oreover, that conquest, after
all, was not the chief method by which the Hebrews made themselves
masters of Canaan. After they had established themselves, here and
there, in certain towns, and certain sections of the country, they
gradually made friends with their Canaanite neighbors whom they had
not been able to conquer at the beginning. In time their children
intermarried with the children of the Canaanites until at last there
came to be one nation, which was known as the Hebrews, or the Children
of Israel.

STUDY TOPICS

1. Read any one of the following sections: Numbers 11. 13-14, 20, 21;
Deuteronomy 34; Joshua 1. 6.

2. Draw a map showing in a general way the movements of the Hebrews
described in this chapter.

3. Look up in the Bible dictionary, "Manna," "Spies," "Kadesh,"
"Jericho."

4. Compare the conquest of Canaan with the treatment of the American
Indians by white settlers.

5. How should the natives of Africa be treated in the opening up of
Africa to civilization?

CHAPTER VII

LEARNING TO BE FARMERS

The wandering Hebrew shepherds were not savages nor barbarians. In
many ways Abraham and his friends were cultured, civilized people; but
their civilization was of a different kind from that of the settled
farmers and villagers of Canaan. So when the Hebrews crossed the
Jordan and gradually fought their way to the highland fields and
villages where they were able to settle down and live as farmers and
vineyard keepers instead of shepherds, they soon found that they had
much to learn. The only teachers to whom they could turn were the
Canaanites. Very soon, therefore, they made friends with their
Canaanite neighbors.

"Tell us how to plant wheat," the Hebrews said to them, for example;
or, "Will you please show us how to prune these grape vines?" or,
"Won't you give us a few lessons in driving oxen? We can't make these
young steers pull."

LEARNING TO RAISE AND USE CATTLE

This lesson about the training and care of cattle was one of the first
and most necessary parts of their new education. As shepherds they
knew all about sheep and goats; and this knowledge was still valuable,
for on many a Canaanite hillside goats could thrive where no other
animal could live. But as farmers they must also raise cattle, not
only because of the milk, and the beef, but because they needed the
oxen to draw their carts and plows and harrows. Oxen and asses, not
horses, were the work animals of the f