The Legends of the Jews, vol 4 | Page 9

the grain,

still marking the old division lines. (49)
In connection with the allotment of the land Joshua issued ten
ordinances intended, in a measure, to restrict the rights in private
property: Pasturage in the woods was to be free to the public at large.
Any one was permitted to gather up bits of wood in the field. The same
permission to gather up all grasses, wherever they might grow, unless
they were in a field that had been sown with fenugreek, which needs
grass for protection. For grafting purposes twigs could be cut from any
plant except the olive-trees. Water springs belonged to the whole town.
It was lawful for any one to catch fish in the Sea of Tiberias, provided
navigation was not impeded. The area adjacent to the outer side of a
fence about a field might be used by any passer-by to ease nature. From
the close of the harvest until the seventeenth day of Marheshwan fields
could be crossed. A traveler who lost his way among vineyards could
not be held responsible for the damage done in the effort to recover the
right path. A dead body found in a field was to be buried on the spot
where it was found. (50)
The allotment of the land to the tribes and subdividing each district
among the tribesmen took as much time as the conquest of the land.
(51)
When the two tribes and a half from the land beyond Jordan returned
home after an absence of fourteen years, they were not a little
astonished to hear that the boys who had been too young to go to the
wars with them had in the meantime shown themselves worthy of the
fathers. They had been successful in repulsing the Ishmaelitish tribes
who had taken advantage of the absence of the men capable of bearing
arms to assault their wives and children. (52)
After a leadership of twenty-eight years (53), marked with success (54)
in war and in peace, Joshua departed this life. His followers laid the
knives he had used in circumcising the Israelites (55) into his grave,
and over it they erected a pillar as a memorial of the great wonder of
the sun's standing still over Ajalon. (56) However, the mourning for
Joshua was not so great as might justly have been expected. The
cultivation of the recently conquered land so occupied the attention of
the tribes that they came nigh forgetting the man to whom chiefly they
owed their possession of it. As a punishment for their ingratitude, God,
soon after Joshua's death, brought also the life of the high priest Eleazar

and of the other elders to a close, and the mount on which Joshua's
body was interred began to tremble, and threatened to engulf the Jews.
(57)
THE FIRST JUDGE
After the death of Joshua the Israelites inquired to God whether they
were to go up against the Canaanites in war. They were given the
answer: "If ye are pure of heart, go forth unto the combat; but if your
hearts are sullied with sin, then refrain." They inquired furthermore
how to test the heart of the people. God ordered them to cast lots and
set apart those designated by lot, for they would be the sinful among
them. Again, when the people besought God to give it a guide and
leader, an angel answered: "Cast lots in the tribe of Caleb." The lot
designated Kenaz, and he was made prince over Israel. (1)
His first act was to determine by lot who were the sinners in Israel, and
what their inward thought. He declared before the people: "If I and my
house be set apart by lot, deal with us as we deserve, burn us with fire."
The people assenting, lots were cast, and 345 of the tribe of Judah were
singled out, 560 of Reuben, 775 of Simon, 150 of Levi, 665 of Issachar,
545 of Zebulon, 380 of Gad, and 665 of Asher, 480 of Manasseh, 448
of Ephraim, and 267 of Benhamin. (2) So 6110 (3) persons were
confined in prison, until God should let it be know what was to be done
with them. The united prayers of Kenaz, Eleazar the high priest, and the
elders of the congregation, were answered thus: "Ask these men now to
confess their iniquity, and they shall be burnt with fire." Kenaz
thereupon exhorted them: "Ye know that Achan, the son of Zabdi,
committed the trespass of taking the anathema, but the lot fell upon him,
and he confessed his sin. Do ye likewise confess your sins, that ye may
come to life with those whom God will revive on the day of the
resurrection." (4)
One of the sinful, a man by the name of Elah, (5) said in reply