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E. WALTER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S., ON 



the cockpit of Europe for two thousand years, not because the 

 Belgians have been quarrelsome beyond all other people, but 

 because their country affords the natural routes for armies 

 moving between France and Germany. In like manner Pales- 

 tine has been the battlefield between Asia and Africa for four 

 thousand years, and by his victory at Nablous, General Allenby 

 defended both the Suez Canal and the British Raj in India. 



The chmate also of the country has undergone no radical change. 

 The valley of the Jordan — the Great Rift just alluded to — is 

 still one of the hottest countries of the world. From time to 

 time in the course of his campaign, General Allenby was com- 

 pelled to send expeditions into the valley, but he always withdrew 

 his troops immediately that he was able to do so ; he made no 

 attempt to occupy it permanently. 



The tenth chapter of Joshua is an account of the opening of the 

 first campaign of the Israelites into Palestine proper, the land of 

 Canaan, the land that had been especially promised to their 

 forefathers. They had already possessed themselves during the 

 life of Moses of the country to the east of the Jordan ; now it 

 was to be the turn of Canaan itself. 



Long after the time of Joshua, the Psalmist sang : — 



When Israel came out of Egypt, 



The house of Jacob from a people of strange language, 

 The sea saw it and fled, 



Jordan was driven back." 



The forty years' probation — the wandering in the wilderness — 

 was over. As it began, so it ended. On the tenth day of the first 

 month, the lamb had been chosen for the Paschal Supper in 

 Egypt ; now, forty years later, on the tenth day of the first month, 

 Israel had passed over Jordan dryshod , and the lamb was chosen 

 for the first Passover in the Promised Land. 



As you all know, the calendar given by Moses to Israel had a 

 double relation. It was based upon the natural month, and regu- 

 lated by direct observation of the day of the reappearance of 

 the new moon. It was based upon the natural year, and regu- 

 lated by the direct observation of the ripening of the fruits of 

 the earth. The heavens therefore gave the indication of the 

 beginning of each month ; the earth gave the indication as to 

 which month was the first month of the year. 



The forty years had gone ; they had passed like a watch in the 

 night, and the Psalmist sings of the deliverance which had opened 



