FROM THE DESERT INTO CANAAN
Once safely out of Egypt, the next problem for Moses and his people
was to find a way into Canaan. Through all the centuries the wandering
shepherds on the edge of the desert have looked with longing eyes on
the fertile valleys and plains of Palestine. To have a settled,
comfortable home, with cisterns of water as well as springs and wells;
to have fields of wheat, vineyards of grapes, and gardens of melons
and all luscious fruits--this is the picture that haunts the wandering
Arab, amid the hardships and monotony of his desert life.
THE LAND OF CANAAN
During the twelfth and eleventh centuries before Christ there was an
unusually good opportunity for nomads to settle in Palestine. Before
and after that time there were strong empires in control of the land
protecting it from invasion. The Greeks and Romans long afterward
built a line of fortified towns east of the Jordan on the border of
the desert, whose ruins may be seen to-day. In similar ways the
Babylonians and the Egyptians had occupied and defended the country.
But just about the time when the Hebrews escaped from Egypt, and for a
century and more afterward, both the Egyptian and Babylonian
governments were weak. And as the various petty kings of Canaan itself
were usually at war with each other, there was no strong government
anywhere whose soldiers newcomers would have to face.
=The first invasion from the south.=--Very soon after leaving the
mountain of Sinai the Hebrew tribes found themselves on the southern
edge of Canaan, in what was afterward known as the South Country,
south of Judah. Scouts were sent up as far as the town of Hebron,
which was afterward for a time the capital of Judah, to investigate
and report on conditions there. They returned with a glowing account
of the fertility of the soil. It is even stated in the Hebrew
traditions that they brought back as a sample of the crops, one bunch
of grapes so large that it had to be carried on a pole between two
men.
But with the exception of one of their leaders, a certain Caleb, all
the men reported that the cities were strongly fortified and the
inhabitants so warlike that an invasion was out of the question. The
people adopted this "majority report" in spite of the protests of
Moses. It is probable that the life in Egypt, with something of ease
and luxury for a time, and then so many years of slavery, had sapped
their courage and will power. At any rate, after a brief encounter
with some of the tribesmen nearby, they fled in panic into the desert
again.
THE WILDERNESS WANDERINGS
There followed, for a generation and more, a period of training
somewhat like that which Boy Scouts receive, or should receive, on
their "hikes" and camping trips. They learned to be independent and
resourceful. It was at times very difficult to find food for
themselves, or pasture for their sheep, and there was nothing to eat
but the "manna," which they believed their God provided for them, and
which was perhaps in the nature of an edible moss or lichen. At times
there was a terrible scarcity of water. Always there was the danger of
losing their way on those trackless wastes, and in this matter also
they learned to look to their God as their pillar of cloud by day and
their pillar of fire by night, guiding them from oasis to oasis in
their search for food and pasturage. Then there were wild beasts and
poisonous serpents and, worst of all, hostile tribes with whom more
than once they had to fight for their lives.
=Gaining a foothold east of the Jordan.=--All these years of wandering
were spent mostly in the desert south of Canaan. Later they worked
their way around the lower end of the Dead Sea to the east toward what
was later known as the land of Gilead, on the eastern side of the
Jordan River.
This region is very fertile and was always noted in Bible times for
its fat cattle. But its rolling plains lie open and defenseless toward
the desert. Here under Moses' leadership the Hebrews were able to
conquer one or two of the petty local chieftains, and thus gained a
foothold from which they might some time make a sally across the River
Jordan into central Canaan itself.
=The death of Moses.=--In this eastern country Moses died. According
to the Hebrew story, Jehovah gave him a view of the land of Canaan
from one of the high mountains overlooking the Jordan River, after
which death came. And "no man knoweth of his sepulcher to this day."
He had been loyal to the divine call which had come to him so long ago
in a flame which "burned and did not consume," loyal to the mother who
had taught him amid the luxuries of an Egyptian palace not to forget
his own people and their sorrows. He had led his people out of Egypt
and its slavery in defiance of the proud and mighty Pharaoh. And he
had taught them to turn to Jehovah as God of justice and to worship
only him.
THE INVASION OF CANAAN FROM THE EAST
It was not long after the settlement east of the Jordan that the
Hebrews began to make raids across the river, in part under the
leadership of one of Moses' lieutenants, Joshua. The first town they
captured was Jericho, down in the hot valley of the Jordan River, a
few miles north of the Dead Sea. They had friends within the city, a
woman named Rahab and her family. Since this was the first city
captured it was considered to be sacred to Jehovah. The pity of it is
that, in accordance with the standards of that day, this meant the
ruthless slaughter of every living thing within its walls, including
men, women, and little children.
=New conquests.=--In these early raids some tribes, led by the men of
Judah, went southwest and captured a few towns in the mountains west
of the Dead Sea. Others, led by the strong tribe of Ephraim, went
northwest. Throughout their later history, these were always the two
leading tribes, Judah in the south, and Ephraim in the north. After
the victories of the fighting men, the women and children and flocks
would follow.
We can imagine these rough warriors, with their untrained boys and
girls, swarming into the houses of these little towns and villages.
Most of them had never been inside a house before; and they would be
eager to look at the furniture and to know the uses of the many
strange things: for example, the jar of lye for cleaning, the perfumes
on the stand, the earthen vessels for water and milk, the lamps, the
baskets made of twigs, the pots for boiling broth, the oven for
baking, in the door yard, and the wine press on the hillside where the
grapes were trodden at the time of grape harvest.
=The right and wrong of conquest.=--One may ask, what right had the
Hebrews to attack and kill these people and seize their homes? Ideal
Christian standards develop slowly. In these days of which we speak
such standards had hardly been thought of. All weak nations were at
the mercy of their stronger neighbors, and no one ever questioned the
morality of it. It is good to know, moreover, that conquest, after
all, was not the chief method by which the Hebrews made themselves
masters of Canaan. After they had established themselves, here and
there, in certain towns, and certain sections of the country, they
gradually made friends with their Canaanite neighbors whom they had
not been able to conquer at the beginning. In time their children
intermarried with the children of the Canaanites until at last there
came to be one nation, which was known as the Hebrews, or the Children
of Israel.
STUDY TOPICS
1. Read any one of the following sections: Numbers 11. 13-14, 20, 21;
Deuteronomy 34; Joshua 1. 6.
2. Draw a map showing in a general way the movements of the Hebrews
described in this chapter.
3. Look up in the Bible dictionary, "Manna," "Spies," "Kadesh,"
"Jericho."
4. Compare the conquest of Canaan with the treatment of the American
Indians by white settlers.
5. How should the natives of Africa be treated in the opening up of
Africa to civilization?