e fact that Ammon and Moab did not as yet occupy those
regions; the inhabitants in that case would have been
Edomites and Midianites, who were in continual warfare with
each other.

There again they were confronted by the Amorites, but in lesser
numbers, and not so securely entrenched within their fortresses as their
fellow-countrymen in the Negeb, so that the Israelites were able to
overthrow the kingdoms of Heshbon and Bashan.*

* War against Sihon, King of Heshbon (Numb. xxi. 21-31;
Beut. ii. 26-37), and against Og, King of Bashan (Numb. xxi.
32-35; Beut. iii. 1-13).

[Illustration: 261.jpg THE VALLEY OF THE JABBOK, NEAR TO ITS CONFLUENCE
WITH THE JORDAN]

Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 336 of the _Palestine
Exploration Fund._

Gad received as its inheritance nearly the whole of the territory lying
between the Jabbok and the Yarmuk, in the neighbourhood of the ancient
native sanctuaries of Penuel, Mahanaim, and Succoth, associated with
the memory of Jacob.* Reuben settled in the vicinity, and both tribes
remained there isolated from the rest. From this time forward they took
but a slight interest in the affairs of their brethren: when the latter
demanded their succour, "Gilead abode beyond Jordan," and "by the
watercourses of Reuben there were great resolves at heart," but without
any consequent action.** It was not merely due to indifference on their
part; their resources were fully taxed in defending themselves against
the Aramaeans and Bedawins, and from the attacks of Moab and Ammon.
Gad, continually threatened, struggled for centuries without being
discouraged, but Reuben lost heart,*** and soon declined in power, till
at length he became merely a name in the memory of his brethren.

* Gad did not possess the districts between the Jabbok and
the Arnon till the time of the early kings, and retained
them only till about the reign of Jehu, as we gather from
the inscription of Mesa.

** These are the very expressions used by the author of the
_Song of Deborah_ in Judges v. 16, 17.

*** The recollection of these raids by Reuben against the
Beduin of the Syrian desert is traceable in 1 Citron, v. 10,
18-22.

Two tribes having been thus provided for, the bulk of the Israelites
sought to cross the Jordan without further delay, and establish
themselves as best they might in the very heart of the Canaanites. The
sacred