The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 92

d. Den!. i. 5). It was "the long belt of city of palm trees C•1~J:1:J "111,' in Deut. acaria grows which rne.rk with e. line of xxxiv. 8, 2 Chron. xxviii. 16; cf. Judg. i. 16. ,·ordure the upper terre.ces of the ve.lley." The vast palm grove, of which relics a.re (Stanlcv. ' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 298). even now occasionally washed up from the The word Abel, or meadow, signifying the Red Sea, preserved by the so.It in its acrid lonr gr11.ss with its juicy rnoi8ture, points to waters, bas now disapJ:)earecl. We rea.cl of it it as a refresrung place of sojourn and pas- as still existing in the twelfth century, and ture for flocks, after the wee.ry we.ndering in indeed traces of it were to be seen 11s late as the wilderness. The neacia, not the spina 1838. A dirty and poverty-stricken village .1£gyptiaca of the ancients, tl~e mima,,a co.lied Riha, or Eriha, is all that now marks 1'" ilotica of Linnreus. but the aca.c1e. Seyal, a the site of all these glories of nature and tree witb a golden tuft of blossom, which is a.rt, and the most careful researches he.ve still (Tristram, 'Land of Isre.el,' p. 524) to until lately failed to discover ar:y remains of be found on the spot, very hard dark wo0<l, the ancient city. It is doubtful ,vhether of which much use was made in the taber- the ruins observed by Tristra.m (' Land of nacle and its fittings (see Exod. xxv., xxn., Israel,' p. 216) are not the ruins of some xx,,,-;., xxx.-ii., &c.). The name Abel was o. later city, built in the neighbourhood. common one in Palestine, and is the same Dartlett, p. 452, believes Rih11, to be the site as Abila, from whence comes Abilene (Luke of the later Jericho of our Lord's day, but iii. 1). We may add that it has nowhere Tristra.m would, with less probability, iden- heen said the.t they were at Shittim. We tify Rih11, with Gilga.l. They both, ho,vever, find this out from Num. xxv. 1. This un- place the site of ancient Jericho a.bout a tlesigned coincidence is heyond the power of mile and a half from Riha. Conder thinks an inventor, and far beyond the power of e. its true position is at the fountain Ain: compiler who was not only untrustworthy, es-Sulto.n. Lenormant, in his 'Manual but so clumsy that he made the most extra- of Oriental History,' remarks on the skill ordinary blunders in the management of his of Joshua. as a military tactician. Whether matter (see note on next verse, and also on he followed the advice of his experienced eh. i. 11). Two men. Young men, as we _a.re leader, or whether we are to attribute told in eh. n. 23, e.nd therefore active, his success to special guidance from above, fleet of foot as well as brave and prudent. he cert11,inly displayed the qualities ot •a All these qualities, as the subsequent narra- consummate general. " Jericho," says Dean tive shows, were urgently required. "Joehua St11,nley (' Sinai 11,nd Palestine,' p. 305), himself was full of God's Spirit, and had the " stands at the entrance of the ma.in oracle of God ready for his direction. Yet passes from the valley of the J orda.n into no"" he goes, not to the Propitiatorie for the interior of Palestine, the one branching consultation, bnt to tlie spyes. Except off to the south-west tow11,rds Olivet, thc1 where ordina.rie mea.nes faile us, it is no use other to the north- west towards Michmo.sh, appealing to the immediate helpe of God ; which commands the approach to Ai and we may not seek to the posteme, but where Bethel. It was thus the key of Pa.lt'.lltine to the common gate is shut. It was promised any invader from this quarter." He illus- Joshua that hee should lea.delera.el into the trates by Chiavenna (or tho key-city, from promised land, yet hee knew it was unea.fe to its situation}, in Italy. Lenorrna.ntrema.rks presume. The condition of hie provident that from an ordinary historico.l point of care was included in that a.ssurance of suc- view the strategy of Joshua ie worth notice. cesse. Heaven is promised to us, but not to It was the practice ever followed by Napo- our carelessnesse, infidelitie, disobedience" leon, and, he·a.dds, by Nelson_ also, t~ divide (Bishop Hall). Secretly. Li~erally, dumbness his enemies, and crush them m detail. He:d or cra(tine .. (the noun bemg used a.dver- Joshua advanced upon Palestine from the 1,iallyj, implying the silence and skill re- south each success, as it alarmed, would (] uired for the task. He who knows how to have ~!so united the various communities of l,e silent possesses one at least of the ele- the land, under their separate kings, by the ments of success. The necessity of silence sense of a common danger. Thus each on- and secrecv may be inferred from eh. vi. 1. ward step would have increased hie difficul- Keil, lwwe;•er, following the Jlfasoretic punc- ties, and exposed him, exhausted by con- tuation, regards " secretly " as referring to tinued efforts, to the assaults of fresh and the Ismelites, and the spies as sent unknown o.lso more numerous enemies, in a country t.o the army, that no depressing report which grew ever more easy to defend ~nd migLt damp their courage. Jertcho. . " The more perilous to attack. But hy croeemg city of fragrance" (from nn to breathe, and the Jordan 11nd m11rching o.t once upon in tLe Hiphil, to smell a eweet odour), so Jericho, he was enabled, o.fter the capture called from its situation in the midst of of that city, to fall with his whole force palm trees, from which it wa.e oa.lled " the first upon the cities of the south, e.nd  dn. 11. 1-12.] TliE BOOK OF JOSHUA, 27