Show the L ne e GRAPHIC BIBLE by LEWIS BROWNE 0 mcclure ne newspaper kyndl service tuft 0 W RE ap of V a V C VZ 1 P 0 ap A ak 44 joshua conquers canaan aim in taking the road through mishmash Mich mash was to capture the stronghold of at al which was important because it was the key to the mountains west of jericho ills whole army went up the distance from jericho was only about fifteen miles took A al by a stratagem and forthwith laid it waste the quick victory struck terror in the hearts of the inhabitants of the neighboring towns and without waiting to he be attacked they led fled or else made terms with the invaders joshua now master of the central portion of the land marched rapidly to shechem and there had bad the holy law with its blessings and curses read from sit mt ebal eba and mt ML gertzlin to the assembled Is rea realities lites tes then he rushed back to give aid to the natives of gibeon who were viere being attacked by other canaanite tribes for having become allies of the hebrews joshua swept down through the valley of ajalon as tar far as Mak kedah commanding the sun and moon to stand still so that lie he could finish the slaughter of the routed and thus the passes toward the south fell into his hands in rapid succession he took alb nah nab eglon hebron ebron II dabir laying each city utterly waste apparently patently ly joshua went even farther conquering all the south country as far as kadesh barnea and the coastal plain even to gaza the canaanite kings of thenor the north tb terrified at joshuaa Jos huas advance joined in a league and made ready for war but joshua at the hie command of god did not wait to be attacked by a forced march he rushed his army to the waters of merom almost miles north of galgal his bead headquarters quarters and there pounced upon the canaanite host once more lie he was completely victorious to and when he was done pursuing his enemies as far aj as mis ills malm he turned back to blazor where the league had bad been formed and reduced the city to ashes fi and thus did joshua conquer the whole land of canaan 0 after joshua conquered canaan he returned to his big headquarters at galgal and began to portion out the land to the various tribes of israel there were really thirteen tribes in all eleven named after the sons of jacob and two ephraem and ila Ilana gsell after the sons of joseph of these only the tribe of levi received no territory for it was dedicated to the religious service berrice of jehovah and was therefore scattered throughout the whole land reuben gad and halt half the tribe of manasseh ila had already been awarded their territories by moses when the israelites were still east of the jordan the other nine and a half tribes were settled west of the river judah ephraim Ephr alm and the second half of the tribe of manasseh were the first to be given their portions tile the remaining seven tribes had to draw lots for their heritages tile the tribe of benjamin which was small but exceedingly warlike received a bit of hill bill coun try in central canaan simeon went far to the south on the edge of the desert asher zebulun issachar and naphtaly Naph tall inherited the north the reg region ion later called gall lee apparently the conquest of canaan was not at all completed under joshua in the opening opella verses of the book of judges we read how bow after joshua was already dead and burled the children of israel were still asking the lord who shall go up op for us against the canaan ites first to 11 fight against them it would seem that the conquest had bad to be accomplished all over again and this time not swiftly by nil all israel under one lender leader but slowly by the separate tribes judah and simeon with their allies the struck out toward the south louth while ephraim and manasseh invaded the north and fierce was the struggle that ensued the Canaan ites were not an easy people to conquer for they dwelt in walled cities and were well armed they had chariots and cavalry whereas the hebrews were all on foot and possessed only the most primitive weapons in the broad valleys the canaan ties ites were always more than a match for the invaders and only in guerll la ia warfare up in the hills could the tha latter be victorious As we read in in judges and the lord was w with ith judah and he drove out the tha inhabitants of the mountain but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had bad chariots of iron after joshua died THE hebrews In trenched themselves at two points in the tha south in the heights of judah and in the north in the highlands ot of what came to be called samarra Sa marla only gradually and with success did they later manage to spread down into the lowlands for generations they remained penned up in the hills each tribe or group of tribes separated from the rest by lines of Can canaanite annite strongholds strong holds in the map you will be able to see quite clearly how straitened yas was the position or of the children ot of israel all the richest portions of the tha land were still in the hands of the enemies of israel the fertile coastal plain remained the undisputed possession of the philistines Canaan ites and phoenicians Phoenicia ns and the major valleys running east and west bristled with fortresses still occupied by the natives two such valleys in particular ran like blunt wedges into the side of the hebrew domains and though they were finally conquered they remained for centuries the centers of canaanite C life there Is reason to believe that even in tile the highlands the canaan ites remained numerous and were not utterly vanquished indeed in ia one way it was the hebrews who were vanquished tor for though they conquered the canaanite soli soil they almost lost their own hebrew religion they became attracted to the native gods the baalim as they were called for these gods demanded less of them than did jehovah hovah the baalim were worshiped with magic practices and rites that were little better than debauc debauches hm little wonder therefore that the hebrews being mere llesh flesh and blood soon began to forsake their own far stricter and more exacting jehovah nor was this the only way in which the hebrews sinned they accepted not only the canaanite gods but also the themselves they took native women for their wives and gave their daughters to native men especially did this happen among the tribes to ia the dextre extreme me north and south asher asber grew frie friendly adly with the phoenicians Phoenicia ns and became a seafaring people and simeon became intimate with tile the Ed adomites and became almost completely a desert tribe anarchy reigned for every man did that which was right in his own eyes each tribe fought to conquer a bit att of land fo for r itself and f ought fought sometimes not only against the Canan but even against the other hebrew tribes the conduct of the tribe of dan Is an instance of this originally binally the canites had settled at the foot of the hills bills but finding themselves ves at the mercy of the tha philistines there they soon began to look about for a more favorable dwelling place they found such a place far to the north in a broad valley at the headwaters of the tha jordan thither the canites migrated wandering DO doubt for many months before they reached their goal the place was captured and the Datil tes made themselves masters of the countryside and thus quite unaided by the rest did one of the hebrew tribes curve carve out its heritage |