Commentary on the Book of Joshua John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
21. And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities.
21. Venit autem Josue tempore illo, et excidit Anakim e montanis: ex Hebron, ex Debir, ex Anab, et ex omni monte Jehuda, et ex omni monte Israel: una cum urbibus eorum delevit eos Josue.
22. There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained.
22. Non remansit ex Anakim in terra filiorum Israel: tantum in Gad et in Asdod residui fuerunt.
23. So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.
23. Accepit itaque Josue totam terram prorsus ut dixerat Jehova Mosi, et tradidit eam in haereditatem Israeli secundum divisiones eorum per tribus suas: et terra quievit a bello.
16. So Joshua took all that land, etc In the uninterrupted series of victories, when the land, of its own accord, spewed out its old inhabitants, to give free possession to the Israelites, it was visibly manifest, as is said in the Psalm, (Psalm 44:3)
"They got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou had a favor unto them."
The design of enumerating the places and districts is to let us know that the work which God had begun he continued to carry on without interruption. But it is a mistake to suppose: as some do, that by the name Israel a certain mountain is meant. For it will be plain, from the end of the chapter, (Joshua 11:21) that the term is applied indiscriminately to the mountainous part of Israel and Judah. There is therefore an enlarge in the enumeration, because the mountains of the ten tribes are tacitly compared with the mountains of Judah. Accordingly, an antithesis is to be understood. In the other mountain (Joshua 11:17) the surname is ambiguous. Some understand it to mean division, as if it had been cut in two; 115 others to
Latin, "Dissectus." French, "Couppee ou fendue;" "Cut, or cleft." — Ed.