John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Joshua 8:1



INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 8



Joshua is encouraged to go up and take Ai, and is directed what method to make use of, Jos 8:1; accordingly he set an ambush on the west side of it, and, he and the rest of the army went up before it, Jos 8:3; which, when the king of Ai saw, he and all his forces came cut against them, and the Israelites making a feint as if they were beaten, drew on the men of Ai to pursue them, upon which the ambush arose and entered the city and set fire to it, Jos 8:14; the smoke of which being observed by Joshua and Israel, they turned back upon the pursuers, and the ambush sallying out of the city behind them, made an entire destruction of them, then slew all the inhabitants, took the spoil, burnt the city, and hanged the king of it, Jos 8:20; after this Joshua built an altar at Ebal, wrote the law on stones, and read the blessings and curses in it before all Israel, Jos 8:30.



Ver. 1. And the Lord said unto Joshua,.... Immediately after the execution of Achan, the fierceness of his anger being turned away:



fear not, neither be thou dismayed; on account of the defeat of his troops he had sent to take Ai:



take all the people of war with thee; all above twenty years of age, which, with the forty thousand of the tribes on the other side Jordan he brought over with him, must make an arm, five hundred thousand men; these Joshua was to take with so much to animate and encourage him, or to terrify the enemy, nor because such a number was necessary for the reduction of Ai, which was but a small city; but that all might have a part in the spoil and plunder of it, which they were denied at Jericho, and chiefly to draw all the men out of the city, seeing such a numerous host approaching:



and arise, go up to Ai; which lay high, and Joshua being now in the plains of Jericho, See Gill on "Jos 7:2";



see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land; this city, though a small one, had a king over it, as most cities in the land of Canaan had; the number of his people in it were twelve thousand, and his land were the fields about it; all which were given to Joshua by the Lord, and were as sure as if he had them already in his hand.





Joshua 8:2



Ver. 2. And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst to Jericho and her king,.... Burn the one and slay the other:



only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves; which they were not allowed to do at Jericho:



lay thee an ambush for the city behind it; at the west side of it: some have called in question the lawfulness of the ambush, but, as this was appointed by the Lord, there is no room for it.





Joshua 8:3



Ver. 3. So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai,.... As the Lord had commanded him:



and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour; out of all the men of war; these were a select company, picked men, not the whole army, as some have thought, for he was ordered to take all the people of war, as he did:



and sent them away by night; from the main army, that they might pass the city and get behind it undiscovered, for they were sent for an ambush; and of these some were to take the city, and be left in it to burn it, and some to smite the men of Ai, as Abarbinel notes.





Joshua 8:4



Ver. 4. And he commanded them, saying,.... At the time he sent them away;



behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, [even] behind the city; that is, on the west side of it, Jos 8:9;



go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready; to enter into it, as soon as the forces are drawn out eastward to meet the army of Israel.





Joshua 8:5



Ver. 5. And I and all the people that [are] with me will approach unto the city,.... That is, Joshua with the main body of the army would march up to the city the next morning, in order to draw out the inhabitants of it to fight them:



and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first; as they had done before, when the three thousand were sent against them, Jos 7:4;



that we will flee before them; as the three thousand did, which would animate them to pursue them with the greater eagerness, and to a distance from their city.





Joshua 8:6



Ver. 6. For they will come out after us,.... Of which there could be no doubt, when they should see them run from them:



till we have drawn them from the city; some distance from it, that they could not return soon enough to save it from the ambush, or prevent their entrance into it, and burning it:



for they will say, they will flee before us, as at the first; they run away as they did before, and let us pursue them and smite them as we did then:



therefore we will flee before them; to draw them out of the city, and make your way easy to get into it,





Joshua 8:7



Ver. 7. Then ye shall rise up from the ambush,.... When they should see a signal made, that in Jos 8:18; and when their watch, they might set in a proper place, should see Israel flee, and the men of Ai at a distance from their city, pursuing, and give notice of it to the ambush:



and seize upon the city; enter into it, and take possession of it, its fortresses, and secure its passes:



for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand; Joshua expresses himself with great confidence, having the promise of God, and relying on it.





Joshua 8:8



Ver. 8. And it shall be, when ye have taken the city,.... Entered it and become masters of it:



[that] ye shall set the city on fire; not the whole city, only some outlying houses of it, to make a smoke which might be seen both by Israel and the men of Ai, for different purposes; for the spoil of the city was first to be taken before it was utterly burnt with fire:



according to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do; plunder the city, destroy the inhabitants of it, and then burn it:



see I have commanded you; delivered the command of the Lord unto them, and therefore were left without excuse, and could not plead ignorance; besides, he was their general, and he expected his orders to be obeyed, as they ought to have been.





Joshua 8:9



Ver. 9. Joshua therefore sent them forth,.... The thirty thousand chosen men:



and they went to lie in ambush; as they were ordered, Jos 8:2:



and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; for as Ai was on the east of Bethel, Jos 7:2. Bethel must be on the west of Ai, as Jarchi notes:



but Joshua lodged that night among the people; the main body of the army, to direct them in the affair of war, how they should behave the next day, when they came to fight; and to inspire them with courage and confidence, that they might not be afraid, because of their having been smitten before by this people, so Ben Gersom; or rather that he and they might be ready in the morning to march towards Ai, as Jarchi and Kimchi.





Joshua 8:10



Ver. 10. And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people,.... To see if there were any wanting, and to put them in proper order for their march:



and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai; these elders were either the seventy elders who went with Joshua as council to him; or it may be rather they were inferior officers, who went at the head of their respective corps under them.





Joshua 8:11



Ver. 11. And all the people, [even the people] of war that [were] with him, and went up, and drew nigh,.... To the city of Ai:



and came before the city; as if they intended to besiege it, storm it, or force an entrance into it:



and pitched on the north side of Ai; which was judged fittest for the purpose:



now [there was] a valley between them and Ai; which the Rabbins call the valley of Halacah, as Jarchi says; so that they were upon a hill, at least on rising ground, and might the more easily be seen by the inhabitants of Ai, whom they wanted to draw out of their city.





Joshua 8:12



Ver. 12. And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush,.... This was another ambush, as both Jarchi and Kimchi observe; and the latter adds, perhaps he set them nearer the city than the former; though some are of opinion that these are the same ambush spoken of, whose number is here given, being set on the same side of the city; and they suppose that Joshua had with him but thirty thousand men in all, five thousand of which he sent to lie in ambush, and the other twenty five thousand remained with him; but it seems clear that all the men of war were to be taken, and were taken by them, and that out of them thirty thousand were sent by him to lie in wait at first, and now five thousand more:



between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city; and though they were on the same side of the city with the first and larger ambush, yet, as Abarbinel observes, they might be set nearer the city and to the army; and he supposes the first ambush was to take the city, and the second little ambush, as he calls it, was placed, that when the men of the city came out, they might make a noise and a stir, and skirmish with them, that so they might not come upon the camp suddenly.





Joshua 8:13



Ver. 13. And when they had set the people,.... In battle array, as in

1Ki 20:12; that is, Joshua and the officers of the army:



[even] all the host that [was] on the north of the city; where Joshua and the main army were:



and the liers in wait on the west of the city: both the first and second ambush; when all, were prepared and got ready by their several officers, to act the part they were to do:



Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley; according to Ben Gersom, to see whether the guards or sentinels which were placed there were awake or asleep, lest the men of Ai should come suddenly upon them and smite them; but perhaps it might be to pray and meditate.





Joshua 8:14



Ver. 14. And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw [it],.... Not the ambush on the west side, but the host or army on the north side, or, however, some of his people gave him notice of it:



that they hasted and rose up early; or made haste to rise out of their beds, on the alarm given of Israel's near approach:



and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle; being raised out of their beds and accoutred with armour, and put into a military order, they marched out with their king at the head of them, to give Israel battle:



he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; which was before the city, the same with the valley mentioned, Jos 8:11; the city was built on an eminence, and this plain or valley lay at the bottom of it; and on an eminence on the other side of the valley the army of Israel was pitched; wherefore the king of Ai and all his men of war went out hither to attack Israel, and this is said to be at an appointed time; it is difficult to say what is meant by it, when they seem to have hurried out as best as they could, as soon as they perceived the Israelites were near them: Ben Gersom and Abarbinel think it was the same time of the day they went out at first, which the king might choose as lucky, being before successful, and to encourage the men, that as they conquered then they should now; which seems not amiss, though perhaps it rather designs an appointed place, as their rendezvous, and where to attack Israel, and where they had been before victorious:



but he wist not that [there were] liers in ambush against him behind the city; that he knew nothing of, and therefore took no precaution against them to prevent their design.





Joshua 8:15



Ver. 15. And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them,.... Or smitten, as some of them might be in the pursuit:



and fled by the way of the wilderness; not a barren desert, but, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, a place for the pasture of cattle; though perhaps it is the same with the wilderness of Bethaven,

Jos 18:12. Epiphanius {w} makes mention of the wilderness of Bethel and Ephraim as near Jericho.



{w} Contr. Haeres. l. 1. tom. 2.





Joshua 8:16



Ver. 16. And all the people that were in Ai [were] called together to pursue after them,.... Because the host of Israel was very numerous, it was judged proper that all the people in Ai should assist in pursuing them, not only to kill the more in the pursuit, but to carry off the spoil and prisoners they should take; or rather the sense is, that all the people in Ai, which were come out with the king to battle, when they saw Israel flee, "cried" {x}, or shouted, as soldiers do when victorious, "in" or "while pursuing" {y} after them;



and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city; at some considerable distance from it; which was the design to be answered by feigning a flight.



{x} wqezw "vociferantes", V. L. "vociferati sunt", Pagninus, Montanus. {y} Pdrl "persequendo", Pagninus, Montanus.





Joshua 8:17



Ver. 17. And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel that went not out after Israel,.... For as these two places were very near to each other, but a mile apart, they were in confederacy, and acted together, and could easily be called to the help of each other when required: though there is a difficulty how the men of Bethel could join those of Ai, when the ambush lay between them both, Jos 8:12; they either went another way, or the ambush purposely let them pass, for fear of a discovery by a skirmish with them, and that Bethel as well as Ai might be cleared of its armed inhabitants, and so fall an easy prey to them as well as Ai: this must be understood only of men of war; for otherwise there were inhabitants left, as old men, and such as were unfit for war, afterwards slain, Jos 8:24;



and they left the city open: they did not stay to shut the gates, nor left porters or any guards about, to take care of, protect, and defend the city:



and pursued after Israel; with great eagerness and vehemence, not having the least apprehension of their city being in any danger.





Joshua 8:18



Ver. 18. And the Lord said unto Joshua, stretch out the spear that [is] in thy hand towards Ai,.... On which was a flag, as Abarbinel and Ben Melech think; and which is not improbable, and served for a signal for the ambush to come out and seize the city, as both they and Jarchi observe, as well as a signal also to the army of Israel to prepare to turn and face about, and engage with the enemy; though they did not actually do this until they saw the smoke of the city, Jos 8:21;



for I will give it into thine hand; of which the stretching out of his spear seems also to be a confirming sign to him, and which he kept stretched out until all the inhabitants of Ai were destroyed, Jos 8:26;



and Joshua stretched out the spear that [he had] in his hand toward the city: and therefore must turn himself towards it; and it is highly probable that at the same time there was a full stop of the army, and that they immediately turned or prepared to turn about.





Joshua 8:19



Ver. 19. And the ambush arose quickly out of their place,.... As soon as the sentinels set in proper places observed the signal, and gave them notice of it, which was the stretching out of the spear, as appears by what follows:



and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand; and the spear in his hand; from whence it is plain, that though the Lord is said to bid Joshua do this now, he had orders from him for it before and the ambush must have been made acquainted with it before they were sent away; and this was only a renewal of the order from the Lord, and which pointed out the proper time, the very crisis, when it should be stretched out:



and they entered into the city; without any difficulty, the gates being open:



and took it; took possession of it, and the strong holds in it:



and hasted and set the city on fire; that is, they made haste to set some houses on fire as the signal to the army of Israel to return.





Joshua 8:20



Ver. 20. And when the men of Ai looked behind them,.... On some account or another, perhaps observing that the army of Israel made a full stop and was gazing at the city:



they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven; from whence they concluded an enemy was there, and had set fire to it:



and they had no power to flee this way or that way; for if they turned back to their city there was an enemy, how powerful they knew not, possessed of it, and whom they might expect would meet them; and if they pushed forward, there was the whole army of Israel against them, which now turned and faced them, showing no fear of them:



and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers; the people of Israel, that fled by the way of the wilderness, Jos 8:15, turned about, and fell upon the men of Ai that pursued them.





Joshua 8:21



Ver. 21. And when Joshua,.... Or "for Joshua" {z}:



and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city; which they knew by the smoke, as follows:



and that the smoke of the city ascended; in large columns, which sufficiently indicated that the whole city was taken and fired by the ambush:



then, or, "and",



they turned again and slew the men of Ai; great numbers of them.



{z} evwhyw "et enim Josua", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Masius.





Joshua 8:22



Ver. 22. And the other issued out of the city against them,.... That is, the ambush, or at least a part of them:



so that they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side; or, as we commonly say, they were between two fires, the ambush on one side, the army of Israel on the other:



and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape; not one was saved alive, excepting their king, as in Jos 8:23; no quarter was given them, nor any suffered to make their escape.





Joshua 8:23



Ver. 23. And the king of Ai they took alive,.... They spared him, and reserved him for a more shameful death:



and brought him to Joshua; their general; delivering him into his hands as his prisoner, to do will, him as seemed good in his sight.





Joshua 8:24



Ver. 24. And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai,.... That came out against them:



in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them; both in the arable lands that were sown with corn, and now clothed with it, the wheat especially, not being gathered in, as not yet ripe, and in the pasture ground, designed by the wilderness, see Jos 8:15; so Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it:



and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword; and were slain by it:



until they were consumed; and not one left:



that all the Israelites returned unto Ai; both the ambush that came out of it, and the army that came against it:



and smote it with the edge of the sword; that is, the inhabitants that were left in it unfit for war, as old men, infirm persons, women and children, as follows.





Joshua 8:25



Ver. 25. And [so] it was, [that] all that fell that day,.... Partly in the city, and partly in the field, both by the ambush and the army: both of men and women;



[were] twelve thousand, [even] all the men of Ai; so that the city was not a very large one, and the numbers of inhabitants were comparatively but few, as in Jos 7:3.





Joshua 8:26



Ver. 26. For Joshua drew not his hand back wherewith he stretched out his spear,.... But continued it, and that stretched out:



until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai; just as the hand of Moses was held up, and kept held up until Amalek was discomfited by Joshua, Ex 17:12.





Joshua 8:27



Ver. 27. Only the cattle, and the spoil of the city, Israel took for a prey unto themselves,.... Even all their substance, as besides their cattle, also their gold, silver, household goods, merchandise, &c.



according unto the word of the Lord which he commanded Joshua, Jos 8:2.





Joshua 8:28



Ver. 28. And Joshua burnt Ai,.... The whole city, fire being only set before to a few houses, to make a smoke as a signal; he did with it as he had done with Jericho, for so he was ordered, Jos 8:2;



and made it an heap for ever; that is, for a long time, for it appears to have been rebuilt, and to have been inhabited by the Jews, after their return from their Babylonish captivity, Ne 11:31;



[even] a desolation unto this day; to the time of the writing of this book; and by what has been just observed, it appears that Ezra could not be the writer of it, since this city was inhabited in his time.





Joshua 8:29



Ver. 29. And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide,.... By way of terror to other kings in the land of Canaan, that should refuse to submit unto him:



and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree; according to the law in

De 21:23; and that the land might not be defiled:



and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city; this was done, according to Ben Gersom and Abarbinel, that it might be publicly known to the rest of the kings of the nations, that they might be afraid to fight with Israel:



and raise thereon a great heap of stones, [that remaineth] unto this day; as a sepulchral monument, showing that there was a person lay interred there; whether there was any inscription on the stone, showing who he was, does not appear; it looks as if it was only a rude heap of stones; and such kind of sepulchral monuments were common in former times in other countries.





Joshua 8:30



Ver. 30. Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. As was commanded, De 27:5. The Samaritan Chronicle says, it was built in Mount Gerizim; but there is a difficulty arises, when this was done by Joshua; it should seem by inserting the account here, that it was done immediately after the destruction of Ai; and Mercator endeavours to prove that Ebal was near to Ai, but what he has said does not give satisfaction; for certain it is, that Ebal and Gerizim were near Shechem in Samaria, at a great distance from Ai, see Jud 9:6. The Jews {a} generally are of opinion, that this was done as soon as Israel, even the very day, they passed over Jordan, which they think the letter of the command required, De 11:29; though it does not, only that it should be done after they were passed over it; Ebal being at too great a distance from Jordan for them to accomplish it on that day, being, as they themselves say {b}, sixty miles from Jordan; so that they are obliged to make Israel travel that day an hundred twenty miles, and as they assert they did {c} and which they must do, if what they say was true, it being sixty miles to Ebal, and sixty more to return again to Gilgal that night, where they encamped, but this is incredible: and as this account of Joshua's building the altar is too soon after he had passed Jordan, what R. Ishmael {d} has pitched upon is too late, who says this was not done till after fourteen years, when the land was conquered, which was seven years doing, and when it was divided, which were seven years more; what Josephus says {e} is more probable than either, which is, that Joshua, five years after he had entered Canaan, when he had placed the tabernacle at Shiloh, went from thence and built an altar at Ebal; as for what R. Eliezer suggests {f}, that Ebal and Gerizim here mentioned are not the Ebal and Gerizim of the Samaritans, only two hills were made, and they were called by these names, cannot merit any belief or regard.



{a} Misn. Sotah, c. 7. sect. 5. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 30. Jarchi in loc. {b} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 36. 1. {c} T. Hieros. Sotah, fol. 21. 3. {d} Apud ib. {e} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 14. {f} In T. Hieros. Sotah, ut supra. ({c})





Joshua 8:31



Ver. 31. As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses,....

De 27:5;



an altar of whole stones, on which no man hath lift up [any] iron;

See Gill on "Ex 20:25",

See Gill on "De 27:5", and,

See Gill on "De 27:6":



and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings; by way of thanksgiving for the good land they were introduced into, and this was what they were ordered to do by Moses,

De 27:6.





Joshua 8:32



Ver. 32. And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses,.... Not upon the stones of which the altar was made, though some have so thought; but upon other stones erected in the form of a pillar, and plastered over, De 27:4; which copy of the law was not the whole book of Deuteronomy, as some, at least only an abstract of the laws in it; but rather the decalogue, as Abarbinel; or the blessings and curses later read, as Ben Gersom:



which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel: they being witness of it, that he did what was enjoined.





Joshua 8:33



Ver. 33. And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark, and on that side,.... Some on Ebal, and some on Gerizim:



before the priests and the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord; it being brought out of the tabernacle on this occasion, and bottle by the priests and Levites:



as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; that is, as well the proselytes as the native Israelites, both appeared and were in the same situation:



half of them over against Mount Gerizim; that is, half of the tribes, and these were Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin:



and half of them over against Mount Ebal; which were the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali; See Gill on "De 27:12" and See Gill on "De 27:13";



as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel, as in De 27:12.





Joshua 8:34



Ver. 34. And afterwards he read all the words of the law,.... Not the whole Pentateuch, nor the whole book of Deuteronomy, but either some parts of it, the decalogue, or whatsoever he had written on the stones, and as follows:



the blessings and cursings, according to all that was written in the book of the law; De 27:14;

See Gill on "De 27:11".





Joshua 8:35



Ver. 35. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not,.... So punctually, precisely, and exactly did he observe the instructions and commands that were given him by Moses; and this he did in the most public manner:



before all the congregation of Israel; who were on this occasion called together, and not before the men only, but



with the women, and little ones: who all had a concern in the things that were read to them: yea, even



and the strangers that were conversant among them; not the proselytes of righteousness only, but the proselytes of the gate, that dwelt, walked, and conversed with them.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Joshua 9:1



INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 9



This chapter gives an account of the combination of the several kings of Canaan against Israel, Jos 9:1; and of the craftiness of the Gibeonites, pretending they were ambassadors from a far country, and desired to enter into a league with Israel, which they obtained, Jos 9:3; but when it was discovered who they were, it occasioned a murmuring among the people, Jos 9:16; which the princes quelled by proposing to make them hewers of wood, and drawers of water, Jos 9:19; in order to which Joshua summoned them before him, and chided them for beguiling them; and after they had made their excuse, he ordered them to the service the princes proposed, and so peace in the congregation of Israel was preserved, Jos 9:21.



Ver. 1. And it came to pass, when all the kings which [were] on this side Jordan,.... On the side Israel now were, and was that in which the land of Canaan lay, and was now governed by many kings, and all that were now remaining, even all but the kings of Jericho and Ai, who were slain: both those



in the hills, and in the valleys; that dwelt in the mountainous part of the country, and in the plains of it:



and in all the coasts of the great sea, over against Lebanon; who inhabited and governed in that part of the country which lay on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, the country of Phoenicia, in which were Tyre, Sidon, and other cities, and were over against Mount Lebanon, which was on the northern part of the country; according to the Latin version, they dwelt near Lebanon; and according to the Septuagint, near Antilibanus. It seems best, with Noldius {g}, to render the words, "even unto Lebanon", for it designs all the sea coasts reaching to it; for all the maritime coasts did not lie over against it:



the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard [thereof]; what they heard is not said, but to be understood; particularly they heard what had been done by Joshua, and the people of Israel, to Jericho and Ai: and their kings, Jos 9:3. Some think, as Abarbinel, that they had heard of the altar Joshua had made, and of the stones he had set up, and of his reading the law to the people, by which they were to be governed; all which they understood as taking possession of the country, and looking upon it as conquered, and obliging his people to swear fealty to him. All the nations of Canaan are mentioned but the Gergasites; which, according to the Jewish writers, are omitted, because they were but few; the Septuagint version has them in some copies.



{g} Concord. Ebr. Part. p. 80. No. 370.





Joshua 9:2



Ver. 2. That they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua,

and with Israel,.... Not at this time, but they met together to consult what was proper to be done in order to secure themselves, and their people, and put a stop to the successes of the arms of Israel; and for this purpose entered into alliances with each other to assist one another, or at a convenient time and place to join their forces together, and attack Israel, as afterwards they did, Jos 11:1; and this they did



with one accord; were unanimous in their councils and resolutions; they all confederated together, and agreed as one man to make a common cause of it, and oppose Israel with their united forces.





Joshua 9:3



Ver. 3. And when the inhabitants of Gibeon,.... A large and royal city, a metropolitan one, which had three others belonging to it, and under it, mentioned Jos 9:17; see Jos 10:2; no mention is made of any king over them, perhaps they were governed by elders, Jos 9:11. Though an Arabic writer {h} says, the king of Gibeon wrote to Joshua, and desired security, and sent him large gifts, whom having preserved in safety, Joshua placed on his throne: when these



heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai; had taken the one in a miraculous way, and the other by a stratagem, and had burnt them both, destroyed the inhabitants, plundered their substance, and slew both their kings, all which struck them with terror.



{h} Patricides, p. 30. apud Hottinger. Smegm. Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 507.





Joshua 9:4



Ver. 4. And they did work wilily,.... Acted craftily, dealt in much cunning and subtlety; our version leaves out a very emphatic word, "also"; they also, as well as other nations, acted a cunning part, but in a different way; they did not enter into consultations and alliances with others, how to defend themselves, but made use of a stratagem to make peace, and enter into a league with Israel; or also as the Israelites had done, either as Simeon and Levi had dealt craftily with the Shechemites, who were Hivites, Ge 34:2; so now the Gibeonites, who also were Hivites, Jos 9:7; wrought in a wily and crafty manner with them, so Jarchi; or as the Israelites had lately done in the affair of Ai:



and went and made as if they had been ambassadors: from some states in a foreign country, sent on an embassy to the people of Israel, to compliment them on their successes, and to enter into alliance with them, which they thought would be pleasing and acceptable to them; the Targum is,



"they prepared food,''



which they took with them for their journey; and so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions:



and took old sacks upon their asses: in which they put, their provisions:



and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up: not made of glass, as ours usually are, but of the skins of beasts, as the bottles in the eastern countries commonly were; which in time grew old, and were rent and burst, and they were obliged to mend them, and bind them up, that they might hold together, and retain the liquor put into them, see Mt 9:17.





Joshua 9:5



Ver. 5. And old shoes and clouted upon their feet,.... Which being worn out, were patched with various pieces of leather:



and old garments upon them; full of holes and rents, ragged and patched:



and the bread of their provision was dry [and] mouldy; having been kept a long time, and unfit for use; or like cakes over baked and burnt, as the Targum and Jarchi: the word for "mouldy" signifies pricked, pointed, spotted, as mouldy bread has in it spots of different colours, as white, red, green, and black, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; or it signifies bread so dry, as Ben Gersom notes, that it crumbles into pieces easily, with which the Vulgate Latin version agrees; or rather through being long kept, it was become dry and hard like crusts, so Noldius {i}; or very hard, like bread twice baked, as Castell {k}.



{i} P. 379. No. 1218. {k} Lex. col. 2395.





Joshua 9:6



Ver. 6. And they went to Joshua, unto the camp at Gilgal,.... From whence it appears, that after Jericho and Ai were destroyed, the army of Israel returned to their encampment at Gilgal, Jos 5:10; and here they were when the Gibeonites applied to them:



and said unto him, and to the men of Israel; not to the whole body of the people, but either to the seventy elders, the great council, who were with Joshua, or the princes of the congregation, after mentioned, who are said to swear to them; and so some render the words, "to the chief men of Israel" {l}; the word "Ish" here used sometimes denotes an eminent person or persons, see Isa 2:9;



we be come from a far country; this lie they told, that they might not be thought to be inhabitants of Canaan, and be destroyed as those of Jericho and Ai were; and as the rest of the inhabitants would be, of which they had intelligence, as the design of the Israelites, and what their orders were; according to Jerom {m}, Gibeon was but four miles from Bethel, unless he means Gibeah; however, it could not be at a much greater distance; and as Gilgal was a mile and a quarter from Jericho, where the Gibeonites now were, and Ai but three miles from Jericho, and Bethel a mile from thence, and Gibeon four miles from Bethel, they were come but little more than nine miles. Bunting {n} makes it twelve miles from Gilgal to Gibeon:



now therefore make yea league with us; offensive and defensive, to help and assist each other against a common enemy.



{l} larvy vya la "primoribus viris Israelis", Junius & Tremellius; so Piscator. {m} De loc. Heb. fol. 92. A. {n} Travels, p. 96.





Joshua 9:7



Ver. 7. And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites,.... Though they did not know them to be such, but as they afterwards appeared to be the Hivites, as the Gibeonites were, they are here so called, see

Jos 11:19. The name signifies "serpents"; according to a Derash, or mystical exposition, mentioned by Kimchi, the Gibeonites are so called, because they did the work of the serpent; that is to say, they deceived the Israelites, as the serpent deceived Eve:



peradventure ye dwell among us; of which they had some suspicion;



and how shall we make a league with you? which they were forbid to do with any of the seven nations, De 7:2.





Joshua 9:8



Ver. 8. And they said unto Joshua, we [are] thy servants,.... Not that they meant to be subjects of his, and tributaries to him; but this they said in great humility and lowliness of mind, being willing to be or do anything he should enjoin them. Abarbinel observes, that this they proposed to Joshua singly, not to be servants to all the people, but to him only, and to have him for their head and governor:



and Joshua, said, who [are] ye? and from whence come ye? by what name are ye called? and from what country do ye come? suspecting, as it should seem, that they were the inhabitants of Canaan; or however he was cautious and upon his guard, lest they should be such, and yet was not enough upon his guard to prevent imposition.





Joshua 9:9



Ver. 9. And they said unto him, from a very far country thy servants are come,.... Which they magnified and expressed in stronger terms than before, but were careful not to mention any country, lest such questions should be asked about it, their answers to which would betray them, but put it off by saying they were come,



because of the name of the Lord thy God; because of what they had heard of his name, his power and goodness; or "unto the name of the Lord thy God" {o}; that is, they were come to profess it, and to embrace the religion of the Israelites, and be proselytes to it; which they knew would be very agreeable to them, and engage them to show them favour; and so the Samaritan Chronicle {p} represents them as promising to do this, saying,



"we will believe in thy Lord, nor will we contradict him in what ye shall mark out for us, be it small or great;''



which seems to be, confirmed by what follows, unless it be considered as an explanation of the preceding clause:



for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt; the miracles wrought there, the plagues he inflicted on the Egyptians, and the wonderful deliverance of the children of Israel from their slavery.



{o} hwhy Mvl "ad nomen Domini", Masius; "ad nomen Jehovae": Junius & Tremellius. {p} Apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 507.





Joshua 9:10



Ver. 10. And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that [were] beyond Jordan,.... On the other side of Jordan from Gilgal:



to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan in Ashtaroth; the history of which see in Nu 21:21; they wisely took no notice of the miracle of dividing the waters of Jordan, to make a passage for the Israelites; nor of the destruction of Jericho and Ai, which were recent things, and could not be thought as yet to have reached a far country they pretended to come from; and which, if they mentioned, might have created a stronger suspicion still of their being Canaanites.





Joshua 9:11



Ver. 11. Wherefore our elders, and all the inhabitants of our country,

spake unto us,.... They suggest, that their senate, or the states of their country, their principal men were convened, and that it was the unanimous voice of them, and of the people, that they should go on this embassy:



saying, take victuals with you for the journey; sufficient for so long a journey; for, in those times and countries, inns on the road were not frequent as now:



and go to meet them; to prevent their coming in an hostile manner unto them, and make peace, and enter into an alliance with them:



and say unto them, we [are] your servants; ready to come into any terms with them, just and reasonable:



therefore now make ye a league with us; that we may live in friendship, and mutually assist each other, as occasion should require.





Joshua 9:12



Ver. 12. This our bread we took hot [for] our provision out of our houses,.... These are not the words of the elders to the messengers they sent, continued, but of the ambassadors to the Israelites, pointing to the bread they brought with them, which they pretended was newly baked and took hot out of the oven:



on the day we came forth to go unto you, but now, behold, it is dry,

and it is mouldy: See Gill on "Jos 9:5"; which they gave as a demonstration and proof that they were come from a far country, as they had asserted.





Joshua 9:13



Ver. 13. And these bottles of wine, which we filled, [were] new,.... That is, on the day they came out on their journey:



and, behold, they be rent; which were owing to the long use that had been made of them, as they pretended:



and these our garments, and our shoes, are become old by reason of the very long journey: quite worn out through length of time and tedious travels. Isidore of Pelusium {q} thinks these Gibeonites were Cappadocians, of whom he gives a shocking character, and particularly that they were prone to lying and deceit; but his reason for it, that they were of the Philistines, will not hold good.



{q} L. 1. Ep. 281.





Joshua 9:14



Ver. 14. And the men took of their victuals,.... That is, the princes of Israel took thereof; not to eat of them, for it cannot be thought that such personages would eat of such dry and mouldy bread, and especially as they were now in a plentiful country, and possessed of the fruits of it; but to see whether it was in such a plight and condition as they said, whereby they might judge of the truth of what they said; and they learned and knew, as R. Jonah observes, from the dryness of their food, that it was truth they said; and so the Targum, the men hearkened to their words; and so Jarchi, they believed what they said on sight of their provisions; but, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, they ate with them, to confirm the covenant they made with them; but had this been the case, as it sometimes was a custom to eat together at making covenants, see Ge 26:30; the princes would doubtless have provided a better entertainment for such a purpose: the "margin" of our Bibles leads to the other sense,



"they received the men by reason of their victuals:''



and asked not [counsel] at the mouth of the Lord; as they might and should have done, by desiring the high priest to inquire of the Lord by Urim and Thummim; but this they neglected, which, had they attended to, the fraud would have been discovered; or however, they would have had the mind of God about making peace with the Gibeonites, which in all likelihood he would not have disapproved of, they becoming proselytes, and giving up their possessions to Israel; but this did not excuse their neglect.





Joshua 9:15



Ver. 15. And Joshua made peace with them,.... Upon the report the princes made of having examined what they had said, and which they found to be true, particularly concerning their victuals:



and made a league with them, to let them live; and not destroy them as he did the Canaanites, and was ordered to do; they being supposed not to belong to them by the representation of things they had made:



and the princes of the congregation sware unto them; that they would keep the league and covenant they had made with them inviolable; they ratified it by an oath, which was a sacred solemn thing.





Joshua 9:16



Ver. 16. And it came to pass at the end of three days, after they had made a league with them,.... The league seems to have been made the same day they came; the Gibeonites were no doubt in haste to have it concluded, lest they should be discovered; and Joshua, and the princes of Israel, took no pains, and gave themselves no great trouble to inquire about them, but made peace with them at once; and it was but three days after, or within three days of its being made,



that they heard that they [were] their neighbours, and [that] they dwelt among them; that is, in their neighbourhood, as the Arabic version; and so Noldius {r} renders the words, "and that they dwelt near them"; for the Gibeonites did not dwell among the Israelites, or in the midst of them, but near the place where they were; and this they understood either by some deserters that came to the camp of Israel, or by some of the Israelites who were sent to reconnoitre several parts of the country, especially such as lay nearest, or for the sake of getting provisions for their camp.



{r} Concord. Ebr. Part. p. 211. No. 932.





Joshua 9:17



Ver. 17. And the children of Israel journeyed,.... Not the whole camp, for that still remained at Gilgal, and continued there until the Gibeonites in distress sent to them for assistance in virtue of the league, as appears from the following chapter; but a party of them, who were sent along with some of the princes, to know the truth whether the Gibeonites were their neighbours or not, as had been reported to them:



and came unto their cities on the third day; not on the third day from their setting out on their journey, for it was but one night's march from Gilgal to them, Jos 10:9; but on the third day from the making of the league; it is very probable it was early on the third day they heard of their being their neighbours, upon which a party was sent out at once to know the truth of it, who arrived thither the same day:



now their cities [were] Gibeon and Chephirah, and Beeroth and Kirjathjearim; Gibeon was the metropolis, and the other three were subject to it; the three first fell to the lot of Benjamin, and the last to the tribe of Judah; we shall meet with them again in the lots of the several tribes, in Jos 15:60.





Joshua 9:18



Ver. 18. And the children of Israel smote them not,.... The inhabitants of the four cities, when they came to them, though they found it to be a true report that was brought them of their being neighbours, and that they were imposed upon by them:



because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel; by the Word of the Lord God of Israel, as the Targum, and therefore they restrained the people from smiting and plundering them; for it was not the oath of the princes the people so much regarded, or had such an influence on them as to abstain from seizing on them, but the princes, by reason of their oath, would not suffer them to touch them:



and all the congregation murmured against the princes; not only for taking such an oath, but chiefly because they restrained them from smiting the Gibeonites, and taking their substance for a prey; their eager desire of revenge, and of seizing their goods, and inhabiting their cities, raised a murmur in them against the princes. This is to be understood not of the whole body of the people at Gilgal, but of all that party that was sent to Gibeon, and of the princes that went with them.





Joshua 9:19



Ver. 19. But all the princes said to all the congregation,.... That is, all the princes that went to Gibeon addressed all the Israelites that were there:



we have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel; by the Word of the Lord God, as the Targum; an oath is a solemn sacred thing, and not to be broken, and a good man will make conscience of it, and keep it, though he has sworn to his own hurt: and



now therefore we may not touch them; neither take away their lives nor their substance.





Joshua 9:20



Ver. 20. This we will do to them,.... Either this favour we will show them, preserving their lives, next mentioned, or this punishment we will inflict on them, making them hewers of wood, and drawers of water; which though not mentioned directly, was what was upon their minds, and in their design to propose, only they were extremely desirous of sparing their lives, which they repeat:



we will even let them live; this by all means must be done, their lives must not be taken away as the rest of the Canaanites:



lest wrath come upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them; that is, lest the wrath of God come upon us princes, and upon the whole community, for perjury, a breach of the third command, Ex 20:7, a sin highly displeasing to God; since an oath is made not only in his presence, and before him as a witness, who is appealed unto, but in his name, and is often severely threatened, and sorely punished; and as even the breach of this oath was several hundreds of years after, in the times of David, 2Sa 21:1. The Vulgate Latin version therefore reads the words, "lest the wrath of the Lord come upon us": but Abarbinel observes, that it may be understood of the wrath of Israel; for the words may be rendered, "and there shall not be wrath upon us, because of the oath": there need be none, there is no occasion for it, since this was agreed upon on all hands, that the Gibeonites should be let to live; and since it was an act of kindness and goodness, and especially they would have no reason to be angry and wrathful with them, when they heard them out, what they had further to propose to them, to make them their servants, though they spared their lives.





Joshua 9:21



Ver. 21. And the princes said to them, let them live,.... They were very pressing upon them, and importunate with them, to save their lives, because of the oath they had taken:



(but let them be hewers of wood, and drawers of water, unto all the congregation): which was a very low and mean employment, De 29:11; as well as wearisome; and this being a yoke of servitude on the Gibeonites, and a punishment of them for their fraud, and of service, profit, and advantage to the people of Israel, the princess proposed it in hopes of pacifying them, and that they would yield to spare the lives of the Gibeonites; what they proposed was, not that they should hew wood and draw water for all the Israelites for their private use, but what was necessary for the service of the sanctuary, which the congregation was obliged to furnish them with; and now these men should do that work for them, which before was incumbent on them; for Joshua afterwards imposed this upon them, to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God, Jos 9:23; though Kimchi thinks that while the people of Israel were in camp, and before the land was divided, they were hewers of wood and drawers of water to the congregation; but after the land was divided, and they were settled in their cities and inheritances, then they only hewed wood and drew water for the sanctuary at Gilgal, Shiloh, Nob, Gibeon, and the temple; the Jewish writers say {s}, the Nethinim and the Gibeonites were the same, who became proselytes in the times of Joshua, see 1Ch 9:2;



as the princes promised them; which is to be connected, not with their being hewers of wood and drawers of water, this the princes had said nothing of before, and which is rightly included in a parenthesis, but with their being let to live; this they had promised and sworn to, even all the princes, not only all that were now at Gibeon, and were persuading the people to let the Gibeonites live, but all the princes, even those that were not present, but in the camp at Gilgal.



{s} Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Kiddushin, c. 4. sect. 1.





Joshua 9:22



Ver. 22. And Joshua called for them,.... The Gibeonites, who came as ambassadors for their people, who were detained at Gilgal until the children of Israel returned from Gibeon; and upon their return, and having made their report to Joshua that they found it to be true that they were near neighbours, Joshua ordered them to be brought before him:



and he spake unto them, saying, wherefore have ye beguiled us? what is your reason and motive for so doing? what has induced you to act such a deceitful part, to tell such lies and falsehoods, and impose upon us after this manner?



saying, we [are] very far from you, when ye dwell among us: pretending to come from a very far country, when they were inhabitants of the land Israel were come to possess.





Joshua 9:23



Ver. 23. Now therefore ye [are] cursed,.... Appear to be the posterity of cursed Canaan, and, notwithstanding the artifice used, should not be exempted from the curse denounced on Canaan: "a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren", Ge 9:25; as these Gibeonites were; they became the servants of the Levites, who were servants to the priests; and they seemed to be spared in Providence, that that part of the curse on Canaan might be fulfilled: "and Canaan shall be his servant"; the servant of Shem, from whom the Israelites sprang, Ge 9:25; though the curse was turned into a blessing to the Gibeonites, since though their post and office was mean, yet they had a place in the sanctuary of the Lord, and opportunity of learning the law of God, and understanding the true religion, worship, and knowledge of God, and were an emblem and pledge of the reception of the Gentiles into the church of God:



and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen; which the oath taken did not oblige Joshua, and the princes, to exempt them from, only to let them live, Jos 9:15;



and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God; which explains what is meant by the "congregation", and who might purposely choose that phrase, to make the people more easy; but their work, as assigned them by Joshua, was not to hew wood and draw water for every one's private use, only for the service of the sanctuary, which in some sense was the service of the congregation; and a great deal of work there was to be done of this kind, much wood to hew for keeping the fire of the altar continually burning, and for boiling the flesh of the peace offerings, and the like, and much water to draw for various uses, for the washing of the priests and the sacrifices, and various other things.





Joshua 9:24



Ver. 24. And they answered Joshua, and said, because it was certainly told thy servants,.... Or "it was told", told {t}; not only certainly, told, but frequently told them, they had often heard of it by one means or another:



how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land; all the land of Canaan, no part excepted; they had heard much of the Lord God of Israel, and of Moses, what character he bore, and of the commands of the Lord to him; they seem to have knowledge of God, and faith in him as to his promises and threatenings, believing they would be fulfilled:



and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; as the gift of the land of Canaan to Israel was often spoken of by the Lord to Moses, and frequently mentioned by him; so there were instructions given him from the Lord, and which lie delivered to Israel, utterly to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan, so, that these people had accurate intelligence and information of this matter; see De 7:1:



therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing; they answer to Joshua's question, "wherefore have ye beguiled us?" Jos 9:22, that it was fear of losing their lives, than which nothing is dearer to a man, and the principle of self-preservation that put them upon framing and using this device.



{t} dgh dgh "indicando indicatum est", Pagninus, Montanus.





Joshua 9:25



Ver. 25. And now, behold, we [are] in thine hand,.... In thy power, and at thy disposal, and are ready to submit to whatsoever may be enjoined us:



as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do; do what is consistent with the laws of kindness, and with the rules of justice, and particularly with the league made, and oath taken; all which they left with him to consider of, and to do as in his wisdom and goodness he should see fit.





Joshua 9:26



Ver. 26. And so did he unto them,.... What was good and right, he showed them favour, and did them justice:



and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not; who were so incensed against them for imposing on them in the manner they did, that they were ready many of them to draw their swords and slay them; and would have done it, had it not been for the interposition of Joshua, and the orders he gave to the contrary.





Joshua 9:27



Ver. 27. And Joshua made them that day,.... Constituted and appointed them, ordered and settled them, in the post and office after mentioned; or "gave" them {u}; hence some think they had the name Nethinim, persons given to the Levites for the service of the sanctuary: namely, to be



hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord; some think they were employed both for the service of the congregation, when they wanted wood and water, and for the altar, and what belonged to it, that needed both. Abarbinel supposes that they served the congregation while they were engaged in war, and subduing the land, but after the division of the land they only served the sanctuary; See Gill on "Jos 9:21";



even unto this day in the place which he should choose; to have the tabernacle pitched, and the altar set up therein, as it was in various places, before the temple built by Solomon at Jerusalem, which was the place the Lord chose; and this shows that the writer of this book lived before the building of the temple, or otherwise it, is highly probable he would have expressly mentioned it; whereas he uses only the phrase that Moses frequently expressed it by in his time; see

De 12:5.



{u} Mntyw "deditque eos", Montanus. Vatablus, Drusius.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Joshua 10:1



INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 10



This chapter treats of the combination of five kings against the Gibeonites, Jos 10:1; and of the application of the Gibeonites to Joshua, for assistance, in virtue of the league between them, which was granted, Jos 10:6; of the slaughter of the army by the kings of Israel, and chiefly by hailstones from heaven, Jos 10:10; and of the standing still of the sun, and of the moon, while vengeance was taken on them, Jos 10:12; and of the five kings being hid in a cave, and of the usage of them when taken, Jos 10:15; and of the taking of Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir,

Jos 10:28; which finished the conquest of the southern part of the land, Jos 10:40.



Ver. 1. Now it came to pass, when Adonizedek king of Jerusalem,.... So called, perhaps by anticipation, Jerusalem, since it seems to have had this name given it by the Israelites, when they had got possession of it: and Jerusalem signifies "the possession of Salem" {w}, and in memory of this its ancient name, the Jews say {x}, they do not put "jod" in Jerusalem between "lamed" and "mem"; though some make the signification of it, "they shall see peace" {y}; and others, nearer to its old name, and with respect to it, "fear Salem", O ye enemies. Now the king of this place



had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; which, being nearer to him than Jericho, the more alarmed him:



as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; burnt the one, and slew the other; and this terrified him, lest he and his city should undergo the same fate:



and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them; which as it weakened the interest of the kings of Canaan, might set an example to other places to do the like. Abarbinel suggests, that the Gibeonites making peace with Israel secretly, without the knowledge of their king, as he supposes, made Adonizedek fearful, lest his subjects should do the like; the Jewish chronologers say {z}, that these three acts respecting Jericho, Ai, and Gibeon, were all finished within three months.



{w} Reland, p. 833. {x} Gloss. in T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 16. 1. {y} Vid. Stockium, p. 480. {z} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 31.





Joshua 10:2



Ver. 2. That they feared greatly,.... The king of Jerusalem and his people, lest they should fall into the hands of the Israelites, and be used as Jericho and Ai, and the kings and inhabitants of them were, and that they would be the next that should fall a sacrifice to them; for Gibeon was fifty furlongs from Jerusalem, as Josephus says {a}; and in another place he says {b} but forty, which were but five miles; and if fifty, but little more than six miles; according to Bunting {c}, it was but four miles: and what added to their terror was,



because Gibeon [was] a great city; being a metropolitan city, and having others subject to it; therefore the surrender of that to the Israelites might intimidate other cities, and lead them by example to do the like, and so of bad consequence:



as one of the royal cities; the Vulgate Latin version omits the note of similitude, and reads, "and one of the royal cities"; and sometimes "caph" or "as" is not a note of likeness, but of reality; yet as we nowhere read of a king of Gibeon, the sense may be, that though it was not a royal seat, it was equal to those that were, and like one, being a metropolitan city: and



because it [was] greater than Ai: had more inhabitants in it, and perhaps better fortified:



and all the men thereof [were] mighty; men of strength, courage, and valour, warlike men, and therefore for such a city to yield so easily, and in such a base, mean, and cowardly way, was setting a very bad example.



{a} De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 19. sect. 1. {b} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 11. sect. 7. {c} Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 98.





Joshua 10:3



Ver. 3. Wherefore Adonizedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron,.... Which, according to Jerom {d} was twenty two miles from Jerusalem; it was an ancient city built seven years before Zoan in Egypt; See Gill on "Ge 13:18" and

See Gill on "Nu 13:22":



and unto Piram king of Jarmuth; a city which fell to the lot of Judah, as did Hebron, Jos 15:35; according to Jerom {e}, it was four miles distant from Eleutheropolis; according to Procopius {f} fourteen, about the village Eshtaol, near to which Samson was buried, Jud 16:31; but Jerom {g} speaks of a city called Jermus, in the tribe of Judah, which seems to be the same with this; and which he says in his day was a village, that went by the name of Jermucha, ten miles from Eleutheropolis, as you go to Aelia or Jerusalem; and as Eleutheropolis lay twenty miles from Jerusalem, this place must be ten miles from it, lying between them both:



and unto Japhia king of Lachish; which the above writer says {h} was a city in the tribe of Judah, and in his time a village, seven miles from Eleutheropolis, as you go to Daroma, or the south; and, according to Bunting {i}, it lay between Eleutheropolis and Hebron, and was twenty miles from Jerusalem towards the southwest:



and unto Debir king of Eglon; which the Septuagint version calls Odollam or Adullam; and Jerom, following this version, makes Eglon the same with Adullam, when it is certain they were different places, and had distinct kings over them, Jos 12:12; and which he says {k} in his time was a very large village, twelve miles from Eleutheropolis to the east; and, according to Bunting {l} it was twelve miles from Jerusalem southward. To these four kings the king of Jerusalem sent:



saying; as follows.



{d} De loc. Heb. fol. 87. E. {e} lb. fol. 92. H. {f} Apud Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. l. 2. p. 505. {g} Ut supra, (De loc. Heb. fol. 92.) I. {h} Ib. M. {i} Travels, p. 99. {k} De loc. Heb. fol. 91. A. {l} Travels, p. 92.





Joshua 10:4



Ver. 4. Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon,.... For which he thought himself not a match, not only because it was a great city, and full of mighty men, and had other cities subject to it, but because he might reasonably judge that Joshua would come to their assistance if possible, being in league with him; he sends to these kings in an authoritative manner, as if they were in some respects subject to him; and he proposes Jerusalem as the place of their rendezvous, and which it seems lay higher than their cities, though they were in the mountainous part of the country:



for it hath made peace with Joshua, and with the children of Israel; their avowed enemies, and so had separated themselves from their countrymen, and from their common interest; and therefore it was thought proper to make an example of them, that others might fear to do the same.





Joshua 10:5



Ver. 5. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites,.... For though they were chiefly Hittites that dwelt in Hebron, and Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; yet as the Amorites were the most powerful people in the land, and had dispersed themselves in the several parts of it, and seem to have the greatest authority in it, they were all called Amorites, and perhaps the kings of those cities were of them, and set over them by them; so we find that the Gibeonites, who were Hivites, are said to be of the remnant of the Amorite, 2Sa 21:2;



the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they, and all their hosts; that is, to Jerusalem, the place of their rendezvous, and from thence they marched:



and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it: by besieging it, and attacking it in some of its forts.





Joshua 10:6



Ver. 6. And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal,.... Which some think they did when besieged, and not before, which showed their faith in the power of God, whom they now professed; but it is not likely that they should defer sending for help so long, since it is reasonable to suppose they might have heard of the design of the five kings against them; or that they should be able to send out messengers when surrounded on all sides; it may be better therefore to render the words, "had sent" {m}, which they did as soon as they heard of the preparations made by the five kings to war with them, and of their rendezvous at Jerusalem, and especially as soon as they had information of their march towards them:



saying, slack not thine hands from thy servants; they entreat that he would not neglect them, be indifferent to them, and delay to assist them, since they were his subjects; and were entitled to his protection:



come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us; they did not doubt, if he made haste and helped them, but they should be saved by him:



for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us. Jerusalem lay among mountains, and Hebron was in the hill country in Judea, see Ps 125:2; and the other cities were doubtless in a like situation.



{m} whlvyw "sed miserant", Piscator; so Pool and Patrick.





Joshua 10:7



Ver. 7. So Joshua ascended from Gilgal,.... Which lay low in the plains of Jericho:



he and all the men of war with him; which must not be understood of the whole camp of Israel, which consisted of five hundred thousand fighting men at least; since such a number was unnecessary for this expedition, and could not have proceeded with that haste the case required; nor would it have been prudent and advisable to have left the unarmed people, old men, women, and children, defenceless; but these were a select company of able men, fit for travel as well as war:



and all the mighty men of valour; or "even all", as many as were picked out for the purpose, being men of strength, activity, and courage.





Joshua 10:8



Ver. 8. And the Lord said unto Joshua,.... Either when upon the march, and while he was proceeding on in his journey to the assistance of the Gibeonites, or rather before he set out; and it is highly probable he consulted the Lord on this occasion, having, it may be, some doubt on his mind, whether he should go to their assistance, since the league between them was obtained by fraud; and the words may be rendered, "and the Lord hath said" {n}: before he set forward with his men of war:



fear them not; the five kings, and their combined army:



for I have delivered them into thine hand; had determined to do it, and which was as certain as if it had been actually done:



there shall not a man of them stand before thee; but be either cut off, or obliged to flee.



{n} rmayw "et dixerat", Masius, Drusius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





Joshua 10:9



Ver. 9. Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly,.... Which no doubt threw them into consternation and confusion:



[and] went up from Gilgal all night; he chose the night for secrecy and surprise, and that he might be the sooner with the enemy, and to the assistance and relief of Gibeon; and as it was about nine or ten miles from Gilgal to Gibeon, it was easily performed in a night's march;

See Gill on "Jos 9:6".





Joshua 10:10



Ver. 10. And the Lord discomfited them before Israel,.... Disturbed, troubled, and frightened them, at the appearance and presence of the people of Israel; they were thrown into terror and confusion upon their approach, being so sudden and unexpected:



and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon; by the Israelites, who came upon them suddenly:



and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron; there were two places of this name, the upper and the nether, both built by Sherah, the daughter or granddaughter of Ephraim, 1Ch 7:24; therefore here so called by anticipation. It was about an hundred furlongs, or twelve miles and a half, according to Josephus {o}, from Jerusalem, which agrees with Eusebius and Jerom; and from Gibeon thither, it was fifty furlongs, or six miles and a quarter; so far the kings were pursued by Joshua and his army, at least unto the ascent of it; for being built on a hill, it had an ascent on one side, and a descent on the other, after mentioned, and both were very narrow passages; of the former it is said in the Talmud {p}, that if two camels go up the ascent to Bethhoron, they both fall; upon which the gloss says, it is a narrow place, and there is no way to turn to the right hand, or the left:



and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah; the former of which is placed by Jerom {q} between Eleutheropolis and Jerusalem, and was a village in his days, and the other eight miles from Eleutheropolis, and both in the tribe of Judah, see Jos 15:35; according to Bunting {r}, they were both eight miles from Jerusalem towards the west.



{o} Antiqu. l. 20. c. 4. sect. 4. {p} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 32. 2. {q} De loc. Heb. fol. 88. A. & 93. C. {r} Travels, &c. p. 98.





Joshua 10:11



Ver. 11. And it came to pass, as they fled before Israel, [and] were in the going down to Bethhoron,.... The descent of it on that side towards Azekah, and which was also a very narrow passage, of which Josephus {s} makes mention. The Jews say {t}, that the going down of Bethhoron was the place where the army of Sennacherib fell:



that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died; the Septuagint version calls them hailstones; and so they are called in the next clause; and that such sometimes have fallen as to kill men and cattle, is certain from the plague of hail in Egypt, Ex 9:19; and some in very late times {u} have been known to fall, which were from eight, nine, and twelve inches about, some bigger than the eggs of turkeys, and some half a pound weight,

See Gill on "Re 16:21"; but these seem to be proper stones, such as did not melt away as hailstones do; though so called, because they fell from heaven, as they do, but remained, and still remain, according to the notion the Jews have of them; for they say {w} whoever sees these great stones, in the going down to Bethhoron, is bound to bless; and frequent mention is made by historians of showers of stones being rained. Livy {x} speaks of such a shower when King Tullus conquered the Sabines; and of another {y}, when Scipio succeeded at Carthage; and Pomponius Mela {z} relates, that when Hercules fought with the sons of Neptune, and darts failed him, he obtained of Jupiter to rains shower of stones, which lay spread in great abundance; and some {a} think it refers to this fact in Joshua's time, who is supposed to be the same with the Tyrian Hercules {b}, from hence also called Saxanus {c}; and in memory of this there are stony camps in various places, called by his name {d}:



[they were] more which died with hailstones than [they] whom the children of Israel slew with the sword; but what was the number of each of them is not said; it was doubtless very great, since there was an utter destruction and consumption of them, Jos 10:20.



{s} De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 19. sect. 7, 8. {t} Gloss. in T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 54. 2. {u} Vid. Louthorp. Abridg. Philosoph. vol. 2. p. 144, 146. {w} T. Bab. Betacot, fol. 54. 1. {x} L. 1. p. 17. {y} L. 30. c. 30. {z} De Orbis Situ, l. 2. c. 5. {a} Vossius de Origin. Idol. c. 1. sect. 16. {b} See Gale's Court of the Gentiles, l. 2. c. 5. {c} Dickins. Delph. Phoenic. c. 4. p. 42. {d} Sanford de Descens. Christi, l. 1. sect. 20. p. 35.





Joshua 10:12



Ver. 12. Then spake Joshua to the Lord,.... In prayer, and entreated as follows, that the sun and moon might stand still, until the victory was complete; though the Jewish writers interpret it of a song; so the Targum, then Joshua praised, or sung praise, as in the Targum on So 1:1; and which is approved of by Jarchi and Kimchi:



in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel; the five kings of the Amorites, and their armies,

Jos 10:5;



and he said, in the sight of Israel; in their presence, and in the hearing of great numbers, being under a divine impulse, and having strong faith in the working of the miracle, after related, and that it would be according to his word; he was bold to say what he did, being fully persuaded he should not be disappointed, and made ashamed:



sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon; where they now appeared, and were seen by all Israel, the one as if over Gibeon, and the other as in the valley of which Masius thinks is the same with the valley of Gibeon, Isa 28:21; and so must be near Gibeon, and the sun and the moon not far from one another, as they might be if it was now new moon, as Kimchi and R. Isaiah; or on the decrease; some say seven days before her change: but Abarbinel is of opinion that it was near the full of the moon, which was just rising in the valley of Ajalon, and the sun near setting as it seemed over Gibeon, and were just opposite one to another; and Joshua fearing he should not have time to pursue his enemies, and make the victory entire, should the sun set, prays that both sun and moon might continue in the position they were; the sun that he might have the benefit of daylight, which was the chief thing desired; the moon being only mentioned, that the heavenly motions might not be confounded, and the order of the orbs disturbed; and he observes, with Jarchi and Kimchi, that Gibeon was in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:25; and Ajalon in the tribe of Dan, Jos 19:42; and it may be observed, that there was also another in the tribe of Zebulun, Jud 12:12; but that seems to be at too great a distance; and still less probable is what some late travellers have observed {e}, that the plain of Sharon near Joppa, is thought by many to be the place where Joshua defeated the five kings, when the sun stood still, &c. the opinion of Masius, first mentioned, seems most likely.



{e} Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 1. p. 290.





Joshua 10:13



Ver. 13. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed,.... The sun that came out of his chamber like a bridegroom, and rejoiced as a strong man to run his course, stopped his course at once; and the moon that walks in her brightness proceeded not on, but both stood still, motionless, and continued in this position:



until the people had avenged themselves on their enemies: until the nation and people of Israel had taken vengeance on and destroyed the live kings and their forces: how this is to be reconciled to the Copernican system, or that with this, I shall not inquire. It was a most wonderful and surprising phenomenon, to see both luminaries standing still in the midst of heaven; it is pretended by some historians {f}, that a like miracle was wrought at the battle of Mulberg, won by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, on April 24, 1547. In the Chinese history {g} it is reported, that in the time of their seventh, emperor, Yao, the sun did not set for ten days, and that men were afraid the world would be burnt, and there were great fires at that time; and though the time of the sun's standing still is enlarged beyond the bounds of truth, yet it seems to refer to this fact, and was manifestly about the same time; for this miracle was wrought in the year of the world 2554, which fell in the seventy fifth, or, as some say, the sixty seventh year of that emperor's reign, who reigned ninety years:



[is] not this written in the book of Jasher? about which the Jews are divided; some say it is the book of Genesis, others the book of Deuteronomy, others the book of Judges {h}; the Targum interprets it of the book of the law, and so Jarchi and Kimchi; and Ben Melech interprets it of the book of the law of Moses, where they suppose this miracle was predicted. The former thinks, in the words of Jacob to Joseph, "his seed shall fill the nations", Ge 48:19; which he supposes was fulfilled in Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim, when the whole world was filled with the fame of him on account of this miracle; and the latter in the words, "before all thy people I will do miracles",

Ex 34:10; one was in making the face of Moses to shine, the other the standing still of the sun for Joshua, as he interprets it. Bolducius, a commentator on the book of Job {i}, fancies that that book is designed, and that this miracle is foretold in it, particularly in Job 9:7; "which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not"; it is most likely that this book of Jasher, in which this miracle was recorded, was a public register, or annals, in which memorable events were written, as they happened in different ages by different persons; and Masius thinks Josephus {k} means this by the archives laid up in the temple, to which he appeals for the truth of this miracle:



so the sun stood still in the midst of heaven; somewhere above the horizon, very probably this was about noon, when the sun was in its meridian. Gussetius {l} thinks about ten or eleven o'clock; it may be supposed that early in the morning Joshua came up with his troops, and engaged the kings, and it might be noon before the battle was over, and the victory obtained, at least before Joshua had proceeded in his pursuit of them, so far as he had done, when the miracle was wrought; and the rather, as it would be the more conspicuous in the several parts of the world; for had it been near sun setting, it could not have been seen in some places, and particularly by the Chinese, as it seems to have been by what has been observed:



and hasted not to go down about a whole day; which was either artificial or natural; if an artificial day, then it stood still but twelve hours; if a natural day, twenty four hours; and accordingly the length of the day must be judged of; if it was at noon when it stood still, and continued so a natural day, or twenty four hours, then as it had gone six hours to noon, and, after it returned to its motion, had six more to go to its setting, this day must be thirty six hours long; and so the Jews commonly say {m}; but if an artificial day, or twelve hours, then it was but a day of twenty four hours; but if this was, as the Jews say {n}, on the third of Tammuz, which answers to part of June, and was in the summer solstice, on the longest day in the year, when their days consisted of fourteen hours, this will make this long day four hours longer. According to the author of Ecclesiasticus, in the Apocrypha:



"Did not the sun go back by his means? and was not one day as long as two?'' (Sirach 46:4)



it was a double day, or, as he expresses it, one day became two, or was as long as two.



(In the late 1960's, someone circulated a story that NASA had discovered there was a missing day in the solar system. Using this passage they accounted for about twenty one missing hours and the account in Isa 38:8 to account for the rest of the missing time. This story is a complete fable and has absolutely no basis in fact. Editor.)



{f} See Bayle's Dictionary, vol. 4. p. 268. {g} Martin. Sinie. Histor. l. 1. p. 25. {h} T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 35. 1. {i} Bolduc. in Job. ix. 7. {k} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 17. {l} Comment. Ebr. p. 281. {m} Targum in Cant. i. 1. T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 25. 1. Kimchi in loc. So Justin Martyr. Dialog. cum Tryph. p. 361. {n} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 31. Kimchi in loc.





Joshua 10:14



Ver. 14. And there was no day like that, before it, or after it,.... Which must be understood as referring not to natural days, or such as are according to the natural course of things, as those in the northern and southern poles, which are much longer, but to miraculous and extraordinary ones: never was there such a day as this, occasioned by the sun standing still; and as for Hezekiah's day, which is objected, when the sun went ten degrees backward on the dial of Ahaz, it is not certain whether those degrees were hours, or half hours, or quarters of an hour; and if they were hours, as the going backwards was at once, in a moment, it could only make an addition of ten hours in the return of them, and so it must make but a day of twenty two hours: besides, the writer of this book only speaks of days that had been in his time, and not of what might be hereafter; add to which, that this respects not so much the length of the day, as the manner in which it became so long; and especially it regards the following circumstance, being at the entreaty of a man, and that delivered in a very authoritative manner:



that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man; expressed in prayer, and which prayer was a prayer of faith:



for the Lord fought for Israel: by casting hailstones upon their enemies, and preserving them from them by the stopping the course of the sun, until they had taken full vengeance on them. The day on which this miracle was wrought, is conjectured to be Wednesday the eleventh of April, in the year before Christ 1454 {n}.



{n} Bedford's Chronology, p. 492.





Joshua 10:15



Ver. 15. And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal. That is, he thought to have returned, had determined upon it, and prepared for it, but was prevented by hearing that the five kings had hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah; which he ordered to be stopped up till the people had finished the pursuit of their enemies, when he destroyed Makkedah, and which led him on to the conquest of other places before he returned; or else this verse stands not in its proper place, or is superfluous, since the same is expressed

Jos 10:43; after all the above mentioned was done; the Septuagint version leaves it out.





Joshua 10:16



Ver. 16. But these five kings fled,.... They were not killed by hailstones, nor slain by the sword of the Israelites, but made their escape, being reserved by the providence of God for a more shameful end:



and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah; not in the city of Makkedah, which as yet was not in the hands of Israel, whereas this cave was, as appears by what follows; but it was in some hill, or mountain, near it; in the border of it, as Kimchi expresses it, and where a hill is shown to this day in which it was, as Drusius says.





Joshua 10:17



Ver. 17. And it was told Joshua,.... Either by some of his own people, or by some of the inhabitants of the land in his interest, who had observed it:



saying, the five kings are found hid in a cave at Makkedah: this seems to make it appear that they were others, and not Joshua's soldiers, that found them; for had they, no doubt they would have seized them, and brought them before him, or slain them, unless they chose first to know his will concerning them, next expressed.





Joshua 10:18



Ver. 18. And Joshua said, roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave,.... To keep the kings in, that they might not make their escape, until he had convenient time to have them brought before him, and be treated by him as they deserved; and no doubt there were plenty of stones about the hill or mountain, in which this cave was, fit for this purpose:



and set men by it for to keep them; as a guard upon them, to prevent their escape.





Joshua 10:19



Ver. 19. And stay you not, [but] pursue after your enemies,.... That is, do not stay at this cave, but having placed a sufficient guard there, go in pursuit of the enemy, with as much celerity as possible:



and smite the hindmost of them; their rear; or "tail" them {o}, as the word is, cut off the tail of them:



suffer them not to enter their cities; where they would not only be safe themselves for a while, but would be able to hold out against a siege for some time, and give much trouble to conquer them:



for the Lord your God hath delivered them into your hands; this he said to encourage them, and quicken them to the pursuit of them with all eagerness and vehemence. According to the Samaritan Chronicle {p}, the signal or watchword was,



"God is strong in battle, God is his name.''



{o} Mtba "caudam eorum caedite", Pagninus, Vatablus, Masius, Drusius; "et decaudetis eos", Montanus; "decaudabitis eos", Munster. {p} Apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 509.





Joshua 10:20



Ver. 20. And it came to pass, when Joshua and the children of Israel,.... Joshua seems to have pitched his camp at Makkedah, while the rest of his army pursued the fleeing Canaanites, and when he and they were at different places:



had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they were consumed: and not to be seen in any large bodies, but scattered here and there:



that the rest [which] remained of them entered into fenced cities; to which they belonged, and which were afterwards taken, as related in the latter part of this chapter, Jos 10:28.





Joshua 10:21



Ver. 21. And all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace,.... Sound and well, as not one killed or missing, so not one wounded, as the Vulgate Latin version,



"sound and in full number:''



none moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel; as to curse them, reproach them, and speak ill of them, for invading them, and using them in the manner they did, such was the terror that was upon them. It may be supplied, "not a dog moved" his tongue, as in

Ex 11:7; as it was with them when they came out of Egypt, so it was when they entered the land of Canaan. It seems to be a proverbial expression, as Ben Gersom observes, signifying that no harm was done to them by word or deed.





Joshua 10:22



Ver. 22. Then said Joshua, open the mouth of the cave,.... That is, roll away the great stones that were laid at the mouth of it:



and bring out those five kings unto me out of the cave; to receive their sentence in a public manner, for the encouragement of his troops and the terror of the Canaanites, particularly Makkedah, now besieged by him.





Joshua 10:23



Ver. 23. And they did so,.... Opened the mouth "of" the cave, by rolling away the stones:



and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave; who are next mentioned by name, one by one, according to their dignity, and in the order they were brought unto him:



the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, [and] the king of Eglon; who are particularly named for the greater glory of the conquest, and the triumph over them.





Joshua 10:24



Ver. 24. And it came to pass, when they brought out these kings unto Joshua,.... And set them before him, and he had passed sentence on them:



that he called for all the men of Israel; that is, for the chief men, the principal officers of the army:



and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him; the chiliarchs and centurions, the captains of thousands and hundreds, of the several regiments in the army who went out to battle with him, and under him:



come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings; not in a contemptuous and insulting manner, not through vanity and haughtiness, but for the mortification of the kings; and as a token of their extreme subjection, and as a proper punishment for their crimes of idolatry, tyranny, and cruelty; and by way of terror to others of the kings of Canaan that should fight against them, and as a pledge and confirmation of the subjection of the rest, as well as to fulfil the promises and predictions of God, De 33:29; and which was done not of himself, but by the order, and according to the will of God:



and they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them; as Joshua ordered them, and in obedience to him their general.





Joshua 10:25



Ver. 25. And Joshua said, rest not, nor be dismayed,.... Not meaning at the kings, who perhaps lay bound upon the ground, or however were not in a condition to make any resistance, so that they had nothing to fear from them; but this respects future time, and what other enemies they should meet with; who would be brought into subjection to them as these were, and therefore from hence should take heart:



be strong, and of good courage; and go on valiantly in subduing the rest of their enemies, and not be afraid of them:



for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight; put them into their hands, and give them power to tread on their necks: this shows that what Joshua did, or ordered to be done, was of the Lord.





Joshua 10:26



Ver. 26. And afterwards Joshua smote them and slew them,.... With the sword; either by his own hands, or by others whom he ordered to slay them:



and hanged them on five trees; to their shame and disgrace, and the terror of others:



and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening; by way of contempt of them, and as a spectacle of terror to others, especially to the inhabitants of Makkedah, and their king they were now besieging.





Joshua 10:27



Ver. 27. And it came to pass, at the time of the going down of the sun,.... Which was the time fixed by the law of God for taking down bodies that were hanged, De 21:23;



[that] Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees; not from, any respect to them, but that they might not defile the land, as dead bodies in a ceremonial sense did, De 21:23; and this Joshua was the more careful of, as they were just entered into it, and were taking possession of it:



and they cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid; so that what had been their hiding place now became their grave; and according to the Samaritan Chronicle {q}, the trees also on which they were hanged were cast in with them;



and laid great stones in the cave's mouth: not as a monumental pile, as in the instances of Achan and the king of Ai, Jos 7:26; but to prevent their carcasses being dragged out, and eaten by wild beasts, as some think; or that they might not be taken out, and buried in a more honourable manner:



[which remain] until this very day; when Joshua was grown old, the writer of this book.



{q} Apud Hottinger. Smegma. p. 511.





Joshua 10:28



Ver. 28. And that day Joshua took Makkedah,.... Some say it was the day on which the sun stood still; but it seems to mean the day in which the five kings were hanged:



and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof; slew the inhabitants of it and their king, after having entered and taken it:



he utterly destroyed them and all the souls that [were] therein, he let none remain; that is, all human souls or persons; for the cattle were taken for a prey:



and he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho; slew him with the sword, along with the inhabitants, but did not hang him up, as he did the king of Ai and the five kings.





Joshua 10:29



Ver. 29. And Joshua passed from Makkedah,.... After he had taken it, and destroyed its inhabitants, and its king:



and all Israel with him; that is, all the men of war he took with him from the camp at Gilgal, from whence he went to the relief of Gibeon:



unto Libnah, and fought against Libnah; a city that fell to the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:42. Jerom {r} says, in his time it was a village, in the region of Eleutheropolis, and was called Libnah; according to Bunting {s} it was but two miles from Makkedah.



{r} De loc. Heb. fol. 92. M. {s} Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 96.





Joshua 10:30



Ver. 30. And the Lord delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel,.... At once, no opposition being made that we read of:



and he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that [were] therein, he let none remain in it; that is, Israel smote it, or Joshua, and indeed both; and this was according to the orders given them to be observed with respect to all the cities and nations of Canaan; and that because of their abominable sins and wickedness, and to make way and room for the people of Israel, De 7:1;



but did unto the king thereof as he did unto the king of Jericho: slew him with the inhabitants.





Joshua 10:31



Ver. 31. And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish,.... Which, according to Bunting {d}, was eight miles from Libnah, and twenty miles from Jerusalem to the southwest of this city; see Jos 10:5;



and encamped against it, and fought against it; for it seems this city stood out, and would not surrender at once, which obliged Joshua to encamp about it, and besiege it.



{d} Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 96.





Joshua 10:32



Ver. 32. And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which he took on the second day,.... Either the second day from the slaughter of the kings, or rather the second day of the encampment or siege; so Kimchi: and



smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that [were] therein, according to all that he had done to Libnah; no mention is made of its king, because he was one of the five kings that had been hanged up; so that at the taking of this city there was no king.





Joshua 10:33



Ver. 33. Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish,.... Perhaps the rather induced to it, because it had no king to defend it. In Jerom's {e} time it was a village called Gazera, four miles from Nicopolis, or Emmaus, to the north: if this king came before the city was taken, he was not able to raise the siege; and if he came after, and so too late, he fell into the hands of Joshua:



and Joshua smote him, and his people, until he had left him none remaining; destroyed him and all his army, so that there were none left to return and relate their unhappy case.



{e} De loc. Heb. fol. 92. A.





Joshua 10:34



Ver. 34. And from Lachish Joshua passed unto Eglon,.... Which, according to Bunting {f}, was eight miles from Lachish, and twelve from Jerusalem southward, of which see Jos 10:5;



and all Israel with him, and they encamped against it, and fought against it; it not surrendering at once, but attempted to hold out a siege.



{f} Ut supra. (Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 96.)





Joshua 10:35



Ver. 35. And they took it on that day,.... The same day they encamped about it and besieged it; the besieged finding they were not able to keep it:



and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that [were] therein he utterly destroyed that day; made an utter devastation of all its inhabitants:



according to all that he had done to Lachish; the last city he took; this having no king as that had not, its king being one of the five that had been hanged, Jos 10:26.





Joshua 10:36



Ver. 36. And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron,.... Which lay in the hill country, and therefore they are said to go up to it from Eglon, which lay lower; and, according to Bunting {g}, it was sixteen miles from it:



and they fought against it; it making some resistance at first, and did not surrender at once, as demanded.



{g} Ibid. (Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 96.)





Joshua 10:37



Ver. 37. And they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword,

and the king thereof,.... For though the king of Hebron was one of the kings that were taken in the cave of Makkedah, and hanged; yet before Joshua came up to it, they had set up another king over them:



and all the cities thereof; for Hebron was a metropolitan city, and had other cities dependent on it, and subject to it:



and all the souls that [were] therein; both in Hebron, and in the cities subject to it:



he left none remaining; in any of them:



according to all that he had done to Eglon; the last place he came from:



but destroyed it utterly, and all the souls that [were] therein; but it seems that afterwards some that made their escape before the taking of the city, and other Canaanites driven out of their habitations, repeopled it; so that after Joshua's death it was recovered again by the tribe of Judah, Jud 1:10; unless there is given in that place a more particular account of the taking of this city, with others at this time; but the former seems most likely.





Joshua 10:38



Ver. 38. And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir,.... A city, according to Kimchi, which he passed by when he went to Hebron, and did not fight against it; but, when he had taken Hebron, returned and took it; and which Bunting {h} says was but a mile from it, and twenty two miles from Jerusalem, towards the south; it is the same with Kirjathsepher and Kirjathsannah, Jos 15:15; the city of a book or books; and the Rabbins say {i}, that with the Persians Debir signifies the same, and had its name from a library which was here kept, or from the archives in which the most memorable things since the flood were recorded; or from the making of paper or parchment, or whatsoever was made use of for writing, and of which volumes of books were made:



and fought against it; it refusing to submit to him upon his summons.



{h} Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 96. {i} T. Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 24. 2.





Joshua 10:39



Ver. 39. And he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof,.... For this also was a royal city, and had others dependent on it; and therefore must lie further from Hebron than before suggested; and indeed Burchard {k} says it was five or six miles from it, and another writer {l} says ten miles:



and they smote them with the edge of the sword; the inhabitants of Debir, and the other cities adjacent to it;



and utterly destroyed all the souls that [were] therein, he left none remaining; and yet it seems this city recovered again, and was reinhabited, and after the death of Joshua was taken by Othniel, Jud 1:11; unless, as before observed, with respect to Hebron, there is there a more particular account of the taking of it at this time:



as he had done to Hebron, so did he to Debir, and to the king thereof,

as he had done also to Libnah and her king; that is, slew them.



{k} Apud Masium in loc. {l} Fuller's Pisgah Sight of Palestine, B. 2. c. 13. p. 276.





Joshua 10:40



Ver. 40. So Joshua smote all the country of the hills and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings,.... That part of the land of Canaan which lay southward, and consisted of hills and vales; which abounded with springs, and was a well watered country, and agrees with the description Moses gives of it, though he never saw it, De 8:7;



he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed; that is, all human creatures; for as for the cattle, they were spared as a prey:



as the Lord God of Israel commanded; this law is extant, De 20:16; and which is here observed to clear the Israelites from the charge of cruelty and inhumanity; since what they did was not of themselves, nor from a private spirit of revenge, nor a greedy desire after the substance of the inhabitants; but in obedience to the command of God, and who ordered this as a righteous punishment of those people for their gross abominations of idolatry, incest, &c. see Le 18:1.





Joshua 10:41



Ver. 41. And Joshua smote them, from Kadeshbarnea,.... Which lay to the south of the land of Canaan, Nu 13:17;



even unto Gaza, which lay to the southwest, and was one of the five principalities of the Philistines; of which city See Gill on "Am 1:7"; and See Gill on "Ac 8:26";



and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon; to which he returned back in his way to his camp at Gilgal, having conquered all the southern part of the country. This country of Goshen is not that in the land of Egypt, as Kimchi rightly remarks. Bishop Cumberland {m} is of opinion, that the Phoenician or Canaanitish pastors, who were driven out of Egypt before their expulsion, inhabited that part of Egypt called Goshen, which the Israelites some years after dwelt in; and when those shepherds were driven out, they came into this part of the land of Canaan, and called it after the name of the country they left in Egypt; and might perhaps the rather choose to give it this name, because of the goodness and fruitfulness of it, in which it resembled the country they had formerly dwelt in.



{m} Remarks on the History of Sanchoniatho, p. 380, 381.





Joshua 10:42



Ver. 42. And all these kings, and their land, did Joshua take at one time,.... Not in one day, but in a very short time, in a few days, as the history clearly shows:



because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel; which is the true reason of such quick dispatch being made, otherwise in all probability much longer time must have been consumed in subduing them. The Targum is,



"because the Lord God of Israel fought by his Word for Israel.''





Joshua 10:43



Ver. 43. And Joshua returned,.... After all these kings and their cities had been taken by him, and not before; though the same is said,

Jos 10:15, before the history of those facts;

See Gill on "Jos 10:15":



and all Israel with him to the camp in Gilgal; where the body of the people were left, and where was the tabernacle of the Lord; and no doubt he and Israel with him gave public praise and thanksgiving there for the signal victories they had obtained over the Canaanites.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Joshua 11:1



INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 11



This chapter relates how that the kings of the northern parts of Canaan combine together against Joshua, Jos 11:1; and that the Lord encouraged him to fight with them, and did deliver them into his hands, who, with all their people, were smitten by him, Jos 11:6; and how that he took their cities, and destroyed the inhabitants of them, and took the spoil of them for a prey, Jos 11:12; and so became master of the whole country, both southern and northern, which is described

Jos 11:16; and the chapter is concluded with an account of his cutting off the Anakim from various parts, which finished the conquest of the whole land, Jos 10:21.



Ver. 1. And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor had heard [these things],.... The taking of Jericho and Ai, the defeat of the five kings, and the conquest of the southern part of the land of Canaan; he was alarmed by them, and sent to all the northern kings to join with him against Israel; and he the rather took this upon him, because as Adonizedek king of Jerusalem was the principal king in the southern part of the land, so was he in the northern part; see Jos 11:10; Hazor fell to the tribe of Naphtali, Jos 19:36. It was situated, as Josephus {n} says, on the lake Samachonitis, the same with the waters of Merom,

Jos 11:5. According to Adrichomius {o}, it was four miles from the castle Theron to the north, six miles from Caesarea Philippi to the southwest, and nine miles from the great sea to the east; and was, in the times of Christ, one of the ten principal cities of the region of Decapolis, in which he preached, Mt 4:25; and is now called Antiopia; and in the Arabic version here it is called Caesarea, and, according to Bunting {p}, it lay eighty miles from Jerusalem to the north:



that he sent to Jobab king of Madon; of which place we nowhere else read but in Jos 12:19; though Brocard {q} finds a place near Dan, called Madan by the Turks at this day:



and to the king of Shimron; not Samaria, as many think, for that was built by Omri, king of Israel, and had its name from Shemer, the owner of the hill on which it was built some hundreds of years after this; besides Samaria was in the tribe of Ephraim, this in the tribe of Zebulun, Jos 19:15; and is called Shimronmeron, Jos 12:20; and in the Jerusalem Talmud {r} Simoniah, and here in the Septuagint version Symoson:



and to the king of Achshaph: a city which fell to the lot of the tribe of Asher, Jos 19:25. The Septuagint calls it Aziph, as if it was the same with Achzib, or Ecdippa, now called Zib: but Achshaph and Achzib are manifestly distinguished, Jos 19:25. Jerom says {s}, in his time it was a little village, and went by the name of Chasalus, eight miles from Diocaesarea, at the foot of Mount Tabor. The Arabic version adds a fourth king that Jabin sent to, called "the king of Mausel"; but we read not of any such place in the land of Canaan.



{n} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 5. sect. 1. {o} Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 102. {p} Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 101. {q} Apud Fuller's Pisgah Sight, B. 2. c. 4. p. 114. {r} Megillah, fol. 70. 1. {s} De loc. Heb. fol. 88. C. D.





Joshua 11:2



Ver. 2. And to the kings that [were] on the north of the mountains,.... Of Libanus and Antilibanus, with others near them; so Josephus {t} says, the kings about Lebanon being Canaanites, fought against them, i.e. the Israelites; for Lebanon lay to the north of the land:



and of the plains south of Cinneroth; or Gennesaret, of the land and lake of which we read in the New Testament, Mt 14:34; and seems to have respect chiefly to the famous plain of Jezreel, or Esdraelon, of which See Gill on "Ho 1:5";



and in the valley; which may more especially design the valley of Jezreel, as it is called in the above place, and distinguish it from other plains; it was two miles broad, and ten long:



and in the borders of Dor, on the west; which fell to the lot of the tribe of Manasseh, Jos 17:11; which Pliny {u} calls Dorum, and mentions it along with the promontory of Carmel; so Josephus says {w}, in Phoenicia, near Mount Carmel, is a city called Dora, four days' journey distant from Judea; that is, that part of the land of Israel particularly so called; some copies read Idumea. According to Jerom {x}, it was nine miles from Caesarea of Palestine, as you go to Tyre; and in his time a desert. It was a haven in the Mediterranean sea, and lies three leagues from the castle of the "pilgrims" near Mount Carmel; and, as a traveller says, is now so decayed, that there is nothing more extant than a large and high tower, which the inhabitants still call Dorteite {y}.



{t} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 18. {u} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c 19. {w} Contr. Apion. l. 2. c. 9. {x} De loc. Heb. fol. 92. I. {y} Rauwolff's Travels, par. 3. c. 1. p. 211. Ed. Ray.





Joshua 11:3



Ver. 3. [And to] the Canaanites on the east and on the west,.... That is, that particular nation of the seven so called, part of which dwelt in the eastern part of the land, by the dead sea, and by the coast of Jordan, Nu 13:29; and others dwelt on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, which was to the west of the land:



and [to] the Amorite, and [to] the Hittite, and [to] the Perizzite: which were scattered about in several parts of the country:



and the Jebusite in the mountains; in the mountainous part of Judea, in the mountains about Jerusalem, and which they still inhabited, and did to the times of David:



and [to] the Hivite under Hermon, in the land of Mizpeh, so described to distinguish them from the Gibeonites, who were also Hivites. Mizpeh is the place, as Kimchi thinks, where the people of Israel are often said to meet together; which he supposes they did, on account of the great salvation wrought here in Joshua's time. Hermon was a mountain that adjoined to Lebanon, where it is certain some of the Hivites dwelt, Jud 3:3.





Joshua 11:4



Ver. 4. And they went out,.... The several kings and people sent to; these went out from the places they inhabited:



they and all their hosts with them; the kings of those several places, with their armies:



much people, even as the sand that [is] upon the seashore in multitude; a proverbial expression, to denote an exceeding great number:



with horses and chariots very many; being supplied with horses from Egypt, and their chariots were chariots of iron; see Jud 4:3; Josephus {z} gives us the number of this great army, and says it consisted of three hundred thousand footmen, ten thousand horse, and thirty thousand chariots; some copies read only twenty thousand; and these chariots were armed with iron hooks or scythes, to cut down men as they drove along, and so were very terrible.



{z} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 18.





Joshua 11:5



Ver. 5. And when all those kings were met together,.... At some certain place, which Jabin had appointed:



they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom: Josephus {a} says it was at Berotha; perhaps it should be Merotha, a city of upper Galilee, not far from Cedesa, the same he elsewhere calls {b} Meroth, These waters are the same with the lake Samachonitis, on which Hazor was situated; so that it was near Jabin where the rendezvous was. This lake is thought {c} to have its name from the Arabic word "Samacha", which signifies high, as Merom does in Hebrew. It was, as Josephus says {d} thirty furlongs broad, and sixty long, and its waters clayish. Jerom says {e}, in his time there was here a village called Merrus, twelve miles from the city Sebaste by Dothaim: here the kings and their armies met



to fight against Israel; so that they were the aggressors, which made the war still more lawful.



{a} Ibid. (Antiq. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 8.) {b} De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 20. sect. 6. {c} Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 1. p. 262. {d} De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 1. sect. 1. & l. 3. c. 9. sect. 7. {e} De loc. Heb. fol. 93. D.





Joshua 11:6



Ver. 6. And the Lord said unto Joshua, be not afraid because of them,.... Of their number, of their horsemen, and of their scythed chariots; which might at first hearing occasion some fear and dread. And according to Josephus {f}, the multitude of them terrified both Joshua and the Israelites; and therefore the Lord appeared and spoke to him for his encouragement: though what was said was for the sake of the Israelites, and to animate them who might be disheartened, rather than for the sake of Joshua, who was of a bold and courageous spirit. Whether this was said to him at Gilgal, and out of the tabernacle there, quickly after the tidings of the combination of the kings were brought to him, or whether when upon his march towards them, is uncertain:



for tomorrow about this time will I deliver them up slain before Israel; as many were, and others wounded and put to flight, as the word signifies, so as to be as good as dead. If Gilgal was twenty two miles from the waters of Merom, as Bunting says {g}, and supposing this to be said to him before he set out, he must travel all night to reach thither the next day; and if it was sixty miles, as some say, this must be said to him when on his march, and within a day's march of the enemy; for Josephus says {h} it was on the fifth day that he came up with them, and fell upon them:



thou shalt hough their horses; cut their nerves under their hams, or hamstring them, so that they might be useless hereafter; for the kings of Israel were not to multiply horses; and Joshua, as their chief ruler, was to have no advantage of them by their falling into his hands:



and burn their chariots with fire; that so they might not be used by the Israelites afterwards, who might be tempted to put their trust and confidence in them, as many did.



{f} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 18. {g} Travels, p. 96. {h} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 18.)





Joshua 11:7



Ver. 7. So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them,.... Being encouraged by the Lord, they set out with Joshua at the head of them, to fight the kings and their forces. It is highly probable that these were not the whole body of armed men in the camp of Israel, but a select company Joshua took of them, and who would be able to make quicker marches on this expedition:



by the waters of Merom suddenly; the Targum is,



"they lay by the waters of Merom;''



as they were thoughtless and careless, and not on their guard, Joshua and his forces came to them suddenly, unawares, and they not provided for them:



and they fell upon them; at once, which threw them into disorder and confusion.





Joshua 11:8



Ver. 8. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel,.... The whole host, who either were killed or wounded, or put to flight: it was of the Lord that Israel was directed to make so quick a march, and come upon them so suddenly, and that they were off their guard, and unprovided for them, and so fell into their hands:



who smote them; with the edge of the sword killed and wounded great numbers; and the rest fleeing, they



chased them unto great Zidon; not that there was another Zidon called the less, as Kimchi and Ben Melech thought there seemed to be, and which also Jerom {i} suggests; but this was so called because of its greatness, the large extent of it, and the abundance of wealth and riches in it: Curtius says {k}, it was renowned for its antiquity and the fame of its buildings; and Mela says {l}, that before it was conquered by the Persians, it was the greatest of the maritime cities, though now greatly reduced: Mr Maundrell {m} says of it,



"Sidon is stocked well enough with inhabitants but is very much shrunk from its ancient extent, and more from its splendour, as appears from a great many beautiful pillars that lie scattered up and down the gardens without the present walls:''



it lay, according to Strabo, not more than two hundred furlongs from Tyre {n}, or twenty five miles: it was more ancient than that, which is called the daughter of it: Homer speaks much of Sidon, as the same writer observes, but not a word of Tyre: Josephus {o} thinks it had its name from Sidon, the firstborn of Canaan, and that he built it,

Ge 10:15; but Justin says {p} it had its name from the plenty of fishes there: and Tzaid in the Chaldee and Syriac languages signifies fishing and a fisherman: hence Bethsaida, a city mentioned in the New Testament, Mt 11:21, had its name; and Sidon is at this day called Said, and is now in the hands of the Turks: and though it was a part of the land of Canaan, and belonged to the tribe of Asher, never was conquered and possessed by them, but remained an Heathen city to the time of Christ:



and unto Misrephothmaim, or "boilings of water", it seems as if it was a place of hot baths, but the Targum renders it "pits of water", which Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech say, were pits into which the salt waters of the sea were drawn, and where they were heated by the sun, and made salt of; and so it is thought this was a place of salt pits, where salt was boiled, either by the heat of the sun or by fire {q}: Junius and Tremellius render the word by "glass furnaces", furnaces in which glass was made; and it is certain, that at Sidon, and near it, within the borders of which this place was, Jos 13:6; glass was made: Pliny {r} calls Sidon the artificer of glass, or a city where glass was made: and Strabo says {s}, that between Ace and Tyre is a shore which bears glassy sand, but they say it is not melted there, but carried to Sidon to be melted; and some say the Sidonians have a glassy sand fit for melting: Calmet {t} thinks this place is the same with Sarepta, Lu 4:26; which had its name from melting: of what construction the furnaces were in this place cannot be said, no doubt great improvement has been since made {u}:



and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward, and they smote them, until they left them none remaining; the same with the valley of Lebanon; now as Sidon lay northwest and this was eastward, it seems that the armies of the Canaanites, in their consternation and confusion, fled some to the west and some to the east, who were pursued by different bodies of the army of Israel, separated for that purpose.



{i} De loc. Heb. fol. 92. B. {k} Hist. l. 4. c. 1. 4. {l} De Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 12. {m} Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 45. {n} Geograph. l. 16. p. 521. {o} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2. {p} E Trogo, l. 19. c. 3. {q} Vid. Adrichom. Theatrum Terrae Sanct. sect. p. 2. {r} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 19. {s} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 16. p. 521.) {t} Dictionary on this word. {u} Vid. Merrett de Fornac. Vitriar. p. 421, &c.





Joshua 11:9



Ver. 9. And Joshua did unto them as the Lord bade him,.... Namely, in the following instances:



he houghed their horses, and burnt their chariots with fire; not consulting his own worldly interest or that of the people of Israel, but the command of God, which he carefully obeyed, and reserved none for himself or them, as David in another case afterwards did; see 2Sa 8:4.





Joshua 11:10



Ver. 10. And Joshua at that time turned back and took Hazor,.... After he had chased the Canaanites to the places mentioned, he returned to Hazor, near to which Joshua first fell upon them, but through the pursuit he was led on many miles beyond it: Bunting says {w}, it was thirty two miles from Sidon:



and smote the king thereof with the sword; who, very probably, upon the surprise at the waters of Merom, fled to his capital for safety; but that being taken by Joshua, he was slain by him with the sword:



for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms; before mentioned, Jos 11:1; but not of all the land of Canaan: Jerom {x} says, it was the metropolis of all the kingdoms of the Philistines; and though they were not now subject to it, and had kings of their own, yet it appears that the king of this place was in great authority, and regard was paid unto him; and this seems to be the reason why Joshua hasted to take this city, slay the king of it, and burn it with fire, because it had been the principal in this war, and might, if not prevented, raise new troubles; wherefore, as a precaution to that, and to deter the rest, he hastened the conquest and destruction of it.



{w} Travels, p. 96. {x} De loc. Heb. fol. 88. B.





Joshua 11:11



Ver. 11. And they smote all the souls that [were] therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying [them],.... Men, women, and children:



there was not any left to breathe; any human creature; for as for the cattle they were taken for a prey:



and he burnt Hazor with fire; as he did Jericho and Ai, though no other cities he had taken; but it seems that this city, though burnt, was built again and inhabited by Canaanites, who had a king over them of the same name with this in the times of Deborah, Jud 4:2.





Joshua 11:12



Ver. 12. And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them did Joshua take,.... As particularly Madon, Shimron, and Achshaph, with others which he marched unto, after he had burnt Hazor; in which he took their kings, whither they had fled, or else he had taken them before in the pursuit:



and smote them with the edge of the sword; both the kings and the inhabitants of those cities:



[and] he utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded; so that, in doing what he did, he did not indulge a spirit of revenge, cruelty, and avarice, but had regard purely to the command of Moses, which was of God, De 7:1.





Joshua 11:13



Ver. 13. But as for the cities that stood still in their strength,.... Whose walls were not demolished when taken, as Kimchi and Jarchi interpret it, or that "stood upon their heaps" {y}; upon an eminence, being built on hills and mountains:



Israel burned none of them; but reserved them for their own habitations, being well fortified, and having no need of new walls being built to them, or being in a very agreeable situation:



save Hazor only, [that] did Joshua burn; because it was the chief city where the scheme was formed, and the combination against Israel was made, and was the rendezvous of the confederate forces against them: the Jews have a tradition {z}, that God said to Moses, and Moses said to Joshua, that he should burn it, and that only.



{y} Mlt le "super tumulum eorum", Montanus; "quae erant in collibus et in tamulis sitae", V. L. {z} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 81. fol. 71. 1.





Joshua 11:14



Ver. 14. And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves,.... The gold, silver, household goods, corn, wine, oil, or any mercantile goods, together with cattle of every sort, all were taken by them for a prey, for their own use and benefit, which was allowed them:



but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe; for which they had warrant so to do from the Lord, as follows.





Joshua 11:15



Ver. 15. As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua,.... Which was to destroy the people of the land, De 7:1;



so did Joshua, he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses; both with respect to the destruction of the people, and of all their images, pictures, altars, groves, and high places; see

Ex 34:11.





Joshua 11:16



Ver. 16. So Joshua took all that land,.... The whole land of Canaan, described as follows, both as to the southern and northern parts of it:



the hills; the hill country of Judea, of which see Lu 1:39;



and all the south country; where lived the five kings; and those of other places, the account of the taking of which we have in the preceding chapter, Jos 10:40;



and all the land of Goshen; see Jos 10:41;



and the valley, and the plain; the low places and campaign fields which lay between the hills and mountains; particularly all the plain and campaign country near Eleutheropolis, towards the north and west, Jerom says, in his day, was called "Sephela", or "the vale" {a}:



and the mountain of Israel, and the valley of the same; by which may be meant Jerusalem, situated on a mountain, and is so called, Eze 17:23; and its valley may be the valley of Hinnom or of Jehoshaphat, as they were after called, which were near it: some think the hill of Samaria or the mountains about that are meant.



{a} De loc. Heb. fol. 94. M.





Joshua 11:17



Ver. 17. [Even] from the mount Halak, that goeth up unto Seir,.... Or the "smooth" and "bald" mountain, which had no trees on it, as some interpret it, observed by Kimchi; it was a mount on the borders of Edom, to which the land of Canaan reached on that side:



even unto Baalgad, in the valley of Lebanon, under Mount Hermon; and so describes the northern part of the land conquered by Joshua:



and all their kings he took, and smote them, and slew them; both in the southern and northern parts of the land.





Joshua 11:18



Ver. 18. Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. For, though the account of the conquest of them is put together, and lies in a small compass, yet those victories were not obtained at once, or in a few days, as were those of the five kings, and others, related in the preceding chapter, Jos 10:10; but were the work of some years; Josephus {b} says five years, but the common notion of the Jews is, that Joshua was seven years in subduing the land of Canaan {c}; our Bishop Usher {d} thinks it was done in six years; and it may be concluded that it was about six or seven years ere this work was completely finished.



{b} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 19. {c} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 31. {d} Annal. Vet. Test. p. 39, 40.





Joshua 11:19



Ver. 19. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel,.... Though, according to the Jews, Joshua, upon his first landing in Canaan, sent letters and messages to all the inhabitants of the land, offering them peace on certain terms; particularly that he sent three messages, or proposed three things to them; that those who had a mind to flee might flee; that those who were desirous of making peace might make it; and they that were for war, let them fight; all were for the last, and so perished {e}:



save the Hivites and the inhabitants of Gibeon; these, some have thought, did not hear of the offers of peace, others think they did, and at first rejected them, but repenting were obliged to take the crafty methods they did to obtain it, of which see Jos 9:1;



all [other] they took in battle; refusing to submit to them and make peace with them.



{e} Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 37. 3.





Joshua 11:20



Ver. 20. For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts,.... As he hardened the hearts of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, that his power might be displayed in their destruction:



that they should come against Israel battle; and so fall in it:



that he might destroy them utterly; for their abominable wickedness, idolatry, incest, &c. they had been guilty of:



[and] that they might have no favour; which they would have had, had they made peace as the Gibeonites did; or that they might not pray and make supplication, the Lord not giving them a spirit of supplication, but an hard heart, as Gussetius {f} observes the words may be interpreted, though he seems to prefer the former, sense:



but that he might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses; De 7:1.



{f} Comment. Ebr. p. 272.





Joshua 11:21



Ver. 21. And at that time came Joshua,.... After he had made a conquest of the land, or at the time he made it, as before related:



and cut off the Anakims from the mountains; whither, upon the conquest of the land, they had betaken themselves, and lived in dens and caves: these were giants, so called from Anak the father of them; though these are not to be restrained to his posterity, but include all other giants in the land; and the Targum renders the word by "mighty men"; and as some of them dwelt in mountains, others in cities, as follows:



from Hebron; where the children of Anak dwelt when the spies were sent into the land between forty and fifty years before this; and though the inhabitants of Hebron had been before destroyed by Joshua, these Anakims, who very likely then made their escape, returned and took possession of it after Joshua's departure, and while he was engaged in making other conquests; as we find that after this others of the same race again possessed it, and were in the possession of it after the death of Joshua, when they were slain by the tribe of Judah, Jud 1:10; from Debir: where others of them also had got after the conquest of it; unless we suppose, as I see no great reason to object to it, that these were cut off both at Hebron and Debir, at the time of the taking of them, of which see Jos 10:36;



from Anab; a city which fell to the lot of the tribe of Judah,

Jos 15:50. Jerom {g} says, in his time it was a village, near Diospolis or Lydda, about four miles from it to the east, and called Bethoannaba; but he says, that most affirm it to be eight miles from it, and called Bethannaba: Masius conjectures, that it is the same with the city of Nob; for, he says, that travellers in those parts affirm, that the city Nob is called Bethanoba and Bethanopolis:



and from all the mountains of Judah; the hill country of Judea, and the mountains round about Jerusalem:



and from all the mountains of Israel; as those about Samaria, and elsewhere:



Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities; which they had formerly inhabited, or had got into the possession of.



{g} De loc. Heb. fol. 88. C.





Joshua 11:22



Ver. 22. There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel,.... For those that escaped the sword fled elsewhere, particularly to the following places:



only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod there remained; that is, some of the Anakims or giants; these were three of the five principalities of the Philistines, and were never conquered and possessed by Israel, see

Jos 13:3; of the city of Gaza, See Gill on "Am 1:7";

See Gill on "Am 1:8"; and

See Gill on "Zep 2:4"; and of Gath, See Gill on "Am 6:2"; Ashdod is the same with Azotus, See Gill on "Ac 8:40": Mela says {h}, the port of Azotus was a mart for the merchandises of Arabia, and was built on such an eminence, that from the top of it, at the fourth watch, might be seen the rising of the sun at the mountain Azotus; see



"Who discomfited the right wing, and pursued them unto the mount Azotus.'' (1 Maccabees 9:15)



this city held out a siege of twenty nine years against Psammitticus, king of Egypt, See Gill on "Isa 20:1".



{h} De Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 10.





Joshua 11:23



Ver. 23. So Joshua took the whole land,.... Of Canaan, the far greater and better part of it, all before described; all that he went against, he failed not in any of his attempts; no place stood out against him that he besieged or summoned, all yielded to him:



according to all that the Lord said unto Moses: in De 11:23;



and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel, according to their divisions by their tribes; as is after related in this book:



and the land rested from war; there were no combinations of any of the dispersed Canaanites, or insurrections made by them, nor any annoyance given to Israel by the Philistines, who inhabited five principal cities, with what belonged to them; nor did Joshua attempt anything more in a warlike manner: and so it became a land of rest, as the heavenly Canaan will be to the spiritual Israel and church of God, after their militant state is ended, in which they now are; being engaged with many spiritual enemies, the Canaanites that are in the land, but then their warfare will be ended.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Joshua 12:1



INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 12



This chapter gives a short account of the conquests made by the Israelites, both in the times of Moses and of Joshua, and first of the kingdom of Sihon and Og on the other side Jordan, in the times of Moses, and which he gave to the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and which are particularly described,

Jos 12:1; and then of the kings and the countries on this side Jordan whom Joshua conquered, Jos 12:7; and the names of the thirty one kingdoms are recited, that so it might be exactly known and observed what were afterwards divided among the tribes and possessed by them, Jos 12:9.



Ver. 1. Now these [are] the kings of the land which the children of Israel smote,.... In the days of Moses, as Jarchi remarks, and as it clearly appears from what follows:



and possessed, their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun; on the east of the land of Canaan:



from the river Arnon unto the mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east; Arnon was the border of Moab between them and the Amorites,

Nu 21:13; and from hence to Hermon, a mountain adjoining to Lebanon, lay the country of the two kings of the Amorites after mentioned, De 3:8; and the plain on the east were the plains of Moab, which lay to the east of Jordan.





Joshua 12:2



Ver. 2. Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon,.... Which he took from the Moabites, and made his capital city, Nu 21:26;



[and] ruled from Aroer, which [is] upon the bank of the river of Arnon; a city of Moab, which never fell into the hands of Sihon, and therefore he is said to rule from it but not over it:



and from the middle of the river; that is, the river Arnon, which being the boundary of the Moabites and Amorites, the king of the Amorites might be said to rule from the middle of it:



and from half Gilead even unto the river Jabbok, [which is] the border of the children of Ammon; so it is said to be, De 3:16; it should be rendered, not "from half Gilead", but "and half Gilead", as it is in the Hebrew text, and so in the Targum; for half Gilead belonged to the kingdom of Sihon, as the other half did to the kingdom of Og, as in

Jos 12:5; and so Jarchi remarks.





Joshua 12:3



Ver. 3. And from the plain,.... Or rather, "and the plain", the plains of Moab, which, before possessed by the Israelites, belonged to the kingdom of Sihon; and the plains of Jordan, which reached



to the sea of Cinneroth on the east; the same with the lake of Gennesaret, and sea of Tiberias, mentioned in the New Testament,

Mt 14:34:



and unto the sea of the plain; where stood the cities of the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah, &c.



[even] the salt sea on the east; the same with the dead sea, into which the plain the above cities stood on was converted:



the way to Bethjeshimoth; which was a place in the plains of Moab,

Nu 33:49;



and from the south under Ashdothpisgah; or the springs of Pisgah, which flowed from the mount of that name, De 3:17.





Joshua 12:4



Ver. 4. And the coast of Og king of Bashan,.... The country that he reigned over, who was another king of the Amorites, smitten by Israel in the times of Moses:



[which was] of the remnant of the giants; See Gill on "De 3:11":



that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei; of which two places see De 1:4; it seems as if Og had a palace in each of those cities, and sometimes was at one and sometimes at another, as is usual with kings.





Joshua 12:5



Ver. 5. And reigned in Mount Hermon,.... That is, over all the people that inhabited that mount or dwelt under it, Jos 11:17, and adjacent to it, of which mountain, See Gill on "De 3:8" and

See Gill on "De 3:9";



and in Salcah: which was a city belonging to the kingdom of Og, De 3:10;



and in all Bashan; or Batanea, a country famous for pasturage, Mic 7:14, and for fat cattle, Eze 39:18, and for oaks, Isa 2:13, frequently mentioned in Scripture:



unto the border of the Geshurites, and the Maachathites; which were two nations the Israelites never expelled, Jos 13:13; of which see De 3:14;



and half Gilead; which belonged to Og, as the other half did to Sihon, before observed, which was as follows:



the border of Sihon king of Heshbon; here the two kingdoms joined, even in the midst of Gilead, which was divided between them, but now wholly fell into the hands of Israel.





Joshua 12:6



Ver. 6. Them did Moses the servant of the Lord, and the children of Israel, smite,.... That is, the inhabitants of those kingdoms they smote with the edge of the sword, and took possession of them, the history of which see in Nu 21:1;



and Moses the servant of the Lord gave it; the whole dominion of the two kings before mentioned:



[for] a possession unto the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh: of which grant, and the conditions of it, see

Nu 32:1.





Joshua 12:7



Ver. 7. And these [are] the kings of the country,.... After particularly named, Jos 12:9:



which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west; that is, on the west of Jordan:



from Baalgad, in the valley of Lebanon, even unto the mount Halak,

that goeth up to Seir; of which see Jos 11:17;



which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel [for] a possession,

according to their divisions; as after related in this book.





Joshua 12:8



Ver. 8. In the mountains, and in the valleys, and in the plains, and in the springs, and in the wilderness, and in the south country,.... Which is a description of the whole land of Canaan; some parts of which were hills and mountains, others vales and champaign fields; others were dry and barren, and others well watered; some part of it lay to the north, as towards Lebanon, and others to the south, towards Seir:



the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; which were the nations that inhabited the land of Canaan before it was taken and possessed by the Israelites.





Joshua 12:9



Ver. 9. The king of Jericho, one,.... Who was first taken, and so named first, Jos 6:21;



the king of Ai, which [is] beside Bethel, one; who was next taken and though Bethel was so near Ai, it had a king of its own, after mentioned, see Jos 7:1.





Joshua 12:10



Ver. 10. The king of Jerusalem, one,.... Whose name was Adonizedek, and was one of the five kings taken and hanged, Jos 10:1;



the king of Hebron, one; another of the five kings, whose name was Hoham, Jos 10:3.





Joshua 12:11



Ver. 11. The king of Jarmuth, one,.... Whose name was Piram, a third of the five kings before observed, Jos 10:3;



the king of Lachish, one; another of them, whose name was Japhia,

Jos 10:3.





Joshua 12:12



Ver. 12. The king of Eglon, one,.... The last of the five kings, and his name was Debir, Jos 10:3;



the king of Gezer, one; who came up to help Lachish, and his name was Horam, Jos 10:33.





Joshua 12:13



Ver. 13. The king of Debir, one,.... The same with Kirjathsepher, of which place, See Gill on "Jos 10:38";



the king of Geder, one: Jerom {h} seems to confound this with the tower of Eder, beyond which Jacob pitched his tent, Ge 35:21; and he speaks of a Gaddera in the tribe of Judah, in his time a village belonging to the country about Aelia or Jerusalem, and of Gahedur in the tribe of Judah, a large village, ten miles from Diospolis or Lydda, as you go to Eleutheropolis: it seems to be the same with Gederah, Jos 15:36, or Gedor, Jos 15:58.



{h} De loc. Heb. fol. 92. A. B.





Joshua 12:14



Ver. 14. The king of Hormah, one,.... Which was formerly called Zephath, Jud 1:17; see Jos 15:3;



the king of Arad, one; perhaps the same with Arath, which, Jerom {i} says, is the border of the land of Judah, and is twenty miles distant from Hebron to the south; see Nu 21:1.



{i} De Loc. Heb. fol. 92. L.





Joshua 12:15



Ver. 15. The king of Libnah, one,.... Taken at the same time as the kings of Makkedah, Debir, and of other places were, Jos 10:29;



the king of Adullam, one; a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:35; Jerom says {k} there was a village in his time, not a small one, called by this name, ten miles to the east of Eleutheropolis: near to this place was a cave where David hid himself when he fled from Saul, 1Sa 22:1;

See Gill on "Mic 1:15".



{k} De loc. Heb. fol. 88. F.





Joshua 12:16



Ver. 16. The king of Makkedah, one,.... In a cave near to which five kings hid themselves, and were taken out and hanged, and the city afterwards was taken by Joshua, Jos 10:16; which fell to the lot of the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:41;



the king of Bethel, one; a city near to Ai, about a mile from it, and yet had a king over it: it was taken at the same time that Ai was, Jos 7:2; and fell to the lot of Benjamin, Jos 18:22.





Joshua 12:17



Ver. 17. The king of Tappuah, one,.... Which Jerom calls {l} Thaffu; it signifies an apple, and perhaps had its name from plenty of that fruit that grew there: a city of this name fell to the tribe of Judah,

Jos 15:34; where also was another place called Bethtappuah,

Jos 15:53; and both different from another Tappuah on the border of Manasseh, which belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, Jos 17:8; by some thought to be meant here:



the king of Hepher, one; mention is made of Gittahhepher as on the border of Zebulun, Jos 19:13; the same with Gathhepher, of which place was the Prophet Jonah, 2Ki 14:25; and of the land of Hepher in 1Ki 4:10; which is said by Jerom to be in the same tribe, and not far from Diocaesarea or Zippore; and we read of a Chepher or Hepher in the Jewish writings {m}, which, according to the account of it there given, could not be far from the same place, at least it must be less than twelve miles from it.



{l} De loc. Heb. fol. 95. C. {m} T. Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 37. 3. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 20. fol. 161. 4.





Joshua 12:18



Ver. 18. The king of Aphek, one,.... There was a place called Aphekah in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:53; and an Aphek that was on the border of the Amorites, Jos 13:4; and another in the tribe of Asher,

Jos 19:30; but Adrichomius {n} places this Aphek in the tribe of Issachar, whose king Joshua smote, and takes it to be the same place where the Philistines in the times of Samuel and David brought their armies against Israel, 1Sa 4:1; and where the king of Syria fought against Israel, 1Ki 20:26; and says that its ruins were now shown in the great plain not far from Gilboa to the east of Mount Carmel, and five miles from Tabor:



the king of Lasharon, one; which, according to the Vulgate Latin version, is the same with Saron, which, in Ac 9:35, in some copies is called Assaron; so Adrichomius {o}, who places it in the tribe of Ephraim, and takes it to be the same Sharon Isaiah speaks of,

Isa 33:9; and of which Jerom says {p}, to this day there is a country between Tabor and the lake of Tiberias called Saronas, and also that from Caesarea of Palestine to the town of Joppa, all the land that is seen bears that name.



{n} Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 35. {o} Ib. p. 30. {p} De loc. Heb. fol. 94. M.





Joshua 12:19



Ver. 19. The king of Madon, one,.... Whose name was Jobab,

Jos 11:1;



the king of Hazor, one; whose name was Jabin, and of him and his city,

See Gill on "Jos 11:1".





Joshua 12:20



Ver. 20. The king of Shimronmeron, one,.... See Jos 11:1: this place fell to the tribe of Zebulun, Jos 19:15;



the king of Achshaph, one; see Jos 11:1; this city fell to the lot of Asher, Jos 19:25.





Joshua 12:21



Ver. 21. The king of Taanach, one,.... It was in the tribe of Manasseh, Jos 17:11; Jerom says {q}, in his time it was a large village, distant from Legion on the plain of Esdraelon three miles:



the king of Megiddo, one; which belonged to the same tribe,

Jos 17:11; near this place were some waters where the Canaanites fought with the Israelites, Jud 5:19; and a valley where Josiah was slain, 2Ch 35:22.



{q} De Loc. Heb. fol. 95. D.





Joshua 12:22



Ver. 22. The king of Kedesh, one,.... Which afterwards fell to the tribe of Naphtali, and was one of the cities of refuge, Jos 19:37; it was situated in upper Galilee on Mount Naphtali, four miles from the city of Sephet, and as many from Capernaum, and twenty miles from Tyre {r}:



the king of Jokneam of Carmel, one; a city that came to the lot of the tribe of Zebulun, Jos 19:11; and was given to the Levites,

Jos 21:34; it was not far from Mount Carmel, from whence it is described.



{r} Adrichom. Theatrum, p. 104.





Joshua 12:23



Ver. 23. The king of Dor, in the coast of Dor, one,.... Of which see

Jos 11:2; it fell to the lot of Manasseh, but never was possessed by them, as were not Taanach and Megiddo, before mentioned, Jos 17:11 Jud 1:27;



the king of the nations of Gilgal, one; not the place where Joshua encamped after he had passed Jordan, for that was then no city; the Septuagint version renders it the land of Galilee; and Dr. Lightfoot {s} is of opinion that Galilee is meant, and in the Apocrypha:



"Who went forth by the way that leadeth to Galgala, and pitched their tents before Masaloth, which is in Arbela, and after they had won it, they slew much people.'' (1 Maccabees 9:2)



Galgala is spoken of as near to Arbel, a city in Galilee: Jerom {t} takes this to be the same with Glagulis, which in his time was a village six miles from Antipatris to the north.



{s} Chorograph. Cent. c. 88. {t} De loc. Heb. fol. 92. B.





Joshua 12:24



Ver. 24. The king of Tirzah, one,.... To what tribe this place fell is nowhere said: Adrichomius {u} places it in the tribe of Manasseh; and so does Bunting {w}, who says of it, that it was a fair and beautiful city, situated on a high and pleasant mountain, in the tribe of Manasseh, twenty four miles from Jerusalem to the north: here Jeroboam had his royal seat, and so his successors unto Omri, 1Ki 14:17; and Dr Lightfoot {x} seems to suspect as if Shechem in Mount Ephraim and Tirzah were the same; for, he says, if Shechem and Tirzah were not one and the same town, it appears that Jeroboam had removed his court, when his son died, from where it was when he first erected his idols; compare 1Ki 12:25, with

1Ki 14:17; and so it may argue that there was some space between: it was, no doubt, a very pleasant and beautiful city, as not only appears from its name, but from the allusion to it in So 6:4;



all the kings thirty and one: it may seem strange that, in so small a country as Canaan was, there should be so many kings in it, since the length of it from Dan to Beersheba was scarce an hundred sixty miles, as Jerom {y} says; who further observes, that he was ashamed to give the breadth of it, lest it should give occasion to Heathens to blaspheme; for, adds he, from Joppa to our little village Bethlehem (where they then were) were forty six miles, to which succeeded only a vast desert: but it may be observed, that in ancient times, in other countries, there were a great many kings, as here in Britain, and in France, Spain, and Germany, as Bishop Patrick has observed from several writers; and Strabo {z} testifies the same of the cities of Phoenicia or Canaan, that they had each of them separate kings, as Joshua here describes them.



{u} Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 74. {w} Travels, &c. p. 160. {x} Works, vol. 1. p. 78. {y} Epist. Dardano, tom. 3. p. 22. I. K. {z} Geograph. l. 16. p. 519.

 

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