Jews Invade Palestine

Let us trace the principal incidents of this great enterprise.

Continuing The Earliest Jews,
our selection from Universal History: The Oldest Historical of Nations and Greece by Leopold von Ranke published in 1884. The selection is presented in six easy 5-minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in The Earliest Jews.

It was his aim that the idea by the power of which he had led them out from Egypt should continue to form the central point of their spiritual and political life. Moses is the most exalted figure in all primitive history. The thought of God as an intellectual Being, independent of all material existence, was seized by him and, so to speak, incorporated in the nation which he led. Not, of course, that the nation and the idea were simply coextensive. The idea of the Most High God as He revealed Himself on Horeb is one for all times and all nations; an idea of a pure and infinite Being, which admits of no such limitation, but which nevertheless inspires every decree of the legislator, every undertaking of the captain of the host. Moses may be called the schoolmaster of his people; he redeems them from slavery, organizes them for peace and war, and then leads them out of Egypt under the inducement of the promise that they shall obtain possession of their ancient inheritance. It is thus that tradition represents him. But it was not his privilege to complete the conquest of the country which he had designed and commenced. He laid his hands upon Joshua the son of Nun, who executed the task for which he is thus designated. Amon Ra had abandoned the struggle against Baal, it being impossible that a religion under local limitations should bring the world beneath its sway. The situation was completely changed when a newly disciplined host, carrying with it the tabernacle as the visible token of its covenant with Jehovah, undertook the struggle. It was, however, inevitable that at the outset, in accordance with the spirit of the age, everything should be effected at the sword’s point. The Israelites made war much as the Egyptians did, only perhaps with more violence and less mercy.

Let us trace the principal incidents of this great enterprise. Joshua crossed the Jordan without opposition, and halted near Gilgal, where he renewed the rite of circumcision according to the example of Abraham. The practice was ofa nature to distinguish the people from the Canaanites; it was in reality an Egyptian rite, for the Jews adopted from the Egyptians everything which was compatible with a religion in which nature worship had no part. The Jewish army was superior in numbers, in military training, and the impulse supplied by a great idea. Jericho, the great city towards which Moses had turned his dying eyes, fell into the hands of Joshua. The other city, Ai, was conquered by means of an ambuscade; whilst the inhabitants were fighting with and pursuing the main army their city was taken by another force in their rear, and they saw the town suddenly bursting into flames behind them. In the panic that ensued they were vanquished and put to the sword.

These successes were attended by a double result. The Gibeonites, terrified by the annihilation which the conquerors inflicted, begged for mercy and an alliance, a prayer granted on condition that they should acknowledge Jehovah. The rest were inflamed with hatred against the apostates. Summoned to their assistance, Joshua advanced by night, and defeated by a sudden and unexpected attack the main army of his antagonists. The princes who led their tribes to the war concealed themselves after their defeat in a cave. Here they were discovered. The captains of Israel placed their feet, in the literal sense of the words, upon the necks of the kings; the five kings were then hanged on five trees. And so, says the original account,

Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, even as the Lord God of Israel commanded.”

The victorious army then resumed its position at Gilgal, till a number of other princes and tribes took up arms against them and marshalled their forces near Lake Merom, through which the upper Jordan flows. Joshua marched against them without delay. He succeeded in surprising and routing them, and so completely annihilated them in the pursuit that not one of the host escaped. Their war chariots were burnt, their horses houghed. The power of the Israelites lay in their infantry and their weapons, the spear and the sling. All the cities which rose against them were captured. The principal city, Hazor, was ‘burnt with fire; ‘ the rest were left standing upon their hills, but in these also everything that drew breath was destroyed. A harsh spirit of violence and re-pression broods over the whole narrative. Everything has to die to make room for the Israelites.

According to this account the result is decided by two sudden attacks, one near Gibeon upon the five kings who had risen to chastise the Gibeonites, the other near Lake Merom upon the inhabitants who combined to expel Israel from the country. In military achievements, such as the passage of the river, which none ventured to oppose, the erection of a camp as a standing menace to the country in all directions, the rapid march of Joshua against Gibeon in one direction and afterwards against Merom in another, both being attacks upon an unprepared enemy, we have a series of strategic exploits which resulted in the conquest of the country. It has the character of an occupation and was accompanied with few exceptions by wholesale destruction. The religious spirit which inspired the conquerors is indicated by the miracles of which the traditional account is full. We see, by combining the inscriptions of Rameses-Miamunwith the national relations discernible from sacred writ, that the Israelites succeeded in an attempt in which Rameses suffered shipwreck. The confederation of Canaanites or, as we ought beyond doubt to call them, Amorites, tribes, before which the Egyptian prince gave way, was shattered and annihilated by Joshua. A greater importance belongs to the historic Joshua than to the fabulous Sesostris. The Israelites, however, cannot be regarded as acting designedly in alliance with the Egyptians; for in this interval the Egyptians and the Canaanites had come to terms. Moses had severed himself from the Egyptians. It was his special achievement to force an entrance into Canaan, and to seize upon a portion from which the whole country could be subdued; and this is the purport of those deep and mysterious words which he is represented as having spoken before he died. The partition of the country among the Israelites was carried out after the victories of Joshua. Although made by lot, it has an oracular character, as made before the ark of the covenant at Shiloh. It cannot be regarded as a complete occupation. The localities which the separate tribes occupy are, so to speak, military positions, taken up with the view of carrying out and completing the conquest according to the scheme laid down beforehand.

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