s, a certain Caleb, all
the men reported that the cities were strongly fortified and the
inhabitants so warlike that an invasion was out of the question. The
people adopted this "majority report" in spite of the protests of
Moses. It is probable that the life in Egypt, with something of ease
and luxury for a time, and then so many years of slavery, had sapped
their courage and will power. At any rate, after a brief encounter
with some of the tribesmen nearby, they fled in panic into the desert
again.

THE WILDERNESS WANDERINGS

There followed, for a generation and more, a period of training
somewhat like that which Boy Scouts receive, or should receive, on
their "hikes" and camping trips. They learned to be independent and
resourceful. It was at times very difficult to find food for
themselves, or pasture for their sheep, and there was nothing to eat
but the "manna," which they believed their God provided for them, and
which was perhaps in the nature of an edible moss or lichen. At times
there was a terrible scarcity of water. Always there was the danger of
losing their way on those trackless wastes, and in this matter also
they learned to look to their God as their pillar of cloud by day and
their pillar of fire by night, guiding them from oasis to oasis in
their search for food and pasturage. Then there were wild beasts and
poisonous serpents and, worst of all, hostile tribes with whom more
than once they had to fight for their lives.

=Gaining a foothold east of the Jordan.=--All these years of wandering
were spent mostly in the desert south of Canaan. Later they worked
their way around the lower end of the Dead Sea to the east toward what
was later known as the land of Gilead, on the eastern side of the
Jordan River.

This region is very fertile and was always noted in Bible times for
its fat cattle. But its rolling plains lie open and defenseless toward
the desert. Here under Moses' leadership the Hebrews were able to
conquer one or two of the petty local chieftains, and thus gained a
foothold from which they might some time make a sally across the River
Jordan into central Canaan itself.

=The death of Moses.=--In this eastern country Moses died. According
to the Hebrew story, Jehovah gave him a view of the land of Canaan
from one of the high mountains overlooking the Jordan River, after
which death came. And "no man knoweth of his sepulcher to this day."
He had been loyal to the divine call which had com