Biblical Geography and History Part 6

=The Epoch-Making Twelfth Century.= It was also during this transitional twelfth century that the c.u.mbersome Babylonian language and system of writing ceased to be used in Palestine. Instead, a consonantal alphabet, derived by the Phnicians from the Egyptians and also possibly in part from the Babylonians, came into use. The same alphabet, transmitted through the Ionian Greeks, became the basis of the one now in vogue throughout Europe and the western world. This same Phnician alphabet was used by the later Hebrew priests, prophets, and sages in conveying their immortal messages to the world.

Thus the twelfth century B.C. inaugurated a new and significant era in the intellectual as well as the political history of mankind.

XII

THE NOMADIC AND EGYPTIAN PERIOD OF HEBREW HISTORY

=The Entrance of the Forefathers of the Hebrews Into Canaan.= The biblical traditions regarding the beginnings of Hebrew history differ widely in regard to details, but regarding the great movements they are in perfect agreement. They all unite in declaring that the forefathers of the race were nomads and entered Palestine from the east. The fourteenth chapter of Genesis contains later echoes of a tradition which connects Abraham, the forefather of the race, with the far-away glorious age of Hammurabi (Amraphel) who lived about 1900 B.C. Interpreted into historic terms, this narrative implies that the Hebrews traced back their ancestry to the great movement of nomads toward Palestine which took place about the beginning of the second millennium B.C. It was about this time that the earlier non-Semitic population in Palestine was supplanted by the Semitic races, known to later generations as the Canaanites. In tracing their ancestry to these early immigrants, the Hebrews were entirely justified, for the mixed race, which ultimately occupied central Palestine and was known as the Israelites, in time completely absorbed the old Amorite and Canaanite population. The Jacob traditions point to a later movement of nomadic peoples toward Palestine. In the light of the contemporary history of Canaan it is exceedingly probable that this is to be identified with the incoming wave of the Habiri, among whom were undoubtedly to be found many of the early ancestors of the Hebrews.

These successive waves of nomadic invasion were the inevitable result of the physical conditions already considered and were a part of that prolonged mixing of races which has gone on in Palestine through thousands of years and which contributed much to the virility and enduring power of the Israelites.

=References to the Israelites During the Egyptian Period.= The references to the Habiri in the Tell el-Amarna letters and in the inscriptions found in the mounds in Palestine imply that the majority of the Habiri either conquered the older Canaanite population or else coalesced with them and thus found permanent homes in the land. This infusion of new blood was, in fact, an inevitable consequence of Egypt's cruel, destructive policy in the treatment of Palestine. Seti I and Ramses II, of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty, in the record of their campaigns in Palestine, refer to a state called Asaru or Aseru in western Galilee. This was the region occupied by the Hebrew tribe of a.s.shur and would seem to indicate that by 1300 B.C., half a century after the invasion of the Habiri, this tribe was already firmly established in the land of Canaan. Merneptah, the son of Ramses II, refers to Israel in a connection which leaves no reasonable doubt that a people bearing this name were to be found in his day in Palestine.

This is the earliest and only reference to Israel thus far found on the monuments prior to the ninth century B.C. That many if not a majority of the ancestors of the later Hebrews were already established in Palestine by the beginning of the thirteenth century B.C. must now be regarded as a practically established fact.

=The Habiri in Eastern and Central Palestine.= The bounds of Palestine were narrow and the ancient population numerous. Some of the Habiri appear to have found homes in the east-Jordan land, where they gradually acquired the habits of agriculturists and reappear in later history as the Moabites and Ammonites. Naturally, some of these invaders retained their flocks and herds and nomadic mode of life.

This was possible because of the peculiar character of Palestine. In the uplands of the central plateau, and especially in the south, the traveller still frequently comes upon the flocks and black tents of the Bedouin. According to the earliest biblical narratives it was here that certain of the Hebrew tribes remained for a generation or more, with their flocks and tents, tolerated by the city dwellers who cultivated the plains even as are the Bedouin by the inhabitants of Palestine to-day.

=The Trend Toward Egypt.= The Hebrew narratives imply that some of these tribes lived in the South Country of Judah, beside the great highways which led to Egypt. The early Egyptian records contain frequent references to the movements of Semitic nomads from southwestern Asia toward the Valley of the Nile. In the tomb at Beni-Ha.s.san there is a picture of thirty-seven Semitic warriors being received by a local Egyptian ruler. To-day, at certain seasons of the year, the visitor at Cairo may find encamped on the eastern side of the city hundreds of Bedouin, who after months of wandering in the Arabian desert find the banks of the Nile a desired haven of rest. All the highways from southern, eastern, and northeastern Arabia, as well as from Palestine, converge at the Wady Tumilat, the natural gateway of Egypt. When the pressure of population increased in Palestine and Egyptian rule was re-established, as it was by 1280 B.C., the nomadic ancestors of the Hebrews sought homes elsewhere. For them a change of abode to the attractive pasture land along the eastern delta of the Nile was easy. The biblical narratives state that they also went at the invitation of their powerful kinsman, Joseph.

=The Land of Goshen.= According to the oldest Hebrew records, the part of Egypt in which the Hebrews settled was the land of Goshen. The word has not yet been found on the Egyptian monuments, but there is little doubt regarding its general situation. In its broadest bounds, it apparently included the Wady Tumilat, and extended from the Crocodile Lake, the modern Lake Timsah, to the Pelusiac or the Tanitic branch of the Nile. It was a narrow strip of land thirty or forty miles long. On the west, where the Wady Tumilat opened into the Nile Delta, it broadened into an irregular triangle. Its angles were at the modern cities of Zigazig, in the northwest, Belbeis in the south, and Abu Hammad at the beginning of the valley on the east. By many scholars this triangle is regarded as the original land of Goshen. Until the days of Ramses II the entire region, including the Wady Tumilat, was given up to the shepherds. Here, therefore, the Israelites could keep their flocks and maintain their tribal unity and practical independence.

=The Wady Tumilat.= The Wady Tumilat is a low-lying, shallow valley bounded on either side by the hot, rocky desert. In ancient times it was dry except when its narrow bed was occasionally flooded by the inundations of the Nile. On the west it opened into the Nile Delta. At an early period the Egyptians had established at the eastern part of the Wady Tumilat a fortress (known as the "Wall of the Prince"), for it was the most vulnerable spot on all the Egyptian frontier. Amidst these more favoring conditions on the borders of the Nile Delta it was inevitable that nomads, possessed of virile physiques, but hitherto restricted by lack of food and water, would rapidly multiply. The modern East presents many a.n.a.logies. The alarm which, according to the biblical narrative, this increase aroused in the minds of the Egyptians is in perfect keeping with the fear with which the dwellers of the Nile always regarded the Bedouin.

=Ramses II's Policy.= The great change in the fortunes of the Hebrews was in all probability the result of the policy of Ramses II. To carry out his ambitious building enterprises it was necessary for him to enlist the services of vast bodies of workmen. Into this service he naturally pressed the foreigners resident in or on the borders of Egypt. In order to connect Egypt more closely with its Palestinian provinces, and above all to develop its resources to the full, this famous organizer conceived and carried through the plan of converting the eastern Nile Delta and the Wady Tumilat into tillable land. To this end he probably repaired and enlarged the ca.n.a.l that had been constructed as early as the days of the Twelfth Dynasty. It was about fifteen yards in width and sixteen to seventeen and a half feet in depth, and ran eastward from the Nile Delta through the Wady Tumilat into the Crocodile Lake. According to Pliny, it was sixty-three miles in length. It is paralleled to-day throughout most of its course by the fresh-water ca.n.a.l, which irrigates this region and supplies the towns on the Suez Ca.n.a.l with drinking water. The ancient ca.n.a.l was constructed primarily for navigation, but it was also essential in reclaiming the land on either side.

=Building the Store-Cities of Ramses and Pithom.= To effect the transformation of this region, Ramses II built two important cities.

One of them bore his name and became the designation of the surrounding territory, which was known as the country of Ramses. It probably stood at the western end of the Wady Tumilat. The other, the Pithom^{(65)} of the biblical records, has been proved in the light of modern excavation to have been the ancient P-atum, that is, the House of the G.o.d Atum. This city was situated near the eastern end of the Wady Tumilat, at the present Tell el-Maskhutah, ten or twelve miles west of Lake Timsah. This was probably also the site of the older fortress known as the "Wall of the Prince." Several inscriptions have been found here containing the name P-atum. In later Egyptian geographical lists this was also the name of a local province. Here Naville discovered what appear to have been great store chambers with walls two or three yards in thickness, made of crude, sun-dried bricks. These chambers were not connected and the grain was put into them through openings in the top. Here, apparently, Ramses II gathered the vast supplies of grain necessary for his Palestinian campaigns, for these cities were built during the earlier, warlike period of his reign.

=Condition of the Hebrew Serfs.= In the light of the well-established facts of Egyptian history and of the geographical background, it is easy to appreciate the condition of the nomadic Israelites. Their pasture lands were transformed into cultivated fields and occupied by Egyptian colonists. The sons of the desert, ever restive under the restraints of civil authority, were put at forced labor and compelled to build the border fortresses which made their bondage the more hopeless. Palestine was in the control of their royal Egyptian task-master. The wilderness that stretched almost from their doors far out into the wild, rocky desert, offered the one possible place of escape; but under the iron rule of Ramses II and his successor, Merneptah, the escape of large bodies of fugitives was practically impossible.

=Training of Moses.= The one Hebrew, however, who dared raise his hand against the oppression of the Pharaoh, succeeded in escaping beyond the border fortresses and found a home among the nomadic kinsmen of his race in the rugged mountains that lie between southern Judah and the Sinaitic peninsula. Here, amidst the dangers and solitudes of the desert, Moses, the great prophet, leader, and founder of the Hebrew nation, received his training. Here he learned to trust the Power that guides the destinies of men and nations, and to despise the boasted strength of Egypt. In guiding the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law, through the trackless wilderness filled with wild beasts and hostile Bedouin, he had also become skilled in leading men.

=The Historical Facts Underlying the Plague Stories.= Moses' work in leading the Hebrews from Egypt is a familiar chapter in biblical history. In the break-down of the Egyptian government and in the period of anarchy which followed the fall of the Nineteenth Dynasty, a supremely favorable opportunity was offered for the escape of the serfs. An Egyptian writer states that at this time "the Egyptians had no chief ruler for many years. The land of Egypt was in the hands of the n.o.bles and rulers of towns; each slew his neighbor, great and small." A certain Syrian also proclaimed himself king and made the entire land tributary to him, plundering the people. To these evils were added the horrors of foreign invasion. Even under a good government the sanitary conditions in Egypt are far from satisfactory.

In the time of anarchy and bloodshed the hot valley of the Nile is ravaged by disease and plagues. The seven plagues described in the oldest biblical narrative were not miracles, but the natural catastrophes which, from time to time, have afflicted the land of Egypt. Most of them are characteristic of the Nile Valley and can only be fully understood in the light of its physical and climatic peculiarities. Certain of these plagues also stand in a close casual relation to each other, as well as to the historical events recorded by the contemporary Egyptian historians. Foreign invasion and civil war, with the attendant slaughter, would inevitably lead to the contamination of the waters of the Nile. Upon this one river depended the health and life of the inhabitants of Egypt. Unsanitary conditions and the defilement of the waters would breed frogs and flies. The flies would in turn spread abroad the germs of the disease which attacked the flocks. Hail and swarms of locusts are exceedingly rare in Egypt, but they are not unknown, as careful observers have attested, and their rarity would make their appearance all the more impressive. The identification of these remarkable plagues with the anger of the G.o.d or G.o.ds was accepted by the Egyptian as well as by the biblical writers.

=Method of Travel in the Desert.= The peculiar topography of the territory of eastern Egypt, which was the scene of the exodus, throws much light upon the historic event which lies back of the different biblical narratives. As in the account of the plagues, the later versions, which unfortunately are the most familiar, have magnified the miraculous element. The older version, however, is clearly the one which should be followed. Apparently the scattered Hebrew tribes were rallied and later guided in their marches by the means still employed by the caravans through the same wastes of sand and rock. A brazier of coals is carried before the leader of the caravan to show where he is and the direction of the march, so that those who straggle sometimes many miles behind will not be lost in the wilderness. By day there rises from these coals a column of smoke which, in the clear atmosphere of the desert, may be seen many miles away. By night the glowing coals are lifted aloft so that all may be guided by their light. In this manner the Hebrews were reminded of Jehovah's presence and guided by his prophet, Moses.

=Moses' Equipment as a Leader.= The distance from the eastern side of the land of Goshen to the wilderness was only a few miles. What the Hebrew serfs most needed was a courageous, energetic, and trained leader, able to command their confidence and inspire them to quick and decided action. These qualities Moses had acquired largely as a result of his desert experience. Above all, he was able to appeal to their faith in the G.o.d of their fathers, and thus, like the great prophet of Islam, to rule his followers through their religious as well as through their selfish impulses.

=The Scene of the Exodus.= Of the two ways which led eastward from Egypt, the Israelites chose the southern, that ran directly into the desert. The northern route, the Way of the Philistines, was already guarded by strong, warlike peoples. Unfortunately, the oldest biblical account of the exodus contains no geographical data, and none of the three or four places mentioned in the late priestly narrative have been identified. The interpretation which places the scene of the exodus near the present port of Suez, at the northern end of the western arm of the Red Sea, is based wholly on the biblical reference to the Sea of Reeds, which is commonly translated Red Sea. That this term is frequently used in the Old Testament as the designation of the Red Sea is unquestioned; but there is no place in the vicinity of the present Port of Suez which satisfies the conditions implied by the biblical narrative. Furthermore, it is difficult to see what would have led the Hebrews to make this long and difficult detour to the south rather than escape to the desert directly east of the Wady Tumilat. The biblical narrative implies that the latter was the course followed. The significant term, Sea of Reeds, points not to the Red Sea, in whose saline waters reeds would not thrive, but to the marshy sh.o.r.es of the Crocodile Lake, the modern Lake Timsah, which lay directly east of the Wady Tumilat. Into it poured the fresh waters from the Nile, which were conducted thither by the ca.n.a.l that ran along the wady. Even though the modern Suez Ca.n.a.l, which runs through it, has transformed conditions, Lake Timsah is still surrounded by a thicket of vegetation. Inasmuch as the Hebrews frequently used the word sea (for example, the Sea of Galilee) as the designation of an inland lake, the name Sea of Reeds was exceedingly appropriate.

=Probability That the Pa.s.sage Was at Lake Timsah.= According to the earliest biblical narrative deliverance came to the Hebrews as they were pursued by the Egyptians because "Jehovah caused the sea to go back, by a strong east wind all the night, and made the bed of the sea dry." The shallow southeastern end of Lake Timsah satisfies most fully the physical conditions implied by this ancient narrative. At its southern end it opens out into a broad bay, but between this point and the main body of the lake was a shallow, marshy strait, not more than a quarter of a mile across. A strong wind driving it from the level desert would force back the waters into other parts of the lake, leaving this pa.s.sage comparatively dry. A close and significant parallel is recorded by Major-General Tulloch, who states that the shallow waters of Lake Menzaleh, which lies only a short distance to the north and is subject to the same conditions, were driven back by the wind for seven miles, leaving the bottom of the lake dry (_Journal of the Victorian Inst.i.tute_, vol. XXVIII, p. 267, and vol. XXVI, p.

12). The biblical narrative also states that "Jehovah bound the chariot wheels of the Egyptians so that they proceeded with difficulty." This is precisely what would follow, not on a hard, sandy sh.o.r.e, but in the marshy, muddy depths of a body of fresh water like Lake Timsah. While the exact scene of that incident, which, more than any other in their history, impressed upon the consciousness of the Israelites Jehovah's power and willingness to deliver them, will never be exactly identified, the southeastern end of Lake Timsah is the most probable site.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE LAND OF THE EXODUS AND WILDERNESS WANDERING.

BORWAY & CO., N.Y.

XIII

THE HEBREWS IN THE WILDERNESS AND EAST OF THE JORDAN

=Identification of Mount Sinai.= Desert sites are so readily forgotten, and the records of this period in Israel's history were committed to writing so many years after the events transpired, that it is now impossible to follow the Israelites with certainty in their desert wanderings. Their first aim after leaving Egypt was to find a safe asylum. In this quest the experiences of their leader, Moses, would influence them to find at least a temporary refuge with his kinsmen, the Midianites. Their second aim was to wors.h.i.+p at the sacred mountain the G.o.d who had so signally revealed himself to them.

According to the Northern Israelitish traditions (Ex. 3:1) the mountain of G.o.d was near the wilderness, where Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. In all the biblical narratives it is implied that Sinai was not far from the land of Midian and that the home of the Midianites was to the south or east of Mount Seir. All the earliest references in the Old Testament, as for example, Judges 5:4, 5 and Deut. 33:2, indicate definitely that Mount Sinai was at least near the Mount Seir range, if not identical with one of its peaks.^{(66)} Furthermore, recent excavations have shown that the road which led along the western arm of the Red Sea to the Mount Sinai of later tradition pa.s.sed important Egyptian garrisons, stationed there to guard the extensive quarries and mines which for centuries had been worked under the direction of the Pharaohs. This route would also have taken the Israelites far away from their kinsmen and their ultimate goal, into a barren country, incapable of supporting a large body of men and filled with hostile Arab tribes.

=Lateness of the Traditional Identification.= The tradition which identifies the mountain of G.o.d with Jebel Msa, in the southern part of the Sinaitic peninsula,^{(67)} cannot be traced earlier than the fourth or fifth centuries of the Christian era. The detailed itinerary of Numbers 33 is generally recognized to be one of the latest sections in the Old Testament and embodies the late Jewish conception of the wilderness period. All attempts to identify the sites here mentioned have proved uniformly unsatisfactory.

=Probable Route of the Hebrews.= Of the two or three sites mentioned in the biblical narrative, Elim, with its twelve springs of water and seventy palm-trees, is probably the fertile spot at the end of the northeastern arm of the Red Sea known in later biblical times as the port of Elath. A journey of two hundred miles along the main caravan route from Egypt would bring the Hebrews to this point after three weeks comfortable travel. From there the highways branch northward toward Canaan. If Sinai was their first objective point, the earliest biblical references to this mountain indicate that from Elim they probably turned to the northeast and followed the way of the Arabah until they reached that one of the many peaks in the southwestern part of the Mount Seir range which was regarded by their Midianite kinsmen as the special abode of Jehovah. Here Moses' Midianite father-in-law visited the Israelites. Here, in keeping with an ancient custom of the desert, a sacred covenant was made with their G.o.d, which became the basis of their later social and religious life.

=Kadesh-barnea.= Late Jewish (_cf._ Jos. _Ant._ IV, 4:7) and modern Moslem traditions make the picturesque Wady Msa, in the heart of which was the marvellous Edomite capital, Petra, the scene of their desert sojourn; but the older biblical narratives indicate that from Sinai the Hebrews turned to the northwest. A desert journey of sixty or seventy-five miles would bring them into the midst of the series of bold, rugged mountains, cut in every direction by dry wadies, known to-day as the Jebel el-Magrah, in the southwestern part of the South Country. In one of these wadies was the famous spring of Kadesh-barnea, still known as Ain Kdes, the Holy Spring. The water gushes out through several openings from the side of a steep limestone cliff and is caught in a series of artificially constructed basins.

The stream which arises from this spring, as it runs down the valley, converts it into what seems in contrast to its barren surroundings a little oasis. As in the case of most desert streams, the waters soon disappear, however, beneath the desert sand. Here, in the heart of the wilderness, and yet only a few miles east of the point where the highway that ran from Elath to Beersheba was joined by another which came across the desert from Egypt, the Israelites apparently established their central camp.

=Effect of the Wilderness Life Upon the Hebrews.= The spring of Kadesh is still a favorite resort of Arab tribes, but its waters are not sufficient to support permanently even a small Bedouin clan. It is only as the tribes wander from place to place, ever seeking new pastures for their flocks, that the inhabitants of this southern wilderness are able to subsist. If the Israelites remained in this region for a generation, as the later traditions state, they must have reverted to that nomadic life which still survives in the desert.^{(68-71)} This experience was not without value to a race which must work out its destiny in the face of great obstacles. It taught them to endure want and hards.h.i.+p. The presence of constant danger not only developed courage and skill in warfare, but also bound them closely together. At any moment they were subject to attack from hostile tribes. Their life and that of their families and flocks depended upon their finding from time to time springs of water and pasture lands among the rocky wastes that would supply the necessities for their strenuous existence. The constant deep sense of dependence developed those religious impulses which are very strong in the heart of the Semites. The long marches through the sombre wilderness by day and by night fostered habits of meditation and kept ever before their vision the G.o.d who revealed himself through the striking phenomena of nature. The sense of racial unity which bound together the Hebrew clans tended to develop the belief, not in many, but in one tribal G.o.d, who had delivered them from the land of Egypt, who was protecting them from ever-present dangers, and who was leading them on to the realization of their destiny. Their nomadic life, with its constant change from place to place, gave little opportunity for the growth of local shrines and inst.i.tutions. As a result, their wors.h.i.+p was freed from those elaborate forms and ceremonies which in more settled communities took the place of true religion. Thus during those desert wanderings, under the leaders.h.i.+p of Moses, an ethical religion was born into the world that laid stress not merely on ritual, but on righteousness.

=Evidence That the Hebrews Aimed to Enter Canaan From the South.= In the scanty and somewhat confused biblical traditions regarding the life of the Hebrews in the wilderness there are clear indications that at first their intention was to enter Canaan from the south. Their camp at Kadesh, in the South Country, was doubtless chosen as a base from which to advance into Palestine, for it was near one of the main highways which led into the land from the south. Their battle with the Amalekites, recorded in Exodus 17:8-16, is further evidence that their ultimate goal was Canaan, for the Amalekites were Bedouin tribes living in the wilderness on the southern borders of Palestine.

According to the isolated pa.s.sage, found in Numbers 21:1 and evidently taken from a very early source, certain Hebrew clans at least were found fighting with the Canaanites, who dwelt in the city of Arad, about nineteen miles south of Hebron. They were defeated, however, some were taken captive, and probably the rest were driven back into the wilderness. The story of the spies in Numbers 13 and 14 is, on the whole, the clearest proof of the ambitions of the Hebrews. From Kadesh a picked group of men were sent along the great highway past Rehoboth and Beersheba to Hebron and southern Canaan to investigate conditions, with a view to conquest.

=Reasons Why They Did Not Succeed.= The report of the spies makes it clear why the Hebrews, as a whole, did not enter Canaan from the south. Their statements are in perfect accord with the conditions revealed by contemporary Egyptian inscriptions and the results of recent excavations. Already the territory of southern Canaan was fully occupied. The larger cities were surrounded by strong walls and their inhabitants were in possession of the most advanced equipment for military defence known to that age. These defences were practically impregnable against the attack of nomadic tribes. Furthermore, the natural line of approach for the invasion of Canaan was not through the South Country. Its barren wastes did not supply a sufficient base from which to make an attack. The conquest of a land like Canaan by nomads required a comparatively fertile intermediate territory, where the besiegers might settle and derive the supplies necessary for a siege that might last many years. The reasons, therefore, why a majority of the tribes abandoned their original purpose to enter Canaan from the south and chose the more favorable route through the east-Jordan land are obvious and valid.

=Tribes That Probably Entered Canaan From the South.= There are intimations, however, that certain desert tribes, later absorbed into the Hebrew empire, found their way into Palestine from the south.

Caleb, who figures in the story of the spies as an advocate of advance from the south, appears in the narrative of the first chapter of Judges as a tribe established on the southern borders of Judah. It is probable, therefore, that the Calebites gradually advanced through the South Country to the possession of the territory which they ultimately occupied. The same is true of certain Midianite clans, like the Kenizzites, who shared with Israel the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah, the G.o.d of Sinai. Possibly even before the exodus, certain of these clans had gained a footing on the borders of Canaan; at any rate they, together with the Jerahmeelites, are later found firmly intrenched to the southeast of Judah.

=The Journey to the East of the Jordan.= The account of the march of the Hebrews from Kadesh to the east of the Jordan is in perfect harmony with the peculiar topography of this region. The shortest way was across the dry valley of the Arabah, past the southeastern end of the Dead Sea and northward through central Moab; but this involved a journey through a part of the wilderness which can be made by large bodies of men only when they are provided with camels and are able to carry full supplies for the journey. For women and children, such a journey was exceedingly difficult even if they were inured to the life of the wilderness. Still more dangerous was the march of a large tribe through the centre of Moab, for its highways were difficult and strongly guarded. A second way, which, according to biblical narrative, the Hebrews seriously considered, was the narrow, rocky road which led through the heart of Edom to the great eastern desert highway. Without the consent of the Edomites, a pa.s.sage by this easily defended way was absolutely impossible. Inasmuch as the request of the Hebrews was refused by the Edomite king, the only way that remained was the long detour around the southern end of Mount Seir.

Accordingly, they retraced their way southeastward to Elath. Thence they turned abruptly to the northeast and took the broad highway northward along the borders of the desert, where the streams of pilgrims pa.s.s to-day on the journey from Damascus to Mecca (_cf._ p.

77). The way was through hot, rocky deserts and it is not strange that the Israelites indulged in bitter complaints.

=Stations on the Way.= The earliest Old Testament narrative has preserved a list of the stations on the highway by which the Israelites approached Moab. Most of these, as the names indicate, were but stopping-places in the desert, corresponding probably to the stations on the modern pilgrims' road. Thus the name Beeroth Bene-jaakan means Wells of the Sons of Jaakan, and was probably named after the Arab tribe that roamed in this desert region. The second station from this point, Jotbathah, is described as a land of flowing brooks. This is an excellent description of the modern important city of Maan, near the station on the Damascus-Mecca railway, from which the traveller to-day sets out for Petra, that lies about twenty-five miles due west. Maan is a little oasis made by a beautiful flowing brook, which soon loses itself, however, in the sands of the encircling desert. It is almost the only spot along this dry highway from the north to the south where the weary traveller hears the refres.h.i.+ng ripple of flowing waters. Farther north the road pa.s.ses over the high, parched plateaus where, according to the ancient song in Numbers 21:17, 18, the Hebrew chieftains joined in digging, or more probably in cleaning out the well from which the much-needed water might be secured. The third station farther north bears the name Nahaliel, which means Torrent Valley of G.o.d. It was apparently at this point that the Israelites turned westward, following perhaps the ravine which leads from the east to the great valley of the Arnon.

Bamoth, the next station, which means high places, was probably some height to the north of the ravine, possibly the Jebel er-Ram (the High Mountain). The fragment of the ancient poem found in Numbers 21:14, 15, reflects the profound impression which the deep valleys of the Arnon made upon the Hebrew invaders. Waheb, in Suphah, was possibly a place in the Wady es-Sufeiy, which opens into the Arnon from the east and thus would lie in the line of Israel's approach. The city of Ar, mentioned in the same connection, possibly represents the shortened form of the well-known city of Aroer, on the heights to the north of the Arnon.

=Conquests East of the Dead Sea.= From the banks of the Arnon, which marked the northern boundary of Moab, the Hebrews set out for the conquest of the Amorite kingdom of Sihon to the north. The decisive battle was fought in the open, near the city of Jahaz, on the borders of the wilderness. The site of the city has not yet been identified.

According to the Moabite stone (lines 18-20) it was the head-quarters of the northern Israelites in their war with King Mesha of Moab.

Later it was captured by the Moabite king and joined to the city of Dibon, which lay a little north of the Arnon. Eusebius, in his _Onomasticon_ (264-294), places it between Medeba and Dibon. This battle gave the Hebrews possession of the upland pastures and fertile fields lying between the Arnon and the Jabbok.

=Situation of Heshbon.= Sihon's capital, Heshbon, became the capital of the first Israelite state. It crowned the top of a low rocky hill, which rose gradually from the rolling plains. On the east the plains extend unbroken to the desert with its fringe of purple mountains. It lay, therefore, in the midst of one of the most fruitful regions in the east-Jordan land and commanded the wide plains which extended in every direction. The city itself did not possess great natural strength. Its inhabitants were obliged to depend upon walls for defence. At present its top is strewn for acres with ruins of small ancient houses and what were once an ancient fortress and temple; but there are no traces of a great encircling wall. The water supply apparently came from the large pools in the shallow valley to the east. The city was, therefore, ill-fitted to stand a protracted siege.

This fact probably explains why the ancient Amorite king chose to meet his foe farther south. The city is two thousand eight hundred and sixty-six feet above the sea-level and commands a wonderful view of the blue Gilead mountains in the north, the gorge of the Jordan to the southwest, the central plateau of Canaan on the west, and Medeba, set on a slightly elevated hill across the rolling plains, to the south.

=Sojourn of the Hebrews East of the Jordan.= Heshbon was the key to the east-Jordan land. Through it ran the central highway from Moab northward. Westward the road led rapidly down to the Jordan Valley, past Abu s.h.i.+ttim, the Meadow of the Acacias, to the main fords opposite Jericho. At Heshbon and on these high uplands of the east-Jordan the Hebrews had ever before them the land of Canaan and the open road inviting them to enter. According to the oldest biblical narratives, the tribes of Machir and Mana.s.seh also won for themselves homes in Gilead, in the rich territory between the Jabbok and the Yarmuk. A later narrative states that even at this early period the Israelites crossed the Yarmuk and conquered the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, whose capital was the strange, rock-cut city of Edrei in the valley of the upper Yarmuk.

=Its Significance.= This east-Jordan land supplied in fullest measure the training and opportunity for expansion which the Israelites required before they entered upon the larger task of conquering the lands across the river. Here they learned to cultivate the soil as well as to follow the flocks. The survivors of the conquered Amorites began to instruct them in the arts of agriculture and in the secrets of that higher civilization which had been developing for centuries in Palestine. Here, amidst these highly favoring conditions, their numbers rapidly increased, until they began to feel the need of new fields for colonization. At the same time they were constantly subject to the pressure of Arab invasion, which kept sweeping in from the eastern desert. Meantime the armies of Egypt had been withdrawn and the old feuds and wars between the different races of Palestine had sprung up. No strong power had come to the front in northern Syria. By 1150 B.C. Palestine was ready to receive the race for which it had been preparing through the long ages.