The Almighty was pleased to pay the funeral honors to the remains of this great prophet himself, by burying him in a valley in the land of Moab opposite to Beth-Peor, and that in so secret a manner, that the place of his interment was never yet discovered. Having adjusted these matters, Moses, in | seraphim, who were waiting to convey it to a conformity to the divine command, retired more happy Canaan than that which he had to Pisgah, the most elevated situation on been surveying. Mount Nebo, directly opposite to Jericho, whence he might take a full view of the country, which God had promised to Abraham's posterity. At this time he was a hundred and twenty years of age, notwithstanding which, his natural strength and vigor were not abated, nor had his eyesight in the least failed him. He was, therefore, able to survey the beauteous prospect which the delightful plains of Jericho, and the fair cliffs and lofty cedars of Lebanon, afforded him; and having done this for some time, he at length resigned his soul into the hands of Thus died the illustrious and pious Moses, the most eminent servant of God, and the great conductor of his chosen people, who, as soon as they knew of his death, lamented the loss of him with the greatest solemnity, weeping and mourning for him in the plains of Moab for thirty days. CHAPTER XII. JOSHUA BECOMES LEADER. CONQUEST OF CANAAN. * ON the death of Moses, Joshua, being Encouraged by these divine assurances, appointed to succeed him in the government Joshua ordered the officers to proclaim of the Israelites, was installed into the kingly throughout the camp, that within a few office by Eleazar, the high-priest, and with days they should pass the Jordan, in order the universal approbation of the people. To to possess the land which the Almighty had encourage him in the great work he had to promised them, and that therefore they should undertake, the Almighty expressly command- provide themselves with proper necessaries on ed him (as he had done his servant Moses) the occasion. He then called together the to lead the people over the Jordan, telling leaders of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and him that every place on which they should the half-tribe of Manasseh, whom he remindtread should be their own, and that no man ed of the promises they had made to Moses, should be able to stand against him: that in and entreated them, not only for his sake, like manner as he had been with Moses, so but also for their own, to fulfil their engage he would be with him, and that he might be ments. They faithfully promised to comply assured he would never forsake him. with his request, and that they would be and Thummim themselves were, seems likely to wait as long for a final and satisfying answer. On every side we meet with confessions of ignorance. The starting-point of such an inquiry must be from the words which the A. V. has left untranslated. In Urim, Hebrew scholars, with hardly an exception, have seen the plural | of ûr (= light, or fire). The LXX. translators, however, appear to have had reasons which led them to another rendering. The literal English equivalent would of course be "lights;" but the renderings in the LXX. and Vulg. indicate, at least, a traditional belief among the Jews that the plural form did not involve numerical plurality. Thummim. — Here also there is almost a consensus as to the derivation from tóm (= perfection, completeness). What has been said as to the plural of Urim applies here also. Light and Perfec * See Engraving (p. 227). The costume is Egypto-Syrian that is Egyptian, with such modifications as the Syrians appear to have given it in adopting it from the Egyptians. It has been very carefully studied. equally obedient to him as they had been to | fastened to the window, so that they made his predecessor. Opposite to Joshua's camp stood the city of Jericho, which of course must be the first place he would have to attack after passing the river Jordan. As a necessary precaution, he sent two spies to take a view of the strength and situation of that city, and to learn the disposition of the inhabitants. They accordingly entered Jericho, and being considered as strangers come thither to gratify their curiosity, were permitted to perambulate the streets without the least molestation. On the close of the day they took up their residence in the house of a woman named Rahab, where, after refreshing themselves, they retired to rest. In the mean time, information had been given the king that there were two spies in the city, and that they had concealed themselves in the house of Rahab. On this the king immediately despatched proper officers to seize them; but Rahab (who had been previously informed of it), before their arrival, had secreted the two spies under some stalks of flax on the roof of the house. When the messengers arrived and related their business, Rahab told them there had been such people at her house, but she knew not who they were, nor whence they came; that a short time after dark, and before the gates of the city were shut, they departed; and, as they could not have got far, it would be no difficult matter to overtake them. The messengers, believing Rahab's story, left her, and immediately set out in pursuit of the spies. As soon as they were gone, Rahab uncovered her guests, told them what had passed, and pointed out the great danger to which she had exposed herself and family for their protection. In return for this kindness, she exacted from them an oath, that when the city should be invested by the Hebrews, they should preserve her and her relations from the general destruction. To effect this, they told her, when she found the city attacked, to shut herself up with her family in her house, and that, in order to distinguish it from the rest, she must hang a scarlet thread to the door, which signal should be communicated to the general, who would, no doubt, give such directions as to secure her from all danger. This being agreed on, Rahab, for the better security of her guests, let them down into the street by a rope their escape unperceived. She advised them immediately to fly to the mountains, and there conceal themselves for three days, in which time the messengers, finding their endeavors ineffectual, would relinquish the pursuit. The two spies took Rahab's advice, and the consequences turned out as she had predicted; for, after two days' search, the messengers, despairing of success, gave over the pursuit and returned to Jericho. At the close of the third day the two spies left the mountains, crossed the Jordan, and arriving safe at the camp of Joshua, gave him a faithful account of their expedition; adding, that for certain the Lord had delivered the country into their hands, for the people were quite dispirited at the name of the Israelites. Pleased with this intelligence, Joshua, early the next morning, left Shittim, and conducted his army within a small distance of the place where it was intended they should cross the river Jordan. Here he communicated to every tribe the order to be observed in their march. He told them that when they saw the ark of the Lord carried by the priests, the whole army should then move and follow it, that they might know the way by which they were to go; and that they should leave a space of two thousand cubits betwen them and the ark. That when the priests were got into the middle of the channel, they should there stand still till the whole multitude were got safe on the oppo site shore; and, to prepare themselves properly for this remarkable passage, they were all enjoined to sanctify themselves, by washing their clothes, avoiding all impurities, and abstaining from matrimonial intercourse the preceding night. He also, by the direction of the Almighty, appointed twelve men (one out of each tribe) to choose twelve stones from the middle of the river where the priests were to stand with the ark, and there to set them up (that they might be seen from each side of the river when the waters were abated) as a monument of this great miracle ; and to take twelve others with them to be erected on the land for the like purpose. Having given these necessary orders, early the next morning, which was the tenth day of the first month, the whole army proceeded on their march. The priests with the ark went first; and as soon as they touched the river with their feet, the rapidity of the stream abated; the waters above went back, The Israelites, having by this miraculous passage gained the plains of Jericho, encamped in a place afterwards called Gilgal,* where Joshua erected the twelve stones, which had been brought from the Jordan, as a monument to posterity of the Almighty's interposition in assisting them to pass that river. This extraordinary event being soon circulated through the adjacent parts of the country, the people were filled with the greatest amazement; and when the kings of the Amorites (who were on the west side of the Jordan) and the kings of the Canaanites | (who inhabited those parts next the sea) heard of it, their hearts sunk for fear, and their courage failed them. Soon after Joshua had encamped his army, God commanded the rite of circumcision (which had been neglected for almost forty years) to be renewed, that the people might be properly qualified to partake of the ensuing passover.† This order being obeyed, the Lord said unto Joshua, "This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt [i. e. * This place received its name from the rite of circumcision, which had been long disused, being here renewed. It lay about two miles to the north-east of Jericho, and, in the time of St. Jerome, was greatly venerated by the inhabitants. uncircumcision] from off you, wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal [i. e. rolling] unto this day. As the Israelites were now arrived in a country where there was a sufficiency of corn for unleavened bread, God insisted upon the observance of his ordinances, and resolved that all things should now go in a regular way. He therefore ceased to supply them any longer with manna, but left them for the future to enjoy the products of the promised inheritance. This was the third time of their celebrating that festival. The first was at their departure out of Egypt, and the second at their erecting the tabernacle at the foot of Mount Sinai. set up a great shout; at which instant the walls of the city should fall to the ground, and they might walk into it without the least obstruction. Having received these orders from the Divine messenger, Joshua returned to the camp, and early the next morning marched with his whole army against Jericho.† The place was strong, well provided, and full of inhabitants, who had retired into it, and seemed resolved to make a vigorous defence. But Joshua had an irresistible force on his side. He strictly obeyed the orders he Joshua, previous to his marching his army against Jericho, went from the camp alone, in order to reconnoitre the city, and to discover which would be the most advantageous way of approaching it. While he was making his observations, on a sudden there appeared before him a person resembling a man, but with a lustre in his face that indicated he was more than mortal. In his hand he held a flaming sword, and his whole appearance far surpassed any thing of human nature. Undaunted at this unusual sight, Joshua advanced toward him, and demanding of what party he was, the vision replied, had received, and the promises made him of the host of the Lord,* of which he was captain and guardian. On this answer, Joshua immediately threw himself prostrate on the ground, when the vision, after ordering him to loose the sandals from his feet, proceeded to instruct him in what manner he would have the siege carried on, that the Canaanites might see it was not the arm of flesh alone by which they would be defeated. The instructions Joshua received were these: that for six successive days the whole army should march round the city, with seven priests before the ark, having in their hands trumpets made of rams' horns. That on the seventh day, after the army had gone round the city seven times, upon signal given, the priests were to blow their trumpets as loud as possible, and the people, on a sudden, to *It is the opinion of the best commentators, both ancient and modern, that the person here called the captain of the Lord's host, was no other than an angel, or messenger from God, who was pleased in this manner to appear to Joshua, both to encourage and direct him. were amply fulfilled; for, on the seventh day, as soon as the people shouted, after going round the city seven times, the walls suddenly fell to the ground. In consequence of this, the Israelites immediately entered the place, and put every living creature to the sword, except Rahab and her relations, who, being preserved as had been directed by Joshua, agreeably to the promise made. by the spies, were placed without the camp of the army. In the city were found great quantities of gold, silver, and brass, the whole of which was of immense value, and being gathered together as Joshua had ordered, he presented it to the priests, to be deposited in the sacred treasury. Having destroyed all the inhabitants, to Judæa with Zerubbabel, and in Neh. iii. 2, we find them at work upon the walls of Jerusalem. Jericho appears to have continued in a flourishing condition during several centuries. In the time of our Saviour it was inferior only to Jerusalem in the number and splendor of its public edifices, and was one of the royal residences of Herod misnamed the Great, who died there. It was situated in the hollow or bottom of the extensive plain called the "Great Plain," (which circumstance marks the propriety of the expression "going down to Jerusalem," in Luke x. 30), and is about nineteen miles distant from the capital of Judæa. In the last war of the Romans with the Jews, Jericho was sacked by Vespasian, and its inhabitants were put to the sword. quently re-established by the emperor Hadrian, A.D. 138, it was doomed at no very distant period to experience new disasters: again it was repaired by the Christians, who made it an episcopal see; but in the twelfth century it was captured by the Mohammedans, and has not since emerged from its ruins. Of all its magnificent buildings there remains part of only one tower, the dwelling of the governor of the district, which is seen in the middle of our engraving, and which is traditionally said to have been the dwelling of Zaccheus the publican, who dwelt at Jericho (Luke xix. 1. † JERICHO, "the city of palm-trees" (Deut. xxxiv. 3), derives all its importance from history. Though now only a miserable village, containing about thirty wretched cottages, which are inhabited by half-naked Arabs, it was one of the oldest cities in Palestine, and was the first place reduced by the Israelites on entering the Holy Land. It was razed to the ground by Joshua, who denounced a curse on the person who should rebuild it, Josh. vi. 20-26. Five hundred and thirty years afterward this malediction was literally fulfilled upon Hiel of Bethel, 1 Kings xvi. 34, who rebuilt the city, which soon appears to have attained a considerable degree of importance. There was a school of the prophets here in the days of Elijah and Elisha, both of whom seemed to have resided much here. In the vicinity of Jericho there was a large but unwholesome spring, which rendered the soil unfruitful, until it was cured by the prophet Elisha, 2 Kings, ii. 21. In Ezra ii. 34, and Neh. vii. 36, we read, that three hundred and forty-five of the inhabitants of Jericho, who had been carried into captivity, returned | 2). Subse Joshua ordered the city to be set on fire, which was accordingly done, and the whole reduced to a heap of ashes. He likewise denounced a heavy curse on any person who should ever after attempt to rebuild it. That whoever should take upon him to lay the first stone might be punished by the loss of his eldest son; and whoever should finish the work, his youngest. Notwithstanding Joshua had taken the greatest precaution to prevent private plunder in the taking of Jericho, yet one Achan, of the tribe of Judah, committed a violent depredation, by taking to himself the rich cloak of the king of the Canaanites, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels. He secreted these treasures in a pit he had dug in his tent, foolishly supposing the fact would be no more noticed by God than it was known by his companions. But in this he soon found himself mistaken. About twelve miles from Jericho (to the east of Bethel) was a small city called Ai, which Joshua knowing to be neither populous nor well defended, he detached a small body of men to take it. But they did not find the conquest so easy as they had imagined; for no sooner did they approach the place than the inhabitants immediately sallied out upon them, and having slain some, the rest were so frightened that they betook themselves to flight, and were pursued by the enemy within a small distance of their own camp. This defeat, though small, struck a universal damp on the spirits of the people; and Joshua, in particular, was so afflicted that he had recourse to the Almighty, who told him there was a latent cause of his displeasure among the people; that some of them had taken of the accursed thing, and also of those things which were devoted to the Lord, and, instead of bringing them to the treasury of God, had concealed them for their own use. He likewise told Joshua that no success could attend the house of Israel till the accursed thing was removed; and discovered to him the means whereby the offender might be discovered and properly punished. Agreeably to the Divine instructions, Joshua, early the next morning, set about the business of discovering the thief, who had brought so great an evil on the people. For this purpose, he ordered all the tribes to assemble before the altar, where, first casting lots among the tribes, it appeared the thief belonged to that of Judah. They then proceeded from tribe to family, from family to household, and from household to particular persons; when the criminal was at length discovered to be Achan, who, on Joshua's admonition, made an ample confession of the whole. "I have," says he, " sinned against the Lord God of Israel; for when I saw among the spoil a royal garment and two hundred shekels of silver, with a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, my covetousness prompted me to take them; which I did, and hid them in the earth in the midst of my tent. On this frank confession, Joshua sent messengers to examine Achan's tent, who, finding the treasures, brought them away, and laid them before the people. The offender being thus fully convicted, they took him, together with his family (whom they considered as accomplices in his crime), his cattle, tent, and all his movables, and conducted them to a neighboring valley (called from that time, in allusion to this man's name, the valley of Achor), where they were first stoned to death, and their bodies afterward reduced to ashes. They likewise burnt all their goods and utensils, and erected over the whole a pile of stones, to perpetuate the memory of the crime, and to deter others from committing the like offence. The Divine vengeance being appeased by the sentence executed upon Achan, God commanded Joshua to make another attempt on the city of Ai, assuring him that he should be no less successful than he had been in the attack on Jericho. As an encouragement to the soldiers, he allowed them the plunder of the city and cattle, and, in order the more easily to facilitate the conquest, particularly enjoined Joshua to place a party of men in ambuscade near the city. Agreeably to these instructions, Joshua selected thirty thousand men, out of which he sent away by night five thousand to conceal themselves between Bethel and Ai, who, on a signal given by him (which was to be the holding up of a spear with a banner upon it), were immediately to enter the city and set it on fire. Early the next morning, Joshua marched with his army before the north part of the city. As soon as the king of Ai perceived him, he immediately sallied out of the town with his troops, followed by |