general purport. belongs t0 God. A Hchl'ew conditions. Dr. Hutchinson replies (Qu1\l'- writer, we ure r<1mindt.'d in tlie 'Speaker's tcrly Paper, Jan. 187G) that the altar is Commentary,' does not quote 01·refer to whet ste.te,l by Josephus to have been on the cast has been already stntcd. If it i• nece•sary side of Jordan, and that it was improbable to make his nerrati,·e clear, he repeats it. that the two and a half tribes would hnve Ver. 8.-Rlcbes. The word here used is erected the altnr on the cis-J orde.nic terri- a.n uncommon one. nnd occurs only here tory, or so near to Shiloh, been use Epln'l1im and in the Jeter Hebrew. Divide the epoU would have resented this. Moreove1·, tho of your enemies with your brethren. This words, "a great altar to be seen," would was the just reward for their toils. Aud imply that it was to be visible from o. long here. es elsewhere, we may obsen·e the distance, so that the two tribes and a ho.If strict and scrupulous integrity of Joshua. might see it from their side of Jordan. It The di,ision o[ the spoil by other leaders must be confessed that the evidence for the has often been the cause of heart-burnings identification is but slight, but so also e.rd and even of mutiny. Here each man has the arguments against it. For (1) Josephus his due, and no room is left for reproach or is not infallible, and the Hebrew text seems dissatisfact.ion. to assert the very opposite of what he says. Ver. 9.-0ut of Shiloh. See note on And (2) the other tribes did resent the erec- ver. 1. In the la.nd of Ca.na.a.n. To dis- tion o[ the altar. Lieutenant Conder now tinguish it from Gilead, the land of their admits that it is possible that the words possession, on the other side of Jordan. stating that the tribes crossed "by the Whereof they were possessed. Another passage of the children of Israel" (ver. 11, instance of that repetition which was but see note there) leads to the idea that according to the genius of the He'brew lan- the ford by Jericho is meant, and not the guage. Damieh ford by Kurn Se.rte.heh. See, how- Ver. 10.-The borders of Jordan. Liter- ever, the translation given below. The fo.ct ally, the circ/.es (cf. notes on eh. xiii. 2; xriii. that the Arabs call the place the ascent of 17 ; xx. 7 ; xxi. 32). Conder suggests dnwn.,, the father of Ayd, which has a close resem- and 11 is most probable that the word refers ble.nee to the Hebrew word Ed, "witness," to curved outlines, such as we frequently see does not appear conclusive, though it lends in the hollows of our oven chalk downs, or some degree of probability to the theory. in any place where the strata do not yield On the other hand, it might be contended easily to the action of water, and yet have that if the Renbenites and Gadites had not been monlded by such action. That are in erected the altar on their own territory, it the la.nd of Ca.na.a.n. Age.in tlie intention"'is would not have excited the wrath of the to lay stress upon the fact that the historian reme.inilJg tribes. But as the best authori- is still speaking of the country west of ties are content to leave the matter uncertain, Cane.an. A great altar to see to. Litere.lly, it must be left uncertain here. an altar great to .sight, i.e., large and visible from a great distance. Bishop Horsley, Ver. 11. - Half tribe of Manasseh. however, would render a great altar in Throughout this part of the narrative, when appearance, supposing that what is meant the body politic, rather than the descP.nt of is that it onlv looked like an altar, and the tribe, is to be indicated, we have, not was not intended to be used as one. One n~r;,, but ~:;J.tf. See above, oh. xiii. 29. All of the most valuable resnlts of the Pales- altar. The original bas the altar. Over tine exploration movement has been the a.ga.lnst. ~-ltY~~- It is difficult to fix the 0
discovery of the site of this altar, which meaning of this expression. ~1r.l seems to seems probable, in spite of Lieutenant have meant the front of anything, and there- Conder'• abandonment of the theory in bis 'Tent 'Work in Palestine,' ii. 53. The fore ~1r.,-~~ would nature.lly mean towards reasons for the identification are as fol- the front of, or in front of. Thus we have lows. The altar must be near one of the had the expression in eh. viii. 33 (where see fords of Jordan. It must be on tliis side note), where it seeins to mean, in the direc- of Jordan (see note on vers. 24, 25). It tion of, and in eh. ix. 1, where it seems to must be in a conspicuons position, as we have the same meaning. With Terbs of have just seen. Now Kum Se.rte.heh or motion it signifies towards, as in Exod. xxxiv. SortuLeb (see note on eh. iii. 16), visible 3, and 1 Sam. xvii. 30. Here it clearlv cannot from a great distanee on &II sides, from be pressed to mean across Jordan. Bee note Ebe.I, from near Gennese.ret, thirty miles below. The borders of Jordan. As above, off, from the Dead Sea, from the eastern ver. 10, the circles of Jordan. At the pas- high lands, and from the J udman we.tershed sage of the children of Israel The word (see Quarterly Paper of the Palestine Ex- tre.nsls.ted "the passage of," literally, "unto plo111.tion Fund, Oct. 1874), fulfils all these over," has origine.lly the sense of " across," cm. XXII. 1-84.) THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 317