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the scene which they witnessed in that valley below be repeated; the echo of the
blessings to which they responded on that mount would resound, till, having wakened
every valley, it would finally be sent back in songs of praise and thanksgiving from a
redeemed earth. And so did Israel on that spring morning consecrate Palestine unto the
LORD, taking sea and lake, mountain and valley - the most hallowed spots in their
history -as witnesses of their covenant.
From this solemn transaction the Israelites moved, as we gather from Joshua 9:6, to
Gilgal, where they seem to have formed a permanent camp. The mention of this place in
Deuteronomy 11:30, where it is described as "beside the oaks of Moreh,"^97 that is, near
the spot of Abram's first altar (Genesis 12:7), implies a locality well-known at the time,
and, as we might almost conjecture from its after history, a sort of traditional sanctuary.
This alone would suffice to distinguish this Gilgal from the first encampment of Israel
east of Jericho, which only obtained its name from the event which there occurred.
Besides, it is impossible to suppose that Joshua marched back from Shechem to the
banks of Jordan (9:6; 10:6, 7, 9, 15, 43), and, again, that he did so a second time, after
the battles in Galilee, to make apportionment of the land among the people by the banks
of Jordan (14:6). Further, the localization of Gilgal near the banks of Jordan would be
entirely incompatible with what we know of the after-history of that place. Gilgal was
one of the three cities where Samuel judged the people (1 Samuel 7:16); here, also, he
offered sacrifices, when the Ark was no longer in the tabernacle at Shiloh (1 Samuel
10:8; 13:7-9; 15:21); and there, as in a central sanctuary, did all Israel gather to renew
their allegiance to Saul (1 Samuel 11:14). Later on, Gilgal was the great scene of
Elisha's ministry (2 Kings 2:1), and still later it became a center of idolatrous worship
(Hosea 4:15; 9:15; 12:11; Amos 4:4; 5:5). All these considerations lead to the
conclusion, that the Gilgal, which formed the site of Joshua's encampment is the
modern Jiljilieh, a few miles from Shiloh, and about the same distance from Bethel -
nearly equi-distant from Shechem and from Jerusalem.^98
In this camp at Gilgal a strange deputation soon arrived. Professedly, and apparently,
the travelers had come a long distance. For their garments were worn, their sandals
clouted, their provisions dry and moldy,^99 and the skins in which their wine had been
were rent and "bound up" (like purses), as in the East wine-bottles of goat's skin are
temporarily repaired on a long journey.
According to their own account, they lived far beyond the boundaries of Palestine,
where their fellow-townsmen had heard what the Lord had done in Egypt, and again to
Sihon and to Og, wisely omitting from the catalogue the miraculous passage of Jordan
and the fall of Jericho, as of too recent date for their theory. Attracted by the name of
Jehovah, Israel's God, who had done such wonders, they had been sent to make "a
league" with Israel. It must have been felt that the story did not sound probable - at
(^)