A wind, blowing fiercely, made a fording of the Sea possible for the Israelites, but the cavalry, sent in pursuit, was engulfed and lost. This incident was seized upon as a mark of divine favor by these disheartened people, who saw direct intervention of Jahweh in their behalf. Thus the power of a supreme God was impressed upon their minds as long years of religious instruction could never have impressed it.
For forty years the Children of Israel wandered in the desert, loitering here and there, finding their way between hostile tribes. During these years the figure of Moses stands forth with unfailing strength and courage. The people he had led thither were mere children, rendered dependent and unsteadfast by their long period of servitude. When difficulties beset them, they did not hesitate to turn upon their deliverer and reproach him, and to wish often to return to the land they had recently left, where food was always forthcoming, even though at the expense of liberty and self-respect. But Moses, with staunch heart and great patience, slowly organized them into a religious body, finding unity for them in the one God, Jahweh. Meanwhile a new generation was growing up among them; sons and daughters who were born in the air of freedom, assimilated new ideas more readily, were more steadfast in their purpose, and grew into greater self-reliance than their fathers knew. With this new spirit manifest, we see the possibilities of a dawning nation, and a more promising future.
Not long before the exodus, incoming Philistines pressed the Canaanites farther east, and they in turn displaced the Moabites and Ammonites from their fertile homes in the Eastern Range. These Semitics remembered their old allies, now in the desert, and besought them for aid. The Israelites helped them defeat the Canaanites and then appropriated the fertile places for themselves. Soon, however, increasing numbers made it necessary to seek wider room, and the tribe of Judah crossed the Jordan and settled the tableland which afterwards bore its name. This settlement was not made without great effort, for the earlier inhabitants held tenaciously to the land. The tribes of Simeon and Levi tried to do likewise, but their treachery made them victims to the revenge of the Canaanites. The Levites disappeared as a tribe, but were perpetuated as a priestly order. The Simeonites became absorbed with the tribe of Judah. Reuben and Gad remained east of the Jordan, and the remaining tribes united under Joshua and made an attack upon the central part of Canaan. Jericho fell into their hands, also Ai and Bethel. When these most exposed places fell to their portion, the inhabitants of Gibeon, a Canaanite stronghold, grew alarmed for their own safety and craftily sought a treaty with the invaders. This becoming known among the league of Canaanite cities, banded together to drive out the Israelites, the members of the league were so incensed that they marched against the walls of Gibeon for thus deserting their common cause. The citizens of Gibeon appealed to the Hebrews for aid, and according to their treaty, Joshua led his army out to meet the forces of the besiegers.
The Hebrews were accustomed to hand-to-hand conflicts, and to the heights; the Canaanites fought wherever possible with chariots, and naturally preferred the plains. At first it seemed as though the advantage belonged to the Canaanites, for they carried the battle into the plain, and had strong cities behind them. Nevertheless, a sudden rain made the earth so soft that their chariots availed them little, and when the rain changed to hail, their ranks were thrown into confusion.
The book of Jashar, an ancient Hebrew work, has not been preserved but was apparently made up of old ballads and war songs. A fragment repeated in the book of Joshua recounts that Joshua, the famous Hebrew warrior, commanded the sun and moon to stand still until the battle ended. Some infer that he wished daylight to remain until the battle could be fought out; others hold that he wanted the darkness of the storm to continue, to further discomfit the Canaanites.
"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon;
And thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed,
Until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies."[2]
Victory belonged to the Israelites, and the seven tribes took possession of trans-Jordan regions.
"But this does not mean that Israel was in full possession of the land: by far the best and most fertile portions of it, and especially the majority of the cities, whose strong fortifications made them impregnable to the primitive military skill of the Israelites, remained in possession of the Canaanites; it was chiefly the woody mountain chains of northern and middle Palestine that had come into the power of Israel, and the Canaanites had partly to be subdued by force and partly to be peacefully absorbed—a long and difficult task."[3]
"Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this song unto the Lord:
"I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously:
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and song,
And he is become my salvation:
This is my God, and I will praise him;
My father's God, and I will exalt him.