There again they were confronted by the Amorites, but in lesser numbers, and not so securely entrenched within their fortresses as their fellow-countrymen in the Negeb, so that the Israelites were able to overthrow the kingdoms of Heshbon and Bashan.*
* War against Sihon, King of Heshbon (Numb. xxi. 21-31;
Beut. ii. 26-37), and against Og, King of Bashan (Numb. xxi.
32-35; Beut. iii. 1-13).
Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 336 of the Palestine
Exploration Fund.
Gad received as its inheritance nearly the whole of the territory lying between the Jabbok and the Yarmuk, in the neighbourhood of the ancient native sanctuaries of Penuel, Mahanaim, and Succoth, associated with the memory of Jacob.* Reuben settled in the vicinity, and both tribes remained there isolated from the rest. From this time forward they took but a slight interest in the affairs of their brethren: when the latter demanded their succour, “Gilead abode beyond Jordan,” and “by the watercourses of Reuben there were great resolves at heart,” but without any consequent action.** It was not merely due to indifference on their part; their resources were fully taxed in defending themselves against the Aramæans and Bedawins, and from the attacks of Moab and Ammon. Gad, continually threatened, struggled for centuries without being discouraged, but Reuben lost heart,*** and soon declined in power, till at length he became merely a name in the memory of his brethren.
* Gad did not possess the districts between the Jabbok and
the Arnon till the time of the early kings, and retained
them only till about the reign of Jehu, as we gather from
the inscription of Mesa.
** These are the very expressions used by the author of the
Song of Deborah in Judges v. 16, 17.
*** The recollection of these raids by Reuben against the
Beduin of the Syrian desert is traceable in 1 Citron, v. 10,
18-22.
Two tribes having been thus provided for, the bulk of the Israelites sought to cross the Jordan without further delay, and establish themselves as best they might in the very heart of the Canaanites. The sacred writings speak of their taking possession of the country by a methodic campaign, undertaken by command of and under the visible protection of Jahveh* Moses had led them from Egypt to Kadesh, and from Kadesh to the land of Gilead; he had seen the promised land from the summit of Mount Nebo, but he had not entered it, and after his death, Joshua, son of Nun, became their leader, brought them across Jordan dryshod, not far from its mouth, and laid siege to Jericho.
* The history of the conquest is to be found in the Book of
Joshua.
The walls of the city fell of themselves at the blowing of the brazen trumpets,* and its capture entailed that of three neighbouring towns, Aï, Bethel, and Shechem. Shechem served as a rallying-place for the conquerors; Joshua took up his residence there, and built on the summit of Mount Ebal an altar of stone, on which he engraved the principal tenets of the divine Law.**