It was
led by the tribe of Joseph, to which the others attached themselves,
Reuben and Gad only remaining behind in the old settlements.
The district to the north of Judah, inhabited afterwards by
Benjamin, was the first to be attacked. It was not until after
several towns of this district had one by one fallen into the
hands of the conquerors that the Canaanites set about a united
resistance. They were, however, decisively repulsed by Joshua
in the neighbourhood of Gibeon; and by this victory the Israelites
became masters of the whole central plateau of Palestine.
The first camp, at Gilgal, near the ford of Jordan, which had
been maintained until then, was now removed, and the ark of Jehovah
brought further inland (perhaps by way of Bethel) to Shiloh, where
henceforward the headquarters were fixed, in a position which
seemed as if it had been expressly made to favour attacks upon
the fertile tract Iying beneath it on the north. The Bne Rachel
now occupied the new territory which up to that time had been
acquired,--Benjamin, in immediate contiguity with the frontier
of Judah, then Ephraim, stretching to beyond Shiloh, and lastly
Manasseh, furthest to the north, as far as to the plain of Jezreel.
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