Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition)
Bounds of the Land not yet Conquered. JOSHUA XII—XIV. Inheritance'oj the Nine and a Half Tribrst.
Ulng houses), In the neighbourhood, and others eastward to the plain of Mizpeh. tlicy left none remaining—of those whom they overtook. All those who fell into tiiehhands alive were slain. 9. Joshua did as Oie liord (i-. G) bade liim—Houghing the horses is done by cutting the sinews and arteries of their hinder legs, so that thry not only become hopelessly lame, but bleed to death. The reasons for this special command were, that the Lord designed to lead the Israelites to trust in Him, not in military resources (Psalm 20. 7); to show that in the land of promise there was no use of horses, and, finally, to discourage their travelling, as they were to be an agricultural, not a trading people. 11. lie burnt Hazor witli fire—calmly and deliberately, douljtless, according to Divine direction. 13. as for tlie cities that stood still in tlielr strength lit., " on their heaps." It was a Plicenieian custom to build cities on heights, natui'al or artificial. [Hengstenberg.] 16. So Joshua took all the land Here follows a general view of the conquest. The division of the country there into five parts, viz., the hills, the land of Goshen, i. e., a pastoral land near Gibeon (ch. 10.
sixty miles along the Mediterranean coast, and that of the Geshurites to thesouth of it (1 Samuel 27. 8). Both included that portion of the country " from Sihor which is before Egypt," a small brook near KI-Arish, wliich on the east was the southern boundary of Canaan, "to Ekron," the most northerly of the five cliief lordships or principalities of the Philistines, also tlie Avites : from (on) the south —The two clauses are thus connected in the Sepi uagint and many other versions. On being driven out (Deuteronomy 2. 2;?), they establi.shed themselves iu the south of Philistia. The second division of the uncouquered count*"y comprised all the land of tlie Canaanites, and Mear.ih (the cave) tliat is beside tlie Sidonians—a mountainous region of Upper Galilee, remarkable tor its caves and fastnesses, eastward unto Aphek (now Af ka), in Lebanon, to the borders of the Ammonites—a portion of the north-eastern territory that had belonged to Og. Tlie third district that remained unsubdued was, 5. all the land of the Giblites—their capital was Gehal or Bylbcs
on the Mediterranean, forty miles north of Sidon. all Lebanon towards the suurising i, e., Anti-libanus the eastern ridge, which has its proper termination in Hermon. entering in of Ilamath—the valley of Baalbec. 6,7. all the inliabitants of tlie hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephotli-maim (see onch.ll.S)—that
41); the valley, the plains, the mountains of Israel, /. e., Carmel, rests upon a diversity of geographical positions, whicli is cliaracteristic of the region. 17. from the mount Halnk {Hib., the smooth niountiin), that goeth np to Scir—an irregular line of white naked hills, about eighty feet high, and seven or eight geographical miles in length, that cross the whole Ghor, eight miles south of the Dead Sea, probably "the ascent of Akrabbim." [Robinson.] unto Baal-gnil in tl»e valley of Lebanon—the City or temple of the God of Destiny, in Baalbec. 23. Joshua took the whole land—The battle of the lake of Merom was to the north what the battle of Beth-lioron was to the .south ; more briefly told, but less complete in its consequencfs; but still the decisive conflict by which the whole u )rthern region of Canaan fell into the hands of Israel. ;;Stanley.]
is, " all the .Sidoniaiis and Phcenicians." them will I di-ive out—The fulfilment of this promise was conditional. In the event of the Israelites proving unfaithful or disobedient they would not sul>due the districts now specified, and, in point of fact, tlie Israelites never possessed them, though the inhabitants were subjected to tlie power of David and Solomon, only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance—The parenthetic section being closed, the historian here resumes the main subject of this chapter—the order of God to Joshua to make an immediate allotment of the land. The method of distribution by lot was, in all respects, the best that could have been adopted, as it prevented all ground of discontent, as well as charges of arbitrajy or partial conduct on tlie part of the leaders; and its being announced in the life of Moses (Numbers 33. ,^1), as the system according to which tlie allocations to each tribe should be made, was intended to lead tlie people to the acknowledgment of God a-s the proprietor of the land and having the entire right to its disposal. Moreover, a solemn appeal to the
CHAPTER XII.
Ver. 1-6. The Two Kings whose Countries Moses Took and Disi>osej> of. 1. Now these are the kings of Uie land which tlie cliildren of Israel smote, and possessed tlieir land on the other side Joi-dan—This chapter contains a recapitulation of the conquests made in the promiseil land, with tlie additional mention of some places not formerly noticed in tlie sjicrcd history. The river Anion on the south, and mount Hermou on the north, were the respective boundaries of the hiiid acquired by llie Israelites beyond Jordan (see on Numbers 21.21; Deuteronomy 2. 36; 3. 6-16).
lot showed it to be the dictate, not of human but Divine wisdom. It was used, however, only in determining the part of the country where a tribe was to be settled—the extent of the .settlement was to be decided on a dit Terent principle (Numbers 20. .^Vl), and what proves the overruling control of God, each tribe received the possession predicted by Jacob (Genesis 19.) and by Mo.ses (Deuteronomy
7-21. The One and thirty Kings on the West Side OF JOKDAN, WHICH JosHUA Smote. 7. Baal-gad even unto Unlak—(see on cli. 11. 17.) A listof tliirly-one chief towns is liere given ; and, as llie wliole land contained a superficial extent of only fifteen miles in length, by fifty In breadtli, it is evident that tliese capital cities btlonged to petty and insignificant kingdoms. With a few exceptions, tliey were not the scenes of any important events recorded in llie sacred history, and therefore do not require a particular notice.
33). 8. with whom— //c., "him." The antcci-dent is evidently to Manasseh, not, however, the half tribe just mentioned, lint the other half; for the historian, led, as it wore, by the sound of the word, l>reaks otl'to <lescribe tlio po.ssessions lieyond Jordan already assigned to Ueuben, Gad, and the half of Manas.seli (see on Numliers 32.; Deuteronomy 3. 8-17). It may lie proper to r<'mai-U that it was wise to put tlie.se boundaries on record, as, in (^ase of any misunderstanding or dispute arising about the e.xacl limits of each district or property, an appeal could always be made to this authoritative document, and a full knowledge as well as gnvteful si Mise obtained of what they kind received from'GcKl (Psalm 16. 6).
CHAPTER XIII.
Ver. 1-3.'?. Bounds of the liAND not ykt Conquered. I. Now .lo Khua was old and stricken in yi-ars—Ho was probalily al)OV(^ n huii(h'ed y(^ars old ; for t lie conquest and survey of the land occupied about seven years, the partition one: and ho died at the age of 110 years (di. ai. 29). The distribution, as well as the couciuest of the laud, was included in tlie mission of Josliua ; !ind his advanced age supplied a special reason for wutering on the Immediate discharge of tliat duty, viz., of alloiating Canaan amongst the tribes of Israel—not only the parts alreaciy won, liut those also which were still to lie ('onqucred. 5i-0. Tl>l» is the land that yet reinaineth— i. c., to be actiuired. This section forms a parenthesis, in which the historian briefiy notlc(!s the <listrlcts yet unsubdued—viz.. Hist, the whole country of thel'hilistlncs—u narrow tractstrelchingaliout
CHAPTER XIV.
Ver. l-r>. The Nine Tuihes and a h.\t,f to havb their Inheritance TiY Lor. 1. These are the countries which (he elilldren of I»irael inherited in the land of Canaan—Tliis chapter forms the iiitroducti<m to an account of the allocation of the land west of Jordan, or Canaan proper, to the nine tnlics and a half. It was also made liy lot in presence of a select number of superintendents, appointed according to Divine directions given to Mos(>s (see on Nnuibers 31. 16-U9). In every thing porlivtulug to civil goverumeut, aud cvcu xhe divlsilou of iril.l. CfU N'TliV OF I.f:l!\NON.