15:2
JOSHUA, XVII.
[vv. 16, 17.
and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for theeAnd the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us : and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Beth-shean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of J ezreel. 17 And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim
x6
Captain, "in the land of the Perizzites (see above, iii. 10) and of the giants" or Rephaim (see above, eh. xii. 4), "if Mount Ephraim is too narrow .. "
16. have charwtr ef ir(Jn] The iron chariots of the Canaanites were objects of terror to the Israelites, see above, eh. xi. 6-9. They were the main reason why the Israelites could not establish themselves in the plain, on which Beth-shean, Taanach, and Megiddo were situated. The forest they could occupy, but the plain, where the "chariot-cavalry " of their foes were so effective though powerless in the mountains, they could not reduce. Comp. Judg. i. r9, iv. 3; I Sam. xiii. 5. Compare as to the insecurity of the plains the remarks of Tristram: "No matter how wide, how rich, how well cultivated a plain may be, like Acre or Esdraelon, its tame monotony is never relieved by a single village. These are all hidden in the nooks of the mountains; for no fellahin or cultivators would venture to dwell where any night they might be harried by a party of Bedouin troopers, and to this risk they ~ladly prefer an hour or two's weary climb added to their daily toil: while no traveller would dream of encamping even for a night in the open plain." Land ef Israel, p. 4u. the valley] As the "hill" here denotes Mount Ephraim, so the valley country includes both (a) the valley or ghยงr of the Jordan near Bethshean, and (b) the wide plain of Jezreel, between Gilboa and little Hermon, to which, in its widest extent, the name of Esdraelon has been applied in modem times; a name first used in Judith i. 8. "It was only this plain of Jezreel, and that north of Lake Huleh, that was then accessible to the chariots of the Canaanites. It was in this plain of Jezreel that Joratn king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went forth in charwtr to meet the enemy (\I Kings ix. 2 r ). It was here that J ehu passed in a cliari(Jt to Samaria, to meet the faithful Jehonadab (2 Kings x. 15). And Wilson (Lands ef the Bible, II. 303), in leaving the hilly district of J udrea, wholly unfitted for vehicles, and entering the plain of Esdraelon at 'lenin, was surprised to see how entirely it differed from the country which he had previouslr traversed, and how easily it might be crossed by excellent highways, i the custom of the country admitted of the use of vehicles. In the days of the Jews, the plain was so associated with the use of the chariot, that this term became to a certain extent an exponent of the power of the people inhabiting the plain. The clzariot was the glory of Ephraim, as the horse was of Judah (Zech. ix. 9, 10). Carl Ritter's Gl!(Jgraphy ef Pak.rtine, II. ,127, 3118. l'f, And '.Joshua spake] The reply of the descendants of Joseph betrayed a spirit of discontent mingled with cowardice and unbelief,