and showed them the fruit of the land. They reported to Moses, 'We went to the land to which you sent us; and it indeed abounds in milk and honey; and this is some of its fruit. But the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are very large and fortified; moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the South Country and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites in the highlands, and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.' Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, 'Let us go up at once and take possession of it, for we are well able to conquer it.' But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We are not able to conquer the people, for they are stronger than we, and all the people whom we saw there are exceedingly tall and large. There we saw the giants; we were as grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were to them.' All the people wept that night and cried out, "Why did Jehovah bring us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be taken captive. Were it not better for us to return to Egypt?' So they said to one another, 'Let us appoint a chief and return to Egypt.' Then Moses and Aaron prostrated themselves before all the assembled Israelites, and Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the assembled Israelites, "The land which we went to explore is an exceedingly good land. If Jehovah is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which abounds in milk and honey. Only do not rebel against Jehovah; fear not the people of the land for they are our source of supply. Their defense is taken away from over them, and Jehovah is with us; fear them not.' But the people would not trust Jehovah. 48. THE PENALTY FOR THE PEOPLE'S LACK OF FAITH Then Jehovah said to Moses, 'How long will this people scorn me? How long will they refuse to trust me in spite of all the signs which I have performed in their midst? I will afflict them with a pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make you and your clan a nation greater and mightier than theirs.' But Moses said to Jehovah, 'When the Egyptians hear it (for thou broughtest this people by thy might from their midst), they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that thou, O Jehovah, art in the midst of this people, and that thou, O Jehovah, dost appear visibly, and that thy cloud stands over them, and that thou goest before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt put all this people to death, then the nations which have heard about thee will say, "Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he promised to them with an oath, he has slain them in the wilderness." But now let my Lord exert his great power, for as thou hast said, "Jehovah is slow to show anger and full of loving-kindness, forgiving guilt and wrong-doing, although he does not leave them unpunished, but visits the guilt of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations." Pardon, I pray thee, the guilt of this people according to thy great loving-kindness, even as thou hast forgiven them from the time they left Egypt even until now.' Jehovah said, 'I have pardoned as you have requested; but as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness and yet have tested me these ten times and have not listened to my voice shall see the land which I have promised with an oath to their fathers, neither shall any of those who scorn me see it. But I will bring my servant Caleb to the land to which he went, because he has been animated by another spirit and has fully followed me, and his descendants shall possess it. But your little ones, who, you said, would be captives of war, I will bring in, and they shall possess the land which you have rejected. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and your children shall be wanderers there forty years and shall suffer for your unfaithfulness until your carcasses have all decayed in the wilderness.' 49. THE ADVANCE TOWARD THE EAST-JORDAN Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom with this message: 'Your kinsmen the Israelites say, "You know all the hardship that has befallen us: how our fathers went down into Egypt and we lived in Egypt a long time, and how the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers. But when we cried to Jehovah, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. Now we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. I beg of you, let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field nor vineyard, nor will we drink of the water of the wells. We will go along the main highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left until we have passed your border." Edom answered the Israelites, 'You shall not pass through my territory, for if you do, I will come against you with the sword.' The Israelites said to the king of Edom, 'We will go up by the main, highway, and if we and our cattle drink of your water, we will pay the price of it. Only we should like to pass through on foot and no harm will be done.' But the king of Edom said, 'You shall not pass through.' And Edom came out against Israel with a mighty army and a strong force. Thus Edom refused to permit Israel to pass through his territory and Israel turned away from him. Then the Israelites journeyed from Kadesh by the way leading to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient because of the journey. They complained openly against God and against Moses, 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread and no water, and we loathe this vile food.' Then Jehovah sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many of the Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned in that we have complained against Jehovah and against you. Intercede with Jehovah that he take away the serpents from us.' So Moses interceded for the people; and Jehovah said to Moses, 'Make a poisonous serpent and set it on a pole; then any one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.' So Moses made a serpent of bronze and set it upon a pole, and thereafter, if a serpent had bitten any one and the man looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Then the Israelites camped in the wilderness east of Moab. From there they travelled on and camped in the valley of the brook Zered. After journeying from there they camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness which stretches out from the territory of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the boundary between Moab and the Amorites. From there the Israelites journeyed to Beer [Well]. That is the well where Jehovah said to Moses, 'Gather the people together and I will give them water.' Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well; sing a song to it, 50. THE VICTORIES OVER THE AMORITES Then Israel sent this message to Sihon, king of the Amorites, 'Let me now pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard; we will not drink from the water of the wells. We will go along the main highway, until we have passed through your territory.' Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory, but gathered all his people together and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and he came to Jahaz, where he fought against Israel. But Israel defeated him in battle and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the territory of the Ammonites, for Jazer was the border of the Ammonites. Israel also took all these cities and lived in the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in its dependent villages; for Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land away from him as far as the Arnon. Therefore the bards sing: Come to Heshbon; build it again; |