apparently had little interest in the west; and the Hittites and Mitanni were stalemated by each other and by a newly emerging and increasingly powerful Egypt. Thus the indigenous populations of Palestine alone remained to threaten Israel and stand in the way of conquest and, as it turned out, were not up to the task. The picture that emerges, then, is that of a liberated slave people poised in the plains of Moab to launch an attack across the Jordan River in response to the purpose and command of