CHAPTER I. Ver. 1. Now, after the death of Moses, the servant of the LORD, it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, 2. Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

The conquest of Canaan, by the Israelites, having so often been the subject of cavil among the enemies of revelation, and being adverted to in terms of approbation above, may properly be considered in this place: Their conduct in this affair is satisfactorily vindicated by Mr. Townsend, in his "Old Testament historically and chronologically arranged," from which we transcribe the following passages:-God, the great governor, who possesses all power over his creatures, and may justly punish those who violate his laws, in that manner which to his wisdom may seem most impressive and useful, commanded the Israelites to exterminate the Canaanites, as the just retribution for their crimes and idolatries. God might have destroyed them by famine, by earthquake, by pestilence: He might have drowned by a local deluge, or consumed them by fire from heaven; instead of these, he commissioned the people of Israel to root them out by the sword. In so doing, the Almighty not only demonstrated to the whole world his hatred of the corruptions and pollutions of superstition, but he more particularly enforced on the Israelites the purity of his law, the certainty of their own punishment if they apostatized, and the freedom from temporal evil which they should consequently enjoy if they persevered in their allegiance to him, their sovereign. Lest this invasion of Canaan by the Israelites, however, should be drawn into precedent by other nations, for ambition or religious persecution; they were assured by continued and powerful miracles, that their cause was just, that they should be successful, and that they were not subject at that period to the common laws of nations. The people of Israel was the sword of God, the great magistrate of earth, and they were no more to be condemned in thus acting in conformity to the commands of God, than the executioner can be who fulfils the last sentence of the law. Before, then, other nations invade the territory of their neighbours on the same supposed authority as the Israelites, the same commission from heaven must be given; and that commission must be authenticated by miracles equally evident, perpetual, and wonderful. Many, however, have not been satisfied with this argument; and would discard the doctrine of the peculiar providence, which regulated by a visible theocracy the conduct of the chosen people: they would defend the invasion of Palestine on other grounds. They would judge of the transactions of that period, (regardless of the peculiar circumstances under which they took place,) by modern ideas, and the present law of nations. Some suppose that the conduct of the Israelites was solely defensible, on the supposition that there had been a partition of the whole earth by the sons of Noah; and that Canaan had been allotted to Shem: the sons of Shem, therefore, were justified in claiming their ancient inheritance from the Canaanites, who were descended from Ham. Others have asserted that the Canaanites commenced the war by attacking the Israelites; an assertion that cannot be defended from the history. While others have affirmed, without any well-grounded arguments, that the Israelites, as a wandering people, having no certain home, were justified in forcibly invading, and taking possession of an adjoining territory. But Michaelis is of opinion that the right of the Israelites originated in their being actually the proprietors

of Canaan, of which they had been unjustly dispossessed by the intruding and hostile Canaanites.

The laws of nations are always the same. If any nation, or tribe, or part of a tribe, take possession of an unknown, undiscovered, unoccupied, or uninhabited country, the right of property vests in them; they are its proprietors and owners. After the deluge, the world might be said to be in this state; and Michaelis has endeavoured to prove, that the ancestors of Abraham were the original Occupiers of the pasture land of Canaan. Canaan, therefore, by the law of nations, as well as by the promises of God, was the lot of Abraham's inheritance, and the rightful land of his descendants. The Canaanite and the Perizzite had only just established themselves in Canaan when Abraham removed from Haran to that country; and were so weak and few in number, that they never interfered with the right of sovereignty assumed and exerted by Abraham. The Canaanites were merchants and adventurers who had been originally settled near the borders of the Indian Ocean; and who, having been dispossessed by the Cuthic Sidonians, had migrated westward, to form establishments on the seacoasts of Palestine, and carry on commerce with the herdsmen who traversed it. They were for some time contented with their factories on the seacoasts, but they gradually obtained possession of the inland country. The Perizzites, too, were a warlike tribe, who now first made their appearance in Canaan; they had originally inhabited the northeast of Babylonia. Whether they had been dispossessed of their settlements; whether they were seeking new establishments; or for whatever purpose they were now in Palestine, they gave no interruption to the progress of Abraham, although Abraham entered upon the Holy Land and continued his journeyings with a large retinue, and as a powerful prince. He took possession of Canaan as the territory of his ancestors; not indeed as a fixed habitation, but as a pasture land adapted to his numerous flocks and herds. He traversed the whole country as a proprietor, without a competitor. He had the power of arming three hundred and eighteen of his own servants, born in his own house; and it is most probable that he had others who are not enumerated. He declared war as an independent prince of this country against five neighbouring princes; and formed an alliance with Abimelech, as an equal and as a sovereign. It is true, he purchased land of the Canaanitish family of Heth, but this was because the Hittites had gradually made a more fixed settlement in that part of the country; their intrusion had not been at first prevented by the ancestors of Abraham; and by this sufferance they made that district their peculiar property. As Abraham thus traversed and possessed Canaan, with undisputed authority, so too did Isaac and Jacob in like manner. No one opposed their right. They exercised, as Abraham had done before them, sovereign power; they never resigned that power; nor gave up to others the property of that land, which now, by long prescription, as well as by the promise of God, had become entirely their own.

The ancestors, then, of the Israelites, Michaelis argues, were either the sole sovereigns, or the most powerful of those princes who possessed, in early ages, the Holy Land. By the famine which occurred in the days of Joseph, they were compelled to leave their own country, and take refuge in Egypt: yet they never lost sight of the sepulchre of their fathers. And though we do not read that acts of ownership were continued to maintain and perpetuate their right, we can have but little doubt, that something of the kind took place, for Jacob was taken from Egypt to be buried there; Joseph assured them that they should return; and the Egyptians, their oppressors, a kindred branch of the powerful tribes which had by this time entirely taken possession of Palestine, kept them in bond

age, and refused to let them go, lest they should claim the inheritance of their fathers. If this claim of the Israelites can be proved to be well founded, they would have been entitled, by the law of nations, forcibly to take possession of the Holy Land; and it will be interesting to observe how the merciful providence of God afforded them the opportunity of successfully regaining their lawful inheritance, and at the same time accomplishing his own divine purposes, to the fulfilment of his prophecies, and to the happiness and security of his church. The Israelites may be considered as the servants and ministers of God, punishing the idolatry of the Canaanites, and instituting in its place, in the midst of an apostate world, the religion of the one true God. In every victory they obtained, they must have admired the faithfulness of that promise which had foretold their entire possession of this land; and they must have been persuaded, that if they served other gods, they would bring down upon themselves the punishments predicted by Moses.-Vide Michaelis, Comment. &c. vol. i. book ii. ch. iii. p. 155, &c.; Hora Mosaicæ, vol. i. p. 458; Faber's Origin of Pag. Idol. vol. iii. p. 561, &c. Townsend's Old Testament, vol. i. pp. 444 446.—CRITICA BIBLICA.

CHAPTER II.

Ver. 1. And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into a harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.

Most of the eastern cities contain one caravansary at least, for the reception of strangers; smaller places, called choultries, are erected by charitable persons, or munificent princes, in forests, plains, and deserts, for the accommodation of travellers. Near them is generally a well, and a cistern for the cattle: a bramin or faquir often resides there to furnish the pilgrim with food, and the few necessaries he may stand in need of. When benighted in a dreary solitude, travellers in India were thus certain, within a moderate distance, to find one of these buildings appropriated for their accommodation, and were often supplied with the necessaries of life gratis. (Forbes.) Dr. Franklin says, that among the Indians of North America, there is in every village a vacant dwelling, called the stranger's house. Hither the traveller is led by two old men, who procure him victuals, and skins to repose on, exacting nothing for the entertainment. Among the ancients, women generally kept houses of entertainment. "Among the Egyptians, the women carry on all commercial concerns, and keep taverns, while the men continue at home and weave." Herodotus asserts, that "the men were the slaves of the women in Egypt, and that it is stipulated in the marriage contract, that the woman shall be the ruler of her husband, and that he shall obey her in all things."-Burder.

CHAPTER III.

Ver. 15. And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest.)

The largest and most celebrated stream in Palestine, is the Jordan. It is much larger, according to Dr. Shaw, than all the brooks and streams of the Holy Land united together; and, excepting the Nile, is by far the most considerable river, either of the coast of Syria or of Barbary, He computed it to be about thirty yards broad, and found it nine feet deep at the brink. This river, which divides the country into two unequal parts, has been commonly said to issue from two fountains, or to be formed by the junction of two rivulets, the Jor and the Dan; but the assertion seems to be totally destitute of any solid foundation. The Jewish historian, Josephus, on the contrary, places its source at Phiala, a fountain which rises about fifteen miles from Cesarea Philippi, a little on the right hand, and not much out of the way to Trachonitis. It is called Phiala, or the Vial, from its round figure; its water is always of the same depth, the basin being brimful, without either shrink

ing or overflowing. From Phiala to Panion, which was long considered as the real source of Jordan, the river flows under ground. The secret of its subterraneous course was first discovered by Philip, the tetrarch of Trachonitis, who cast straws into the fountain of Phiala, which came out again at Panion. Leaving the cave of Panion, it crosses the bogs and fens of the lake Semichonitis; and after a course of fifteen miles, passes under the city of Julias, the ancient Bethsaida; then expands into a beautiful sheet of water, named the lake of Gennesareth; and after flowing a long way through the desert, empties itself into the lake Asphal tites, or Dead Sea. As the cave Panion lies at the foot of mount Lebanon, in the northern extremity of Canaan, and the lake Asphaltites extends to the southern extremity, the river Jordan pursues it course through the whole extent of the country from north to south. It is evident also, from the history of Josephus, that a wilderness or desert of considerable extent, stretched along the river Jordan in the times of the New Testament; which was undoubtedly the wilderness mentioned by the evangelists, where John the Baptist came preaching and baptizing. The Jordan has a considerable depth of water. Chateaubriand makes it six or seven feet deep close at the shore, and about fifty paces in breadth a considerable distance from its entrance into the Dead Sea. According to the computation of Volney, it is hardly sixty paces wide at the mouth; but the author of Letters from Palestine, states that the stream, when it enters the lake Asphaltites, is deep and rapid, pears from two to three hundred feet, and the current is rolling a considerable volume of waters; the width ap

so violent, that a Greek servant belonging to the author who attempted to cross it, though strong, active, and an excellent swimmer, found the undertaking impracticable. It may be said to have two banks, of which the inner marks the ordinary height of the stream; and the outer, its ancient elevation during the rainy season, or the melting of the snows on the summits of Lebanon. In the days of Joshua, and it is probable for many ages after his time, the har vest was one of the seasons when the Jordan overflowed his banks. This fact is distinctly recorded by the sacred historian: "And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest.") This happens in the first month of the Jewish year, which corresponds with March. But in modern times, (whether the rapidity of the current has worn the channel deeper than formerly, or whether its waters have taken some other direction,) the river seems to have forgotten his ancient greatness. When Maundrell visited Jordan on the thirtieth of March, the proper time for these inundations, he could discern no sign or probability of such overflowing; nay, so far was it from overflowing, that it ran, says our author, at least two yards below the brink of its channel. After having descended the outer bank, he went about a furlong upon the level strand, before he came to the immediate bank of the river. This inner bank was so thickly covered with bushes and trees, among which he observed the tamarisk, the willow, and the oleander, that he could see no water till he had made his way through them. In this entangled thicket, so conveniently planted near the cooling stream, and remote from the habitations of men, several kinds of wild beasts were accustomed to repose till the swelling of the river drove them from their retreats. This circumstance gave occasion to that beautiful allusion of the prophet: "He shall come up like a lion, from the swelling of Jordan, against the habitation of the strong." The figure is highly poetical and striking. It is not easy to present a more terrible image to the mind, than a lion roused from his den by the roar of the swelling river, and chafed and irritated by its rapid and successive encroachments on his chosen haunts, till forced to quit his last retreat, he ascends to the higher grounds and the open country, and turns the fierceness of his rage against the helpless sheep-cots, or the unsuspecting villages. A destroyer equally fierce, and cruel, and irresistible, the devoted Edomites were to find in Nebuchadnezzar and his armies. The water of the river, at the time of Mr. Maundrell's visit, was very turbid, and too rapid to allow a swimmer to stem its course. Its breadth might be about twenty yards; and in depth, it far exceeded his height. The rapidity and depth of the river, which are admitted by every traveller, although the volume of water

seems now to be much diminished, illustrate those parts of scripture, which mention the fords and passages of Jordan. It no longer indeed rolls down into the Salt Sea so majestic a stream as in the days of Joshua, yet its ordinary depth is still about ten or twelve feet, so that it cannot even at present be passed but at certain places. Of this well-known circumstance, the men of Gilead took advantage in the civil war, which they were compelled to wage with their brethren: " The Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: ... then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan." The people of Israel, under the command of Ehud, availed themselves of the same advantage in the war with Moab: "And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan towards Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over." But although the state of this river in modern times, completely justifies the incidental remarks of the sacred writers, it is evident, that Maundrell was disconcerted by the shallowness of the stream, at the time of the year when he expected to see it overflowing all its banks; and his embarrassment seems to have increased, when he contemplated the double margin within which it flowed. This difficulty, which has perhaps occurred to some others, may be explained by a remark which Dr. Pococke has made on the river Euphrates. "The bed of the Euphrates," says that writer, "was measured by some English gentlemen at Beer, and found to be six hundred and thirty yards broad; but the river only two hundred and fourteen yards over; that they thought it to be nine or ten feet deep in the middle; and were informed, that it sometimes rises twelve feet perpendicularly. He observed that it had an inner and outer bank; but says, it rarely overflows the inner bank: that when it does, they Sow watermelons and other fruits of that kind, as soon as the water retires, and have a great produce." From this passage, Mr. Harmer argues; Might not the overflowings of the Jordan be like those of the Euphrates, not annual, but much more rare ?" The difficulty, therefore, will be completely removed, by supposing that it does not, like the Nile, overflow every year, as some authors by mistake had supposed, but, like the Euphrates, only in some particular years; but when it does, it is in the time of harvest. If it did not in ancient times annually overflow its banks, the majesty of God in dividing its waters, to make way for Joshua and the armies of Israel, was certainly the more striking to the Canaanites; who, when they looked upon themselves as defended in an extraordinary manner by the casual swelling of the river, its breadth and rapidity being both so extremely increased, yet, found it in these circumstances part asunder, and leave a way on dry land for the people of Jehovah.

The casual overflowing of the river, in Mr. Harmer's opinion, seems to receive some confirmation from a passage in Josephus, where that writer informs his readers, that the Jordan was sometimes swelled in the spring, so as to be impassable in places where people were wont to go over in his time; for, speaking of a transaction on the fourth of the month Dystrus, which answers to our March, or, as others reckon, to February, he gives an account of great numbers of people who perished in this river, into which they were driven by their enemies; which, by the circumstances, appears to have happened in a few days after what was done on the fourth of Dystrus. But the solution offered by this respectable author is rather strained and unsatisfactory. The inspired writer of the book of Joshua uses language on that subject, which naturally suggests the idea of periodical inundations: "Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest." The present time certainly indicates the general habit of the subject to which it refers, and in this case, what commonly happens to the river. It may be swelled in the spring occasionally; but it is not easy to discover a reason for the general remark of the sacred writer, if the inundations in the time of harvest were not annual. The causes of these inundations, the melting of the snows on the top of Lebanon, and the former and latter rain, uniformly take place at their appointed seasons; but a steady periodical cause will certainly produce a corresponding effect. But if this reasoning be just, why did not Maundrell see the effect when he visited the river at the appointed time? This question may be answered by another, Why do the inundations even of the Nile sometimes fail? The reason is obvious; the rains in Abyssinia are not every season equally copious.

In the same manner, if the snows on Lebanon, and the periodical rains, are less abundant in some seasons, it will easily account for the state of the river when it was visited by Maundrell. Admitting the fact, that the volume of water in the Jordan is diminished, and that he never overflows his banks as in ancient times, that intelligent traveller himself has sufficiently accounted for the circumstance: some of the waters may be drained off by secret channels, which is not uncommon in those parts of the world; and if the rapidity of the current be so great that he could not swim against it, the depth of the channel must be greatly increased since the days of Joshua and the Judges. To these, some other causes of considerable power may be added; the present state of Lebanon, now for a long time deprived of its immense forests of cedar, which formerly exerted a powerful attraction on the humidity of the atmosphere, and served to accumulate the snows on the Sannin, while they screened from the burning rays of the sun, the fountains and rills that fed the Jordan and his tributary streams: and the great extent to which the declivities of that noble mountain have been subjected to the arts of cultivation, by the Maronites, and other nations, who have taken refuge in its sequestered retreats from the intolerable oppression of the Turks, by which its numerous streams have been still further diminished,-must, it is imagined, produce a very sensible difference in the volume of water which that river, once so celebrated for its full and majestic tide, now pours into the Salt Sea. Still, however, taking the mean depth of the stream during the whole year at nine feet, and admitting that it runs about two miles an hour, the Jordan will daily discharge into the Dead Sea, about 6,090,000 tons of water.

But although these causes must have produced a considerable diminution in the swellings of Jordan, we have the authority of a recent traveller for asserting, that they still take place at the appointed season, and exhibit a scene of no inconsiderable grandeur. In winter, the river overflows its narrow channel, which between the two principal lakes is not more than sixty or eighty feet broad, and, swelled by the rains, forms a sheet of water sometimes a quarter of a league in breadth. The time of its overflowing is generally in March, when the snows melt on the mountain of the Shaik; at which time, more than any other, its waters are troubled and of a yellow hue, and its course impetuous. The common receptacle into which the Jordan empties his waters, is the lake Asphaltites, from whence they are continually drained off by evaporation. Some writers, unable to find a discharge for the large body of water which is continually rushing into the lake, have been inclined to suspect, it had some communication with the Mediterranean; but, besides that we know of no such gulf, it has been demonstrated by accurate calculations, that evaporation is more than sufficient to carry off the waters of the river. It is in fact very considerable, and frequently becomes sensible to the eye, by the fogs with which the lake is covered at the rising of the sun, and which are afterward dispersed by the heat.

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How large the common receptacle of the Jordan was, before the destruction of Sodom, cannot now be determined with certainty; but it was much smaller than at present; the whole vale of Siddim, which, before that awful catas trophe, was crowded with cities, or covered with rich and extensive pastures, and fields of corn, being now buried in the waters of the lake. The course of the stream, which is to the southward, seems clearly to indicate, that the original basin was in the southern part of the present sea. But, although the waters of the river at first presented a much less extended surface to the action of the sun and the atmosphere, still a secret communication between the lake and the Mediterranean, is not perhaps necessary to account for their discharge. By the admission of Volney, evaporation is more than sufficient to carry them off at present: and if to this be added, the great quantity of water consumed in the cities, and required by the cultivator, to refresh his plantations and corn-fields, under the burning rays of an oriental sun, it is presumed, a cause equal to the effect is provided. This is not a mere conjecture, unsupported by historical facts; for only a very small portion of the Barrady, the principal river of Damascus, escapes from the gardens that environ the city, through which it is conducted in a thousand clear and winding streams, to maintain their freshness and verdure.-PAXTON.