appointed for crossing. The waters, as usual at the time of barley harvest, bad o,erflowed the banks. The priests bearing the ark dipped their feet in the brim of the water at the point to which the waters had then reached; the course of the river was at once arrested and the Israelites crossed on dry land. Ch. i,. contains the continuation or the nan·ative. Joshua gives orders for the erection of two memorials, one on the Canaan side of Jordan, where they first rested for the night, the other on the eastern side, at the spot on the brink of the swollen river where the priests had stood during the crossing. The first memorial consisted of large stones taken out of the bed of the Jordan. The others (whence they came we are not told) were set up in the shallow water where the priests had stood. The crossing complete, the priests cross with the ark, and as soon as they have reached the dry land on the other side the waters flow as before. The memorial is then set up at Gilgal, and its purpose is explained. Ch. v. 1-9 relates the formal renewal of the covenant by the rite of circumcision, which appears (see notes) to have been suspended since the rejection of the people in Num. xiv. In vers. 10, 11 we read of the keeping of the passover, which may have been intermitted altogether, but had certainly not been kept by the whole nation for thirty-eight years. Ver. 12 notes the cessation of the manna. We come next (eh. v. 13-vi. 27) to the taking of Jericho. Joshua was near Jericho, either engaged in meditation or in reconnoitring the city, when a vision (ver. 13) appears to him in the shape of a man with a drawn sword, who (ver. 14) announces himself as the" captain of the Lord's host" and (ver. 15) as a Being of Divine nature. This Being proceeds to give directions for the capture of the city (eh. vi. 2-5), which, as the first step in the conquest of Canaan, was to be of an entirely supernatural character. The directions are abbreviated in the narrative, but we afterwards learn more fully what they were. The men of war, followed by seven priests bearing seven trumpets and the a.rk, and they, in their turn, by the rest _of the people, were to march round the city once for six days. On the seventh thev were to march round it seven times. Then a prolonged blast was to be Llown on the trumpets, the people were to raise the shout of victory, and the wall of the city would fall down and the people delivered into their handn. The spoil of the city was to be solemnly devoted to God. These directions (vers. 6-21) were fulfilled: and the result was as had been promised. We next (vers. 22-25) read of the destruction of the city and the fulfilment of the promise to Rahab. Verses 26, 27 relate the curse pronounced against any one who should rebuild Jericho, and the effect of its fall upon the rest of the people of the land. Ch. vii brings us to the episode of Achan. Joshua sent a small de~ach- TO THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. :xxxiii
mcnt to effect the capture of Ai, following the advice of his scouts, who pronounced it to be an insignificant place. The result was a slight repulse. This produced an effect on Joshua and the people which would have been altogether disproportionate he.cl it not been regarded as a sign of Jehovah's displeasure (vers. 2-5). Joshua prays to God, and is told that such was actually the fact, for the ban on the spoil of Jericho had been transgressed. He was ordered to take the tribes, families, househ_olds, and lastly individuals by lot, ancl to burn the transgressor for hie sin (vers. 6-15). Joshua fulfils the injunction (vers. 16-19) and Achan is discovered to be the transgressor (ver. 8). Adjured by Joshua, he confesses his misconduct, which ie placed beyond doubt by the discovery of the secreted goods (vers. 19-23), and Achan is burnt, with all his family and goods, and a monumental heap raised to commemorate the event (vers. 24-26). Joshua next (eh. viii.) proceeds to the capture of Ai. He now regards it as a task of importance sufficient to employ his whole force, and is instructed by Goel to do so (vers. 1-3). He gives directions for the attack, which was to consist of a feint by the main body of the Israelites to draw the defenders away from the city, while the real attack was to be made by a detachment placed in ambush (vers. 4-9). The stratagem succeeded. The detachment in ambush occupied the city, thus denuded of its defenders, and set it on fire, while the warriors of Ai, with the Israelite host turning upon them in front, ancl their city in flames in their rear, were seized with a panic, and were unable to offer any effectual resistance. Ai, its king and people, were utterly destroyed, and the city made a heap of ruins (vers. 10-29). It is here that the majority of MSS. place the fulfilment of the instruc- tions of Moses in Deut. xi. 29 and xxvii., to inscribe a copy of the law upon the altar at Ebal (eh. viii. 30-35), which was fulfilled in the presence of the people. In eh. ix. we read of the effect of these successes upon the people of the ;land. While they stirred the kings to resistance (vers. 1, 2) they induced the Gibeonite republic to prefer an accommodation. Aware, by some means, that the inhabitants of Canaan were doomed to destruction, they resorted to the expedient of representing themselves as a distant people, and the artifices are recorded whereby they sought to gain credence for this statement (vers. 3-18). The Israelites, not regarding the matter of sufficient importance to refer to Jehovah, fell into the trap. They afterwards discovered the fraud, and doomed the Gibeonites to perpetual servitude, sparing their lives on account of the oath they had taken to do so (vers. 14-27). Thie submission of the Gibeonites appears to have disconcerted the preparations which were making for a general league of all the soYereigns of Palestine against the invaders. Startled by the imminence of the danger, u:xiv INTRODUCTION