The Garden of Eden 10

The Garden of Eden 10

And Joshua said, “My son, tell me what you have done. Do not hide

anything from me.”

 

And Achan answered, “I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel. When

we took Jericho, I saw a shining wedge of gold, and a goodly garment,

and a pile of silver pieces, and I coveted them and carried them away

and hid them in my tent. There they are, buried in the earth.”

 

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to Achan’s tent, and there they

found even as Achan had said. And they took the gold and silver and the

garment and brought them to Joshua. And Joshua led Achan apart into a

valley, and said, “Why hast thou troubled Israel? The Lord shall trouble

thee this day.” And Joshua commanded, and the soldiers stoned Achan with

stones until he died, and a great heap of stones was piled upon his

body.

 

Then Joshua attacked Ai again. But this time he was more careful. He

sent a great company of soldiers by night into an ambush behind the

town. And in the morning he marched up the hill, and when the men of Ai

came out again, very bold and fierce, he pretended to be frightened and

made his soldiers run away, so that the men of Ai ran after them. All

the men of Ai ran out of the town

 

[Illustration: SO THEY STONED ACHAN]

 

after the men of Israel. Then suddenly Joshua stopped and lifted up his

spear, and the soldiers in the ambush saw it and they ran into Ai and

began to burn the town. And the men of Ai looked back, and there was the

whole town on fire. So they were between two armies. The army of the

ambush was at the top of the hill, and the army which had pretended to

run away was at the bottom. Thus the men of Ai were defeated with a

great defeat.

 

 

 

 

XVI

 

THE RELIEF OF GIBEON

 

 

High among the hills of the Promised Land lay a town called Gibeon. Men

who ran away from the defeat at Ai came straggling into Gibeon, and told

the news. “The Children of Israel,” they said, “are coming with a great

army. They have destroyed Jericho and Ai, and are on the march for

Gibeon.” Then the Gibeonites held a council and considered what to do.

And they took men and dressed them in the oldest clothes which they

could find, all rags and tatters, and put upon their feet the oldest

shoes, all holes and patches, and gave them baskets in which were loaves

of dry and mouldy bread. And they said, “Go down now to the camp of

Israel and find Joshua and tell him thus and so.”

 

So down they went, and came into the camp, walking very slowly, as if

their feet were sore after a long journey, and as if they were too tired

to go another step.

 

And they said, “We come from a far country to ask you to make a league

of peace with us.”

 

And the men of Israel said, “How do we know that you are telling us the

truth? It may be that you are our neighbors.” And they brought them to

Joshua, and Joshua said, “Who are you, and from whence do you come?”

 

And the men of Gibeon answered, “From a very far country. Why, these

shoes we put on new the day we came away; and see them now. These

clothes we had made for this journey, and we have worn them out on the

way. This bread was fresh baked; it was taken hot out of the oven as we

started; and now it is all dry and mouldy. The land where we live is

over the hills and far away, but even there we have heard about you, and

we have come to ask you to give us a promise of peace.”

 

Then Joshua believed that what they said was true, and he made them a

solemn promise that there should be peace between the men of Israel and

the men of Gibeon. So they journeyed on together and after three days

they came to a town among the hills, and Joshua said, “What town is

this?” And the men of Gibeon answered, “This is Gibeon, where we live.

But you have promised that you will be at peace with us. You must not

destroy Gibeon as you destroyed Jericho and Ai.” And the Children of

Israel were very angry, and they said, “Come, let us kill them, and let

us burn their city, for they lied to us.” But Joshua answered, “No, we

have given them our promise, and we must do as we said.” So they let

them live; but they made them their servants, to cut wood and draw

water.

 

Now the kings of five neighboring cities, when they heard that the men

of Gibeon had made peace with the men of Israel, were much displeased.

And they gathered their armies together and came up against Gibeon. And

the Gibeonites sent messengers to Joshua, saying, “Come up to us quickly

and save us and help us, for now that we have become your friends all of

our neighbors have become our enemies.” So Joshua gathered together all

the people of war and all the mighty men of valor to fight with the

kings who were encamped about the walls of Gibeon. All night they

climbed the hills, and came upon the kings suddenly in the early

morning, while all the camp was sleeping. And the kings and all their

men waked up in a great fright when they heard the trumpets blowing and

the men of Israel shouting, and they ran away, and the men of Israel ran

after them. And there was a great storm that day of rain and hail, and

the hailstones beat in the faces of the kings’ men. As for the five

kings, they hid themselves in a cave.

 

So Joshua and his soldiers chased the enemy down the long valley. And

somebody told Joshua where the kings had gone, and he had his men block

up the mouth of the cave and leave a guard there, while the rest of the

army fought the battle. Now in the afternoon, as the sun began to go

down and the moon began to shine with a faint light, like a dim ball of

gray silver, Joshua wished that the day might last all night. For he

knew that as soon as it became dark the battle would be over and the

enemy would escape. So he cried aloud and said. “Sun, stand thou still

upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.” And it seemed as

if the sun and moon stood still, that day was so long and the victory

was so great. And long after, the soldiers sang about it in their war

songs: how the stars in the sky fought on the side of Israel, and the

sun and moon stood still to see the battle.

 

But at last the soldiers came back from following the enemy. And Joshua

said, “Open the mouth of the cave, and bring those five kings unto me

out of the cave.” So they took away the great stones and brought the

five kings. And Joshua made the five kings lie upon the ground before

all the army, and he called his captains and said, “Come near, and put

your feet upon the necks of these kings.” And they came near and put

their feet upon the necks of them. And Joshua said, “Fear not, be strong

and of good courage; for thus shall the Lord do unto all your enemies

against whom ye fight.”

 

 

 

 

XVII

 

THE BATTLE OF THE GREAT PLAIN

 

 

Right across the Promised Land, between the river and the sea, lay a

great plain. Mountains stood about it on every side, and through the

midst of it ran a winding river, called the Kishon. Some of the tribes

of Israel had settled among the hills on the north; others had settled

among the hills on the south. But the plain itself was held by the

enemy. They had a king named Jabin, and a general named Sisera, and nine

hundred chariots of iron. And for twenty years, they mightily oppressed

the Children of Israel. They were so strong and cruel that the Children

of Israel did not dare to show themselves, but went along the by-paths,

or through the woods, keeping out of sight. And none of them had either

shield or spear.

 

Now there was a woman in the land who was braver than any of the men,

and her name was Deborah. She was not only brave, but wise, so that

people used to come to her from all directions to ask her questions, and

she told them what to do. Thus she sat every day under a palm tree,

listening to the people and answering them. Many who came told Deborah

how poor and miserable they were, and how King Jabin’s men, the

Canaanites, troubled them, and stole all that they had, and were very

bad to them. So Deborah knew how the land was filled with suffering.

 

At last, one day, she sent for a man named Barak. “Barak,” she said, as

he came under the palm tree, “you know how the Canaanites are treating

our people, day by day, and year by year, and how since Joshua died we

have no leader. We must stop it. You must take the lead. God has spoken

in my soul, and has told me that you are the man, and that this is the

time. Go now, and get an army.”

 

But Barak said, “Deborah, we are all afraid, and we have no shields or

spears, nothing but sticks out of the woods, and Sisera has nine hundred

chariots of iron. Am I to do this thing alone, or will you go with me?

If you will go with me, I will go: but if you will not go with me, I

will not go.”

 

And Deborah answered, “I will surely go with you, but it will be a woman

and not a man who shall have the honor of the victory.”

 

So Barak sent messengers to all the tribes who lived among the hills by

the Great Plain. Some of the tribes said that they would not come, some

said that they would think about it; but Issachar and Zebulun and

Naphtali sent soldiers, until Barak and Deborah had ten thousand men. In

the meantime, Sisera gathered his great army, thousands upon thousands

of footmen, and thousands upon thousands of prancing horses, and nine

hundred chariots of iron. And Barak and his soldiers were on the side of

Mount Tabor, and Sisera and his soldiers were in the Great Plain. And

there came a storm out of the north, as if the clouds were an army in

the sky pouring water out of great buckets. And Deborah cried, “Up,

Barak; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into

thine hand.” And Barak rose up and his men with him, and down they

charged over the side of the mountain. And the Great Plain was filled

with mud by the beating of the rain, so that the wheels of the chariots

sank like the wheels of Pharaoh’s chariots in the Red Sea. And the

Kishon overflowed its banks. And the army of Sisera fled east and west, and the army of Barak followed them