Twelve Studies on the Making of a Nation: The Beginnings of Israel's HistoryKent, Charles Foster
Religion
Twelve Studies on the Making of a Nation: The Beginnings of Israel's History
Kent, Charles Foster
Jews -- History
The ruins of the ancient Canaanite town rise between forty and
fifty feet above the plain. It is an oblong mound containing
altogether about twelve acres. The excavations have disclosed a
large part of the encircling wall. It was a construction of
excellent workmanship which still stands practically intact,
testifying to the accuracy of the early Hebrew tradition. Its
foundation is a wall of rubble sixteen feet high and six to eight
feet thick, sloping inward. On the top of this foundation, which
rested on the native rock, was built a supplemental wall of burnt
brick six or seven feet in thickness and rising even now in its
ruined condition on an average eight feet above the lower wall.
Thus the original wall must have towered between twenty and thirty
feet above the plain. At the northern end of the city stood the
citadel, made of unburnt brick, three stories high. Even the stone
staircase which led to the top is still intact.
According to these investigators the late tradition that these
walls fell flat to the earth as the result of a miracle finds no
confirmation in the ruins themselves. The older Hebrew account,
however, in their judgment agrees perfectly with the evidence
revealed by the spade of the excavator. In imagination it is easy
to follow the perilous journey of the Hebrew spies and to
appreciate the importance of the negotiations by which they secured
the co-operation of Rahab and of the clan within Jericho which she
represented. Later come the Hebrew hordes from across the Jordan
bearing with them the ark which symbolized to them the presence of
Jehovah, who had led them on to victory in many an early battle.
Behind their impregnable walls the inhabitants of Jericho must have
laughed scornfully at the desert host, that seemed utterly
incapable of an effective attack or of a protracted siege.
According to many modern interpreters the earliest Hebrew host
marched silently about the Canaanite stronghold. At first the
inhabitants of Jericho, accustomed to Arab strategy, undoubtedly
held themselves ready for defence. When no attack came, their
vigilance was gradually relaxed. At last on the seventh day, when
conditions were favorable, at the preconcerted signal, a trumpet
blast, the Hebrews rushed toward the walls, the gates were probably
opened by their allies within the city, and Jericho was quickly
captured. The method of attack recorded in the prophetic narrative
was very similar to the strategy used a little later by the Hebrews
in the capture of the smaller towns of Ai and Bethel. They are the
methods still employed by the Bedouins in their attacks upon the
outposts of Palestine.
The fierce nomadic instincts of these early Hebrew warriors are
revealed by the fate which they visited upon Jericho and its
inhabitants. The recent excavations confirm the Biblical testimony
that for several centuries after its initial capture the ancient
town was left a heap of ruins.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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