J O S H U S A. 
©f the confternation which had overfpread the whole land, 
he failed not to allure the Ifraelites that it was God who 
had ftruck them with fuch terror ; and gave orders that _ 
preparation (hould be made to march to the banks of the 
liver Jordan. By the manner of palTing this river, God 
was pleafed to give to the Ifraelites a miraculous teftitnony 
. of his prefence with their new general, fimilar with that 
which he had given in favour of Moles at the Red Sea. 
On the day appointed, and when the whole camp of the 
Ifraelites was in marching order, Jolhua directed the priefts, 
bearing the ark, to advance to the river, which at that time 
overflowed its banks; and no fooner had their feet touched 
its waters, than the ftream from above turned back and rofe 
up in heaps, and, that below failing for want of a lupply, 
the channel became dry for feveral miles, by which means 
the whole camp was enabled without difficulty to crofs to 
the other fide. While they were crofling, the priefts con¬ 
tinued witlfthe ark in the bed of the Jordan ; and, before 
Jofhua gave directions for their quitting it, he ordered 
twelve men who had been previoufly fele6ted,one from each 
tribe, to take twelve large ftones, and to lay them on one 
heap in the place where the ark had flood, as a monument 
of that miraculous paflage ; and alfo to take twelve other 
' large ftones, with which to ereft another monument on 
the fhore. When this was done, the priefts were directed 
to come up‘‘out of the channel of the river, which imme¬ 
diately afterwards refumed its regular courfe. From the 
banks of Jordan, Jofhua advanced with the Ifraelites to¬ 
wards the plains of Jericho, and pitched his camp for the 
firft time in Canaan, at Gilgal. 
The news of the miraculous paflage of Jordan, being 
circulated throughout the country, ipreacf fuel} an uni- 
verfal dread of the Ifraelites among the princes and peo¬ 
ple, that Jofhua thought the juncture moft favourable for 
reviving the rite of circumcifion, which had not been 
obferved during the wandering in the wildernefs v The 
approach alfo of the time of the feaft of the paflover, to 
which no uncircumcifed perfon could be admitted, lug- 
gelled the necelfity of reviving that ceremony without de¬ 
lay. Jofhua therefore commanded that the operation 
fliould be immediately performed on all the males who 
had been born in the wildernefs; and within a few days 
afterwards they celebrated the paffover, which had been 
wholly intermitted from the time of their departure from 
mount Sinai. In this place a divine meflenger appeared 
to Jofhua, and gave him directions for the extraordinary 
liege of Jericho, which was intended to imprefs the Cana- 
anites Hill further with a conviction of the divine power 
which was engaged on the fide of the Ifraelites. The 
city, inftead of being attacked by engines of war, was for 
fix days fucceflively encompafled by a proceflion of priefts, 
carrying the ark, and blowing on trumpets of rams’ horns, 
who were preceded and followed by the people in arms. 
On the feventh day they repeated the proceflion feven 
times, and, as foon as the feventh round was ended, the 
found of the trumpets was accompanied with a fliout from 
all the befiegers; and this was followed by the fall of the 
city-wall, which laid the place open to their aflault. Hav¬ 
ing taken care to convey Rahab and her family out in 
fcfety, all the inhabitants of the city, great and lmall, were 
put to the fword, - as were alfo their cattle; and, after the 
gold, filver, brafs, and other metals, had been collected 
for the national treafury, the place was fet on fire and le¬ 
velled to the ground, and the perfon pronounced curfed 
who fhould ever attempt to rebuild it. In the next place 
Jolhua detached a body of forces to attack the city of Ai, 
who wire repulfed wuth an inconftderable lofs. This de¬ 
feat, however, though trifling, damped the courage of the 
people, and obliged Jofhua to have recourfe to God, who 
fignified to him that a facrilegious crime had been com¬ 
mitted, ordering him to difcover the guilty perfon by lot, 
and to punilh him with death. The lot fell upon Achan, 
of the tribe of Judah, who confefled that he had concealed 
forne of the plunder of Jericho, notwithftanding the ftriCl 
prohibition which had been iffued to the contrary. No 
-Vol. XI. No, 7 5 z. 
269 
fooner was the crime verified by the difcovery of the 
plunder in his tent, than lie, and his children, and his 
_ cattle, were conveyed to the valley of Achor, where they 
were Honed to death, and afterwards burnt with all his 
property ; after which a heap of ftones was reared up on 
the fpot as a monument of his crime, and to deter others 
from committing a fimilar offence. Afterwards Jolhua 
took Ai by furprife, hahged the king, and put all the in¬ 
habitants to the fword, and treated the city in the fame 
manner with Jericho. After the deftruction of Ai, Jofhua 
built an altar of unhewn ftones on mount Ebal, accord¬ 
ing to the directions of Mofes in Deuteronomy xxvii. on 
which he wrote a copy or epitome of the Mofaic law, and 
offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. He alio or¬ 
dered the bleflings and curlings to be pronounced on that 
mount and mount Gerizzim, in purfuance of the fame 
directions ; and then read himfelf the copy or epitome of 
the law before the aflembled congregation. In the mean 
time the fad fate of Jericho and Ai had alarmed all the 
neighbouring kingdoms; and induced the inhabitants of 
Gibeon to try, whether they could not by a ftratagem, 
efcape the ruin which threatened them, and even fecure 
the protection of thefe dreadful invaders. For this purpofe 
they fent ambafladors to Jolhua, drelfed in worn-out gar¬ 
ments, with dry mouldy bread for their provifion, who 
were inftrudted to fay, that they came from a people in a 
far diftant country, whither the fame of the God of II- 
rael had reached, as well as of his wonders in Egypt, and 
in the country of the Amorites; and that they were com- 
miflioned by their countrymen to pay their homage, and 
to folicit a leagpe with Ifrael. When they reached the 
camp at Gilgal, they told their tale with fo much art, that 
Jolhua and the heads of the tribes were completely de¬ 
ceived, and confented to enter into an alliance with them, 
which was fworn to on both Tides. At the end of three 
days the whole artifice was difeovered, and they were found 
to be near neighbours.; but, notwithftanding that by this 
llratagem they had faved their lives, and fecured the pro¬ 
tection of the Ifraelites, they were reduced to the fltua- 
tion of hewers of wood and drawers of water for the con¬ 
gregation ; or, in other words, appointed to dilcharge the 
loweft and moft laborious offices belonging to the lervicc 
of the tabernacle. 
When Adoni-zedek, king of Jerufalem, heard of the 
treatment of Jericho and Ai, and of the fubiniflion of the 
Gibeonites ; fearful that the example of the latter might 
induce other Canaanites to defert the common caufe, he 
entered into a league with four other kings, who deter¬ 
mined to punilh the Gibeonites for their defection, in or¬ 
der to deter others from following fo cowardly and dan¬ 
gerous a precedent. With that defign they advanced 
with their united forces to befiege Gjbeon. In this ex¬ 
tremity the inhabitants had recourfe to Jolhua for luccour, 
who came with his army, and, falling upon the forces of 
the confederate kings as they were befieging the place, 
defeated them with great daughter. As the dilperfed troops 
were flying from the feene of action, they were overtaken 
by a fupernatural ftorm of ftones from heaven, which de- 
ftroyed greater numbers than had before perilhed under 
the fword of Jolhua ; and, as the latter, in anfwer to his 
prayers, was favoured with a miraculous prolongation of 
day-light, he was enabled to render his .victory itill more 
complete, by the deftruCtion of the greateft part of the re¬ 
maining fugitives. The live kings efcaped for Ihelter to 
a cave near the city of Makkedali : information of which 
circumftance being brought to Jolhua, he ordered the en¬ 
trance to be blocked up with large ftones., and, after the 
action of the day was over, had them dragged out and 
put to death, directing their bodies to be hung on trees 
till the evening, when they were thrown into the cave, 
the mouth of which was doled with large ftones, as a mo¬ 
nument of their fall and miferable end. Jolhua purified 
his fucceffes againft the Canaanites for fix years, and in 
that time had made himfelf mafter of the greateft part of 
their country, having extirpated or driven out all the in- 
3 Z habitants. 
