The Legends of the Jews, vol 3 | Page 6

Israelites depart that he slew them.
[7]
For several reasons God did not permit the Israelites to travel along the
straight route to the promised land. He desired them to go to Sinai first
and take the law upon themselves there, and, besides, the time divinely
appointed for the occupation of the land by the Gentiles had not yet
elapsed. Over and above all this, the long sojourn in the wilderness was
fraught with profit for the Israelites, spiritually and materially. If they
had reached Palestine directly after leaving Egypt, they would have
devoted themselves entirely each to the cultivation of his allotted parcel
of ground, and no time would have been left for the study of the Torah.
In the wilderness they were relieved of the necessity of providing for
their daily wants, and they would give all their efforts to acquiring the
law. On the whole, it would not have been advantageous to process at
once to the Holy Land and take possession thereof, for when the
Canaanites heard that the Israelites were making for Palestine, they
burnt the crops, felled the trees, destroyed the buildings, and choked the
water springs, all in order to render the land uninhabitable. Hereupon
God spake, and said: "I did not promise their fathers to give a
devastated land unto their see, but a land full of all good things. I will
lead them about in the wilderness for forty years, and meanwhile the
Canaanites will have time to repair the damage they have done." [8]
Moreover, the many miracles preformed for the Israelites during the
journey through the wilderness had made their terror to fall upon the
other nations, and their hearts melted, and there remained no more
spirit in any man. They did not venture to attack the Israelites, and the
conquest of the land was all the easier. [9]
Nor does this exhaust the list of reasons for preferring the longer route
through the desert. Abraham had sworn a solemn oath to live at peace
with the Philistines during a certain period, and the end of the term had
not yet arrived. Besides, there was the fear that the sight of the land of
the Philistines would awaken sad recollections in the Israelites, and

drive them back into Egypt speedily, for once upon a time it had been
the scene of a bitter disappointment to them. they had spent one
hundred and eighty years in Egypt, in peace and prosperity, not in the
least molested by the people. Suddenly Ganon came, a descendant of
Joseph, of the tribe of Ephraim, and he spake, "The Lord hat appeared
unto me, and He bade me lead you forth out of Egypt." The
Ephraimites were the only ones to heed his words. Proud of their royal
lineage as direct descendants of Joseph, and confident to their valor in
war, for they were great heroes, they left the land and betook
themselves to Palestine. [10] They Carried only weapons and gold and
silver. They had taken no provisions, because they expected to buy
food and drink on the way or capture them by force if the owners
would not part with them for money.
After a day's march they found themselves in the neighborhood of Gath,
at the place where the shepherds employed by the residents of the city
gathered with the flocks. the Ephraimites asked them to sell them some
sheep, which they expected to slaughter in order to satisfy their hunger
with them, but the shepherds refused to have business dealings with
them, saying, "Are the sheep ours, or does the cattle belong to us, that
we could part with them for money?" Seeing that they could not gain
their point by kindness, the Ephraimites used force. The outcries of the
shepherds brought the people of Gath to their aid. A violent encounter,
lasting a whole day, took place between the Israelites and the
Philistines. The people of Gath realized that alone they would not be
able to offer successful resistance to the Ephraimites, and they
summoned the people of the other Philistine cities to join them. The
following day an army of forty thousand stood ready to oppose the
Ephraimites. Reduced in strength, as they were, by their three days' fast,
they were exterminated root and branch. Only ten of them escaped with
their bare life, and returned to Egypt, to bring Ephraim word of the
disaster that had overtaken his posterity, and he mourned many days.
This abortive attempt of the Ephraimites to leave Egypt was the first
occasion for oppressing Israel. Thereafter the Egyptians exercised force
and vigilance to keep them in their land. As for the disaster of the
Ephraimites, it was well-merited punishment, because they had paid no
heed to the wish of the father Joseph, who