It appears to be quite clear that the Tabor plates as well as the hills of Upper Galilee, be- onged to Napa The towns included (19*) those in the plain, Bezaanannim (Besstim) as well as Heleph (perhaps Beit Lif) in the north. Among those in the plain were Adami (ed-Ddémieh), Ham- math (south of Tiberias), Rakkath (believed by the Rabbis to be the old name of Tiberias, meaning ‘shore’), and Adamah (Admah north of Beis&n) ; Hukkok (Yakik) formed with Tabor the border on the south-west. In the upper mountains were Hazor (near Jebel Hadhireh), Kedesh( Kedes), Horem (Hirah), Beth-anath (‘Ainatha), and others which are doubtful.
The tribe of Asher claimed the lower hills be- tween Accho and Tyre (1955), but failed to drive the Canaanites from many of the cities (Jg 1"). Many of the towns of Asher are doubtful, thoug’: all appear to have been north of Acre. Dor (Jce 174, cf. 12% and 1 Ch 7) is quite unknown, though fixed by Eusebius at Tantérah south οἱ Carmel. This, like many other assertions of his Onomasticon, is unauthorized and confusing, ἘΡῸΣ cially as Dor seems to have been on the ‘ uplanc Achshaph is probably e/-Yasif near Acre. Ham- mon seems to have been an important site near the shore farther north, where f
5.
tenan discovered inscriptions to Baal Hammon. Kanah isin thehills east of Tyre, and Achzib (ez-Zib) is north of Acre in the plain. Among these cities Tyre aud Accho
are noticed in the 15th cent. B.c. in the Tel el Amarna tablets and Achzib by Sennacherib in B.C. 70].
East of Jordan, Reuben held the pong round Heshbon, and the lot seems to have been bounded by the hills north of that city (Jos 18°), ex tending to Jordan in the valley of Shittim; but in Ahab’s time several of the cities of Reuben are noticed on the Moabite Stone as having been held by ‘men of Gad.’ The south border was Arnon (now Wéady Mojib) and Aroer (‘Ar'air) on the N. brink of its valley. The sites of Medeba (.Mddedeh),
PALESTINE
PALESTINE
Heshbon (Hesban), Dibon (Dhibdn), and Beth-baal- meon (Ma'in) are those of considerable towns. Kiriathaim (Keridt) and Beth-jeshimoth (Suweimeh on the north-east shore of the Dead Sea) are known, with probably Sibmah (Sdmieh) near Heshbon.
The boundary of Reuben and Gad was at Jazer (probably Beit Zdr'a north of Heshbon), and the latter tribe held the Jordan Valley east of the river, and the western slopes of Gilead, bounded on the east by Aroer near Rabbath-ammon (Ammén). On the north-east they held Ramath- mizpeh (probably Sif, the Mizpeh of Jephthah, Jg 11) and Betonim, perhaps the district in north Gilead now called el-Butein. Mahanaim was on the border between Gad and Manasseh, the latter tribe holding ‘half Gilead’ (13%), which appears to mean the eastern half, Gad extending to the ‘border of the ridge’ (Debir), and holding in the Jordan Valley Beth-aram (dmeh), Beth- nimrah (Nimrin), Succoth (Zell Der'ala), Zaphon (supposed by the Rabbis to be‘Amatah), and the lowlands to the Sea of Galilee. This agrees with the notice of Mahanaim in Solomon’s south Gilead province (1 K 4"), The rest of the large portion riven to Manasseh east of Jordan included all
ashan (v.*!), with the towns of Ashtaroth (Zell ‘Ashterah) and Edrei (edh-Dhra'a), which are noticed on monuments in B.C. 1600-1500.
This tribal distribution of Palestine was broken up by the se (Por Tiglath-pileser Ill. (B.C. 745- 727) conquered Galilee (2 Καὶ 15“), and took captive the tribes east of Jordan (1 Ch 5°) shortly before Sargon took Samaria (B.c. 722). In 711 Ashdod was besieged by Sargon, and when Hezekiah was attacked by Sennacherib in B.c. 701, Beth-dagon, Joppa, Bene-berak and Hazor (Yazir in the plain) are said to have belonged to Ashkelon. Ammon, Moab, Edom, Ekron, and Gaza were then all inde- pendent, and Moab indeed had rebelled nearly two centuries earlier. Thus the geography of the Book of Joshua represents a condition which did not long exist after the death of Solomon. The narrative chapters show that the conquest resembled those made by the Egyptians or Assyrians in their annual campaigns: ‘the cities that stood still on their mounds’ (Jos 111%) were not destroyed, unless taken by stratagem. The invading army attacked usually the smaller places, but the fortresses with garrisons of chariots remained in the hands of the Canaan- ites, and subsequent attacks had to be made on places burned by Joshua and re-fortified by their inhabitants (e.g. Jg 1%, Jos 10%). The first cam- paign from Gilgal by Ai and Gibeon to Aijalon, and thence to Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, tiie Hebron, and Debir, followed apparently the line of the conquests of the Habiri noticed in the Tel el- Amarna texts (B.C. 1480-1440) : for they also came from Seir, and fought at Aijalon and Lachish, and penetrated by Keilah up the valley towards
ebron. The site of Debir was in the Negeb (Jg 1.5) and near Anab (Jos 1599. 50), so that there is reason to place it at the important ancient site Dhaheriyeh (‘the place on the back or ridge’) near Anab, at a village where rock-cut tombs and other marks of antiquity are found. This was the southernmost extent of Joshua’s original conquest. The conquest of Shechem (only about 20 miles from Ai) is not described, but the law was here fulfilled (Dt 27*, Jos 8); the next great contest was in Upper Galilee, where Hazor looked down on the Waters of Merom (Jos 1115), and where all the northern Canaanites gathered. Hazor is also a place whence letters were sent askin aid from Egypt in the 15th cent. B.c. The Boo of Joshua ends with his burial at Timnath-heres (Jg 29) in Mount Ephraim (now Kefr Hédris), and that of Ele s:ar in Gibeah of Phinehas, prob-