Antiquities of the Jews — Book 5, Chapter 1

1. When Moses was taken away from among men, in the manner already
described, and when all the solemnities belonging to the mourning for
him were finished, and the sorrow for him was over, Joshua commanded the
multitude to get themselves ready for an expedition. He also sent spies
to Jericho to discover what forces they had, and what were their
intentions; but he put his camp in order, as intending soon to pass over
Jordan at a proper season. And calling to him the rulers of the tribe of
Reuben, and the governors of the tribe of Gad, and [the half tribe of]
Manasseh, for half of this tribe had been permitted to have their
habitation in the country of the Amorites, which was the seventh part of
the land of Canaan, 1 he put them in mind what they had promised Moses;
and he exhorted them that, for the sake of the care that Moses had taken
of them who had never been weary of taking pains for them no, not when
he was dying, and for the sake of the public welfare, they would prepare
themselves, and readily perform what they had promised; so he took fifty
thousand of them who followed him, and he marched from Abila to Jordan,
sixty furlongs.

2. Now when he had pitched his camp, the spies came to him immediately,
well acquainted with the whole state of the Canaanites; for at first,
before they were at all discovered, they took a full view of the city of
Jericho without disturbance, and saw which parts of the walls were
strong, and which parts were otherwise, and indeed insecure, and which
of the gates were so weak as might afford an entrance to their army. Now
those that met them took no notice of them when they saw them, and
supposed they were only strangers, who used to be very curious in
observing everything in the city, and did not take them for enemies; but
at even they retired to a certain inn that was near to the wall, whither
they went to eat their supper; which supper when they had done, and were
considering how to get away, information was given to the king as he was
at supper, that there were some persons come from the Hebrews' camp to
view the city as spies, and that they were in the inn kept by Rahab, and
were very solicitous that they might not be discovered. So he sent
immediately some to them, and commanded to catch them, and bring them to
him, that he might examine them by torture, and learn what their
business was there. As soon as Rahab understood that these messengers
were coming, she hid the spies under stalks of flax, which were laid to
dry on the top of her house; and said to the messengers that were sent
by the king, that certain unknown strangers had supped with her a little
before sun-setting, and were gone away, who might easily be taken, if
they were any terror to the city, or likely to bring any danger to the
king. So these messengers being thus deluded by the woman, 2 and
suspecting no imposition, went their ways, without so much as searching
the inn; but they immediately pursued them along those roads which they
most probably supposed them to have gone, and those particularly which
led to the river, but could hear no tidings of them; so they left off
the pains of any further pursuit. But when the tumult was over, Rahab
brought the men down, and desired them as soon as they should have
obtained possession of the land of Canaan, when it would be in their
power to make her amends for her preservation of them, to remember what
danger she had undergone for their sakes; for that if she had been
caught concealing them, she could not have escaped a terrible
destruction, she and all her family with her, and so bid them go home;
and desired them to swear to her to preserve her and her family when
they should take the city, and destroy all its inhabitants, as they had
decreed to do; for so far she said she had been assured by those Divine
miracles of which she had been informed. So these spies acknowledged
that they owed her thanks for what she had done already, and withal
swore to requite her kindness, not only in words, but in deeds. But they
gave her this advice, That when she should perceive that the city was
about to be taken, she should put her goods, and all her family, by way
of security, in her inn, and to hang out scarlet threads before her
doors, [or windows,] that the commander of the Hebrews might know her
house, and take care to do her no harm; for, said they, we will inform
him of this matter, because of the concern thou hast had to preserve us:
but if any one of thy family fall in the battle, do not thou blame us;
and we beseech that God, by whom we have sworn, not then to be
displeased with us, as though we had broken our oaths. So these men,
when they had made this agreement, went away, letting themselves down by
a rope from the wall, and escaped, and came and told their own people
whatsoever they had done in their journey to this city. Joshua also told
Eleazar the high priest, and the senate, what the spies had sworn to
Rahab, who continued what had been sworn.

3. Now while Joshua, the commander, was in fear about their passing over
Jordan, for the river ran with a strong current, and could not be passed
over with bridges, for there never had been bridges laid over it
hitherto; and while he suspected, that if he should attempt to make a
bridge, that their enemies would not afford him time to perfect it, and
for ferry-boats they had none,-God promised so to dispose of the river,
that they might pass over it, and that by taking away the main part of
its waters. So Joshua, after two days, caused the army and the whole
multitude to pass over in the manner following:—The priests went first
of all, having the ark with them; then went the Levites bearing the
tabernacle and the vessels which belonged to the sacrifices; after which
the entire multitude followed, according to their tribes, having their
children and their wives in the midst of them, as being afraid for them,
lest they should be borne away by the stream. But as soon as the priests
had entered the river first, it appeared fordable, the depth of the
water being restrained and the sand appearing at the bottom, because the
current was neither so strong nor so swift as to carry it away by its
force; so they all passed over the river without fear, finding it to be
in the very same state as God had foretold he would put it in; but the
priests stood still in the midst of the river till the multitude should
be passed over, and should get to the shore in safety; and when all were
gone over, the priests came out also, and permitted the current to run
freely as it used to do before. Accordingly the river, as soon as the
Hebrews were come out of it, arose again presently, and came to its own
proper magnitude as before.

4. So the Hebrews went on farther fifty furlongs, and pitched their camp
at the distance of ten furlongs from Jericho; but Joshua built an altar
of those stones which all the heads of the tribes, at the command of the
prophets, had taken out of the deep, to be afterwards a memorial of the
division of the stream of this river, and upon it offered sacrifice to
God; and in that place celebrated the passover, and had great plenty of
all the things which they wanted hitherto; for they reaped the corn of
the Canaanites, which was now ripe, and took other things as prey; for
then it was that their former food, which was manna, and of which they
had eaten forty years, failed them.

5. Now while the Israelites did this, and the Canaanites did not attack
them, but kept themselves quiet within their own walls, Joshua resolved
to besiege them; so on the first day of the feast [of the passover], the
priests carried the ark round about, with some part of the armed men to
be a guard to it. These priests went forward, blowing with their seven
trumpets; and exhorted the army to be of good courage, and went round
about the city, with the senate following them; and when the priests had
only blown with the trumpets, for they did nothing more at all, they
returned to the camp. And when they had done this for six days, on the
seventh Joshua gathered the armed men and all the people together, and
told them these good tidings, That the city should now be taken, since
God would on that day give it them, by the falling down of the walls,
and this of their own accord, and without their labor. However, he
charged them to kill every one they should take, and not to abstain from
the slaughter of their enemies, either for weariness or for pity, and
not to fall on the spoil, and be thereby diverted from pursuing their
enemies as they ran away; but to destroy all the animals, and to take
nothing for their own peculiar advantage. He commanded them also to
bring together all the silver and gold, that it might be set apart as
first-fruits unto God out of this glorious exploit, as having gotten
them from the city they first took; only that they should save Rahab and
her kindred alive, because of the oath which the spies had sworn to her.

6. When he had said this, and had set his army in order, he brought it
against the city: so they went round the city again, the ark going
before them, and the priests encouraging the people to be zealous in the
work; and when they had gone round it seven times, and had stood still a
little, the wall fell down, while no instruments of war, nor any other
force, was applied to it by the Hebrews.

7. So they entered into Jericho, and slew all the men that were therein,
while they were affrighted at the surprising overthrow of the walls, and
their courage was become useless, and they were not able to defend
themselves; so they were slain, and their throats cut, some in the ways,
and others as caught in their houses; nothing afforded them assistance,
but they all perished, even to the women and the children; and the city
was filled with dead bodies, and not one person escaped. They also burnt
the whole city, and the country about it; but they saved alive Rahab,
with her family, who had fled to her inn. And when she was brought to
him, Joshua owned to her that they owed her thanks for her preservation
of the spies: so he said he would not appear to be behind her in his
benefaction to her; whereupon he gave her certain lands immediately, and
had her in great esteem ever afterwards.

8. And if any part of the city escaped the fire, he overthrew it from
the foundation; and he denounced a curse 3against its inhabitants, if
any should desire to rebuild it; how, upon his laying the foundation of
the walls, he should be deprived of his eldest son; and upon finishing
it, he should lose his youngest son. But what happened hereupon we shall
speak of hereafter.

9. Now there was an immense quantity of silver and gold, and besides
those of brass also, that was heaped together out of the city when it
was taken, no one transgressing the decree, nor purloining for their own
peculiar advantage; which spoils Joshua delivered to the priests, to be
laid up among their treasures. And thus did Jericho perish.

10. But there was one Achar, 4 the son [of Charmi, the son] of Zebedias,
of the tribe of Judah, who finding a royal garment woven entirely of
gold, and a piece of gold that weighed two hundred shekels; 5 and
thinking it a very hard case, that what spoils he, by running some
hazard, had found, he must give away, and offer it to God, who stood in
no need of it, while he that wanted it must go without it,—made a deep
ditch in his own tent, and laid them up therein, as supposing he should
not only be concealed from his fellow soldiers, but from God himself
also.

11. Now the place where Joshua pitched his camp was called Gilgal, which
denotes liberty; 6 for since now they had passed over Jordan, they
looked on themselves as freed from the miseries which they had undergone
from the Egyptians, and in the wilderness.

12. Now, a few days after the calamity that befell Jericho, Joshua sent
three thousand armed men to take Ai, a city situate above Jericho; but,
upon the sight of the people of Ai, with them they were driven back, and
lost thirty-six of their men. When this was told the Israelites, it made
them very sad, and exceeding disconsolate, not so much because of the
relation the men that were destroyed bare to them, though those that
were destroyed were all good men, and deserved their esteem, as by the
despair it occasioned; for while they believed that they were already,
in effect, in possession of the land, and should bring back the army out
of the battles without loss, as God had promised beforehand, they now
saw unexpectedly their enemies bold with success; so they put sackcloth
over their garments, and continued in tears and lamentation all the day,
without the least inquiry after food, but laid what had happened greatly
to heart.

13. When Joshua saw the army so much afflicted, and possessed with
forebodings of evil as to their whole expedition, he used freedom with
God, and said, "We are not come thus far out of any rashness of our own,
as though we thought ourselves able to subdue this land with our own
weapons, but at the instigation of Moses thy servant for this purpose,
because thou hast promised us, by many signs, that thou wouldst give us
this land for a possession, and that thou wouldst make our army always
superior in war to our enemies, and accordingly some success has already
attended upon us agreeably to thy promises; but because we have now
unexpectedly been foiled, and have lost some men out of our army, we are
grieved at it, as fearing what thou hast promised us, and what Moses
foretold us, cannot be depended on by us; and our future expectation
troubles us the more, because we have met with such a disaster in this
our first attempt. But do thou, O Lord, free us from these suspicions,
for thou art able to find a cure for these disorders, by giving us
victory, which will both take away the grief we are in at present, and
prevent our distrust as to what is to come."

14. These intercessions Joshua put up to God, as he lay prostrate on his
face: whereupon God answered him, That he should rise up, and purify his
host from the pollution that had got into it; that "things consecrated
to me have been impudently stolen from me," and that "this has been the
occasion why this defeat had happened to them;" and that when they
should search out and punish the offender, he would ever take care they
should have the victory over their enemies. This Joshua told the people;
and calling for Eleazar the high priest, and the men in authority, he
cast lots, tribe by tribe; and when the lot showed that this wicked
action was done by one of the tribe of Judah, he then again proposed the
lot to the several families thereto belonging; so the truth of this
wicked action was found to belong to the family of Zachar; and when the
inquiry was made man by man, they took Achar, who, upon God's reducing
him to a terrible extremity, could not deny the fact: so he confessed
the theft, and produced what he had taken in the midst of them,
whereupon he was immediately put to death; and attained no more than to
be buried in the night in a disgraceful manner, and such as was suitable
to a condemned malefactor.

15. When Joshua had thus purified the host, he led them against Ai: and
having by night laid an ambush round about the city, he attacked the
enemies as soon as it was day; but as they advanced boldly against the
Israelites, because of their former victory, he made them believe he
retired, and by that means drew them a great way from the city, they
still supposing that they were pursuing their enemies, and despised
them, as though the case had been the same with that in the former
battle; after which Joshua ordered his forces to turn about, and placed
them against their front. He then made the signals agreed upon to those
that lay in ambush, and so excited them to fight; so they ran suddenly
into the city, the inhabitants being upon the walls, nay, others of them
being in perplexity, and coming to see those that were without the
gates. Accordingly, these men took the city, and slew all that they met
with; but Joshua forced those that came against him to come to a close
fight, and discomfited them, and made them run away; and when they were
driven towards the city, and thought it had not been touched, as soon as
they saw it was taken, and perceived it was burnt, with their wives and
children, they wandered about in the fields in a scattered condition,
and were no way able to defend themselves, because they had none to
support them. Now when this calamity was come upon the men of Ai, there
were a great number of children, and women, and servants, and an immense
quantity of other furniture. The Hebrews also took herds of cattle, and
a great deal of money, for this was a rich country. So when Joshua came
to Gilgal, he divided all these spoils among the soldiers.

16. But the Gibeonites, who inhabited very near to Jerusalem, when they
saw what miseries had happened to the inhabitants of Jericho; and to
those of Ai, and suspected that the like sore calamity would come as far
as themselves, they did not think fit to ask for mercy of Joshua; for
they supposed they should find little mercy from him, who made war that
he might entirely destroy the nation of the Canaanites; but they invited
the people of Cephirah and Kiriathjearim, who were their neighbors, to
join in league with them; and told them that neither could they
themselves avoid the danger they were all in, if the Israelites should
prevent them, and seize upon them: so when they had persuaded them, they
resolved to endeavor to escape the forces of the Israelites.
Accordingly, upon their agreement to what they proposed, they sent
ambassadors to Joshua to make a league of friendship with him, and those
such of the citizens as were best approved of, and most capable of doing
what was most advantageous to the multitude. Now these ambassadors
thought it dangerous to confess themselves to be Canaanites, but thought
they might by this contrivance avoid the danger, namely, by saying that
they bare no relation to the Canaanites at all, but dwelt at a very
great distance from them: and they said further, that they came a long
way, on account of the reputation he had gained for his virtue; and as a
mark of the truth of what they said, they showed him the habit they were
in, for that their clothes were new when they came out, but were greatly
worn by the length of thee they had been on their journey; for indeed
they took torn garments, on purpose that they might make him believe so.
So they stood in the midst of the people, and said that they were sent
by the people of Gibeon, and of the circumjacent cities, which were very
remote from the land where they now were, to make such a league of
friendship with them, and this on such conditions as were customary
among their forefathers; for when they understood that, by the favor of
God, and his gift to them, they were to have the possession of the land
of Canaan bestowed upon them, they said that they were very glad to hear
it, and desired to be admitted into the number of their citizens. Thus
did these ambassadors speak; and showing them the marks of their long
journey, they entreated the Hebrews to make a league of friendship with
them. Accordingly Joshua, believing what they said, that they were not
of the nation of the Canaanites, entered into friendship with them; and
Eleazar the high priest, with the senate, sware to them that they would
esteem them their friends and associates, and would attempt nothing that
should be unfair against them, the multitude also assenting to the oaths
that were made to them. So these men, having obtained what they desired,
by deceiving the Israelites, went home: but when Joshua led his army to
the country at the bottom of the mountains of this part of Canaan, he
understood that the Gibeonites dwelt not far from Jerusalem, and that
they were of the stock of the Canaanites; so he sent for their
governors, and reproached them with the cheat they had put upon him; but
they alleged, on their own behalf, that they had no other way to save
themselves but that, and were therefore forced to have recourse to it.
So he called for Eleazar the high priest, and for the senate, who
thought it right to make them public servants, that they might not break
the oath they had made to them; and they ordained them to be so. And
this was the method by which these men found safety and security under
the calamity that was ready to overtake them.

17. But the king of Jerusalem took it to heart that the Gibeonites had
gone over to Joshua; so he called upon the kings of the neighboring
nations to join together, and make war against them. Now when the
Gibeonites saw these kings, which were four, besides the king of
Jerusalem, and perceived that they had pitched their camp at a certain
fountain not far from their city, and were getting ready for the siege
of it, they called upon Joshua to assist them; for such was their case,
as to expect to be destroyed by these Canaanites, but to suppose they
should be saved by those that came for the destruction of the
Canaanites, because of the league of friendship that was between them.
Accordingly, Joshua made haste with his whole army to assist them, and
marching day and night, in the morning he fell upon the enemies as they
were going up to the siege; and when he had discomfited them, he
followed them, and pursued them down the descent of the hills. The place
is called Bethhoron; where he also understood that God assisted him,
which he declared by thunder and thunderbolts, as also by the falling of
hail larger than usual. Moreover, it happened that the day was
lengthened 7 that the night might not come on too soon, and be an
obstruction to the zeal of the Hebrews in pursuing their enemies;
insomuch that Joshua took the kings, who were hidden in a certain cave
at Makkedah, and put them to death. Now, that the day was lengthened at
this thee, and was longer than ordinary, is expressed in the books laid
up in the temple.

18. These kings which made war with, and were ready to fight the
Gibeonites, being thus overthrown, Joshua returned again to the
mountainous parts of Canaan; and when he had made a great slaughter of
the people there, and took their prey, he came to the camp at Gilgal.
And now there went a great fame abroad among the neighboring people of
the courage of the Hebrews; and those that heard what a number of men
were destroyed, were greatly affrighted at it: so the kings that lived
about Mount Libanus, who were Canaanites, and those Canaanites that
dwelt in the plain country, with auxiliaries out of the land of the
Philistines, pitched their camp at Beroth, a city of the Upper Galilee,
not far from Cadesh, which is itself also a place in Galilee. Now the
number of the whole army was three hundred thousand armed footmen, and
ten thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand chariots; so that the
multitude of the enemies affrighted both Joshua himself and the
Israelites; and they, instead of being full of hopes of good success,
were superstitiously timorous, with the great terror with which they
were stricken. Whereupon God upbraided them with the fear they were in,
and asked them whether they desired a greater help than he could afford
them; and promised them that they should overcome their enemies; and
withal charged them to make their enemies' horses useless, and to burn
their chariots. So Joshua became full of courage upon these promises of
God, and went out suddenly against the enemies; and after five days'
march he came upon them, and joined battle with them, and there was a
terrible fight, and such a number were slain as could not be believed by
those that heard it. He also went on in the pursuit a great way, and
destroyed the entire army of the enemies, few only excepted, and all the
kings fell in the battle; insomuch, that when there wanted men to be
killed, Joshua slew their horses, and burnt their chariots and passed
all over their country without opposition, no one daring to meet him in
battle; but he still went on, taking their cities by siege, and again
killing whatever he took.

19. The fifth year was now past, and there was not one of the Canaanites
remained any longer, excepting some that had retired to places of great
strength. So Joshua removed his camp to the mountainous country, and
placed the tabernacle in the city of Shiloh, for that seemed a fit place
for it, because of the beauty of its situation, until such thee as their
affairs would permit them to build a temple; and from thence he went to
Shechem, together with all the people, and raised an altar where Moses
had beforehand directed; then did he divide the army, and placed one
half of them on Mount Gerizzim, and the other half on Mount Ebal, on
which mountain the altar was; he also placed there the tribe of Levi,
and the priests. And when they had sacrificed, and denounced the
[blessings and the] curses, and had left them engraven upon the altar,
they returned to Shiloh.

20. And now Joshua was old, and saw that the cities of the Canaanites
were not easily to be taken, not only because they were situate in such
strong places, but because of the strength of the walls themselves,
which being built round about, the natural strength of the places on
which the cities stood, seemed capable of repelling their enemies from
besieging them, and of making those enemies despair of taking them; for
when the Canaanites had learned that the Israelites came out of Egypt in
order to destroy them, they were busy all that time in making their
cities strong. So he gathered the people together to a congregation at
Shiloh; and when they, with great zeal and haste, were come thither, he
observed to them what prosperous successes they had already had, and
what glorious things had been done, and those such as were worthy of
that God who enabled them to do those things, and worthy of the virtue
of those laws which they followed. He took notice also, that thirty-one
of those kings that ventured to give them battle were overcome, and
every army, how great soever it were, that confided in their own power,
and fought with them, was utterly destroyed; so that not so much as any
of their posterity remained. And as for the cities, since some of them
were taken, but the others must be taken in length of time, by long
sieges, both on account of the strength of their walls, and of the
confidence the inhabitants had in them thereby, he thought it reasonable
that those tribes that came along with them from beyond Jordan, and had
partaken of the dangers they had undergone, being their own kindred,
should now be dismissed and sent home, and should have thanks for the
pains they had taken together with them. As also, he thought it
reasonable that they should send one man out of every tribe, and he such
as had the testimony of extraordinary virtue, who should measure the
land faithfully, and without any fallacy or deceit should inform them of
its real magnitude.

21. Now Joshua, when he had thus spoken to them, found that the
multitude approved of his proposal. So he sent men to measure their
country, and sent with them some geometricians, who could not easily
fail of knowing the truth, on account of their skill in that art. He
also gave them a charge to estimate the measure of that part of the land
that was most fruitful, and what was not so good: for such is the nature
of the land of Canaan, that one may see large plains, and such as are
exceeding fit to produce fruit, which yet, if they were compared to
other parts of the country, might be reckoned exceedingly fruitful; yet,
if it be compared with the fields about Jericho, and to those that
belong to Jerusalem, will appear to be of no account at all; and
although it so falls out that these people have but a very little of
this sort of land, and that it is, for the main, mountainous also, yet
does it not come behind other parts, on account of its exceeding
goodness and beauty; for which reason Joshua thought the land for the
tribes should be divided by estimation of its goodness, rather than the
largeness of its measure, it often happening that one acre of some sort
of land was equivalent to a thousand other acres. Now the men that were
sent, which were in number ten, traveled all about, and made an
estimation of the land, and in the seventh month came to him to the city
of Shiloh, where they had set up the tabernacle.

22. So Joshua took both Eleazar and the senate, and with them the heads
of the tribes, and distributed the land to the nine tribes, and to the
half-tribe of Manasseh, appointing the dimensions to be according to the
largeness of each tribe. So when he had cast lots, Judah had assigned
him by lot the upper part of Judea, reaching as far as Jerusalem, and
its breadth extended to the Lake of Sodom. Now in the lot of this tribe
there were the cities of Askelon and Gaza. The lot of Simeon, which was
the second, included that part of Idumea which bordered upon Egypt and
Arabia. As to the Benjamites, their lot fell so, that its length reached
from the river Jordan to the sea, but in breadth it was bounded by
Jerusalem and Bethel; and this lot was the narrowest of all, by reason
of the goodness of the land, for it included Jericho and the city of
Jerusalem. The tribe of Ephraim had by lot the land that extended in
length from the river Jordan to Gezer; but in breadth as far as from
Bethel, till it ended at the Great Plain. The half-tribe of Manasseh had
the land from Jordan to the city of Dora; but its breadth was at
Bethsham, which is now called Scythopolis. And after these was Issachar,
which had its limits in length, Mount Carmel and the river, but its
limit in breadth was Mount Tabor. The tribe of Zebulon's lot included
the land which lay as far as the Lake of Genesareth, and that which
belonged to Carmel and the sea. The tribe of Aser had that part which
was called the Valley, for such it was, and all that part which lay
over-against Sidon. The city Arce belonged to their share, which is also
named Actipus. The Naphthalites received the eastern parts, as far as
the city of Damascus and the Upper Galilee, unto Mount Libanus, and the
Fountains of Jordan, which rise out of that mountain; that is, out of
that part of it whose limits belong to the neighboring city of Arce. The
Danites' lot included all that part of the valley which respects the
sun-setting, and were bounded by Azotus and Dora; as also they had all
Jamnia and Gath, from Ekron to that mountain where the tribe of Judah
begins.

23. After this manner did Joshua divide the six nations that bear the
name of the sons of Canaan, with their land, to be possessed by the nine
tribes and a half; for Moses had prevented him, and had already
distributed the land of the Amorites, which itself was so called also
from one of the sons of Canaan, to the two tribes and a half, as we have
shown already. But the parts about Sidon, as also those that belonged to
the Arkites, and the Amathites, and the Aradians, were not yet regularly
disposed of.

24. But now was Joshua hindered by his age from executing what he
intended to do [as did those that succeeded him in the government, take
little care of what was for the advantage of the public]; so he gave it
in charge to every tribe to leave no remainder of the race of the
Canaanites in the land that had been divided to them by lot; that Moses
had assured them beforehand, and they might rest fully satisfied about
it, that their own security and their observation of their own laws
depended wholly upon it. Moreover, he enjoined them to give thirty-eight
cities to the Levites, for they had already received ten in the country
of the Amorites; and three of these he assigned to those that fled from
the man-slayers, who were to inhabit there; for he was very solicitous
that nothing should be neglected which Moses had ordained. These cities
were, of the tribe of Judah, Hebron; of that of Ephraim, Shechem; and of
that of Naphthali, Cadesh, which is a place of the Upper Galilee. He
also distributed among them the rest of the prey not yet distributed,
which was very great; whereby they had an affluence of great riches,
both all in general, and every one in particular; and this of gold and
of vestments, and of other furniture, besides a multitude of cattle,
whose number could not be told.

25. After this was over, he gathered the army together to a
congregation, and spake thus to those tribes that had their settlement
in the land of the Amorites beyond Jordan,—for fifty thousand of them
had armed themselves, and had gone to the war along with them:—"Since
that God, who is the Father and Lord of the Hebrew nation, has now given
us this land for a possession, and promised to preserve us in the
enjoyment of it as our own for ever; and since you have with alacrity
offered yourselves to assist us when we wanted that assistance on all
occasions, according to his command; it is but just, now all our
difficulties are over, that you should be permitted to enjoy rest, and
that we should trespass on your alacrity to help us no longer; that so,
if we should again stand in need of it, we may readily have it on any
future emergency, and not tire you out so much now as may make you
slower in assisting us another time. We, therefore, return you our
thanks for the dangers you have undergone with us, and we do it not at
this time only, but we shall always be thus disposed; and be so good as
to remember our friends, and to preserve in mind what advantages we have
had from them; and how you have put off the enjoyments of your own
happiness for our sakes, and have labored for what we have now, by the
goodwill of God, obtained, and resolved not to enjoy your own prosperity
till you had afforded us that assistance. However, you have, by joining
your labor with ours, gotten great plenty of riches, and will carry home
with you much prey, with gold and silver, and, what is more than all
these, our good-will towards you, and a mind willingly disposed to make
a requital of your kindness to us, in what case soever you shall desire
it, for you have not omitted any thing which Moses beforehand required
of you, nor have you despised him because he was dead and gone from you,
so that there is nothing to diminish that gratitude which we owe to you.
We therefore dismiss you joyful to your own inheritances; and we entreat
you to suppose, that there is no limit to be set to the intimate
relation that is between us; and that you will not imagine, because this
river is interposed between us, that you are of a different race from
us, and not Hebrews; for we are all the posterity of Abraham, both we
that inhabit here, and you that inhabit there; and it is the same God
that brought our forefathers and yours into the world, whose worship and
form of government we are to take care of, which he has ordained, and
are most carefully to observe; because while you continue in those laws,
God will also show himself merciful and assisting to you; but if you
imitate the other nations, and forsake those laws, he will reject your
nation." When Joshua had spoken thus, and saluted them all, both those
in authority one by one, and the whole multitude in common, he himself
staid where he was; but the people conducted those tribes on their
journey, and that not without tears in their eyes; and indeed they
hardly knew how to part one from the other.

26. Now when the tribe of Reuben, and that of Gad, and as many of the
Manassites as followed them, were passed over the river, they built an
altar on the banks of Jordan, as a monument to posterity, and a sign of
their relation to those that should inhabit on the other side. But when
those on the other side heard that those who had been dismissed had
built an altar, but did not hear with what intention they built it, but
supposed it to be by way of innovation, and for the introduction of
strange gods, they did not incline to disbelieve it; but thinking this
defamatory report, as if it were built for divine worship, was credible,
they appeared in arms, as though they would avenge themselves on those
that built the altar; and they were about to pass over the river, and to
punish them for their subversion of the laws of their country; for they
did not think it fit to regard them on account of their kindred or the
dignity of those that had given the occasion, but to regard the will of
God, and the manner wherein he desired to be worshipped; so these men
put themselves in array for war. But Joshua, and Eleazar the high
priest, and the senate, restrained them; and persuaded them first to
make trial by words of their intention, and afterwards, if they found
that their intention was evil, then only to proceed to make war upon
them. Accordingly, they sent as ambassadors to them Phineas the son of
Eleazar, and ten more persons that were in esteem among the Hebrews, to
learn of them what was in their mind, when, upon passing over the river,
they had built an altar upon its banks. And as soon as these ambassadors
were passed over, and were come to them, and a congregation was
assembled, Phineas stood up and said, That the offense they had been
guilty of was of too heinous a nature to be punished by words alone, or
by them only to be amended for the future; yet that they did not so look
at the heinousness of their transgression as to have recourse to arms,
and to a battle for their punishment immediately, but that, on account
of their kindred, and the probability there was that they might be
reclaimed, they took this method of sending an ambassage to them: "That
when we have learned the true reasons by which you have been moved to
build this altar, we may neither seem to have been too rash in
assaulting you by our weapons of war, if it prove that you made the
altar for justifiable reasons, and may then justly punish you if the
accusation prove true; for we can hardly hardly suppose that you, have
been acquainted with the will of God and have been hearers of those laws
which he himself hath given us, now you are separated from us, and gone
to that patrimony of yours, which you, through the grace of God, and
that providence which he exercises over you, have obtained by lot, can
forget him, and can leave that ark and that altar which is peculiar to
us, and can introduce strange gods, and imitate the wicked practices of
the Canaanites. Now this will appear to have been a small crime if you
repent now, and proceed no further in your madness, but pay a due
reverence to, and keep in mind the laws of your country; but if you
persist in your sins, we will not grudge our pains to preserve our laws;
but we will pass over Jordan and defend them, and defend God also, and
shall esteem of you as of men no way differing from the Canaanites, but
shall destroy you in the like manner as we destroyed them; for do not
you imagine that, because you are got over the river, you are got out of
the reach of God's power; you are every where in places that belong to
him, and impossible it is to overrun his power, and the punishment he
will bring on men thereby: but if you think that your settlement here
will be any obstruction to your conversion to what is good, nothing need
hinder us from dividing the land anew, and leaving this old land to be
for the feeding of sheep; but you will do well to return to your duty,
and to leave off these new crimes; and we beseech you, by your children
and wives, not to force us to punish you. Take therefore such measures
in this assembly, as supposing that your own safety, and the safety of
those that are dearest to you, is therein concerned, and believe that it
is better for you to be conquered by words, than to continue in your
purpose, and to experience deeds and war therefore."

27. When Phineas had discoursed thus, the governors of the assembly, and
the whole multitude, began to make an apology for themselves, concerning
what they were accused of; and they said, That they neither would depart
from the relation they bare to them, nor had they built the altar by way
of innovation; that they owned one and the same common God with all the
Hebrews, and that brazen altar which was before the tabernacle, on which
they would offer their sacrifices; that as to the altar they had raised,
on account of which they were thus suspected, it was not built for
worship, "but that it might be a sign and a monument of our relation to
you for ever, and a necessary caution to us to act wisely, and to
continue in the laws of our country, but not a handle for transgressing
them, as you suspect: and let God be our authentic witness, that this
was the occasion of our building this altar: whence we beg you will have
a better opinion of us, and do not impute such a thing to us as would
render any of the posterity of Abraham well worthy of perdition, in case
they attempt to bring in new rites, and such as are different from our
usual practices."

28. When they had made this answer, and Phineas had commended them for
it, he came to Joshua, and explained before the people what answer they
had received. Now Joshua was glad that he was under no necessity of
setting them in array, or of leading them to shed blood, and make war
against men of their own kindred; and accordingly he offered sacrifices
of thanksgiving to God for the same. So Joshua after that dissolved this
great assembly of the people, and sent them to their own inheritances,
while he himself lived in Shechem. But in the twentieth year after this,
when he was very old, he sent for those of the greatest dignity in the
several cities, with those in authority, and the senate, and as many of
the common people as could be present; and when they were come, he put
them in mind of all the benefits God had bestowed on them, which could
not but be a great many, since from a low estate they were advanced to
so great a degree of glory and plenty; and exhorted them to take notice
of the intentions of God, which had been so gracious towards them; and
told them that the Deity would continue their friend by nothing else but
their piety; and that it was proper for him, now that he was about to
depart out of this life, to leave such an admonition to them; and he
desired that they would keep in memory this his exhortation to them.

29. So Joshua, when he had thus discoursed to them, died, having lived a
hundred and ten years; forty of which he lived with Moses, in order to
learn what might be for his advantage afterwards. He also became their
commander after his death for twenty-five years. He was a man that
wanted not wisdom nor eloquence to declare his intentions to the people,
but very eminent on both accounts. He was of great courage and
magnanimity in action and in dangers, and very sagacious in procuring
the peace of the people, and of great virtue at all proper seasons. He
was buried in the city of Timnab, of the tribe of Ephraim 9 About the
same time died Eleazar the high priest, leaving the high priesthood to
his son Phineas. His monument also, and sepulcher, are in the city of
Gabatha.