poisonous serpents and, worst of all, hostile tribes with whom more
than once they had to fight for their lives.

=Gaining a foothold east of the Jordan.=--All these years of wandering
were spent mostly in the desert south of Canaan. Later they worked
their way around the lower end of the Dead Sea to the east toward what
was later known as the land of Gilead, on the eastern side of the
Jordan River.

This region is very fertile and was always noted in Bible times for
its fat cattle. But its rolling plains lie open and defenseless toward
the desert. Here under Moses' leadership the Hebrews were able to
conquer one or two of the petty local chieftains, and thus gained a
foothold from which they might some time make a sally across the River
Jordan into central Canaan itself.

=The death of Moses.=--In this eastern country Moses died. According
to the Hebrew story, Jehovah gave him a view of the land of Canaan
from one of the high mountains overlooking the Jordan River, after
which death came. And "no man knoweth of his sepulcher to this day."
He had been loyal to the divine call which had come to him so long ago
in a flame which "burned and did not consume," loyal to the mother who
had taught him amid the luxuries of an Egyptian palace not to forget
his own people and their sorrows. He had led his people out of Egypt
and its slavery in defiance of the proud and mighty Pharaoh. And he
had taught them to turn to Jehovah as God of justice and to worship
only him.


THE INVASION OF CANAAN FROM THE EAST