* This conclusion is drawn from the position of eldest son
given to him in all the genealogies enumerating the children
of Jacob. Stade, on the contrary, is inclined to believe
that this place of honour was granted to him on account of
the smallness of his family, to prevent any jealousy arising
between the more powerful tribes, such as Ephraim and Judah
(Ges. des Vollces Isr., vol. i. pp. 151, 152).
The territory which they occupied soon became insufficient to support their numbers, and they sought to exchange it for a wider area, such as was offered by the neighbouring provinces of Southern Syria. Pharaoh at this time exercised no authority over this region, and they were, therefore, no longer in fear of opposition from his troops; the latter had been recalled to Egypt, and it is doubtful even whether he retained possession of the Shephelah by means of his Zakkala and Philistine colonies; the Hebrews, at any rate, had nothing to fear from him so long as they respected Gaza and Ascalon. They began by attempting to possess themselves of the provinces around Hebron, in the direction of the Dead Sea, and we read that, before entering them, they sent out spies to reconnoitre and report on the country.* Its population had undergone considerable modifications since the Israelites had quitted Goshen. The Amorites, who had seriously suffered from the incursions of Asiatic hordes, and had been constantly harassed by the attacks of the Aramæans, had abandoned the positions they had formerly occupied on the banks of the Orontes and the Litany, and had moved southwards, driving the Canaanites before them; their advance was accelerated as the resistance opposed to their hordes became lessened under the successors of Ramses III., until at length all opposition was withdrawn. They had possessed themselves of the regions about the Lake of Genesareth, the mountain district to the south of Tabor, the middle valley of the Jordan, and, pressing towards the territory east of that river, had attacked the cities scattered over the undulating table-land. This district had not been often subjected to incursions of Egyptian troops, and yet its inhabitants had been more impressed by Egyptian influence than many others.
Drawn by Paucher-Gudin, from the squeezes and sketches
published in the Zeitschrift ties Palcistina-Vereins.
Whereas, in the north and west, cuneiform writing was almost entirely used, attempts had been made here to adapt the hieroglyphs to the native language.
The only one of their monuments which has been preserved is a rudely carved bas-relief in black basalt, representing a two-horned Astarte, before whom stands a king in adoration; the sovereign is Ramses II., and the inscriptions accompanying the figures contain a religious formula together with a name borrowed from one of the local dialects.*
*This is the “Stone of Job” discovered by Strahmacher. The
inscription appears to give the name of a goddess, Agana-
Zaphon, the second part of which recalls the name of Baal-
Zephon.
The Amorites were everywhere victorious, but our information is confined to this bare fact; soon after their victory, however, we find the territory they had invaded divided into two kingdoms: in the north that of Bashan, which comprised, besides the Haurân, the plain watered by the Yarrnuk; and to the south that of Heshbon, containing the district lying around the Arnon, and the Jabbok to the east of the Dead Sea.* They seem to have made the same rapid progress in the country between the Jordan and the Mediterranean as elsewhere. They had subdued some of the small Canaanite states, entered into friendly relation with others, and penetrated gradually as far south as the borders of Sinai, while we find them establishing petty kings among the hill-country of Shechem around Hebron, on the confines of the Negeb, and the Shephelah.** When the Hebrew tribes ventured to push forward in a direct line northwards, they came into collision with the advance posts of the Amorite population, and suffered a severe defeat under the walls of Hormah.*** The check thus received, however, did not discourage them. As a direct course was closed to them, they turned to the right, and followed, first the southern and then the eastern shores of the Red Sea, till they reached the frontier of Gilead.****
* The extension of the Amorite power in this direction is
proved by the facts relating to the kingdoms of Sihon and Og
Gent. i. 4, ii. 24-37, iii. 1-1.7.
** For the Amorite occupation of the Negeb and the hill-
country of Judah, cf. Numb. xiii. 29; Bent. i. 7, 19-46;
Josh. x. 5, 6, 12, xi. 3; for their presence in the
Shephelah, cf. Judges i. 34-36.
*** See the long account in Numb, xiii., xiv., which
terminates with the mention of the defeat of the Israelites
at Hormah; and cf. Bent. i. 19-46.
**** The itinerary given in Numb. xx. 22-29, xxxi., xxxiii.
37-49, and repeated in Bent, ii., brings the Israelites as
far as Ezion-geber, in such a manner as to avoid the
Midianites and the Moabites. The friendly welcome accorded
to them in the regions situated to the east of the Dead Sea,
has been accounted for either by an alliance made with Moab
and Ammon against their common enemy, the Amorites, or by
the fact that Ammon and Moab did not as yet occupy those
regions; the inhabitants in that case would have been
Edomites and Midianites, who were in continual warfare with
each other.