression as to have recourse to
arms, and to a battle for their punishment immediately, but that,
on account of their kindred, and the probability there was that
they might be reclaimed, they took this method of sending an
ambassage to them: "That when we have learned the true reasons by
which you have been moved to build this altar, we may neither
seem to have been too rash in assaulting you by our weapons of
war, if it prove that you made the altar for justifiable reasons,
and may then justly punish you if the accusation prove true; for
we can hardly
hardly suppose that you, have been acquainted with the will of
God and have been hearers of those laws which he himself hath
given us, now you are separated from us, and gone to that
patrimony of yours, which you, through the grace of God, and that
providence which he exercises over you, have obtained by lot, can
forget him, and can leave that ark and that altar which is
peculiar to us, and can introduce strange gods, and imitate the
wicked practices of the Canaanites. Now this will appear to have
been a small crime if you repent now, and proceed no further in
your madness, but pay a due reverence to, and keep in mind the
laws of your country; but if you persist in your sins, we will
not grudge our pains to preserve our laws; but we will pass over
Jordan and defend them, and defend God also, and shall esteem of
you as of men no way differing from the Canaanites, but shall
destroy you in the like manner as we destroyed them; for do not
you imagine that, because you are got over the river, you are got
out of the reach of God's power; you are every where in places
that belong to him, and impossible it is to overrun his power,
and the punishment he will bring on men thereby: but if you think
that your settlement here will be any obstruction to your
conversion to what is good, nothing need hinder us from dividing
the land anew, and leaving this old land to be for the feeding of
sheep; but you will do well to return to your duty, and to leave
off these new crimes; and we beseech you, by your children and
wives, not to force us to punish you. Take therefore such
measures in this assembly, as supposing that your own safety, and
the safety of those that are dearest to you, is therein
concerned, and believe that it is better for you to be conquered
by words, than to continue in your purpose, and to experience
deeds and war therefore."
27. When Phineas had discoursed thus, the governors of the
assembly, and the whole multitude, began to make an apology for
themselves, concerning what they were accused of; and they said,
That they neither would depart from the relation they bare to
them, nor had they built the altar by way of innovation; that
they owned one and the same common God with all the Hebrews, and
that brazen altar which was before the tabernacle, on which they
would offer their sacrifices; that as to the altar they had
raised, on account of which they were thus suspected, it was not
built for worship, "but that it might be a sign and a monument of
our relation to you for ever, and a necessary caution to us to
act wisely, and to continue in the laws of our country, but not a
handle for transgressing them, as you suspect: and let God be our
authentic witness, that this was the occasion of our building
this altar: whence we beg you will have a better opinion of us,
and do not impute such a thing to us as would render any of the
posterity of Abraham well worthy of perdition, in case they
attempt to bring in new rites, and such as are different from our
usual practices."
28. When they had made this answer, and Phineas had commended
them for it, he came to Joshua, and explained before the people
what answer they had received. Now Joshua was glad that he was
under no necessity of setting them in array, or of leading them
to shed blood, and make war against men of their own kindred; and
accordingly he offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God for the
same. So Joshua after that dissolved this great assembly of the
people, and sent them to their own inheritances, while he himself
lived in Shechem. But in the twentieth year after this, when he
was very old, he sent for those of the greatest dignity in the
several cities, with those in authority, and the senate, and as
many of the common people as could be present; and when they were
come, he put them in mind of all the benefits God had bestowed on
them, which could not but be a great many, since from a low
estate they were advanced to so great a degree of glory and
plenty; and exhorted them to take notice of the intentions of
God, which had been so gracious towards them; and told them that
the Deity would continue their friend by nothing else but their
piety; and that it was proper for him, now that he was about to
depart out of this life, to leave such an admonition to them; and
he desired that they would keep in memory this his exhortation to
them.
29. So Joshua, when he had thus discoursed to them, died, having
lived a hundred and ten years; forty of which he lived with
Moses, in order to learn what might be for his advantage
afterwards. He also became their commander after his death for
twenty-five years. He was a man that wanted not wisdom nor
eloquence to declare his intentions to the people, but very
eminent on both accounts. He was of great courage and magnanimity
in action and in dangers, and very sagacious in procuring the
peace of the people, and of great virtue at all proper seasons.
He was buried in the city of Timnab, of the tribe of Ephraim
About the same time died Eleazar the high priest, leaving the
high priesthood to his son Phineas. His monument also, and
sepulcher, are in the city of Gabatha.
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