JOSHUA IS MADE CAPTAIN OF THE HOST.
Spies Are Sent to Jericho.

Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, saying, "Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, to the land which I give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea to the going down of the sun, shall [{278}] be your border. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I swore unto their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, "Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying, 'Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.'"

And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men as spies secretly, saying, "Go view the land, and Jericho." And they went, and came into the house of a woman whose name was Rahab, and lay there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, "Behold, there came men in hither to-night of the children of Israel to search out the land."

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MOUNDS MARKING THE SITE OF OLD JERICHO
From the road from Jerusalem to Jericho
From a photograph taken by Prof. D. G. Lyon and used by his kind permission.

Jericho, "the city of palm trees," was the only important place in the Jordan valley. In Bible times it was a beautiful and prosperous city, but now it is only a waste. Its palm trees are gone and the site is desolate. It was often conquered by the armies which passed through Palestine. After its walls fell down before Joshua's hosts, "no great man was born in Jericho; no heroic deed was ever done in her. She never stood a siege and her inhabitants were always running away."

--Smith