The Bible Story Part 153

At the first blast, smiled scornfully the king, And at the second sneered, half wonderingly: "Hop'st thou with noise my stronghold to break down?"

At the third round, the ark of old renown Swept forward, still the trumpets sounding loud, And then the troops with ensigns waving proud.

Stepped out upon the old walls children dark With horns to mock the notes and hoot the ark.

At the fourth turn, braving the Israelites, Women appeared upon the crenelated heights-- Those battlements embrowned with age and rust-- And hurled upon the Hebrews stones and dust, And spun and sang when weary of the game.

At the fifth circuit came the blind and lame, And with wild uproar clamorous and high Railed at the clarion ringing to the sky.

At the sixth time, upon a tower's tall crest, So high that there the eagle built his nest, So hard that on it lightning lit in vain, Appeared in merriment the king again: "These Hebrew Jews musicians are, me-seems!"

He scoffed, loud laughing, "but they live on dreams."

The princes laughed, submissive to the king, Laughed all the courtiers in their glittering ring, And thence the laughter spread through all the town.

At the seventh blast--the city walls fell down.

--_Victor Hugo_.

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THE ATTACK UPON AI.

_The Story of a Rout and an Ambush. Defeat Turned to Victory_.

(The spoil of the city of Jericho was "devoted," that is offered to the Lord, and could be the private property of no person.

How the greed of one soldier got the better of him, the evil consequences, the execution of the guilty soldier for disobedience of military orders, and the subsequent victory of the Israelites are told in the following chapter.)

But the children of Israel committed a trespa.s.s in the devoted thing: for Achan, of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted thing: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.

And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and spoke unto them, saying, "Go up and spy out the land." And the men went up and spied out Ai.

And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, "Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; make not all the people to toil thither; for they are but few."

So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: and they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them at the descent: and the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust upon their heads.

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And Joshua said, "Alas, O Lord G.o.d, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? would that we had been content and dwelt beyond Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, after Israel hath turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall surround us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do for thy great name?"

And the Lord said unto Joshua, "Get thee up; wherefore art thou thus fallen upon thy face? Israel hath sinned; yea, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: yea, they have even taken of the devoted thing; and have also stolen, and lied also, and they have even put it among their own goods. Therefore the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies, they turn their backs before their enemies, because they are become accursed: I will not be with you any more, except ye destroy the devoted thing from among you. Up, sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow: for thus saith the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, There is a devoted thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the devoted thing from among you. In the morning therefore ye shall be brought near by your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come near by families; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come near by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come near man by man. And it {296} shall be, that he that is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.'"

So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel near by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: and he brought near the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zerahites: and he brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: and he brought near his household man by man; and Achan was taken. And Joshua said unto Achan, "My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, and make confession to him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me."

And Achan answered Joshua, and said, "Of a truth I have sinned against the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: when I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonish mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it."

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua, and to all the children of Israel; and they laid them down before the Lord. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his a.s.ses, and his {297} sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them up unto the valley of Achor.

And Joshua said, "Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day."

And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones, to this day; and the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor (that is, troubling), unto this day.

And the Lord said unto Joshua, "Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land: and thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: set thee an ambush for the city behind it."

So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them forth by night. And he commanded them, saying, "Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready: and I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pa.s.s, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them; and they will come out after us, till we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, 'They flee before us, as at the first'; so we will {298} flee before them: and ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city: for the Lord your G.o.d will deliver it into your hand. And it shall be, when ye have seized upon the city, that ye shall set the city on fire; according to the word of the Lord shall ye do: see, I have commanded you."

And Joshua sent them forth: and they went to the ambushment, and took their place between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua camped that night among the people.

And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. And all the people, even the men of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, to the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between him and Ai. And he took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city. So they set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait that were on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the vale. And it came to pa.s.s, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the valley; but he knew not that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

And Joshua and all Israel pretended that they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the {299} wilderness. And all the people that were in the city were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el, that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel. And the Lord said unto Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand."

And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and took it; and they hasted and set the city on fire. And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again and slew the men of Ai. And the others came forth out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.

And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. And it came to pa.s.s, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were {300} consumed, that all Israel returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. For Joshua drew not back his hand, wherewith he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey to themselves, according to the word of the Lord which he commanded Joshua. So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day.

THE SUBMISSION OF GIBEON.

_How a Timid People Used a Successful Trick_.

And it came to pa.s.s, when all the kings which were beyond Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the sh.o.r.e of the great sea in front of Lebanon, heard of this, they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, they were very cunning, and they pretended to be amba.s.sadors, and took old sacks upon their a.s.ses, and wine skins, old and rent and bound up; and shoes old and patched upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and was become mouldy. And they went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him, and to the men of Israel, "We are come from a far country: now therefore make ye a covenant with us."

And the men of Israel said unto the Gibeonites, "Perhaps {301} ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a covenant with you?"

And they said to Joshua, "We are thy servants."

And Joshua said to them, "Who are ye? and from whence come ye?"

And they said unto him, "From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy G.o.d: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan. And our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, 'Take provision in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: and now make ye a covenant with us.' This bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go to you; but now, behold, it is dry, and is become mouldy: and these wine skins, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they are rent: and these garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey."

And the men took of their provision, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.

And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation swore unto them. And it came to pa.s.s at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them. And the children of Israel {302} journeyed, and came to their cities on the third day. And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the host had sworn unto them by the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel. And all the host murmured against the princes. But all the princes said unto all the host, "We have sworn unto them by the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. This we will do to them, and let them live; lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we swore unto them." And the princes said unto them, "Let them live: so they become hewers of wood and drawers of water to all the people;" as the princes had spoken unto them.

And Joshua called for them, and he spoke unto them, saying, "Wherefore have ye tricked us, saying, 'We are very far from you'; when ye dwell among us? Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondmen, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my G.o.d."

And they answered Joshua, and said, "Because it was certainly told thy servants how that the Lord thy G.o.d commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were sore afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. And now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do to us, do."

And so did he to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not. And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the people, and for the altar of the Lord, to this day, in the place which he should choose.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

A PORTION OF THE RIDGE BY WHICH THE ROAD RAN EASTWARD FROM UPPER BETH-HORON

From a photograph taken by Prof. H. G. Mitch.e.l.l and used by his kind permission.

This road along the ridge was one of the important highways of the East. Throughout history we see hosts swarming up this avenue or swept down it in flight. Here Joshua fought his famous fight with the five kings. Here Judas Maccabaeus won a great battle with the Syrians (see Tales of the Maccabees, Vol. III.). Joshua in his battle drove the Canaanites over the ridge and then cut them to pieces in the ravine on the other side.

[End ill.u.s.tration]