Above the Amorite wall at _Tell Hesy_ Mr Petrie finds 5 feet of dust and rolled stones corresponding to the barbaric period of the Judges; then a wall 13 feet thick, probably belonging to Rehoboam’s fortifications of Lachish (2 Chron. xi. 9), and above this successive rebuildings until the city is finally destroyed about 500 B. C. The mound is full of potsherds, and the good fortune of such a grand section as that of the east face from top to bottom, affords at one stroke a series of all the varieties of pottery extending through a thousand years. “We now know for certain,” Mr Petrie says, “the characteristics of Amorite pottery, of earlier Jewish, and later Jewish influenced by Greek trade, and we can trace the importation and the influence of Phœnician pottery. In future all the _tells_ and ruins of the country will at once reveal their age by the potsherds which cover them.” Lachish, with its wall 28 feet in thickness, is a specimen of the Amorite cities which Joshua overthrew in the south. But now the kings of the north are alarmed, and Jabin king of Hazor gathers together the tribes of the Lebanon. He calls to his assistance the kings of the Jordan Valley, the kings of the Sharon Plain, with the Jebusites and all who are willing to come. The battle takes place near the Waters of Merom. The Canaanites are furnished with chariots and horses, and the Israelites, being without such helps, are prudently posted on the hills. We read that Joshua “fell upon” the foe, down the slopes, and drove them before him, on the west as far as to Zidon, and on the east to the valley of Mizpeh: he burned their chariots, hamstrung their horses, and again “left none remaining.” So now the north as well as the south of the hill country is subdued; Joshua settles four tribes in these northern districts, and the Sea of Galilee becomes a Hebrew lake. There is no need any more to come back all the way to Gilgal, for no foe is left to dispute their occupation anywhere, and the armies only return as far as Shiloh, in the centre of the hills, and there set up “the Tent of Meeting.” Nor is there need any longer to detain the two and a half tribes from the east of Jordan who have come across to assist in the conquest. So the soldiers of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh are sent back to their homes. “And when they came to the region about Jordan that is in the land of Canaan” they built there an altar--“a great altar to see to,” and which was afterwards called “Ed” or Witness. Their brethren were so indignant at this action--regarding it as heathen worship, and rebellion against the God of Israel--that they thought of going to war against them. However, they prudently sent envoys to demand an explanation, and the explanation was perfectly satisfactory.