=6. From the high table-land= of Moab the Israelites descended to the eastern Jordan plains a few miles north of the Dead Sea, and soon crossed the river and landed upon the wide plain west of the banks. The crossing must have occupied the bed of the river for a long distance.
On entrance upon the land of Canaan proper the hosts of Israel renewedly consecrated themselves to the service of Jehovah at Gilgal. They accepted Joshua as their commander, and began their first attempt at subduing the Canaanites by an attack on Jericho.
=7. The first of these names= represents simply a gathering-place of the Israelites when the dedication of themselves to the Lord took place. Its position is supposed to have been at a place still called Gilgal, in the Arabic Jiljulieh, nearly three miles west of the Jordan and six miles north-northwest of its mouth. Jericho at this time was near the present Ain es Sultan, a very fine spring one and a quarter miles northwest from the present little Arab village called Er Riha or Jericho by travellers, and five miles west of the river. After its destruction at this time it was rebuilt B. C. 918, 1 Kin. 16:34, at the mouth of the valley of the Kelt, which is the ancient valley of Achor, and existed at that place in the time of our Saviour. The present miserable Arab village Er Riha and the tower near it were built during the crusades.
The name Gilgal signifies a “rolling” and also a “circle,” and probably the twelve stones taken from the bed of the Jordan were placed in the form of a circle, making the real significance more emphatic, but the true significance of the name is given in the passage, Josh. 5:9, as a rolling off “the reproach of Egypt,” as described in that chapter. There were two other towns bearing this name of which mention is made hereafter.
=8. Jericho= was inhabited =at this time= by a luxurious people and one that evidently had profited greatly by the richness of the vast plain of the Jordan. The mention of the precious metals, “the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron,” Josh. 6:19, the “goodly Babylonish garment,” the 200 shekels of silver, the wedge of gold of 50 shekels’ weight stolen by Achan, Josh. 7:21, and the references to Baal-peor in the historic connection, prove their wealth and suggest the nature of their idolatry. Recent historic discoveries show the cruelty and fearful depravity of the people with whom they were associated. They were therefore given over to destruction in accordance with the customs of that time.