[214] After traversing a long and pathless expanse, they came within sight of the confines of habitable land, and the outlying districts of the country in which they proposed to settle. This country was occupied by Phoenicians. Here they had thought to find a life of peace and quiet, but their hopes were disappointed.
[215] For the king who ruled there, fearing pillage and rapine, called up the youth of his cities and came to meet them, hoping to bar their way, or, if that were not feasible and they attempted violence, to discomfit them by force of arms, seeing that his men were unwearied and fresh for the contest, while the others were exhausted with much journeying and by the famine and drought which had alternately attacked them. Moses,
[216] learning from his scouts that the enemy was not far distant, mustered his men of military age, and, choosing as their general one of his lieutenants named Joshua, hastened himself to take a more important part in the fight. Having purified himself according to the customary ritual, he ran without delay to the neighbouring hill and besought God to shield the Hebrews and give a triumphant victory to the people whom He had saved from wars and other troubles still more grievous than this, dispersing not only the misfortunes with which men had menaced them but also those so miraculously brought about in Egypt by the upheaval of the elements and by the continual dearth which beset them in their journeying.
[217] But, when they were about to engage in the fight, his hands were affected in the most marvellous way. They became very light and very heavy in turns, and, whenever they were in the former condition and rose aloft, his side of the combatants was strong and distinguished itself the more by its valour, but whenever his hands were weighed down the enemy prevailed. Thus, by symbols, God shewed that earth and the lowest regions of the universe were the portion assigned as their own to the one party, and the ethereal, the holiest region, to the other; and that, just as heaven holds kingship in the universe and is superior to earth, so this nation should be victorious over its opponents in war.
[218] While, then, his hands became successively lighter and weightier, like scales in the balance, the fight, too, continued to be doubtful; but, when they suddenly lost all weight, the fingers serving them as pinions, they were lifted on high like the tribe that wings its way through the air, and remained thus soaring until the Hebrews won an undisputed victory and their enemies were slaughtered wholesale, thus justly suffering the punishment which they wrongly strove to deal to others.
[219] Then, too, Moses set up an altar, and called it from the event “Refuge of God,” and on this, with prayers of thanksgiving, he offered sacrifices in celebration of the victory.