* Josh. x. The same war is given rather differently in Judges i. 1-9, where the king is called Adoni-bezek.
** Josh. xi. As another Jabin appears in the history of Deborah, it has
[Illustration: 264.jpg THE JORDAN IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF JERICHO]
Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph in Lortet.
The country having been thus to a certain extent cleared, Joshua set about dividing the spoil, and assigned to each tribe his allotted portion of territory.* Such, in its main outlines, is the account given by the Hebrew chroniclers; but, if closely examined, it would appear that the Israelites did not act throughout with that unity of purpose and energy which they [the Hebrew chroniclers] were pleased to imagine. They did not gain possession of the land all at once, but established themselves in it gradually by detachments, some settling at the fords of Jericho,** others more to the north, and in the central valley of the Jordan as far up as She-chem.
**** The lot given to each tribe is described in Josh, xiii.- xxi. It has been maintained by some critics that there is a double rôle assigned to one and the same person, only that some maintain that the Jabin of Josh. xi. has been transferred to the time of the Judges, while others make out that the Jabin of Deborah was carried back to the time of the conquest.
** Renan thinks that the principal crossing must have taken place opposite Jericho, as is apparent from the account in Josh, ii., iii.
*** Carl Niebuhr believes that he has discovered the exact spot at the ford of Admah, near Succoth.
[Illustration: 265.jpg ONE OF THE WELLS OF BEERSHEBA]
Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph in Lortet.
The latter at once came into contact with a population having a higher civilization than themselves, and well equipped for a vigorous resistance; the walled towns which had defied the veterans of the Pharaohs had not much to fear from the bands of undisciplined Israelites wandering in their neighbourhood. Properly speaking, there were no pitched battles between them, but rather a succession of raids or skirmishes, in which several citadels would successively fall into the hands of the invaders. Many of these strongholds, harassed by repeated attacks, would prefer to come to terms with the enemy, and would cede or sell them some portion of their territory; others would open their gates freely to the strangers, and their inhabitants would ally themselves by intermarriage with the Hebrews. Judah and the remaining descendants of Simeon and Levi established themselves in the south; Levi comprised but a small number of families, and made no important settlements; whereas Judah took possession of nearly the whole of the mountain district separating the Shephelah from the western shores of the Dead Sea, while Simeon made its abode close by on the borders of the desert around the wells of Beersheba.
*