h
which lay on the borders of the South Country. The capture of
these six or seven outposts represents the first stage in the
conquest and settlement of Palestine. It was significant because
it meant that the people from the wilderness had gained a foothold
in the land where they ultimately found their home. It inaugurated
Israel's pioneer period. The Hebrews were no longer homeless
wanderers in the desert, nor sojourners in a foreign land. At this
point Israel's history as a nation properly begins, although the
complete union of the tribes was not consummated until nearly a
century later.

IV.

WAYS BY WHICH THE ISRAELITES WON THEIR HOMES.

The impression conveyed by the later passages in the book of Joshua
that the Hebrews within a period of seven years became complete
masters of the land of Canaan is different from that made by the
older records in Judges. These indicate that the process was
gradual, extending through several generations. Except at two or
three great crises, this conquest appears to have been peaceful
rather than by the sword, a process of settlement and colonization
rather than of capture. Today throughout many parts of Palestine
one may still see, close to the cities, the black tents and the
flocks of the Bedouin immigrants. In the days of the Hebrew
settlement the Canaanites were largely confined to the fertile
valleys. The uplands were still open to the men from the desert.
Here the Hebrews pitched their tents and finally built their rude
homes. In this more favorable environment their families and their
flocks gradually increased until they began to encroach upon the
territory already occupied by the older inhabitants. The resulting
quarrels and differences were sometimes settled by the appeal to
the sword; more frequently by alliances sealed by intermarriages.
The early narrative in the ninth and tenth chapters of the book of
Judges gives a vivid picture of the resulting condition: in the
strong Canaanite city of Shechem, Hebrews and Canaanites had so far
intermarried that Abimelech, a product of this intermarriage,
succeeded his father Gideon as king of the first little Hebrew
kingdom. At Shechem Hebrews and Canaanites also worshipped side by
side in the common sanctuary, which was known as "the temple of
Baal of the Covenant."

Under the pressure of the increased population certain of the
Hebrew tribes migrated and seized new territory. Such a migration
is vividly reco