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These I hid in the earth under my tent, the garment above, and the gold and silver under it."

Then Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent, and found the things as Achan had said. Then Joshua said, "Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day." And Israel stoned Achan with stones that he died; and his whole house and all his possessions were destroyed. In the place where this was done was raised a great heap of stones, and the place was called from that day the Valley of Trouble.1

After this Joshua and the people took courage again, and went up against Ai. But first he set an ambush of five thousand men in the valley between Ai and Bethel (for Bethel is two miles to the westward of Ai), and agreed with them that he and the rest of the host should go up against the city openly from the eastward, and make a pretence of flight. "And when we flee," said he, "and the men of Ai pursue us, do ye rise up and take the city." When the king of Ai saw the host of Israel, for it had taken its place on the other side of the valley, he and his people went out against it, knowing nothing of the ambush which had been laid on the other side of his city. And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before the king of Ai and his people, and fled by the way of the wilderness-that is to say, towards Jericho and Jordan. There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel; all pursued after Joshua; and the gates were open. Then Joshua

the present time, would be for the coined money (the two hundred shekels) £40, and for the bullion (the wedge of gold) £95. What the actual value at that time would have been it is impossible to calculate exactly, but it would probably be much more.

1 The prophet Hosea (ii. 15) speaks of this valley of trouble as becoming a "door of hope," and Isaiah enumerates among the blessings of a happier age to come the fact that the valley of trouble shall become "a place for the herds to lie down in " (lxv. 10).

lifted up his spear, and pointed it towards Ai; for this had been agreed upon for a signal. Then the men that lay in ambush rose up and entered the city, and set it on fire. And when Joshua and the host saw the smoke of the city rising up to heaven, they turned against the men of Ai. At the same time they who had taken the city came down against them from behind. So the men of Ai were taken in the midst of Israel, with the host on one side and the men of the ambush on the other. None could escape. As for the king, he was taken alive; him Joshua hanged upon a tree. When the sun was set Joshua commanded that they should take down his carcase from the tree and cast it before the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones.

II

When the kings of the Canaanites heard how Jericho and Ai had been destroyed, they gathered themselves together with one accord to fight against Israel; but the men of one of the cities of the Hivites, Gibeon by name, bethought them of a device by which they might save themselves. They sent ambassadors to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal; for Joshua had led the host back to the camp. The men took old sacks upon their asses, and the bottles of skin in which they carried their wine had been torn and sown again, and their shoes were patched, and their garments old, and their bread dry and mouldy. In this plight they came to Gilgal, and said to Joshua, "We are come from a far country now therefore make a league with us."

Joshua said to them, "Peradventure ye dwell near us; how then shall we make a league with you? for our

God hath forbidden us to make leagues with the people of this country. Tell us now who are ye, and whence do ye come?"

The Gibeonites answered, "Thy servants are come from a very far country because of the name of the Lord thy God. For we have heard the fame of Him and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond Jordan.1 Therefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, Take food with you for your journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, We are your servants: therefore now make a league with us. See now this our bread that we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth is dry and mouldy; and these bottles were new, and now they are torn; and our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of our very long journey."

Then Joshua and the elders took of the food which the Gibeonites offered them in token of friendship; and Joshua made a league with them, and the elders confirmed it with an oath.

But three days afterwards they heard that they were their neighbours and dwelt among them. Then Joshua sent an army from the camp to Gibeon, which came to it on the third day. With Gibeon were confederate three cities-Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim. The people were wroth with the princes because they had made a league with these cities. But the princes said, "We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel; therefore we may not touch them. This will we do; we will let them live, lest wrath come upon us, because of the oath which we

1 It is to be noted that they keep up their character as strangers from a distant country by making no mention of recent events-the destruction of Jericho and Ai. Of these they could not be supposed to have heard.

sware unto them.

But we will make them hewers of

wood and drawers of water to all the people."

Then Joshua said to the Gibeonites, "Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when in truth ye dwell among us? Therefore ye shall be bondsmen for ever. Ye shall hew wood and draw water for us, especially for the house of our God.

The Gibeonites answered, "We were afraid. For we had heard that the Lord your God had commanded His servant Moses to destroy all the inhabitants of the land. Therefore we did this thing. But now we are in thy hand; as it seemeth right and good unto thee to do unto us, do."

And Joshua did as he had said.1

And when Adoni-zedek,2 king of Jerusalem, heard how the Gibeonites had made peace with Israel, he was greatly troubled, for Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities. He sent therefore to the other kings that were confederate with him, that is to say, the kings of Hebron, of Jarmuth, of Lachish, and of Eglon; and they and all their hosts went up, and encamped against Gibeon, and made war upon it.

Then the Gibeonites sent in haste to Joshua, saying, "The kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains3 are gathered together against us; tarry not therefore to come up and save us and help us." So Joshua and

1 The Gibeonites are spoken of throughout the history of Israel. Saul's attempt to destroy them was evidently regarded as a great crime (see 2 Sam. xv. 1-9). They appear in the genealogies of Chronicles and Ezra.

2 Adoni-zedek means "Lord of Righteousness." The Melchizedek of Abraham's time ("King of Righteousness") was probably king of the same city. “King of Salem,” the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (vii. 1) calls him.

3 As a matter of fact the attacking host came in a large measure from the lowlands. But Jerusalem, the chief of the confederacy, may be said to be among the mountains; nor were the Gibeonites in their alarm likely to be very exact.

the bravest of the host came up from the camp at Gilgal. All night they marched, for Gibeon was distant fifteen miles from Gilgal, but the Amorites knew nothing of their coming. And when they came up from out of the valley on to the plain before Gibeon, the enemy was sore dismayed, and turned their backs, and fled.

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Some of them fled to Beth-horon, and some to their own cities. Those that took the road to Beth-horon fled with all speed down the pass that leads from Bethhoron the Upper to Beth-horon the Lower.1 And as they were on the way, Israel following after them, a great hailstorm fell on them. They were more that died from the hail-stones than they that were slain by

1 The distance between the two places is two miles, and the pass falls in that space about seven hundred feet.

I

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