Records
of
Egypt,
ill.
256
ff.).
This
inscription
cele-brates
a
campaign
which
Menephtah
made
into
Palestine
In
his
third
year
(of.
Breasted,
op.
cit.
272).
On
the
surface,
this
inscriptioil,
which
contains
by
far
the
oldest
mention
of
Israel
yet
discovered
in
any
literature,
and
the
only
mention
in
Egyptian,
seems
to
favour
Winclder's
view.
The
subject
cannot,
however,
be
dismissed
in
so
light
a
manner.
The
persistent
historical
tradition
which
colours
all
Hebrew
religious
thought
must
have,
one
would
think,
some
historical
foundation.
The
main
thread
of
it
must
be
true,
but
in
details,
such
as
the
reference
to
Pithom
and
Raamses,
the
tradition
may
be
mistaken.
Traditions
attach
themselves
to
different
men,
why
not
to
different
cities?
Perhaps,
as
several
scholars
have
suggested,
another
solution
is
more
probable,
that
not
all
of
the
Hebrews
went
to
Egypt.
Wildeboer
iJahvedienst
en
Volksreligie
Israel,
15)
and
Budde
(.op.
cit.
10)
hold
that
it
was
the
so-called
Joseph
tribes,
Ephralm
and
Manasseh,
that
settled
for
a
time
in
Egypt,
and
that
Moses
led
forth.
This
receives
some
support
from
the
fact
that
the
E
document,
which
originated
among
the
Ephraimites,
is
the
first
one
that
remembers
that
the
name
Jahweh
was,
until
the
Exodus,
unknown
to
them
(cf.
Ex
3").
Probably
we
shall
not
go
tar
astray,
if
we
suppose
that
the
Leah
tribes
were
roaming
the
steppe
to
the
south
of
Palestine
where
Menephtah
defeated
them,
while
the
Rachel
tribes,
enticed
into
Egypt
by
the
opportunity
to
obtain
an
easier
livehhood,
became
entangled
in
trouble
there,
from
which
Moses
emancipated
them,
perhaps
in
the
reign
of
Menephtah
himself.
6.
The
Exodus.
—
The
J,
E,
and
P
documents
agree
in
their
main
picture
of
the
Exodus,
although
J
differs
from
the
other
two
in
holding
that
the
worship
of
Jahweh
was
Isnown
at
an
earlier
time.
Moses,
they
tell
us,
fled
from
Egypt
and
took
refuge
in
Midlan
vrith
Jethro,
a
Kenlte
priest
(cf.
Jg
I").
Here,
according
to
E
and
P,
at
Horeb
or
Sinai,
Jahweh's
holy
mount,
Moses
first
learned
to
worship
Jahweh,
who,
he
believed,
sent
him
to
deliver
from
Egypt
his
oppressed
brethren.
After
various
plagues
(J
gives
them
as
seven;
E,
five;
and
P;
six)
Moses
led
them
out,
and
by
Divine
aid
they
escaped
across
the
Red
Sea.
J
makes
this
escape
the
result
of
Jahweh's
control
of
natural
means
(Ex
1421).
Moses
then
led
them
to
Sinai,
where,
according
to
both
J
and
E,
they
entered
into
a
solemn
covenant
with
Jahweh
to
serve
Him
as
their
God.
According
to
E
(Ex
18'2«.),
it
was
Jethro,
the
Kenite
or
Midianite
priest,
who
initiated
them
into
the
rite
and
mediated
the
covenant.
After
this
the
Rachel
tribes
probably
allied
themselves
more
closely
to
the
Leah
tribe?,
and,
through
the
aid
of
Moses,
gradually
led
them
to
adopt
the
worship
of
Jahweh.
Religion
was
at
this
period
purely
an
affair
of
ritual
and
material
success,
and
since
clans
had
escaped
from
Egypt
through
the
name
of
Jahweh,
others
would
more
readily
adopt
His
worship
also.
Perhaps
it
was
during
this
period
that
the
Rachel
tribes
first
became
a
real
part
of
the
Israelite
con-federation.
7.
The
Wilderness
wandering,
—
For
some
time
the
habitat
of
Israel,
as
thus
constituted,
was
the
region
between
Sinai
on
the
south
and
Kadesh,—
a
spring
some
fifty
miles
south
of
Beersheba,
—
on
the
north.
At
Kadesh
the
fountain
was
sacred,
and
at
Sinai
there
was
a
sacred
mountain.
Moses
became
during
this^period
the
sheik
of
the
united
tribes.
Because
of
his
pre-eminence
in
the
knowledge
of
Jahweh
he
acquired
this
paramount
influence
in
all
their
counsels.
In
the
traditions
this
period
is
called
the
Wandering
in
the
Wilderness,
and
it
is
said
to
have
continued
forty
years.
The
expression
'forty
years'
is,
however,
used
by
D
and
his
followers
in
a
vague
way
for
an
indefinite
period
of
time.
In
this
case
it
is
probably
rather
over
than
under
the
actual
amount.
The
region
in
which
Israel
now
roamed
was
anything
but
fertile,
and
the
people
naturally
turned
their
eyes
to
more
promising
pasture
lands.
This
they
did
with
the
more
confidence,
because
Jahweh,
their
new
God,
had
just
dehvered
a
portion
of
them
from
Egypt
in
an
extraordinary
manner.
Naturally
they
desired
the
most
fertile
land
in
the
region,
Palestine.
Finding
themselves
fdr
some
reason
unable
to
move
directly
upon
it
from
the
south
(Nu
13.
14),
perhaps
because
the
hostile
Amalekites
interposed,
they
made
a
circuit
to
the
eastward.
According
to
the
traditions,
their
detour
extended
around
the
territories
of
Edom
and
Moab.
so
that
they
came
upon
the
territory
north
of
the
Arnon,
where
an
Amorite
kingdom
had
previously
been
estab-lished,
over
which,
in
the
city
of
Heshbon,
Sihon
ruled.
See
Amorites.
8.
The
trans-Jordanic
conquest.
—
The
account
of
ihe
conquest
of
the
kingdom
of
Sihon
is
given
by
E
with
a
few
additions
from
J
in
Nu
21.
No
details
are
given,
but
it
appears
that
in
the
battles
Israel
was
victorious.
We
learn
from
the
P
document
in
Nu
32
that
the
con-quered
cities
of
this
region
were
divided
between
the
tribes
of
Reuben
and
Gad.
Perhaps
it
was
at
this
time
that
the
tribe
of
Gad
came
into
the
confederacy.
At
least
they
appear
in
real
history
here
for
the
first
time.
The
genealogies
represent
Gad
as
the
son
of
a
slave-girl.
This,
as
already
noted,
probably
means
that
the
tribe
joined
the
nation
at
a
comparatively
late
period.
Probably
the
Gadites
came
in
from
the
desert
at
this
period,
and
in
union
with
the
Reubenites
won
this
territory,
which
extended
from
the
Arnon
to
a
point
a
little
north
of
Heshbon.
It
is
usually
supposed
that
the
territory
of
Reuben
lay
to
the
south
of
that
of
Gad,
extending
from
the
Arnon
to
Elealeh,
north
of
Heshbon;
but
in
reality
each
took
certain
cities
in
such
a
way
that
their
territory
interpenetrated
(Nu
32").
Thus
the
Gadites
had
Dibon,
Ataroth,
and
Aroer
to
the
south,
Jazer
north
of
Heshbon,
and
Beth-nimrah
and
Beth-haran
in
the
Jordan
valley;
while
the
Reubenites
had
Baal-meon,
Nebo,
Heshbon,
and
Elealeh,
which
lay
between
these.
Probably
the
country
to
the
north
was
not
conquered
until
later.
It
is
true
that
D
claims
that
Og,
the
king
of
Bashan,
was
conquered
at
this
time,
but
it
is
probable
that
the
con-quest
of
Bashan
by
a
part
of
the
tribe
of
Manasseh
was
a
backward
movement
from
the
west
after
the
con-quest
of
Palestine
was
accomplished.
During
this
period
Moses
died,
and
Joshua
became
the
leader
of
the
nation.
9
.
Crossing
the
Jordan.
—
The
conquests
of
the
tribe
of
Gad
brought
the
Hebrews
into
the
Jordan
valley,
but
the
swiftly
flowing
river
with
its
banks
of
clay
formed
an
insuperable
obstacle
to
these
primitive
folk.
The
traditions
tell
of
a
miraculous
stoppage
of
the
waters.
The
Arabic
historian
Nuwairi
tells
of
a
land-slide
of
one
of
the
clay
hills
that
border
the
Jordan,
which
afforded
an
opportunity
to
the
Arabs
to
complete
a
military
bridge.
The
account
of
this
was
published
with
transla^
tion
in
the
PEFSt,
1895,
p.
263
ff.
The
J
writer
would
see
in
such
an
event,
as
he
did
in
the
action
of
the
winds
upon
the
waters
of
the
Red
Sea,
the
hand
of
Jahweh.
The
accounts
of
it
in
which
the
priests
and
the
ark
figure
are
of
later
origin.
These
stories
explained
the
origin
of
a
circle
of
sacred
stones
called
Gilgal,
which
lay
on
the
west
of
the
Jordan,
by
the
supposition
that
the
priests
had
taken
these
stones
from
the
bed
of
the
river
at
the
time
of
the
crossing.
10.
The
conquest
of
Canaan.
—
The
first
point
of
attack
after
crossing
the
Jordan
was
Jericho.
In
Jos
6
J's
account
and
E's
account
of
the
taking
of
Jericho
are
woven
together
(cf
.
the
Oxford
Hexateuch,
or
SBOT,
ad.
loc).
According
to
the
J
account,
the
Israelites
marched
around
the
city
once
a
day
for
six
days.
As
they
made
no
attack,
the
besieged
were
thrown
off
their
guard,
so
that,
when
on
the
seventh
day
the
Israel-ites
made
an
attack
at
the
end
of
their
marching,
they
easily
captured
the
town.
As
to
the
subsequent
course
of
the
conquest,
the
sources
differ
widely.
The
D
and
