The northern portion of the Holy Land, the Galilee of after times, extending from the range of Carmel to the mountains of Lebanon, was assigned to four tribes “allied by birth, and companions on the desert march,” Issachar, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali.
i. The territory of Issachar lay above that of Manasseh, and exactly consisted of the plain of Esdraelon (the Greek form of the Hebrew Jezreel, = the seed-plot of God). The luxuriance of this plain,—the battle-field of Palestine[165]—is the theme of every traveller. The soil yielded corn and figs, wine and oil (1 Chr. xii. 40), the stately palm waved over the villages, and the very weeds to this day testify to its extraordinary fertility. Here Issachar rejoiced in his tents (Deut. xxxiii. 18, 19), couched down as the strong he-ass (Gen. xlix. 14, 15) used for burden and field-work, and seeing that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to the tribute, which various marauders, Canaanites (Judg. iv. 3, 7), Midianites, Amalekites (Judg. vi. 3, 4), Philistines (1 Sam. xxix. 1; xxxi. 7–10) exacted, bursting through his frontier open both on the east and west, and tempted by his luxuriant crops[166].
ii. Immediately north of Issachar was the allotment of Zebulun, extending from the Sea of Chinnereth[167] (afterwards the Lake of Gennesareth) on the east, towards the Mediterranean on the west. Besides the fertile plain near the fisheries of the lake, this tribe possessed the goings out (Deut. xxxiii. 18), the outlet of the plain of Akka, where it could suck of the abundance of the seas.
iii. The land of Naphtali stretched from the Sea of Chinnereth to the valley which separates the ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, and was one of the most denselywooded districts of the country; its forests surpassed even those of Carmel, and the land has been described as a “natural park of oaks and terebinths.” Its soil also was rich and fertile, full with the blessing of the Lord (Deut. xxxiii. 23).
iv. To the West of Naphtali and resting on the sea-shore was the lot of the tribe of Asher. It was an important position, including the creeks and harbours (Judg. v. 17, 18) on the coast, and commanding all approaches to Palestine from the sea on the north. Its soil was pre-eminently fertile, and well fulfilled the blessings of Jacob and Moses. Here Asher could dip his foot in the oil of his luxuriant olive-groves (Deut. xxxiii. 24), fatten on the bread, the fruit of his rich plains, and the royal dainties (Gen. xlix. 20), the produce of his vineyards and pastures, while for or under his shoes (Deut. xxxiii. 25) was the iron ore of Lebanon, and the brass, or copper, of the neighbouring Phœnician settlements[168].
One tribe alone received no share in this allotment. Like Simeon, but in a different sense, the tribe of Levi was to be divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel (Gen. xlix. 7). Devoted to the service of the sanctuary and sacrificial and other ministrations, this tribe depended for its maintenance on the tithes of the produce of land and cattle (Num. xviii.); but besides this, from each tribe, four cities and their suburban pastures, or forty-eight in all, were set apart for it, and amongst these were included the six cities of Refuge, three on each side of the Jordan,
On the West.
1. Kedesh in Naphtali.
2. Shechem in Mt Ephraim.
3. Hebron in Judah.
On the East.
4. Golan in Bashan.
5. Ramoth-Gilead in Gad.
6. Bezer in Reuben.
The division of the Promised Land being thus concluded, and his own inheritance having been assigned to him at Timnath-serah in Mount Ephraim, where he built a city and settled amongst the people he had led so prudently, Joshua summoned the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and having commended them for their bravery and fidelity, gave themhis blessing, and bade them return to their own settlements beyond the Jordan (Josh. xxii. 1–6).
Accordingly these tribes departed. But while yet on the western side of the river they set up a great Altar, not indeed for burnt-offering or for sacrifice, which could only be presented at the Brazen Altar of the Tabernacle at Shiloh (Lev. xvii. 8, 9; Deut. xii. 4–29), but as a standing witness to all generations, that though parted by that river, they were not sundered in religion or national interests from their western brethren. No sooner, however, was the erection of this altar announced to the other tribes, than they assembled at Shiloh, and made war upon their brethren, whom they deemed guilty of apostasy. But first, they prudently resolved to send an embassy, with Phinehas and ten princes at its head, to try the effect of a friendly expostulation. Phinehas accordingly set out and laid before them the complaint of their brethren. What trespass, he asked, was this of which they were guilty in building this altar? Had they forgotten the judgments the nation had incurred by their sin in the matter of Baal-Peor, or the trouble the nation suffered in consequence of the trespass of Achan? What, then, did they mean by this turning away from following the Lord, and exposing the whole people to His deserved wrath?
Startled at this suspicion of faithlessness, the two tribes and a half reiterated the most solemn protestations of their innocence. The Altar they had erected was not intended for any sacrificial purposes whatsoever. It was simply an Altar of Memorial, a Testimony to future generations that they had the same part and lot in the interests of the nation as their brethren on the west of Jordan. Even the zealous Phinehas could not but be satisfied with this explanation. It was no apostasy or rebellion, but at the worst an error in judgment. And the embassy returned with the joyful intelligencethat there were no grounds for a quarrel or an appeal to arms, while the two tribes and a half, having named the altar Ed, or a Witness, continued their journey to their eastern homes, where they settled down in the territories assigned them by Moses.
And now at length the land had rest. The tribes east and west of Jordan established themselves in the lands of the heathen, and inherited the labour of the people (Ps. cv. 44). Before long Joshua, already stricken in age, became aware that the day was at hand when he must go the way of all the earth. Summoning, therefore, the tribes of Israel, with their elders, their judges, and their officers to Shechem, a spot consecrated by the remains of Joseph (Josh. xxiv. 33), and the national acceptance of the blessings and cursings of the law (Josh. viii. 30–35), he for the last time exhorted the nation to faithfulness to Jehovah. He reviewed their history from the day that their fathers dwelt on the other side of the Euphrates in the old time until now, when the Lord had given them cities which they builded not, vineyards and oliveyards which they planted not. The call of Abraham, the descent of Jacob into Egypt, the wonders of the Exodus, the desert wanderings, the conquest of the Amorites on the east of Jordan, of the Canaanites on this, all these great events in their history were reviewed, and then the aged Chief solemnly bade them choose whom they would serve, Jehovah who had done so great things for them, or the gods of their fathers and of the nations in whose land they dwelt. Thereupon the people solemnly renewed the Covenant they had before made on the same spot, and as an abiding memorial of their promise Joshua set up a Stone Pillar under a sacred oak of Abraham and Jacob[169], and wrote out the words of the Covenant in theBook of the Law of God (Josh. xxiv. 26). This done, he bade every man depart unto his inheritance, and shortly afterwards, at the age of 110, this devout, blameless, fearless warrior died, and was buried in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah[170] (Josh. xxiv. 30).
BOOK VII.
PERIOD OF THE JUDGES.
CHAPTER I.
EVENTS SUBSEQUENT TO THE DEATH OF JOSHUA.
Judg. I. B.C. circ. 1425.
THE position of the Israelites at the death of Joshua was eminently favourable. A nation of freemen, entrusted at Sinai with the “Oracles of God,” they were now in possession of the Promised Land. Though their late leader had not appointed any successor to those extraordinary functions he had retained throughout his life, a complete form of government had always obtained amongst them ever since they became a nation in Egypt. This was mainly kept up by the chiefs of the several tribes, the heads of the great families or clans, and the heads of houses. (Comp. Josh. viii. 33; xxiii. 2; xxiv. 1.) God Himself was their King, and in a sensible and living presence manifested Himself at the Tabernacle now set up at Shiloh, and revealed His will through the mediation of the High-priest.