9. And Josh'u-a said unto the children of Is'ra-el, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God. that 10. And Josh'u-a said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God among you, and that he will without fail 2 drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the vites, and the Periz-zites, and the Gir'ga-shites, and the Amor-ites, and the Jeb'u-sites. Ca'naan-ite, Am'or-ite, Hit'tite, Jeb'u-site. Hi'vite, 1 Deut. 5: 26; 1 Sam. 17: 26; Matt. 16: 16; 1 Thes. 1: 9. Per'iz-zite, Gir'ga-shite, 2 Ex. 33: 2; Deut. 7: 1; Psa. 44; 2. II. The Marching Orders. Vs. 9-11. In the first place the officers notified the people to prepare to cross the Jordan. They were to sanctify themselves (v. 5), set themselves apart for a special divine work, devote themselves anew to God's service, cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh, and of heart and life. 9. Hear the words of the Lord your God. Their taking possession of the land was according to the divine will. THE RIGHT OF ISRAEL TO THIS LAND. What right had the Israelites to drive out and dispossess the inhabitants? (1) "Their destruction is always presented in Scripture as a judgment of God sent on them because of their wickedness. They had not only fallen into total apostasy from God, but into forms of idolatry of the most degrading kind. Their false religion cannot be regarded as a mere error of judgment; cruelty the most atrocious and unnatural crimes the most defiling were part and parcel of its observances (compare Lev. 18: 21, 25 sqq.; Deut. 12: 30 sqq.).". Cook. "The heathenism of Palestine and Syria was so foul and degrading that there is no State, even at this time, which would not put it down, if necessary, by the severest penalties. Its spread to Rome was bewailed fifteen hundred years later by the satirists of the day, as a calamity marking the utter decay of the times (Juvenal, Satires, III., 62).”. Geikie. Nor did they sin thus through ignorance. They were not a savage race, but among the more cultivated ones of the time. They had commerce, coined money, iron chariots, probably books. (2) The Canaanites had received repeated warnings and instructions. God bore with them with infinite patience. (3) If God had not destroyed them they would have destroyed themselves by their own corruption, but not till they had injured many others by their example and influence. This very destruction was more merciful than would have been the sufferings which would naturally flow from their character and conduct. (4) What the Israelites did was not for themselves alone. "The Israelites' sword in its bloodiest executions wrought a work of mercy for all the countries of the earth to the very end of the world"; on it "the happiness of the human race depended.” — Dr. Arnold. The inhabitants must be destroyed, or they would destroy the kingdom of God in Israel. If the few who were spared contrary to orders exerted so baleful an influence, what would have been the result if a large body had remained? "If the Jews had failed, the world would have been lost. The true religion would have vanished, the mission of Christ would have been impossible. In these contests, on the fate of one of these nations of Palestine, the happiness of the human race depended. Stanley. The nearest modern example is seen in the contrast between what this country is now in its influence upon the world and what it would have been had the Indians remained the sole inhabitants; and this without condoning a single injustice or cruelty to the native race. They should have been conquered to civilization and religion only by justice and love, as, in fact, was done in many cases. (5) It can make no difference to those who are thus destroyed whether the agent of their destruction be a natural catastrophe, like an earthquake, the flood, the overthrow of Sodom, the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, or by an army divinely commissioned for the purpose, except that their gradual destruction by the servants of God, through marvelous miracles, was a continual invitation to them to repent, as well as a warning to the world against their sins. The Israelites simply executed a lawful sentence against crime. It is no more cruelty than it is for the appointed officers to execute a criminal in our day. (6) "To employ the Israelites in the execution of the fearful sentence was adapted to inspire them with horror of the crimes thus severely punished, and to prevent their intimacy with the surrounding heathen and the contamination which intimacy would have produced." — F. Johnson. Thus it was that this conquest was necessary to the planting in the world and for the world the love and service of the true God and the purest morality and love toward men. 10. Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you. Not an idol, not a mere 'bright essence increate." Jehovah would prove his existence and his presence by his works. We know him by what he does. By this manifestation of power he would prove to them that he would give them the victory over the dangers and difficulties they II. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jor'dan. 12. Now therefore 2take you twelve men out of the tribes of Is'ra-el, for every tribe a man. out of 13. And it shall come to pass, 3 as soon as the soles of the feet of the when 4 priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jor'dan, that that the waters of Jor'dan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon heap. 5 ån in one , even 5 Psa. 78: 13; 114: 3. 66 greatly feared, and that he would without fail drive out from before them those who then possessed the land. By what God has done, we know what he can do, and will do. 'They greatly needed this proof, for the difficulties of the Hebrews were immense. To the iron chariots, the horses, and the fortresses of the country, and its formidable leagues of chiefs and kings, they could oppose only a rude, half-armed militia, with inadequate military training." Geikie. The Canaanites were, strictly speaking, the lowlanders, who inhabited the lower tracts of Palestine, on the sea-coast and western bank of the Jordan (Num. 13: 29). But this term is often used in a wider sense, including all the tribes descended from Canaan, including all the tribes here named. The Hittites were descended from Heth, the second son of Canaan. They became a great nation on the north of Palestine, but extended in some branches into the land itself. The Hivites, descendants of Canaan, were merely, as the name signifies," villagers," living in the north of Palestine. Professor Price, (Josh. 11: 3; Judg. 3: 3.) The Perizzites, rustics, or villagers; Canaanites who dwelt in open, unwalled towns, to the south and on the western flanks of Mount Carmel. The Girgashites were probably a family of the Hivites, dwelling east of the Sea of Galilee. The Amorites, mountaineers, descendants of the fourth son of Canaan, were the most powerful of the Canaanitish people. They occupied (Gen. 14: 7) the barren heights west of the Dead Sea, and stretched west to Hebron (Gen. 13: 18; 14: 13). The Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe, were in possession of the central highlands around Jerusalem, their stronghold. At the same time, we learn from the monuments lately discovered that probably at this time they had been greatly weakened by Egyptian conquest, and there was some such preparation for the newcomers as there was among the Indians when the Pilgrims came over to New England. In the time of Rameses III., successor of Merneptah, the Pharaoh of the Exodus, a general race migration swept in upon Syria and Palestine. Rameses conquered them. The Hittites are heard of no more. But the Philistines came in and settled on the Mediterranean shore. The whole country was disturbed and unsettled. See Cornill's History of Israel, pp. 44-46. "Our early information agrees with the book of Joshua in representing Palestine as divided up among a number of small city-states, each with its own king." Polychrome Bible, note, p. 47. "This mixed population, in this small bit of territory, overrun and plundered by every crossing army for hundred of years, was the problem which faced the invading Israelites. Separated into small clans, or centered in small cities, some of them well walled and fortified, without any central organization, or any common bond of unity, these people became an easy prey even to such an army as that with which Joshua crossed the Jordan."-Prof. Ira M. Price in The Monuments and the Old Testament. II. Behold, the ark . . . of the Lord of all the earth, who, therefore, has the right and the power to give them the land. Passeth over before you, to lead you, to make the way for you, to prove that it is safe for you to follow, to show that the power and the victory are from God. III. On the March. Vs. 12-14. 12. Now therefore take you twelve men, to bring memorial stones from the river bed, as described later on. Out of every tribe a man, so that each tribe should be represented, and each feel a common interest in the event. No one tribe should have an advantage over the others. 13. And it shall come to pass. v. 16, as fulfilled. THE ORDER OF THE PROCESSION. This verse is the promise of what is described in FIRST came the priests bearing the Ark of the 14. And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jor'dan, and the priests that bare bearing the ark of the covenant being before the people; And as 15. and when they that bare the ark were come unto Jor'dan, and 2 the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for 3 Jor'dan overfloweth all his banks 4 brink all the time of harvest,) THIRD. Then there was a space of two thousand cubits, about three fourths of a mile, left vacant so that the ark could be seen and followed more easily; and also to show the sacredness of the symbol of God who was to exert such power. FOURTH. After leaving this space free, the people walked down the slopes of the valley toward the river. IV. Crossing the Jordan. - Vs. 15-17. THE JORDAN, i. e., The Descender, from the rapidity of its flow, is in the upper part of its course one of the swiftest rivers in the world, the descent being 40 feet to a mile near the Lake of Galilee. The Sacramento in California is said to be more rapid. But from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea there is an average almost uniform descent of about 9 feet to a mile. "It may be interesting to compare with this the average inclination of some of our own English rivers. The swiftest is the Dee, which has a fall of 16.5 feet per mile, from Balmoral to Aberdeen. The Tweed and Clyde have a fall of 16 feet and 14 feet respectively, while the Severn has but 261⁄2 inches, the Thames 18 inches, per mile." But when swollen with the spring floods this rapid descent makes an impassable barrier to all except a few strong swimmers. There were no boats, and even if there were they could not carry the people across. "The swiftness is rendered more dangerous by the muddy bed, and curious zigzag current which will easily sweep a man from the side into the center of the stream."- G. A. Smith's Historical Geography. President Bartlett, when traveling in Palestine, found, on the 22d of March, the Jordan "rushing along like a mill-race, and though it had fallen from its greatest height, the proper banks of the channel were invisible, and indicated only by lines of oleanders and other shrubs and trees."- From Egypt to Palestine, p. 451. We can understand the situation better by means of a section across the stream. See next page. 15. For Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest, i. e., the barley harvest, which is during the latter part of March and first of April in this warm and 16. That rose up the waters which came down from above stood, and upon an heap very far from the city Ad'am, that is beside 1 Zar'e-tan: went and those that came down 2 toward the sea of the plain, eren the salt sea, failed, and were cut off and the people Arʼa-bah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly passed over right against Jĕr'i-chō. This cut represents a section of the Jordan valley at the place where the Israelites crossed, taken from the description in Prof. George Adam Smith's Historical Geography of the Holy Land. Jordan, 90 ft." represents the width of the Jordan in its usual flow. The 300 ft. on either side represent the wider banks covered with bushes and reeds, which were overflowed in the spring floods, and which were covered with water at the time of the crossing. 66 On the right bank, 150 feet or more above the flood, the ΑΛΛΛΛΛ represents the place where the Israelites were encamped just before they crossed. sheltered region. Dr. Thomson says that he has visited this place "early in April, and found the barley harvest around Jericho already ended." The river varies in depth, in its ordinary flow, from 3 feet at the fords to 12 feet in other places. The width is 90 to 100 feet. But in the spring it overflows the first level above the stream, making the stream from 600 feet to a mile in width. This level of Jordan's wider bed is covered with tamarisks and other semi-tropical trees and tangled bush. WHY THIS SEASON WAS CHOSEN FOR CROSSING. This season of high water was wisely chosen; for (1) the miracle was the more stupendous and impressive to the Israelites. (2) It inspired their enemies with greater terror. They would see in it the marvelous power of God. (3) Those enemies, had the crossing been attempted when the water was low, would have appeared upon the opposite shores to annoy the Israelites. Why, then, did they not dispute it upon the present occasion? The answer is simple. They trusted to the swollen river, which they knew no army could cross. (4) "The crossing in harvest was also providentially ordered with reference to the food of the people; they entered the land when it yielded abundance (see Josh. 5: 11, 12).". - Rev. Dr. F. Johnson. 16. The waters rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam. The true meaning is expressed by the R. V., "Rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan.' That is, in some way, by direct miraculous power, or by some means, the waters were dammed up there long enough for the people to pass over the Jordan. City Adam, that is beside Zaretan. Probably at the ancient bridge at the Damieh ford, fifteen or twenty miles above the encampment of the Israelites, and just below the place where the Zerka enters into the Jordan. At this place the river is narrow and flows between two ridges of mountains on either side, which here almost meet, which seems the most suitable point for damming up the river. Here, too, there is a sudden break or fault in the geological formation. The valley of the Jordan can be best understood by the accompanying map. "For thirteen miles south of the Lake of Galilee the breadth is hardly more than four miles, then it expands to six or seven in the plain of Bethshan (Beisan). Ten miles south of Bethshan the Samaritan hills press eastward, and for the next thirteen the river runs closely by their feet, and the valley is three miles wide. Again the Samaritan hills withdraw and the valley widens first to eight miles and then gradually to fourteen which is the breadth at Jericho.". Geo. Adam Smith. Rose up . . cut off. If in any way the river was dammed up at this narrow gorge, the waters would accumulate above the dam, and form a great lake extending far up the river, while the waters below would all flow away into the Dead Sea, leaving the bed of the river comparatively dry. And this would continue till the mass of water above had become so 1 17. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jor'dan, 1 and all the Is'ra-el-ites Is'ra-el passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jor'dan. great as to break through the obstacle. nation 1 Ex. 14: 29. In the meantime the Israelites could cross over GALILEE wherever the bottom was hard enough, and could all reach the other side in a few hours. THE SECONDARY CAUSE. Some think that the river was blocked by the fall of a cliff, which is certainly possible, or there may have been a land-slip, as Tristram suggests. Prof. George Frederick Wright, the eminent geologist, who has just returned (March, 1901) from a long geological tour in the East, tells me that he has lately examined this region, and that if some volcanic action, of which there are abundant signs, had elevated the valley at this place even so much as fifteen feet, it would accomplish exactly what is described in this lesson. Such volcanic elevation is not uncommon, as, for instance, not so long ago in the Sierra Nevada mountains. See Lyell's Geology. The waters, after a brief time, would cut a channel through and flow on as before. ILLUSTRATION. "M. Ganneau has drawn attention to a fact mentioned in the history of Sultan Beybars, that in A. D. 1267, whilst the bridge at Jisr Damieh (or Adam) was being repaired, a land-slip, some miles above, dammed up the Jordan for several hours, and the bed of the river below was left dry, the water being drained off to the Dead Sea. What occurred six hundred and fifty years ago, by what we call natural causes, may well have occurred three thousand years before, timed by divine interposition.' - Canon Tristram in S. S. Times. ILLUSTRATION. Mr. Richard Glover tells us of a time when there was 66 considerable discussion about 'dockizing' the river Avon, that is, so throwing a dam across the mouth that all the river up to Bristol would be converted into one huge dock. And in the discussion the strength of such a dam, its cost, its leakage, the right place for it, how to provide for the outlet of all water above a certain level, were canvassed by all. Here we have the 'dockizing' for a day or two of the river Jordan, a very much larger river than the Avon, one whose very name suggests the swiftness of its current. 17. And the priests that bare the ark. When they touched the water the stream subsided, and they bore the ark into the middle of the river bed, and there stood firm on dry ground, with Beth shan |