ight into Egypt. Joab put to the sword
all the able-bodied combatants, and established garrisons at Petra,
Elath, and Eziongeber* on the Red Sea. David dedicated the spoils to the
Lord, "who gave victory to David wherever he went."

Neither Elath nor Eziongeber are here mentioned, but 1 Kings
ix. 25-28 and 2 Chron. viii. 17, 18 prove that these places
had been occupied by David. For all that concerns Hadad, see
1 Kings xi. 15-20.

Southern Syria had found its master: were the Hebrews going to pursue
their success, and undertake in the central and northern regions a
work of conquest which had baffled the efforts of all their
predecessors--Canaanites, Amorites, and Hittites? The Assyrians, thrown
back on the Tigris, were at this time leading a sort of vegetative
existence in obscurity; and, as for Egypt, it would seem to have
forgotten that it ever had possessions in Asia. There was, therefore,
nothing to be feared from foreign intervention should the Hebrew be
inclined to weld into a single state the nations lying between the
Euphrates and the Red Sea.

[Illustration: 354.jpg THE SITE OF RABBATH-AMON, SEEN FROM THE WEST]

Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 377 of the _Palestine
Exploration Fund._

Unfortunately, the Israelites had not the necessary characteristics of
a conquering people. Their history from the time of their entry into
Canaan showed, it is true, that they were by no means incapable of
enthusiasm and solidarity: a leader with the needful energy and good
fortune to inspire them with confidence could rouse them from their
self-satisfied indolence, and band them together for a great effort.
But such concentration of purpose was ephemeral in its nature, and
disappeared with the chief who had brought it about. In his absence,
or when the danger he had pointed out was no longer imminent, they fell
back instinctively into their usual state of apathy and disorganisation.
Their nomadic temperament, which two centuries of a sedentary existence
had not seriously modified, disposed them to give way to tribal
quarrels, to keep up hereditary vendettas, to break out into sudden
tumults, or to make pillaging expeditions into their neighbours'
territories. Long wars, requiring the maintenance of a permanent army,
the continual levying of troops and taxes, and a prolonged effort to
keep what they had acquired, were repugnant to them. The kingdom
which David had founded owed its permane