It was not long after the settlement east of the Jordan that the
Hebrews began to make raids across the river, in part under the
leadership of one of Moses' lieutenants, Joshua. The first town they
captured was Jericho, down in the hot valley of the Jordan River, a
few miles north of the Dead Sea. They had friends within the city, a
woman named Rahab and her family. Since this was the first city
captured it was considered to be sacred to Jehovah. The pity of it is
that, in accordance with the standards of that day, this meant the
ruthless slaughter of every living thing within its walls, including
men, women, and little children.

=New conquests.=--In these early raids some tribes, led by the men of
Judah, went southwest and captured a few towns in the mountains west
of the Dead Sea. Others, led by the strong tribe of Ephraim, went
northwest. Throughout their later history, these were always the two
leading tribes, Judah in the south, and Ephraim in the north. After
the victories of the fighting men, the women and children and flocks
would follow.

We can imagine these rough warriors, with their untrained boys and
girls, swarming into the houses of these little towns and villages.
Most of them had never been inside a house before; and they would be
eager to look at the furniture and to know the uses of the many
strange things: for example, the jar of lye for cleaning, the perfumes
on the stand, the earthen vessels for water and milk, the lamps, the
baskets made of twigs, the pots for boiling broth, the oven for
baking, in the door yard, and the wine press on the hillside where the
grapes were trodden at the time of grape harvest.