The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 4

took place in fulfilment of a threatened punishment, it was the fulfilment of 11, promised blessing. And the victories of Joshua were not only the subject of prophecy, they were a prophecy themselves-a type and an earnest of the blessings which Jehovah had in store for His people, and on their darker side a type and o.n earnest of His judgments upon those who refuse to know Him and fight against Him. In the plan of the campaign against the Ca.nae.nites we see that it wa.s e. sagacious appreciation of ability which ea.used Moses to select Joshua as e. com- mander in the b&ttle with Ama.lek at Rephid.im, where he won his firi,t victory some years before. Joshua. certainly had some, if not most, of the qualities which make a great general-firmness and gentleness, winning ready trust and obedience from his men, decision and rapidity, whereby the enemy was sometimes virtually defeated before the action began. The plan of the invasion shows true military sh-ill. Joshua succeeded in doing what French generals attempted and signally failed to do in the recent war with Germany. He chose a weak point near the middle of the frontier and pushed on to the centre of the country and beyond it, thus cutting the invaded land in two. The southem half was conquered or won over before the northern half had quite recovered from its panic, or could agree what to do against the invaders. The south being successfully subdued, the north was then conquered in like manner. The Canaanites were beaten in detail. From the miraculous ford at Jordan he pushed on to Jericho, from Jericho to Ai, from Ai to Gibeon, and from Gibeon to the Beth-horons, where his first great decisive battle was fought and won against the five kings of the Amorites, on the same spot vrhere Judas Maccabieus more than twelve centuries later as triumphantly vanquished the Syrian army under Seron. There is no need to trouble ourselves with specula- tions as to the way in which the standing still of the sun and moon at the prayer of J oshW1, are to be reconciled with modem science. The mode of all miraoles eludes us : the fact is all that concerns us to know. And if we cannot know the way in which something is created out ~f nothing, water becomes wine, and the like, it is idle to ask how that way is to be reconciled with other things. The rising and setting of the sun is always an illusion to our sight, for light t~-kes time to travel. Science itself tells us that under certain conditions light travels more slowly than at other times, and those conditions a.re in the Almighty's control. He who said, "Let there be light," can still make the light do His bidding, and did so in a signal manner at Beth-horon, that His servants might once more be assured that He was with them and fought for them, and that the foul inhabitants of Canaan might be dismayed. The -rictory on the road between the two Beth-horone was soon followed by the others. Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir (Kirjath-sepher), were captured one after another. And as it is said of Lachish alone that Israel .. took it on the second day" (Josh. x. 32), we are perhaps to understand that a single day sufficed for the capture of the other cities, so irresistible did the Israelites under Joshua appear to be. "So Joshua smote all the country of the hills (the mountain district of Judah), and of the south (the negeb, a limestone tract, half wilderness), and of the vale (the lowlands, or "plain ..:,f the Philistines"), and of the springs (or perhaps the slopes, i.e., the swelling uplands between the ·•vale" and the "hills"), and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded (Josh. x. 40). Thus, in a campa.ign of a few week& at the most, the conquest of the south was  JOSHUA TO NEHEMIAH. ., accomplished. But even when we have recognised the excellence of the plan of the campaign, and the rapidity with which Joshua carried it out, we might still be surprised at his almost unbroken success, if it were not for the fact that " the Lord fought for Israel,'' and gave to them the elements as their allies. This southern portion of Palestine, Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, a.re strategically very strong, and capable of being obstinately defended. The deep valleys of Judah, and the mvines of Benjamin, running right and left from the central backbone, cut up the country into a number of more or less isolated eminences, equally suggestive of a. hill-fort for defence, or a "high place" for worship. The very names Gibeon, Gibeah, Geba, which _all mean "hill," point to the physical character of the district. It shows what a panic had fallen upon the inhabitants that these natural defences were not utilised in withstanding the invaders. The fate of Bavarian armies in the Tyrol in the present century sufficiently illustrates what would be the probable result of an invasion of southern Palestine, if the country were stoutly defended by the population. But in this case the inhabitants were "discomfited" (eh. x. 10 ~ comp. Judges iv. 15 ; 1 Sam. vii. 10 ; 2 Sam. xxii. 15); troubled and dismayed by God, so that they could not hold together and organize a systematic resistance. The conquest of northern Palestine follows. The combination of the :five kings in the south arranged by Adoni-Zebek, king of Jerusalem, is imitated by Ja.bin, king of Hazor, who hopes to make a more successful combination of native sovereigns in the north. To strengthen it he tries to include such of the northern tribes also as would venture to try their fortune again-the Amorites and the Hittites, with the still unconquered J ebusites. The attempt is so far successful that he gathered together "much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many'' (Josh. xi. 4). But once more the promised help of Jehovah and the rapidity of Joshua's movements secure the victory for Israel. Without waiting to be attacked, "Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom s1tddenly; and they fell upon them'' (eh. xi. 7). The result was the utter defeat of the con- federates, a defeat which carried with it the submission of the north, as that at the Beth-horons had decided the fote of the south. The extermination of the Ana.kim followed, that old giant race of which we know so little ; and then "the land rested from war'' (eh. xi. 28). The conquest of Palestine, so far as it required the united forces of all Israel, was over; not that t]iere was not an immense deal still to be done in putting down risings, in consolidating what had been won, in capturing isolated and still unconquered cities ; but this was left for the most pa.rt to the energy of the tribe to whioh the territory in question was assigned. The warlike half of Joshua's great task was accomplished: the more peaceful work of dividing the conquered territory between the victorious tribes remained. The second ha.Ii of the Book of Joshua (cha. xiii.-xxii.), the Domesday Book of Palestine, is mainly taken up with tho details of the distribution. They are no less honourable to the man who carried them out than the details of the campaign which rendered them possible. The division of Palestine among the tribes will bear comparison for equity, sagacity, and permanent results with perhaps most divisions of conquered territory in modern times, from the Norman conquest of Engle.nd downwards. With characteristic unselfishness he waited until every one else had received their share before asking anything for himself; and then it was but a small portion in the rough mountain country that had been assigned to his own tribe of Ephraim. Here he built the oity of Timnath-Sera.h, e.nd spent the remainder of his days. vi INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORICAL BOOKS: