behind them, and beheld the rising flames, they were seized by a sudden fear. As they stopped, Joshua turned round upon them, forcing them back to the burning city. Here they were received and opposed by the Hebrew conquerors; thus they were hemmed in by the two armies of the Israelites; flight was impossible, and they fell beneath the sword of the invaders. All the Hebrews now entered Ai, where they completed the work of carnage. They slew the inhabitants, but they took with them the cattle and the spoil. The king of Ai was hanged on a tree, and then thrown down before the gate, where the corpse was covered with a huge heap of stones.

After these fearful acts of devastation, Joshua and all the Israelites, the priests and the Levites carrying the Ark, journeyed northwards, probably through Shiloh to Mount Ebal. Here they built an altar to the Lord, and faithfully carried out the commands given by Moses: the Law was engraved on stones; then it was read to the whole congregation, together with all strangers; and finally the blessings and the curses were recited from Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, in the exact manner previously enjoined.

Terror and consternation spread through the land of Palestine. Every king and chief prepared to do battle to the invader. Then a league was formed among the principal tribes: the Amorites, the Hittites, and the Hivites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, came from their hills and plains, and assembled to meet the common foe. But the town of Gibeon, lying to the west of Jericho, resolved to save itself by stratagem. There appeared one day in the camp of Gilgal a party of men with ragged sacks slung across their asses, with leathern wine-bottles, old, rent, and bound up again; shoes torn and way-worn; garments dusty and faded; and their bread dry and mouldy. They had the appearance of

people who had made a very long journey. They told Joshua that, having heard of the great wonders performed by the God of the Hebrews, they had travelled from their far-distant homes to meet him, and had come to offer their allegiance, and to make a treaty with the Hebrews. As a sign of the truth of their words, they pointed to their tattered garments, and showed their dry provisions. Joshua, not doubting their words, concluded a league with them, promising to spare them in the general destruction. But soon after he was told that these very men belonged to a neighbouring tribe, and that Gibeon itself was one of their cities. Though indignant at their cunning, he adhered to the oath by which he had pledged himself, and he was supported in this course by the elders of the congregation. But the people murmured and insisted on the punishment of the impostors. Joshua calmed them by this decision: We will let them live, but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water to all the congregation.' Then summoning the men of Gibeon, he severely censured their deceit, and told them that, though he would protect their lives from the wrath of the Israelites, they must be servants, and the lowest menials at the Sanctuary for ever.

65. FURTHER CONQUESTS IN CANAAN.

[JOSH. X.-XII.]

The sincerity of Joshua's promise to save the men of Gibeon was soon to be tested; for the neighbouring tribes, seized with fear and jealousy, leagued together to attack their city under the leadership of the king of Jerusalem. Five kings assembled their armies, those of Jebus, Hebron, and Jarmuth, of Lachish and Eglon, all determined to punish the subservient and cowardly

Gibeonites. At the report of their approach, the latter hastily despatched messengers to the camp at Gilgal, summoning the aid of Joshua: Slack not thy hand from thy servants,' was their entreaty, and save us, and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains, are gathered together against us.' Joshua answered readily to the cry of distress; he called out his warriors, who had now proved themselves men of valour; in the night he marched from the camp at Gilgal, and soon stood before Gibeon like an avenging spirit. The shrill war-cry sounded and the armies closed. It was a terrible death-struggle, it was to be the crowning defeat of heathendom in Canaan. The battle began at daybreak and lasted on throughout the day; at length, sorely pressed by Joshua, the allied armies turned and fled; they clambered up the rocky side of Bethhoron, and were pursued by Joshua over the steep mountain-passes, where they were slain by the sword of the Hebrews, or by the storm of heavy hailstones that fell upon them.

This great battle at Gibeon was long famed in Hebrew history; it was the most important victory in the period of the conquest, for it established the power of the invading Israelites. It was told by the warriors to their lisping children; it was mentioned with awe as being supernaturally achieved; it was dwelt upon in the poetic chronicles of the nation; and referring to one of them, 'the Book of the Righteous,' the Bible narrates the event in the following terms:

'Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, 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 people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.. So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven,

and hastened not to go down a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.'

The five kings had fled southwards from the terrible arms of the Hebrews, and sought refuge in one of the mountain caves at Makkedah; but even there they found no safety. The place of their retreat was discovered, huge stones were rolled before the opening of the cave, which was strictly guarded, while the main army continued the pursuit of the enemies. When these were fairly routed and scattered, Joshua ordered the five kings to be brought before him. Then followed one of the terrible scenes too frequent in those times of hatred and confusion. The five captive monarchs were bidden to kneel down, and at Joshua's command, his chieftains and chosen warriors placed their feet on the necks of the kings as a sign of subjection. After undergoing this act of humiliation, the five kings were hanged, and finally thrown into the very cave which had been their last hiding-place. Their kingdoms fell into the hands of the conquerors, who had now established a firm footing in Palestine. Joshua then traversed the land with his sword and his spear; he made an easy conquest of Makkedah, Libnah, and Lachish, Gezer, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir, devastating the towns and their territory, and slaying the inhabitants; in a word, he smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the slopes, and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded;' for the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.' Joshua's swift energy was untiring; it was not until he had conquered nearly the whole of the southern country that he returned to the camp at Gilgal.

6

But the heathens made one more attempt to struggle

against the advancing foe. One of the Canaanite chiefs dwelling in the northern part of the land, Jabin, king of Hazor, had heard of the unparalleled success of the invaders; and, full of courage, he determined to stem their progress. He sent messengers to the valleys of the south, to the eastern hills, and to the kingdoms lying on the sea-coast. He summoned all the chiefs to meet him with their armies at the northern lake of Merom, the first through which the Jordan passes in its course from the heights of the Lebanon. A vast army answered the appeal; they were like the sand that is upon the sea-shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many.' They encamped at the waters of Merom, defiant in their strength, confident of victory. But like a flash of lightning, like a thunderbolt from heaven, Joshua, undaunted, and relying upon Divine assistance, appeared at the head of his warriors before the enemy's gigantic army: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them and chased them as far as great Zidon and Misrephoth-maim, and to the valley of Mizpeh eastward; and they smote them until they left them none remaining.'

A guerilla warfare, occasionally assuming the proportions of great and regular battles, continued for many years even after the brilliant and decisive northern victory; but Joshua was everywhere successful; he subdued by untiring energy all the principal towns of Canaan, slew their kings and warlike populations, and enriched his army by their cattle and their spoil. We find thirtyone cities specially mentioned, and in every case the same stern and unsparing measures were carried out. These struggles lasted throughout the prime of Joshua's life, to the very verge of his old age: and yet many places and districts remained to be conquered-among them all the