1. =The Campaigns East= of the Jor'dan. These were during the lifetime
of Mo'ses, and gained for Is'ra-el all the territory south of Mount
Her'mon.
[Illustration: CAMPAIGNS OF THE =CONQUEST=]
1.) The conquest of Gil'e-ad was made at the battle of Ja'haz, near the
brook Ar'non (Num. 21. 21-31). In one battle the Is'ra-el-ites gained
the land of Gil'e-ad east of the Jor'dan.
2.) The conquest of Ba'shan was completed at the battle of Ed're-i, in
the mountainous region (Num. 21. 33-35).
3.) The conquest of Mid'i-an (Num. 31. 1-8) was led by the
warrior-priest Phin'e-has, and by smiting the tribes on the east
protected the frontier toward the desert. The land won by these three
campaigns became the territory of the tribes of Reu'ben, Gad, and the
half tribe of Ma-nas'seh (Deut. 32).
2. =The Campaigns West of the Jor'dan= were led by Josh'u-a, and showed
great tactical skill and resistless energy of action. Josh'u-a led his
people across the Jor'dan and established a fortified camp, the center
of operations during all his campaigns, at Gil'gal (Josh. 4. 19).
1.) The first invasion was of _Central Pal'es-tine_, beginning with
Jer'i-cho (Josh. 6), taking A'i on the way (Josh. 8), and ending with
She'chem, which apparently fell without resistance (Josh. 8. 30-33).
This campaign gave to Is'ra-el the center of the land and divided their
enemies into two sections.
2.) Next came the campaign against _Southern Pal'es-tine_. At this time
was fought the battle of Beth-ho'ron (Josh. 10. 10), the most momentous
in its results in all history, and one over which, if ever, the sun and
moon might well stand still (Josh. 10. 12, 13).[9] After this great
victory Josh'u-a pursued his enemies and took the towns as far south as
He'bron and De'bir (Josh. 10. 29-39).
3.) Lastly, Josh'u-a conquered _Northern Pal'es-tine_ (Josh. 11). The
battle in this campaign was near Lake Me'rom (Josh. 11. 7), and, as
before, it was followed by the capture of many cities in the north. Thus
in those marches Josh'u-a won all the mountain region of western
Pal'es-tine.
3. There were certain =supplementary campaigns=, partly in Josh'u-a's
time, partly afterward.
1.) Caleb's capture of He'bron, which had been reoccupied by the
Am'or-ites (Josh. 14; Judg. 1. 10-15).
2.) The Ju'dah-ites' capture of Be'zek, an unknown place between
Je-ru'sa-lem and the Phi-lis'tine plain (Judg. 1. 1-8).
3.) The Dan'ites' capture of La'ish, in the extreme north, which
afterward bore the name of Dan (Judg. 18).
But, after all these campaigns, a large part of the land was still
unsubdued, and the war of the conquest did not end until the days of
Da'vid by whom every foe was finally placed under foot.