It contains some probable traces of D (in vii. 5, 7, 11 seq., 15, 25) and P (in vv. 1, 18, 24 seq.). The capture of Ai has marks of the same dual origin as the preceding chapters (cf. viii. 3a with 10, and contrast viii. 3-9 with v. 12; vv. 5-7 with 18, 26; v. 19 with 28). The general resemblance between chs. vii.-viii. and the war with Benjamin (Judges xx.) should be noticed. _Conquests in Palestine._--The erection of the altar, not at the scene of battle (cf. 1 Sam. xiv. 35) but on Mt Ebal (viii. 30-35, D), presupposes the conquest of central Palestine and the removal of the ark from Gilgal. These, however, are not narrated, and, unless some account of them has been replaced by the present passage, this portion of the conquest was ignored. Possibly the passage is not in its original position: in the Septuagint it appears after ix. 2, while Josephus (_Ant._ v. 1, 19) and the Samaritan book of Joshua read it before ch. xiii.; Dillmann, however, would place it after xi. 23. The capture of Jericho and Ai is followed by the successful stratagem of the Gibeonites to make peace with Israel (ix.). This involves them in a war with the southern Canaanites; Joshua intervenes and obtains a crowning victory (x.). The camp is still at Gilgal. A similar conquest of the northern Canaanites follows (xi.), and the first part of the book concludes with a summary of the results of the Israelite invasion (xii.). No satisfactory explanation of viii. 30-35 has been found, yet ix. 1 seq. seems to show that it was the prelude to the Canaanite wars. In contrast to the absence of any reference to the occupation of central Palestine, the conquest of the south was current in several divergent traditions. Two records are blended in ix.; one narrates the covenant with the Gibeonites, the other that with the Hivites (properly Hivvites); and in the latter Joshua has no place (vv. 4 seq., 6b, 7, 11-14, &c.). The former has additions by D (vv. 9b, 10, 24 seq.) and by P (v. 15 last clause, 17-21); the latter, in accordance with the legislation of its day (posterior to Ezek. xliv. 6 sqq.), does not allow the Gibeonites to minister to the temple or altar, but merely to the "congregation," a characteristic post-exilic term (contrast vv. 21 and 23; and on 27 see Sept. and commentaries). The story of the covenant conflicts with the notice that Gibeon was still an independent Canaanite city in David's time (2 Sam. xxi. 2). The defeat of the southern coalition is based, as the doublets show, upon two sources; the war arises from two causes (vengeance upon the Gibeonites, and the attempt to overthrow Israel), and concludes with a twofold victory: in x. 16-24 the kings are pursued to Makkedah and slain, in v. 11 they are smitten by a great hailstorm in their flight to Azekah (cf. 1 Sam. vii. 10, xiv. 15, in the same district). Redactional links have been added, apparently by D, to whom is