The Holy Land in the light of recent surveys and explorationsA hand book for Sunday-school teachers and Bible students . el tillNorthern Israel perished. She fell without a blow toPompey. At the approach of Herod, and again ofVespasian, her people deserted her. Her people seemnever to have been distinguished for braver), and,indeed, in this climate how could they ? Enervatedby the great heat ,and unable to endure on their bodiesaught but linen, it was impossible that they could bewarriors, or anything but irrigators, paddlers in waterand soft earth. We forget how near neighbors theyhad been to
The Holy Land in the light of recent surveys and explorationsA hand book for Sunday-school teachers and Bible students . el tillNorthern Israel perished. She fell without a blow toPompey. At the approach of Herod, and again ofVespasian, her people deserted her. Her people seemnever to have been distinguished for braver), and,indeed, in this climate how could they ? Enervatedby the great heat ,and unable to endure on their bodiesaught but linen, it was impossible that they could bewarriors, or anything but irrigators, paddlers in waterand soft earth. We forget how near neighbors theyhad been to Sodom and Gomorrah. No great manwas born in Jericho; no heroic deed was ever done inher. She has been called the key and guard-house ofJudaea; she was only the pantry. She never stood asiege, and her inhabitants were always running that is left of her now are a few hovels and atower on the edge of a swamp. The capture byJoshua did not obliterate the name. Even before therebuilding of its walls by Hiel of Bethel, in the evil,God-defying days of Ahab (i Kings 16, 34), we fre-quently read of it in 214 THE HOLY LAND. 83. After the capture of Jericho, the fixed camp ofIsrael remained at Gilgal, till the conquest of the landthb strata- was achieved. The site was a goodgem of ai. one £or defensej and convenient for attack upon the promised land. The next step was tostrike at the heart of the country ; this was attemptedin the assault on Ai. There is no reason to questionthe identification of the Wady Kelt with the valley ofAchor, where Achan was stoned to death. As to Ai,the region in which it must have lain is narrowly cir-cumscribed ; it was close to Bethel, on the question it lay up the Wady Suweinit, whichgoes down from Bethel to join Wady Kelt above Jeri-cho. Up that rugged valley the ambush made its wayby night (Josh. 8), and hid in the deep hollow on thenorth of Ai, while the army under Joshua, advancingso as to reach Ai in the morning and en
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