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OTHNEIL
The
Force of God
Chapter Three
by Richard S. Barnett
CHAPTER THREE
You might think, my son, that after such a great victory we could easily
conquer the rest of the land the Lord had given us.
Indeed, after the Lord fought for Israel at Aijalon, most of our people thought
the war was over. They clamored to take their share of the spoils, go their own
way, and take up their portion of the land. True, the defeat of the five kings
had broken the power of the Highborn in the southern highlands. Never again
would those evildoers be able to join together and gather a real army against
us.
Our people had no idea of the extent of the land of Canaan. Caleb had scouted
the land for Joshua many years earlier, and only he and Joshua could grasp the
size of our task and the strength of our enemies. They saw the greatness of this
land and they had a plan to win it all for Israel. The rest of us looked forward
only as far as claiming our future patches of ground.
So you see, Ehud, my son, the people yearned to settle right away in the
highlands without waiting for Joshua and Caleb to conquer the coastal cities
before turning north to destroy the rulers of the north.
The three tribes who already had lands east of Jordan pleaded for permission to
go back to their families and tend their fields and flocks. "The time for
threshing the harvest is upon us, and our little ones need bread for the
winter!" their leaders whined. "Yes, the season has come to gather our grapes
and olives." Hearing them only made the other tribes think of themselves.
"We must all carry out the task the Lord has given us," Joshua told them. "Be
very careful to keep the commandments of the Lord and don't desert your
brothers. The Lord will then bless you and send you to your homes laden with the
wealth of your enemies before the first rains come."
The three tribes gave in when Joshua allowed them to send their share of the
plunder from our last battle to their families.
The men of Judah, however, still demanded their part of the highlands right
away.
"The Lord gave Israel the whole land from the desert to the Great Sea, and from
Egypt to the land of the two rivers," Joshua told them. "Everywhere that you set
your feet, He has given to Israel. Only take heart and be strong, and do not
give up and desert us."
"This land is great and wide, and we have enough," their leaders replied. "Why
do we need more?"
"Would you desert your brothers who have fought with you?" Joshua argued. "Hear
my words: if you desert your brothers in their time of need, the curse of
Jericho will be upon you:
'At the cost of your firstborn sons will you lay your foundations;
At the cost of your youngest you will set up your gates!'"
Joshua and Caleb held our army together with promises and threats. We marched
down onto the coastal plain and swept through the cities of the Canaanites from
Hebron to Gezer before marching north. When Joshua paused at our Gilgal camp, to
unload our spoils, Caleb sent for Gera and me.
"Choose a few men and follow me. We need to scout the country ahead,” he told
us. "Always remember that others can lay traps too, my sons."
We left that afternoon and moved under cover of darkness. The kings of the north
were watching and preparing for war, and we needed to be careful. Word of
Israel's might had gone before us, and we saw Canaanite folk everywhere
hastening to gather their harvests of olives and grapes before we could burn
their fields and vineyards. They looked like good harvests to me, and I helped
myself to a pomegranate whenever I could. The further north we scouted, the
better watered we found the land.
Caleb didn't let the richness of the land dazzle him.
"See how they carry their weapons to their work in the fields!" he scoffed while
we watched from our cover in the hillside furze. "We'll soon make them afraid of
their own shadows."
We noted that every village had its lookouts and watchers, and we also saw small
companies of Highborn soldiers from time to time. Caleb warned us that they
would be searching for spies like us.
"Don't we know him, Othniel?" Gera asked me in the afternoon of our second day.
He pointed to a figure that stood head and shoulders above the rest of his
troop.
"Yes, that's the brute who got away from us at the cave of Makkedah," I told
Caleb. "Let's watch where that one goes, sir; he's no common soldier. A fellow
like him could rank high in the armies of this land."
Caleb agreed, and we followed the troop.
"They're marching north," Caleb told us. "They must be going to Chatsor, the
greatest city in the north."
The late afternoon made it easy to stay hidden in the shadows of thickets and
trees. We followed the enemy troop across the fields of the valley we now call
Jezreel. They went as far as a village tucked in a fold of the rolling land near
the foot of Mount Tabor, Teacher's Hill, and stopped there for the night,
although they had enough daylight to go further. We heard shouting, crying, and
the barking of dogs when we slipped closer to the village.
"They're helping themselves to wine, women, and food--anything they fancy,"
Caleb growled. "That's how the Highborn always treat the common folk of the
land. Canaanites are no more than dogs in their eyes."
"Will these dogs turn on their masters?" I wondered.
"They might if we show them how," Caleb answered, "but they could as easily turn
on us. We'll let those fellows get sodden with wine before we attack."
We closed in on the village from downwind when night fell, taking care to watch
for guards and dogs. We surprised and killed one guard, freed two captives we
found bound to a tree, and slipped away before anyone heard us.
The pair, a Canaanite man and woman, told us that they were among hundreds who
had fled their huts in the hills to the north, where the kings of the Canaanites
had massed their armies. No matter where the common people went, the Highborn
would beat and rob them.
"Their tale makes sense," Caleb decided. "Those hills guard the way to Chatsor
and the north. We must go and tell Joshua."
We took the two Canaanites back to our army, and their story stirred up a huge
uproar. The news that all the Canaanite kings had united their armies to fight
against us struck terror into half the men of Israel. As usual, the men of Judah
and the tribes with lands east of the Jordan made the most noise.
"How shall we ever stand against their chariots of iron?" they wailed.
In fact, only the rims of their chariot wheels were iron, which held them
together far better than rawhide, but to hear those weaklings whimper anyone
would think the Canaanites had chariots of solid iron. Joshua and Caleb knew
better than to let such fears sway them.
"Fear not, my brothers," Joshua told them, "but be bold! Fear not those who set
themselves against Israel; their pride will bring them low. Though they soar
like eagles in their chariots, the Lord will cast them down."
"Our enemies already hold the high ground," they complained. "We'll walk into
their arms like lambs going to slaughter."
"That's what they hope," Joshua laughed. "Let them think that we are lambs if
they wish. We shall come upon them from behind and cut them off from Chatsor."
Caleb added, "We shall catch our enemies in their own trap!"
The constant struggle to keep the army together seemed like the most difficult
part of the whole war. Joshua and Caleb had no rest from arguing with one
faint-hearted soul or another who just wouldn't understand that Israel needed
every man to drive out all the Canaanites. Otherwise the Highborn would enslave
us all and make our lives worse than they had ever been in Egypt.
Joshua and Caleb marched us north in broad daylight without trying to stay out
of sight of enemy scouts. We crossed the valley of Jezreel and followed the
trail to the plains on the west shore of Chinnereth. The two Canaanites we had
freed led us into the hills where our enemies waited by the waters of Merom. The
trail followed a stream that flowed south through a narrow gorge from the
thickly wooded hills. The Canaanites told us that the waters of Merom, a
spring-fed pool, lay at the head of the stream.
"So they think to trap us in this valley, do they?" Joshua laughed. "Now listen:
we will form two companies. I'll lead the first company into this valley so that
our enemies will think we're walking into their trap. Caleb will lead the second
company around to the east and attack them from behind. My company will wait for
Caleb to attack, and then we shall block all the paths out of the hills.
"We shall teach them that their chariots are a vain hope. The Lord tells me: 'Do
not be afraid of them, for by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to
Israel, slain. You must hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.'"
Gera and I followed Caleb, taking the Canaanite man to show us the best way,
while Joshua kept Haddar's men. We had a long way to march through the wooded
hills of that country, but we had the smoke of thousands of enemy campfires to
guide us. As the next day dawned, we reached our place on the hills overlooking
the campfires in the narrow gorges below.
The Canaanites had awakened but they hadn't harnessed their horses to their
chariots. Our bowmen opened the attack with a rain of fire arrows that set the
camps and chariots ablaze. The horses broke loose and ran wild through the smoke
and flames, neighing and kicking in their terror. Panic broke out when we
swarmed into the midst of the Canaanites, and they fled from us on foot,
stumbling blindly into the traps that Joshua had set for them. Even more kings
fell before us that day than at the battle of Aijalon.
We marched into Chatsor the next day and found the city empty because their king
had left it undefended. We took everything we could carry, burned the city to
the ground, and sacked the other northern cities whose kings had dared to raise
their hands against us.
Laden with plunder, we marched back to the Tent of Meeting at Gilgal for
Joshua's blessing and dismissal. He allotted the shares of land to the tribes as
Moses had promised, and he sent the men of the three eastern tribes back to
their homes with our thanks, his blessing, and a wealth of plunder. The other
tribes spread out to claim the lands they had won.
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