b|r fyt same
AN ANALYSIS OF THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES.
WITH REFERENCE TO THE HKISREW GRAMMAR OF GESENIUS,
AND NOTES, CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY.
To which is added the Book of Ecclesiastes in Hebrew and
English, in parallel columns.
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GESENIUS S HEBREW GRAMMAR.
NI.AKGfl) AM) l.MfKOVED HV PROFESSOR E. RoDIOKU.
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THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.
Critical itntr <#j)0sitrmT Commintarg
OF THE
HEBREW TEXT.
BY THE REV.
JOHN LLOYD, M.A., F. R. HIST. Soc.,
RECTOR OK I.LANVAI LF.Y, MONMOUTHSHIRE;
Author of "Analysis of Helreiv Text ff Gen. i. to xi." " Analysis of Hebrew
Text of Ecclesiastes" etc.
HO DDE R AND STOUGHTON,
27, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCLXXXVI.
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Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., Lom on and Aylesbury.
PREFACE
TH E following Commentary comprises notes
grammatical, exegetical, historical, and ethi-,
cal. The Grammar followed is that of
Gesenius, not only in the syntax, but the ortho
graphy ; for thus, when Hebrew words are written
in th eir corresponding English letters, p is always
expressed by g, and X by ts, instead of by
k and s respectively, as in many grammars.
Further, in giving the derivation and meaning of
the Hebrew names of persons, places, towns, etc.,
the Lexicon of Gesenius has been chiefly consulted.
Many also of the renderings which differ from those
in the Authorised Version will be found to agree
with those in the Revised Version, which had not
been published when this work was finished. The
author acknowledges his obligations to the Com-
vi PKEFA CE.
mentaries of Keil, Rosenmiiller, Knobel, Fay, and
others, for much help in the exegesis of the Hebrew
text ; and to Dean Stanley s Sinai and Palestine,
Robinson s Palestine and Later Biblical Researches,
Walton s Ncgeb, Smith s Dictionary of the Bible,
and many other works, for illustrations of the history
and geography of the book. The ethical remarks,
which are interspersed here and there throughout
the notes, are, in a great measure, drawn from
Bishop Wordsworth s Commentary^ who has done
more perhaps than any other recent expositor to
call attention to the typical and spiritual meaning
of the " Book of Joshua."
It is well known that the Palestine Exploration
Fund has been successful in discovering the probable
sites of many of the towns mentioned in this book,
which had been previously unrecognised. Some
allusions to these will be found in this Commentary,
but many of the positions assigned cannot be
established according to the boundaries of the tribes
as marked out in existing maps. Such is the case
with regard to the Biblical Atlas,, which the author
of this Commentary has mainly followed, and which
is that of Clark, edited by that eminent historio-
PREFACE. vii
grapher, Sir George Grove, who has written many
of the articles on Scripture places in Dr. Smith s
Dictionary of the Bible.
It only remains for the author to add that, having
taken much pains to render this work useful to
biblical students, he devoutly hopes that the blessing
of the Great Head of the Church, the true Joshua,
may rest upon it.
INTRODUCTION.
THE title of this book does not necessarily
imply that Joshua was its author, for, like
the books of Ruth and Esther, it may have been
named from its subject-matter, as giving an account
of the deeds of Joshua, by whom God, accord
ing to His promise, brought His people into
Canaan, and portioned it out among them. It has,
however, been most generally ascribed to Joshua, in
accordance with the testimony of the early Hebrew
Church, which says, "Joshua scripsit librum suum et
octo versus in lege" (Tr. Bava Bathra, fol. 14, c. 2).
Certainly, none could have been better fitted to. write
it than Joshua, who was not only present in all the
great transactions which it records, but received
personal communications from Jehovah, which no
one but himself could, in the first instance, have
divulged to others ; who also spoke the speeches
recorded in chapters xxiii., xxiv., and is expressly
said to have added to the Book of the Law some
account of his own acts (xxiv. 26). As, however,
Joshua could not have recorded his own death
(xxiv. 29), whoever added thit account might have
written the rest of the book, mainly from records
I
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.
left probably by Joshua himself. Thus the author
ship has been attributed to Phinehas (Lightfoot), or
to one of the elders who survived Joshua (Keil).
Though the exact date of its composition cannot be
fixed, it is clear that the book must have been
written before the time of David (see notes on xv.
63 and xi. 8) ; also by one who was living at the
time when Rahab was still alive (vi. 25). The
oft-repeated expression, " to this day," l does not
necessarily denote a long period, not at farthest more
than twenty-five or thirty years (comp. the use of
the same phrase in Matt, xxviii. 15). The writer
speaks of himself as one of those who had crossed
over Jordan (v. i), 2 and to whom the land had
been promised (v. 6) ; describes Gibeon " as one of
the royal cities " of Canaan (x. 2) ; and mentions
the Canaanitish names of the towns at the time of
the invasion, e.g., Kirjath-Arba, afterwards called
Hebron (xiv. 15), Kirjath-Sepher, afterwards Debir
(xv. 15). Other indications of an early date are fur
nished by the style and diction of the book. Thus,
the scriptio defective*, which is the ancient form, 3
prevails far more throughout than the scriptio plena.
Old forms of words occur which are not found in the
later books, e.g., ^TCfl (iii. 4, iv. 18, xx. 5), as in
the Pentateuch, for TTDflK (i Sam. iv, 7 ; 2 Sam. v. 2) ;
1 See iv. 9, v. 9, vi. 25, vii. 26, viii. 28, 29, ix. 27, xiii. 13,
xiv. 14, xv. 63, xvi. 10, xxii. 3, 17, xxiii. 8, 9.
2 " The reading of the Q ri 2"}?1? (till they were passed over)
is nothing but an arbitrary and needless conjecture, and
ought not to have been preferred by Bleek and others,
notwithstanding the fact that the ancient versions and some
MSS. also adopt it" (Keil). The majority of the MSS. read
1^?y
3 Ges., Gram., 8, 4 b.
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.
iens (Micah ii. 8 ; Isa. xxx. 3 3) ; fnrjx (xxi. 9), cf. Drmj?.
(Gen. xxxii. i), rob X-i (xxi. 10), only used again in
Job xv. 7; nnt?B (x. 40); aar. (x. 19), cf. Deut.
xxv. 1 8 ; \h\ from j-i^, to murmur (ix. 1 8), found
only besides in the books of Exodus and Numbers ;
the unusual form WS (xiii. 14) ; & for TJ ; ^ : , though
it occurs as early as Judges, is not found in Joshua.
The old suffix D- is repeatedly used, but the later
form DIT , only in xi. 6, 9, xviii. 21. Phrases
common to the Pentateuch are occasionally met
with, such as "wrought folly in Israel" (vii. 15) ;
" people even as the sand shore for multitude "
(xi. 4) ; "a land flowing with milk and honey "
(v. 6) ; " heads of the fathers," or " of the house of
the fathers" (xiv. I, xix. 51, xxii. 14), etc.
But though the book thus bears resemblance to
the Pentateuch in its style and diction, it is quite
independent or distinct from it. This is evident
from the references made in it to the Pentateuch
(cf. Josh. xiii. 14, 33, xiv. 4, with Numb, xviii.
20 ; Deut. xviii. I, 2), and its repetition, but with
additional particulars, of the conquest of the country
on the east of Jordan. Also from the fact that
certain archaisms in the Pentateuch are not found
in it, e.g., N-in, used as a fern. (Ges., Gr., 32, 6) ;
bj*n for nks ( 34) ; -IM for rnip. ( 2, 3 Rem.) Again,
Jericho, which throughout the Pentateuch is spelt
irrv, is always spelt in Joshua inn;, or NTV ; the
form J"i5^pD, used in the Pentateuch, is changed
to JVG^pD in Josh, xiii., where it five times occurs.
The following forms also are not found in the
Pentateuch, viz., yb> (Josh. vi. 27, ix. 9) ; N13
(xxiv. 19) ; KT (xxii. 25) ; ^nn n.133 (i. 14, vi.
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.
2, viii. 3), but y$ V3 (Deut. iii. 1 8) ; law, a
bottle (ix. 4, 13), for non (Gen. xxi. 14, 15, 19);
JV-yn, to set on fire or burn (viii. 8, 19) ; my, to
spring down (xv. 1 8) ; pvi? a prince or leader
(x. 24); t3i?K>, to rest (xi. 23, xiv. 15). Thus the
book may be said to occupy in style and diction a
middle place between the Pentateuch and the books
which follow. It affords also internal evidence of
^ being the composition of one author, and not of
several ; for on no other supposition can we account
for the easy flow of the narrative in the historical
part, where event follows event, if not always in the
exact order of time, yet of thought ; and the whole
is narrated with a vividness which bespeaks an eye
witness of the various scenes depicted. It is true
that there is a difference in the style of that portion
of the book which records the partition of the land,
and that which relates its conquest ; but this is
what might be expected from the nature of the
subject-matter, and from the fact that this portion
of the book was apparently in the main derived
from written surveys, made previously to the appor
tionment of the conquered territory (see ch. xviii.)
Yet in this part, as well as in the foregoing, there is
connection and method, the transactions following
one another in chronological order, and all serving to
show (what was evidently a principal design of the
author) the fulfilment of God s promise to give the
land of Canaan to His people Israel. Hence the
supplementary theory of Ewald, Knobel, and others,
according to which the hand of several authors is
traceable in the book, does not seem at all applicable
to it.
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 5
The Divine authority of this book is established
by the references made to it in Holy Writ 1 ; also by
the fact of its having been included in the Canon of
Scripture by the early Hebrew Church, and tacitly
acknowledged by our Saviour, when, " beginning at
Moses and the Prophets, He expounded to His dis
ciples in all the scriptures the things concerning
Himself."
Various objections, indeed, have been raised to its
credibility, and, therefore, to its Divine inspiration.
One of these is drawn from the apparent discrepancies
which are met with in the book, as, e.g., the state
ment in xi. 23, xxi. 43-5, that the whole land was
subjugated ; whereas in xiii. 1-3 and xviii. 3 we
read that a great part was yet unoccupied by the
Israelites ; for an answer to which the notes on those
passages in the annexed commentary may be con
sulted. Again, the statement, in xi. 21, that Joshua
cut off the Anakim from Hebron, Debir, etc., is not
irreconcilable with their subsequent extirpation,
recorded in xv. 13, 14 (see note on x. 37). Nor is
the promise of God that the boundaries of Israel
should extend to the Euphrates (i. 4) at variance
with the fact that the country which Joshua divided
does not reach so far (xiii. 6 ; see note on i. 4).
Another and more serious objection is the alleged
injustice of depriving the Canaanites of their country,
and dooming them all to destruction. This has
been satisfactorily answered by many commentators
(see especially Dr. Fairbairn s TypoL, vol. ii., chap.
1 See, e.g., i Kings xvi. 34 ; i Chron. ii. 7 ; Psalm cxiv. 3, 5 ;
Isa. xxviii. 21; Hab. iii. 11-13; Acts vii. 45, xiii. 19; Heb.
iv. 8, xi. 30-1, xiii. 5 ; James ii. 25.
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.
iv.). Here it may suffice to remark that God is the
supreme Ruler and Judge of the universe, and, being
infinitely just and holy, must do right. It was His
command that the Canaanites, on account of their
flagrant and long-continued enormities, 1 should,
when the cup of their iniquity was full, be extirpated
from off the earth. The Israelites were but instru
ments in executing the Divine purpose ; and they had
been forbidden by God to spare those nations or to
receive them into covenant. 2 They were thus em
phatically warned against the great sin of idolatry, to
which they were themselves but too prone ; and so
far were they from being rendered hard-hearted and
sanguinary by the work of vengeance in which they
were employed, that we find from the history that
they executed their commission with reluctance, and
far less completely than they ought ; nor were they
allowed by God to wage aggressive war on other
nations besides the Canaanites. The fact that
innocent children were involved in the fate of their
guilty parents is analogous to what happens in other
judgments, such as a plague or earthquake, and can
present no difficulty to the minds of those who
believe in a future state, where all apparent inequali
ties in God s dealings now will be redressed. No
less futile is the objection which has been raised to
1 See Lev. xviii. 21-25 ; Deut. xii. 30, 31.
- Deut. vii. i, 2; Exod. xxiii. 32, xxxiv. 12. God, however,
made a marked distinction between the inhabitants of Canaan
and other neighbouring nations ; peace might be made with
the latter, if they submitted, but not with the former (see
Deut. xx. 10-18). The case of the Gibeonites does not prove
the contrary ; for the fact that they obtained peace by fraud
shows that they were aware that they had no hope of escap
ing destruction in any other way (see ix. 24).
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.
the historical fidelity of this book on account of the
miracles recorded in it. The whole history of God s
people is miraculous, and the Book of Joshua does
but continue that series of wonders which we meet
with in the Pentateuch. Miracles were necessary in
order to put the Israelites into possession of the
Promised Land, for otherwise it is difficult to see how,
being scarcely more numerous than the Canaanites,
and inferior to them in military skill and equipment,
having neither horses nor chariots, nor warlike engines
for attacking the great and fortified cities, they could
possibly have proved successful. Moreover, nothing
could have more tended than God s visible interpo
sition in their behalf, to encourage and strengthen
their faith in Him, and to convince them that in the
subjugation of Canaan they were doing His work
rather than their own. This objection, however, to
miracles proceeds from those only who deny the
continued agency of an Omnipotent and Personal
God, Who, at His own good pleasure, may depart
from those settled laws whereby He governs the
universe (cf. John v. 17).
But further, to be rightly understood the Book of
Joshua must be regarded, not only as a literal, but as
a prophetic and spiritual history. It was classed
by the Jews as the first of those books called by
them " The early Prophets," D^fiMT) DW3?, not only
as written by inspired men or prophets, but as pro
phetical and typical of God s dealings with His
Church, or people, to the end of time. Thus, Joshua
means the same as Jesus ( l-^crovs), Jehovah-Saviour;
and in his office as general of the armies of Israel
he was a type of Jesus, the Captain of our salvation
THE BOOK OF fOSPIUA.
(Heb. ii. 10). The Canaan, into the possession of
which he brought the children of Israel, was a type
of heaven, and also of the state of true believers
here on earth, whilst they are yet carrying on a
warfare with their spiritual enemies, but are, at the
same time, " seated together with Christ in heavenly
places," and have "their conversation " (or citizenship)
" in heaven." It must not be forgotten that the
Israelites who were brought by Joshua into Canaan
were very different in character from those who
perished in the wilderness. The long course of
discipline which they had undergone during their
thirty-eight years wanderings, the instructions of
Moses, and, above all, the influence of Divine grace,
seem to have humbled and inclined them readily
to obey the will of God. 1 With these, therefore,
God renewed His covenant, as we read in Deut
xxix. i ; and these, under the conduct of Joshua,
having passed through the Jordan, and having been
circumcised, and partaken of the Passover (v. 10),
entered at once on the work of conquest to
which they were called. In all which we may see
a prophetic reference to Christians now, who, having
been baptized into Christ, circumcised with the true
circumcision of the Spirit, and strengthened by the
Bread of Life, are both qualified and pledged to fight,
under the banner of their Divine Leader, against His
and their spiritual foes, and, as far as in them lies,
to establish His empire here on earth. Viewed in
this light, there is a striking parallel between the
Book of Joshua and St. Paul s Epistle to the
! This their character seems clearly indicated in this book ;
see, e.g., the note at the end of xxii. 34.
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.
Ephesians, where the great privileges which all
Christ s followers already enjoy by union with Him,
their risen Head, and their corresponding spiritual
duties, are forcibly delineated. But Canaan, as has
been already said, was a type also of heaven itself,
whither Christ has gone before " to prepare a place "
for us. As Moses, who typified the Law, could not
bring the Israelites into the Promised Land, so " by
the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified; but
now the righteousness of God without the Law is
manifested, even the righteousness of God which is by
faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that
believe" (Rom. iii. 20-22). This spiritual character
of the Book of Joshua has, however, been often
dwelt upon by Christian commentators, and it may
suffice, therefore, to refer to such well-known works
as Bishop Pearson, On the Creed, art. ii., pp. 115-118;
Dr. Barrow, Sermons on the Creed, ser. xvii., p. 230 ;
Mather, On the Types, vol. i., pp. 134-7; and of
more ancient authors, Origenis Opera, torn, ii.,
PP- 397 457) ed - Benedict, Paris, 1733.
The number of years comprised in this history
cannot be exactly determined, for we know not
certainly the age of Joshua at the time of the
invasion, nor the length of his war with the Canaan-
ites, nor of his life after that war was ended. Some
light, however, is thrown on this subject by Joshua
xiv. 7, 10. There Caleb, who not improbably
may have been of the same age as Joshua, who is
called a young man in Exod. xxxiii. ii, declares
himself to have been forty years old when he was
sent by Moses from Kadesh to spy out the land,
but eighty-five when, after the conquest of Canaan,
io THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.
he came before Joshua to claim Hebron for his
possession. As, then, the mission of the spies took
place in the second year after the exodus (Numb.
xiii. 20), and the period from the exodus (B.C.
1491, Usher) to the crossing of the Jordan
(B.C. 1451) was forty years, Caleb must have been
thirty-eight years old when he passed through the
Red Sea, and seventy-eight when he passed through
Jordan. Thus, a_]3griod of seven years is left for
Joshua s conquest of Canaan 1 ; and, as Joshua died
at The age of one hundred and ten (xxiv. 29), he
must, if of the same age as Caleb, have survived
the conquest twenty-five years, which, added to the
seven years, would embrace a period of thirty-two
years as comprised in this book, and quite bear
out the assertion in xxiii. I, that "a long time
after that the Lord had given rest, Joshua waxed
old and stricken in years." Josephus, however, says
(Ant., v., i., 19) that the war with Canaan lasted
five years, and in Ant., v., I., 29, that Joshua lived
forty years with Moses before the invasion of
Canaan ; and after Moses death was head over
Israel for twenty-five years ; which, since he lived
to the age of one hundred and ten, would make him
to have been forty-five years old at the time of
the exodus (<?.:, 45 +40+ 25= 1 10). This view is
adopted by Ewald, Knobel, and Fiirst, and is not
very different from the first-mentioned, if we suppose
Caleb to have used round numbers. Others (e.g.,
Theoph., Ad. Autol., iii., 24 ; Clem. Alex., Strom., i.,
21 ; Euseb., Chron., i.) reckon twenty-seven years as
1 Theodoret, C. a Lap., Keil, and most modern com
mentators think this was the length of the war.
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.
the length of Joshua s government. Eupolemus (ap.
Euseb., Prap. Evang., ix., 30, x., 14) names thirty
years. C. a Lap., on xxiv. 29, says that the two
most generally supported views are those which
assign to his government seventeen (or eighteen) or
twenty-seven years.
The book may be divided into two parts. The
first has reference to the conquest of the land, and
contains : I, The campaign against the south (i. x.);
2, The campaign against the north (xi. I 1 8) ;
3, The war against the Anakim (xi. 21-23) ; 4> A
general summary of the conquest (xi. 23 to the
end of xii.). The second describes the division
of the land and the settlement of the tribes :
1, The territory assigned by Moses to the trans-
Jordanic tribes, and Caleb s inheritance (xiii., xiv.) ;
2, The allotments of Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh
(xv. xvii.) ; 3, The setting up of the tabernacle at
Shiloh, and the distribution of territory among the
remaining seven tribes (xviii., xix.) ; 4, The cities
of refuge (xx.) ; 5, The cities of the priests and
Levites (xxi.) ; 6, The dismissal of the trans-
Jordanic tribes to their homes (xxii.) ; 7, The two
last addresses of Joshua, renewal of the covenant,
Joshua s and Eleazar s death.
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. i.
CHAPTER I.
VERS. 1-9. Introduction to the Book.
JOSHUA, before Moses death, had been nominated
as his successor (Numb, xxvii. 18, etc.), and had
received a solemn charge from Jehovah ; but now,
Moses being dead, he is called to the active perform
ance of the duties of his office. Jehovah renews to
him His promises, and, as a condition of their fulfil
ment, requires of him a faithful observance of His
law.
Ver. i. vn, " And it came to pass" \ \ consec.
(Ges., Gr., 49, 2), connecting this book with
the close of Deuteronomy (see Dr. Pusey, On Daniel,
p. 309, and note , of Ges., Gr., 49, 2), but not so
t . l; ; intimately as to indicate a sameness of authorship
(cf. Ruth i. i, where the " Vav " has the same power
in reference to Judges, of which Ruth is an appendix).
ry\ "After the death of Moses" : i.e., after the expiration
of the thirty days mourning for Moses (Deut. xxxiv.
8). " The servant of the Lord" : i.e., one commissioned
by Jehovah and sent by Him to do His work. It
was, therefore, Moses regular official title (see Deut.
xxxiv. 5 ; Josh. i. 13, 15, viii. 31, 33, ix. 24,
xi. 15, xii. 6, xiii. 8, xiv. 7, xviii. 7, xxii. 4, 5),
applied to Joshua also, after he had succeeded Moses
VER. i.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 13
(Josh. xxiv. 29 with Judges ii. 8), a higher title
than that of rnti p, borne by Samuel when a boy
(l Sam. ii. 1 1, iii. i). Dean Perowneon Psalm xviii.
(inscription of) remarks that the title run" 1 nor is
never applied by the individual to himself, and in
this respect, therefore, differs from the SouXos eoC
(Xpiorov) of the New Test. (Phil. i. i ; Titus i. i).
" The Lord spake unto Joshua " : Either in a dream
or vision, or through the intervention of the High
Priest by means of the Urim and Thummim, or
by a direct revelation to his mind ; for it is not
said that God appeared to him. The occasion
being one of great importance, it is likely that the
address was immediate and personal. "Jos/ma":
A prince of the tribe of Ephraim, and originally
named Hoshea, tf^in (Numb. xiii. 8), i.e., help, to
which Moses, on some occasion not mentioned,
pTefixed the name PP, whence, by contraction, rPirv,
"Jehovah-help" (Numb. xiii. 16), written JMi?
(Neh. viii. 17) ; Sept. Tr/crovs, so in Greek Test.
(Acts. vii. 45 ; Heb. iv. 8) ; a type of the Messiah,
Whose name Jesus, therefore, means a Divine
Saviour (Matt. i. 21). jir|3, the form "bin" for
" ben " is rare (Ges., Gram., 96, 2), but always used
when followed by the pr. n. "Nun" (Ges., Lex.).
" Moses minister" : The piel participle is here used as
a noun in construe. (Ges., Gr., 135, i, 2). The term
is never equal to nay, and is translated in the Sept. by
VTrovpyos or Xetrovpyos (see here), or 6 TrapevTrjKajs
(Exod. xxiv. 13, and cf. Deut. i. 38, where HTfP is
interchanged with ^p 1 ? ne yn, one who stands before
another, waiting instructions), but never by SoOXo?.
It might be rendered " assistant," and answer to our
14 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. i.
word adjutant or aide-de-camp. When a young
man, Joshua filled this office, and continued in it up
to the time of Moses death. Having thus been long
trained to obedience, and being intimately acquainted
with the counsels of Moses, and eminent for his
courage, skill, and fidelity (see Exod. xvii. 8, etc. ;
Numb. xiv. 6-14), he was better fitted than any
other to be Moses successor. 1 As the minister of
Moses he was also a type of Christ, Who was " made
under the Lazv " (Gal. iv. 4).
Ver. 2. nriitt., "And now" : Sept. vvv ovv (cf. A.
Ver.). The adverb seems to be here not so much a
particle of time, as of inference, as frequently the
Greek vvv. With the imperative it has an hortatory *
power (cf. Gen. xxxi. i 3 ; Isa. xxx. 8 ; Micah iv. 14).
" This Jordan " : The pronoun is used Set/cri/coig, as
the Jordan was within sight of Shittim, where the
Israelites were encamped ; ni-tf, always with the
art. in prose, prop. " the Descender ; " from TV, to
descend (Ges., Lex. ; Reland, Pal., iii., 63), so called
from its rapid descent. The Arabic name is now
Esh-Sheriah, the watering-place, or SJieriat el K/iebir,
the great watering-place, to distinguish it from
Sheriat el Mandhur, the Hieromax. Between the
Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is its most rapid
descent ; but, though its course for that distance is
1 In Eccles. xlvi. i he is called the successor of Moses in
prophecies (cf. Joseph, Antiq., iv., c. 7, 2, and Sherlock, On
Proph. Disc., vi., p. 128). Had he, however, been strictly a
prophet, it is strange that he should have been directed to
seek the Divine will through Eleazar, the priest (Numb, xxvii.
21). Most probably he was only qualified by Divine wisdom
to be the leader and governor of Israel after the death of
Moses.
VER. 3.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 15
only sixty miles, it is increased to two hundred 1 by
its multiplied windings (Dean Stanley s Sin. and
Pal., pp. 283-4, n te 2 )- It rises in Antilebanon,
flows into the Dead Sea, and forms the eastern
boundary of Canaan proper. " Thou and all this
people " : The Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of
Manasseh, who had received their possessions on the
east side of Jordan, being excepted, though under
the conditions mentioned in vers. 12-15 (f- Numb,
xxxii.). " Which I do give " : The Vulg. renders by
" quam dabo" but the present jni), " am giving"
implies that the bestowal of the gift had already
begun. ^rUH is emphatic ; and the fact that
Canaan was thus God s own gift shows that the
Israelites were not chargeable with the crime of
unjustly invading it. "v?\ O?, at the end of the verse,
is explanatory of the succeeding suff. Dn (cf. Exod. ii.
6). " She sazv him, the child 1 ): It may throughout this
book be rendered sons, rather than children, of Israel,
because, in a political sense, males were regarded as
representatives of the whole nation. Note that in
this verse, as in the preceding, there is a typical
reference to Christ, Who brings all true believers into
the heavenly Canaan, thus doing what the Law, of
which Moses was the representative, could not do,
owing to the weakness, i.e., depravity, of man (see
Rom. iii. 19, etc., vii. 4, viii. 3).
Ver. 3. DlpO ^3, a nom. absol. (Gr., 145, 2 ; cf.
xiii. 6). " On which the sole of your foot shall tread" :
1 So Lieutenant Lynch (Official Letter, p. 265, ofNarrat.),
who published the first authentic account of this river, after
actual survey ; some, however, make the distance to be
increased to only 113 miles.
16 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. i.
The expression implies, as in xiv. 9, possession in its
utmost entirety. "I__ have given it": The perfect
denotes the certainty of the gift (Gr. y 126, 4). In
the last clause the reference is to Deut. xi. 24, where
the same promise is given from God by Moses,
nearly word for word as here and in the next verse.
" / spoke " : On the distinction between ~\y\ and ipx,
see Ges., Lex., under the latter verb.
Ver. 4. The general statement, " Every place that
the sole, etc." (ver. 3) is here explained by a delineation
of the farthermost boundaries. " From the wilder
ness " : z>., the Arabian desert, the southern boundary.
" This Lebanon " (the white) : The Sept. has Anti-
lebanon, but both are parts of the same mountain,
and formed the northern boundary j 1 this indicates
that the mountain was within sight of the Israelitish
camp. " Unto the great river" \ The Euphrates (Heb.
Perath) was so called /car* e ^o^v (cf. Gen. xv. 18 ;
Deut. i. 7) ; also simply irun (Gen. xxxi. 2 i ; Exod.
xxiii. 31 ; 2 Sam. x. 16, etc.) ; "iru always means a
constantly-flowing stream, like the Euphrates or
Nile, and is never used of fleeting brooks or torrents ;
rt. "ina, to flow. The Heb. Perath is derived by Ges.
(Lex.} from " parath," an unused rt., meaning in Syr.
and Chal. " to break ; " but in Arab., " to be sweet ; "
Sept. Eu(/>paT7?9 ; in Old Persian, Ufrata, " the good
and fertile stream " (Delitzsch) ; now " Frath." The
great sea " : i.e., the Mediterranean, called " great "
in contrast to the Dead Sea and Lake of Genesa-
1 The Arabic poets say of this mountain, " He bears the
Winter on his head, the Spring on his shoulders, in his bosom
the Autumn, and Summer slumbers at his feet" (Volner, i.,
243)-
VER. 4.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 17
reth. _B>nB>n N-QO, accusative of place (Gr., 1 18, i),
literally " at the entrance," i.e., the setting, " of the
sun " (cf. Deut. xi.3O ; Psalm 1. i) ; hence the West.
" Your coast": The Hebrew word ^3| denotes properly
the cord by which the limit of a field or region is
marked out, rt. ^23, to twist, or to wreathe, hence " a
boundary." The intermediate statement " all the
land of the CJiittites" (see note on iii. 10) has occa-
sjoned a difficulty. The Sept. omits the words, and
the Arabic version must have read hy for fe, for it
renders " ultra terrain Cliittceorum" But probably
the words were intended to mark out the limits of
the land of Canaan strictly so called, the Chittites,
as one of the principal nations of Canaan, being
taken as a representative of the rest ; yet we need
not with Keil regard the broad description of the
land given in this verse as rhetorical, i.e., as merely
indicating, in a general way, certain well-known
points within which the land to be given to the
Israelites would lie. In the reign of Solomon the
kingdom reached to Eloth and Eziongeber, on the
CElanitic gulf of the Red Sea (i Kings ix. 26), and
to Tiphsah on the river, i.e., the Euphrates (i Kings
iv. 24), having for its western boundary the sea of
the Philistines (Exod.xxiii. 3 i), i.e., the Mediterranean,
and for its southern boundary the Desert, i.e., the
wilderness of Shur and Paran. 1 God s promise, how
ever, of this enlarged dominion was conditional
(Deut. xi. 22-4), and it was His people s sinfulness
which, after Solomon s death, deprived them of it ;
yea, as regards the Canaan strictly so-called, we are
1 Probably identical with the desert of Et Tih (Grove).
2
i8 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. i.
told that in consequence of their sloth and wicked
ness they could not, after Joshua s death, fully drive
out their enemies (Judges ii. 20-1).
Ver. 5. In this and the next verse the order of
events in the book is briefly indicated, viz., I, The
Conquest ; 2, The Division of the Land. With the
first clause cf. Deut. xi. 25, where the same promise
is made to all the people, igh 3V_r\\, literally "shall
place himself before" is varied to r??3 Itf^ (Deut. vii.
24, xi. 25), "all the days of thy life": for after
Joshua s death the Canaanites, owing to the supine-
ness and sinfulness of the children of Israel, re-esta
blished themselves in many places, whence they had
been driven out (Judges i. 27, etc). " / will be with
thee" i.e., I will assist thee (cf. v. 17). T]-, in pause
for ?j- ( 103, 2 a). "/ will not fail thee" (Auth.
Vers.) : nEn, used intrans., means properly " to be let
down or relaxed," and is applied to the letting of the
hands hang down (Zeph. iii. 16) ; hence it may be used
metaphorically of the mind, and be rendered here in
Hiphil, " / will not let thee despond" Better, how
ever, " / will not relax my hand from itpJiolding thee "
(cf. Deut. iv. 31, xxxi. 6 ; i Chron. xxviii. 20 ; Heb.
xiii. 5, ov ^r) ere ctvoj).
Ver. 6. "Be strong and of a good courage " (Auth.
Vers.). The first verb prn means lit. " to hold fast,"
i.q., pQN (Ges., Lex. [2], p. 72) ; hence "to strengthen,"
but more often " to be or to become strong," and like
nsn (ver. 5), is used of the hands (Judges vii. 1 1 ; 2 Sam.
xvi. 21 ; Isa. xxxv. 3), The second verb, fEN, "to
be alert," and hence " to be firm," refers primarily to
alertness of the feet (Ges., Lex?), or to strength of
knees (see Isa. xxxv. 3). The two expressions to-
VER. 7.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 19
gether denote firmness and resolution of mind (cf.
( Deut. xxxi. 7, 2 3). The concluding words of the verse
do not imply a reason for firmness and resolution,
viz., that without such qualities Joshua could never
put the people in possession of Canaan, but are rather
a promise to inspire him with courage (cf. Deut. i. 38,
xxxi. 7, 23). b^lJPl, Hiph. imperf., " tJwu sJialt cause
to inherit" with an accus. of person and of thing
( !39> i ; cf- Deut. i. 38), from hn), primarily "to
receive as a possession," " to possess," but spec. " to
receive as an inheritance"; and in Hiph., "to cause to
inherit," which latter, according to Keil and Fay, is the
meaning here (cf. Auth. Vers.). fnsrrnx : Some MSS.
read "^ for "D^, whence Maurer thought that they
must have read also ^nj.n, thou slialt lead, but as ^ru in
Hiph. is applicable rather to the leading of a flock
than of an army, it would not here be suitable, and
doubtless -^ is the emendation of a transcriber.
Ver. 7. pi, " g/z/j/," here implies a condition. The
two following verbs are repeated from the first clause
of ver. 6, but jare rendered more forcible by the addi
tion of nsp to the latter verb. " Turn not from it to
the right hand and to the left " (cf. Deut. v. 29 [Heb.
Bib.], xxviii. 14) : 1-1D here answers to npa in Numb.
xx. 1 7. The masc. suffix in -israp may refer either to
the foregoing words, " which Moses . . . commanded
thee," or to isp, understood before rninn. The_"_Vav"
before Pim? is better rendered "and" than "or"
which, however allowable in some passages (see Ges.,
Lex. [3], p. 235), here rather weakens the sense. The
allusion is to travellers who avoid all paths deviating
from the main road. Wp \yvh, " That thou mayest
act wisely": Sept., Iva avvfjs ; Vulg., " lit intelligas";
\
20 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. I.
but Chald. and Auth. Vers., " tJiat thou may est prosper
As wisdom in conducting affairs is connected with
prosperity, the word psb sometimes denotes " to pros
per " (see, e.g., Prov. xvii. 8), _but here the primary
meaning " to be wise " (in Hiph., " to make wise," " to
act wisely ") seems preferable, because in ver. 8 WV PI
is distinguished from DvV9. In the last clause, bb? is
T^TT 1 ???, " in all thy ways," i.e., in all thy actions
(cf. i Sam. xviii. 14;.
Ver. 8. n : rn may refer to the Book of the Law as
having been already mentioned, ver. *j ; or, perhaps,
indicates that Jehovah was addressing Joshua from
the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, where the Penta
teuch was deposited. The frequent allusions to the
Book of the Law throughout this Book of Joshua
are a testimony to the genuineness of the former.
" Shall not depart out of thy month " : i.e., Joshua s
judgments and orders were to be in accordance with
the Divine Law ; on all occasions he w r as to speak in
accordance with it ; and evidently he had a written
copy of the Law, as the kings afterwards were
required to have (Deut. xvii. 18, 19). "And thou
shalt meditate in it day and night " : i.e., he was to
be continually pondering it in his mind with a view
to compliance with all its directions ; Psalm i. 2
appears to allude to this verse. " For then shalt
thou make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou act
wiselv " (see note on ver. 7}.
Ver. 9. Nl^n is here equal to a strong positive asser^
/tion ( 153, 2. Rem.j. It is generally employed by
I those who wish to infuse into another courage and
I alacrity. The Sept. uses run in place of it, translating
by loou. nnn, Niph. imperf. 2 p. m. s. in pause,
VER. 10.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 21
from rmn, to break or to be broken, used here meta
phorically of a mind broken by terror. This and the
preceding verb, with the negative ^N, give greater
force to the foregoing positive injunction, " Be
strong" etc. (cf. Deut. xxxi. 6, 8).
Let us remember that the same encouragements
which were given to Joshua are also given to our
selves in our spiritual warfare. God will be with
us (Heb. xiii. 6) to aid us in our conflicts, and to
bring us ultimately into possession of the heavenly
Canaan. Only we, like Joshua, must be very
courageous, and firm in rendering an undeviating
obedience to the revealed will of God (Matt. vii. 2 1 ;
John xv. 14).
VERS. 10-18. Joshua s Command to the Overseers
of the People, and his Appeal to the Reubenites,
Gadites, and Half Tribe of Manasseh.
Dntpb>, lit. scribes, from "it3v to write ; Sept ypa/Ji-
/xaretg ; so the Syriac and Samaritan versions. The
rendering " overseers " or " superintendents" though
not etymologically correct, perhaps sufficiently ex
presses the meaning. They appear to have been
Hebrews, who drew up the Hebrew genealogies, and
were generally in attendance on the elders, captains
and judges. Joshua employed them on this occa
sion to convey his orders to the people, and to see
them executed. On Egyptian monuments they are
frequently represented giving in written accounts to
their immediate superiors. Passages in which they
are mentioned are Exod. v. 6 ; Numb. xi. 16 ; Deut.
22 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. i.
xvi. 1 8, xxix. 10, xxxi. 28 ; Josh. viii. 33, xxiii.
2, xxiv. i. After the death of David it would
seem that they, as well as the judges (to whom
the genealogical knowledge of the shoterim must
have been highly useful in determining cases re
lating to property, etc.), were chosen from the
Levites (i Chron. xxiii. 4 ; 2 Chron. xix. 1 1,
xxxiv. 13).
Ver. i I . " Pass through the midst of the camp " (cf.
Vulg., "transite per medium castrorum "). rn^, P r P? r !y
"Jlesh which is taken in hunting" from 1-1V, to hunt ;
also any food, but especially "provision for a journey "
(Gen. xlii. 25 ; Exod. xii. 39). The manna had not
yet, as Keil asserts, ceased (see Josh. v. 1 2), but
when Joshua issued this command, he doubtless knew
that the manna would cease when the people had
crossed the Jordan (Exod. xvi. 35), and because it
would not keep fresh beyond the first day, and there
may have been no time to collect and prepare it, he
commanded other food to be gathered. Indeed,
manna never formed the sole sustenance of the
people (see Deut. ii. 6, 26-28) ; and the country of
Sihon and Og, which they had lately conquered,
would furnish them with the supplies they now
needed. " Within yet three days" (cf. Gen. xl. 13),
Sept. ert T/oets ^/xepat : A question has been raised
whether the three days here mentioned are identical
with those in iii. 2. Most commentators think so,
and suppose that this chapter anticipates the regular
course of events ; in other words, that we have the
order of thought rather than of time. The sacred
writer, having a religions, rather than an historical,
design in view, may have wished to put prominently
VERS. 12, 13.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 23
forward God s faithfulness in the performance of His
promise to give Canaan for an inheritance to His
people, and, therefore, mentioned first God s com
mand to Joshua, and Joshua s immediate proceedings
thereupon, and then returned in the second chapter
to state what had taken place before this command
of God to Joshua, and immediately after the thirty
days mourning for Moses (Deut. xxxiv. 8), viz., the
sending forth of the spies to Jericho, etc. On any
other supposition it is difficult to understand how
the collecting of provisions for the vast host of the
Israelites, the sending forth and return of the spies,
and the removal of the camp from Shittim to
Jordan, could all have been accomplished within the
period mentioned (i. ii). According, however, to
the above view, the order of events was probably
the following : On the third of the first month,
Abib, or Nisan, the spies were sent out (ii. i), on the
sixth they return (ii. 23), on the seventh the camp
is removed from Shittim to Jordan (iii. i), and the
command (i. i i) is issued, and on the tenth the
river is crossed (iv. 19).
For other views, viz., those of Keil, Maurer, Knobel,
etc., see note in Keil s Comment., pp. 72 75, Clark,
pub. 1857. ny-\h, " to possess" or " to take possession
of" : Sept, Karacrx^ , Vulg., " ad possidendam "
(cf. I Kings xxi. I 5). This is the primary meaning
of Err, whence the secondary meaning " to inherit "
(Gen. xxi. 10 ; see Gesen., Lex.}.
Ver. i 2. The tribes here mentioned had received
their inheritance on the east of Jordan (Numb, xxxii.)
Ver. 13. The infin. absol. TDT is here used for
the imperative ( 131,4 b). " The word" but also in
24 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. i.
Hebrew " the mandate" ; so in Esther i. 19 and in
Exod. xxxiv. 28, Deut. iv. 13, x. 4, the "ten words"
mean the " ten commandments." The quotation
which follows is not literal, and bears a greater resem
blance to Deut. iii. 18-20 than to Numb, xxxii.
20, 29. rpjp, Hiph. part, (is), "giving rest" i.e., by
assigning to them settled habitations in place of a
wandering life.
Ver. 1 4. " Your little ones " : From SI?B, to trip_
along. The sing, fp is often used, as here, collectively
(" 1 08, i). The "-wives and little children" were to
dwell in fenced cities for protection from the inhabi
tants of the land (Numb, xxxii. 17). rnpp, "cattle" :
From nji"), to possess (cf. KTTJVTJ from /crao/Aou). Wealth
in early times chiefly consisted in them. *n 1?P,
" on tJie other side of the Jordan" Sept. Trepav TOV
lopSdvov, is explained in ver. 1 5 by " toward the
sun-rising." The Auth. Vers. here and in Numb,
xxii. i ; Deut. i. 5, iii. 8, etc., renders it " on this side
Jordan" but in Deut. iii. 20, 25, " beyond Jordan" as
[the Sept. and other versions generally. The phrase
means lit., " at the side, or passage, of Jordan" and
was usually applied to the district east of Jordan,
and corresponded closely to the Greek name Percea.
Here, and often elsewhere, it is used quite irrespec
tively of the actual position of the speaker or writer.;
D^pn is derived by Ges. from 5?!?n, nearly allied to
the roots Don and pnn, " to be eager or sharp ;" hence
" eager, or ready prepared, for fighting " ; Aq. ez o>7rAi-
cr/AeVoi ; Symm. Ka^wTrXicr/xeVot ; Vulg. armati. But
perhaps a better rendering is " arrayed" Arab, in-
structi, marshalled, lit. with their loins girt (cf. Eph.
vi. 14; I Peter i. 13), from tt io n, lumbiis, synony-
VER. 15.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 25
mous with DH (Numb, xxxii. 32; Deut. iii. 18),
from D V^q (only in the dual), " the two loins" Sept.
ev&voi. Ewald (GescJi. des Volkes Israel, ii., p. 54)
would render it " arrayed in five divisions" from
Bfon, five, whence perhaps the strange rendering of
the Sept., TrefJiTTTy ye^ea (Exod. xiii. 18), but this
rendering, says Keil (Comment., A.D. 1857), assumes
the reading D^pq to be correct, the evidence for
which is less than that for D^pn. or D^ -iaq. <i ;? 1 ?,
" before " (Auth. Ver.), Sept., Vat., irporepoi TOJV dSeX.-
<f)o)i> vfjitov, but Masius and Drusius " in the presence
of" as the word means in Exod. vii. 10, which render
ing seems less suitable here, for it was obviously fitting
that these tribes, in return for the concessions made
to them by Moses, should be exposed more than the
others to the brunt of battle, n niaa h 3, "all the strong
heroes" ( 108, 3, cf. vi. 2, viii. 3) : The expression is
not found in the Pentateuch ; in Deut. iii. I 8 we have
^n ^?"^3. It is incredible that all the armed men
from these tribes are here included. The number of
fighting men in each of these tribes is given in Numb.
xxvi. 7, 1 8, 34, and their aggregate number was
136,930 men, of twenty years old and upward, able
to go out to war (Numb. xxvi. 2). ^21, therefore, is
not to be taken here in its full sense. The real number
which passed over is stated in iv. I 3 as forty thousand.
Ver. 15. "Until the Lord have given . . . rest"
(cf. Deut. iii. 20, and see note on ver. 13. " Then ye
shall return " (Auth. Ver.). } begins the apodosis
( 155, i a, 3rd par.) For the form DnipT, see 69,
3, Rem. 4, and cf. xxiii. 5 ; for ntfv we have n-rnx., in
Josh. xxii. 4, 9. The words " toward the sun-rising "
qualify the preceding " on this side Jordan" and deter-
26 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. i.
mine their sense, for the phrase is in itself ambiguous,
being sometimes used of cis-Jordanic, sometimes of
trans-Jordanic, territory (cf. Josh. ix. I with Numb,
xxii. i, xxxii. 32).
Ver. 1 6. " And they answered" etc. : The "they"
does not include all the tribes, but only the two
tribes and a half whom Joshua had just been
addressing, for such is the natural and obvious
reference.
Ver. 1 7. TJ ; X : ^b|, " in all respects as " : pi, " only":
here expressing with what follows not a condition but
a wish.
Ver. r 8. rnp^, Hiph. imperf., " shall rebel against
" Thy commandment " (cf., for this meaning of S,
Eccles. viii. 2). Usually, as Keil remarks, rnpn, fol
lowed by this noun,~is~used of rebellion against God
(see Deut. i. 26, 43, ix. 23 ; i Sam. xii. 14), but
here of rebellion against a ruler. np-V, Hoph. (in
pause), " shall be put to death " : So the Jewish law
prescribed (Deut. xvii. 12). The words only be
strong" etc. (cf. ver. 6) further show the desire of
these tribes to encourage Joshua in his undertaking,
and their resolve to aid him and their brethren.
Several of the Christian Fathers saw in these two
tribes and a half a type of true believers under the
Old Testament dispensation. Reuben, Gad, and
Manasseh were all elder sons, and the conduct of
their descendants, as here recorded, shows remark
able faith in the promises of God and ready obedience
to His will. But as these two and a half tribes
had their inheritance assigned only to them by
Moses, but were put into actual possession of it by
Joshua, so the believers under the Old Testament
VER. 18.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 27
dispensation inherited the promises not through the
Law, but by faith in the Messiah (Heb. xi. 39, 40).
See Origen, Horn. 3 and 1 6 ; Bede, Qu. in Josh., c. 4 ;
Theodoret, in Josh. Qu., 1 6.
CHAPTER II.
VERS. 1-7. The Mission of the Spies to Jericho.
Ver. i. IWJJ: Though not grammatically a plu
perfect, yet is so as to sense, since it refers to what
had occurred prior to i. 1 1 (see note). " Shittiin "
(lit., the acacias), mentioned in connection with the
history of Balaam (Numb. xxv. i ; Micah vi. 5). It
was not far from Jordan (sixty furlongs, says Josephus),
and was the last place in which the Israelites encamped
in the plains of Moab. It is called DWH hzx, "the
acacia meadow " (Numb, xxxiii. 49), and Josephus is
supposed to refer to it under the name Abila (Abel,
" meadow," or " moist place"), Antiq., iv. 8, i, v. i, i ;
Bel. Jud. iv. 7, 6. D^N* is rendered by the Sept.
veavio KOVS, under the idea that they were probably
young and active men, which, though not implied
here in the Hebrew word, accords with vi. 23. D^J.ID,
Piel part, from prj, to go, to tread, and hence " to
explore " (cf. Gen. xlii. 9 ; i Sam. xxvi. 4 ; 2 Sam.
xv. i o). tnn, lit. " silence" but here used as an
adverb, "secretly" ( 100, 2 b) ; the conjunctive
accent shows that it is to be construed with "ibNJ?, i.e.,
Joshua gave these spies their directions in secret,
fearing, perhaps, that the people, if they knew of their
mission, would be alarmed, as in the time of Moses
23 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP, c
(Numb. xiv. i), by the tidings they might bring.
IN"}, " vieiv ye " : i.e., explore ye (cf. Gen. xlii. 9). "Even
\Jericho" (Auth. Ver.) : The 1. has perhaps the force
I of especially (Ges., Lex., (c}, p. 234). inn*, always
so s written in this book, but in the Pentateuch
irn> ; once nnn* (i Kings xvi. 34). The word
means, according to some, " a place of fragrance,"
from n-n, to breathe ; nnn, to smell ; being celebrated
for its palms and balsam (Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. xii.,
cap. 25) ; but the older Commentators and Gesenius
derive it in the form inn 11 from nT|, the moon, which
was the principal deity there worshipped x (cf. Helio-
polis, city of the sun). It was situated in a plain, and
was a key to the entrance of Canaan on the south
east side (Joseph., De Bel. Jud., iv., cap. 8, 2, 3 ;
Robinson s Pales., ii., p. 523, etc., and 544, etc.)
Every trace of the ancient town has disappeared, but
the present dirty and miserable village, called Erika,
or Rika, by the Wady Kelt, is supposed to be near
the site. miT n^X, " a woman, a harlot " : Written
T T 1
without n>N in Gen. xxxviii. i 5 ; Deut. xxiii. 1 9 ;
but with it, here and in Judges xi. i ; Lev. xxi. 7 ;
Sept. yvraifcos ir6pvT)<$ ; so the Syriac and Arabic ;
and in Greek Testament, rj rropvr) (Heb. xi. 31;
James ii. 25); but an " innkeeper" TravSo/cevrpto,
(S. Chrysos., Epis. to Cor. ; the Targum ; Joseph.,
A ntiq., v., 1,2; and some of the Rabbis and modern
Commentators), as though the word was derived from
Jit, to feed or to nourish, a rendering not accordant
with the use of the word elsewhere in Scripture, and
probably designed to avoid the obloquy implied in
1 Or rather, Ashtoreth, of whom the moon was a symbol, was
there worshipped.
VER. 2.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 29
the epithet rnn. Women, however, of that class may
have kept houses of entertainment, as anciently the
women in Egypt (see Herodotus, ii. 35). " RachabJi " :
Meaning""" to" be wide or spacious" (cf. the name of
Japheth, Gen. ix. 27). She is evidently the same as
the Rachabh mentioned as the wife of Salmon in the
genealogy of the Messiah (Matt. i. 5), and Josephus
(Antiq., v., i) calls her r) Pa^dftrj. The Fathers
regarded her as a type of the Christian Church
(Clemens, Rom. ad. Cor., 12 ; Justin Martyr, c.
Tryphon., 112; Irenasus, iv. 37 ; Origen, Hom. } 3).
Probably she was at this time a believer, though she
had not openly renounced heathenism ; and the spies
may have been directed to her house by Joshua, who,
having formerly visited the country as a spy (Numb,
xiii. 1 6), may have known something of her faith ; at
all events, the convenient situation of her house on
the town wall, and perhaps the fact that she may
have kept a lodging for travellers, easily accounts for
their coming thither. "And they lay doivn there" :
With the intention of sleeping, as they had arrived at
the beginning of the night.
Ver. 2. "And it was told the king- of Jericho" :
Josephus (Antiq., v., I, 2) says the news was brought
to the king while at supper. If Rachabh kept a
house for travellers, some one lodging there may
have informed the king, or, since it was known that
the Hebrews were on the other side of Jordan
watchers may have been set at the gates to report
any suspicious persons who entered in. " To-night "
(Auth. Ver.), lit. " the night." It appears_ from_ver. 5
that it was the beginning of the night, just before
the gates were shut, isi^, properly " to dig," as a
30 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. n.
_well or pit, and hence " to explore " (cf. Deut. i. 22.)
p$n-n, " the land"
Ver. 3. " Bring forth" \ The respect which is paid
in the East to women s apartments explains why the
king s messengers did not search the house. " Who
Tidve come to tJiee " : These words are omitted in the
Sept. and Syr., perhaps to avoid -tautology.
Ver. 4. " And the woman took . . . and hid them " :
n\h here means, as in Esther ii. 8, 16, to bring or
to conduct. Probably Rachabh did this before the
king s messengers arrived, for to have kept them
waiting at the door would have excited suspicion.
But this is no reason for rendering the verbs as
-, pluperfects. " The historian," says Keil, " has
I merely arranged the particular occurrences in such
a manner that he describes first what was done by
the king, and then all that was done by the womanj
The king sent to Rachabh, and commanded her to
deliver up the spies, but she took them and con
cealed them, and then said to the servants of the
i king, and so on." If Rachabh suspected that,
information had been sent, or might be sent, to the
king, she would naturally at once hide the spies.
The sing, suffix in fJSyfi is distributive, meaning each
of them (cf. Deut. xxi. 10; Jer. xxxi. 15). |3, so,
or it is true. D^ JXn, "the men " : i.e., those referred
to. \Wft, " whence " : Everywhere else this word is
used as an interrogative. True that in Psalm cxxi. i
the Auth. Vers. renders it as a relative, "whence cometh
my help," but there also the interrogative sense is
better.
Ver. 5. Tfap^? . . . <i n. v i, "and when the gate was
about to be shut " (see for this construction 132, 3 ;
VER. 2.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 31
Rem., 1,2): Less accurately the Sept. renders by
eK\eiero, " was being closed " ; for, had the closing
actually begun, the spies in going out could scarcely
have escaped observation. ijETia, "when it was dark"
(Auth. Vers.), not " when it grew dusk " (De Wette) :
In the East there is very little twilight, and the
Hebrew word for it, viz., v\$), sometimes means night
(see Isa. v. 1 1, xxi. 4, lix. TO). " Purstte ye quickly" :
The infinitive "inrp is here used as an adverb. More
often the finite verb which governs the infinitive is so
used (see Exod. ii. i 8, and 142, 4, Rem. i.).
The deceit of Rachabh cannot be justified on the
ground of expediency, or of the goodness of her
motives. All falsehood must be sin ; but, being in
her case a sin of weakness and ignorance, it was
doubtless pardoned by reason of her faith and
devotion to the cause of God and His people.
Ver. 6. Her mode of concealing the spies is
here described. The roof was fiat (cf. 2 Sam. xi. 2 ;
Matt. x. 27 ; Acts x. 9). The word used throughout
the Sept. for }\ is Sw/xa, which is also used in
Luke v. 19, xii. 3, xviii. 31 ; Acts x. 9. By the law
it was required that, for safety s sake, the roof should
have a battlement (Deut. xxii. 8). prn Wfi?, lit.
"m the flaxes of wood" i.e., "J,n the stalks of fiax " :
Sept. iv rfj \ivoKa\dpy, " the flax which is not yet
removed from its stalk " ; Vulg., stipula lini ; less
fitly, " tree-fax," or "pods of cotton" (Arab. Vers.). 1
The flax (nfltrs or nntra) was ripe at that season (the
month Nisan) in Egypt (Exod. ix. 31), the climate
1 So Gesenkis (Lex., p. 595), but the season was early spring,
and cotton is not gathered till autumn ; it is improbable also
that cotton was cultivated in Palestine at so early a period.
32 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. n.
of which is nearly similar to that of Canaan ; and in
both countries it grows more than three feet in
height, with a stalk as thick as a cane. Rachabh
was probably a manufacturer of linen, rh nirnyn,
"which were set in order for Jier upon the roof" : viz.,
for the purpose of being dried in the sun ; * nb is
here a dativus connnodi.
Ver. 7. "And the men": i.e., those sent by the
king of Jericho. n i\~p,, " the way of tJte Jordan " :
Accus. denoting the direction taken ( 118). n^>y:
The jprep. ^r does not here denote " beside " or " near
to" nor ir, " as far as" nor ~^K, " towards ; " but
retains its primitive meaning "j22f" (Keil). The
words should be connected with the foregoing, e.g.,
" The way of the Jordan over the fords" i.e., which
led over the fords ; Vulg., " per viam quae ducit ad
vadum Jordanis." The fords meant were opposite
Jericho, and are called in Judges iii. 28 " the fords of
for dan towards Moab." It is, however, improbable
that the pursuers crossed the fords, for the Israelitish
camp was in the vicinity, -nap, " they shut " : The
indeterminate third person ( 137, 3). "iE N.3 nqx is
an unusual form for Tj xpnqx ( 155, 2 c; cf. T^ |5"nn.x,
Gen. vi. 4). The gates were shut in case the spies
should be yet in the town, but the narrative which
follows shows how useless was such a precaution.
VERS. 8-21. Rachabh helps the Spies to escape, liaving
first stipulated with them for the Security of
Herself and Family.
Ver. 8. nng, " not yet" : Lit. " a cutting off," fol-
1 This custom is alluded to by Josephus, Ant., v., i, 2.
VERS. 9, 10.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 33
lowed by an imperfect coming within the sphere of
the past, " and they had not yet laid down" ( 127,
4, a ; and Ges., Lex. [3], p. 325) : It seems that they
intended to sleep upon the roof, a common practice
in the East.
Ver. 9. The V?, which thrice follows ^lj in this
verse, means " that " = quod, as often after verbs of
knowing ( I 5 5, I, <?, 3rd par.). "Jehovah": This cove
nant-name of the God of Israel she may have heard of
by report, and may here use without a knowledge of its
import : see ver. 1 1, where she only speaks of Jehovah ;
as a God (Elohim) " in heaven above and upon the
earth beneath" " Your terror " : i.e., that of which
you are the object, or which you inspire ( 121, 5).
IMo;, " have melted away " : Niph. of MO, to flow, to
flow down, a metaphor taken from the melting of ice
or snow, or of wax before the fire. Like expressions
to those in this verse are found in Exod. xv. 15, r 6,
where we have a prophecy of which we here see the
fulfilment. DS/JSpp, "because of you" (Auth. Vers.) :
or "from the face of you" i.e., " before you " (cf. ver. I o,
where the Sept. has CXTTO TrpocrwTrov v/jL^f}.
Ver. 10. 3, "for": This verse gives the reason
why Rachabh knew that Jehovah had given the
land of Canaan to the Israelites, viz., the great
miracles which He had wrought for them, two of
the most striking of which are here mentioned.
-C N. n (see 155, i, e, 3rd par.) epD-D , lit., "the
sea of_weeds," Coptic, Schari-sea (weedy, or reedy sea),
/>.,lhe~Arabian Gulf, which abounds in seaweed ;
always in the Sept. 17 IpvOpa OaXacrora, except in
Judges xi. 1 6, where ^ID is rendered 2u<. " Stch&n"
lit, " a sweeping away," i.e., a leader carrying every-
3
34 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. n.
thing before him, rt. n-1D, i.q., nnp, to wipe away.
" Ogk"\ Hebrew Ml?, perhaps contracted from 33 y, piy,
i.e., in stature, long-necked, gigantic (Ges., Lex.}.
Hercules, thought to be the same with Joshua, is by
Lucian (In Hercule} called Ogmius, from slaying Og,
as is supposed (Dickenson, Delph. Phmiic., c. 4, p. 44).
D^Pinn, "ye devoted" or, "ye put under a ban" from
Dnn, properly, " to shut up " (cf. D nri, a net), hence " to
prohibit to common use," " to consecrate ; " and in
Hiphil, " to dedicate to God in an irredeemable
manner," whence "to extirpate," "to destroy utterly"
(cf. Auth. Vers.), because the unholy object so dedi-
rated was abominable to God, and could not be used
in His service (Lev. xxvii. 29 ; Deut. vii. 23, etc.).
For the events alluded to in this verse, see Exod.
xiv. i 5, etc. ; Numb. xxi. 24-35 > Deut. ii. 31, iii. 10.
3 1 : Ver. 11. BB, Niph. imperfect from Dpn, to melt,
to flow down (see on M, ver. 9, and cf. v. i, vii. 5).
nfrfc6i : , " and tJiere remained not " : Dip, " to stand,"
and hence " to remain." n-n, " courage " (Auth. Vers.) ;
or, more simply, "breath? from n-n, to breathe. In
1 Kings x. 5, nearly the same expression is used of
great astonishment.
In her confession at the end of the verse Rachabh
seems to contrast the supremacy of Jehovah with that
of the heathen deities, who were supposed to preside
over particular localities only ; but she was not yet so
enlightened as to acknowledge Him the one only true
God (cf. Deut. iv, 39). Note, however, the different
effect produced upon her and her countrymen by the
reports they had heard : in her they wrought faith ;
in them terror and astonishment (cf. Luke ii. 34 ;
2 Cor. ii. 1 6).
VERS. 12, 13.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 35
Ver. 12. 13 is either here causal, and = because
[" since " (Auth. Vers.)], or, is introductory to the oath
and = that, e.g., " sivear unto me . . . that I have
shown you kindness, and ye vvill also show kindness "
(i.e., according to the English idiom, " that as I have
shown kindness to you, so you will also show kind
ness," etc.), and zvill give me a token of truth, and
will save alive . . . and will deliver , etc. Here all
the verbs which follow llp^n are subordinate to it,
and dependent upon 3, though the three last may be
rendered as imperatives [e.g., " and give" " and save
alive" etc.], and, therefore, as co-ordinate with W?s ; n,
and independent of the l) 3. n$ rrux, "a sign (or token)
of truth " : Keil identifies this token with the oath
itself, which the spies were required to take, but thus
there seems to have been no occasion for mentioning
^
it separately, as it would have been implied in thv
words, " Swear unto me by the Lord." Rather, rm
means here, as often in Scripture, something outward
and visible (cf 2 Kings xx. 8, 9 ; Isa. vii. 1 1, 14,
xxxviii. 7, 22 ; and cr^juetbz in Luke ii. 12 ; 2 Thess.
iii. 17), and was the token referred to in ver. 18.
True that the spies were let down from the window
by Rachabh before she had received this token, but
this may be easily accounted for on the supposition
that after their oath (ver. 14) she was satisfied, and
at once lowered them, whereupon they gave her the
outward pledge which assured safety to herself and
relatives.
Ver. 13. This verse explains more fully the ex
pression " my father s house " in ver. 1 2, and indicates
that she had neither husband nor children. Drvn.ni.,
"and (that)/*? will save alive" (cf. note on ver. 12).
36 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. n.
The usual pointing (...) is changed to the shorter (...)
( 27, Rem. 5), after \ consec. Drf? "iK ; K.-^3 : Not their
material property, but the children and other relatives
of her brothers and sisters (see vi. 23, 25). -l^nb jpa :
The plural suffix shows that, though in the previous
part of the verse she speaks of her relatives only, she
included herself among them. Yet her unselfishness^
which is one of the signs of a true conversion, beauti
fully appears in this part of the narrative.
Ver. 1 4. n-1b 1J^?5, lit., " our life instead of
you to die " : A form of oath by which they invoked
the vengeance of Jehovah on themselves if they proved
false to their word. A more frequent form is " as thy
soul liveth" (i Sam. i. 26, xvii. 55, xx. 3 ; 2 Kings
ii. 24). The pi. m. suffix in D^nnn refers to Rachabh
and her father s house. To this oath is annexed the
condition, " if ye tell not (lit., if ye bring not to light)
this our business" njm, " and it shall be" ( 126, 6,
Rem. 2), rnrp nns, "when Jehovah shall give" ( 132, 2).
The infinitive here expresses future time. -13*^1 : The
1. equals then, and introduces the apodosis. new ipD,
" mercy and truth " : Not an hendiadys for " sincere
kindness," which rendering weakens the sense, but
kindness together with fidelity in the performance of
their promise.
Ver. 15. ^2113, the^ article in the prep. .may_ refer,
says Lyra, to a rope by which Rachabh had before
been wont to draw up or let down those who visited
her. ny?, through (Auth. Vers.) : This prep., according
to Ges. (Lex^ is derived from an obsolete verb *W3,
" to be without " (opposed to " to be within "), " to be
near or beside." Often it may be rendered " behind"
as in Gen. xxvi. 8 ; Judges iv. 28 ; and so perhaps
VER. 16.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 37
here, as implying that Rachabh stood behind the
window (|t?nn) whilst lowering the spies. Prof. Lee
says (Hcb. Lex?) that the cognate word in Arabic
means " after " or " behind." Cf. the account of the
escape of David (i Sam. xix. 12), and of St. Paul
[2 Cor. xi. 33, where the words Sta 9 vp 1809
(through a little door or aperture) e ^aXacr^v, are
similar to the Sept. Vers. here, viz., /care^ctXacrev
avrous 8ta TT}? #vpiSo<?]. St. James (ii. 25) alludes
to this window or aperture, when he speaks of Rachabh
as " having thrust forth (e/c/3a,Xovcra) the spies erepa
68c3, " by another way" i.e., other than that by which
they had come, njpfnn "Vp^, " on the side of the wall" :
vp here answers to the Latin paries, Greek rot^O9,
but iTpin to mums and ret^o?. In Exod. xxx. 3,
nTVp is rendered "sides" by English version. The
city wall appears to have formed the back wall of
Rachabh s house. niT^T NTi, " sJie was dwelling" The
opinion of Masius and others that this verse has been
transposed, and ought to follow verse 20, is not recon
cilable with the use of the perfect " thou didst let us
down " (ver. 1 8), which shows that the spies had
been let down before the conversation recorded in
vers. 16-20.
Vers. 1 6. rnnn, "to the mountains": The sing.
in is here used coll. Jericho was surrounded by
mountains on the north, south, and west ; those here
referred to were probably situated on the northern
side, and were the jagged range of the white limestone
mountains of Judaea, afterwards called Quarantania
(Arabic, Kuruntul], from the belief that they were
the scene of our Lord s forty days temptation ; they
rise from 1,200 to 1,500 feet above the sea, and
38 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. n.
abound in caves (Robinson, ii., p. 289 ; Dean Stanley,
Syria and Palestine, p. 307-8). Dparui, " and hide
yourselves " : Niph. perf. with 1 consec. of the imper.,
from nan, i.q., to hide ; ( - ) for ( .) before the guttural
n ( 22, 2, a).
Ver. 17. " We (are] free from this thy oath which
thou hast made us to swear " [supply, " unless thou
observest the following conditions] ; n^3 (in the passive)
" to be cleansed or freed from pollutiqn i "_hence " to
be accounted innocent or guiltless ; " here, therefore,
D*P.3 ; followed by jp means pure or free from the guilt
of having violated our oath (cf. ver. 19 ; Gen. xxiv.
8, 41 ; Numb, xxxii. 22). n$n, with a fern. _ noun
is an anomaly, explained by Trie fact that nt is often
used without regard to gender (Ewald, LJirb., 183, a).
IjflyaJf n : The more usual form of the 2nd pers.
sing, f. with suffix would be U wyatpn, or, without,.
uriyaspn (cf. Jer. xv. i o ; Cant. iv. 9 ; Exod. ii. i o) ;
but the masc. form is here used ( 59, 4, with Farad.
i C., p. 280-1), or the suffix -13 is joined to the Jem.
form, Jjipaipn (Lee s Hcb. Gr., Art. 209, 8).
a.qn Ver. 1 8. fnxa ss, lit. " Behold ! we coming
into this land" i.e., when we shall have entered into this
land : The apodosis follows in the next clause. n : jn
rilprrnx, " the line of this crimson thread] i.e., this
line spun out of crimson thread : The gender of the
pronoun is here determined by the uomen rectum (Ewald,
Lchrb., 307, c). nippi is = ip. or mp, a line, rt. njp r , to
twist ; in Psalm xix. 5, according to Ges. and Simonis,
" the string of a harp," whence the Sept. </>#dyyos, but
more usually " a measuring line." Here, probably,
not identical with the cord or rope by which Rachabh
had lowered the spies, for which a different term (^n)
VERS. 19, 21.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 39
is employed. So J. D. Michaelis, Schulz, Maurer, and
Keil (Comment., 1857). The spies may have given
this line to Rachabh by fastening it to the rope by
which they had been lowered, which she then drew
up to the window where she was standing. W equals
*y$ nyjW (Exod. xxv. 4), the cochineal or coccus ilicis,
an insect from which this crimson colour is procured.
T^ S refers to the " window," not the " cord " (cf. Sept.).
In -larrnin, the (. .) takes the place of ( . ) ( 59, 4). The
bright crimson colour of this rope would render it
a very conspicuous object, but it was more than a
pledge of the preservation of the life of Rachabh
and her relatives. Christian expositors, from the j
days of the Apostles, have regarded it as a type of
salvation by the blood of Christ. See, for the use
of scarlet in rites of purification for sin, Levit. xiv.
4, 6, 5 i ; Numb. xix. 6.
Ver. 19. rvm (cf. note ver. 14). With the ex
pression TCMO? 1KH, cf. 12 VEH (Lev. xx. 9, 1 1- 1 3, 1 6).
The fuller form used here by Joshua occurs also in
Ezek. xxxiii. 4.
Ver. 21. N-in |3, "so it is" i.e., so let it be.
Dnf^Jjil, "and she dismissed them " : Not meaning, as
some think, that she lowered them from the window,
or~that had been already done (see note ver. 12).
" And she bound" etc.: Perhaps not immediately, but
when the Israelites advanced against the city ; for,
though a crimson line would have been less con
spicuous than a crimson cord, yet it might havei
excited suspicion, and, moreover, as a means of
security was not at once necessary. The historian,
says Keil, mentions the circumstance here for the
purpose of bringing the subject to a close.
40 7UE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. in..
VERS. 22-24. Return of the Spies to Joshua.
Ver. 22. nnnn, see on ver. 16.
Ver. 23. naiw, "and crossed over" viz., the Jordan,
as is evident from the context. DnfN n isyterrb a, " all
that befell them." xyn, followed by an accus. of the
person, often means " to overtake," or " to befall any
one" (Ges., Lex., 3, p. 499 ; cf. rn(3, Gen. xlii. 29).
"Ver. 24. % "truly" (Auth. Vers.) : But rather
" tliQt" quod, as often in quotations ( 155, i,e, a; cf.
i Sam. x. 19 ; Ruth i. 10). D31 : , "and also" rather
than "jfor even " (Auth. Vers.) : The wojdsjollowing
are a quotation of those of Rachabh (ver. 9).
CHAPTER III.
VERS. 1-6. Preliminary Regulations for the Passage
of the Jordan.
Ver. i. This verse properly belongs to chap. ii.
DSK fi, the verb is used in Hiph. only, and is a denom.
of D3^ and means lit. " to put a load on the shoulder
of beasts of burden," which among nomads was done
very early in the morning. The word is sometimes
used without "ij?33 (e.g., in Gen. xix. 2 ; Exod. xxxii.
6 ; Josh. viii. 14), sometimes with, as here and in
Gen. xix. 2, 27, xx. 8, xxii. 3. Here perhaps "1(533
is used to signify that the removal of the camp took
place in the twilight or early dawn. Wpfi, "and they
broke up their encampment " : tfD3, to pull up the stakes
of a tent. DWno (see ii. i). rr"ii; : The prep, can
here mean only " near to" not " to the actual brink ; "
otherwise the distance of two thousand cubits between
VEKS. 2, 3.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA, 41
the ark and the camp could not have been kept
(ver. 4). -13^1, "and they tarried": Vulg., " morati
sunt," viz., for three days (ver. 2). f6, properly, " to
pass the night," frequently means " to tarry " (cf.
Prov. xv. 31 ; Psalm xxv. 13, xlix. 13 ; Job
xli. 14).
Ver. 2. Dpj nypn, lit., "from the end of three
days" i.e., after three days, or at the end of the third
day (see note on i. 1 1). Dnp ^n (see i. 10). ten Z ipl,
"through tlie midst of the camp" (cf. i. 1 1).
Ver. 3. Dajtfra : Some MSS. read tnriioa. Of the
two particles ? prop, expresses indefinite time, " when
ye see" or, " at the sight of ; " ? definite time, " wliilst
ye see" (Ewald, Lchrb., 221 and 327, ^.) ; yet this
distinction is not always observed. " Ark of the
covenant" : The symbol of the Divine Presence (Numb.
x. 33), called the ark of the covenant, because it
contained the Law, which was the covenant between
God and the people. " The priests- the Levites"
(cf. viii. 3 3). Vulg., " sacredotes Leviticae stirpis ; "
the Sept., Chald., Syr., and several Hebrew MSS.
arbitrarily interpose ] ; but the word " Levites " is
evidently put in apposition to the word " Priests,"
probably to distinguish the priests of true Leviticalj
descent from the unlawful, non-Levitical priests, who
may at this time have sprung up. For the same
reason, perhaps, the like expression so often occurs in
the book of Deuteronomy, whereas in the earlier
books of the Pentateuch the priests and Levites are
generally mentioned apart. To bear the ark was
indeed one of the duties of the Levites, but that it
was sometimes undertaken by the priests is evident
not only from this passage, but from vi. 6 ; 2 Sam.
42 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. in.
xv. 24; I Kings viii. 3. Wpn DFiNI., lit., " then ye
shall break up " (cf. ver. I ).
Ver. 4. T]X, only, pin") is generally used as an
adjective, but here as a substantive, of the form 1123,
(Parad., iii.), " a distance " (cf. the use of ecr^arov in a
substantive sense, I Peter i. 20 ; Alford). The
K e thibh wa, is probably more correct than the Q e ri
V^2, the plural YV2 being almost exclusively restricted
to those cases in which the suffix also has the plural
sense (Ewald s LeJirbucJi, 266, a). About two
thousand cubits" which, according to rabbinical tra
dition, was the distance between the Tabernacle and
the furthest point of the camp in the wilderness, and
the prescribed distance for the suburbs of Levitical
cities (Numb. xxxv. 5) ; afterwards called a Sabbath-
day s journey (Acts i. 12). This, if we reckon the
cubit at twenty-one inches, would be five furlongs and
twenty feet, or a little more than five-eighths of a
mile. This distance was to be observed not merely
out of reverence for the ark, but that, as they came
down the heights above the Jordan, they might see
the direction they were to take, and how a way for
them through the waters would be miraculously
opened. DC?<>K> blDJ59, lit., " since yesterday and (the
third day, i.e.} the day before _yesterday" (Ges., Lex. ;
cf. Gr., 155, I, d). The form blOJlX, which occurs
in I Sam. iv. 7, x. 1 1, xiv. 21, xix. 7 ; 2 Sam. v. 2 ;
Micah ii. 8 ; Isa. xxx. 33, is not found in the
book of Joshua, nor in the Pentateuch (see Gen. xxxi.
2 ; Exod. iv. 10, v. 8 ; Deut. xix. 6 ; Josh. iv. 1 8,
xx. 5). The expression refers not merely to time
just past, but to any more remote period, as in Gen.
xxxi. 2, 5 ; Ruth ii. 1 1, etc.; cf. \0itp, /ecu 7rpa> ia, (//.,
VERS. 5-8.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 43
ii. 303), where the reference is to many years past.
The " way " here meant is that miraculous passage
which the ark would open for the Israelites.
Ver. 5- " Sanctify yourselves" cf. Exod. xix. 10,
though we may suppose that there, as here, the
command relates to spiritual, as well as outward,
purification, viz., to that preparation of the heart
implied in a belief of God s promises, and a readi
ness to do His will. " To-nwrow": Which, according
to iv. 19, would be the tenth day of Abib or Nisan.
ntK^J is used also in Exod. iii. 20, xxxiv. 10, con
cerning the miracles which God covenanted to
perform for His people (cf. Psalm ix. i).
Ver. 6. The command issued by Joshua in
this and the previous verse, and the prediction
of the miracle (ver. 5) show that he had already
received his instructions from God. The concluding
sentence of the verse anticipates the course of events,
for it is unlikely that the command of God to
Joshua (vers. 7, 8), and Joshua s address to the
people (vers. 9-13) were delivered after the priests
had once set forward with the ark. It is a custom,
says Keil, peculiar to Hebrew historical literature,
to mark the close of each section by a sentence
embracing the whole transaction, and forming a
temporary conclusion. Hence the repetitions which
occur in this and the next chapter.
VERS. 7, 8 (Je/iovah encourages Joshua}.. Ver.
7. ^, " I will begin": Hiph. future of hhr\. The
passage of the Jordan was the first of that series
of wonders which Jehovah was about to perform,
in order to put His people into possession of the
Promised Land. One great design of it is here
44 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. in.
intimated, viz., the establishment of the authority of
Joshua (iv. 14), just as the miracle at the Red Sea
established the authority of Moses. A second design
is mentioned in ver. 10, and a third may be inferred
from v. i. ~i\S, "m order that."
Ver. 8. nFkX), emphatic, n.yp, lit., " the extremity
of" refers not to the opposite bank, but to that on
the east side, at which the Israelites were ; here
equal to " tJie border" or " beginning of" (cf. ver. i 5
with Exod. xvi. 3 5). " Yc shall stand still" : The object
of their doing so was not to mark out to the
Israelites the ford by which they were to pass, but
to form a dam, as it were, against the force of the
water, which was miraculously arrested in its course,
and piled up in a heap. The command itself was a
trial of the faith of the priests ; and the safety of
the ark, which they carried on their shoulders, may
be regarded as typical of the safety of Christ s
Church amid the dangers which surround it.
VERS. 9-13 {Joshua encourages tJie People],
Ver. 9. wz for -it^i (cf. Ruth ii. 14 ; i Sam. xiv.
38), from tT33, the accent retracted, because the fol
lowing word is accented on the penultima ( 29, 3, b] ;
the half vowel (:) gives place to f ( 29, 4, b}.
Ver. i o. A second design of the miracle (see on
ver. 7). nit?, " by this" viz., the miracle announced
in ver. 1 1. bx, from ?W, to be strong, is used of the
true God in two hundred and four passages of the Old
Testament. s n, " living," opposed to idols which are
D^x, " nothings" (Psalm xcvi. 5) and D^2ri, "breaths"
(Deut. xxxii. 21 ; cf. i Cor. viii. 4, x, 19). Render
VER. 10.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 45
" a Living God " (cf. Psalm xiii. 2, Ixxxiv. 2 ; Hosea
i. 10 ; the only other places where the same form of
expression occurs). This Living God is a personal
Being, and, therefore, very different from " Chance" or
the " Order of Nature" DJJHi??, " in the midst of you"
i.e., so as to protect and to powerfully aid you. "And
zvill certainly drive out " (see for this force of the infin.
absol., 131, 3, #). trnin, "to cause a person to
possess," and hence " to drive out another in order to
v, make room for him." " The Kenaanite" (lit., a low-
lander, rt. ws), used here coll. ( 109, i), though the
Hebrews have also the form D jyjs. In its widest
sense the term includes all the people of Canaan,
but here is limited to the tribe which dwelt on the
Mediterranean coast, and in the valley on the west
of Jordan (cf. Numb. xiii. 29;Deut. xi. 30; Josh. v. i).
" The CJiittite " : A people who dwelt at first in the
south of the Promised Land, chiefly in the mountain
ous parts, near to Hebron (Gen. xxiii. 3, 7), and
perhaps extended as far as Beersheba (Gen. xxvi.
33, 34). In Numb. xiii. 29 they are mentioned as
inhabiting the hill country. At a still later period
they, or at least a portion of the tribe, seem to have
been settled in the north of Palestine, on the borders
of Syria (see Judges i. 26 ; i Kings x. 29 ; 2 Kings
vii. 6). These have been supposed identical with
the Katti, mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions as
dwelling in the valley of the Orontes (see Art. on
Hittites in Dr. Smith s Bib. Diet.}. In Josh. i. 4
they are put for all the nations of Canaan. " The
Chivvite" from n-jn = = mn, a family or tribe (Ges.,
Lex} ; they dwelt near to Shechem (Gen. xxxiv.
2), and at Gibeon (Josh. ix. 7, xi. 19), also at the
46 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. in.
foot of Hermon and Antilibanus (Josh. xi. 3 ; Judges
iii. 3). They appear to have been a peaceable
people, addicted to the pursuits of trade and com
merce. " The Perizzite " : A people not mentioned in
Gen. x. among the descendants of Canaan, and,
therefore, perhaps not of Hamitic origin, though fre
quently enumerated among the nations inhabiting
Canaan (see Gen. xiii. 7, xv. 20 ; Exod. iii. 8, 17).
Gesenius and Hengstenberg suppose them to have
had their name from their living originally in un-
walled villages (mnf, from T~|, to separate), and
addicting themselves to agriculture and the rearing
of cattle ; but they also appear to have lived in
mountains and woods (see xi. 3, xvii. 15). The
Girgashite [" dwelling in a clayey soil " from c^na,
clay (Ges., Lcx^]\ mentioned in Gen. x. 1 6, xv. 2 1 ;
Deut vii. I ; Josh. xxiv. 1 1 ; I Chron. i. 1 4 ; Neh. ix. 8 ;
but nothing is known as to their exact position and
character (Joseph., Antiq , i., 6, 2). According to
an Armenian tradition they migrated in the days of
Joshua to Armenia. It would seem from Josh.
xxiv. 1 1 that they were on the west of Jordan. The
Emorite (Gen. x. 1 6) : Mountaineers or highlanders,
from ")b$, elevation (Simonis and Gesen.), for thus they
are frequently described as dwelling in the mountains
(Numb. xiii. 29 ; Deut. i. 20, 44 ; Josh. x. 6, xi. 3).
They were the most powerful of all the nations of
Canaan, and first inhabited the mountainous region
afterwards occupied by the tribe of Judah, where
they were subject to five kings (Gen. xiv. 7, i 3) ; and
thence many of them passed over Jordan, made war
on the Ammonites and Moabites, and seized on
Heshbon and Bashan, and all the country between
VER. ii.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 47
the rivers Jabbok and Arnon, which lands Moses
wrested from them, and gave to the tribes of Reuben
and Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh (Numb.
xxi. 26-29 with Deut. xxix. 7, 8). The prophet
Amos (ii. 9) speaks of their gigantic stature and
strength. Frequently their name is used to denote
the Canaanites universally (Gen. xv. 16, xlviii. 22;
Josh. xxiv. 1 8 ; Judges vi. 10, etc.). The Y bMsite
(Gen. x, 1 6) : A small mountain tribe, whose principal
city was Y e bhus, (lit., " a place trodden down," as a
threshing floor," rt. D13, to tread with the feet ; or
meaning in Canaanitish " the waterless " hill), after
wards Jerusalem, from the fortress or citadel of
which they could not be expelled till the time of
David (2 Sam. v. 6). With a slight variation in the
order, the same list of seven races is given in Deut.
vii. i (see also Josh. ix. I, xi. 3, xxiv. 1 1). The
remnants of five of them are mentioned in i Kings
ix. 2 i as forced to labour for Solomon.
Ver. 1 1 . " The ark of the covenant of the Lord of
tJie whole earth" : So the Sept., Vulg., Syr., and Arab.,
but since in the Hebrew there is a great distinctive
accent over nn?n, Masius takes {Hx* as a noun in
apposition to the foregoing " ark of the covenant ; "
it seems, however, inappropriate to speak of the ark,
though a symbol of the Divine Presence, as " The
Lord of the whole earth." Others, as Kimchi, repeat
;n$ before JIT^, e.g., " the ark of the covenant, the ark
of the Lord," etc. ; but Keil rightly remarks that the
words are all dependent on one another, but the first
two are drawn more closely together, so as to express
a single idea, and are specially defined by the article,
whilst the connexion between the second member of
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. in.
|the constructive state (f^xrra )n$) and the first is
blackened in consequence, which the punctators indi-
,cated by the zaqeph-qaton between the two members.
The title here given to God, viz., " The Lord of the
whole earth," occurs elsewhere five times only in the
Old Testament, viz., in v. 13 ; Micah iv. 3; Zech.
iv. 14, vi. 5. It was well suited to encourage the
Israelites when about to enter on the conquest of
Canaan. n")-3> " i n t (Auth. Vers.), not through (as
Vulg.) the Jordan " : For the ark did not go before the
Israelites from one bank of the Jordan to the other,
but remained stationary in the river (see vers. 8, I 5).
Ver. 1 2. Though the command in this verse
appears again in iv. 2, there is no reason to suppose
(as Meyer) that it has been here inserted by the mis
take of some ancient copyist, or that the author
anticipated the order of events. Joshua gave the
command doubtless by God s direction, for the next
verse shows that he was divinely inspired, nrii; is
emphatic, denoting the time when the election was
to take place, viz., before the crossing began, that
the twelve men, as representatives of the people,
might be eyewitnesses of the miracle, and, having
taken their station near Joshua and the bearers
of the ark of the covenant, might be at hand to
execute the orders afterwards given them (iv. 3). So
Keil. -inp, " take yc" i.e., " choose ye," imper. of r^h.
" T*welve men out of the tribes of Israel": In all matters
which concerned the entire nation we find that all the
tribes were represented (cf. viii. 33 ; Numb xiii. 2 ;
i Kings xviii. 31). The word BT^ , here used for
tribe, means literally a rod or sceptre ; it is employed
in the historical portions of this book to denote a
VERS. 13, 14.] THE BOOK OF JOSHbA. 49
tribe in its political or corporate sense, as being under
one sceptre, and is thus distinguished from nap, a
term used in the geographical chapters of the book,
and denoting a tribe, as genealogically descended
from one stem or root. The different meaning, there-
1 fore, of these words furnishes no ground for the sup
position of some that the history was compiled from
the narratives of two different authors.
Ver. i 3. 131 D. sn are put in apposition to jTvn .
Render " the ivaters of Jordan shall be cut off, vis.,
tJie waters wJiich come down from above, and they shall
stand in one heap " (or, " as one heap "). So the
Chald., Arab., and Luther, though the two latter for
perspicuity omit the words "n *p. Less fitly the
Sept. and Vulg. regard WO Vi Q*on as a nom. absol.,
and I. before -1"ip^ as a sign of the apodosis or sub
ordinate clause; e.g., "as to the waters which come
down from above, they shall stand" etc. " Shall be
cut off," i.e., so as no longer to flow down from above.
nnx* T! : Accus. ( 1 1 8), defining the shape the waters
assumed. Gesenius renders " like one heap " (Lex.} ;
the expression is evidently poetic, and taken from
Exod. xv. 8 (cf. Psalm xxxiii. 7, Ixxviii. i 3), where
it is used of the waves of the sea.
VERS. 14-17. Commencement of the Passage.
The apodosis to vers. 14, 15 begins at ver. 16. In
the second hemistich of ver. 14 either the substantive
verb should be understood before the participle, e.g.,
" and tJie priests (were) carrying" etc., or rw.3 should
be repeated, e.g., " and when the priests set out carry
ing" etc. On the construction Jinan . . \s ^3, see
i T o, 2,c. Some, as Prof. Lee (Hcb. Gr., Art. 221,6),
4
50 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. in.
suppose an ellipsis of jfn^ before nn?n, " the bearers of
the ark, the ark of tJie covenant" (cf. Exod. xxxviii. 2 l).
Ver. 15. In the second clause the construction is
changed from the infinitive to the finite verb (-l^jipj),
as frequently in Hebrew ( 132, Rem. 2 ; cf. iv. 18,
x. 20). The meaning of the last clause is correctly
given by Auth. Vers., "for the Jordan overflowed all
its banks" ?y means " over" z not " against," or "up
to," implying merely (according to the rendering
of the Sept. and Vulg.) 3 that the Jordan ran with
full banks, or was brimful. " There are, as it were,
two banks to the Jordan. The first is that of this
river in its natural state, the second is that of its
overflowings " (Calmet s Diet.} So Kitto : " On
leaving the Lake of Gennesareth the river enters a
very broad valley or Ghor, within which valley there
is a lower one, and within that, in some parts,
another still lower, through which the river flows ;
the inner valley is about half a mile wide, and is
generally green and beautiful, covered with trees and
bushes, whereas the upper or large valley is for the
most part sandy or barren. In the season of flood,
in April and early in May, the river is full, and some
times overflows its lower banks, to which fact there
are several allusions in Scripture (Josh. iii. 1 5 ;
I Chron. xii. 15; Jer. xii. 5, xlix. 19, 1. 44)."
(Encyclop. of Bib. Lit} TVp r ^3, " all the days of
harvest" (accus. of time, 1 1 8, 2) : Barley-harvest
1 Or literally, " wa s filled over" (Keil) ; cf. Ges., Lex., on
*6o( 2 ), p. 473.
2 As in Isa. viii. 7, the Euphrates " shall come ii-p over (?V)
all its channels and go over (IV) all its banks."
Sept., 67rXr;poi) naff oA^i/ TT]V KprjTrifta avrov ; Vulg., " Jordanis
autem ripas alvei sui tempore messis impleverat."
VER. 16.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 51
is meant, which took place in the month called
Abib, the month of ears, Tnxn tsnh (Exod. xiii. 4),
and afterwards Nisan (Neh. ii. i ; Esther iii. 7),
beginning at the new moon of April, the first month
of the old year, as instituted when the Israelites
came out of Egypt (cf. Exod. xxiii. 15 ; Deut.
xvi. i). The overflow of the Jordan is owing to
the melting of the snow of Hermon during the hot
days of April. When the melted snow has filled the
lakes of Merom and Tiberias, the flood is discharged
in a torrent through the Jordan into the Dead Sea.
At such a season the river is impassable by any of
the usual fords, and, therefore, the passage of the
vast host of the Israelites through it was clearly
miraculous.
Ver. 1 6. "tn^"t?. (see ver. i 3). According to Keil
and others, the K e thibh 0^?, " at," or " near Adam,"
is a better rendering than the Q e ri Enxo, " from
Adam," the meaning being (say they) that the I
waters stood in a heap, very far from the spot where
the Israelites crossed, near Adam. The Q e ri, how
ever, is followed by the Auth. Vers., the Vulg.,
and other ancient versions, and expresses the more
general and popular view, viz., that the waters were
piled up in one continuous heap in the rear of the
place of crossing, where the priests stood with the
ark, and as far as the city Adam, where the current
of the stream from above was arrested. As the bed
of the river lies greatly beneath the level of the
country, such a pile of water may have been
attended with little or no inundation. This view
accords with what Keil himself says on ver. 8 (see
note above), also greatly heightens the impressive-
52 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. in.
ness of the miracle, and explains the haste of the
children of Israel to effect the passage (iv. 10),
which would have been hard to account for, if the
waters had receded as far as Adam. This city, the
name of which may have been derived from the
colour of the clay in the neighbourhood, is now
unknown, and is mentioned here only ; its position is
further defined by the words " the city which is beside
Zarctan " (Tsar e than). This latter is probably the
same as that in I Kings vii. 46, and identical with
the modern Kurn Sartabch, a lofty, rocky ridge,
about seventeen miles north of Jericho (Robinson,
Knobel). As the rocks here on both sides converge
and contract the valley to its narrowest point, it
seems to have been a suitable place for damming up
the waters. Render the next clause, " and those
which were coming down to tlic sea of tJie plain^ the sea
of salt, were altogether cut off" -1BF1 here serves for
an adverb ( 142, 3, &). " TJie sea of the Arabah
(or Desert-plain)," (cf. xii. 3). Sept., TT)^ OaXao-crav
"Apafia ; Vulg., " mare solitudinis." The word nzny,
derived from niy, to be dry, arid, was the name
/ given, in its widest sense, to the Ghor, or deep
valley, extending from Mount Hermon even to the
CElanitic Gulf; but in its more limited sense to the
district which extends along the valley of the Jordan,
"from the Dead Sea to the Lake of Gennesareth,
about one hundred and fifty miles in length, and
now called by the Arabs El GJwr (see Dean
Stanley s Sinai and Palestine, Appendix, p. 48/). 1
1 This deep valley lies 625 feet below the Mediterranean,
where the Jordan leaves the Sea of Gennesareth, and 1231 feet
where it empties into the Dead Sea. In it there is no tillable
VER. 17.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 53
At the present day the Arabs confine the name
Arabah to that portion of the Ghor which lies south
of the Holy Land (Clarke s Biblical Atlas, note p,
13). "The sea of salt" : The usual and perhaps most
ancient name (Gen. xiv. 3). According to Josephus,
this sea or lake is five hundred and eighty furlongs
in length, and one hundred and fifty in breadth.
Now called the Dead Sea (a name not found in the
Bible, but first used in Greek by Pausanias, and in
Latin by Justin) ; in Arabic Bahr Lut, the " Sea of
Lot " (Smith s Bib. Dict^
Ver. 1 7. " In the midst of Jordan, i.e., not in the
mid-channel, but in the bed of the river, as opposed to
its bank (so in iv. 3, 8, 1 8), "in Jordan" iii. 8
(cf. Ezek. xxvi. 5, where Tyre is described as "in the
midst of the sea," though it was but a short distance
from the continent). }5n, "firmly" Hiph. infin. absol.
taken adverbially (131,2). n-i : A word often used
in the singular to denote the Israelitish nation (see
Exod. xix. 6, xxx. 13 ; Josh. iv. I, v. 6, 8, x. 13), but
in the plural the Gentiles, or nations of the earth, as
distinguished from the Jews (e.g., in Psalm ii. I, ix. 5,
15, 17). TDl^ -IBfi, lit, " had finished crossing" (cf.
iv. i, v. 8).
soil, except at Bethshean, in the north, and about Jericho, at
the south end of the Ghor (Von Raumer, p. 58). The word
"Arab" comes from the same root, and denotes an inhabi
tant of a dry, arid region.
54 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. L CHAP - IV -
CHAPTER IV.
VERS. I- 1 8. Completion of tJic Passage.
Ver. i. "And it came to pass . . . tJiat JeJwvaJi
spake unto Joslma" : As the command of Jehovah to
Joshua (vers. 1-3) has not been expressly mentioned
before (see iii. 12), Knobel, Bleek, and Maurer sup
pose that we have here the blending of two separate
accounts ; while others, e.g., Kimchi, Calvin, Masius,
and Rosenm., regard ver. 1^-3 as parenthetical, and
render "ipNi in the pluperfect (" Now Jehovah had
spoken," etc.), the apodosis to the first hemistich of
ver. i commencing, according to them, at ver. 4 ;
but, as in i. 1 1, ii. i,the order of thought, rather than
of time, seems to be followed, so likewise here. The
sacred writer, wishing to give due importance to the
particular incident he is about to relate, represents it
not merely as having been commanded by Joshua,
but, as it really was, by Jehovah Himself. 1
The Pisqua (o) at the end of the first clause of
ver. i is an old pre-Masoretic mark, denoting a
pause in the middle of the verse (see marg. note),
and the commencement of a parashah or section.
1 " So far as the meaning is concerned, Kimchi, Calvin,
and many others, were perfectly correct in taking vers. \b 3
as a parenthesis, and rendering "TON*1 as a pluperfect, though,
grammatically considered, and from a Hebrew point of view,
the historical sense with Vav consec does not correspond to
our pluperfect, but always expresses the succession either of
time or thought. This early Hebrew form of thought and
narrative is completely overlooked by Knobel, when he pro
nounces i -3 an interpolation from a second document, and
finds the apodosis to ver. la in ver. 4." Keil.
VERS. 2-6.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 55
Ver. 2. -inp (cf. iii. 12): Though the command
was given to Joshua, the plural is here used, because
the twelve men were to be chosen by the tribes them
selves (cf. iii. 12), but subject, doubtless, to Joshua s
approbation, and, therefore, spoken of in ver. 4 as
"prepared " by him.
Ver. 3. ISO, lit, "the standing place (of)": From
nV3, to set, to place, pn, firmly (cf. iii. 1 7) : Connected
here with 2-> >p, e.g., "from tJic spot wJiere tlie priests
feet stood firm ; " so Auth. Vers., Maurer, Gesen, Keil.
Others, Walton (/Wj ^Rosenm., regard it as a gerund,
" praeparando, aptando," and as referring to the selec
tion of suitable stones ; Sept., erot/xous SoiSe/ca
XiOovs ; Vulg., " duodecim durissimos lapides ; "
Syr., " parate duodecim lapides." "And lay down"
lit., " make to rest." " In the lodging-place" i.e., in the
place of encampment, viz., Gilgal (ver. 20). DJTfK :
m. pron. ( 117, 2) referring to fern, noun [D^D^, fern,
with plural m. ending] ( 121,6, Rem. i) ; cf. nr for
rust (ii. 17).
Ver. 4. N^l, "and Joshua called": \ does not
commence the apodosis, and = " tJicn " (Auth.
Vers.), see note on ver. i. " Whom he had prepared" :
see note on ver. 2. Probably these twelve men had
not crossed over with the rest of the Israelites, but
remained with Joshua on the hither bank of the
river, waiting to receive his orders.
Vers. 6, 7 (The Object of tJie Divine Command
stated?) JiNT, this, viz., their taking of twelve stones
with them, and setting of them up. ""3, " wJien yoiir
children shall ask" etc. (cf. Exod. xii. 26, etc. ; Deut.
vi. 20, 21). ino, " in future time" (cf. xxii. 24 ; Gen.
xxx. 33; Exod. xiii. 14). no, " ivhat" is rarely
56 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. iv.
pointed with ( T ) before a word beginning with n ? as
here and in ver. 21 (see 37, I, Rem.)
Ver. 7. T^, "t/iat" (Auth. Vers.) ; Sept., STL,
after a verb of saying (cf. Esther iii. 4) ; but Vulg.
" quia" as in Gen. xxxiv. 27 ; I Kings viii. 33. The
words " tJie waters . . . were cut off" are repeated for
emphasis. " SJiall be for a memorial" (cf. Numb,
xvii. 5 [xvi. 40, A. V.] ; Psalm cxi. 4). "For ever" :
i.e., to all posterity.
Ver. 8. What was done by the twelve men is here
ascribed to " the sons of Israel" because the former
having been chosen, each from a tribe, were repre
sentatives of all the people. For the masc. suffix in
D-1"Q1V! and in D-ina*, referring to a fern, noun, see 121,
6, Rem. i. " There" i.e., in Gilgal, as the place of
their encampment was afterwards called (ver. 20).
The word -in^ denotes that at first they only deposited
the stones, afterwards they set them up as a memorial
(see the word D j?n, ver. 2O). 1
Ver. 9. It is evident that the twelve stones men
tioned in this verse were different from those in ver.
8, otherwise the article would not have been omitted,
and the verse would have begun with the historical
Dj?. T 1. To mark this difference, the Sept. inserts ctXXovs
(Vulg., alias} before SwS. Xi^ou?. These stones may
have been collected by the people from the adjacent
fields. The verse is not a gloss, as some think, for it
occurs in all MSS. and versions (so Keil, p. 120).
1 Besides being a memorial of the literal passage of the
Jordan, these stones may have been typical of the testimony
borne by the preaching of the twelve apostles to that still
greater event, our true Joshua s victorious passage through
the Jordan of death, and His opening of the kingdom of
heaven to all believers.
VER. io.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 57
" In tJte midst of Jordan" see on iii. 17. " Unto t/iis
day" i.e., to the time when the writer of this book
lived. As a memorial these stones indicated the
exact place of the crossing, as those at Gilgal the
place where, after the crossing, the Israelites first
encamped. x
Ver. io. u And the priests (were) standing." In
the next clause D n, infin. of DOPi, is used intrans. Tn,
either " word " or " tiling." "A ccording to all that Moses
commanded": refers not to any special commands of
Moses about the crossing, but indicates that Joshua s
obedience to the commands of the Lord accorded with
the injunctions given by Moses. "And tJic people
hasted" etc. : Such haste was necessary, not only
because the priests bearing the ark were to remain
standing till all the people should have crossed
(Knobel), or because the people may have feared a
sudden return of the waters (see note on iii. 16), but
because the passage had to be completed by so vast
a multitude in one day (Keil).
1 Keil well remarks that " the monument did not fail of its
object, even if it only existed for a short time. The account
of its erection, which was handed down by tradition, would
necessarily help to preserve the remembrance of the miracu
lous occurrence. Nor can it be absolutely affirmed that these
stones would be carried away at once by the stream, so that
they could never be seen any more. As the priests did not
stand in the middle or deepest part of the river, but just in the
bed of the river, and close to its eastern bank, and it was upon
this spot that the stones were set up, and as we neither know
their size nor the firmness with which they stood, we cannot
pronounce any positive opinion as to the possibility of their
remaining. It is not likely that they remained there for cen
turies ; but they were intended rather as a memorial for the
existing generation and their children, than for a later age,
which would be perpetually reminded of the miraculous help
of God by the monument erected in Gilgal."
58 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP, iv
Ver. II. "In the presence of the people" (Auth.
Vers.) : But as ^57 elsewhere in this book means
"before" (see iii. 6, 14, vi. 4, 6, 7, 8, 9), the same
sense should perhaps be retained here, the meaning
being that the priests crossed the river, and passed
through the multitude on the opposite bank, till they
took up their station in front of the people. Vulg.,
" ante populum."
Vers. 12, 13. 1"i?^?l : The imperfect herewith \
consec. denotes not the order of time but of thought
(cf. iv. i). The author, having stated that all the
people crossed, while the priests bearing the ark
stood in the river, takes occasion here to add that
the tribes of Reuben, Gad, etc., had obeyed the com
mands of Moses (Numb, xxxii. 20, 29) by crossing
over before their brethren. D^ pn (see i. 14).
Ver. 13. " Prepared for tJie war": evtftivot eis
[^oi^rjv (Sept.) : The participle b*y^q is derived by
Gesenius from fbn, " to be active," " to be manful ; "
but see for another derivation note on i. 14. " The
plains of Jericho " formed the higher terrace of the
Ghor or Jordan valley, where, by the retreat of the
mountains of Judaea, it widened towards the west, and
is about seven miles broad. The plural " araboth "
is always used without the article (cf. v. 10, xiii.
3 2 ; Dean Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, Appendix,
10). From the palm-trees which flourished in those
plains Jericho derived its name of" the city of palms"
(Deut. xxxiv. 3 ; Judges i. 16, iii. 13 ; Josephus,
Bel. Jud., iv., 8, 3).
Ver. 14. Cf. iii. 7 (note).
Vers. 15-18. The crossing of the priests with
the ark had been already recorded (ver. 1 1), but as a
VERS. 16-19.] THE BOOK OP JOSHUA. 59
leading feature in the narrative it is again mentioned
here with additional particulars, which clearly show
that the passage of the Jordan by the Israelites
must have been miraculous,
Ver. 1 6. rvnyn, "the testimony" rt "M, "to say
again and again," " to affirm strongly " : The name
" ark of the testimony " denoted that the Tables of
the Law, kept in the ark (Exod. xxv. 16), con
tained the testimony of Jehovah against sin in man ;
(cf. what is said of the whole book of the Law, which
was laid up by the side of the ark, Deut. xxxi. 26,
27). fe : The ) = " that" Lat, ut ( i 55, I, e\ cf.
Judges xiv. 15 ; I Sam. xi. 12).
Ver. 1 8. The verb -ipflJ with "7$ has a pregnant
sense, viz., " were plucked up (from the muddy
channel) and set on (the dry ground)," ( 141).
" As heretofore" (see note on iii. 4). hy, over (cf.
iii. 15).
VERS. 19-24. Erection of the Memorial at Gilgal.
Ver. 1 9. " The first month," i.e., Abib, afterwards
called Nisan (see end of the note on iii. 15). The
year is not mentioned, but it appears to have been
the fortieth after the exodus (cf. v. 6). If, therefore,
we assume the date of the exodus to be 1491 B.C.
(Usher), that of the invasion of Canaan would be
145 i B.C. " The tenth day" i.e., the same day of the
month on which the paschal lamb was set apart to
be killed on the fourteenth (see Exod. xii. 3). Thus
the Israelites were reminded that their departure out
of Egypt and their entrance into Canaan were owing
to God s redeeming mercy. So, under the Gospel,
our salvation from first to last is the fruit of Christ s
60 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. iv.
atonement. " In [the] Gilgal" (lit, a circle or wheel,
rt. 7^|, to roll, generally with the art. when a place ;
(see Gr., 109, 3) : So called by anticipation (see v.
9). It was apparently on a hillock or rising ground,
and, according to Josephus (Antiq., lib. v., cap. I,
4), was fifty stadia, or about five miles (Dean
Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 307), from the river
Jordan, and ten stadia from Jericho. Here the camp
of the Israelites remained for some time, and was
probably fortified ; also the Tabernacle was set up,
though afterwards removed to Shiloh (viii. i). 1
Ver. 20. D*j?n, "erected" or "setup" as a memo
rial. The stones had before been merely deposited
(ver. 8).
Ver. 21. Yj g, " w/icn " : Sept., OTO.V, Vulg.,
quando (cf. Levit. iv. 22), though it less often than
*3 bears this sense ( 155, I, e}. With this verse
cf. ver. 6.
Ver. 23. x; : x, because": (Chald. and Syr.)
1 The site thus chosen for the encampment has been for
tunately identified, after more than three thousand years, by
the intelligent labours of the members of the Palestine Survey.
The name Jiljulieh, which is the same word as Gilgal, still
clings to a mound about three miles south-east from the spot
where, apparently, the city of Jericho must have stood, near
the beautiful fountain known as the Sultan s Spring, and close
to the steep background of the limestone hills of Judah. The
host of the Hebrews, at the camp thus chosen for them, were
about five hundred feet above the bed of the Jordan, and had
the stream from the Wady el Kelt close on the south. The
river they had crossed lay underneath them, about four and
a-half miles to the east. An open plain stretched on all
sides, and permitted free movement ; the wall of the hills of
Judah, rising one thousand feet above the level of the camp,
at the distance of about three miles to the west. (Conder s
Tent Work, p. 201, f. ; Palestine Fund Large Map of
Palestine, ^heet 18 ; Geikie s Hoiirs with the Bible, vol. ii.,
P- 39 1 )-
VER. 24.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 61
" quia " (Vulg.). ^5IpV., " until we had passed
over" : The suff. of the infin. refers to the Israelites
as being essentially the same nation as that which
came out of Egypt.
Ver. 24. It is here declared that the miracle was
to serve a twofold purpose, viz., (i) To impress the
heathen with a sense of the omnipotence of Jehovah ;
(2) To keep the children of Israel steadfast in the
fear, i.e., the worship, of their God (cf. Exod. xiv. 31).
NH ifty-hs, " all JJie peoples of the earth " : There seems
no reason here to limit, with Keil, the term " crcts " to
the land of Canaan, for though in v. I the Canaanites
are mentioned as an example of the effect produced
by the miracle, yet it was one example out of many
more to follow. " The hand of Jehovah . . . tniglity "
(cf. Exod. iii. 19, vi. i) : In the last clause, for D.pNT
Ewald, Maurer, and Knobel would read DriK*v, the
infin. construe., with plur. masc. suffix, " tJiat tJicy [the
heathen] may fear ;" but the perfect, says Keil, may
be here used to express the speaker s certainty of the
duty of such holy fear ; to which the heathen could
not, as the Israelites, be suitably exhorted. Further,
all the ancient versions follow the reading in the text.
D^rr^a, " ahvays " : cf. T^/xara Travra, in the Greek
poets.
62 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. v.
CHAPTER V.
VER. i. The Effect of tJie Invasion on tJie
Inhabitants of the Land.
Concerning the Emorites and Canaanites, see iii. 10
(note). Here the former stand as the representatives
of the highlanders, the latter of the lowlanders.
;n 151;?, " on the other side of the Jordan " : Not
referring to the country on the east side of the
Jordan, as in i. 14, 15, but on the west ; hence the
addition of n} (cf. ix. i, xii. 7, xxii. 7). "iy\v; nx (cf.
ii. 10). IJ ilir iy, "until we had passed over" : The
Q e ri reads cmy, so the ancient versions, and some
MSS., but a change of persons is common in Hebrew
( 137, Rem. 3 ; cf. v. 6 below). The expression
seems that of an eyewitness, but we cannot, says
Keil, infer from it either that the book was written
by Joshua himself, or that it was composed during
his lifetime. The historian may have spoken col
lectively, just as Joshua (in iv. 23) refers to what he
and a few of his contemporaries had witnessed, as
though it had been seen by all the people. DSM (cf.
ii. 1 1) : They had probably thought that the swollen
waters of the Jordan would prove for a time an
insuperable barrier to Israel.
VERS. 2-12. The Circumcision of the People, and
Celebration of the Passover at Gilgal.
Ver. 2. "At that time" : Probably not later than
the eleventh of the month Abib, or Nisan, the day
after the arrival at Gilgal, for the Passover took place
VER. 3.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 63
on the fourteenth day of the same month (see ver. 10).
Dny main, lit, " knives of rocks " (or, of flints) : So
Sept., Vulg., Syr., and Arab. (cf. Exod. iv. 25).
These were the most ancient kind of knives, and
were especially used in embalming (Herod., ii., 86)
and in emasculation (Juv., Sat., vi. 514; Ovid, Fasti,
iv., 237, "acuto si/ice"). The Auth. Vers. "sharp knives"
or " knives of edges" though agreeing with the use
of -1-1 v, in Psalm Ixxxix. 44, is not here required.
Many ancient l and modern commentators have seen
in the term " rock " a reference to Christ, through
whom we receive the circumcision of the spirit
(cf. i Cor. x. 4; Rom. ii. 29 ; Col. ii. 11). n-ijy,
"again" ( 142, 4, Rem. i), the latter of the two
verbs is generally put in the abbreviated form (cf.
Exod. iv. 1 9). JVJCJ*, " a second time " : Gives a
greater force to n-VJ> (cf. Isa. xi. 1 1), and TO Sevrepov
(Jude 5) : The meaning is not that the same persons
should be circumcised a second time, but that all
the Israelites, who had not before been circumcised,
should now undergo that rite, so that the whole
nation should be a circumcised people, as it had
been at the exodus from Egypt (cf. Keil, in loc.}.
Ver. 3. " The hill of the foreskins" i.e., the hill
which was afterwards so called, because the foreskins
(the emblem of the sins of the flesh, Col. ii. 11-13,
iii. 1-6) were buried there. This "hill" (Gibeah)
is probably one of the argillaceous hills which form
the highest terrace of the Jordan (Dean Stanley s
Sinai and Palestine, vii., p. 307, note i).
1 E.g., Tertullian, adv. Jud., c. 9 ; and c. Marcion., iii., 16;
Origen, Homil. in Jos. ; Justin Martyr, c. Tryphon., 24 ;
S. Aug., in loc. ; Theodoret, Qu. 4.
64 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. v.
VERS. 4-7 (A Reason given for the Command in
vcr.2}. Ver.4. T^ i:nn,"//k? reason that" or "why"
(cf. *iN : "QT^, Deut. xxii. 24; 2 Sam. xiii. 22). M//
the people that came out of Egypt" i.e., those who were
twenty years old and upward at the time of the rebel
lion at Kadesh (see Numb. xiv. 29, 32). D.nysp DntfX?.,
not, " after they had come out of Egypt " (Le Clerc and
Rosenm.), but " on their coming out of Egypt" i.e.,
during the journey. The words more strongly define
the preceding "n^.3.
Ver. 5. *3,for, not now (Auth. Vers.). -vn D^p :
The participle with the substantive verb is not here
used as a preterite or pluperfect, but as an adjective,
" were circumcised " men (Keil). A general circum
cision of the people by Moses, before they left Egypt,
is not recorded in Scripture. The statement in the
remainder of the verse can refer to those Israelites
only who were born in the wilderness, after the re
bellion at Kadesh, for all children born in the interval
between the exodus and the passover celebrated at
Sinai in the first month of the second year, must have
been circumcised (see Numb. ix. 1-5 ; Exod. xii. 48).
Ver. 6. " Forty years" a round number, for the
period was strictly thirty-eight years (see Deut. ii.
1 4). " Till all the nation, the men of war " : The " men
of war" are specially mentioned, because such were
those who had been numbered from twenty years old
and upwards (Numb. i. 45), and whose doom was to
perish in the wilderness (Numb. xiv. 29-31); ?.
T^s*, not " because " (or " wherefore ") Jehovah
had sworn " (Rosenm.), but giving a relative sense
to Drr? ( 123); Render "to zuhom" etc., as in
Auth. Vers., Sept., and Vulg. " To give to us " : Some
VER. 7.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 65
MSS., and the Sept., Syr., Arab., and Chald., read
Dr6 for w^, but the K e thibh is preferable, for the
word "fathers " refers to the patriarchs, to whom
and their posterity the promise was made, " A land
flowing witJi milk and honey " : An expression frequent
in the Pentateuch (see Exod. iii. 8, 17, xiii. 5,
xxxiii. 3; Levit. xx. 24; Numb. xiii. 27; Deut.
vi. 3, etc.), and denoting a land rich in grass and
flowers. The same phrase, after its use here in the
Book of Joshua, does not re-occur till met with in
Jer. xi. 5, xxxii. 22 ; Ezek. xx. 6, 15.
Ver. 7. "And their sons He raised up in their
stead, them Joshua circumcised" i.e., caused to be
circumcised (see the end of note on ver. 8) : Many
conjectures have been made why circumcision was
omitted during the period between the rebellion at
Kadesh and the arrival at Canaan ; but the true
reason appears to be that suggested by ver. 6, viz.,
that the whole nation, during that period, were
under a ban. The iniquity of the fathers was
visited on the children. There was a partial and
temporary, though not a total and final, rejection of
the people ; and, therefore, till the allotted period of
their punishment was accomplished, they were not
admitted to the privileges implied in Circumcision
and the Passover (so Calvin, Hengstenberg, and
Keil). To the question, why God had not com
manded Moses, when the thirty-eight years of
wandering were finished, to circumcise the people in
the plains of Moab, it has been well replied by Keil,
that God delayed the performance of the rite, that
He might first give proofs to the people of His
power and mercy in the miraculous passage of the
5
66 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. v.
Jordan, and thus render them more inclined to that
obedience to which circumcision pledged them. Nor
could any occasion be more suitable for their renewal
of their covenant with God, than when they were
about to enter on a war with foes mightier than
themselves. Moreover, this circumcision was typical
of that "made without hands" (Col. ii. 11), and,
therefore, was fitly performed by Joshua, a type
of Jesus, after he had brought the children of
Israel into Canaan, a type of the Christian Church,
into which we are introduced by baptism, prefigured
by the passage of the Jordan.
Ver. 8. -1EFI, followed by the infin., with "?, " had
left off to be circumcised" (cf. iii. 17, iv. i, 1 1). DPinn
U^., lit., " they sat under themselves " : " The phrase"
(says Le Clerc, on Exod. xvi. 29) " seems derived
from the custom of the Orientals, who sit on the
ground or pavement, for to remain under oneself is,
properly, to remain in that place which was under
us when we first sat down." " Till they were whole "
(Auth. Vers.), lit, " till they lived," i.e., till they re
covered, cf. 2 Kings i. 2, xx. 7 : It appears from
Gen. xxxiv. 25 that on the third day after circum
cision its effects were still painful, and hence some
supposed that on the fourth day the wound was
healed, and consequently, if this circumcision of
the Israelites took place on the nth of Abib, the
day after their arrival at Gilgal, they would have
felt no inconvenience from it on the I4th of Abib,
at least none sufficient to incapacitate them from
eating the Passover. It has, indeed, been objected
that, because at the census taken after the thirty-
eight years wandering the people amounted to
VERS. 9, 10.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 67
nearly a million, it was impossible that the cir
cumcision could have been performed in one day ;
but it must be remembered that a large number
were already circumcised (see note ver. 5), and that,
with the assistance of these, the operation could
easily have been got over in a day.
Ver. 9. "T/ie reproach of Egypt" i.e., the reproach
which proceeds from Egypt : For the like use of
the genitive see Isa. li. 7 ; Ezek. xvi. 57, xxxvi. 15 ;
Zeph. ii. 8. This reproach was that God had cast
them off, and intended to destroy them (cf. Exod.
xxxii. 12; Numb. xiv. 13-16; Deut. ix. 28,
xxxii. 27) ; the entrance into Canaan, and the
renewal of the covenant, rolled away that reproach.
" Is called" lit. in Heb., " one called" (Nn^), indeter.
3rd pers. sing., 137. " Gilgal" lit, " a rolling away " :
From hk$, to roll ; not a town, but a site and en
campment seem meant. 1 The name is given also
to other places (see, e.g., Deut. xi. 30 ; Josh.-xii. 23),
and perhaps for reasons which would admit of a
different derivation of the word.
Ver. 10. " Encamped in Gilgal" 2 : The spot was
well suited for an encampment, as it possessed both
shade and water. " They celebrated (lit., they made)
1 Though the name Gilgal was thus given in direct allusion
to the rolling away of the reproach of Egypt, yet there may
have been also an allusion to the circle of twelve stones, raised
by Joshua s orders (iv. 8), the first sanctuary of Israel in
Palestine. Many similar rings still exist in Moab and else
where, and, indeed, such cromlechs and dolmens were associated
with the earliest forms of religion in almost every country. The
circle of Gilgal seems ultimately to have become the seat of
idolatry (see Hosea iv. 15, ix. 15, xii. n ; Amos iv. 4, v. 5).
See Geikie s Hours with the Bible, vol. ii., p. 392.
2 Lit., " the Gilgal" (cf. iv. 19, note).
68 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. v.
tJie Passover" : This was the second Passover since
the exodus from Egypt. The first was at Sinai
(Numb. ix. 1-14). Calvin thinks that the celebra
tion of the Passover was permitted by God to
continue after the rebellion at Kadesh-Barnea ; yet
it is strange that no record of the fact is found in
the Pentateuch, nor is it likely that the covenant
festival of the Passover would be observed, when
circumcision, the sign of the covenant, was discon
tinued. It seems clear from Exod. xii. 25, xiii.
5-10, that after its first celebration at Sinai, it was
not to be renewed till the people had entered Canaan.
" On the fourteenth day " (see Exod. xii. 6, 1 8 ;
Lev. xxiii. 5). "/ the evening" but more accurately,
" between the two evenings " (Exod. xii. 6 ; Lev.
xxiii. 5), or "at the going down of the sun" (Deut.
xvi. 6). "In the plains of Jericho" (cf. iv. 13, note).
" All the great movements of the ancient Church of
God were begun with eating the Passover. The
Israelites ate the Passover, and went forth from
Egypt, and crossed the Red Sea. They ate the
Passover at Sinai, when the tabernacle had been
raised, and set forth on their march towards Canaan ;
and now they ate the Passover under Joshua, and
began their march of victory. Here is a lesson to
the Christian Church and to every Christian soul in
it, not to undertake any great work, especially not to
go forth on its way from this world into eternity,
without being first strengthened with the Divine
viaticum of the Christian Passover, the holy Eu
charist." (Bishop Wordsworth, in loc.}
Ver. II. "t-131?: Found here and in ver. 12 only,
The Auth. Vers. (after Kimchi and others) renders it
VER. ii.] THE BOOK OF JOSH DA. 69
" old corn" i.e., corn of the past year, from "flJJ, to pass,
or to pass by ; but the same word in Syr. and Arab,
means simply " corn," or " produce," and is frequently
used in the Targums as equal to fin ; hence it is
probable that the rt. ")?r has another and original
sense, viz., to cover, to impregnate, to produce, and
that "i-liy here is synonymous with nx-UJji in ver. 1 2
(cf. Lev. xxiii. 39), and means "produce," not of the
past, but of the present year. " On the morrow after
the Passover" : This expression (in Numb, xxxiii. 3)
means the I5th of Abib, but here apparently the
sixteenth (so Keil), because the Israelites could not
lawfully eat of the new corn till the presentation of
the wave-sheaf on " the morrow after the Sabbath "
(Lev. xxiii. 11). The " Sabbath" in that passage
means the first day of the feast of unleavened bread
(viz., the i 5th of Abib), called a Sabbath, because,
though not necessarily the seventh day of the
week, it was kept as a Sabbath. To it corresponds
in this verse the term passover, which sometimes
denotes the paschal lamb (Exod. xii. 21), or the
paschal meal (2 Chron. xxx. 1 8), eaten on the
evening of the 1 4th of Abib ; sometimes the feast
of unleavened bread, beginning on the I5th, and
lasting seven days (Deut xvi. 2). ""-l^, "parched"
(corn}, (A. V.) : Put for e : ?o *b\> n^x, " ears of corn
baked by the fire " (Lev. ii. 14), a food much relished
still by the Arabs. These and the unleavened cakes
(nrsE>) pertained to the produce of the new year,
whereas the unleavened bread, which the Israelites
ate with the paschal lamb on the fourteenth day
of Abib, must have been of old corn of the land.
Dvr?, " in this self-same day" (see 124, Rem. 3).
70 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. v.
Ver. 12. "A nd tJie manna ceased" etc. (cf. Exod.
xvi. 35, and see on " Manna" the article in Smith s
Bib. Diet.} : This total cessation of the manna shows
that it had been a miraculous gift from God, but was
now withdrawn, because it had served the purpose
for which it was given. So in the Christian Church
miraculous gifts and powers ceased when no longer
necessary.
Vers. 13-15, vi. 1-5. These verses, with the ex
ception of vi. I, are closely connected, and record
the appearance of the Angel of the Lord to Joshua,
and the message He gave to him.
Ver. 13. inn 11 ?, "by" (Auth. Vers.), i.e., near
"Jericho" : For this meaning of ? see 154, 3, a,
2 ; and cf. x. 16, xxiv. 26 ; Gen. xiii. 18 ; Vulg., "in
agro Jericho." Keil thinks it implies not only that
Joshua was on the outskirts of Jericho, but that in
imagination he was already in it, i.e., was occupied
with the thought of conquering the town. "He lifted
lip his eyes and looked" : An expression, says Keil,
which denotes the unexpected sight of an object (cf.
Gen. xviii. 2, xxxiii. i) ; it may also be classed
among the instances of the pictorial style of writing,
so common to the Hebrews, by which not only the
doing of a thing, but the manner of doing it, is
stated (cf. such phrases as " he arose and went" " Jie
opened his lips and spake" " he put forth his hand and
took "). KK, " a man " : Some say a created angel in
human form, but the ancient Jewish Church, and the
majority of the Christian Fathers, agree in the belief
that it was the Second Person of the Ever Blessed
Trinity, The Word, He Who said, " No man hath
seen God (the Father) at any time. The Only
VER. 14.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 71
Begotten, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He
hath declared Him " (John i. 1 8). This view is
confirmed by the command to Joshua in ver. i 5, and
by vi. 2, where the Person Who here appears to him
is called JelwvaJi, and issues His commands with
authority. " A nd His sword drawn in His hand "
(cf. Numb. xxii. 23, 31 ; Rev. i. 16, ii. 12, 16,
xix. 15, 22, where the Son of God is represented
as having a sharp two-edged sword). " And Joshua
went unto Him and spoke to Him" : Clearly, therefore,
this was not a dream nor vision.
Ver. 14. N^>, "Nay" (Auth. Vers., Chald., and
Vulg.): More suitable than -6, the reading adopted by
the Sept. and Syr., and found in some MSS. The
Masora does not include this verse among the fifteen
examples where &6 is used for b. V 3, " but " : After a
negative ( 155, i, d, p. 272). ^ includes the subs.
verb ( 121, i). 1B>, "captain (of)," (A. V.), as in Gen.
xxi. 22, or "prince (of)" (cf. Dan. x. 13, 20, xii. i) ;
"the host ofJeJiovaJi" : This expression does not refer
to the Israelitish army, which is never so called,
though twice described by the plural, " tJic hosts of
the Lord" (Exod. vii. 4, xii. 41) ; the singular can
only refer to the angels, as in Psalm cxlviii. 2 (T&oy,
K e thibJi)\ cf. i Kings xxii. 19, own xny. "Now
I have come": Either the sentence is abrupt, and He
was about to explain the object of His coming, when
He was interrupted by Joshua s falling down before
Him, and addressing Him (so Keil) ; or the expression
is simply a solemn announcement of His Presence.
inrik^ 1 : As this word is used of reverence paid to
1 For this form see Gr., 75, Rem. v., 18.
72 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vi.
men (2 Sam. ix. 6, 8 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 33), it does not
necessarily imply here Divine worship. Joshua seems
at first not to have recognized the true nature of the
Being Who appeared to him, for he calls him Adoni,
" my lord," not Adonai, " The Lord."
Ver. i 5. bw : Imper. per. aphcer. for^J, "pull," or
" pluck off." bj?3 : Rt bin, to bolt or to fasten, means
a sandal, or sole attached to the foot by thongs, Sept.
a or crct^SaXiov (so in Josh. ix. 5, 13 ; cf.
, Mark vi. 9). On this, as an act of Divine
homage, see note ver. 13, above. Hp for EHJrncnx,
Exod. iii. 5. The ground of Gilgal was the first
portion of Palestine which was pronounced holy (Dean
Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, vii., p. 308).
CHAPTER VI.
VERS. 1-27. The Conquest of Jericho.
Ver. i. This verse is parenthetical (see note v.
13-15), and is introductory to ver. 2, being designed
to show that so strong a city as Jericho could not
have been overcome by the Israelites without the
Divine aid. n^pp-1 nnjp, " lit., (was) shutting its
gates, and closely shut up " : The participles express
a state of continuance, and the Pual participle, being
intensive, denotes that the city was secured with
bolts and bars, the Qal part, simply that the gates
were shut (Ges., Lex., p. 5 79). The last clause
of the verse is added for emphasis.
Ver. 2. Here the "Captain of Jehovah s host" is
identified with "Jehovah" and speaks with authority
VERS. 3, 4.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 73
as such. " / have given " : The perfect denoting the
certainty of accomplishment (cf. i. 3). ^3|, (cf. i. 14) :
Put in opposition to Jericho (i.e. y the inhabitants) and
its king.
Vers. 3-7 (Instructions how tJie City was to be taken}.
Ver. 3. Drop), " and ye shall compass" (Auth.
Vers.) : But here (says Ges., Lehrgeb., p. 767, 5, b) it
has the force of an imperative (cf. Sept., irepLO-Trjcrov,
Vulg., circuite). ^jp.n, "in going round" : Written more
usually S]j3.n, as in ver. 1 1. Hiph. inf. absol. of t\\n, to
go in a circle (Ges., Lex., p. 566) ; here it defines
more accurately the preceding verb. " Once" lit. in
Heb., " one tread or stroke." " Six days " : The
marchings on these six consecutive days, and that
which was repeated seven times on the seventh
day, were a trial of the people s faith, patience,
and obedience (cf. Heb. xi. 30). To mere human
reason the means to be employed would have
seemed utterly inadequate.
Ver. 4. The number seven occurring four times
in this verse denotes completeness, and was a sacred
number ; x it was, therefore, symbolic of the Divine
agency in the overthrow of Jericho. " Before the ark" :
The seat of God s special presence, "n nn^iE?, lit,
" cornets of soundings" and hence " cornets of
jubilee" hy\ according to Gesenius ( Thes., ii., 561)
is an onomatopoetic word, meaning jubilum, or a
joyful sound, formed from the syllable v, denoting
1 So likewise among the Persians (Esther i. 10, 14); among
the ancient Indians (Von Bohlen s Alt. Indien, ii., 224, etc.) ;
among the Greeks and Romans to a certain extent, and prob
ably among all nations where the week of seven days was
established, as in China, Egypt, Arabia, etc. (Ideler s Chronol.
i., 88, 178, ii., 473).
74 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vi.
" a crying out," like the Greek io> and lov, (cf. the
name ^\ given to the inventor of stringed and
wind instruments, Gen. iv. 21). Others, with
Carpzov, derive it from 73J, " to flow copiously and
with some violence," and hence ^3t, a rushing,
penetrating sound. The Auth. Vers. " rams
horns" is from an unused rt. ?3^, to be compressed,
to be hard, strong; whence hy or bjT*, the strong,
and in Arab, a ram; thus the Chaldee Targum
generally translates ^Of 1 f"p., " trumpet of ram s horn."
But many Arabic scholars deny that hlV ever means
" a ram " in Arabic, and a ram s horn, being solid,
could not emit sound, "lais? [so called from its clear
and sharp sound, rt. "is^, to be bright (Ges., Lex.}\ i.q.,
i^i?, ver. 5, means a bent trumpet, Lat., I it mis. Ac
cording to Engel (Hist, of Music, p. 292) it is the
only Hebrew musical instrument which has been
preserved to the present day in the religious services
of the Jews, being blown at the Jewish new year s
festival, according to the command of Moses (Numb.
xxix. i). The word differs from nnyVG, the silver
trumpet used to summon to war (Numb. x. 2), and
which was straight in form. Thus these horns of
jubilee, associated with occasions of peace, served,
like the other particulars mentioned, to teach the
Israelites that the conquest of Jericho would be
effected by Divine power. E>3 Wplp?, " tliey shall blow
(lit., shall strike by blowing into) the trumpets."
Ver. 5. ]-$$ T]b>p2, lit., " when they draw with the
jubilee horn" i.e., when they blow the jubilee horn
with long drawn notes (cf. Exod. xix. 13). pj5 may
be here taken collec. for ninafC? (ver. 4). nr-niji : Is used
specially of a joy fill shout (i Sam. iv. 5), and of a war-
VERS. 6, 7.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 75
like shout, dXaXo/y/A09 (Jer. iv. 19) ; this latter may
be meant here and in ver. 20. rpflOfl, lit., "tinder
itself" : The meaning is not "the city wall shall sink
into the earth " (Chaldee Vers., "absorbebitur sub se "),
but (as Keil) "shall be overthrown from the founda
tions ; " Vulg., " muri funditus corruent civitatis."
The Sept. Treo-eirat atird/xara ra Ttfyvj, /c.r.X., though
not a literal rendering of the Hebrew, indicates that
the overthrow of the wall would be effected not
by any assault of the Israelites, but by miraculous
agency. HjiJ, " straight before him," i.e., passing over
the fallen wall, and keeping as far as possible in
the same direction (cf. Joel ii. 7, " they shall
march every one on his ways "). >ho, " shall ascend" :
Refers to the ruins of the wall, by passing over which
they were to press into the city.
Vers. 6, 7. Joshua announces first to the priests
and then to the people the instructions he had
received. In ver. 7 the Q e ri has " he said " (so
the Auth. Vers.) for the K e thibh "they said," but
the plural, as being the more difficult reading, was
probably altered to the singular, and may be
explained by supposing that Joshua issued his com
mands through the Shoterim (see i. 10, 11, iii. 2).
1~i?y, " move on" or " march forward" : So in the next
hemistich, and in ver. 8 (cf. Psalm xlii. 5, Heb. Bib.).
p pnn : Used collectively for xn-> n y&q (iv. 1 3, see
note). Cor. a Lap., Rosenmuller, and Knobel under
stand the term here to refer to the warriors of all the
tribes, and f)^pn (the rereward, 1 Auth. Vers. ; see ver.
9) to the rest of the people, or the unarmed multi-
1 An old English word, i.q.> rearguard, used also in Numb.
x. 25 ; i Sam. xxix. 2 ; Isa. lii. 12, Iviii. 8.
76 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vi.
tude, Vulg., " reliquum vulgus ; " but Keil and others,
after Kimchi and Rashi, limit the former term to the
armed men of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half
tribe of Manasseh (who may have been intended to
take the lead not only on the occasion of the passage
of the Jordan [iv. 1 2], but on all other occasions, till
the conquest of Canaan), but include under the latter
term the warriors of the other tribes. This view
seems to accord with ver. 3, where the command to
go round the city is given to " the men of war "
only, which command is here, and in ver. 9, more
fully stated. Since, however, the tribe of Dan in the
march through the wilderness always brought up the
rear (Numb. x. 25), p]DNpn may possibly refer to that
tribe, and f-l pnn include all the rest of the men of
war.
Vers. 8-1 1 (TJie First Day s Procession and Order
of March}. Ver. 8. rp ibND iri, " and it came to pass
w/ien Joshua had spoken " (Auth. Vers.) : The Syr.
renders, "And it happened according to the words of
Joshua ; " but 3 prefixed to the infin. often means
" when," or " as soon as " (see Ges., Lex., 5, b] ; and
\T1, though generally followed by the imperfect with
1 conversive in the second clause, is often followed by
the perfect (see, e.g., Gen. xxii. I ; I Kings viii. 54 ; Isa.
xxxvii. 38) (Keil). 1. before ny?^ begins the apodosis
( 155, i, a, 3rd par,). The art. before D^x ^J is
omitted (cf. ver. 13, and see 1 1 1, 2, b}. " Before
Jehovali" i.e., before the ark, which was the symbol of
the Divine presence, and also called here "tlie ark of
tlw covenant" because containing the tables on which
the covenant was written.
Ver. 9. The K e thibh, Wpri, requires an ellipsis of
VERS. 10, ii.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 77
it S ( 123, 3), and though more often followed by
3, here governs an accus., as in Judges vii. 22 ; Psalm
Ixxxi. 4; Jer. iv. 5, etc. ^ENpn, " the rereward"
(Auth. Vers.), lit, " the gatJtering (host) " : Piel part.
with art. used as a noun, from f)DX, " to collect," and
"to bring up the rear," "agmen claudere " (Isa. Iviii. 8) ;
so here in Piel (cf. Numb. x. 25 ; Isa. Hi. 12 ; see note
on ver. 7). T)l tpfi, "going on and blowing" (Auth.
Vers.), i.e., trumpeting continually ( 131, 3, b] :
The meaning is that during the march the trumpets
(cornets) continued to sound.
Ver. i o. njy, " had commanded" (Auth. Vers.,
Rosenm. and Keil) : This verse is parenthetical, and
throws light on ver. 5. " Ye shall not shout " : They
were to shout on the seventh day only (see ver. 1 6), for
not till that day would the victory be obtained. On
the other days the deep silence observed was befitting
the solemnity of the occasion, when God Himself,
under the symbol of the ark, was going before them,
and about to discomfit so signally their enemies (cf.
Hab. ii. 20; Zech. ii. 13).
Ver. 1 1. 3Di : The Arab. Vers., Kimchi, Masius,
Rosenm., and others, render " and (Joshua) caused to
go round;" but as ver. 10 is parenthetical, the
nominative " Joshua " can hardly with propriety be
borrowed from it, and Hiphil often has an intrans.
signification (see, e.g., 3DH in 2 Sam. v. 23, and app,
Psalm cxl. 10 ; Ges., Lex., 4, p. 577); hence the
Vulg., Syr., Chald., and Auth. Vers. render it here
intrans. : so Winer, Gesen., and Keil.
Vers. 12-14. The same order of march, as on
the first day, is repeated on the second and four
following days.
78 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vi.
Vers. 12. " Rose early" : Activity and prompti
tude were characteristics of Joshua.
Ver. 13. tfl?rj Dpph, (were) "continually proceed
ing " : The participle has here the same construction
with the infin. absol. as the finite verb ( 131, 3,
Rem. 3). -ittp.r)), the finite verb frequently succeeds
in Hebrew to the participle ( 134, Rem. 2).
Gesenius, indeed (in 131, 3, b], says that this is an
instance of the finite verb being put instead of the
infin. (tflpn, ver. 9) ; but rather it here corresponds
with wpni. in ver. 8. In the last clause the Q e ri
rj-6n need not be read for the K e thibh ^in, for the
latter, as expressive of continuance, differs little from
the former, and frequently the infin. absol. and the
participle are interchanged, see, e.g.. Gen. xxvi. 13,
Judges iv. 24, 2 Sam. xvi. 5, where an infin. absol.
is followed by a participle instead of by another
infin. absol.
Vers. 15-19 (The Seventh Day s Proceedings,
and Joshuds Final Commands respecting Jericho).
Ver. 15. "On the seventh day": According to
Jewish writers, the Sabbath day. To the objection
of Marcion, that thus the Sabbath was violated,
Tertullian replies that the work here commanded
was not a human but a Divine work (Tertul., c.
Marcion., iv., 12). rife, the Q e ri is rife, " about the
time that (the morn) arose " : On the distinction
between ? and ? see iii. 3. n : jn t3St?S3, lit," according
to this rule" i.e., " in the same prescribed manner "
(cf. Lev. v. 10, ix. 16). " Seven times" : As Jericho
was of considerable size, and an interval of rest was
probably required after each circuit, the seven circuits
may not have been finished till the close of the
VERS.i6-i8.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 79
Sabbath, and thus the slaughter, which followed,
may not have taken place on that day.
Ver. 1 6. " WJien tJie priests blew " ( Auth. Vers.) :
The word " when " is not in the original. Keil more
correctly renders " the priests had blown the trumpets,
tJien Josliua said" etc.
Ver. 17. Dnp, once Dnri (Zech. xiv. 1 1), "a thing-
devoted " : Sept. dvaOefJia, from onn, to shut up, and
hence, to devote, to consecrate, and to exterminate
(Ges., Lex.; see Levit. xxvii. 21, 28, 29). Jericho,
as being the first city captured in Canaan, was to be
devoted with all its inhabitants (except Rachabh and
her household) and property to destruction, in vin
dication of the Divine justice in the punishment
of the wicked, and as a kind of firstfruits to the
Lord, in acknowledgment of His gift of the land,
and of His help in its conquest. In the case of
the other Canaanitish cities the inhabitants only
were to be destroyed, but the cattle and other
possessions became the booty of the conquerors
(Josh. viii. 26-7), whereas in Jericho nothing was to
be preserved (ver. 21), except the silver and gold,
etc. (ver. 1 9), which, being indestructible, were to be
brought into the treasury of the Lord (cf. Joseph.,
Antiq.,v., I, 5). nntf?nn: Hiph. 3 p. f. s., with n parag.,
which is perhaps emphatic, " she carefully concealed"
written in ver. 25, ns acin, but the form here is borrowed
from verbs r\h (see 75, Rem. vi., 21, a). Another
reason for her preservation was the oath of the spies
(ii. 14).
Ver. 1 8. "But only be yc on your guard against
tJie devoted thing, lest ye devote a thing to God, and
take of the thing devoted" : innnrrta has not, accord-
So THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vi.
ing to the Auth. Vers., a reflex sense, " lest ye make
yourselves accursed" nor, as Kimchi and Drusius
say, is the -i before Dflni? 1 ? explanatory of the fore
going verb, e.g., " tliat is, lest ye take /" but Joshua
here warns the Israelites not to appropriate to them
selves what they had previously devoted to God
(cf. Deut. xiii. 17). Among the ancient Gauls and
Germans there were similar enactments with regard
to what had been devoted to their deities (see
Caesar s Bell. Gall., vi., 17 ; Tacit., Annal., xiii., 57).
In the last clause, Drray may contain an allusion to
Achan (vii. 25), or may be used by the author un-
designedly, since the same verb in the same sense
occurs in Gen. xxxiv. 30.
Ver. 1 9. -IV1N : Accus. loci. ( 118, i, a). The
reference is to the treasury in the Tabernacle (cf.
ver. 24 and Numb. xxxi. 54).
Vers. 20-25 (Execution of tJie above-mentioned
Commands of Joshua], Ver. 20. Dyn inji, "and so
the people sJiouted" : Hiph. imperf. apoc. of y-n, to
make a loud noise : \ (see 49, 2). It might seem
from the words which next follow, viz., " and they
blew" etc., that the shouting preceded the blowing
of the trumpets, but the next clause shows that
such was not the case. As Joshua, in ver. 16, had
mentioned shouting only, this, as Keil conjectures,
may explain the order of the words here. On the
remainder of this verse see note ver. 5.
Vers. 2 1 . nnn ^ -lonq?!, " and they utterly
destroyed (devoted) with the edge of the sword " (cf.
Deut. xiii. 16, where the same expression is used
synonymously with nnn ^ n |D)- ^ is here used of
the instrument (see Ges., Lex.} ; it is a particle which
VERS. 22, 23.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 81
properly denotes relation in the widest sense, and
is most commonly = " as to" " ivith respect to,"
the precise relation being left to be determined
by the context. The wholesale extermination of
the inhabitants of Jericho was justified by their
enormous wickedness, the time given them for
repentance, and the necessity of making them a
warning to others, and to the Israelites in particular,
of the awful consequences of sin. That many inno
cent children were involved in the destruction shows
that the guilt of parents may be visited in this life
on their offspring, though doubtless all who die in
infancy are objects of the Divine mercy, being de
livered from sin and its consequences, and made
partakers of eternal happiness.
Vers. 22. "ipx is used here as a pluperfect
(Rosenm. and Keil), for it is hardly likely that this
order was given only when the carnage had begun,
and not when the commands of Joshua were issued
(ver. 17, etc.) " Go ye . . . house" : Hence it appears
that that portion of the wall, against which the house
of Rachabh had been built, had not fallen with the
rest ; a clear proof of the Divine interposition in her
favour. " As ye swore unto Jier " (see ii. 14).
Ver. 23. onw : Not, as Kimchi, "-servants"
though "W3, like puer, sometimes means a servant,
but "young men" as in A. V., Sept. Suo veavio-KOi,
Vulg. juvenes (cf. Gen. xxii. 3, xxxiv. 19, xxxvii. 2;
Judges viii. 20). "Her brothers": But including
sisters, who are mentioned ii. 13. ^ ^?~n^, " all
who belonged to her" i.e., all her household, not all
her goods, of which no more could have been re
moved than each person could carry (cf. ii. 13).
6
82 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vi.
" All her families" (Hebrew), i.e., all her relatives by
blood or marriage. "And they left them (lit., made
them to rest) outside tJie camp" etc. Till they had
been proselytized to the Jewish religion, they could
not be admitted to the camp, which was hallowed by
the ark, the seat of God s presence.
Ver. 24. "And tJiey burnt" (see note, ver. 17):
Rachabh s house was no doubt consumed also, and,
therefore, when " travellers of the middle ages pre
tend that they found the house still standing, we
must set this down as one of the many delusions
which were kept alive for centuries by pious supersti
tion in the Holy Land " (Keil). " The house of
Jehovah" i.e., the Tabernacle (cf. 2 Sam. xii. 20 ;
Psalm v. 8) : The term JV2 is also used of a tent, or
movable dwelling, in Gen. xxvii. 15.
Ver. 25. "And she dwelt . . . unto this day" :
Hence it seems that she was alive when this history
was written, and the fact that she dwelt in Israel
implies that she had embraced the Hebrew religion.
Ver. 26 (Curse on the Rebuilder of Jericho].
" And Joshua adjured (them)," i.e., " he solemnly
charged them " (cf. I Kings xxii. 1 6), or " made to
swear " (cf. Gen. xxiv. 3, and the Greek eo/3/ao),
Matt. xxvi. 63). "inx, "cursed" (cf. the curse of
Agamemnon on Ilium, Strabo, xiii., ch. I, 42 ;
and of Scipio on Carthage, Appian, lib. i., cap. 20).
" Before Jehovah" i.e., Jehovah Himself being the
judge, and inflicting the punishment. " Who riseth
up and buildetli" i.e., who shall attempt to build (cf.
Neh. ii. 1 8, " Let us rise up and build" i.e., let us
begin or attempt to build). Knobel, Kitto (Encyc. of
Bib. Lit.}, and others, understand rm here in its
VER. 27.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 83
ordinary sense, " to build ; " but it rather denotes " to
fortify," for it has that meaning in 2 Chron. xiv.,
where, after it is said that Asa built fenced cities in
Judah (ver. 6), it is added that he said unto Judah,
" Let us build these cities " (i.e., let us fortify these
cities which have been already built), and make about
them walls and towers, etc.; so in i Kings xv. 22,
" Asa built " (i.e., fortified) with them Geba of Benja
min and Mizpeh" It is clear, too, that before Hiel, in
the reign of Asa, incurred this curse (i Kings xvi.
34), Jericho had been rebuilt (see Josh, xviii. 2 1 ;
Judges iii. 1352 Sam. x. 5), and it is not stated that
it had been rebuilt on a different site from that of
the ancient town. Further, the expression " to set tip
the gates" is such as could be appropriately employed
in reference only to the fortification of the town.
nb^a, " In his first-born " : The prep, a denotes
the price in exchange for which a thing is procured
(Ges., Lex., B., 9). Keil and many others suppose
that the rebuilder of the city was threatened with
the loss of all his children, beginning from the eldest
to the youngest, but Josephus (Antiq., v., i., 8),
Theodoret, Knobel, and Bishop Wordsworth limit it
to the death of the eldest and youngest. Certainly,
there is no express mention made of any other
children, either here or in i Kings xvi. 34, where the
fulfilment of the curse is mentioned. Perhaps the
rhythmical form in which the curse is expressed may
have been designed to fix it in the memory of the
people (Bishop Wordsworth).
Ver. 27 (JosJmds Renown). "Jehovah was with
Joshua" (cf. the promise, i. 5, 9). uc^, "report,"
and hence "fame," occurs again in ix. 9 ; Jer. vi. 24 ;
84 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vi.
Esther ix. 4, only ; in the Pentateuch the form used
is IW (see Gen. xxix. I 3 ; Exod. xxiii. I ; Numb,
xiv. i 5 ; Deut. ii. 25).
Note that the overthrow of Jericho cannot be
accounted for from natural causes, but was un
doubtedly brought about by Divine interposition.
Not only is such interposition clearly indicated
throughout the narrative, but was obviously necessary,
because the Israelites, being a nomad people, and
unacquainted with the art of besieging cities, could
not have taken a place so strong as Jericho without
supernatural aid. The city also, by its position, was
the key of the eastern pass to Canaan, and, therefore,
its miraculous conquest at the outset of the invasion
was calculated to render the Israelites confident that
God was on their side, and would be with them
throughout their enterprise, while, at the same time, it
struck their enemies with dismay. Further, its over
throw was prophetical and typical, for the vision of
the seven trumpets in the Apocalypse (Rev. viii. 2,
etc.), corresponds to the narrative of the siege and
capture of Jericho. Christ, our Divine Joshua, now
enables His people to overcome the world by faith
(i John v. 4), but at His second coming He will
" descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of
the arcJiangel and the trump of God" (i Thess. iv.
1 6), and then will take place the final judgment
of all His enemies. Till, however, the full time
(denoted often in Scripture by the perfect number
seven) for the execution of God s final purposes
arrives, the overthrow of Satan s empire is being
carried on by means which, to the eye of sense,
appear inadequate to the purpose. Such a means is
VER. I.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 85
the preaching of the Gospel, which was " to the Jews
a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness" but
which was, and still is, " tJie poiver of God imto
salvation to every one who belicvctJi" Ministers in
themselves are mere " earthen vessels" (2 Cor. iv.
7), but God magnifies His own power in the use of
them, for their weapons are " not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of stt .ngJwlds"
CHAPTER VII.
Achan s Theft and Punishment.
Ver. I (The Crime of Achan}. "?y byy : For the
cognate accus. see 138, I, Rem. i., and cf. djuapra-
VOVTO. apapTiav ( I John v. 1 6). ^BD, prim., " to cover"
(Ges., Lex.}, whence Wp, " an upper garment ; " then
" to act covertly," and hence " falsely, treacherously "
(Lev. v. 15), as here, construed with ? of the thing,
and in xxii. 1 6, with ?, of the person. nn?, " in that
which had been devoted to tJie Lord" The sin, there
fore, was sacrilege, b? \J? : The sin of Achan is here
imputed to all the Israelites, because the whole nation
was in covenant with God (see ver. 11), and, there
fore, the sin of one among them brought pollution
upon the whole as a body. The Sept., after rendering
" the children of Israel committed a transgression,"
adds, by way of explanation, /cat eVocr^>icrafTO 0.770
TOV avadlpaTos, " and purloined part of the accursed
thing" words similar to those used respecting the
sacrilege of Ananias, e^ocr^tVaro O.TTO rrjs TLjjLrjs
(Acts v. l). tpl?, so in xxii. 20, but "Dl?, in I Chron.
S6 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vn.
ii. 7 (probably as a play upon the word "i?y, to trouble,
cf. ver. 25, below), and so in the Vat. Sept. (passim} ;
Josephus, "A^apos (Antiq., lib. v., c. I, 10). Zabh-
dt, called Zimri (i Chron. ii. 6). Zerach, the twin-
brother of Perez, sons of Judah by Tamar (Gen.
xxxviii. 29, 30). Thus Achan was the fourth in
descent from Judah, but, as in other cases, so here,
some generations have been omitted, perhaps between
Zerach and Zabhdi. It is probable from the character
of his ancestry that he had not been religiously
brought up. On nap, see iii. 12. "And the anger
of Jehovah" etc. : Inasmuch as the whole nation was
contaminated by the sin of Achan, it justly incurred
Jehovah s displeasure.
Vers. 2-5 (The Defeat before Ay). Ver. 2.
Ay, 1 always written (with the article) in Hebrew
wn ( 109, 3), except in Jer. xlix. 3, where a
different town belonging to the Ammonites is
referred to ; Sept., Fat, but Ayycu in Gen. xii. 8,
written JVtf, Isa. x. 28, and Ny in Chaldee, Neh. xi. 3 I :
These two latter names being probably variations only
of the name Ay here mentioned, w means " a heap
of ruins" according to Gesen. (Lex.}, but according
to Rosenm. is here w, cumulus y and refers to
its situation on a hill. The opinion of Dean
Stanley that Haai (the ruins) may have been a later
name to indicate the fall of the city (Sin. and Pal.,
p. 203) is irreconcilable with the fact that in the time
of Abraham the city was so called (Gen. xii. 8). Its
site, though known in the time of Eusebius (Onom.
1 According to the Jewish pronunciation the "yodh " here
retains its consonant power (Gr., 8, 5).
VER. 2.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 87
), has long been the subject of conjecture.
Dean Stanley places it at the head of Wady Harith ;
Krafft, Strauss, Ritter, and Keil identify its ruins
with those of Medinet Gat, five miles east of Bethel,
and between Wady FaraJi and Wady cs Suweinit.
Probably, however, Van de Velde is correct in
supposing that the true site is T ell- el- H ajar, the
Mount of Stones, about forty-five minutes south-east
of Bethel (cf. Clark s Bib. Atlas, Plate X.). This
site answers in every way to the requirements of
the Scripture account of the conquest of Ay, (see
V. de Velde s narrative, ii., 278 282, and Pal.
Fund Reports, 1881, p. 36). Dy, "near" cf. Gen.
xxv. ii (Ges., Lex^}. Beth- Avert (house of vanity),
on the northern border of Benjamin, xviii. 1 2, and
east of Bethel, lying between it and Michmash
(i Sam. xiii. 5). The name was afterwards trans
ferred by the Prophet Hosea to Bethel, to denote
that, though once the house of God, it had become
a house of idols (Hos. iv. 15, v. 8, x. 5). Beth- El
(house of God), anciently called Luz (= almond-tree),
Gen. xxviii. 19; Judges i. 23, but by anticipation
Bethel (Gen. xii. 8), one of the cities assigned to
Benjamin (Josh, xviii. 1 3), and situated on its
northern boundary, but afterwards taken by Ephraim
(Judges i. 22-26), and made one of the two principal
seats of Jeroboam s idolatry. It lay in the direct
thoroughfare of Palestine, whence the expressions
" the highway that goeth up to Bethel " (Judges xx.
31), "the highway that goeth up from Bethel to
Shechem " (Judges xxi. 19). No place (with the
single exception of Shechem) comprises a longer
series of remarkable scenes of sacred history (Sin.
88 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vn.
and Pal., p. 2 1 7). It is probably the same as the
modern Beitdn or Beitin, twelve miles north of
Jerusalem, on the road from the latter to Sichem
(Nablus). (Robinson s Palestine, ii., p. 126). by.
implies an ascent to the city from the plains of
Jericho. The valley of the Jordan is 3,000 feet
below the mountains of Judaea (Stanley s Sin. and
Pal., p. 283), and Bethel lay 2,890 feet above the
sea (Great Pal. Map].
Ver 3. -133, "and let them smite" i.e., let them
take by assault (Ges., Lex., on rt33, Sept. e/
<rd~(Da-av (cf. 2 Kings iii. 19 ; I Chron. xx. i)
l^yyrpx seems to have a pregnant sense, viz., weary
not by leading thither? "*3, "for they" (i.e. the in
habitants of Ay) " are few ; " it appears from viii. 2 5
that the total population of Ay was about twelve
thousand ; hence three thousand men might have been
supposed quite sufficient for its conquest.
Ver. 4. "And they fled before the men of Ay" :
The Sept. has t-<j>vyov O.TTO TrpocraiTr w, /c-r.X., as
though it had read r^p ; and thus their rendering
might imply that the Israelites fled at the very sight
of their enemies : such a supposition, however, is
unnecessary ; there may have been an engagement,
and what caused the defeat of the Israelites was not
the prowess of the men of Ay, but the anger of God
on account of the sin of Achan ; see the warning
which had been given (Deut. xxiii. 9). Hence we
may learn how the sin of even one individual may
bring down calamity upon a whole people i^cf. the
consequence of Saul s sin in breaking his covenant
with the Gibeonites, 2 Sam. xxi. i, and of David s
sin in numbering the people, 2 Sam. xxiv. 10-15) ;
VERS. 5, 6.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 89
and be, therefore, the more careful individually to
avoid its commission, and to deter others from it.
Ver. 5. nnn^rny : Some take the noun as an
appellative, thus Gesenius (see "13*1?, Ler.> 3, p. 803),
"even to destruction" as in Prov. xvi. 18 ; Isa. i. 28;
Lam. ii. 1 1, iii. 47 ; Sept. (Alex.), (rvverpi^av
avrovs, perhaps from a different reading ; Keil, " as
far as the stone quarries" for "Q2> means lit. " a
breaking." But perhaps the word has reference to
the deep fissures in the ground in that particular
locality ; thus Dean Stanley (Sin. and Pal., ch. iv.,
p. 202) understands by it the breakings or fissures at
the opening of the passes. " In the going down" or
" declivity," viz., that into the Jordan valley. With
the expression " the hearts melted " cf. ii. 1 1 ; here
it is rendered more emphatic by the simile in the
last clause.
Vers. 6-9 (Joshuas Prayer). Ver. 6. "Rent his
clothes." Ffoftty properly denotes the ordinary outer
garment, but is here used in the plural, as in
Gen. xxxvii. 34, for clothes generally. Rending
of the clothes was designed to be a symbol of
rending of the heart (Joel ii. 13). " And fell upon
his face" (cf. Numb. xx. 6). " Befor c the ark" i.e.,
before the Tabernacle, in which the ark was, and
with his face towards the ark. " Until the eventide " :
And, therefore, we may infer that they fasted during
the whole time (see 2 Sam. i. 12). " Tlie Elders : The
term is applied to the heads of tribes, families, and
households. They were the representatives of the
people of Israel, and seem from the earliest period
to have formed a political council or senate (Exod. iii.
1 6, iv. 29). " And put " (lit. made to ascend) " dust "
90 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.- [CHAP. vn.
(cf. Job ii. 12; I Sam. iv. 12; 2 Sam. i. 2). So
Achilles, when he heard of the death of Patroclus,
//., ^, 22, etc., and Latimis, when he grieved for the
death of his queen (Alneid, xii., 609-61 1, "it scissa
veste Latinus, etc."}.
Ver. 7. njrp, so pointed, because it follows 1)7$
but to be pronounced Elohim (see Keil on Gen. ii. 4).
fi~i3yn is an unusual form for rnnyn (63, Rem. 4),
cf. r6yn, for r6in, Hab. i. 15. The infin. absol. "ingn,
with the unusual i in the last syllable, is here put for
emphasis after the finite verb ( 131,3 Rem., i), " Why
hast thou at all brought over " (Auth. Vers.), or, " Why
hast thou in so wonderful a manner brought us over"
" The Emorite" iii. 10. 303 b\, "And would that
we had been content to remain " : Sept., KCU et /care/x-et-
vafjiev, /c.T.X., where et = ei#e, utinam (see for
the construction, 142, 3, a) ; the primary meaning
of bwfn is " he willed" or " let himself be pleased,"
Hiph. of b, to will, to wish (Ges., in Thess.} ; cf. Keil
on Exod. ii. 2 i).
Ver. 8. 3, a particle of entreaty, "Pray" con
tracted from ^3, prayer, rt. ni?3, to ask ; always joined
with "on^ or 3 n^ (Gen. xliii. 20, xliv. 18 ; Exod. iv.
10, 13). " What shall I say after that Israel hath
turned the neck before his enemies ? " ffty ^?n or rus
t$) (ver. 1 2) corresponds to our expression, " to turn
the back," i.e., to flee.
Ver. 9. "All the inhabitants of the land" : Here
probably the Philistines, who were not of Canaanitish
race (Gen. x. 14), but had established themselves in
place of the Avvim, whom they had exterminated
(Deut. ii. 23). 33D, followed by by, means "to sur
round in a hostile manner" (cf. Gen. xix. 4. "And
VERS. 10, ii.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 91
what wilt Thou do to (i.e., with regard to) Thy Great
Name ? " i.e., how wilt Thou preserve it from being
dishonoured among the heathen, who will impute
the destruction of Israel to a want of faithfulness, or
power, on Thy part to fulfil to them Thy promises ?
See a similar plea urged by Moses (Exod. xxxii. I 2 ;
Numb. xiv. 13 ; Deut. ix. 28). The () in the last
syllable of nbyri is regarded by Gesenius as an
Aramaism (see 75,Rem. v., 17). Maurer considers
such forms as instances of a constructive state in
verbs, analogous to that of nouns ending in n , which
in construction become n ( 89, 2, c). Joshua s
piety was shown by this his concern for the Divine
glory, but, at the same time, the despondency and
unbelief, which his complaint and expostulation
evinced, are not to be excused, for he should have
called to mind God s past mercies, and have relied
upon His gracious promises. But here we see how
impartially Holy Scripture records the failings of
good men.
Vers. 10-15 (Jehovah s Answer and Directions to
Joshua]. Ver. 10. ^ (in pause for *fa, 103, 2, a)
gives greater intensity to the verb, nr, "thus" (cf. Gen.
xxv. 22). This reproof on the part of God indicated
that the time spent in fruitless lamentation should be
employed in earnest reformation.
Ver. ii. " Israel hatJi sinned" see on ver. i. D3,
"also;" the repetition of this word before each
clause of the indictment is intended to put their guilt
in the strongest light. " They have transgressed my
covenant" i.e. y the covenant mentioned in Exod. xix.
8, xxiv. 7, in which they had pledged themselves to
obey all the commands f God (cf. Josh. i. 16-18).
92 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vn.
Some, as Drusius, think that the reference is to the
command given with respect to Jericho (vi. 18-19),
and render DJ1. in the next clause " for even " (cf.Auth.
Vers.), but the rendering " and also " marks their dis
obedience with regard to Jericho as one particular
item of their general breach of the covenant. (See
above in this note.) D"}nrr)p, " of the ban" or
" devoted tiling" of which they had been expressly
charged not to take (vi. 18-19). -l^rto DJ1 : , and have
also lied " : Though no denial of the theft is recorded,
yet perhaps Joshua, after the destruction of Jericho,
may have inquired whether the silver and gold, etc.,
had been brought into the treasury of the Lord,
and all else destroyed, and may have been assured
that it had ; or, if no inquiry had been made, the
verb may here denote concealment of what ought
to have been confessed with penitence (Keil after
Schmidt). " A mong their own stuff" (A.V.), or "house
furniture " : This was the climax of their offence,
viz., the appropriation to their own use of what had
been consecrated to God and stolen from Him.
Ver. 12. by t6), " Therefore the sons of Israel
cannot stand," etc. \ often means " therefore " at
the beginning of a sentence, when the reason is
contained in what preceded : see Ges., Lex. (5), p.
235. -13?? syTJJ, "they turn the neck" (cf. ver. 8).
S^rfi *3, "for they have become a devoted thing"
i.e., have fallen under the ban (cf. vi. 18). "Neither
will I be with you any more, unless ye shall
destroy" etc. (cf. St. Paul s address to his Corin
thian converts, I Cor. v. 6, 7, 13; 2 Cor. vi.
17, 1 8).
Ver. 13. Dj5, "arise": Not implying, as in ver. 10,
VER. 14.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 93
that Joshua was still lying on the ground, but inviting
him to activity. " Sanctify the people" i.e., command
them to sanctify, or to purify themselves (cf. iii. 5).
" Thou canst not stand" etc. ; so in our spiritual con
flicts one hidden, unrepented, sin may lead to our
discomfiture.
Ver. 1 4. Dflfli?^, " then ye shall approach" or lit,
"ye shall be brought near " : The same word in Niphal
occurs again in Exod. xxii. 7 only, where it denotes,
as here, an involuntary approach, and is followed by
D n^N-^K, "to God," i.e., to the place where judgment
was given in God s Name. " Which Jehovah shall
take " : As I? 1 ? is used of taking by lot in I Sam.
x. 20, xiv. 42, so probably here ; thus Josephus,
after recording this command of God, says that
Joshua /caret (j)v\r)v K\yjpov (Antiq., lib. v., cap. i.,
1 4). The Hebrew word for " lot " is bnf 3, a stone,
or pebble, which, having a name inscribed on it, was
cast into an urn, whence the expression, " the lot came
up" (Josh, xviii. 1 1) and "came out" (xix. i). From
Prov. xvi. 33 it appears that the lot was thought to
be under the Divine direction. It was used on many
occasions among the Jews, as, e.g., in the apportion
ment of land (Numb. xxvi. 5 5 ; Josh. xiv. 2 [see
note], xviii. 10 ; Acts xiii. 19) ; the appointment of
persons to offices and duties (i Sam. x. 20, 21 ;
Acts i. 24-26 ; cf. Herod., iii., 128, vi., 109); the divi
sion of spoil or captives (Joel iii. 3 ; Nahum iii. 10 ;
Matt, xxvii. 35 ; cf. Xenophon, Cyroped., iv., 5, 55 ;
Thucyd., iii., 50) ; in the settlement of doubtful
questions (Prov. xvi. 33, xviii. 18) ; in the detection
of guilty persons, as here of Achan, of Jonathan
(i Sam. xiv. 41, 42), of Jonah (Jonah i. 7), ,
94 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. VH.
"families"-. From nQK>, to spread out; each tribe
was divided into families, and each family into
houses, and each house into persons (Keil). In
Judges vi. 15, a "thousand" is used as =
" mishpach " (cf. I Sam. x. 19, 21), because the
number of the heads, or chiefs, of the families in a
tribe would, on the average, amount to that number.
(See Keil on Exod. xviii. 25 ; Numb. i. 16).
Ver. 15. D^na an, "he who is taken in (with) the
ban" i.e., he, on whom the lot falls, and who is
thus proved to have stolen what was devoted to God.
fp *^ : The Niph. future is here used as an impers. ac
tive, and followed by the object of the action in the
accus. ( 143, i, a). As it appears from ver. 25 that
Achan was stoned, the burning can refer to his dead
body only. The severity of the penalty was increased
by this treatment of the body after death. " He Jiath
transgressed tJte covenant of Jehovah " (see ver. 1 1 ) :
By his sacrilege he had brought himself under the
ban, ver. 1 2, vi. 1 8, and was justly doomed, like
Jericho, to destruction. " Folly" not only of the mind,
but of the heart ; so in Gen. xxxiv. 7 ; Judges xx. 6 ;
2 Sam. xiii. 12. The expression "wrought folly"
is not found in the later books.
Vers. 16-26 (The Detection of Achan, his Con
fession, and Punishment}. Ver. 1 7. " The family
of Judah " : For the sing. " mishpachath" seven
MSS. (see De Rossi in Append. Varr. Lect., vol.
iv., p. 227) read " mishp e choth" and are followed
by the Sept. and Vulg. Gesenius and Winer say
that it is here used loosely for 03^, but rather,
according to Schmidt and Keil, it denotes col
lectively, or distributively, all the families of Judah.
VER. 18-20.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 95
n|," man by man" : Some MSS. have D^ro?, which
reading is followed by the Aldine edition of the Sept.,
and by the Vulg., also by Dathe, Maurer, Rosenm.,
and others ; but the Alex. Vers. of the Sept. has
KO.T cu Spas, Vat. Kar avSpa, nor is there any reason
to alter the reading in the Hebrew text, since Dl"O^
may denote, not that all individuals composing the
houses, but only their chiefs, were present at the
casting of the lot. So Keil.
Ver. 1 8. " Achan" (see note on ver. i). The
detection of the sin of Achan strikingly displays the
awful omniscience of God, and the truth of the
declaration, " Evil shall hunt the wicked man to
overthrow him " (Psalm cxl. 1 1).
Ver. 1 9. " My son " : Spoken, not ironically, but
sincerely, and showing us that judges, while they
punish offences, ought, as far as justice permits, to
be merciful to the offender. " Give glory . . . and
make confession": A form of adjuration (cf. John
ix. 24), calling on a man to tell the truth. The
confession of Achan would tend to the glory of
God s Omniscience, Truth, and Holiness. rnw,
" confession " (Ges., Lex.}, or praise (Keil), cf. Ezra
x. 1 1 ; but as the latter meaning has been already
expressed by the word TQ3, the former seems
preferable, and the confession would be virtually a
giving of praise to God.
Ver. 20. njpx, "truly" \ Adverb of affirmation
( 150, 3, c. ; cf. Gen. xx. 12). By his confession,
which was full and explicit, without any attempt at
excuse, Achan seems to have been truly penitent,
and therefore, though punished in this life, may have
been rendered happy in the next (see Prov. xxviii. 1 3).
96 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vn.
Ver. 2 i . riKnxi, " and I saw " : The vowels belong
to the apoc. form intheQ e ri, but with "Vav" consec. the
full form without apocope frequently occurs in verbs
rh, especially in the first person (see 75, Rem. i.,
3, e, second par.). Note that the loosely connected
sentences, " thus and thus have I done ; and I saw
. . . and I coveted," etc., exhibit the simplicity of
the Hebrew style (see Ges.,Lex. on the letter 1, p. 233),
and well express the disturbed state of Achan s mind.
" A goodly robe (or cloak) of Shinar " (see Gen. x. i o,
xi. 2). "i$, from TIN, to be wide, a garment worn by
kings on state occasions (Jonah iii. 6), also by prophets
(i Kings xix. 13 ; 2 Kings ii. 13, 14). Shinar was
the plain in which Babylon was situated (Gen. x. i o,
xi. 2). The Sept. renders the term in Isa. xi. 1 1 by
Ba/SvAoma, and in Zech. v. 1 1 by yr\ BaySuXco^o? ;
and so here Aquila, and the Chald., Syr., and Arab.
Versions render y& "IN, " a Babylonish cloak." These
cloaks were not hairy like that mentioned in Zech.
xiii. 4, but smooth, and embroidered with pictures of
men and animals (Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. viii., ch. 48) ;
Sept. \jjL\7)i> iroLKiXijv ; Vulg. " pallium-coccineum."
As Jericho lay in the route from Babylon to the
ports of the Mediterranean, it is not surprising that
articles of commerce from that city, or at least from
the district around (for it cannot be proved that
the garment was undoubtedly Babylonish) should
have been found in it. " Two hundred shekels of
silver" : = ,2$ in English money, if the shekel is
valued at 2s. 6d. The reference is to ttncoined
money, as there is no mention of coined money in
Scripture before the Babylonish captivity. " A tongue
of gold" : Probably a golden ornament shaped like a
VERS. 22, 23.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 97
tongue. The name " lingula " was given by the
Romans to a spoon (Pliny, N. H., xxi., 49), and to
an oblong dagger formed in the shape of a tongue
(Gellius, Noct. Attic., x., 25). Gesenius (Lex.} thinks
that here a bar of gold, resembling a tongue, is
meant ; Vulg., " regula aurea." " Fifty shekels in
respect to its weight " : i.e., = about 2 5 ounces, at
the rate of about half an ounce avoirdupois, or 220
English grains, to the shekel. "And I coveted and
took them " : He first saw, and next coveted, and
next took (cf. the several steps in the sin of Eve,
Gen. iii. 6). D^pp, not merely " hid " (A. V.), but
"buried" as in Gen. xxxv. 4; Exod. ii. 12. Josephus
(Antiq., v., c. I, 10) says that Achan dug a deep
hole, or ditch, in his tent, and put there the Baby
lonish garment and the wedge of gold, supposing
that he should not only be concealed from his fellow-
soldiers, but from God Himself also, ^nxn : The
article prefixed to a noun with a suffix is contrary
to the rule ( no, 2) ;. it may, however, be regarded
as either = a demonstrative pronoun, " that my
tent" (cf. "PypLi, viiL 33, 110, 2, Rem. a), or,
according to Hengstenberg (ChristoL, iii., p. 362),
has lost its force, and become absorbed into the
noun. Hariri, " underneath tliem" i.e., the cloak of
Shinar was probably put on the top, and below it
the tongue of gold, and underneath that the silver.
The fern. suff. is a neuter coll., and refers to all the
stolen property except the silver ; Sept. viroKara)
avraiv.
Ver. 22. r6nfcn, "to the tent" n T , loc. ( 90, 2, a).
Ver. 23. Qi>V?l, "and they placed them": Sept.
avrcu pv means to pour out, and so the
7
98 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vn.
Hiphil form p^ in (see 2 Kings iv. 5) ; but P -yn has
nearly the same meaning as a-yn (Ges., Lex., p. 361),
and signifies here and in 2 Sam. xv. 24, " to place"
or " to set." " Before JeJwvaJi" i.e., before the Taber
nacle, where was the Ark, the seat of the Divine
Presence (cf. vi. 8).
Ver. 24. " The son of Serach" i.e., the great grand
son of Serach (see ver. i). "His sons and Ids
daughters " : Because in Deut xxiv. 1 6 it is forbidden
that children should be put to death for the sin of
their parents, Schulz, Hess, and others, have thought
that Achan s family were merely obliged to be spec
tators of his punishment, that they might take
warning therefrom ; it is probable, however, that
they were privy to his guilt, since the stolen goods
had been hidden in the midst of the tent, and the
fact that the crime of Achan had brought himself
and family and property under the ban, would justly
involve all in the same fate (see ver. 15). Moreover,
it is a principle of God s government, to regard
children as represented in their parents, and parents
in their children ; see the case of Canaan, the son of
.Ham (Gen. ix. 25), and the death of the firstborn of
the Egyptians (Exod. xii.), and confer the declaration
of Jeremiah (Jer. xxxii. i 8). nitrnx] : This and the
two accusatives which follow are used coll. ( 108, i).
i 1 ? . hi 715O, " and all its furniture" The following
words, " and all Israel with him" are to be joined
with \W\\\\ Rj5i, at the beginning of the verse. The
reference is to all Israel as acting by their chiefs
and representatives. " The valley of AcJwr" (i.e., of
trouble). pEy is always translated " valley " by
A. V., rt. Per, to be deep, but used rather of lateral
VER. 25.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 99
extension than depression, like /Baderj av\rj (//., v.,
142), and the expression deep, as opposed to shallow,
house ; thus the word is not applied to ravines, but
to the long broad sweeps sometimes found between
parallel ranges of hills. Such is the valley of
Jezreel, between Gilboa and Little Hermon (Dean
Stanley, 6". and P., Append., p. 481). The valley of
Achor lay to the south or south-west of Jericho, and
was on the north border of Judah (xv. 7), and from the
camp of the Israelites at Gilgal there were probably
ridges to be ascended before the valley could be
reached, hence the use of the word ??gj here. The
name "Achor" is, like "Gilgal" in iv. 19, used
proleptically, or by anticipation (see ver. 26).
Ver. 25. Ul n, " Why hast thou troubled us?"
(Auth. Vers.), or " What trouble hast thou brought upon
us ? " So Ahab was the troubler of Israel (i Kings
xviii. i 8). "A nd all Israel stoned him." Dri, prop, "to
pile " (Gesen.), " to overwhelm with stones" (Syr. and
Arab.) ; frequently in this latter sense in the Penta
teuch ; here followed by two accus. (cf. Levit. xxiv. 2 3),
once with omission of }3X (Levit. xxiv. 14). Achan
only is referred to because the principal offender,
but that all the rest suffered the like punishment is
evident from the occurrence of en s in vers. 24, 25.
Stoning was the ordinary mode of execution among
the Jews (Exod. xvii. 4; Deut. xiii. 10; Luke xx. 6 ;
John x. 3 i ; Acts xiv. 5). " A nd they burned them "
(i.e., after they were dead). The Sept. omits this.
Burning alive does not occur anywhere among the
punishments inflicted by the Jewish law, says Keil
after Michaelis (Mos. R., v., 235), in which case,
however, Levit. xx. 14, xxi. 9 cannot be under-
loo THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vn.
stood without qualification. 1 ! ?i?l?*! (omitted by the
Vulg., as well as by Sept.), "and they pelted them
with stones " : h\)Q, to pelt (Lee), " to overwhelm
with stones," rt. h\M, to be heavy (Ges., Lex),
Michaelis thinks that stoning of the ashes of the
dead is meant ; Knobel, that the clause has been
inserted to prevent any misunderstanding of the
preceding in N ; Keil, that the allusion is to the
heaping of a pile of stones on the dead bodies. If
this latter meaning is here adopted, we must regard
the first clause of ver. 26 as intended to give only
a fuller description of the same fact. The punish
ment thus inflicted for Achan s sin, though terrible,
was not too severe, for by that sin he had robbed
God, and endangered the safety of the whole nation. 1
He had also committed it shortly after his renewal
of his covenant with God by circumcision and the
eating of the Passover, and after the recent proof of
God s power and love to Israel in the overthrow of
Jericho. From his history we may learn especially (i)
the deceitfulness of sin, inasmuch as it never affords
the gratifications expected from it ; (2) the certainty
of its exposure, because nothing can escape the all-
seeing eye of God ; (3) the awful retribution which
often overtakes it in this life, and will certainly do
so in the next, if not averted by repentance, con
fession, and faith in Christ ; (4) its injuriousness to
others as well as to ourselves. " One sinner destroyeth
much good" (Eccles. ix. 18).
1 See note on ver. i. There is an analogy between Achan s
sin and that of Ananias and Sapphira, and the severity of the
punishment in both cases, occurring at the outset of a new
career, was a salutary warning to future generations (cf.
Numb. xv. 32-36; 2 Sam. vi. 6-12).
VER. 26.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 101
Ver. 26. H "a rude cairn," or "pile of
stones " (D jnK. is generally added, as here) roughly
rolled together (Dean Stanley, Sin. and Pal., p. 1 19),
from 7^3, to roll ; it was intended to be a memorial
of the punishment (cf. viii. 29; 2 Sam. xviii. 17).
A like custom prevailed among the Romans (Propert,
i y -> 5> 75). as still among the Arabs. It was not
always a mark of dishonour (Burkhardt, Beduinen,
p. 8 1 ). " Unto this day " (cf. iv. 9, &Oj5, indeterm.
3rd pers., = passive, 137, 3, a). "Ac/tor" (see
ver. 24). The only other places in which the
name is found are xv. 7; Hos. ii. 17 (Heb.); Isa. Ixv.
8, lo. 1
CHAPTER VIII.
VERS. 1-29. The Conquest of Ay.
Ver. I. "Fear not . . . dismayed" (cf. i. 9;
Deut. i. 2 i, xxxi. 8). " All tlie people of war" : Vulg.
" omncm multitudinem pugnatorum ; " as, however,
out of all the fighting men of Reuben, Gad, and the
half-tribe of Manasseh, who were commanded to
cross over Jordan before their brethren (i. 14), the
actual number sent was only 40,000 (iv. 13); so
here the term all may imply not every man capable
of bearing arms, but the army generally, as compared
1 Understood spiritually, every Achor (trouble) becomes "a
door of hope," when it is sanctified by repentance and faith.
Thus, in Achan s case, we may trust that his confession, if
sincere, was followed by pardon, and by happiness in a future
life (see note on ver. 20).
102 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vin.
with the detachment which had been previously sent.
" Go up " : Ay stood on higher ground than Jericho,
but r\hy is also used of the advance of an army
against a fortified place, because such a place was
regarded as a height to be scaled (Keil). " / have
given " (see note vi. 2).
Ver. 2. Only the . . . spoil for a prey" (see note
on vi. 17). 2"jy, used coll., "Hers in wait" from
2"W, to weave, and hence " nectere insidias." "From
behind it" i.e., on its western side, see TfrtN, Isa. ix.
1 1 (12 Auth. Vers.); Job xxiii. 8. On the sanction
given by God to the employment of stratagem in
war, Calvin (as quoted by Keil) remarks, " If war is
lawful at all, it is indisputably right to avail oneself
of those arts by which victory is usually obtained.
It is, of course, understood that neither must treaties
be violated, nor faith broken in any other way."
Ver. 3. " Thirty thousand" : There is difficulty
in reconciling this number with the number five
thousand in ver. 12. Some, as Ewald, Maurer,
and Knobel, unwarrantably assume that vers. 1 2,
1 3 have been inserted from another narrative by
a later editor, who omitted to harmonize them
with ver. 3. Others (Abarbanel, Clericus, etc.)
suppose that there were two distinct companies of
liers-in-wait, an opinion irreconcilable with vers.
9, 12, where the spot in which each was posted
is described as being between Bethel and Ay, and
on the west of Ay. True, Abarbanel conjectures
that, though both ambushes were on the same side
of the city, the smaller was set nearer to it, and was
only intended to skirmish with the enemy when
they came out of the city, while the larger captured
VER. 4.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 103
the city itself ; but in the account of the execution
of Joshua s order (vers. 12, 13, 14, 19) there is
nothing to support this view. IHlN n, in ver. 19,
clearly seems to indicate that there was one ambush
only. Nor is the difficulty solved by supposing,
with Bishops Patrick and Wordsworth, that the
5,000 men were sent as a reinforcement to the
30,000, for so large a force as 30,000, or 35,000,
could hardly have eluded observation while lying in
ambuscade near to, and between, two hostile cities,
apparently for two nights and an intervening day
(vers. 3, 9, 10, 13). Others, as Masius, Rosenmiiller,
and Calvin, conclude that the number 30,000 refers
to the entire army sent against Ay, and the number
5,000 to those placed in ambush. But thus the
words "sent t/iem" in ver. 3, must denote by synec
doche, " sent some of them," a meaning rather forced,
and though the expressions " the people " (ver. 10)
and " all Israel " (ver. 15) need not include every
one capable of bearing arms (see note, ver. i), yet
they would seem to imply a much larger number
than 30,000. On the whole, therefore, the solution
of Keil is, perhaps, the most satisfactory, viz., that
for " thirty thousand " in ver. 3 should be read " five
thousand," the letter b (30) having, by the mistake
of a copyist, been substituted for n (5). That there
is sometimes an inaccuracy in the figures of the
historical books is evident on a comparison of those
in the earlier with those in the later books (see Keil
and Del., Comm., p. 86).
Ver. 4. \y\ -1X1, " see " (or " take heed ") "ye wJio
are about to lie in ambush for tlie city . . . that ye go
not very far" etc. -INI should be construed with the
104 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vin.
words -ip-rprr (Rosenm.). D os;, "prepared" (cf.
Exod. xix. 11, 15), i.e., to rise up and assault the
city.
Ver. 5. "At the first" viz., when the former
attack was made on Ay (vii. 4). -1:531., " then (or
" that ") we will flee" D-13, to flee ; 1. with the apod.
Ver. 6. And tJiey will come out after us": These
words need not be put in a parenthesis, as in the
Auth. Vers. (" for they will come out," etc.) " Until
we have drawn" lit., have torn away, Hiph. infin.
with suffix, see pn:. Render } in the last clause
" and" not " therefore " (Auth. Vers.).
Ver. 7. DPik^ntn, "ye shall occupy" lit, ye shall
make yourselves to possess " (cf. xvii. 12). Hjnp, "will
deliver it" : The perfect denotes, as in ver. i, God s
determinate purpose.
Ver. 8. " When ye shall have taken " : In Deut.
xx. 19, ban is also used of capturing a town. IJV-yri,
"ye shall set on fire" : Hiphil imperfect of ny:, i.g., ny*,
( 7 0> " to set on fi re >" a word not found in the Penta
teuch. " According to the commandment " (word), etc. :
No express command had been given to burn the
city, but it was implied in the command to treat it
like Jericho (ver. 2). In the last clause, " See," etc.,
there is perhaps a covert allusion to the circumstances
of Achan s disobedience.
Ver. 9. Here, as in iv. 8, an account of the
execution of the command follows on that of the
command itself, inx.^n, " tlie place of ambush " : The
prefix B denotes place ( 84, 14). D*p, " on the
west": & is so called, because the Mediterranean Sea
was on the west of Palestine. The exact site of the
ambush cannot be ascertained; but, as between Bethel
VERS. 10, ii.] 7 HE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 105
and Ay rise two rocky heights, it would seem that
the liers-in-wait took their position behind them
(Van de Velde, Narrative, ii., p. 280). This could
not have been far from the site of Abraham s altar
(Gen. xii. 8). "In the midst of the people" i.c., in the
camp, with the rest of the army.
Ver. i o. ip??!, " and reviewed" Sept. eVecrKer//aTo :
Keil supposes that this had really been done before
the despatch of the liers-in-wait, and that the begin
ning of this verse, "And Joshua rose np? is only a
resume of the beginning of ver. 3, further particulars
being added ; there is, however, nothing in ver. 3
which forbids the conclusion that, after Joshua had
despatched the ambuscade, he proceeded, the follow
ing morning, to review the remainder of his forces,
preparatory to their march with him against Ay.
" The elders of Israel" i.e., not as Masius says, " mili
tary tribunes," who were called elders on account of
their superior military skill, but the heads, or repre
sentatives, of the people, who attended Joshua as a
council, and whose presence and authority may have
been necessary to ensure a proper division of the
booty (Numb. xxxi. 27).
Ver. 1 1. ^n Dim : For the construction see 1 10,
2, c, and cf. iii. 14. ^ Jtayp : Construe, state with
prep., i 1 6, i. The Sept. and Arab, for north put
east, as though they had read Dnprp, which, however,
is not found in any of the MSS. ^ni ; , "and the
ravine " (was). N.VL or *O|., and by omission of Aleph,
^, means properly a ravine or gorge, generally trans
lated <a/>ay by the Sept., but " valley " by Auth.
Vers. (passim], rt N$, i.q., rpa, " to flow together,"
because water flows together there (Ges., Lex?) ; or rt.
106 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. viu.
rp| "to break out," whence perhaps the name Gihon
(Stanley s Sin. and Pal., Append.). The article in
dicates that the author is referring to a well-known
locality. Probably the allusion is to the deep and
steep-sided ravine to the north of Tell-el-Hajar (Van
de Velde). 1^3 should probably be pointed T^a (cf.
iii. 4).
Ver. 12. n[3i, "and he took": Masius, Cor. a
Lapid., and others, render as a pluperfect ; but, though
the verb refers to what Joshua had already done
(ver. 3), it should rather be here regarded as a kind
of aorist (Keil), which in the New Testament often
has the force of a pluperfect (Winer, Gram, of New
Test., part iii., sect. xl.). On the discrepancy between
the numbers five thousand here and thirty thousand
in ver. 3. see note above on that verse. Ti6 evidently
refers to Ay, and, therefore, need not be altered to r 1 ?,
to correspond to ver. 9.
Ver. 13. Render, " and so the people posted the
whole camp." DIM may be best regarded as a noun-
collec., and as the subject of the verb ( 146, i ; cf.
Vulg. and Chald.), for, if it was the object, as in the
Syr., Arab., and A. V., having ror]G>rr^3Ti$ in apposi
tion to it, Vis:, the sign of the def. accus,, would hardly
have been omitted (Keil). " And its ambuscade" rt.
2\M, to circumvent, to defraud (Gen. xxvii. 36) ; so in
Psalm xlix. 6. "apl? is rendered " my supplanters "
by Ewald, Hitzig (who refers to this passage), and
Delitzsch, who quotes other like forms. The render
ing of Gesen. and Winer, " its rearguard" cannot be
supported, as they allege, by Gen. xlix. 19. The
word evidently here relates to what had been stated
in ver. 12, and corresponds to 3^fX, in ver. 12.
VERS. 14, 15.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 107
" That night" : Not that in which the liers-in-wait had
been sent out (ver. 9), but that on which Joshua and
the rest of the host had arrived on the north of Ay.
" The valley " (Auth. Vers.) : See note on the Hebrew
word in vii. 24. When Joshua went that night into
the valley, he was no doubt accompanied by a chosen
detachment from his main army, that thus at the
early dawn he might engage the attention of the
enemy, and give them no time to discover the ambush
in their rear.
Ver. 1 4. " When the king of Ay saw " : Either
with his own eyes, or by information from others.
After " saw" the Auth. Vers. supplies " it" viz.,
Joshua and the picked body of troops with him.
"Against" : The Hebrew word always indicates the
going forth to meet an enemy, see Deut. i. 44 ;
Psalm xxxv. 3 (Dean Perowne s critical note).
llttft!?, "at (or "to"} the place appointed" (Ges., Lex.,
and Keil ; cf. I Sam. xx. 35). The reference seems
to be to a spot selected for a concentrated attack.
" Before the plain " (Auth. Vers.) : See iii. 1 6, i.e., at
the entrance of the tract sloping down into the Jordan
valley, and probably the same as the wilderness of
Bethaven (xviii. I 2).
Ver. i 5 . " A nd they feigned themselves to be
beaten " : So Gesen. (Lex.} and Masius, and cf. Auth.
Vers. Niphal has here the signification of Hithpael
( 51,2, f), for that the flight was designed is evident
from ver. 6. " By the way of the zvildcrness " (Auth.
Vers.). "onp properly means " a pasture ground,"
from -O^, to drive (to pasture), cf. the German trift
from treiben. " The idea" (says Dean Stanley) " is that
of a wide open space, with or without actual pasture;
io8 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vin.
the country of the nomads, as distinguished from
that of the agricultural and settled people. With
the article it is generally used for the desert of
Arabia, but sometimes for the barren tracts which
reach into the frontier of Palestine, as in the valley
of the Jordan (Josh. viii. 15), or in the southern
mountains of Judaea (Judges i. 16 ; Gen. xxi. 14)."
Appendix to Sin. and Pal. Here and in vers.
20, 24, it seems to be used for the same region as
the Arabah in ver. 14.
Ver. 1 6. -Ip, lit., "were torn away," i.e., were
completely separated (cf. ver. 6).
Ver. 17. Bx vb, i.e., no one of the fighting men,
for it appears from ver. 24 that some persons were
left in the town. "Bethel" : This name is omitted
in the Sept., but in none of the other ancient versions.
Probably Bethel sent succour to Ay after Joshua s
first attack on the latter (vii.).
Ver. 1 8. nt?3, subau. TT (cf. vers. 19, 26 ; Exod.
viii. i). in 1 "??, with tlie javelin, Sept. iv ro> ycucrw
or " light spear," which is thrown, distinguished from
n^n, which was much heavier (i Sam. xvii. 7). Such
is its meaning in all the other passages where it
occurs, viz., in I Sam. xvii. 6, 45, where, though the
Vulg. renders it " clypeus," as here, and Auth. Vers.
" target," and " shield," it probably denotes a javelin
or spear, which was slung across the shoulders, as
often the sword in like manner (see //., ii., 45) ; so in
Jer. vi. 23, 1. 42 ; Job xxxix. 23, xli. 29. It may
have been furnished on this occasion with a flag at
the extremity, and being light could have been held
for some time without fatigue. Probably Joshua
stood on an eminence to render the signal (the raising
VERS. 19-22.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 109
of which, but not the time, was doubtless preconcerted)
the more visible.
Ver. 19. -irr-V!, for irvv; ( 72, Rem. v., 9), from
n-1, i.q.> nxj, to set on fire.
Ver. 20. D. 1 ^, lit., "two hands," hence metaph.
" strength," as in Psalm Ixxvi. 6, " None of the men
of might have found their hands " ; so the Vulg.,
Chald., Syr., Arab., Jarchi, Drusius, etc. The render
ing " space " or " place " (Calvin, Masius, Clericus,
Ges., Lex.} would require Dr6 for DH3. 1J1 Dtfrn, " and
the people, which was fleeing to the wilderness [ver. 15],
turned back upon the pursuers " : } seems to have here
the force of " for," cf. Ges., Lex. (4).
Ver. 21. "And Joshua" etc.: Since it appears
from ver. 26 that Joshua remained apart from his
troops, holding out his spear till Ay had been
destroyed, Masius thinks that the name Joshua may
be here put for the detachment he had brought into
the valley, and " all Israel " for the rest of the army,
which now came to the aid of its comrades ; but this
supposition is unnecessary, since the mention of
Joshua may merely imply that what was done was
done by his orders. Vers. 21,22 more fully explain
how all escape was cut off from the men of Ay.
Ver. 22. rtao., "and these," viz., the men who had
been placed in ambush (ver. 19), contrasted with the
Israelites who had fled (ver. 20). DnjOj^?, " to -meet
them" i.e., the Israelites, who had turned round to
attack the Ayites (ver. 21). J-fem?, " until not , fol
lowed here, according to Ges. (Lex., p. 124, 3, c), by
a pret., as in Numb. xxi. 35 ; Deut. iii. 3 ; Josh,
x. 33 ; but, rather, in all these passages the verb is
in the Hiph. infin., and the characteristic n has i
no THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. CHAP. vni.
instead of a (cf. tps n, xi. 14 ; yn.n, Jer. 1. 34; Ewald,
Lehrb., 238, d}. ta^Q-l "P"] ^, " a survivor, or one who
has escaped by flight" : Masius thinks that the former
word is = TOV ^yprjOevTa, " one who had been
taken prisoner," a meaning not contained in the rt.
*nb, to escape ; the Sept. correctly renders by crecrwcr-
[ivov KOL StaTre^evyora.
Ver. 24. "In the wilderness" (see ver. 15, note):
Here put in apposition to rn B>3. 13 "i>$, i.e., in which
the men of Ay had chased the Israelites (see vers.
15, 1 6). ^Vi cf. vi. 21 ; the expression always
denotes a great slaughter of the enemy. Dftrrw, lit.,
" unto tlieir finishing" i.e., wholly (Ges., Lex. ; cf. Deut.
xxxi. 24, 30). -1TJ *!, "that all Israel returned unto
Ay" "And they smote it" : viz., all the inhabitants,
old men, women, and children, who had been left in
the town. Cf. ver. 14 for the construction, and iv. I
for the Pisqa in the middle of the verse.
Ver. 25. "All the men of Ay" : This expression
taken in connection with the preceding nearly} E^NO,
shows that the number twelve thousand comprised
the entire population (cf. note vii. 3). No mention is
made of the Bethelites, who probably shared the fate
of those Ayites who were slain outside the town.
Ver. 26. The same custom of not lowering a
signal till the battle was finished prevailed among
other ancient nations : see Suidas in ^/zeta Cquoted
by Rosenm.). Some, however, think that this act of
Joshua, like that of Moses, recorded in Exod. xvii.
1 1, etc., carried with it a Divine efficacy, and was a
means of securing victory to the Israelites (see Poole s
Annot^}.
Ver. 27. They were allowed to take possession
VERS. 28, 29.] THE %OOK OF JOSHUA, m
of the cattle and spoil of Ay, because it was not
the intention of Jehovah to give to His people a
barren and empty land (see Deut. vi. 10, etc.), but in
the case of Jericho the cattle and spoil had been
offered to Jehovah as the firstfruits of the land.
" According unto the word" etc., see ver. 2.
Ver. 28. "Joshua burnt" lit., "absorbed by fire,"
i.e., the town was totally burnt down, whereas before
(see ver. 1 9) it had been only set on fire. D^lir^ri, " a
permanent heap " : 7R from ?^FI, to heap up, occurs
only here and in xi. 13 ; Deut. xiii. 16 ; Jer. xxx.
1 8, xlix. 2, and in the compound names of some
Babylonian cities (Ezek. iii. 15 ; Ezra ii. 59; Neh.
vii. 61). DJpttf, as in Deut. xv. 17 ; i Kings i. 31,
denotes a long time only, for Ay appears to have
been rebuilt, if not on the same site, yet near to it
(see Isa. x. 28 ; Ezra ii. 28 ; Neh. vii. 31).
Ver. 29. "He hanged on the tree" : The def. art.
before }>y denotes the tree selected for the purpose.
n pri means simply "lie suspended" and, therefore, does
not of itself authorize the rendering of the Sept.,
eKpejjLacrev eVi uXov StSu/xou, " he hung on a double
tree " (or wood), i.c., on two transverse pieces of wood,
viz., a cross ; nor that of the Targum of Jonathan,
and Arab. Vers., " he crucified" Hieron. " suspendit
super patibulo." Sometimes, however, the word
yj2fn is used (see Numb. xxv. 4), which means to
rend, tear, or dislocate, and might be applied to im
paling on a cross. Such suspension, whether from
cross or gallows, took place after the penalty of death
had been inflicted, and was used to enhance the dis
grace of the punishment (see Numb. xxv. 4 ; Deut.
xxi. 22, 23). Hanging, or crucifixion, was not a
112 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vm.
mode of execution among the ancient Jews (Light-
foot, Hor. Hebr., in Matt, xxvii. 31). " Until the
eventide" see Deut. xxi. 23. nrtS ^, the Sept. ets
TOV (360pov, may have arisen from a transposition of
letters, viz., nns for nng, or from a wish to assimilate
the rendering to that in 2 Sam. xviii. 17, where nns
is used. 7|i see note on vii. 26. 1
VERS. 30-35. Erection of an Altar on Mount
Ebal, and a Rehearsal of the Blessings and
Curses upon Moimt Gerizim and Mount Ebal,
Though in the Vat. and Aldine copies of the
Sept. this paragraph is inserted after ix. 2, and some
commentators would assign it a place after xi. 3, yet
1 It is not stated in this chapter whether Bethel, which had
taken part with Ay, was at this time taken by Joshua, nor is it
certain that the Bethel in xii. 16 is identical with it (see note
there). " With the conquest of Ai a sure footing in the land,"
Geikie (ffours with the Bible, vol. ii., p. 408, etc.) remarks,
" had been obtained, and such a dread of the invaders excited
among the inhabitants as of itself made them resistless. The
population of Central Palestine seems to have fled before them,
for no intimation of a struggle with them is found either in
Joshua or Judges. Perhaps the subdivision into small com
munities, incapable of prompt united action, may have aided
the general demoralisation, and it is noticeable besides, that
very few fortified towns are mentioned in this region. But the
terrible fate of Jericho and Ai sufficiently account for a universal
panic and abandonment of all, before the advancing Hebrews.
. . . Some of the fugitives seem even to have emigrated to
Africa, if we can trust the statement of Procopius (De Bella
Vandalico, ii., 10) that two marble pillars were to be seen in
the Numidian town Tigisis, with a Phoenician inscription :
We are those who fled from the face of Jesus (Joshua), the
robber, the son of Nun. Suidas states this also ; giving the
words as We are Canaanites, whom Jesus, the robber, drove
out (s. v. Xavadv} ; and the Talmud states that the Girgasites,
driven out by Joshua, wandered to Africa (ferus., Tr. Schebiit,
vi., 36, 3)-"
VER. 30.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 113
there is no proof that it does not here occupy its
original and proper position. We might reasonably
suppose from the terms of the command in Deut
xxvii. 4, 5, that Joshua would take the earliest op
portunity of obeying that command, and such an
opportunity occurred, when the conquest of Ay had
laid open the road to Shechem, and " the terror of
the Lord" (cf. Gen. xxxv. 5) had fallen on the in
habitants of the surrounding country. Moreover, as
Havernick has shown, the distance between Ay and
Ebal was not more than twenty miles, or less than
two days journey (Einleit., ii., I, p. 17).
Ver. 30. TN, followed by an imperf. ( 127, 4, a;
cf. x. 12, xxii. i ; Exod. xv. i). This particle, says
Ewald ( 136, b\ is used in cases where the historian
either wishes to introduce contemporaneous facts,
which do not carry forward the main course of the
history, or loses sight for the time of the strictly his
torical sequence, and simply takes note of the occur
rence of some particular event. " God of Israel " :
The expression indicates that He only, as the true
God, was to be worshipped. " On Mount Ebal " :
In the Samaritan Pentateuch " Gerizim " is read for
Ebal (Deut. xxvii. 4), which reading is followed by
Kennicott, Semler, Colenso, etc., but is opposed to
the Hebrew MSS. and the ancient versions, and
no doubt arose from a wish to give a scriptural
sanction to the Samaritan worship. ^yy means
" void of leaves," from hiv (unused), in Arab., " to
strip a tree of leaves " (Ges., Lex?). Dean Stanley,
however, says that the present aspect of the moun
tain, as compared with Gerizim, is not so barren
as to justify this derivation (Sin. and Pal., ch. v.,
8
114 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vm.
p. 237). It lies to the north of Sichem, in the
tribe of Ephraim, and is about 2,700 feet in height.
The true situation of Ebal and Gerizim is evident
from Deut. xi. 30 (see Stanley s Sin. and Pal.,
pp. 238-9), where it is shown that the opinion of
Jerome (which had been before held by Eusebius,
Procopius, and Epiphanius), that these mountains
were near Jericho, cannot be sustained. As Ebal
was the mount of cursing, the altar may have been
erected there, rather than on Gerizim, to signify that
by Christ, our true altar, the curse of the Law is
removed.
Ver. 3 i . The words " as Moses .... law of
Moses " form a parenthesis, and n??p in the next
clause must be joined to the preceding verse, e.g.,
"an altar (I say) of" etc. niB^, lit. "sound" i.e.,
stones which had been un violated by any tool, rough,
unhewn. " On which no one hath lifted lip (lit. hath
shaken) [any] iron": See Exod. xx. 22 (25, Auth.
Vers.) ; Deut. xxvii. 5. fpn, with indeter. nomi
native ( 137, 3)- The reason of this command
probably was that no image or figure might be carved
on the stones and afterwards worshipped. " Burnt-
offerings " : n^ y means " what ascends," i.e., in smoke
and fragrance ; hence sometimes called ^3, because
the whole victim was consumed, Sept. oXo/cavrwjaa.
Here these burnt-offerings were symbolic of the
dedication of the whole nation to the service of God.
" Peace-offerings" offered in thanksgiving (Levit. vii.
12) to God for bringing them to the Promised Land.
These burnt-offerings and peace-offerings had been
enjoined (Deut. xxvii. 6, 7).
Ver. 32. in?."!, *, Qamets-chatuph for i before
VER. 32.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 115
Maqqeph, 47, 3, Rem. I. " The stones" not of the
altar (ver. 30), as Josephus (Antiq., iv., 8, 44), the
Syr. Vers., Maurer, Rosenm., but the great stones
mentioned in Deut. xxvii. 2, 4, and which are clearly
distinct from those of the altar afterwards mentioned
in ver. 5. The fact that the setting up of the
former, and the plastering of them with plaster, is
not recorded in the brief narrative here before us,
but apparently assumed as a matter of course, it
having been so expressly enjoined by Moses, pro
bably led to the above error ; cf. John xxi., where
" tJie stone " is that mentioned, not by John himself,
but by the other Evangelists, and which, therefore,
John deemed it sufficient to allude to as already
well known. Evidently the Book of Deuteronomy
had been written before the time of Joshua, nj&pp,
properly " a duplicate or repetition of " (cf. Deut.
xvii. 1 8), Sept. Alex., TO Sevrepovofjuov, Vulg.
Deuteronomion. The meaning here has been much
disputed. According to Cor. a Lapid. the whole of
Deuteronomy was inscribed, which is very unlikely.
Keil, in his earlier commentary, supposes with Vater
and Hengstenberg that the commandments (not the
exhortations by which they were enforced) from
Deut. iv. to xxvi. 19, called the second Law, are
here meant ; others, as Grotius and Kennicott, " the
Decalogue " : Masius, Maurer, and Rosenm., the
curses and blessings which had just been pronounced
(so Josephus, Antiq., iv., 8, 44), which opinion
Bishop Patrick, on Deut. xxvii., thinks not impro
bable, as in those curses and blessings several select
precepts are cited, and the last of them seems to
respect the whole law of Moses (Deut. xxvii. 26).
n6 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. vnr.
But neither of these two latter views accords with
the expression " all the words of this law " in
Deut. xxvii. 3, nor would the " large stones " (ver. 2)
have been necessary to contain either the " Deca
logue " or " the blessings and cursings." The choice,
therefore, seems to lie between the view of Vater
and Hengstenberg given above, and that of Micha-
elis (Laws of Moses, ii., 60), Knobel on Deut.
xxvii. i, and of Keil on Deut. xxvii. 3, viz., that
all the legal enactments (not the historical, didactic,
ethnological, nor any other legislative matter) con
tained in the Pentateuch were inscribed, a thing not
impossible, as we know not the number of the large
stones.
Ver. 33. "All Israel" i.e., all the congregation
above twenty years old, and not merely their
representatives who are next mentioned. CPIp y,
(were) " standing " : The Sept. has TrapeTropevovro, as
though it had read Dn^y. " On this side and on that
of the ark" i.e., the ark was between them in the
valley, near to Shechem. " Priests and Levites" viz.,
those of the Levites who were priests, for the rest of
the tribe are mentioned in Deut. xxvii. 12 as among
the six tribes who stood on Mount Gerizim. " As
well tJie stranger" i.e., the proselyte (cf. ver. 35). "As
the native " : The term rnjs denotes primarily, accord
ing to Gesenius, " a native tree," from rnr, to shoot
forth. ^W^X, " over against " (Auth. Vers.), which
may be understood as meaning that six tribes stood
on Mount Ebal, and six tribes on Gerizim over against
Ebal ; so Poole (on Deut. xxvii. 1 2) ; but Ges. (Lex.}
" tozvards" Sept. Trkrjcriov, Vulg. juxta. The prepo
sition used in Deut. xxvii. 12 is ^y upon (A. V.),
V:R. 34.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 117
which might also be translated " nigh," or " beside."
It is evident that, whether they stood on the top or
slopes of the mountain, half of the tribes were ranged
on the side of Sichem towards Gerizim, and half on
that towards Ebal. Gerizim was to the south of
Sichem, and rather less high than Ebal. Gesenius
derives it from <-n|, "dwellers in a shorn (i.e., desert)
land," from na. to cut off; perhaps the tribe subdued
by David (i Sam. xxvii. 8 ; Stanley, Sin. and Pa/.,
p. 237). The sides of both Ebal and Gerizim, as
seen from the valley between, are alike bare and
sterile, the only exception in favour of the latter
being a small ravine coming down opposite the west
end of the town, which is full of fountains and trees
(Robinson s Pal., iii., 96-7). Gerizim may have been
chosen as the mount of blessing, because situated in
the south, the sunny region, symbolical of blessing ;
and Ebal, for the contrary reason, as the mount of
cursing. f Vnn, for the art see note on ha-Ooli, vii.
21. nib^oa should be construed with njy, for Moses
had given this command as early as Deut. xi. 29.
Tpli p : The blessing is mentioned and not the cursing,
because the former concerned the whole people, and
was what God chiefly designed in giving the Law : if
they fell under the curse, the fault was their own.
Ver. 34. p ^QNi., "and after it had been so done,"
i.e., after the altar had been erected, and the people
had taken the places assigned to them. &O, lit. cried
out, proclaimed, and hence, " recited," or " read
aloud ; " here it probably means he caused to be read
by the Levitical priests. " The blessing and tJie curse":
Apparently put in apposition to the preceding " all
the words of the Laiu; " but whether limited to the
ii8 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. ix.
blessings and cursings in Deut. xxvii., xxviii., de
pends on the extent here assigned to the term Law
(see note, ver. 32).
Ver. 35. b ^>nj? differs from V\ nil?, which meant
the congregation represented by its elders (see Keil,
Exod. xii. 3, 21). Here are included not only men
but women, etc. If this vast multitude was assem
bled on the lower slopes of Ebal and Gerizim, they
probably heard without difficulty the reading of the
Law, especially as in a clear atmosphere, like that
of Palestine, sound travels far. 1
With vers. 33, 34 of this chapter cf. Luke vi.
20-26, where the blessing and curse are set over
against one another.
CHAPTER IX.
Vers. i and 2 are introductory to chapters ix.,
x., xi. The war, which had hitherto been limited
to attacks on single cities, was now to be waged
by the Israelites against their enemies in combi
nation, first in the south, secondly in the north of
Canaan.
1 In Tristram s Land of Israel, p. 152, it is said, " A
single voice might be heard by many thousands, shut in and
conveyed up and down by the enclosing hills. In the early
morning we could not only see from Gerizim a man driving
his ass down a path on Mount Ebal, but could hear every
word he uttered, as he urged it ; and in order to test the
matter more certainly, on a subsequent occasion two of our
party stationed themselves on opposite sides of the valley, and
with perfect ease recited the commandments antiphonally."
VER. I.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 119
VERS. 1-2. The First League of the Canaanites
against Israel,
This included the inhabitants of the land to the
utmost western and northern borders, though, owing
to subsequent events, detailed in this chapter, it
became limited at first to a confederacy of five kings
in Southern Canaan.
Vers. i. ybtps, the object, which is omitted, may
be easily supplied, viz., what Joshua had done to
Jericho and Ay. n "ill??, here applied to the west
of Jordan, as in v. I, but with the omission of nsj.
"ina, "in the hill country cf. Numb. xiii. 17 ; Deut.
i. 7 ; not limited to the mountains of Judah, but em
bracing the hill country of southern and central
Canaan. It commenced a few miles below Hebron,
and extended to the plain of Jezreel, going out in a
north-westerly direction to the headland of Carmel.
PDj^pa, " in the plain " or " low country" from ^3>, to
be low, always found with the definite article as the
designation of the maritime plain of Philistia, except
in Josh. xi. 1 6 (" the valley of the same ") where it
seems to be used of the tract of Sharon, fjfn, " coast"
or " shore" from &)3n, to rub off, to wash off. It is
used in poetry only, with the exception of this place
and Deut. i. 7 (see Gen. xlix. 13 ; Judges v. 17 ;
Jer. xlvii. 7 ; Ezek. xxv. 1 6). " Over against " (or
towards) Lebanon! The Sept. and the Vulg. suppose
an omission of the copulative \, and the former renders
/ecu ot rrpos rto Ai>TiXi/3dVaj, the latter " hi quoque,
qui habitabant juxta Libanum ; " but the words in
the Hebrew are only added to define the line of the
sea coast more accurately, and the reference is to the
120 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. ix.
coast of North Galilee and Phoenicia. " The Hittite "
(see note, iii. i o) : The Girgashites mentioned in this
latter passage are here omitted, perhaps because a
very small tribe. The name, however, is found in
many copies of the Sept.
Ver. 2. &rna, " with one mouth" or " voice" i.e., with
one accord (cf. I Kings xxii. 13; 2 Chron. xviii. 1 2),
adverb, accus. ( 118, 3).
VERS. 3-15. The Craft of the Gibeonites by which
they obtain a Separate Peace with Israel.
Ver. 3. jfr?|, rt. ina, to be high, situated, according
to its name, on a hill, and forty stadia from Jeru
salem (Josephus, Antiq., vii., II, 7), fifty stadia,
according to his Bell. Jud., ii., 119. Eusebius says
that in his time it still went under its old name, and
was four miles west from Bethel. It was a city of
the Hivites (ver. 7), though said, in 2 Sam. xxi. 2,
to be of the " remnant of the Amorites," because
the Amorites, being a principal nation of Canaan,
these denote the Canaanites in general (cf. Deut. i. 7).
It is described in x. 2 as a great city, because the
head of the powerful Hivite league, and the key of
the pass of Bethhoron, and, though not under royal
government, equal in rank to one of the royal cities,
celebrated for its strength, and the wisdom of its
inhabitants (ix. 4, x. 2). Its government under the
Hittites was republican, whence the expression " the
inhabitants of Gibeon " (ix. 3), and " our elders" and
" all the inJiabitants of our country" (ver. 1 1). In
league with it, and under the same government,
were four other cities (ver. 17). It was afterwards
assigned to the tribe of Benjamin (xviii. 25), and to
VER. 4.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 121
the priests (xxi. 17) ; hard by it was the "great high
place" (i Kings iii. 4, ix. 252 Chron. i. 3, 13),
whither the Tabernacle after the destruction of Nob
by Saul was brought (i Chron. xxi. 29, 30), and
which "high place" is probably identical with the
lofty height of Nebi- Samuel, towering immediately
over El-jib^ the modern name of Gibeon (Stanley,
Sin. and Pal. , ch. iv., pp. 215-16).
Ver. 4. Dj, "also" (not translated in the Auth.
Vers.) is emphatic, and refers to what Joshua had
done (ver. 3), for, though Jericho was not taken by
stratagem, as Ay had been, yet the Gibeonites may
have imputed its capture to surprise, and resolved,
therefore, themselves to deal craftily ; Sept. /cat
itroirjo-oiv /cat ye avrot juera iravovpyias. -li lpy?,
Hithp. (n transposed and changed into to, 54, 2, a),
from "1% not elsewhere used as a verb, " to go round
in a circle," whence "vy, a hinge, or, as in Arabic, "to
go," whence "vy, a messenger (Ges., Lex?), and, as Hith-
pael, sometimes implies simulation ( 54, 3), hence
the A. V., " made as if they had been ambassadors"
or rather (as they actually were ambassadors, and
only feigned that they had come from a distant land),
" made themselves ambassadors" i.e., acted as such ;
Keil, " set out as ambassadors" The ancient versions
appear to have read -iTcy?, " they furnished themselves
with victuals" denom. from rn% provision for a
journey" which rendering Gesenius (Lex?) and others
prefer : it is, however, unnecessary here, and may
have arisen from the occurrence of the same word in
1 Jib in Arabic is merely a contraction of the Hebrew
Gibean (Kitto s Cyclop.}.
122 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. ix.
ver. 12. D^f, "worn out" or "decayed" from r6a, to
fall away. The sacks were used to carry provisions
and baggage, because inns being then unknown,
travellers took with them what things they needed.
ItO for "ffcO, a skin in which water is brought, i.q., non
in Gen. xxi. 14, 15, 19 (rt. nw [unused], Arabic, to
give forth water), noun masc. with fern. term, in the
plur., but retaining the gender of the sing, (see 87, 4) ;
hence here nnX3 is followed by three adjectives in
the masc. " Torn and bound together " : The latter
word in Hebrew, from *ny, " to bind together," has
reference to the mode of mending shoes by tying the
rents together, which was generally adopted when
there was not time to put in a patch.
Ver. 5. rr6l^, a form used here only (Ges., Lex?) ;
on btfj, see v. 15. fiN^D, Pual intens., "strongly
patched up" Symm. eTrt^X^/xara e^o^ra, Sept. /ca/ra-
TreTreX/xarwjOteW, " patched in the soles," from Tre A/xa,
a sole : " clouted " (Auth. Vers.), which also here
means " patched," being derived from the Anglo-
Saxon " clut," a clout or rag ; not " nailed," from the
French " clou," a nail. niD^, by transp. for rv6l?>
Sept. fyicma, were outer garments, and sometimes the
term is used for clothes in general, as in Gen. xxxv.
2 ; Exod. iii. 22, etc. Travellers who were poor
were obliged to perform much of their journey on
foot, even though they had asses for their baggage,
and this would account for the worn condition of the
shoes and clothes of these Gibeonites. D l.iM, "marked
with points (or little spots}" used of sheep and goats,
Ges. xxx. 32, etc., rt. "ij53, to prick or mark with
points. Some, as Kimchi, think that the term refers
to spots of mould, Sept. apros eupcurtwv /cat
VER. 6.J THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 123
s, " bread, mouldy and corrupt ; " Theod., aprot
ot : others, as Keil, " crumbled; " Aquila,
a/oros e i/>a^vpajjLteVos ; Vulg., " panes in frusta com-
minuti ; " so Gesen. (Lex?). The Auth. Vers. " dry
and mouldy" well conveys the sense. Kitto remarks
that the bread commonly used in the East is
calculated to last only for the day on which it is
baked ; and in a day or two more it becomes ex
ceedingly hard and unfit for use. But besides this
sort of bread there is another, which will keep a con
siderable time, though it ultimately becomes hard
and mouldy, and the use of this latter sort is almost
exclusively confined to travellers. " It is a kind of
biscuit, usually made in the shape of large rings,
nearly an inch thick, and four or five inches in
diameter. The bread is, when new, very firm, and
rather crisp when broken ; but not being so well
prepared as our biscuits, it becomes gradually harder,
and at last mouldy from the moisture, which the
baking had left in it. In general, it is seldom used
till previously soaked in water. The bread of the
Gibeonites may have been something of this sort "
(I II us t. Family Bible).
Ver. 6. In the Hebrew, " Gilgal " is put in appos.
to "the camp." A few MSS. read r6|^|n, with n
parag. Keil thinks that this is not the Gilgal
near Jericho, but another between Jerusalem and
Shechem, near Mount Ebal and Gerizim (see Deut.
xi. 30), now known as Jiljilia : it seems, however,
strange that, after Gilgal has always in the preced
ing chapters denoted the Gilgal near Jericho, it
should in chapters ix., x. refer to another town,
without any intimation to that effect. It is true
124 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. ix.
that the Gilgal near Jericho, at the south-east corner
of the land, may not have been advantageously
situated for the conquest of central and northern
Palestine, but the holy associations connected with
it as the spot where the twelve Memorial Stones had
been set up, Circumcision renewed, and the Pass
over kept, are strong reasons for concluding that it
continued the headquarters of Joshua during the
early part of the conquest (see Smith s Diet, of
the Bible, vol. i., p. 700). &?? BN, used collectively
as in the next verse, perhaps, however, not the same
as I??, but here meaning the principal men of
the congregation, for K"X sometimes refers to
eminence or rank [Psalm iv. 2 (3), xlix. 2 (3),
Ixii. 9 (10)] ; and that this is the force of the term
here may be gathered from vers. 15, 1 8, 19, 21.
" From a far country" and, therefore (as they would
insinuate), they stood on a different footing from the
Canaanites (see Deut. xx. 1 1). " Make ye a league
with us " (Auth. Ver.), n*}3 refers to the slaying and
dividing of the victims in making a covenant (Gen.
xv. 10) ; cf. op/act repveiv, II., B., 124, F., 25 2, and
Latin fcedus ferire.
Ver. 7. E^N, coll., cf. ver. 6, and hence the verb is
in the plur. ( 146, i). The suffix in ^anj?? is also
collec. "And how shall I make a league with you ? "
The allusion is to the prohibition in Exod. xxiii. 32-3 ;
Deut. vii. 2. Note that the Q e ri has Tn:?$ for the
K e thibh -ni-pK, because, according to the accentuation,
Cholem (o) is changed by Maqqeph into chamets-
chatuph (6) (see 16 with 27, i).
Ver. 8. " We (are) thy servants " : Probably only
an expression of obsequious courtesy, usual in the
VERS. 9-12.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 125
East, for they wished not to submit themselves to
Joshua, but only to make a treaty with him. *p used
in reference to the plur. ( 122, 3). " Whence may
you have come?" The imperfect (ison), says Maurer,
is here used out of modesty and politeness (cf. Judges
xvii. 9, xix. 1 7), whereas the perfect is used when the
question is asked emphatically and sternly, as in Gen.
xvi. 8, xlii. 7, " Whence have ye come ? " (Heb. DHN3).
Vers. 9, 10. Dg^>, according to Masius, Junius,
.and Tremellius, " unto the name" i.e., they were come
to profess it, and embrace the religion of the
Israelites ; but rather, " on account of tlie name" h
expresses the cause or object with reference to which
anything has been done (Ewald, Lehrb., p. 4 1 i) : what
is here signified by the " name " of Jehovah is ex
plained by what follows, viz., the fame of Him and
all that He did in Egypt, etc. With ver. I o cf. ii.
10, Numb. xxi. 21, etc., 33, etc. "AsJitaroth" a city
of Bashan, in which Og dwelt (Deut. i. 4), called after
the Assyrian goddess Ashtoreth (the Astarte of the
Greeks and Romans), who was there worshipped.
This city was assigned by Moses to the half-tribe of
Manasseh (Josh. xiii. 29-31). Some identify it with
Ashtaroth Karnaim (Gen. xiv. 5), but see Smith s
Diet, of the Bible, vol. i., p. 122. The ambassadors
wisely abstain from mentioning what had really
alarmed them, viz., the overthrow of Jericho and Ay,
for to have betrayed their knowledge of such recent
events would have awakened suspicion.
Ver. 1 1 . " Our elders, i.e., the leaders of our
republic (see note, ver. 3).
Ver. 12. ijoob ru, "this bread of ours" sc., look
at it (Keil). nr, without the article, and prefixed to a
126 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. ix.
noun, is emphatically demonstrative [Ges., Lex. ; cf.
ver. 13 ; Exod. xxxii. i ; Psalm xlviii. 14 (15),
Ixxviii. 8 (9)]. -"OTtpyn, " we took as provision" denom.
of TV, " provision for a journey." B for n transposed
( 54, 2, a\ cf. ver. 4).
Ver. i 3 (cf. vers. 4, 5). In the last clause, "by reason
of the very great length of the way " : T sp has here the
force of an adjective (cf. Isa. xlvii. 9).
Ver. 14. " And the men (i.e., the elders of Israel,
vers. 1 8-2 1 ) took of their provision" either to test
its quality by tasting it, or rather in token of friend
ship (cf. Gen. xxvi. 30, xxxi. 46). " But inquired
not at the mouth of Jehovah" as they ought to have
done, viz., by means of the Urim and Thummim of
the High Priest (Numb, xxvii. 21). Not only priests,
but prophets are called " the mouth of Jehovah "
(see Isa. xxx. 2 ; Jer. xv. 19). From this neglect of
the princes of Israel to consult the Urim and Thum
mim, Christians may learn their own duty to consult
" the lively oracles of God," and thereby to try the
claims of any who call themselves God s messengers
(see i John iv. i).
Ver. 15. or6 b>iw, " and Joshua granted to them
peace" (see Ges., Lex., 2, i, p. 658), " and made a
covenant with them;" Dr6, dat. commodi, "m their
favour" " To let them live " : There may have been
other articles of the covenant, but this is mentioned
as the principal, and because these Gibeonites, being
Canaanites, ought to have been destroyed (Deut. xx.
1 6, 17). The word rm, which occurs fifteen times
in this book, means literally " an appointed meeting,"
from niT", to appoint ; and is generally rendered
ri (Sept.), " congregation " (Auth. Vers.).
VERS. 16, 17.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 127
VERS. 16-27. TJie Discovery and Punishment
of their Fraud.
Ver. 1 6. The sing, suffixes in V^N and f2~ip? are
collec., and refer to the Israelites.
Ver. 17. " On the third day" viz., after the dis
covery of the deception which had been practised
on them. Gibeon was less than three days journey
from Gilgal, and on a subsequent occasion Joshua, by
a forced march, accomplished the distance in a single
night (x. 9), but now there was no necessity for hurry,
and Eastern armies and caravans are proverbially
slow in their movements (see Stanley s Sin. and Pal.,
p. 219) ; yet had the Gilgal here mentioned been
that near to Bethel (see on ver. 6), it would not
have been easy to account for the time spent in the
journey. Hak-K e phirah (lit. the village or hamlet,
rt. "iS3, to cover, to shelter), situated eight or nine
miles west of Gibeon, afterwards assigned, together
with Gibeon and Beeroth, to Benjamin (xviii. 25, 26),
now Kefir, two miles east of Yalo. Its inhabitants,
and those of Beeroth and Kirjathjearim, are men
tioned among those who returned from Babylon
(Ezra ii. 25 ; Neh. vii. 29). " B e eroth" lit. "wells,"
from 1N2, to dig, to bore, for the wells in Palestine
were deep holes bored far under the rocky surface by
the art of man (Sin. and Pal., p. 147), allotted to
Benjamin (xviii. 25) ; the murderers of Ishbosheth
dwelt there (2 Sam. iv. 2). It is said in the legends
of Palestine to have been the place where the parents
of the child Jesus discovered that He was not in their
company (Luke ii. 43-45), now called El-Bireh, the
customary resting-place at this day for caravans going
128 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. ix.
northward, at the end of the first day s journey from
Jerusalem (Sin. and Pal., p. 215), "Qiryatky* arm"
(city of woods), called Baalah and Qir-yath-baal,
perhaps because sacred to the worship of Baal (xv. 9,
60, xviii. 14), apportioned to the tribe of Judah (xv.
60) ; hither the ark was removed from Bethshemesh,
and there remained twenty years (i Sam. vi. 20, 21,
vii. 2), whence it was transferred by David to the
house of Obededom (2 Sam. vi. 2, 10), an event
probably alluded to in Psalm cxxxii. 6. It is
situated about ten miles north-west of Jerusalem
(Eusebius and Jerome, Onoinas^), and is perhaps
identical with the modern Kuriet el Enab, the city
of grapes (Grove, Art. in Smith s Bib. Diet. ; Rob.,
Bib. Res., ii., 3 3 4- 3 3 6 I Kei1 )-
Ver. 1 8. 0*3 iTX 1 ? 1 !, "and the Israelites smote them
not" i.e., killed them not by the sword. W.*j, " and
all the congregation murmured" : }>h, to tarry, to con
tinue, and hence, in Niphal, to show oneself obsti
nate, to murmur, to complain, the signification of
remaining and persisting being applied in a bad sense
(Ges.). Elsewhere, the word in Niphal occurs in
Exodus and Numbers only (see Exod. xv. 24, xiv. 2;
Numb. xiv. 2, xvii. 6). The cause of the murmuring
on this occasion may not have been disappointment
of anticipated revenge and booty, but a fear of the
Divine displeasure for sparing these Canaanites (see
i Sam. xv. 1 1).
Ver. 19. | in;, " to touch" but here "to injure" as
in Gen. xxvi. 1 1 ; Zech. ii. 1 2 (8, Auth. Vers.). Some,
as Masius, Munster, and Calvin, have said that the
oath of the princes was not binding, the Gibeonites
having deceived them ; but Bishop Sanderson (Prtzlec.,
VERS. 20, 21.] THE BOOK Ofi JOSHUA. 129
ii. and iv.), Cor. a Lap., Keil, and others, have judged
otherwise, for the oath, though illegal, was not to do
a thing in itself illegal, i.e., always and absolutely
forbidden, such, e.g., as murder. Had the oath not
been kept, the Israelites would have been charged
with perfidy, and the name of God have been dis
honoured among the heathen. The whole question,
too, is set at rest by the fact, that God prospered the
arms of Israel in defence of the Gibeonites (cf. x. 8),
and at a later period exacted satisfaction from the
descendants of Saul, because he had violated this
oath (2 Sam. xxi. i).
Ver. 20. rvqn, Hiph. infin. absol., used empha
tically for the finite verb in the fut., " will let them
live" ( 131, 4, a). ft6j, " tJiat zvrath may not come
upon its." " On account of the oath " (cf. Matt. xiv. 9,
Ver. 21. "Unto tJiem" i.e., to the Israelites.
" Let them live" emphatic imper. -vriM, " and so tJiey
became" 1, 49, 2. Our Auth. Vers. renders "but
let them be" and so Masius after the Sept. ; but this
would require vrn., or vni. ( 126, 6, c). The pre
ceding sentence is called by the Hebrews 2$\) SO,?p,
" an abbreviated discourse." Thus Kimchi supplies
after " let them live," the words " and let them become
hewers of wood " : so the Sept. and Arab, versions.
vn i, therefore, merely describes the final issue, or
result, of the deliberations of the princes ; cf. i Kings
xv. 22, where the execution of a command is re
lated, but without previous mention of the terms of
that command. " To all the congregation" i.e., in
their collective capacity as a congregation of the
Lord (Numb, xxvii. 17). The Gibeonites were not
9
130 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. ix.
reduced to domestic slavery, but were the servants of
the Levites (and thus indirectly of the congregation)
by discharging for them the more laborious duties of
the Sanctuary. By this measure the Gibeonites were
disabled from tempting the Israelites to idolatry, the
danger from which was assigned as a special reason
for destroying the Canaanites (Deut. vii. 2, 4). It
would seem from Exod. xii. 48 that they must have
been circumcised, and from Deut. xxix. I I that they
were admitted to a share in the covenant of God with
His people. They were also an emblem and pledge
of the reception of the Gentiles into the Church of
God. Thus the curse of slavery, which fell on them
as descendants of Ham (Gen. ix. 25), was turned to a
blessing, srb, " concerning them" i.e., the Gibeonites.
With this meaning of b, cf. Gen. xx. I 3, v npx, " say
concerning me .
Vers. 22, 23 (Joshua here announces to the
Gibeonites the determination which the princes of
the congregation had come to concerning them).
Ver. 23. l?y fc6l : , "and there shall not be cut off
from you a slave," i.e., there shall not fail from you a
slave, ye shall be slaves for ever (cf. 2 Sam. iii. 29 ;
I Kings ii. 4). "I3J? is here used collec. for "slaves ; "
the following } is explicative ( 155, r > a ) 2n d par.),
" and that as ^woodcutters and water-drawers 1 These
were the lowest class of slaves (Deut. xxix. 1 1)
" For the house of my God" i.e., for the Tabernacle,
and afterwards for the Temple.
Ver. 24. " // was certainly told" : The absolute,
infin. (in the Hebrew) before the verb expresses in
tensity ( 137,3, a). For the (..) in the final syllable
of *^n see 53, 3, 10, and with that in the final
VER. 27.] THE BOOK OP JOSHUA. 131
syllable of nb y:, cf. vii. 9 (note). It is evident from
this verse that the motive which had actuated the
Gibeonites \vasfear, not any religious feeling such as
had prompted Rachabh (ii. 9, etc.).
Ver. 27. D3Jji>i, "and Joshua made (or "appointed")
than," Sept. /carecrr^cre^ avrovs : jnj sometimes =
D i2> (Ges., Z^r., 3, a, p. 573). Some think that there
fore they were from the first called Nethinim {given
or dedicated], but this title does not appear to have
been assigned to them till the reign of David (see
Ezra viii. 20), who probably enrolled among them
other captives taken in war. "For tJie congregation":
see note on ver. 21. n3|p ! ? is added to define more
accurately their service as a religious one. Dlpsrr^x,
" to the place " ; grammatically dependent on fro, but
not implying that Joshua sent them at once thither,
but assigned them to it as soon as it should have
been chosen by God. nrp-"Kr& " ivhicJi He (Jehovah)
should (or shall) choose " : The preceding words " unto
this day " show that, when this book was written, no
place had yet been definitely chosen (so Keil) ; but
as Shiloh, where after the subjugation of Canaan the
Tabernacle was set up (Josh, xviii. i), is expressly
called by God " My place, where I set My name at
first" (Jer. vii. 12), there is no reason to think that
the Gibeonites were not employed in their office till
Solomon s Temple had been built.
132 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
CHAPTER X.
VERS. 1-27. The Defection of t/ie Gibeonites causes
Five Kings in their Neighbourhood to Combine
against them. Joshua succours t/icm, and gains
a Great Victory over the Five Kings.
Ver. i. " Adonizedek," lit. "lord of righteous
ness," cf. Mclchizedec, " king of righteousness," pro
bably an official title, as Pharaoh and Ptolemy of the
Egyptian kings. p?^"l* : See for the etymology and
orthography Ges., Lex., p. 367, and Smith s Diet, of
the Bible, p. 981. The name occurs here in the Old
Testament for the first time ; anciently the city was
called D^ (Gen. xiv. 18 ; Psalm Ixxvi. 3 [2]), where
some think that the first half of the compound name
is dropped, for brevity s sake, as nnp for Dnyn njni?
(Josh, xviii. 28). It was allotted to Benjamin (xviii.
28), but stood on the edge of the territory of Judah (xv.
8), by whom the lower part of the city was conquered
after Joshua s death (Judges i. 8, with Joseph., Antiq.,
v., 2, 2). The upper city and the citadel remained
in the hands of the Jebusites, the ancient inhabitants,
who not only could not be expelled by the men of
Judah and Benjamin (Josh. xv. 63 ; Judges i. 21),
but seem to have so far gradually gained possession
of the whole place, that it was called Jebus in the
time of the Judges (Judges xix. 10-12) ; they were
finally expelled in the reign of David (2 Sam. v. 6-9).
Before TJ X.2 repeat ^ with 1., " and that." -v^fi, " and
were in the midst of them," i.e., were living among
them on friendly terms.
VERS. 2, 3.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 133
Ver. 2. -lX"p, " Then (or "that") they (i.e., Adoni-
zedec and his subjects) feared exceedingly." ">3,
" because Gibeon was a great city" etc. : See note on
ix. 3. The fact that so powerful a city should have
been induced to make a league with Israel showed
how formidable the latter people must be.
Ver. 3. The names of the kings mentioned in
this verse were probably characteristic, e.g., Ho-ham
(probably for Dflfrv, " whom Jehovah drives," Ges.,
Lex.} ; Pir-am (" the wild ass," rt. &nf, to run swiftly) ;
Ya-phi-a ^ (splendid) ; D e bJdr (the writer). Their
respective cities were (i) Hebron (Chebh-ron), a city
of Judah (Josh. xv. 54), situated among the moun
tains (xx. 7), and built seven years before Zoan in
Egypt (Numb. xiii. 22). The name signified com
munity or society, from "on, " to join together," and it
was the earliest seat of civilisation in Palestine,
where Abraham and the patriarchs had their first
home and abiding settlement (Gen. xiii. 1 8, xxxv.
27). It was called Kirjath-arba (Gen. xxiii. 2), or
" the city of Arba," from Arba, the progenitor of the
giants Anakim (Josh. xxi. i I, xv. 13, 14) ; afterwards
it came into the hands of the Chittites, and was
governed by Ephron the Chittite (Gen. xxiii. 10).
Many (Hengstenberg, Keil, etc.) think that Chebh-
ron was the original name, which, while the Israelites
were in Egypt, was changed into Kirjath-arba by the
Anakim when they took the city, but was again
restored by Caleb after its reconquest (Josh. xiv. I 5),
which opinion is confirmed by Gen. xiii. i 8. Euse-
bius and Jerome (De Loc. Heb., fol. 87, E.) place it
1 The same name was given to a son of David (2 Sam. v. 15).
134 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
twenty- two miles south of Jerusalem. At the present
day it is called by the Mahommedans El-Khali/, " the
friend (of God)," because Abraham sojourned there.
The cave of Machpelah is still there, surrounded by a
mosque, and probably contains the dust of Sarah,
Abraham, and Isaac, and the embalmed body or
mummy of Jacob (Gen. 1. i 3, see Stanley s Sin. and
Pal., p. 102). (2) Yann fit/i (high) from np-j, to be
high, a town of the Sh e phelah, or low country, of
Judah (xv. 35 ; Neh. xi. 29), according to the Onomast.
ten Roman miles south-west of Jerusalem, on the road
to Eleuthcropolis, 1 and probably identical with the
modern Yarmuk (Robin., B. R., ii., 1 7), on a hill called
Tell-Armuth, where are remains of ancient walls
and cisterns. (3) LakJdsh (obstinate, i.e., hard to be
captured [Ges., Lexty, also in the Sh e phelah of Judah
(xv. 39), fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 9),
besieged and captured by Sennacherib (2 Kings xviii.
14-17, xix. 8 ; Layard s Nineveh, p. 150), reoccupied
by the Jews after the captivity (Neh. xi. 30), regarded
by Von Raumer, Keil, and Van de Velde, as probably
identical with the Uin Lakis, about twenty miles south
west of Yarmuth, on the road to Gaza. (4) Eglilon
1 Not mentioned in the Bible. It was a town of South
Palestine, at the foot of the hills of Judah, on the borders of
the great Philistine plain, and about twenty-five miles from
Jerusalem, on the road to Gaza. Its ancient name was
Betogabra, which is first mentioned in the writings of Ptolemy
in the beginning of the second century. Its new name
Jileutheropolis first occurs upon coins in the reign of the
Kmperor Septimius Severus, A.D. 202-3. In the time of Euse-
bius, Bishop of Caesarea, it was so important a place as the
capital of a large province and the seat of a bishop, that he
makes it in his Onomast icon the central point in South Pales
tine, from which the positions of more than twenty other
towns are determined. The name in Arabic is Beit Jibrin.
VERS. 4, 5.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 135
(large bull-calf [Simonis]) in the Sh e phelah of Judah
(xv. 39, xii. 12), less than three miles east of Lachish,
and the same as the modern Ajlan (Robinson, B. R.,
ii., 249). In the Onomasticon it is identified with
Adullam from the Sept. reading OSoXXct/i here and
in x. 34, but it is evident from Josh. xii. 12, 15, xv.
35) 39) tnat Eglon and Adullam were different
cities.
Ver. 4. " Come up to me" in a military sense,
i.e., with forces. There had been a previous deter
mination among the Canaanites in general to form
a league against Israel (ix. i); but, before any active
steps had been taken, the defection of Gibeon led at
once to the combination against it of the five kings
(ver. 3), in its immediate vicinity. The object of
these latter probably was not only to punish Gibeon,
and deter others from following its example, but by
its capture, and that of its dependent cities, to
impede the further advance of Israel. The king of
Jerusalem took the lead, his being, perhaps, the
principal city, and most exposed to attack, as lying
between Gibeon and the camp of the Israelites at
Gilgal.
Ver. 5. (Of) " The Emorites" Sept. TU>V Ie/3ov-
a-aiaiv. Both were mountain tribes (iii. 10, note) ;
but the reading " Emorites " (Auth. Vers. " Amorites ")
is countenanced by ver. 6. As, however, Jarmuth,
Lachish, and Eglon were in the low-country (Josh.
xv - 35) 39)) it appears as if the name Emorites was
not always confined to those who dwelt on the
mountains ; cf. Judges i. 34, 35, where it would seem
that, having drawn the Danites into the mountain,
the Emorites themselves occupied the plain. Perhaps,
136 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
however, as Keil conjectures, the name is here
employed because the Emorites were the most
powerful of the Canaanites.
Ver. 6. " Slack not" lit. " do not let down "
(cf. i. 5, note). " And save ns" lit. "make ample
room for us." Ample space is in Hebrew applied to
deliverance from dangers (Ges., Lex^}. The expres
sions successively employed in this clause show the
urgency of the peril. -U i?x, " against its " : When the
motion towards an object is hostile, b$ has the
force of " against " (cf. Gen. iv. 8 ; Judges xii. 3 ;
Isa. ii. 4). inn 2 ^, see note on ver. 5.
Ver. 7. "n!2S J ?^, " even all tlie mighty men of
valour" : Put in apposition to the preceding "all the
people of war." \ is explicative ( 155, I, a\ cf.
ix. 23). It is probable that a selection was made
of the best warriors, and the rest were left to protect
the camp at Gilgal. On this assistance, so promptly
rendered by Joshua to the Gibeonites, Origen remarks,
" Even although thou art but a hewer of wood or a
drawer of water in Christ s Church, yet thou mayest
expect to be attacked by her enemies, but thou
mayest also hope for succour from Christ."
Ver. 8. "VDK 3 : Some (Masius, Drusius, Rosenm.)
render the imperfect here as a pluperf., but unneces
sarily. God may well have renewed at such a crisis
the assurance of special aid, which He had before
given (viii. I, vi. 2). T"^?, in the margin Y1, and
the sing, is more commonly used in this expression
(see ii. 24, vi. 2, viii. I, 18).
Ver. 9. Cf. Stanley s Sin. and Pal., iv., p. 219),
" As in the battle of Marathon, everything depended
on the suddenness of the blow which should break in
VER. 10.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 137
pieces the hostile confederation. On the former
occasion of Joshua s visit to Gibeon, it had been a
three days journey from Gilgal, as, according to the
slow pace of Eastern armies and caravans, it might
well be. But now by a forced march Joshua came
unto them suddenly, and went up all night. "
Ver. 10. Dn*, "threw tJiem into confusion" from
Don, i.q., Q-in, " to put in motion " (Keil ; cf. Exod.
xiv. 24, xxiii. 27). This may have been effected by
inspiring them with a sudden panic, or by terrifying
them by thunder and lightning (cf. I Sam. vii. 10,
and ver. 11 below). "At Gibeon": With this mean
ing of ? (viz., "at"} cf. v. 13. "?i~n, "on the way
which goetli up to Beth-choron " (lit. " the house of
caves," in allusion to the rocky nature of the ground).
Beth-choron the Upper is meant, as distinguished from
Beth-choron the Nether (ver. I i). Both towns were
built by Sherah, the grand-daughter of Ephraim
(l Chron. vii. 24), and were on the boundary line
between Benjamin and Ephraim (Josh. xvi. 3, 5 ;
I Chron. vii. 24) ; they were afterwards fortified by
Solomon (2 Chron. viii. 5). Beth-choron the Upper was
about four miles north-west of Gibeon, and r6ro "qTi
denotes the hilly road which led from Gibeon to it.
The modern name is Beit-ur cl Foka (the upper), as
Beit-ur el Tahta (the lower) is that of Beth-choron
the Nether (Stanley, Sin. and Pal., p. 208 ; Grove,
Bib. Diet., i., 20 1 ). " Azeqah " (a field dug over, broken
up), from pltf, to dig or to till the ground (Ges.).
It lay to the north of the plain of Judah, and near
Beth-choron ; but its site is not now discernible
(Grove) ; it is mentioned along with Adullam and
Socoh, towns of Judah (Josh. xv. 35), and as near
138 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
Socoh (i Sam. xvii. i). It was fortified by
Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 9) ; besieged by Nebu
chadnezzar (Jer. xxxiv. 7), and inhabited after the
return from the captivity (Neh. xi. 30). " Maqqcdah"
(probably " place of shepherds " [Ges. Lex.]), its site
unknown. Eusebius (Onomast.} says that it was
eight miles east of Eleutheropolis, where east, says
Keil, seems to be an error for west. Probably it
stood where the mountains sink into the plain, for
in xv. 41 it is mentioned as in the Sh e phelah, or
maritime plain, of Judah (Stanley, Sin. and Pal.,
p. 21 i). It undoubtedly lay to the south of Beth-
choron the Nether, as the defeated Canaanites were
fleeing to the south in order to take refuge in their
fortified cities (ver. ip). 1
Ver. i i. "nin?, " in the descent of Beth-choron" i.e.,
as they were descending the pass between Beth-
choron the Upper and Beth-choron the Nether.
The first stage of the flight of the Canaanites had
been in the long ascent from Gibeon to Beth-choron
the Upper (ver. i o). The second stage was when
having outstripped their pursuers, and crossed the
1 Captain Warren, R.E., in 1871, proposed the village of El
Moghar (the caves) as the probable site of Maqqedah. " This
position," says he, "might well have been chosen for a royal
city. It is situated on the north side of a narrow tajo, which
the valley of Sorek has scooped through the sandstone hills.
Immediately south is Kutrak (Gederoth) ; to the west Dejan
(Beth-Dagon) ; north-east, Akir (Ekrom) ; and about three
miles further north-east, Nianeh (Naamah) (see Josh. xv. 41).
It is about seven miles south-west of Ramleh, in the position, or
nearly so, where the writer of the article Makkedah in Smith s
Biblical Dictionary proposes it may be found." {Recent
Explorations in Bible Lands, Paper read at Church Congress,
1875.) This view has been more recently confirmed by the
surveyors of the Pal. Explor. Fund (Report, January 1881).
VER. ii.] THE BOOK OF JOSHLA. 139
high ridge of Beth-choron the Upper, they were in
full flight down the descent to Beth-choron the
Nether (Stanley s Sin. and Pal., ch. iv.). This pass
was rocky and rough, and was the scene not only of
this victory of Joshua, but that of Judas Maccabaeus
over the Syrians, under Seron (i Mace. iii. 13, etc.),
and, still later, of the destruction of the army of
Cestius Gallus by the Jews (Josephus, Bel. Jud., ii.,
!9> S, 9). As the main road to the sea coast
from Jerusalem and the Jordan valley lay through
this pass, both Beth-choron the Upper and Nether
were strongly fortified by Solomon (2 Chron. viii. 5)-
" Great stones" explained in the next clause to be
hail-stones, Sept. Xi$ovs ^aXct^?. Cf. Exod. ix. 19,
25 ; Job xxxviii. 22, 23 ; Psalm xviii. 13, 14, where
hail is represented as employed by God against His
enemies. Though terrific storms occasionally burst
over the hills in Palestine, yet this storm was
evidently miraculous, like that in Exod. ix. 24 ;
i Sam. vii. 10, for the stones were of unusual size,
and appear to have slain the Canaanites, but not the
Israelites. It must have served to convince the
Israelites, on the one hand, that God fought for
them, and their enemies, on the other, that a greater
than human power was the cause of their
discomfiture. 1
1 The student of ecclesiastical history need hardly be re
minded of the story of the thundering legion, in answer to
whose prayers a great storm was sent to aid Marcus Aurelius
in his victory over the Guadi, A.D. 174 (Euseb., Hist., v., 5).
This particular wonder is, however, now given up, even by
those Protestants who insist on the perpetuity of miraculous
powers in the Church. (P. Smith s Anct. Hist., vol. iii.,
ch. 39, p. 520.)
Ho THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
Vers. 12-15. The thread of the narrative is here
broken off, and not resumed till ver. 16. Some
regard the passage (vers. 12-15) as an interpolation
by a late reviser of this book, who took it from
some older historical narrative, in which was con
tained the quotation from the Book of Yashar. But
for this opinion there is no good authority. It is
based on the questionable hypothesis that the Book
of Joshua is in part derived from older documents,
such as those of the Elohist and Jehovist Nor can
we, consistently with any just conception of the
inspiration of the writer of our book, suppose that
he would have left wholly unnoticed the remarkable
incident recorded in the Book of Yashar, whatever
may be the explanation given of that incident.
Most probably, therefore, vers. 12-15 is a parenthesis
from our author s own hand, in which he inserted the
above mentioned quotation, in order to convey a
more vivid impression of the event which he wished
to record, than if he had simply related it in his own
historical narrative.
It is doubtful where the quotation begins and ends,
but reasons are given in the following notes for
regarding it as commencing with the word " Sun "
in the latter half of ver. I 2, and terminating with the
first half of ver. 13; all that follows the formula of
quotation to the end of ver. 14 being taken as a
comment of the author of our book, and ver. I 5 as
probably misplaced from ver. 43 by the error of some
ancient transcriber.
Ver. 12. TX, "then" Sept. Tore; Vulg. tune;
followed by the imperf. in a past sense ( 127, 4, a) ;
cf. viii. 30, where Keil remarks that there is not the
VEKS. 12.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 141
least foundation for the assertion of some critics,
adduced in support of their fragmentary hypothesis,
that every paragraph commencing with TX, and fol
lowed by an imperfect, is either a fragment or an in
terpolation. 131*, " spake" i.e., in prayer, as seems
implied by ver. 14. Joshua would not have presumed
to give the command which follows, unless he had
first prayed to the Lord, and believed that his prayer
had been answered (cf. I Kings xvii. I with James
v. 16-iS) 1 . The Chald. renders by rti&,"dccantavit"
but when "i? 1 ! has this sense, it is followed by "Y"2>, as
in Judges v. 12. *?$b nri, " to give into the power of"
cf. Deut. ii. 31, 33, 36; Judges xi. 9. if ? M^,
" before the eyes of Israel" i.e., " in their presence,"
" coram iis " (Vulg.), so that they were witnesses of
his words (cf. Numb. xx. 8 ; Deut. xxxi. 7). E Otv,
a word which has reference to the light of the sun, as
nsn and D^iri have to its heat. The absence of the
article, which is usually found with the vocative in
prose ( 109, 3, Rem. 2), indicates poetry; so rfv 2
in the next clause (cf. the use of px, Job xvi. 18) ;
hence it is probable that our author begins his
quotation from the Book of Yashar (see ver. I 3 below)
at the word " shemesh " (see Lowth s Prcelec., vol. ii.,
lect. 23, p. 152). IW?;?, "at" or "on" (i.e., over)
Gibeon" on, Qal. imper. of DO^, properly " to be
dumb with astonishment," then " to be silent," then
1 Other remarkable instances of the importance and efficacy
of prayer are Gen. xx. 17 ; 2 Kings xix. 2, etc.; Acts xii. 5, ii.
z This word is masc., whereas nJIP, another name for the
moon, is fern. Both names are derived from colour, meaning
respectively the yellow (or pale) and the white, and thus were
silent protests against the heathen notion that the moon was a
personal female deity.
142 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
" to rest," " to be still," " to wait " (cf. I Sam. xiv. 9
and the synonymous use of ^"inn, in Gen. xxxiv. 5 ;
Exod. xiv. 14). It is here not unfitly rendered by
our Authorised Version " stand still" (Sept. arr^rw),
because now in ver. I 3 is parallel to it, as in I Sam.
xiv. 9. " And tlwu moon " : This direct address to
the moon implies that it was at the time visible ; cf.
Stanley s Sin. and Pal., p. 210, " In front, over the
western vale of Ajalon, was the faint figure of the
crescent moon visible above the hailstorm, which
was fast driving up from the sea in the valley below."
The time of day was probably about noon (cf. ver.
13, " in the midst of heaven,") not, as Cor. a Lap.,
Clericus, and others, late in the afternoon, for then
the sun would have appeared to Joshua not in the
east, but sinking below the horizon in the west.
Fay remarks that " the joint apparition of the sun
and moon is not very unusual; on the contrary, it
may be witnessed in a clear sky at any time, during
the moon s first quarter, in the afternoon, and during
the last quarter, in the forenoon, and, indeed, from
what is kindly communicated to me by the
astronomer Madler, may be seen in the much
clearer southern heavens early in the afternoon,
during the moon s first quarter, and until late in the
forenoon during her third." J17K (place of deer
or gazelles, from !?$, a stag). The valley is iden
tified by Robinson (Bib. Res., ii., 253, Hi., 145) with
the modern Merj. Ibn Omeir, and described by him
as a broad and beautiful valley (now a valley of
cornfields), running in a westerly direction from the
mountains towards the great western plain (see also
Stanley s Sin. and Pal., p. 207). The town has been
VER. I3.j THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 143
identified with the village Yalo, situated on a hill
skirting the south of the valley. After the conquest
it was allotted to the tribe of Dan (xix. 42),
but from it the Emorites could not be expelled
(Judges i. 35) ; was assigned with its suburbs to the
Levites (xxi. 24 ; I Chron. vi. 54, [69]). Saul and
Jonathan defeated the Philistines near it (i Sam. xiv.
31). It was fortified by Rehoboam after the revolt of
the ten tribes (2 Chron. xi. 10), and captured by the
Philistines in the reign of Ahaz (2 Chron. xxviii. 18).
Ver. 13. ni i.e., the people of Israel (cf. iii. 17),
more usually designated by Dtf ; thus the Chaldee here
renders by ^N"jv? Nfty ; the omission of the article is a
sign of poetry. VTX, accusative, of those from whom
vengeance is sought to be taken, but the verb is
usually used with the prep, ip or ^ (see Ges., Lex\
N^q, nonne ? = nan ( 153,2, Rein. ; see 2 Sam. i. i 8).
by, " upon" for in writing the letters were inscribed
upon a tablet or parchment. iw n 120, quoted here
and in 2 Sam. i. I 8 only, lit. " tlie book of tJie uprigJit
one" (cf. margin of Auth.Vers., " book of the upright;"
Aldine and Complut. edition of Sept. eVt /3t/3A.iov
TOV evOovs, Vulg. "in libro justorum;" but the
Peshito Syr. "the book of hymns" reading T^n for
T^n). 1 " Yashar," from "\&, to be upright, was probably
a poetical appellation of Israel as the covenant people
of God, cf. " Jeshurun " in Deut. xxxii. 15, and see
Numb, xxiii. 10, 21 ; Psalm cxi. i, whence, and from
1 Lowth (Prcelec ., lee. 23, note 10) adopts this view, and
says, " I suppose the Book of Jashar to have been some collec
tion of sacred songs, composed at different times and on
different occasions, and to have had this title, because the
book itself, and most of the songs, began in general with this
word veyashar.
144 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. ix.
David s elegy over Saul and Jonathan in 2 Sam. i.
i 8, it has been inferred that the Book of Yashar was
a collection of odes in praise of certain heroes of the
Theocracy, with historical notices of their achieve
ments interwoven, and that the collection was formed
by degrees, so that the quotation of it here is neither
a proof that the passage has been interpolated by a
later hand, nor that the work was composed at a
very late period (Keil). The formula of quotation
" Is not this written ? " is not found elsewhere in the
middle of a verse, but always either at its beginning
(Numb. xxi. 14, 27), or at its close (2 Kings xv. 21,
xx. 20, etc.) ; and hence some (as Maurer, Fay,
Kamphausen) are of opinion that the quotation itself
terminates in the first half of ver. i 3. This view
seems also confirmed by the absence in vers. 13^-14
of the parallelism in 12^-13, and in its being simply
stated as a matter of fact that the sun stood still,
without any mention being made of the moon, and
then the whole account being closed with the prosaic
remark in ver. 15. On the other hand, Keil, Heng-
stenberg, and others, think that the whole passage,
vers. 12-15, is taken from the Book of Yashar; but
on that supposition we must conclude that that book
was not entirely written in poetry, for ver. i 5 is cer
tainly prose, and of vers. 13^-14 more can hardly
be said than that they are written in a somewhat
elevated style, such as is often used in prose itself.
&r\ vn.3> not " in the hemisphere" i.e., in the upper
heavens, those visible to the spectator, those above
the horizon (Cor. a Lap., Rosenm., Calmet (Frag., No.
154), but "in the midst (or half] of heaven" (cf.
Stanley s Sin. and Pal., p. 210, note 5). "The em-
VERS. 14, 15.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 145
phatic expression (ver. i 3), not simply " in the midst"
but " in the bisection of the heavens" seems intended to
indicate noonday. "And hasted not" p-ix, " to hasten,"
in xvii. 15, " to be narrow, to be strait," a word used
in poetry, but also in prose (see Exod. v. 13, and [in
Hiphil] Gen. xix. 15). D^pFi DT 3, not, as Clericus,
"when the day had passed" nor, as Rosen m., "as is
the case in a perfect day;" but " about a whole day" i.e.,
about twelve hours, the time between sunrise and
sunset, cf. nopj^ rn^, " a whole year " (Lev. xxv.
30), and for the particle 3 in the sense of " about,"
see Ges., Lex. (A) (3), p. 378.
Ver. 14. " And there was not like that day before
and after it, that Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a
man," etc. The Vulg. for " that day " has " tarn
longa dies," for which there is no authority in the
Hebrew, which here gives prominence only to the
fact that the wonder (ver. 13) was effected by
Jehovah at the request of a man. 1 In the last
clause *3 assigns a reason why the prayer of Joshua
was heard. God had before given a promise that
He would deliver these enemies into Joshua s hand
(ver. 8). "Jehovah fought," cf. Exod. xiv. 14 ; and
the title " man of war" given to Jehovah in Exod.
xv. 3. The 7 before TKTB" denotes a dat. commodi
(cf. i Sam. xxii. 15, ^^7).
Ver. I 5. It is evident from ver. 43 that this verse
is not suitably placed here, and hence some MSS.,
and the Vat. and Alex, editions of the Sept., omit it,
though it is found in the Complut. and Aldine edition.
1 In Hezekiah s case the retrogression of the shadow on the
sun-dial was given to him as a sign, and not as an answ r er to
his prayer (2 Kings xx. 9-11).
10
146 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
Masius, Drusius, and Cor. a Lapid. attempt to pre
serve the connection with the remainder of the chapter
by rendering 3^1 " and (Joshua) proposed to return ; "
but this sense would rather have been expressed by
ytitfy nb nM. Either, therefore, ver. I 5 may have been
intended to be merely a finish off to the preceding
narrative,, after which the history is resumed from
ver. II, 1 or some ancient transcriber, misled by the
similar endings of vers. 14, 42, may have transposed
ver. 43, and inserted it here. So Ilgen, Rosenm.,
and others.
As to the remarkable event recorded in the above
passage (vers. 12-14), it cannot be accounted for
from natural causes, nor satisfactorily explained as a
mere poetical description, meaning nothing more
than that the day was made to seem to Joshua and
the Israelites longer than it really was. 2 The re
peated assertion that the sun stood still, and the
emphatic declaration in ver. 14 concerning the
unusual character of the event, are at variance with
any such supposition. Yet we are not required to
believe in an actual interruption of the course of the
sun, 3 for it is well known that Scripture speaks of
celestial phenomena not scientifically, but according
to their appearance, as we say in popular language
" the sun rises," or " the sun sets," because it seems
to do so. All, therefore, implied by a stoppage of
1 See Bishop Wordsworth in loc., who remarks that this
practice of finishing off a subject, and of afterwards returning
to a point in the narrative, is common to both Testaments.
2 Such is the view of Keil and Hengstenberg, and was that
of the learned Jew Maimonides (More Nevo, ii., c. 53). So
Herder, Heb. Poesie, vol. i., p. 237.
3 This literal interpretation is the most ancient.
VER. 15.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 147
the sun might be either that the revolution of the
earth on its axis was for a time interrupted (an event
which God could have so ordered by His power and
wisdom as to prevent any disastrous consequences
to the system of the universe), or that, in some way
unknown to us, God may have so interfered with
the phenomena of light, as to have prolonged the
daylight without interrupting the course of the
heavenly bodies. 1
Allusions to this miracle are probably made in
Isa. xxviii. 21, "He" (the Lord) "shall be wroth
as in the valley of Gibeon ;" and in Hab. iii. II,
" The sun and moon stood still in their habitation." 2
There are also, as in the case of the Deluge, many
ancient traditions and fables, which possibly have a
1 If, as some think (see Calmet s Frag., No. 154), "she-
mesh " and " chammah " are distinguished by denoting, the
one the light, the other the orb or substance of the sun, God
may, on this occasion, have continued the solar light, while
He permitted the solar orb to set. Professor Young (Science
and Scripture], in illustration of the manner in which the
miracle was possibly wrought, remarks that "light is not
merely an emanation of luminous particles, any more than
sound is an emanation of sonorous particles from a sonorous
body ; in each case a medium of conveyance is necessary ;
and that the vehicle of light is luminiferous ether. Suppose
now a void had been introduced above the scene of Joshua s
operations, then, if the vibrations essential to light in the
lower region had not been suffered to cease, the light would
have continued to be supplied without any abatement of
intensity. Such a temporary separation of the upper and
lower portions of the luminous ethereal fluid would have been
analogous to the temporary separation of the two portions of
aqueous fluid in the miraculous passage of the Red Sea.
And as the water was held in suspense in both portions in the
one miracle, so might the light be held in suspense in the
two p-ortions in the other."
* n?;iT, "in (their) habitation ;" \vheie the H denotes a
general direction only to the place where an object is (cf. !T3C
* there, 1 Jer. xviii. 2, oftener " thither, " \ 90, 2, /;).
148 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
reference to it ; such as the Chinese tradition that the
sun did not set for ten days (perhaps a mistake or
exaggeration for hours) in the reign of the seventh
Emperor Yao, who is conjectured to have lived about
A.M. 2554, and, therefore, to have been nearly con
temporary with the date of the miracle. (Martin,
Sinic. Hist., 1. I., p. 25) ; and the Egyptian tradition,
which may refer both to this and the miracle in
the time of Hezekiah (2 Kings xx.), viz., that the
sun had twice risen where it usually sets, and set
where it usually rises (Herod., ii., 142). The fable
also of Phaeton (Hesiod, TJieog., 985 ; Ovid, Met., i.,
fab. 17, 1. 2), and the poetical imagery in //., ii., 4,
where Agamemnon prays that the sun may not go
down till he has sacked Troy (cf. //., xviii., 232, etc. ;
Odyss., xxiii., 241, etc. ; Callim., Hymn to Diana),
may contain allusion to the same event. The
absence, however, of any positive testimony to it by
Pagan writers has been accounted for on the sup
position that no Pagan records are so ancient as this
miracle, and that, like the darkness over the land of
Egypt, it may have been strictly local (see Comment.
of Keil and Delitz., p. i i i, and Bp. Wordsworth
in loc^). Sufficient reasons why God should have
permitted the occurrence of so stupendous an event
are, that thus He put the highest honour on Joshua
as His servant, and gave the greatest encouragement
to His people Israel in their warfare against their
enemies. Also He signally rebuked the idolatry of
the Canaanites, who were worshippers of the sun
and moon, by showing that those objects of their
adoration were wholly subservient to His will, and,
therefore, powerless to aid them. Lastly, by this
VERS. 16-19.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 149
miracle He may have prefigured the glorious victory
which Christ, our true Joshua, will hereafter achieve
over His and His people s, enemies, when by a not
less exercise of omnipotence the sun will be " turned
into darkness and the moon into blood before the
great and terrible day of the Lord."
Ver. 1 6. The narrative is here resumed from ver.
1 1. rni^3, " in the cave" (rt. iw, to excavate) : The
article denotes a cave which was well known ( 1 09).
The hills in Palestine were chiefly of limestone, and,
therefore, abounded in caves, which were frequently
used as places of refuge (Stanley s Sin. and Pal.,
p. 150) ; cf. the mention of the cave of Adullam in
the history of David (i Sam. xxii. I ; 2 Sam. xxiii.
13 ; i Chron. xi. 15). rnjpoa : The prep., being the
same as that before rni?p, denotes that the town and
cave were close together. All efforts to discover it
have hitherto proved in vain. Captain Warren, R.E.
(see note on ver. 10 above), remarks, " It is quite pos
sible that the cave itself may have remained closed to
this day, the tradition hanging to the spot, and the
Hebrew name, the Cave, being changed to the Arabic
name, the Caves (El-Moghar)." (Recent Explorations
in Bible Lands],
Ver. 17. D Nati?. for Q^am, cf. D\syp? for D^ypj,
i Sam. xiii. 1 5 ; Esther i. 5 ; from the singulars,
Nnri3, K>|pj, the vowel ( ) in the last syllable being
borrowed from verbs rb ( 75, vi., 21, a}.
Ver. i 8. *a : So the entrance to a cave is termed
" os " by Tacitus (Annal., lib. iv., cap. 59). n^y -iTppm,
" and appoint ye as guardians over it," cf. Gen. xxxix.
5 ; Numb. i. 50 ; Isa. Ixii. 10.
Ver. 1 9. DPiX], emphatic, " but as for yon" ipy
ISO THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
here means to stand still or stop, as in I Sam.
xx. 38 ; Numb. ix. 8. The Piel 25T, found here and
in Deut. xxv. I 8 only, is a denominative from D3T, a
tail, and means properly " to injure the tail," and
hence " to rout the rear-guard of an army" ( 5 2, 2, c],
Sept. KOL KaTa\d(3eTe TT)I> ovpayiav avr&v , Chald.
and Syr. " assequimeni eos," but more exactly the
Vulg. " et extremes quosque fugientium casdite."
Ver. 20. DEPntf, see viii. 24. In the last clause
1 before DHnb n introduces the apodosis according to
our Auth. Vers., Jerome, and Michaelis, but it might
equally well be rendered " and " (e.g., " and the sur
vivors had fled from them, and had entered into for
tified cities"), the apod, beginning at ver. 21, " t/iat
all the people returned."
Ver. 21. It appears from the first clause that
Joshua remained at Maqqedah with the guards who
kept watch over the cave, while the rest of his forces
pursued the enemy ; hence, at the beginning of
ver. 20, he is mentioned, only because his soldiers
acted by his authority. DT^?, "in safety" cf. Gen.
xxviii. 21 ; Judges viii. 9. pn~&6, " sharpened not"
(Ges., Lex^} ; the verb is either in the indeterminate
3rd pers. ( 137, 3) ; or t^X must be understood, or
perhaps 3^3 (see Exod. xi. 7, where the same proverb
[though nowhere else in the Bible] occurs ; also
Judith xi. 19, Kal ov ypv^ei, KVWV rfj yXaxTcrr) avrov
aTrevavTL crov}- ti^K 1 ? is put in apposition to b>? 357,
but Houbigant and Maurer think the ^ before \x
arose from the error of a transcriber, and, if so, Es$
would be the nominative ; Vulg. " nullusque contra
filios Israel mutire ausus est."
Vers. 22-28. What is here recorded doubtless took
VERS. 24, 25.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 151
place on the day after the return from the pursuit of
the enemy.
Ver. 24. i"? t"N^>3, i.e., all the soldiers in the
camp, pvf?, 1 lit. a judge, from rivf?, to decide, and
hence a military leader or commander (cf. Judges
xi. 6). N -l^nn ; n for the rel. ( 109, 2nd par.) ; the
N, after Arabic orthography, is paragogic, or super
fluous ( 44, 2, Rem. 4 ; cf. Isa. xxviii. 12, NUH for
ns*, and N-lb J for -ib J, Psalm cxxxix. 20). In the im
perfect the form occurs only in N-lb^ (Jer. x. 5). " Put
your feet on the necks" etc., an act symbolic of
complete subjection, but not one of haughty con
tempt and insolence, as when Sapor I., King of Persia,
set his foot on the neck of the Emperor Valerian.
David says in Psalm xviii. 41 (Heb.), "Thou hast given
me the neck of mine enemies." The same symbol
is used to denote Christ s dominion over His enemies
(Psalm ex. i ; Heb. i. I 3 ; I Cor. xv. 25). We may
hence learn, says Origen, to tread under foot our
carnal lusts and appetites, which are Christ s enemies
and ours (Homil., 11 and 12). Joshua s object on
this occasion was also to encourage the Israelites
(see next verse).
Ver. 25. Fear not," etc. For the greater en
couragement of Israel Joshua quotes the very words
of Jehovah (see i. 9, viii. i). Thus in our Christian
warfare the victories which we have already gained
through God should animate us to rely on His
further help, till all our spiritual enemies are subdued.
Drta here governs an accus., as in Psalm cix. 3 ;
1 A word, like many others in this book, not found in the
Pentateuch.
152 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
I Kings xx. 25, xxii. 31. It is found elsewhere
with the prep. ?, or hu (Neh. iv. 8), or Dtf (2 Kings
xiii. 12}, or -bx (Jer. i. 19), or "? (Exod. xiv. 14, 25).
Ver. 26. " Hanged them" see viii. 29 (note).
D^T, " trees" from DV^, to be firm (cf. Acts x. 39).
* Until tJic evening" cf. Deut. xxi. 23.
Ver. 27. B>n . . ni/?, i.e., on the evening of the
day after that on which the soldiers of Joshua had
returned from the pursuit of the enemy (see note,
ver. 22). " Until this very day" i.e., up to the self
same day on which the author wrote this history. 1
On DVJJ see 124, 2, Rem. 3.
VERS. 28-43. Conquest of Southern Canaan.
Ver. 28. N-inn or?, "on that day" i.e., the day
when the five kings were executed, and were still
hanging on trees or crosses (ver. 26) ; hence "ipb, not
13^*1, is used. The capture, though it took place
before the evening of that day (ver. 27), is described
here on account of its connection with the subsequent
events (Keil). nnri ^ (cf. vi. 21, viii. 24). Q-inn (see
ii. 10). DrrtN, " them" i.e., the king and the inhabitants
1 Keil, indeed, remarks that the formula Hjn Di n DyiJ IV is
not elsewhere used to denote that a thing had continued till
the author s own day, but to call attention to the fact that the
day referred to is the very same day about which the author is
writing and no other (see v. n ; Gen. vii. 13, xvii. 23 ; Exod.
xii. 17, 41, etc.). If, therefore, DV17 (he says) has any meaning
at all here, the whole clause must be connected with the one
preceding, and rendered as a relative clause : " Where they
(the kings) had hidden themselves, and they (the Israelites)
had placed large stones at the mouth of the cave until that
very day (on which the kings were fetched out and executed.)"
The demonstrative pronoun "that" would, however, be rather
expressed by N-liin than iTJ.n (see 122, i, Rem.). Thus in iv. 9,
vi. 25, vii. 26, viii. 29, i"l-K] DVn ~iy means "to this day."
VERS. 29-32.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 153
of the city. Many MSS. read nrrfN, and the pronoun
is omitted altogether in the Sept., Vulg., and Syriac.
C sr pa refers to human beings only, as rcayr^z in
ver. 40, xi. 14 ; Deut. xx. 16, where it appears from
the following verse (ver. I 7) to refer to the inhabit
ants of Canaan. " As lie had done to tlie king of
Jericho": Nothing is said in vi. 21, etc., as to the
manner of the death of the King of Jericho, but it
is supposed from viii. 2, 29 that he was slain, and
then hung on a cross, or gallows.
Ver. 29. " All Israel" i.e., all the men selected for
this war. " Libknah" (whiteness), a Canaanite capital
(xii. i 5), in the south part of the maritime lowland of
Judah (xv. 42) ; afterwards assigned to the priests
(xxi. 13). It revolted from King Joram, " because
he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers "
(2 Kings viii. 22 ; 2 Chron. xxi. 10). Sennacherib,
King of Assyria, warred in person against it (2
Kings xix. 8), but he is not said to have taken it.
On account of the meaning of the name Dean
Stanley identifies it with the Blanchegarde of the
Crusaders, a hill on the eastern border of the plain
of Philistia, opposite Ascalon (Sin. and Pal., pp.
207, 257, 258) ; but Van de Velde places it at
Arak el Menshiyeh, a hill about four miles west of
Beitjibrin (Eleutheropolis). It is described by
Eusebius and Jerome in the Onomasticon as a
village of the district of Eleutheropolis. For the
prep. Dtf before n:? 1 ? some MSS. read hv, which is
more commonly used with Drta, in relation to
sieges (cf. ver. 36) ; in ver. 3 I 5 is used.
Ver. 31. " LacJtisJi" see ver. 3.
Ver. 32. " On tJic second day" i.e., from that on
154 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
which the siege began. No mention is made of the
king, because he had before been put to death
(ver. 23, etc.).
Ver. 33. n^y see note viii. i. "Gezer" (a place
cut off), written often with the pause accent "ira, and
twice, where it occurs, translated Gazer by our
Auth. Ver., viz., in 2 Sam. v. 25 ; I Chron. xiv. 16,
but elsewhere (even when the first vowel in the
Hebrew is lengthened to T ) translated Gezer (see, e.g.,
Josh. xvi. 3, 10 ; Judges i. 29 ; I Kings ix. 15, etc).
There was a town of this name 1 on the south-west
border of Ephraim, between lower Beth-choron and the
Mediterranean (Josh. xvi. 3), and which was assigned
to the Kohathite Levites (xxi. 2 i ; i Chron. vi. 67).
According to Conder (Handbook, p. 412) now Tell
Jezer, a large ruin. This town was, however, at
least forty miles from Lachish (Um Lakis), and hence
Masius and others think that there may have been
another town of this name near Lachish, an opinion
which receives some countenance from Josh. xii. 12,
where Gezer is mentioned in connection with Chebh-
ron, Lachish, Eghlon, and D e bhir. If, however, the
town on the border of Ephraim is meant, it probably
was not captured at this time, 2 but Joshua, having
signally defeated its troops and slain its king (xii. i 2),
proceeded with his conquests of the other towns in
the south, "^jriy, see note on viii. 22.
1 In the time of Jerome it was a small town, called Gazara.
2 In xvi. 10, and Judges i. 29, we read that the Ephraim-
ites did not expel the inhabitants, but put them under
tribute, and in the time of Solomon the King of Egypt took
and burnt the town, and slew the Canaan ites who dwelt there ;
afterwards he gave the place to his daughter, the wife of
Solomon, who rebuilt it (i Kings ix. 16).
VERS. 34-39.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 155
Vers. 34, 35. Egh-lon (ver. 3) ; its king was one
of the five whom Joshua had put to death (ver. 23,
etc.). D^n.n, cf. ver. 28.
Vers. 36, 37. Cheoh-r&n (ver. 3) : Its mountainous
situation is indicated by 7|P. " The king tJicrcof" :
Probably the successor of the one whose death is
recorded ver. 23, etc. Ver. 37. "All the cities
tJiereof" i.e., certain towns which were subject to it.
"He left none remaining": Yet we afterwards read
in xi. 21, 22 of Joshua s destroying the Anakim
in the mountains of Chebh-ron and D e bhir ; and
again (in Judges i. 10-13) of their extermination by
Caleb; and hence some, as Maurer, have thought that
the account here is interpolated, and not strictly
historical. We may suppose, however, that on this
occasion the Chittite inhabitants of Chebh-ron were
destroyed, but the Anakim retained their strong
holds in the mountains near the city, and, though
afterwards expelled by Joshua and partially de
stroyed (xi. 21, 22), yet those who fled to the cities
of the Philistines (xi. 22) reoccupied Chebh-ron .and
D e bhir, probably while Joshua was engaged in the
conquest of North Palestine, and were only finally
repulsed by Caleb (Josh. xiv. 12, xv. 13-17, com
pared with Judges i. 10, etc). Masius remarks that
Joshua in this war only overran the country, and
did not stay to place garrisons in the captured
towns, nor to expel the enemy from every lurking-
place, but left the complete conquest to the
Israelites after they should have apportioned the
land and settled in it.
Vers. 38, 39. "3&\\, "and JosJiua turned" i.e. t
changed the direction of his march. D e bld-rah (the
156 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
n here is not local, cf. ver. 39), but elsewhere D e bhir
(~i:n : , and in Judges and Chron. T:n), translated by
Jerome " oracle," from "\z^, to speak ; but, according
to Gesenius, " the hinder part," and hence the inmost
recess of a temple ; rt. "iTi, to be behind ; formerly
called Qiryath-sepher (Sept. TTO/U? ypap^draiv ; Josh,
xv. 15), and Qiryath-sannah (xv. 49), perhaps "city
of palm-branches," but, according to Bochart, " city
of law, or sacred learning," and thus it would seem
that this city was the seat of ancient Canaanitish
learning. It was situated in the highlands of Judah
(xv. 49), but its site is not yet determined. " All tJic
cities tJiereof" i.e., the towns of which it was the
centre or metropolis (cf. ver. 37). " Utterly destroyed"
see note on ver. 37.
Vers. 40-43 {Summary of the Conquest of Southern
Canaan}. Ver. 40. " Smote the whole land" i.e., the
whole of Southern Canaan from Gibeon. inn, i.e.,
the mountainous district of Judah and South Canaan
generally (see ix. i). 23311, " the NegJicbli" or south
country, from 233 T , to be dry, the least fertile portion
of the land of Canaan. Its boundaries were from
Qa-dhesh, or from Mount Chalaq (xi. 1 7 ; Clark s Bib.
Atlas}, to within a few miles of Chebh-ron, and from
the Dead Sea westward to the Mediterranean (cf.
Josh. xv. 21-32). nbs^n, see ix. i. nnt^n, "the
slopes" i.e., undulating ground between the foot of
the hills and the lowland, i.q., vrrcopetat (//., T., v. 218):
so it might be rendered in Deut. iii. I 7, iv. 49, lit.
" the pouring forth of streams," and hence, the ravines
by which streams pour down from the mountains into
the plains, rt. Y^x, to pour forth. The Sept., Vulg.,
and Syr. regard the word as a proper name, but the
VER. 4I-] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 157
Chald. renders it Nnipnp ^?y ; E, " a pouring forth from
a height ; " it occurs only in this book and the Pen
tateuch. nE>L? ; 3rr^3, lit, " every breath," and hence, by
metonymy, that which has breath, i.q., ^3n-?| (vers. 32,
35> 37). but restricted here, as there, to human beings
(see xi. I I, 14, and note on viii. 27). "As JeJiovah
. . . commanded" see Numb, xxxiii. 51, etc.; Deut.
vii. I, etc., xx. I6. 1
Ver. 41. " Qa-dhesJi- Barn^a " : It is mentioned
sometimes as being in the wilderness of Paran
(Numb. xiii. 26, and at others as in the wilderness
of Zin, because the name Zin was given to the north
part of the great wilderness of Paran in which
Qa-dhesh lay. We read also of " tJie wilderness of
Qa-dJicsJi " (Psalm xxix. 8), because the name of the
city was extended to the district around it. If
Qa-dhesh is derived from Bhj?, to be holy, the word
1 "If, on the one hand, the character of the religion of the
Canaanites be remembered, and, on the other, the Divine
purpose to develop among the Israelites a pure and lofty
Theocracy, through which, hereafter, the highest manifestation
of the kingdom of God on earth was to be made known among
men, the apparent difficulty in accepting the policy commanded
to Joshua disappears. The heathenism of Palestine and
Syria was so foul and degrading in every sense, that there
is no State, even at this time, which would not put it down,
if necessary, by the severest penalties. Its spread to Rome
was bewailed 1,500 years later by the satirists of the day
as a calamity marking the utter decay of the times (Juv.,
Sat., iii., 62). It was imperative, therefore, that the land in
which the Chosen People were to be educated in the true
religion, so as to become the disseminators of its doctrines
through the world, should be cleared of whatever would so
certainly neutralise the gracious plans of the Almighty. Nor
is it wonderful that no other means of securing this great
end presented itself to the Hebrew legislator or reformer, in
the presence of such hideous immorality and corruption,
than the rooting it out with the edge of the sword."
(Dr. Geikie, Hours with the Bible, vol. ii. , pp. 396, 397.)
158 7 HE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
perhaps denotes a religious centre, but no satisfactory
explanation has been given of the term " Barnea."
The Sept., in Numb, xxxiv. 4, renders it KaS^g TOV
Rapvrj, which may imply that Barnea was regarded
as a man s name, but elsewhere it has KaSi^? RapvYJ.
Fiirst suggests inr"a, " son of wandering," a Bedouin,
but in the Pentateuch, where the word Barnea first
occurs, 12 is never used for " son." Others derive it
from 12, a country or land (cf. Job xxxix. 4), and
1M3, to be shaken, supposing it to have allusion to a
volcanic convulsion in that neighbourhood. Keil
thinks that Barnea was the ancient name, but that it
was called by anticipation Qa-dhesh in Gen. xiv. 7,
xvi. 14, xx. i ; Numb. xiii. 26 and xx. I, in reference
to that judgment (Numb, xiv.) by which the Lord
would sanctify Himself on Moses and Aaron, because
they would not sanctify Him before the people. It
is evident from a comparison of Numb. xiii. 26
with Numb, xxxii. 8, that Oa-dhesh and Qa-dhesh-
Barnea must denote one and the same place ; and
that Meribah Kadesh is also the same as Qa-dhesh-
Barnea is clear on comparing Ezek. xlvii. 19, xlviii.
28, with Numb, xxxiv. 4 ; Josh. xv. 3; Deut. xxxii. 5 I.
Dean Stanley endeavours to identify Qa-dhesh-Barnea
with Petra, but that city lies far too much to the
south, to be described as on the frontier of Judah,
and is not " in the uttermost part of the border of
Edom " (Numb. xx. 16), but rather in the centre
of Edom. Most probably, therefore, the site of
Qa-dhesh-Barnea is correctly identified by Robinson
(ii., 175) with the modern Ain el Weibeh, which lies
in the Arabah, about ten miles north of the spot
where Mount Hor touches on that valley, and which
VER. 4i.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 159
is nearly opposite the Wady GJimvcin, which affords
an access practicable for an army through the
mountainous country of Edom to the north-west, and
which might be fitly described as the " kings liigh-
way" (Numb. xx. 17). So Bishop Wordsworth,
Porter, and others. The Ain-Kudes argued for by
Messrs. Rowlands and Williams (Holy City, i., 463,
etc)., and which is more than seventy miles to
westward, in a direct line from Mount Hor, and
sixty from the nearest spur of Mount Seir, does not
satisfy the requirements of the Scripture history,
which speaks of Qa-dhesh as " a city in the uttermost
part of the border of Edom" (Numb. xx. 16), and
Edom did not, at that time, extend to the west
beyond the Arabah (Dean Stanley, Sin. and Pal.,
p. 194, note; Clarke s Bib. A tlas, p. 26). Moreover,
the course from Mount Sinai to a city so far west
would not have been by the way of Mount Seir
(Deut. i. 2), but, rather, by way of Shur. Gaza, a
maritime city of Philistia, only an hour s journey
from the Mediterranean (Robinson, ii., 1 74), Heb.
" Azzah" "strong," Sept. and New Testament (Acts
viii. 26) Faa, the limit of the land of Canaan on
the south-west (Gen. x. 19), and on the direct route
between Egypt a and Syria. It was allotted to
Judah (xv. 47), and taken by it (Judges i. 18), but
soon recovered by the Philistines (Judges iii. 3), and
always mentioned afterwards as a Philistine city
1 All the conquests of the Egyptians in the land of Palestine
appear, according to their monuments, to have been confined
to the maritime plain of Philistia, though they may have
passed through the country and exacted tributes. ThotmesIIL,
of the eighteenth dynasty, is recorded to have captured Gaza.
(See Philip Smith s Anct. Hist., vol. i., ch. vii., p. 117.)
160 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. x.
(Judges xvi. I, etc. ; I Sam. vi. 17; 2 Kings xviii. 8).
It was chiefly celebrated in profane history for its
memorable siege by Alexander the Great, who, after
its capture, treated the living body of Batis, its
governor, with the same indignity as Achilles the
corpse of Hector (Plutarch, Alexand., 25 ; O. Curt.,
iv. 6). Jonathan Maccabaeus (i Mace. xi. 61)
destroyed its suburbs ; Simon Maccabaeus (i Mace,
xiii. 43), after great efforts, captured the city itself.
Alexander Jannaeus, B.C. 96, dismantled it (Joseph.,
Antiq., xiii., 12, 3), but it was soon afterwards
restored by Gabinius (Joseph., xiv., 5, 3), and was
one of the cities given by Augustus to Herod
(Antiq., xv., 7, 3), after whose death it was united
to the province of Syria (Antiq., xvii., 11,4); now
GitzzaJi, a flourishing town, but on a different site
from the ancient Gaza, against which the threatenings
in Amos i. 6, 7 ; Zeph. ii. 4 ; Zech. ix. 5, were fully
accomplished. "All the country of Goshen " : Of
course, not the Goshen in Egypt, but a district
perhaps named after a city so called in the south
part of Judah (xv. 5 i), or from the Goshen in Egypt,
which it may have resembled in fertility. 1 The words
"from Goslien even unto Gibeon " describe the extent
of the conquered country from south to north on the
eastern side.
Ver. 42. " Af one time" i.e., in one campaign,
which must have lasted a considerable time (xi. 18).
" For Jehova/i . . . fougJit" etc. : This is added to
account for the marvellous rapidity of the conquest.
Ver. 43. See note at the beginning ofver. 15.
1 Hitzig derives the word from the Persian "gauzen," a cow
(Geschzchfe, etc., p. 60).
VER. i.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 161
CHAPTER XL
VERS. 1-15. Defeat of the Second League formed
against the Israelites}
Ver. i. ybb>3 : The object of the verb is omitted,
viz., those deeds recorded in the previous chapter
(cf. ix. i). " Ya-bhtn " (lit. " he will understand," and
hence " wise," "intelligent"), a title of the kings of
Cha-tsor (Judges iv. 2 ; cf. x. i [note]). Clia-tsor
(lit. " a fortified place "), the principal city of North
Canaan (ver. 10), situated north-west of the Lake
Merom, on elevated ground (see ver. 1 3), overlooking
the lake (Joseph., Antiq., v., 5, i), and apparently
between Ramah and Kedesh (Josh. xix. 36-7 with
2 Kings xv. 29), afterwards allotted to Naphtali
(xix. 3 6). Josephus calls it "Acrwpos, Eusebius Acrcop.
It is mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions of an early
date, was taken by Tothmosis III.., and was again a
flourishing place under Ramasis II. (Chabas, Voyage
dun Egypt., p. i 8 3). Being on the north frontier it
was fortified by Solomon (i Kings ix. 15), and its
1 This is generally called the northern league, but it was
not strictly limited to the north, as ,is evident from ver. 3.
Dean Stanley remarks, "Round Jabin were assembled the
heads of all the tribes who had not yet fallen under Joshua s
sword. As the British chiefs were driven to the Land s End
before the advance of the Saxon, so at this Land s End of
Palestine were gathered for this last struggle, not only the
kings of the north in the immediate neighbourhood, but from
the desert valley of the Jordan, south of the Sea of Galilee,
from the maritime plain of Philistia, from the heights above
Sharon, and from the still unconquered Jebus, to the Hivite
who dwelt in the valley of Baalbec under Hermon." (Sin. and
Pal., chap, xi.)
1 62 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP, xi
inhabitants were carried away captive by Tiglath-
Pileser (2 Kings xv. 29). Once more we find
evident reference to it in I Mace. xi. 67, where
the words " plain of Nasor," the scene of Jonathan s
victory over the Syrians, ought to be written " plain
of Asor," i.e., Chatsor, the "N" havingbeen erroneously
prefixed from the preceding Greek word TTZ&IOV.
Now, possibly, Tell Kuraibeli (Robinson, Bibl. Res.,
iii., 365). " Ma-dhon" : Only mentioned again in
xii. 1 9, probably in North Canaan, and to the west of
Lake Merom (Knobel), or possibly represented by
the ruin Madin, west of the Sea of Galilee. (Conder s
Handbook, p. 425). " Shim-ron " (watch) : Unknown,
perhaps the same as Shimron-Meron in xii. 20, after
wards assigned to Zebulun (xix. 15). Some place it
on Lake Merom, but the territory of Zebulun never
reached so far north. It may possibly be identical,
accordingto the Talmud, with the Simmias of Josephus
( Vita, 24), now Simuniyah, a village a few miles
west of Nazareth, for it appears from xix. 1 5 to
have been near to Bethlehem, in Zebulun. " Akk-
sliaph " (enchantment, rt. t\W3, unused in Qal., but
meaning in Piel "to use enchantment" (Ges., Lex. ;
cf. xii. 20) : Perhaps the present Kesaf, nearly halfway
between Tyre and Banias, assigned to Asher (xix.
25, note).
Ver. 2. "in2 |fS-yP> " northwards in the mountains" \
Construe, state before a prep. ( 116, i). The
mountains stretching through Naphtali seem to be
meant (cf. xx. 7). "/;/ the ArabaJi to the south of
Kinn a roth " (Heb.), i.e., in the plain or Ghor
(iii. 1 6) to the south of the lake afterwards called
Gennesaret. Kinn a roth is either the town called
VER. 2.] THE BOOK OP JOSHUA. 163
Chinnereth (A. V. ; xix. 35), which may have given
its name to the lake, or the lake itself, so called
perhaps from the oval, harp-like form (11-13, a harp)
of its basin (Stanley, Sin. and Pal., p. 373), or
from 1733, to be low, depressed ; but, according to
G. Grove, the name was probably an old Canaanitish
word, adopted into the Israelitish language. St.
Luke only calls the lake " Gennesaret " (v. i) ;
St. Matthew and St. Mark " the Sea of Galilee "
(Matt. iv. i 8, xv. 29 ; Mark i. 16, vii. 31) ; St. John
"the Sea of Tiberias" (vi. i, xxi. i), from the city
Tiberias ; now BaJir Tubariyeh, remarkable for its
deep depression, being seven hundred feet below the
level of the ocean ( Rob., Pal., i., 613; Stanley,
Sin. and Pal., 370) ; its length is thirteen geogra
phical miles, and its breadth six miles. r6s^ (see
ix. i): Here the north part of that plain, extending
as far as Joppa ; it included the fertile valley of
Sharon, in nisi?, " in the highlands of Dor " : naj,
i.q., sp, a height. The Sept. joins Naphoth with
Dor, and renders as a proper name, e.g., Ne^>e8S&jp
(cf. Jerome, Onom., " Dornapheth"}. The town Dor
was on the coast of the Mediterranean, below Carmel,
and about nine Roman miles north of Csesarea, and
was the extreme boundary of North Canaan toward
the west ; a royal city (xii. 23), which gave its name
to the district around it (xii. 23; i Kings iv. i i). It
was in the territory of Asher, but was assigned to
Manasseh (xvii. 1 1), by whom its Canaanite inhabit
ants were not driven out (Judges i. 27); afterwards
it was taken possession of by the Ephraimites.
Solomon made it the residence of one of his twelve
purveyors (i Kings iv. 1 1). In the time of
164 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xi.
the Maccabees it was a fortified town (i Mace. xv. 1 1),
and so under the Romans (Joseph., Antiq.^ xiv., 5, 3).
Pliny (H. N., v., 1 7) and Stephen Byzan. (s.v. Awpos),
speak of it as a Phoenician settlement, and most
probably the Phoenicians may have selected the spot
on account of the Murex trunculus with which its
rocks abounded, and which furnished the famous
Tyrian dye. In early Christian times it was an
episcopal see of the province of Palestine Prima, but
in the fourth century the city was already ruined
and deserted (Jerome in Epitaph. Paulce). The
modern name is Tanttira, or Dandora (Ritter, Geogr.
of Pal, iv., 27-8 ; Reland, Palest., p. 738, etc.).
Ver. 3. "[And to] the K e naanitc . . . and the
Y bJnisite in the mountains" see on iii. 10. The
" ft izzites " probably inhabited the hills above the
plain of Sharon (Stanley, Sin. and Pal., Append.,
87). Subau. "he sent" from ver. i. "And to
the Chiwite under CJurmon " : This latter tribe was
thus distinguished from the Chivvites in Gibeon, who
made peace with Joshua (ix. i 5). Chermon means
in Arabic a " lofty prominent peak," the " nose " of
a mountain (Ges., Z^r.). It formed the southern
extremity of Antilibanus, and the northern boundary
of Palestine on the east of Jordan. It was called
by the Sidonians |inb>, from rnb, to glitter, and
by the Amorites Tob*, from "i:p, to clatter, both
nouns meaning " breastplate" and referring to its
glittering, snowclad summit (Deut. iii. 9 ; Cant.
iv. 8 ; Ezek. xxvii. 5) ; also jiob*, " the upraised "
(Deut. iv. 48) ; it was about 9,500 feet high, 1 and
1 According to Porter 10,000 feet (see Art. " Hermon " in
Dr. Smith s Diet, of Bible}.
VER. 4.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 165
visible from most parts of Palestine. The modern
name is Jcbel esh- Sheikh (with its south-eastern arm
Jebel Heisch), " the chief mountain," or " mountain
of the old white-headed man " (Stanley, Sin. and
Pal., ch. xii., 9.403-4), also "Jcbel eth TJiclj" "the
snowy mountain." It has been well called the
Mont Blanc of Palestine (Sin. and Pal., p. 403).
The plural D MDi.fl (Psalm xlii. 7 [6]) may refer
to the whole range of its snowy heights, or to
its three summits, which are about a quarter of a
mile from each other, and not much different in
elevation (Porter s Five Years in Damascus, vol. i.)
" In the land of Mitspah" 1 : Nowhere else mentioned
in the Bible, but no doubt identical with " the valley
of Mitspeh " (ver. 8), a plain stretching from the foot
of Hermon south-westwards towards the Bahr el
Huleh (Lake Merom).
In this valley or plain is a hill called el-Mutalleh>
" the look out," or " the look down," commanding a
fine view over the Lake Huleh and the surrounding
district (Rob., Bibl. Res., iii., 373). The name
Mits-peh, or Mits-pah, is given in Scripture to many
places (see Ges., Lex?).
Ver. 4. "And they went out" : Ny^ is often used
of going forth to war (see Numb. xxi. 23 ; i Sam.
viii. 20 ; Job xxxix. 21), with an ellipsis of non t ?B ! ?,
which is supplied in viii. 14. " Their hosts" lit. their
camps (cf. Exod. xiv. 24; Judges iv. 16). " As the
sand" etc. : A frequent simile in Hebrew (except in
1 The in the last syllable is changed into T by the pause
accent ( 29, 4). As the word in the Hebrew has the article
before it, the literal rendering is "in the land of the watch-
tower " (or eminence).
166 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xi.
the later books of the Old Testament) to denote a
large number (see Gen. xxii. 17, xxxii. 12 [13];
Judges vii. I 2), and used in Rev. xx. 8 of the vast
forces of Gog and Magog. " Upon the brink (lit. lip)
of the sea " : The same imagery is applied to a river
(xii. 2, xiii. 9, 16). " With (lit. and) horses and
chariots " : D-1D and 33"n are here used collectively.
Josephus says that the confederate forces amounted
to 300,000 foot, 10,000 cavalry, and 20,000 war
chariots (Antiq., v., I, 18). The chariots, here
mentioned for the first time, are described in xvii. 16
as chariots of iron, i.e., strengthened and tipped with
iron, as those of the Egyptians (Exod. xiv. 7), but
not, as some suppose, armed with scythes ; this latter
kind having been first introduced by Cyrus (see Xen.,
Cyrop., vi., c. I, 27, 30). The later Jabin had nine
hundred chariots of iron.
Ver. 5. -nw?l, " and they assembled themselves
togetJicr by appointment": Niph. imperf. of "Jiv>, to
appoint (cf. Psalm xlviii. 4 [5]) ; the kings were as
sembled (nyfj), so the Chald. Vers. ; or " they agreed
together" sc., concerning the war and place of battle
(Keil). " Merom" lit. " a high place," from D-n, to be
high. " The waters of Merom " are generally taken
to mean the Lake Merom, the High Lake, as con
trasted with the lower " Lake of Gennesareth," and
the still lower " Lake of Asphaltitis." It is supposed
identical with the Lake Semechonitis (Joseph., Antiq.,
v., 5, i ; Bel. Jud., Hi., 10, 7, iv. I, i), which may perhaps
be derived from the Arabic Samak, " high " (Stanley s
Sin. and Pal., xi., p. 391, note i), now the Bahr el
Hiileh of the modern Arabs, which may derive its
name from the depressed plain Ard cl Hitteh, in
VER. 5.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 167
which it lies, and which extends about fifteen miles
between the hills of Galilee on the west, and the
slopes of Hermon on the east. The lake is nearly
triangular in form, and the Jordan, which flows
through it, makes its exit at the apex. Josephus
calls it thirty furlongs in breadth, and sixty in length
(Bel. Jud., iv., i). The tableland on the south-west
shore of the lake is wider than that on the south-east,
and, therefore, it is probable that Jabin and his allies
encamped in that quarter. There is, however, some
uncertainty as to the locality, for Merom is not else
where found in Scripture, nor is it mentioned by
Josephus, who says that the confederate kings en
camped near Beroth, a city of Upper Galilee, not far
from Kedes, and makes no mention of water (Antiq.,
v., i, i 8). Eusebius, also, in the Onomasticon, gives
the name as " Merran," which he states to be a
village twelve miles distant from Sebaste (Samaria),
and near Dothaim (see Smith s Bib. Diet., vol. ii., p.
332). Again, Keil, after Knobel, would identify
Merom with Meirom, or Meirum, a celebrated place
of pilgrimage among the Jews, because Hillel and
other noted rabbis are said to be buried there
(Rob., Pal., iii., p. 333), about two hours journey
north-west of Szafed, upon a rocky mountain, at
the foot of which there is a spring that forms
a small brook, which flows away through the valley
below Szafed, and is said to reach the Lake of
Tiberias in the neighbourhood of Bethsaida. It
is doubtful, however, whether this locality was suit
able, like the level shores of the Lake Merom, for
the numerous chariots and horses of Jabin. Dean
Stanley adopts the more generally received view
168 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xi.
that this latter is the spot intended (Sin. and
Pal, ch. xi.)
Ver. 6. "Be not afraid," etc., cf. viii. I, x. 8.
" To-morrow about this time " : Hence it seems that
Joshua, with his wonted expedition (cf. x. 9), had set
out from Gilgal, and was within a day s march of the
enemy. "OUX, emphatic, jni lit. " (am) giving"
represents the execution of God s purpose as already
begun. D v^Qi lit. pierced through, mortally wounded,
and hence " slain " (cf. Deut. xxi. I, 2, 3). ~)$v$, " tJwu
sJialt JiougJi" i.e., shalt sever the houghs, or tendons,
of the hind feet, and thus cause incurable lameness ;
Piel of "ipr, to root out (cf. Gen. xlix. 6, " houghed
oxen" [marg. reading] ; 2 Sam. viii. 4) ; but, as a rule,
the arteries were not cut so as to cause the animal to
bleed to death (Keil, note on Gen. xlix. 6). It is
remarkable 1 that in the Bible we have not hitherto
met with the horse except in Egypt. In the war
with the Amalekites (Exod. xvii.), and with the
Midianites, an Arab tribe (Numb, xxxi.), no mention
is made of horses, nor in the war with Sihon and
Og on the east side of Jordan, nor in that with the
kings in the south of Palestine. Probably, therefore,
the Egyptians out of policy may not at this time
have exported horses to those Asiatic countries
adjacent to them, and hence the cavalry of the
northern Canaanitish kings may have been derived
from Armenia, a country perhaps then famous for its
traffic in horses, as undoubtedly it was at a later
period (see Ezek. xxvii. 14). Horses, at this time,
seem to have been used only for war, but were for-
1 Compare note of Dr. Kitto in the Pictorial Bible.
VERS. 7, 8.] THE BOOK OF fOSHUA. 169
bidden to the Israelites (Deut. xvii. 1 6), who in their
wars were to rely on God, rather than on creature
might (see Psalm xx. 7 [8]), and had they not
houghed the horses might have been tempted to
reserve them for their own use.
Ver. 7. "And they fell upon them" : hz) is also ,
used of a hostile attack in Job i. I 5. The Sept. here
adds iv Tr/ optivy, which may imply that Joshua fell
upon them in the mountain slopes of the plain, before
they could rally on the level ground (Stanley, Sin.
and Pal., xi., p. 392).
Ver. 8. " Chased them" i.e., as they fled in two
directions, some towards the north- west, others towards
the north-east. "Great Tst-dhon" (cf. xix. 28),
called the Great, nsn, z>., the populous, because at
that time the capital of Phoenicia ; allotted to Asher
(xix. 28), but not conquered by it (Judges i. 31, iii.
3), now called Saida, situated to the west of ancient
Zidon, and a port of some commerce, but insecure
from the sanding up of the harbour. Since from the
time of David Tyre, not Zidon, comes prominently
into notice as the principal city of Phoenicia (2 Sam.
v. 1 1 ; Isa. xxiii. i 2 ; Jer. xlvii. 4 ; Zech. ix. 2), we
have here an incidental proof of the antiquity of the
Book of Joshua. Mis-r*ph6th-Ma-yim, unknown.
The name probably means " burnings of waters"
from Ppb , to burn, and may refer to hot springs or
baths (Kimchi), or smelting factories near the waters
(Ges., Thes., s.v.). It appears from xiii. 6 that the
place was closely connected with Zidon, and it may,
therefore, be the same as Zarephath (Sarepta, Luke
iv. 26), to which the name bears a resemblance,
between Tyre and Zidon (cf. i Kings xvii. 9,
1 70 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xr.
" ZarepJiatJi, whicli belongctJi to Zidon " ; cf. Article
in Smith s Bib. Diet., p. 384, and Conder s Handbook,
p. 420). On the other hand, Thomson (Land and
Book, p. 203) would identify it with a collection of
springs, called Ain-MusJicrifeh, at the foot of the
promontory, to which, with its steep pass, the name
Ras el NakJiura is given, the " scala Tyriorum " of
the Crusaders, between Tyre on the north, and Acco,
or Ptolemais, on the south. Again, according to
Dean Stanley (Sin. and Pal., 392, note 4), its name,
" the flow of waters " (a derivation found in Ges.,
Lex., from fill , to drop), is naturally applied to the
exit of the Leontes from the valley of Baalbec. Both,
however, of these opinions probably place it too far
from Zidon. The meaning also of Misrephoth else
where is " burnings," not " flowings " (see Isa. xxxiii.
1 2, and cf. nQTc ; , Gen. xi. 3 ; Jer. xxxiv. 5). " Andunto
the valley of Mitspeli eastward" see on ver. 3. nrpa,
lit. " a cleft place," from l?j?3, to cleave, is uniformly
applied to the district of Ccele-Syria (cf. xi. 17,
xii. 7) ; hence it would seem rather to denote a large
plain between mountains than a valley strictly so
called, to which the word ppy more nearly corre
sponds (Stanley s Sin. and Pal., Append., p. 484).
"VKtt n iy, see viii. 22, xi. 4. The meaning is
that Joshua slew all whom he overtook in the
pursuit. 1
Ver. i o. The expression " at that time " being
1 " The battle of the Lake of Merom," says Dean Stanley,
" was to the north what the battle of Bethhoron had been to the
south ; more briefly told, less complete in its consequences,
but, still, the decisive conflict by which the four northern tribes
were established in the south of Lebanon ; by which Galilee
with its sacred sea, and the manifold consequences therein
VERS. 11-13.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 171
indefinite, admits of the supposition that the pursuit
may have lasted several days. " And smote the king
tJiereof" : Jabin must, therefore, have escaped to his
capital. D" 1 ?? 1 ?, " of old" (cf. Deut. ii. 10, 12).
Ver. ii (cf. x. 28, 40). D Ti.n, "utterly devoting
(them)," Hiph. infin. absol. ( 53, 3, Rem. 2 ; cf. |pn,
iii. 17). "And he burnt CJia-tsor" (Hazor), because
it was the chief of the confederate cities, and was too
strong to be left in his rear ; afterwards, however,
it was rebuilt, by whom is unknown, and mightily
oppressed the Israelites for twenty years (Judges
iv. 2, 3).
Ver. 1 2. Dnnn, " he iitterly devoted . " As Moses,"
etc., i.e., as Moses by God s direction had commanded
(cf. x. 40). No charge, therefore, of undue severity
can be brought against Joshua.
Ver. 13. Render the first clause, "only the cities
ivJiich stood each on its ovvn hill." The Sept. Ke^oj-
/xartcr/xeVas, "fortified with mounds," does not express
the meaning of the Hebrew, bn is here not " agger,"
but " tumulus," or " collis ; " it means primarily " a
heap," from hhfi, to heap up, and is found in the
names of several Babylonish cities, situated near hills
or mounds, e.g., Tel-abib (Ezek. iii. 15) ; Tel-harsha,
or haresha (Ezra ii. 59 ; Neh. vii. 61); Tel-melah
(Ezra ii. 59 ; Neh. vii. 61 ; Ezek. iii. 15) ; Telassar
(Isa. xxxvii. 12); whence it passed into Arabic as the
involved, was included within the limits of the Holy Land.
The name of Joshua is preserved in a local tradition, which
points out the tomb of Yusha (Joshua) near Mellahah, at its
north-west extremity, still visited by the sect of the Metawileh.
Also it appears in the mountain Tel Farash (Farash being an
Arabic name for Joshua) on the east of the plain." (Sin. ana
Pal., xi., p. 393.)
172 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xi.
common name for a hill (cf. Stanley s Sin. and Pal,
p. 119). Though Canaanite cities were frequently built
on an eminence, yet not universally so; see, e.g., Jericho
and Ay : hence, though Keil takes the contrast here
to be between Hazor and all the other cities, it is per
haps more natural to understand it as made between
cities in the plains and those on eminences. The
former could not have been so easily defended by the
Israelites as the latter, and, if left ungarrisoned, would
probably soon have been reoccupied by the enemy,
and for this reason were destroyed. The sing, hn is
used with a plural suffix to denote distribution.
W-1t, properly " except me," but here * is parag., as in
Deut. i, 36, iv. 12.
Ver. 14 (cf. viii. 27, note). " Until they (the
Israelites) had destroyed them." With the infin. form
noipn cf. viii. 22 (note).
Ver. 15. "As Jehovah commanded Moses" etc.,
see Exod. xxxiv. 11-16; Numb, xxxiii. 52, etc.;
Deut. vii. i , etc., xx. 1 6. " So did Moses command
Joshua" see Deut. iii. 21. tin Tprrx!?, lit. "he put not
away a word" i.e., he left nothing unperformed (cf.
ver. i 2, and i. 7, 8). In this Joshua was a type of
Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, " whose meat it
was to do His Heavenly Father s will, and to finish
His work" (John iv. 34). Joshua s triumphant suc
cess also foreshadowed that which the Gospel ever
since the first Advent of Christ has been achieving
over the Jabins and Hazors (the wisdom and power)
of this world (i Cor. i. 21), but which will not be
finally consummated till His second Advent.
Here terminates the account of Joshua s wars, and
what follows to the end of the chapter is a review of
VERS. 16, 17.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 173
the conquest of the whole land, i.e., of Western
Palestine.
VERS. 16-23. The Whole Extent of the Conquered
Land from South to North.
Ver. 1 6. " Took all that land" see note on ver.
23. inn, tJie mountain, i.e., the hill country of South
and Central Canaan, see ix. I (note). 23?.n, x. 40
(note). M// the land of Goshen" : The same as that
mentioned in x. 41 ; if not, a portion of the maritime
plain of Judah (the Sh^helah 1 ). It seems to have lain
between it and the Negeb. nrngri, see xi. 2. VI "in -nao :
The reference is to the northern highland of Palestine,
as opposed to the valley and the plain, and to the
mountains of Judah (ver. 21) ; called "the mountain
of Ephraim " (xvii. 15), a limestone range running
from Kirjath-jearim, where the mountains of Judah
terminate, to the plain of Jezreel. When Joshua
divided the land, its summits were densely covered
with wood (xvii. 15). nh^S^-l, " and the lowland
thereof," as opposed to the highland. Dean Stanley
thinks that it refers to the tract of Sharon (cf. note
on ix. i). ri , an old form of 3rd pers. m. suffix
(Parad., A., p. 276 ; cf. n Ti;, Gen. xlix. 1 1) ; in the
margin in^D^ : -1.
Ver. i 7 ( The Botmdaries of the Conquered Land on
the Soutli and North}. " The mount Chalaq " (Halak,
Auth. Vers.), from p^n, to be smooth ; lit. " the smooth
(or bare) mountain " : Sept. Alex. opo AXa/c ; Vat.,
XeX^cx ; mentioned here and in xii. 7 only. Site
uncertain. Clark (Bible Atlas, p. 15, notes) would
1 See on ix. i.
174 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xi.
identify it with Jebel-el-Mukrah, sixty miles south of
the Dead Sea, so that it would include the whole of
the Negeb or south country ; but others (Keil, Fay,
etc.) think it may have been a range of white cliffs
stretching obliquely across the Arabah, and up which
was the ascent of the pass called Akrabbim (Numb.
xxxiv. 4 ; Josh. xv. 3), about eight miles south of
the Dead Sea, forming the south limit of the Ghor,
and the north limit of the Arabah. The view of
these cliffs from the shore of the Dead Sea is very
striking. They appear as a line of hills shutting in
the valley, and extending up to the mountains of
Seir (Porter, Art. in Smith s Bib. Diet, on Seir).
G. Grove, however, objects that we should expect the
word Sela\ rather than Har y to be used in reference
to such vertical cliffs (Art. in Smith s Bib. Diet., vol.
i., p. 741). Again, Knobel identifies Halak with
Madurah) or Maderah> an isolated hill of curious
shape, rising to a height of five hundred feet, forming
the point of separation between Wady-el-Fikreh (a
valley running into the Ghor) and Wady-el-Marrah
(a valley running into the higher level of the Arabah).
But, as this hill rather lies on the west side of the
Wady-el-Fikreh, it could not be said to go up to
Seir. From this diversity of opinion it is evident
that the south boundary of the land cannot be accu
rately determined. " The question, however," says
Clark (Bible Atlas, notes, p. 15), " is of less practical
importance than it would else be, owing to the un
profitable character of the Negeb." " That goeth
up to Seir," cf. xii. 7. Se-tr (Seir [A. V.], rough,
wooded) was a mountainous region extending from
the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf. It was occu-
VER. i8.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 175
pied in succession by the Horites (Gen. xiv. 6),
the Esauites (Gen. xxxii. 3 [4]), and the Edomites
(Deut. ii. 4). Bdal-GadJi (lord of fortune;, men
tioned also in xii. 7, xiii. 5, and probably so
called from the worship of Gad, or Fortune (Ges.,
Lex?). By reason of the mention of " the valley of
Lebanon," some (Knobel, Kitto) would identify it
with Baalbec, between Lebanon and Antilebanon,
but there is no evidence that Joshua s conquests
extended so far north, and the expression " under
mount Hermon " would lead us to suppose it close to
that mountain, and probably the same as the Baal-
Hermon of Judges iii. 3 ; I Chron. v. 23 ; hence
Raumer, Robinson, and Keil, perhaps rightly, regard
it as the same with Panium, or Paneas (Banjas), the
Caesarea Philippi of a later time.
Ver. 1 8. "Many days": Josephus says the war
lasted five years (Antiq., v., I, 19), but the rabbis
more correctly say seven, for Caleb, when sent from
Kadesh-barnea to spy the land, was forty years old,
after which he wandered thirty-eight years in the
wilderness, and at the conclusion of the war was
eighty-five years old (see xiv. 7-10). It is evident,
therefore, that this and the former chapter record
only the more remarkable events of the war.
Ver. 19. np^rn, not followed here by -ri, as in
x. I, 4, but by ~b^, "had submitted itself to by a
treaty of peace " (Ges., Lex?).
Ver. 20. pin 1 ?, " to harden " (cf. Exod. iv. 21;
Deut. ii. 30). The meaning is not that God merely
permitted their hearts to be hardened, but that He
decreed that such should be the natural result of their
own obstinate impenitence. Tin ]vt?h, " in order that
1 76 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xi.
lie (Israel) might execute the ban upon them"
" mercy" from J3n, to be (favourably) inclined towards.
?, "but" t?n |BV, "*&** /# (Israel) ;;/tf destroy them":
Their fate is a warning to all who by persistence in
sin " treasure up unto themselves wrath against the
day of wrath," etc. (Rom. ii. 5, etc.).
Vers. 21, 22. As the Anakim had been the
cause of great terror to the Israelites (Numb. xiii. 21,
etc.), there is here added to the foregoing narrative
an especial notice of their extermination.
Ver. 21. " At that time" i.e., not after the con
quest of the north and south was completed (Rosenm.),
but in the course of the war of many days (ver. 1 8).
"And cut off the Anakim" i.e., as Clericus says, " he
killed those who fell into his hands, the rest he
expelled, but after a short time, as we learn from
xv. 14, they came back again." D^r.n, lit. the long-
necked, from \>M, i.g. y Arabic " length of neck " (and
stature) (Ges., Lex.} The name does not seem to
indicate a distinct nation or tribe, but was applied to
men of extraordinary stature among the Amorites,
and seems to have been borne by three families in
particular (see Numb. xiii. 22 ; Josh. xiv. 15 ; Judges
i. 10). "inn~iP, i.e., not merely from the mountains in
the south of Judah (Rosenm.), where Debir and Anab
lay, but all the hilly country of Palestine, explained
afterwards in this verse by the expression " all the
mountains of Judah," and " all the mountains of
Israel." On Hebron and Debir see x. 3, 38.
" A-nabh" (" a place abounding in grapes ; see 331?, a
cluster, rt. litf, to fasten together), a city in the moun
tain district of Judah (xv. 50), a few miles S.S.W.
of Hebron, and still retaining its ancient name
VERS. 22.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 177
(Robinson, Pal., ii., 194-5). " Destroyed them utterly
with their cities " : Yet the next verse shows that a
remnant of the population escaped, who seem to have
afterwards returned and occupied Hebron, whence
they were finally driven by Caleb (xiv. 12, etc., xv.
13, 14 ; see note on x. 36-7 *).
Ver. 22. infJ N7, followed by a plural subject
( 147, a). "In the land of the children of Israel" :
Called theirs, because they afterwards took possession
of it, and held it at the time when this book was
written. " Gaza" (see x. 41) ; " Gatli " (a winepress) :
A royal city of Philistia (xiii. 3 ; I Sam. vi. 1 7) ;
the native place of Goliath (i Sam. xvii. 4) ; twice
fled to by David during his persecution by Saul
(i Sam. xxi. 10-15, xxvii. 2-4; Psalm Ivi.) ; cap
tured by David (i Chron. xviii. i) 2 ; one of the
cities fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 8) ; taken
by Hazael, King of Syria, in the time of Joash
(2 Kings xii. 1 7), and again taken by Uzziah
(2 Chron. xxvi. 6). It appears to have been an
inland city, on the borders of Philistia and Judah.
Its site is unknown, but probably identical with the
hill now called Tell es Safieh, ten miles east of Ash-
dod, and about ten miles south by east of Ekron
(see Smith s BibL Diet., i., p. 656). Ash-dddh ("a
fortified place," or " castle," from "H^, to be strong).
1 The early campaigns of Joshua may, as Ewald thinks,
have borne resemblance to sudden incursions, irresistible at
the time, but not reducing the country to complete subjection
(Evvald s Geschichte, ii., 39).
- In the parallel passage (2 Sam. viii. j) for " Gath and
her towns " we have Methegh-ha-ammah, " the bridle of the
metropolis" (Gesenius, Keil), or "the bridle of the arm,"
i.e., the supremacy (Ewald and Bertheau) ; either a different
reading, or an explanatory rendering.
12
1 78 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xi.
Sept. and New Testament (Acts viii. 40), y Aojros,
an inland town, three miles from the Mediterranean,
on an eminence, about eighteen miles north of Gaza ;
allotted to Judah (xv. 47), but, if taken by it, soon
recovered by the Philistines, of whose worship of
Dragon it was the principal seat (i Sam. v. I, etc.).
Like Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, it was often de
nounced by the prophets (see Jer. xxv. 20 ; Amos
i. 8, iii. 9 ; Zeph. ii. 4 ; Zech. ix. 6). As it com
manded the entrance from Palestine to Egypt, it was
besieged and captured by Tartar, the general of
Sargon, King of Assyria, about B.C. 716, probably to
frustrate the league between Hezekiah and Egypt
(Isa. xx. i) ; again, after a siege of twenty-nine years
(according to Herodotus), it was taken by Psamme-
tichus (Herod., ii., 157) about B.C. 630. Though
destroyed by the Maccabees (i Mace. x. 77-84, xi. 4),
it was afterwards rebuilt by the Roman general,
Gabinius (Joseph., Antiq., xiv., 5, 3) B.C. 55 ; was one
of the towns bequeathed by Herod the Great to
Salome, his sister (Joseph., Antig., xvii., 8, i). In
Christian times it became an episcopal city, and its
bishop was present at the Council of Nice. Now
Esdtid, a small and poor Moslem village (Ritter,
Pal., iii., 220, etc.).
Ver. 23 (Completion of tJie Narrative of Joshua s
Conquests]. " Took the whole land" (cf. ver. 16, xii. 7,
8, etc.) : The statement was true in a general sense ;
Joshua had overrun the whole land, and broken the
power of the Canaanites, and it only remained for
the children of Israel to follow up and complete his
conquests. Hence there is no discrepancy between
this assertion and xiii. i, etc., xvii. 14, etc., xviii.
VER. 23.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 179
3, xxiii. 5, 12, 13. "According to . . . Moses":
See Exod. xxiii. 22, 27-33 5 Deut. vii. 12, 22-26,
whence it appears that God had not promised to exter
minate at once the Canaanites, but only by little and
little, and had made the fulfilment of His promises
conditional on the obedience of the Israelites.
" Joshua gave it for an inheritance" : So by Jesus, not
Moses ; by the Gospel, not the Law, we inherit the
promises (Rom. xv. 8; Heb. xi. 13, 40). rprn denotes
a lasting possession, handed down from father to
son (see I Kings xxi. 3, 4 ; and Numb, xxxvi. 8,
where it is evidently not synonymous with
" According to tJieir divisions by their tribes " :
plur. of r\\f?r\ft, rt. p^n, to divide, here denotes the
divisions of the twelve tribes into families and house
holds ; so in xii. 7, xviii. 10 ; it is also used of the
courses or classes of the priests and Levites (i
Chron. xxiii. 6, xxiv. I, xxvi. 1-12); and of mili
tary arrangements (i Chron. xxvii. i). In the last
clause, Et?, to rest (cf. xiv. 15), is not found in the
Pentateuch.
The latter half of this verse (23) is introductory to
the second part of the book, which treats of the par
tition of the land.
CHAPTER XII.
THIS chapter is designed to be supplementary to
chapters x. and xi. From chapters x. 40-42 and
xi. 12-17 it i s evident that Joshua must have
slain more kings and conquered more cities than are
named in those chapters ; and, therefore, the omission
i8o THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xn.
is supplied in this chapter, which is thus indispens
able to the completeness of the history. First, in
vers. 1-6 mention is made of the kings and country
conquered by Moses on the east side of Jordan ; and
next, in vers. 7-24, of the conquests of Joshua on
the west of Jordan. The fact that the writer does
not limit himself to an account of the conquests of
Joshua, but mentions those also of Moses (vers. 1-6),
shows that his design throughout the book is to relate
the conquest of Canaan as a proof of God s faithful
ness to His covenant.
Ver. i. B>B>n . . . nnr?, see note on i. 15. The
rt in nrntp is local ( 90, 2, a). "From the river
(torrent *) Arnon " : The boundary between Moab
and the Amorites (Numb. xxi. 1 3), afterwards between
Moab and Reuben (Deut. ii. 24, 36), now the Wady
el Mojeb, which flows into the east side of the Dead
Sea. According to Gesenius (Lex}), }li"ix = J1J"), rush
ing, roaring, i.e., roaring stream. u Ckermdn" see xi. 3.
"And all the plain" (see note on Arabah, iii. 16):
Here is meant that portion of the depressed plain
now termed El-Ghor, on the east side of Jordan.
Ver. 2. Chesh-bon (Heshbon, Auth. Ver.), the
capital of Sihon, the King of the Amorites (see
Numb. xxi. 21-26), assigned by Moses to Reuben
(Josh. xiii. 15, 17), by whom it was rebuilt (Numb.
xxxii. 37) ; afterwards it came into the possession of
the Gadites, probably (says Keil) because it stood on
1 The word ?n3 is derived by Dean Stanley from ??n, to per
forate (Sin. and Pal., Append., p. 496) ; it answers to the
Arab. "Wady," or watercourse, which is sometimes an im
petuous torrent, at others, a brook, a dry channel, or valley.
For its distinction from 1HJ, see i. 4 (note).
VER. 2.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 181
the border of their inheritance ; and it was assigned
to the Levites (Josh. xxi. 39). After the captivity
it was retaken by the Moabites, to whom it had
originally belonged (Numb. xxi. 26), and thus became
included in the prophetic denunciations against Moab
(Isa. xv. 4, xvi. 9 ; Jer. xlviii. 2, 45-47). At a
later period, according to Josephus (Antiq., xviii., 14,
4), it was again in the possession of the Jews. It
lay on the border between Gad and Reuben, midway
between the Arnon and Jabbok, and nearly opposite
to the entrance of the Jordan into the Dead Sea. 1
The ruins of the modern Hesbdn, or Hilsban, twenty
miles east of the Jordan, and, according to Von
Raumer, more than a mile in circuit, are supposed to
mark the site. Aro-er (=" ruins," places of which
the foundations are laid bare ; rt. "ny, to be bare,
naked), a city on the north bank of the Arnon, assigned
to the tribe of Reuben (xiii. 9, 1 6), of which it formed
the most southerly city ; afterwards came into the
possession of the Moabites (Jer. xlviii. 19); now A r air,
on the north edge of the ravine of the Mojeb (Clark s
Bib. Atlas]. Burckhardt, in 185 2, found the ruins on
the edge of a cliff overlooking the river (Travels,
pp. 372-4). It was distinct from the Aroer before
Rabbath Ammon, in the land of Gad (Josh. xiii. 25),
but appears to have been occupied on the first ac
quisition of the territory by the Gadites, and by
them to have been rebuilt or fortified (see Keil on
Numb, xxxii. 34, and on Josh. xiii. 25). It is also
distinct from the Aroer in the tribe of Judah (i
1 According to Kiepert s map it was over 4,000 feet above
the Dead Sea, and about 3,000 feet above the level of the
Mediterranean.
182 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xn.
Sam. xxx. 28). njPI ^fni : , "and in the midst of tJie
torrent (or watercourse) " (De Wette, Fay), i.e., the
city lay partly on, and partly in, the Arnon, on an
island, now Araayr. But perhaps the words are
elliptical, and more fully expressed in xiii. 9, 16 by
"pmn -qfn? IETN. "Mm, " <a;^ (from) //^ Vj/ which is in the
midst of the torrent " (valley, Keil). The city thus
referred to is, not Aroer, but Ar Moab (Numb. xxi.
15, 28 ; Deut. ii. 36), near the spot where the upper
Arnon (Seil Saideh) receives the tributary Nahaliel
(Numb. xxi. 19), on a hill between the two torrents,
where are still the ruins of an ancient city (Burck-
hardt s Travels, pp. 372-4, and Art. "Arnon" in
Smith s Bib. Dict^] ; probably Balak went hither to
meet Balaam (Numb. xxii. 36). It must not be
confounded with Rabbath-Moab, which lay ten or
fifteen miles south of the Arnon. See Hengstenberg
(Geschichte Bilcams, pp. 234, etc.) and also Ritter, in
opposition to Reland and many modern scholars who
identify the two. " Half -Gilead" * i.e., a mountainous
district south of the Jabbok. The other half-Gilead
belonged to Og, and the Jabbok was the division
between them (see note on ver. 5, and cf. Deut. iii.
12, 13). As is usual with geographical names in
Palestine, Gilead (Heb. Gil- adh) describes the physi
cal aspect of the country, and means " hard, rocky
region," contrasted with Bashan, " a level, fertile
tract." The name IJ^i, " heap of witness " (Gen.
xxxi. 47), may, by a change of vowels, have been
formed from this word. The "Jabbok " (Yab-b6q,
1 Lit. " half of the Gilead," for, as the name of a place, the
word in Hebrew generally has the article (cf. xiii. 25, 31, xvii.
i, xxii. 9, see Gr., 109, 3).
VERS. 2-3.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 183
either from p3, to pour forth, to gush forth, or from
D2N, in Niph., to wrestle (Ges. ; Gen. xxxii. 24), rises
in the plateau east of Gilead, and, after receiving
some tributary streams, of which one comes from
Rabbath-Ammon, the capital of the Ammonites (2
Sam. xi.), falls into the Jordan, forty-five miles north
of the Arnon, about half way between the Sea of Gali
lee and the Dead Sea (Porter, Art. in Smith s Bib.
Diet.}. It was crossed by Jacob on his road from
Haran (Gen. xxxii. 22 [23]), and is now called Wady
Zurka, i.e., blue torrent. " The border of the children of
Amman " : Popularly so called, both here and in Deut.
iii. 1 6, because the children of Ammon had held the
whole territory between the Arnon and Jabbok, till
dispossessed of it by the Amorites (Emorites), and
still continued to claim it (Judges xi. 12-22). Others,
however (as Keil), think that the border here meant
is the Nahr Ammon, called the Upper Jabbok, on
the banks of which stands Rabbath Ammon, and
which, according to them, is the source of the Lower
Jabbok. In its course northward and westward,
between Rabbah and Gadara, it formed the boundary
between the Ammonites and the territory which had
been wrested from them by the Amorites.
Ver. 3. Render, "And (he reigned over) the
ArabaJi" etc. : i.e., the kingdom of Sihon comprised
the whole of the Arabah or Ghor between the Lake
of Tiberias and the Dead Sea. Jin??, see xi. 2.
" Beth-jeshimoth " (house of the wastes ; Heb. Beth-
ha 1 -y c shi-m6th), in the deserts of Moab, at the end of
1 ?n is here written for ?n, the dagesh forte being omitted
( 20, 3, b}.
184 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xn.
the Dead Sea (Numb, xxxiii. 48, 49) ; allotted to
Reuben (Josh. xiii. 20), but afterwards in the pos
session of Moab (Ezek. xxv. 9). "Ashdotk-Pisgak"
(Heb. Ash-doth-hap-Pis-gah), not known, used here
and in xiii. 20 ; Deut. iii. 17, as a proper name, but
in Deut. iv. 49 translated " Springs of Pisgak" As
to the meaning of Ashdoth (lit. " pourings out," from
nt?K, unused, " to pour out," see note on x. 40)
opinions differ, but whether translated springs, or
slopes, or roots, it probably denotes some peculiar
feature of the country, at the north-east border of
the desert, by the Dead Sea. " Pisgah " x (" a part "
or "fragment," rt. 3D3 [unused], Chald. to cut up,
divide), is unknown, but generally supposed to be a
ridge of the Abarim mountains, westward from Hesh-
bon, the most celebrated peak of which was Mount
Nebo (see Numb. xxi. 20, xxxiii. 47, xxvii. 12 ;
Deut. xxxii. 49). The name seems to have been
transferred under its Arabic form Feshkhah to the
opposite headland, on the west of the Dead Sea.
Ver. 4. >I3|, here, as often, = the space included
within certain borders, i.e., " territory ;" the accus. after
ICTVl, which is understood from ver. I. Og (Heb.
Ogh, long-necked, gigantic (Ges., Lex.}, an Amoritish
king (Deut. iii. 8, iv. 47, xxxi. 4 ; Josh. ix. 10),
whence it seems that the Rephaim (giants), from
whom he was descended, were not, as Bertheau,
Ewald, and Lengerke say, aboriginal inhabitants of
Palestine, but a tribe or branch of the Amorites or
Canaanites, remarkable for their gigantic height (cf.
note on xi. 21). So Keil, "In the very earliest
1 The word is always used in Hebrew with the article, " the
Pisgah" ( 109, 3).
VER. 5.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 185
times they {i.e., the Rephidim] had obtained pos
session of Palestine on the east of Jordan, but a*
a later period they were dispossessed and overthrown
by the Moabites and Ammonites (see Deut. ii. 20-1).
Subsequently, however, the Amorites, having been
reinforced by their kinsmen from West Canaan, again
obtained the upper hand, and under Sihon and Og
founded two powerful kingdoms, which were subdued
by the Israelites under Moses." " A sJitaroth" ix. 10
(note), probably now Tell-Ashterah, "rising to a height
of from 50 to 100 ft. above the plain, in which ruins
lie scattered. At the foot of the hill are ancient
wall-foundations and copious springs " (Von Raumer,
p. 243). " Edrei" ( Edh-re- i, " strong," from irnx,
Chald., i.q., v~n, " an arm," with N prosthetic), a capital
city of Bashan, situated on a rocky promontory at
the south-west corner of Argob, and on the northern
edge of the Hauran, or " Burnt Country," where Og
was defeated and slain by the Israelites (Numb. xxi.
33-35; Deut. iii. 1-3), still called Edra (Porter,
Damascus, p. 27 I , etc.). Others, following the doubtful
testimony of Eusebius (Onom.\ place it a few miles
further south, at the modern Der a ; but for reasons
against this site see Smith s Bible Diet., vol. i., p. 492. x
Ver. 5. The Limits of Ogs Territory. Salcah
(Sal-khah), 2 cf. Deut. iii. 10, afterwards the limit of
1 " Og s capital was in ordinary circumstances almost
unassailable, since it was, strange to say, built in a hollow,
artificially scooped out of the top of a hill, which the deep
gorge of the Hieromax isolates from the country round. Its
streets may still be seen running in all directions beneath the
present town of Adraha." (Geikie s Hours with the Bible,
vol. ii., p. 360.)
2 . The D being without daghesh, the word is here put for
n ?? (Ges., Lex.}.
1 86 THE BOOfC OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xn.
the possessions of the Gadites (i Chron. v. u),
situated on the south-east border of Bashan, now
Sii Ik had (Porter, Five Years in Damascus], a town with
eight-hundred houses, and a castle of basaltic rock,
commanding an extensive view over the plain of the
great Euphrates desert. "And over all Bashan"
extending from Gilead to Hermon, and from the
Jordan valley to Salcah, and embracing the four
(later) provinces of Gaulanitis, Auranitis, Tracho-
nitis, and Batanrea. The present Ard-el-Bathanyeh
represents the last mentioned province. Bashan
was famous for its oak forests (Isa. ii. 13; Ezek.
xxvii. 6) and fat bulls and rams (Deut. xxxii. 14;
Amos. iv. i ; Psalm xxii. i 2 [13]). " The Geshurites" a
people north-west (so Keil, Rosenm., and Gesen., Thes.,
i., 308) of Bashan, between that land and Aram, and
on the east side of the Upper Jordan, near Hermon.
Geshur means a bridge, and a bridge is now found
in that region, where the Jordan is crossed (Ges.,
Lex.}. But Porter places them on the north-east
corner of Bashan, adjoining the province of Argob,
and the kingdom of Aram. David married a
daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur, and by her
was the father of Absolom (2 Sam. iii. 3) ; and to
Geshur Absolom fled after the murder of his brother
Amnon (2 Sam. xiii. 37). " The Maachathites" men
tioned along with the Geshurites (Deut. iii. 14), with
whom they seem to have been closely allied (for
the daughter of Talmai was named Maachah), and
dwelling probably on the east of Geshur, and south of
Damascus (Keil). They took part with the Ammon
ites against David (2 Sam. x. 6). "And half- Gilead"
cf. ver. 2 : Before VO is either repeated Suriy, or
VERS. 6-7.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 187
the preposition ? is understood, z>., he ruled over
the half-Gilead, the other half of which was in the
dominions of Sihon, the Jabbok being the line of
separation between the two. That section, over
which Og reigned, lies between the Jabbok and the
Hieromax, and is now called Jebel Ajlun, while
that to the south of the Jabbok forms the modern
province of Belka. The northern section is most
thickly timbered, the southern most fertile, and the
Arabs have a proverb, " Thou canst not find a coun
try like the Belka " (Tristram, Land of Israel}.
Sihon is represented by Josephus as the friend and
ally of Og (Antiq., iv., 5, 3).
Ver. 6. D-13H, "smote them" (see Numb. xxi. 21,
etc.) PUP^I : Two MSS. have DJ^l, but the fern, suffix
Pi evidently refers to the land on the east side of
Jordan. The actual possession of this was given by
Joshua according to Moses s directions (Josh. xxii.
1-6, with Numb, xxxii. 28).
VERS. 7-24. A Summary of the Kings and Coun
try conquered by Joshua on the West Side of the
Jordan. 1
Ver. 7. "From Baal-gad," etc., see note xi. 17.
" A nd Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel" etc., cf.
xi. 23. This similarity of statement is inconsistent
with the view of Hasse, Bertholdt, and others, who
1 Though as many as thirty-one king s are mentioned, yet
this is not surprising when we consider that in the earliest
times sovereignties often comprised no more than a single town
and a small surrounding district. Thus in the vale of Sodom
were five kings, one for each town (Gen. xiv.). To the siege
of Troy a vast number of petty king.s were sent from Greece and
188 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA, [CHAP. xn.
regard the following list as not authentic, but an
heterogeneous fragment.
Ver. 8. " In the mountainous district . . . in the
Arabah" see xi. 2 (note). nni*\s*3, x. 40. "i3"]P, viii.
!5- flnn, etc., ix. i,iii. 10. Here, and in ix. i,xi,3,
the Girgashites are omitted. Nothing is known of
them beyond their name. Von Raumer thinks that
they settled as colonists on the west side of the Jordan
(see xxiv. 11). In Gen. x. 16 the Girgasite is men
tioned as the fifth son of Canaan. Perhaps the race
became wholly extinct or absorbed in other tribes.
Ver. 9. "Jericho" vi. I. " Ay" vii. 2, viii. i, etc.
Vers. 10-18. This list refers to those who were
conquered by Joshua in Southern Palestine, either
in the battle of Bethhoron (x. I, etc.), or in the cam
paign immediately following it.
Ver. 10. Cf. x. I, 3,
Ver. 1 1. Cf. x. 3.
Ver. 12. Cf. x. 3. "King of Gezer" x, 33.
Ver. 13. " King of Debir" see x. 39. "King of
Geder" (Gedher): The town has not been before
mentioned, and is thought by some to be the same
as Gedor (xv. 58), which lay between Hebron and
Bethlehem, i.q., the modern Jedur (Rob., Bibl. Res., ii.,
13), or identical with Gederah (xv. 36), in the low
lands of Judah (Keil) ; but perhaps from its being
named along with Debir, Hormah, and Arad, it lay
her islands. Caesar tells us that in the county of Kent, in
Britain, were four kings ; also the Silures, Brigantes, and other
small tribes, had each their own king. Gaul, Spain, and Ger
many were in like manner subdivided into a vast number of
little states or kingdoms. Often one such little state has ab
sorbed others into itself, or foreign invaders have united several
of them into one large kingdom.
VERS. 14, 15.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 189
more to the south, and was the same as the Gedor
mentioned in connection with the Simeonites, I
Chron. iv. 39 (Grove).
Ver. 14. "Hormah" (Ch6r-mah, "a devoting" or
" ban," a place laid waste, Ges.) ; anc. called Zephath
(the watch-tower), Judges i. 17, though called by
anticipation Hormah in Numb. xiv. 45. The name
was changed to Hormah for the reason given in
Numb. xxi. 3. It stood in the south of Palestine,
in the territory of Judah (Josh. xv. 30), and was
allotted to Simeon (xix. 4). Perhaps at, or near,
the pass Es Sufa (Rob., Bib. Res., ii., iSi). 1 "Arad"
( A-radh ; Numb. xxi. 1-3 ; Judges i. 16, 17), a royal
city, near the wilderness of Kadesh, on a small hill,
now called Tell-Arad (Rob., Bib. Res., ii., 101, 201),
twenty Roman miles south of Hebron (Euseb.,
Onom^) described as a barren-looking eminence,
rising above the country around.
Ver. i 5. "Libnah t " see x. 29. "Adullam" ( A-dhul-
lam, "the justice of the people," Ges., Lex^}. This
town was evidently in the lowland (cf. Gen. xxxviii.
I, "Judah went down" etc.), between Jarmuth and
Sokoh (Josh. xv. 35). Sept. OSoXAayx, and so called
in 2 Mace. xii. 38 ; fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron.
xi. 7) ; occupied by the Jews after the return from
Babylon (Neh. xi. 30). Near it was the celebrated
1 See Art. In Smith s Bib. Diet., vol. i., p. 826. " It was
the great point from which the roads across the desert, after
having been all united, again diverge towards Gaza, and He
bron, and its site is still marked by the ruins of a square tower
of hewn stones, with a large heap of stones adjoining, on the
top of a hill, which rises a thousand feet above the wady on
the edge of which it stands." (Dr. Geikie, Hours with the
Bible, vol. ii., p. 331.)
igo THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xn.
cave (i Sam. xxii. I ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 13; see Stanley s
Sin. and Pal., p. 258, note 8), though monastic tra
dition places it near the modern Khureitan, not far
from Bethlehem, a position which does not satisfy the
requirements of the sacred narrative. More recently
the site of the town has been identified by M. Cler-
mont Ganneau with ruins on a height, overlooking
the valley of Elah (i Sam. xvii. 19), called Aid-el-
Ma. Here " the surveyors " (employed by the Pales
tine Exploration Fund) " found a cave close to the
ruins of the ancient town, a cave sufficiently large
to have been the habitation of David, while his band
were garrisoning the hold or fortress." {Quarterly
Statement of Pal. Explor. Fund, January, I 88 i, p. 44.)
Ver. 1 6. " Makkedah," cf. x. 10, 28. " Bethel"
see vii. 2, viii. 17 ; but, as it is mentioned here
along with Makkedah, which was in Judah, Grove
thinks that it is identical with the Bethel in i Sam.
xxx. 27, which was in the south of Judah, and
apparently corresponds to the Bethul of xix. 4, and
the Chesil of xv. 30. (See Smith s Bibl. Diet., vol.
i., p. 199.)
Ver. i 7. " Tappuah " (Tap-pu-ach, a place fruitful
in apples, n-l&n, an apple), not to be confounded, as by
Rosenmiiller, with that mentioned in xvi. 8, which
was on the boundary of Ephraim and Manasseh, and
identical with En-tappuah (xvii. 7), but situated in
the lowland of Judah, apparently in the same district
as Adullam and Jarmuth (xv. 34), about twelve miles
west of Jerusalem (Grove), and now called Teffuh.
Like Bethel in ver. 16, the towns in this verse and
ver. 1 8 are not mentioned among those taken after
the battle of Beth-horon (x. 28-39), 7 et they may
VERS. i8-2i.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 191
have been in league with the others against Israel.
" Heplier" (Che-pher, a digging, a well, from 133, to
dig), unknown, but probably the town after which
was named the land of Hepher (i Kings iv. 10), near
Socoh, in Judah (xv. 35) ; quite distinct from Gath-
Hepher in Zebulun (xix. i 3).
Ver. 1 8. " Aphek" ( "A-pheq, strength), a name
given in Scripture to many strong places, not all
necessarily towns, but perhaps only encampments, as
that mentioned in i Sam. iv. i, xxix. i ; but here
probably identical with Aphekah (xv. 53), a town in
the mountains of Judah, near Hebron. " LasJiaron "
(Lash-Sha-ron) : Vulg. "Sharon," a town which gave
its name to the plain so called (h being taken as a
sign of the genitive), but which lies too much to the
north. The Chald. and Arab. Vers. regard the b as
part of the noun, and there seems, says Grove (Art.
in Smith s Bib. Diet}, no reason why the construction
in this particular place should differ from the rest in
the list. By the Sept. (Alex, and Vat.) the word is
omitted. Site unknown.
Vers. 19-24. The towns here mentioned were
connected with the northern confederacy (xi. i, etc.).
Ver. 19. " Madon" see xi. i. "Hazor" xi. i, 1 1,
13-
Ver. 20. Cf. xi. i.
Ver. 21. " Taanach" (Ta- a-nakh, sandy soil,
Ges., Lex.}, a town in the tribe of Issachar, but
assigned to the half-tribe of Manasseh (xvii. 1 1 ; I
Chron. vii. 29), which did not drive out the native
inhabitants (Judges i. 27) ; afterwards bestowed on
the Kohathite Levites (Josh. xxi. 25), the scene of
Barak s victory (Judges v. 19). Its name is preserved
192 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. XH.
in the modern Tctann&ki near Lejjun (Grove), a small
village, near to some ruins in the plain of Esdraelon.
" Megiddo " (M e ghid-do), generally associated with
the preceding city (xvii. II ; Judges i. 27, v. 19 ; I
Kings iv. 12). Here Ahaziah died (2 Kings ix. 27),
and Josiah was fatally wounded in battle against
Pharaoh Necho (2 Kings xxiii. 29). Now probably
el-Lejjzin, the Roman " Legio " (Rob., BibL Res., i.
316, 328 ; Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 333).
Ver. 22. " Kedesh " (Qe-dhesh, sanctuary), in
Issachar, and, according to the list in i Chron. vi.
72, allotted to the Gershonite Levites, but in the
parallel list (Josh. xxi. 28) called Kishon. Being
mentioned along with Megiddo and Jokneam, it
seems more probably to have been this city in
Issachar than that of the same name in Naphtali
(xix. 37), with which it is identified by Keil and
others. "Jokneam " (Yoq-n e am, " possessed by the
people," Ges., Lex.}, in Zebulon (xix. 1 1), near
Carmel ; assigned to the Merarite Levites (xxi. 34);
probably the modern Tell Kainion, at the foot of the
east end of Carmel (Rob., Bib. Res., p. 114, 115),
and commanding the main pass from Phoenicia to
Egypt. Traces of this modern name are found in
Cyamon, Kvd/Jiwi (Judith vii. 3). "Carmel" (hak-
Karmel, " the fruitful field," * or " garden "), a moun
tainous range, on the northern border of the tribe of
Asher (xix. 26), the highest summit of which is
nearly 1,750 ft. above the sea. It was probably re
garded by the ancient Canaanites as sacred, and the
1 This word in Hebrew commonly has the article, which is
here involved in the prefix, prep, i ( 102, 2, b), "on, or in,
tiie Carmel."
VER. 23.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 193
Israelites may have early established there an altar
of the Lord (see I Kings xviii. 30). Tacitus (Hist.
ii., ch. 78) says that Vespasian came thither to
consult the oracle of the god Carmel (the god
having the same name as the mountain itself), who
had neither image nor temple ; " ara tantum et
reverentia." In modern times the mountain became
celebrated for the convent of Barefooted Carmelite
Friars, built on its west headland by St. Louis.
This convent was used as a hospital by Napoleon I.
when he besieged Acre, was destroyed by the Arabs
after his retreat, and rebuilt in 1833. Carmel is
now called Jcbel Mar Elias, in memory of the great
deeds of Elijah, and the same name Mar Elias is
usually given to the convent, though dedicated to
the Virgin Mary. See Smith s Bib. Diet., p. 279 ;
Stanley s Sin. and Pal., p. 352.
Ver. 23. "Dor" xi. 2. TR nB3j>, "///," or "per
taining to, the highlands of Dor" see note on xi. 2.
"King- of the nations of Gilgal" (Auth. Vers.), or
"king of the Go-yim at Gilgal" (Keil) : D.l-i being
taken as a proper name, referring to an aboriginal
tribe. It may, perhaps, denote an aggregate of mixed
and nomadic tribes, to whom Gilgal was a centre and
capital, cf. the phrase " Galilee of the nations " (Isa.
ix. i ; Matt. iv. i 5). Gilgal (which cannot be the
Gilgal near Jericho) is supposed by Keil and others
to be the same as Galgulis, six miles north of Kefr
Saba, the ancient Antipatris (Euseb. and Jerome,
Onom^}, on the main road from Egypt and Phoenicia,
in the plain of Sharon, and still to be seen in the
modern village of Jiljulch, or Jiljulieh, now almost a
ruin (see Robin., Bib. Res., p. i 36). It is distinguished
13
194 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xn.
by Keil from the village of Jiljilia (see ix. 6), sup
posed to be the site of the Gilgal from which Elijah
and Elisha went down to Bethel (2 Kings ii. I, 2).
Over the plains of Sharon the nomadic Goyim may
have spread themselves.
Ver. 24. " Tir-tsah" (" pleasantness," from n^n, to
be delighted), in the tribe of Ephraim (Clark s Bib,
Atlas) ; afterwards the capital of the ten tribes, till
the time of Omri (i Kings xiv. 17, xv. 33, xvi. S-iS,
24), alluded to for its beauty (Cant. vi. 4) ; the scene
of Menahem s conspiracy against Shallum (2 Kings
xv. 14, 1 6) ; probably the modern Tcllfisah, an
elevated and beautiful place, three miles north of
Nablus (Shechem). See Robinson s Later Bib. Res.,
P- 303 ; Van de Velde, Syr. and Pal., iii., 334.
The specification of cacJi king by himself singly in
this chapter, says Bishop Wordsworth, and the sum
ming-up of all collectively, may be designed to remind
the reader of Holy Scripture that each individual par
ticularly, and especially each individual in a place of
eminence and responsibility, will be judged by the
Divine Joshua ; as He Himself says, " Behold, I come
quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every
man according as his work shall be " (Rev. xxii. I 2) ;
and that this judgment will be universal.
VER. i.] 77fE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 195
SECOND PART.
THE DIVISION OF THE LAND OF CANAAN.**
(CHAPTERS XIII. XXIV.)
CHAPTER XIII.
VERS. 1-7. God s Command to Jos/ma to Distribute
tJie Land of Canaan on the West Side of Jordan
by Lot among the nine and a half Tribes ; and an
Enumeration of the still Unconquered Districts.
Ver. i . IJI Jj5t, (was) old (and) far gone in years " :
Cf. Gen. xviii. 11, xxiv. i ; i Kings i. i ; Luke i.
6, 1 8 ; Dpj= "years" or "time of life" (Ges., Lex.,
p. 342). The expression denotes great age in its
several stages even up to the near approach of death
(xxiii. i). It never seems used in Scripture of any
but holy persons ; the days of the wicked are con
sumed in vanity (Psalm Ixxviii. 33) ; Bishop Words
worth, nsp-nni.n, used adverb. ( 131, 2). nri ^h^,
to take possession of it " ; see on the word t^T, Ges.,
1 We are expressly told concerning seven of the tribes that
this division was made according to previously prepared records
(see xviii. 8, 9), and it is probable that such was the case also
in reference to the other tribes on the west of Jordan. Topo
graphical surveys of the land may have been made as soon as
it had been overrun by the armies of Joshua. Otherwise, as
Knobel remarks, a single Hebrew writer would hardly have
had so accurate a knowledge of the land as the author of this
book displays, especially in regard to the boundaries.
196 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xin.
Lex, (i). For an explanation of the assertion in the
last clause of this verse see note on xi. 23.
Ver. 2. This verse to the first half of ver. 6 is
parenthetical, and mentions the districts still uncon-
quered in the south and north. After Tristan supply
ft$%rh. "Borders" (Auth. Vers.), lit. circles, from ^?|,
to roll ; Vulg. Galilea ; but Sept. correctly opia. The
reference seems to be to carefully marked out districts
around the five principal towns of the Philistines. 1
"And all Geshuri" : A district in the desert between
Arabia and Philistia (i Sam. xxvii. 8), distinct from the
country of the Geshurites mentioned in ver. i 3, xii. 5.
Ver. 3. "From the Sihor" (Shi-chor, black, turbid,
rt. nnK , to be black) : Though the Nile is so called
(Isa. xxxiii. 3 ; Jer. ii. 18 ; cf. Virg., Gcorg., iv., 291,
" viridem yEgyptum nigra fecundat arena "), yet here
the name probably refers to the D.nyp bry (Numb,
xxxiv. 5), on the south border of Philistia, the Pii/o-
Kopovpa of the Greeks, and the modern Wady cl
Arisii. In Josh. xix. 26 the same name Shichor is
given to a border stream of Asher. The Nile, which
flows through the middle of Egypt, could not be cor
rectly described as " before Egypt." " Ekron " ( Eq-
ron, " eradication," from ijw, to root out ; cf. Zeph.
ii. 4), AKKapwr, Sept. ; Accaron, Vulg. ; the most
northern town of Philistia, assigned first to the tribe
of Judah (xv. I i, 45), secondly to Dan (xix. 43) ;
after the death of Joshua conquered by Judah (Judges
i. 1 8), but soon recovered by the Philistines (i Sam.
v. 10), and though reconquered by Samuel (i Sam.
1 No portion of the territory of the Philistines was conquered
in the lifetime of Joshua, nor after his death was any permanent
conquest effected (Judges iii. 3).
VER. 3.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 197
vii. 14), yet afterwards spoken of as a Philistine city
(i Sam. xvii. 5252 Kings i. 2, 16 ; Jer. xxv. 20 ;
Amos i. 8, etc.). It was the last place to which the
ark was carried before its return to Israel (i Sam.
v. 10), and was the seat of the worship of Beelzebub,
the fly-god (2 Kings i. 2, etc.). Now Akir, a small
mud village, five miles south-west of Ramleh (Rob.,
Bib. Res.) ii., 227-9.). "3!D^, northward, Sept. e^
evutvy^v, because " the north " is on the left of one
looking towards the east. " (Which) is counted to tJie
Canaanite " (Auth. Vers.) : The relative, as here, is
often omitted ( 123, 3), or "it," i.e., the whole dis
trict from Sichor to Ekron, "shall be counted," etc.
The rendering of Keil, " To the Canaanite is reckoned
(the territory of the) five lords of the Philistines," dis
regards the athnach under 2t?nPi. Though the Philis
tines were not a Canaanitish, but a foreign race (Gen.
x. 14 ; Deut. ii. 23), yet their land having originally
belonged to Canaan, is here reckoned part of it.
*;."ID, lit. " axles (of)," the term being used metaphori
cally of princes, as hinges of the state (cf. cardinal,
from cardo, a hinge). It is applied only to the five
princes of the Philistines (cf. Judges iii. 3, xvi. 5, etc. ;
I Sam. v. 8, etc.), and is interchanged with D"nb>
(i Sam. xxix. 6, compared with vers. 4, 9). In
Arabic a cognate term is used of a prince and com
mander of an army. " The GazatJiitcs" (the Az-za-
thite, see x. 41) : The Hebrew gentilic being in the
singular may agree with J~o understood (cf. Sept. rw
Fa^atoj, /c.r.X.) ; or it may be here used collectively,
as in Auth. Vers. and Vulg. " The Ashdothites" (the
Ash-do-dhite), xi. 22. "The Eslikalonites" ( Esh-
q e lo-nite) : The gentile noun in Hebrew occurs here
198 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xin.
only. Ashkelon 1 lay on the seacoast between Ashdod
and Gaza ; it is not named among the Philistine
towns assigned to Judah (xv. 45-47 ; though men
tioned by Josephus, Antig., v., I, 22), but was
conquered by that tribe (Judges i. 1 8), yet soon
regained its independence (Judges xiv. 19 ; i Sam.
vi. 17). Herod the Great was born there (Euseb.,
H. E., i , 6). It was remarkable (like Gaza, Ashdod,
and Ekron) for the extreme beauty and profusion of
the gardens surrounding it, and for the temple of the
Syrian Venus with its sacred doves (Diod. Sic., ii., 4).
It became a bishop s see in the fourth century, was
unsuccessfully besieged by the crusaders in IIOOA.D.,
and again in i 148 A.D. Baldwin III. captured it in
1157, but it was retaken by Saladin in 1187, and
burnt by him in 1191. Richard I. of England obtained
possession the same year, and restored the fortifica
tions in 1192. "Within the walls and towers now
standing he held his court " (Stanley s Sin. and Pal.,
p. 257). Sultan Bibars destroyed its fortifications,
and filled up its harbour in 1270. The ruins of
massive walls and towers attest its former strength,
and it still bears the name Askulan. " Tlie Gittites"
(Gittite or Gathite), see xi. 22. " The Avitcs" ( Av-vim,
" those who inhabit desert places," from nw, " over
turning," Ges.), probably a remnant of those who had
been exterminated by the Caphtorim (Deut. ii. 23).
Some (Ewald and Lengerke) think that they were
aborigines of Palestine, but, more probably, they
were Canaanites, for the border of the latter extended
into Gaza (Gen. x. 19).
1 This word is always so pointed in the Hebrew (see Ges.,
Lex.}.
VER. 4.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 199
Ver. 4. (O Fip : According to the arrangement
of the Masoretic text the portion of Canaan here
meant must be that to the south of Gaza, viz., the
country of King Arad (Numb. xxi. i), bordering on
the deserts of Paran, Zin, Kadesh, etc. ; but as the
districts named in the rest of the verse belong to
North Canaan, and not to the quarter mentioned in
vers. 2 and 3, it is better, with the Sept., Vulg., and
Syr., to join f^riD with the preceding verse, e.g., "the
Avvim from (or on} the south" i.e., on the south of
Philistia between Gaza and the district of Shur. So
Keil. " All the land of the Canaanites" i.e., all the
district here referred to, viz., that along the coast of
Phoenicia. " MearaJi" rendered "cave" in x. 18,
and so here by Keil and others after the Chald., Syr.,
and Arab. Versions, and supposed by some to be the
same as Mugr Jezzin (the cave of Jezzin), between
Tyre and Zidon ; but it seems unlikely that if a
cave was meant, the article would have been omitted
in the Hebrew. Probably, therefore, a town or
village is denoted, as in Auth. Vers., though, accord
ing to Grove, there are no traces left of it. (See Art.
by Grove, in Smith s Bib. Diet.}. Lieut. Conder
would identify it with Mogheiriyeh, north of Zidon.
~!? ")>, not as in Auth. Vers., " that is beside," but
"which belongs to." " Unto Aphek": The n 7 in the Heb.
noun is local(G>. , 90, 2, c). A-p/ieg (HGb} = strength,
from p?X, to hold fast, was probably the same city as
that assigned to Asher (xix. 30) ; and, therefore
different from that in xii. 18, of which that tribe
could not take possession (Judges i. 31). Gesenius
is probably right in identifying it with Aphaca, a city
on the north-western slopes of Lebanon, famous for
200 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP, xin
its temple of Venus, whose ruins are still called Afka
(Rob., Bib. Res., iii., 606-7) > f r though Afka is
beyond the proper limits of Asher, yet so was Gebal
(see next verse), and so was Kedesh beyond Judah
on the south. " To tJie borders of the Amorites" i.e., to
the border of the land which was formerly inhabited
by the Amorites, and afterwards belonged to Og,
King of Bashan. Thus the words give another ter
minus ad quern, viz., in an easterly direction, and
describe the breadth of the unconquered district
(Keil).
Ver. 5. " Tlie land of the Gibtites," i.e., the terri
tory belonging to the inhabitants of Gebal (mountain)
in Phoenicia, on the shore of the Mediterranean, under
Mount Lebanon, now called by the Arabs Jebail,
which stands on a rising ground, near the sea to the
north of Beirut. Gebal possessed a fleet in the time
of Alexander the Great (Exp. Alex., ii., 20), and was
renowned for its temple of Adonis (Strabo, xvi., 75 5).
The plur. D?5| is rendered by the Auth. Vers. " stone-
squarers " in I Kings v. 18 (32 Heb.), whence it
appears that the Giblites were so employed by the
Tyrians ; also as " calkers " (A. V., Ezek. xxvii. 9).
The Greeks called the place Bt/3Xog or Bu/3Xos, hence
the Alex. Sept. BtySXtot (i Kings v. I 8). Here, and
in other Phoenician cities, have been found huge stones
like those in the foundation of Solomon s Temple
(Ritter s Geog. Pal., ii., 2I4-I5). 1 "Baal-gad" see
xi. 17, and xii. 7. " Herman" xi. 3, 17. " On the
1 The "Gebal" mentioned in Psalm Ixxxiii. 7 (8), seems to
have been a different place. It was probably a tract of Edom,
south of the Dead Sea, and called Gabilene by Josephus,
Eusebius, and Jerome.
VEP. 6. THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 201
entering into Ha-math" (Ch a math, "defence," or citadel,
from non, " to surround with a wall ") was the name
of a distinguished city of Syria, on the Orontes, on
the northern frontier of the Holy Land (cf. Numb,
xiii. 21, xxxiv. 8 ; Judges iii. 3), the Epiphania of
the Greeks (Joseph., A ntiq., i., 6, 2). The same name
" Hamath " appears to have been given to the terri
tory or kingdom, as well as to its capital (see 2
Chron. viii. 4, where Solomon is said to have built
store-cities in Hamath), and in this wider meaning
the name is probably used here (Josh. xiii. 5). The
Nf2, or pass, was the gate of approach to Canaan
from Babylon and all the north (Zech. ix. 2 ; Jer.
xxxix. 5). The inhabitants of Hamath were de
scendants of Ham (Cham) (Gen. x. i 8). For its con
nection with David see 2 Sam. viii. 10, and with
Solomon i Kings iv. 21-24; 2 Chron. viii. 4. After
the latter s death it seems to have recovered its
independence, but was reconquered by Jeroboam II.
(2 Kings xiv. 28); afterwards it was subjugated by
the Assyrians (2 Kings xvii. 24, xviii. 34, xix. 13 ;
Isa. x. 9, xi. 11), and again by the Chaldeans (Jer.
xxxix. 5). It is now Hamah, the seat of a Greek
bishop, and, according to Winer, numbers 100,000
inhabitants. (Rob., Later Res., p. 568 ; Burckhardt s
Travels in Syria, pp. 146-7 ; Stanley s Sin. and Pal.,
pp. 406-7.)
Ver. 6. " Misrephoth-maim? cf. xi. 8 (note). "All
the Sidonians" . Put here for the Phoenicians gene
rally (cf. Judges iii. 3 ; Homer, //., vi., 298). pix,
emphatic. E fv TfN, " / "will dispossess them " (see iii.
10, note) : The pron. suff. shows that the first sen
tence of the verse is put absolutely ( 145, 2). The
202 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xin.
words " only assign it" to the end of the verse are
connected with the end of verse i (see note at the
beginning of verse 2). pi, " only" i.e., though thou
hast not yet conquered it. "Assign thou it by lot" lit.
" cause it to fall," i.e., assign it by lot. There is an
ellipsis of tnia (cf. xxiii. 4 ; Ezek. xlvii. 22), by
which the verb is followed in Psalm xxii. 1 9 ; Prov.
i. 14 ; Isa. xxxiv. 17. "As I have commanded" etc.,
see i. 6.
Ver. 7. This command to apportion the land
among the nine and a half tribes before they had com
pletely subdued it, was, as Calvin remarks, a pledge
on the part of God that He would put them in pos
session of it, if they were obedient to His will. It
was a trial of Joshua s faith. Before VH is an ellip
sis of the foregoing prep. ^ (cf. the Heb. in i. 12), and
for the construction of the two following nouns see
note on iii. 14, viii. i I.
Vers. 8-32. From the mention of the inheritance
of the nine and a half tribes on the west of Jordan
a transition is made to the inheritance of the two and
a half tribes on the east. These latter were regarded
by some ancient expositors (Origen, Horn. 3 ; and
Theodoret, Qu. 16) as representative of the ancient
Jewish Church, to which the promises were made,
but which did not receive their accomplishment till
Christ came, and, therefore, had no advantage in this
respect over the Christian Church (cf. note on xi. 23).
Ver. 8. ley, " iMth it" i.e., with the half tribe of
Manasseh, but that half which had received its in
heritance on the east of Jordan ; hence the Arab.
Vers. paraphrases " Nam dimidia tribus altera Ma-
nasse," etc. The words " as Moses the servant of
VER. 9.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 203
Jehovah gave them " are not a tautological repetition
of the clause " which Moses gave them," but imply
that the arrangements which had been made in
general terms by Moses were now to be exactly
carried out by Joshua. For the fact alluded to see
Numb, xxxii. 33 ; Deut. iii. 13.
Vers. 9-13. A general description is first given
of the borders of the territory beyond Jordan, and
afterwards the cities assigned to each tribe are enu
merated (vers. 15-31).
Ver. 9. " From Arocr, wJiicJi is upon tJie bank
(lit. lip or edge) of the watercourse of Arnon, and
(from) the t city" etc., see xii. 2 (note). " A nd all the
plain " (Auth. Vers.) : TfBp, from T^, to be straight,
even, level, is used with the article for the upland
downs or table land east of Jordan (cf. vers. 1 6, 1 7, 2 I ;
xx. 8), apparently in contradistinction to the rocky
soil and more broken ground on the west, though in
later times this distinction was probably lost, and
plains on the west of the Jordan were so called.
(Stanley s Sin. and Pal., Append. 6, note i). The
term is here applied to the southern portion of the
territory of the Amorites, which was assigned to the
tribe of Reuben (Deut. iii. 10, iv. 43 ; Josh. xx. 8 ;
Jer. xlviii. 21), what is now the Belka, or pasture
ground, of the modern Arabs. The portion of it from
Medeba to Dibon is called (in Numb. xxi. 20) after
its former inhabitants " the field of Moab," and (in
Numb, xxiii. 14) "the field of the \vatchmen" (D3V,
Keil). u Medeba" (Me-dh e bha , "waters of rest," rt.
N!n [unused], to rest), a town assigned to the Reu-
benites (ver. 1 6), but formerly belonging to Moab,
from whom it was taken by the Amorites (Numb.
204 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xm.
xxi. 29, 30) ; afterwards recovered by the Moabites
(Isa. xv. 2) ; before it Joab defeated the Ammonites
(l Chron. xix. 7). It lay four or five miles south
east of Heshbon, on a round hill, on which there are
still ruins called Madeba (Burckhardt s Syr., p. 625).
" Dibon " (Di-bhon, " pining," rt. n-n, i.q., 3$n, to pine
away, Ges., Lex.\ a Moabitish city, about four miles
north of the Arnon, conquered by the Israelites
(Numb. xxi. 30) ; assigned by Moses to the Reu-
benites (ver. 17), but apparently at first occupied by
the Gadites, by whom it was rebuilt (Xumb. xxxii.
34), and from whom it may have been called Dibon-
Gad (Xumb. xxxiii. 45, 46); afterwards recaptured by
the Moabites (Isa. xv. 2 ; Jer. xlviii. 24). It is
mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome, in the Onomas.,
under the names Dabon or Debon, and as a very
large village beyond the Arnon. Its extensive ruins,
still called DJuban, were seen by Seetzen and Burck-
hardt, and here the Moabite stone was discovered by
the Rev. T. Klein in 1868.
Ver. 10. See xii. 2 ; Numb. xxi. 25.
Ver. i i. " (The) Gilcad" (hag-Gil- adh), i.e., the
whole of the territory so called on both sides of the
Jabbok (xii. 2, 5). For the remainder also of the
verse see note on xii. 5.
Ver. 1 2. See xii. 4. The form n-l^ps at the begin
ning of the verse (cf. vers. 21, 27, 30, 31) is not
found in the Pentateuch, but n?^2!0 (Numb, xxxii. 33 ;
Deut. iii. 4, 10) ; one proof that the Book of Joshua,
though resembling the Pentateuch in style and phraseo
logy, yet has its own distinctive features.
Ver. 13. Here we have the first notice of that
want of faith and perseverance which was afterwards
VERS. 14, 15.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 205
the cause of so much disaster to the Israelites (see
Books of Judges and of I Samuel). " But the
GesJiurites . . . until this day" (see note on xii. 5) :
Even in the time of David they appear to have been
independent (2 Sam. iii. 3, x. 6, 8).
Ver. 14. With what is here said of the portion of
Levi cf. ver. 33, xiv. 3, 4. ^ K, plural construe,
of nr^x, 1 a sacrifice, so called from the fire by which
it was burned ( $), used primarily of sacrifices burnt
in honour of God, but, in a wider sense, of all kinds
of sacrifices, even of those not burned (Lev. xxiv.
7, 9) ; thus here it includes tithes and firstfruits (Lev.
xxvii. 30-32, compared with Numb, xviii. 21-32);
and is rendered in the Chald. NJiin-ip, and by Jerome
"sacrificia et victimae." s-in, "that (is)" ( 121, 2,
with 147, d, note *). " As He said" etc., see
Numb, xviii. 20 ; Deut. x. 8, 9, xviii. 2.
VERS. 15-23. Inheritance of the Tribe of Reuben.
Their territory was the most southern of the allot
ments of the trans-Jordanic tribes, and adjoined the
country of Moab, to which it had formerly belonged
before its conquest by the Amorites (sec Numb. xxi.
26, etc.). The latter, however, did not wholly extir
pate the Moabites, who, dwelling at first as a subject
race among the Reubenites, seem to have gradually
recovered their old supremacy in the land.
Ver. 15. After jPP supply fn^. On the distinc
tion between nt?n and D2tt> see note on iii. 12.
"Reuben" (R e u-bhen, "see a son"), Gen. xxix. 32
1 The word is used in only one other place besides the Pen
tateuch, viz., in i Sam. ii. 28, and is there copied from it(Keil).
206 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xm.
Ver. 1 6. Cf. ver. 9. The Chald., Sept., Syr., and
Arab, read 11? for by, which is probably an emendation
on account of the j before Tirny (Maurer). Medeba,
see ver. 9.
Ver. 17. "Hcshbon" xii. 2. TfK5, cf. ver. 9
(note). " Dibon" ver. 9. u Bamoth-baal" lit. " the
high-places of Baal," more briefly written " Bamoth "
(Numb. xxi. 19 ; Isa. xv. 2), the spot whence Balaam
saw the outskirts of the camp of Israel (Numb. xxii.
41), and probably in the vicinity of the Arnon (cf.
Onomast., s. v. Bamoth). " Beth-baal-meon" called
"Baal-meon" (place of habitation, Numb, xxxii. 38),
and, in a contracted form, " Bcon" (Numb, xxxii. 3).
The Moabites seem, at a later period, to have gained
possession of it, and to have called it Beth-meon
(Jer. xlviii. 23) or Baal-meon (Ezek. xxv. 9). Now
probably Myun, nearly two miles south-east of
Heshbon (Burckhardt, ii., 624).
Ver. i 8. "Ja/iasa" (Ya-h e tsah, " a place trampled
down," perhaps " a threshing-floor," rt. f rr, unused,
Arab. " to trample "), written Jahaz Isa. xv. 4 ; Jer.
xlviii. 34, where it is mentioned among the cities of
Moab, having been retaken by it. Close to it Sihon
was defeated by Moses and slain (Numb. xxi. 23-4 ;
Deut. ii. 32, 33) ; it was assigned by the Reubenites
to the Merarite Levites (xxi. 36 [not in the Hebrew
text] ; i Chron. vi. 78 [63 Heb.]). Its site unknown,
though Eusebius (Onom., lecrcra) says it lay between
Medeba and Dibon (Smith s Bib. Diet., vol. i., p. 91 5).
"Kedemoth" (Q e dhe-m6th, "easternmost parts"), a
town in the neighbourhood of Jahaza, now unknown.
From the adjacent wilderness (midhbar), to which the
town seems to have given its name, Moses sent am-
VER. 19.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 207
bassadors to Sihon (Deut. ii. 26). It was given by
the Reubenites to the Merarite Levites (xxi. 37 [not
in the Heb. text] ; i Chron. vi. 79 [64 Heb.]).
" McphaatJi " (beauty, from V&, to shine [the full
form of the Heb. word is Hi?? ?, I Chron. vii. 64]),
in the district of the plain (mishor, ver. 17), assigned
to the Levites (xxi. 37 [not in the Heb. text] ;
i Chron. vi. 79 [64]), apparently retaken by the
Moabites (Jer. xlviii. 21), mentioned by Eusebius
and Jerome (Onom., s. v., MrjffrdO) as a Roman
military post for keeping the inhabitants of the desert
in check. Site unknown.
Ver. 19. " Kirjatha im" (Oir-ya-tha-yim, "double
city "), first mentioned in Gen. xiv. 5 as in possession
of the Emim. In the time of Eusebius it was called
Karias, and he describes it as a village of Christians,
ten miles west of Medeba (Ononiast., KapioAei/u,), but
Burckhardt places it three miles south of Heshbon, in
the ruins known as Et-Teym, half an hour west of
Medeba; so Keil. In Numb, xxxii. 37, 38, it is
mentioned as between Elealeh and Nebo, and said
to have been built (i.e., rebuilt or fortified) by the
Reubenites, but appears to have been retaken at a
later period by the Moabites (Jer. xlviii. 23 ; Ezek.
xxv. 9). It is possibly Kureiyat, close to Jebel attarus
(Grove). " Sibinah " (Sibh-mah, " coolness " or "sweet
smell," rt. D? ^ [unused], Arab., to be cold, or i.q., Db 3,
to be sweet-scented), see Numb, xxxii. 38 ; afterwards
famous among the cities of Moab for its vines (Isa.
xvi. 8 ; Jer. xlviii. 32). Its name is perhaps trace
able in the ruins es-Sameh, four miles east of Heshbon ;
but according to Jerome (Comment, on Isa. xvi. 8)
it was only five hundred paces from the latter city.
2oS THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xin.
"Zareth-shahar" (Tse-reth-hash-sha-char, "the splen
dour of the dawn "), mentioned here only. " On a
mount of the valley " : The valley may be that of the
Jordan (ver. 27), or of Shittim, on the side of the
Dead Sea (Nurnb. xxxiii. 49). Seetzen (Reisen, ii.,
369) would identify the town with a place called
Sara, or Zara, at the mouth of the Wady Zerka
Main, about a mile from the edge of the Dead Sea.
It is probable from the name that it stood upon a
sunny hill (Keil and Rosenm.).
Ver. 20. "Beth-pcor" (house of Peor, an "open
ing," Numb, xxiii. 28), a place where Baal was wor
shipped (Numb. xxv. 3, 18). According to Eusebius
it was six miles above Libias or Beth-haran, on the
east of Jordan, opposite Jericho (Euseb., Onomast.},
near the burial-place of Moses (Deut. xxxiv. 6), but
not known. On the two last-mentioned names in
this verse see xii. 3.
Ver. 21. " And all the cities of the plain" (table
land), i.e., all those which had not yet been mentioned
in ver. 17. "All the kingdom of Sihon " (Si-chon),
etc., i.e., so far as it extended over the plain, for the
northern portion of this kingdom was allotted to the
Gadites (ver. 27). " Whom Moses slew and the chief
tains of Midian " : In Numb. xxxi. 8 these chieftains
are called {HO *3?D, i.e., petty kings or rulers. "Dukes
of Sihon " (A. V.), duces (Vulg.), so Syr., but D 3 p?
means "princes" in Psalm Ixxxiii. 11 (12); Ezek.
xxxii. 30 ; Micah v. 4, and is so rendered here by
Gesenius (Lex.} and Rosenm., from ^03, to anoint,
though the authority given by Gesenius (Lex., 3) for
this meaning of the verb, viz., Psalm ii. 6, is unsup
ported by other examples. Hence Keil renders
VER. 22.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 209
" vassals of Si/ton" from TJD:) in the sense of " to pour
melted metal into a mould," and then metaphorically
" to mould or enfeoff any one with power," a meaning,
which though supported by Gusset (Lex.} and Heng-
stenberg (Psalms, i., p. 35), is rather forced. More
usually i]D3 means "to pour out a libation" (Exod.
xxx. 9 ; Hosea ix. 4), and hence, perhaps, here " to
dedicate or appoint with a libation." In any case
tributary princes are denoted. "O^, " divellers in tlie
land" i.e., as tributaries to Sihon.
Ver. 22. "Balaam" (Bil- am, perhaps derived, as
by Simonis, from 1^3 and Dtf, " the destruction of the
people ; or from 1/P2, to devour, with a formative syl
lable attached, and meaning "destroyer " or "glutton").
"Bear" written " Bosor " (2 Peter ii. 15), an Aramaic
form of the word which St. Peter may have learnt in
Babylon. 1 Balaam s residence was Pethor (Numb,
xxii. 5), in Mesopotamia (Deut. xxiii. 4). DDTpn,
" the soothsayer" (from DD, to divine 2 ), always denotes
a false prophet; see Isa. iii. 2, where he is distinguished
from the true prophet. Yet there is no sufficient
reason for concluding with Philo, Josephus, Origen,
S. Augustine, Cor. a Lap., and others, that Balaam
was a prophet of the devil, who was compelled by
God to bless where he wished to curse ; but rather
that he possessed a knowledge of the true God, and
the gift of prophesying, but under the influence of
ambition, pride, and covetousness, perverted both to
unrighteous purposes. arnjp prr 1 ?^, "among" (A.V.), or
1 Or Bocro p is a Galilean mode of writing "W3, the 1? being
pronounced s (Vitringa, Observ. Sacrce, vol. i., p. 936).
2 The original meaning seems to be "to divide," or "to
partition out " (Ges., Lex.).
14
210 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xm.
" in addition to, their slain." Ges. says "?K sometimes
has the meaning of adding or superadding, as in
Levit. xviii. 18 (Lex., 6). In the parallel place
(Numb. xxxi. 8) there is hy ; so in the Targum.
Ver. 23 (The Boundary of the Portion of Reuben at
its North- West Extremity}. " A nd the border of the
sons of Reuben was the Jordan, and the border thereof."
7to| at the end of the clause and in ver. 27 = n^Ujj,
Chald. rpo-inj;! ; Keil regards it as explanatory, and
gives to the conjunction -i before it the force of "or
rather" i.e., the actual boundary was not the river,
but the land immediately adjoining it. "And their
villages" lit. " enclosures," rt. "iyn, to surround, Sept.
e77avX<,Ses, farm premises (Keil), enclosed by a fence,
but not by a wall (cf. Lev. xxv. 3 i, and see Stanley s
Sin. and Pal., Append., 83 1 ). The plural feminine
suffix jn, refers to any, which, though masculine in
termination, comes from a feminine noun. Some
MSS. read D.nnyn, as in ver. 28, where the tnasculine
suffix is used, as often, for the feminine, in the 3rd
person (cf. iv. 8).
The recently discovered Moabite stone proves
that most of the cities assigned by Joshua to the
Reuben ites were either wholly, or in part, wrested
from them by the Moabites, with whom they
probably became gradually much intermixed (see
Schottmann, Die Sicgesdule Mesa s, p. 36, etc.). The
prediction " Thou shalt not excel " (Gen. xlix. 4)
1 He remarks that topographically Cha-tser means a village,
generally a Bedouin village (Gen. xxv. 16 ; Sept. O-K^I/TJ), such
as are formed of tent-cloths, spread over stone walls, the latter
often remaining long after the tribes which they sheltered, and
the tents which they supported, have vanished away.
VERS. 24, 25.] THE BOOK OF fOSHUA. 211
was remarkably fulfilled in this tribe, as no individual
in it is mentioned as having attained to eminence.
It degenerated into a tribe of shepherds (Judges v.
15, 1 6), became alienated from its western brethren,
and at length lapsed into idolatry (i Chron. v. 25).
VERS. 24-28. Inheritance of the Tribe of Gad (" a
troop," Gen. xlix. 19 ; cf. xxx. i i).
This tribe was of a fierce, warlike character (Deut.
xxxiii. 20 ; I Chron. v. 18-22 ; xii. 8, etc.).
Ver. 25. " And their border was Jaser (Ya -zer=
" which Jehovah aids "), a town taken from the
Amorites (Numb. xxi. 32), rebuilt by the children of
Gad (Numb, xxxii. 35), described by Eusebius
(Onomast^) as ten miles west from Philadelphia (Rab-
bath-Amman), and fifteen from Heshbon ; identical,
as Keil and Van de Velde, after Seetzen, conjecture,
with the ruins of Sir or es Sir, consisting of a castle,
and a large walled pool, the latter probably the
remains of the "ir; D? (Jer. xlviii. 32). It was
assigned to the Merarite Levites (Josh. xxi. 37
[39] ! 1 Chron. vi. 66 [Si]), but belonged after the
exile to the Moabites (Isa. xvi. 8 ; Jer. xlviii. 32) ;
taken by Judas Maccabasus (i Mace. v. 8). "All
the cities of Gilead" i.e., the southern half of Gilead, in
cluded in the territory of Sihon, for the northern half
came within the territory of Bashan, and was assigned
to the half-tribe of Manasseh. " And half the land
of the children of Ammon" i.e., that portion of the
land between the Arnon and the Jabbok, which
Sihon had wrested from them, and which the
Israelites, when they conquered Sihon, took for their
own ; but the land which the Ammonites possessed
212 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xin.
in the time of Moses the Israelites had been for
bidden to attack (Deut. ii. 19). " Unto Aroer, which
is before Kabbah." u Arocr" ( A-ro-er, naked; rt.
"ny, to be bare), distinct from the city of the same
name on the Arnon (xii. 2, xiii. 9, 16), in the terri
tory of Reuben. It is mentioned again in Judges
xi. 33 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 5, only; site unknown, but
Keil thinks it was on the north-east of Rabbah, in
the Wady Nahr Amman, where Kalat Zerka Gadda
is marked upon Kiepert s map. Rabbah (Great), 1 the
chief city of the Ammonites, called " Rabbath of the
sons of Ammon " (Deut. iii. 1152 Sam. xii. 26,
xvii. 27). It seems to have been divided into two
parts, one (the lower town) named the city of waters
or the royal city, taken by Joab (2 Sam. xii. 26, 27) ;
the other (the upper town), containing the citadel,
and taken by David (ver. 29). 2 At a later period it
appears again as an Ammonitish city (Amos i. 13-15 5
Jer. xlix. 3 ; Ezek. xxx. 5) ; it was called Philadel
phia by Ptolemy Philadelphus in the third century B.C.,
and by Polybius, PaftftaTap-eva ; was captured by
Antiochus the Great (Polyb., v., 1 6), and in later times
became the seat of a Christian bishop. Its extensive
ruins now bear the name of Amman, and are about
twenty-two miles from the Jordan, on the bank of the
Wady Zerka, usually identified with the Jabbok. So
Abulfeda, Burckhardt, Seetzen.
1 Applied to a capital city as great in size and importance.
The same name, " Rabbah," was given to Ar, the capital of
Moab (Euseb., Onomast., "Moab").
2 Josephus (Antiq.,v\\., 7, 5) says that the citadel contained
only one small well of water, which would account for its
speedy capture, when communication with the perennial
stream in the lower town had been cut off.
VER. 26.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 213
Ver. 26. " Heshbon" xii. 2. " Ramath - Jiam-
mitspch " (" the high-place of the watch-tower "), here
only ; probably the spot where Jacob and Laban
erected their cairn of stones (Gen. xxxi. 43-53), and
identical with Ramoth-Gilead (xx. 8 ; Deut. iv. 43) ;
where also Ahab was slain (i Kings xxii.), and
Joram, his son, was wounded (2 Kings viii. 28).
The site unknown, though supposed by Gesenius
and Keil to be that of the modern Szalt, or es-Salt,
situated, according to Porter, on a peak of Mount
Gilead (Jebel Jil ad), seven miles south of the
Jabbok (Art. " Gilead," Dr. Smith s Bib. Diet}. Be-
tonim (" pistachio nuts," so called from being flat on
one side, and bellying out on the other, rt. |O3, to be
empty, hollow ; Gen. xliii. 1 1), called Bothnia by
Jerome in the Onomasticon ; site unknown. " Maha-
naim (Ma-ch a na-yim, "double camp," or " two
hosts "), see Gen. xxxii. 2, north of the Jabbok
(Keil ; Clark s Bib. Atlas}, on the border of Ma-
nasseh, but in the tribe of Gad ; assigned to the
Merarite Levites (xxi. 38). Here Ishbosheth was
crowned (2 Sam. ii. 8, 9), and hither David fled from
Absalom (2 Sam. xvii. 24) ; mentioned also as one
of Solomon s twelve provision cities (i Kings iv. 14).
Now probably Mahneh (Robinson, Grove). " Unto
the border of Debir " : There were two other places of
the same name, one in the mountainous part of
Judah (x. 39, xv. 49) ; the other between Jerusalem
and Jericho (xv. 7). The h here before the name is
taken as a sign of the genitive by all the versions,
but is unusual in the Book of Joshua ; hence Hitzig
considers it the error of a copyist, who doubled the
^ at the end of the preceding word ; Keil would
214 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xin.
make it part of the word, and reads " Lidhbir."
Reland (Pal., 734), J. D. Michaelis, and Knobel
would point the word Lo-dhebar, and identify it
with the town of the same name (2 Sam. ix. 4,
xvii. 27), whence provisions were brought to David
at Mahanaim. Whichever conjecture is adopted, the
site is unknown ; but if the rt. of the word is "O^, to
lead to pasture, the town probably lay in the grazing
country, on the high downs east of Jordan.
Ver. 27. P>y3, "in the valley" i.e., the valley of
the Jordan, or the Arabah, which was along the east
side of the river from the Wady Heshbon, above the
Dead Sea, to the Sea of Galilee, and formed part of
the kingdom of Sihon (xii. 3). "Betk-aram " (Beth-
haram, "house of the height"), written Beth-Haran
(Numb, xxxii. 36), now Beit-haran ; in Aramaic,
Beth-rametha ; at the foot of Mount Peor, and near
the entrance of the Jordan into the Dead Sea ; it
afterwards was called Betharamptha, and was rebuilt
by Herod Antipas, and named by him Julias, or, ac
cording to Eusebius, Lirias, in honour of the wife of
Augustus (Josephus, Antiq., xviii., 2, I ; Bel. Jud.,
iv., 7, 6), now er-RamcJi. " Belh-nimrah " (house
of sweet waters, cf. Isa. xv. 6), called Nimrah, Numb,
xxxii. 3, five miles north of Libias (Beth-Haran),
according to Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast,}. Per
haps identical with a ruined city called Nimrin, south
of Szalt (ver. 26), which Burckhardt mentions (Syria,
P- 355) as situated near the point where the Wady
Shoaib joins the Jordan (Kitto, Encydo. of Bib. Lit?) ;
Grove says it may possibly be Beth-abara (Smith s
Bib. Diet., i., p. 204). " Succotli " (Suk-koth, "booths"),
rt. ^3p, to weave (Gen. xxxiii. 17). Site unknown.
VERS. 28, 29.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 215
Jerome says, " Sochoth is to this day a city beyond
Jordan in Scythopolis" (Qu. Heb. on Gen. xxxiii. 17).
Burckhardt (note to p. 345 [July 2nd]) speaks of the
ruins of Sukkot, near where he crossed the river
Jordan, and which were evidently on the east of
Jordan, and entirely distinct from the Sakut dis
covered by Dr. Robinson (Bib. Res., iii., 309, etc.),
and by Van de Velde (Syr. and Pal., ii., 343), on the
west of the Jordan. The place is mentioned in con
nection with the exploits of Gideon, and was evidently
on the east of Jordan (Judges viii. 4, 5, 13-17) ; so
in Psalm Ix. 6 (8) it represents the east of Jordan,
as Shechem does the west. " Zap/ton " (Tsa-phon,
"north "), near the south end of the Sea of Chinnereth.
Site unknown. " The rest of the kingdom": The
southern portion of that kingdom had been assigned
to the Reuben ites (ver. 21). On p-n;!- ! {Tin, see ver.
23. " Sea of Cltinncretli" cf. xi. 2.
Ver. 28. "And their villages," cf. ver. 23 (note).
VERS. 29-31. Inheritance of the Half -Tribe of
Manasseh (Heb. M e nash-sheh, " causing to for
get," Gen. xli. 5 i).
Ver. 29. After JJVI, subau. rnru, as in ver. 24
^np, " and (it, viz., the possession assigned them) was.
This half-tribe of Manasseh were descendants of
Machir, son of Manasseh, and their territory on the
east of Jordan was assigned to them probably on
account of their valour (see xvii. i), not, as Aben
Ezra thinks, because they solicited it, for no such
request on their part is recorded in Numb, xxxii.
33-42.
216 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xin.
Ver. 30. " Ma/tan aim," see ver. 26 ; it was on
their southern border. "All the kingdom of Og"
comprehending not only the province of Bashan, but
Argob and the northern portion of Gilead (cf. Deut.
iii. 13). Din denotes not "towns" (Auth. Vers.), but
"tent-villages" properly places where one lives and
dwells, from njn, life. The Bedouins of the present
day use the same word for their own villages
(Stanley s Sin. and Pal., Append., 84). "Jair"
(Ya- ir, " whom He [God] enlightens "), was descended
on the father s side from Judah, on the mother s from
Manasseh (i Chron. ii. 21, 22). He was the con
queror of Argob (Deut. iii. 14). " Threescore cities"
(cf. Deut. iii. 4) ; perhaps, though at first villages,
they afterwards grew into cities. In I Chron. ii. 22
Jair is said to have had three-and-twenty cities (&~V}
in Gilead (cf. Numb, xxxii. 41), which would seem
in i Kings iv. 13 to be distinguished from these
sixty cities in Argob.
Ver. $i."Half Gilead; (lit. "half of the
Gilead," cf. xii. 2), viz., the northern half, see ver. 25.
Ashtaroth and Edrei, see xii. 4. ">ff? " (belonged) to
the children, etc. (even) to the half of the children of
Machir" for the other half received their inheritance
on the west of Jordan (xviii. 2, etc.). The name
Machir here supersedes that of Manasseh used in
ver. 29, a token of the power which the descendants
of Machir had attained.
Ver. 32. n^x, "these," not, as the Sept. DUTCH, re
ferring to the persons to whom the possessions were
assigned, but to the possessions themselves ; Vulg.
" hanc possessionem," which is confirmed by xiv. I,
xix. 51. " The plains of Moab " (Auth. Vers.), rather
VEK. 33-] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 217
" the dry regions of Moab" the sunk district in the
tropical depths of the Jordan valley, where the
Israelites had their encampment (Numb, xxxiii. 49),
and which took its name from that of the great
valley itself (Arabah) : see Art. " Moab," Smith s Bib.
Diet., ii., p. 392. 131 iriyo (lit. " beyond tke Jordan
Jericho" i.e., on the other side of that part of Jordan
which skirted the territory of Jericho ; Vulg. " trans
Jordanem contra Jericho ;" Revis. Vers. " beyond
Jordan at Jericho ;" the same form of expression
occurs in xvi. I, xx. 8 ; also in Numb. xxii. I,
xxvi. 3, 63, xxxiii. 48, 50. These trans-Jordanic
tribes were eventually carried into captivity by Pul
and Tiglath-pileser, and placed in the districts on
and about the river Khabur, in the upper part of
Mesopotamia (i Chron. v. 26).
Ver. 33. A repetition of ver. 14, and omitted by
the Sept.
CHAPTER XIV.
Commencement of the Account of the Distribution of
the cis-Jordanic Canaan among the Nine Tribes
and the Half- Tribe of Manasseh, which terminates
at xix. 51. ( Vers. 1-5 are introductory^)
Ver. i. n?Nl, see xiii. 32. The account, however,
of the distribution does not begin till the fifteenth
chapter. Pnj, " distributed for a possession" followed
by an accus. of person and of thing ( 139, i).
The distribution, according to the command in
Numb, xxxiv. 16-29, was to be made by the high
218 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xiv.
priest Eleazar and by Joshua. Eleazar* ( El- a-zar,
" whom God helps ") is named here, and in xvii. 4, xix.
5 i, xxi. i ; Numb, xxxiv. 17, before Joshua, perhaps,
as the representative of the Divine government over
Israel ; so in Numb, xxvii. I 8-2 I Joshua is directed
to act in accordance with his direction. 2 "And the
heads (of the houses) of the fathers of the tribes of
the sons of Israeli n?. which is here omitted after
c\xn, is supplied in Exod. vi. 14 ; Numb. vii. 2 ;
i Chron. v. 24, vii. 2, 7, 40, ix. 13. Except in
the first book of Chronicles, where probably it is
borrowed from an ancient source, the phrase does not
occur except in the Pentateuch and Joshua. *? is
used before ^2 to prevent the repetition of the con
strue, state (cf. xix. 5 i; Ges., 6>., 1 1 5, 2, b}. Each
tribe had its own prince (Numb, xxxiv. 1 8).
Ver. 2. "By lot (was) their inheritance" (Auth.
Vers.), but ^nia being in the construe, form, Vatablus,
Keil, and Rosenm. properly connect the words with
OH9 in the preceding verse, and render " by the lot of
their inheritance," i.e., by casting lots for the appor
tionment of their inheritance. T2, " through " (by
means of), where "V loses its force as a noun (Ges.,
Lex., p. 330): More commonly it is used with rb$
(see Exod. iv. i 3), and cf. the use of aTrocrreXXco with
Sta (Rev. i. i). For the command referred to see
Numb. xxvi. 52-6,xxxiii. 54, xxxiv. 13.
1 He was Aaron s third son (Exod. vi. 23, 25), and succeeded
his father in the high priesthood (Numb. xx. 26-28 ; Deut. x.
6.). His death is recorded in Josh. xxiv. 33.
- On the other hand, Moses is named before Aaron, except
where priority of age is indicated, as in Exod. vi. 20, 26 ;
Numb. iii. i.
VER. 2.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 219
not, as in the Sept., governed by njy, but by n.3 in
ver. i, "zvhick they distributed for inheritance to,"
etc. : In Numb, xxxiv. I 3 the same words isn rUK? ; n^
are preceded by nr6, and so here in some MSS. and
editions, though probably it is an interpolation of
a later date. On the distribution of the land by
lot see Numb. xxvi. 53, etc. Calvin and Clericus
remark that the lot determined the position only of
the inheritances, but left their exact dimensions to be
afterwards settled according to the size of the tribes
to which they fell ; see, e.g., the alteration made in
the extent of Judah s territory (ch. xix. 1-9). How
the lots were drawn is nowhere stated. There may
have been two urns containing, the one, descriptions
of the several inheritances, and the other, the names
of the nine and a-half tribes ; and the drawing from
each may have been simultaneous ; or the prince of
each tribe may have drawn in turn from the one urn
containing the descriptions of the inheritances. The
reason of this decision by lot was not only to prevent
jealousies and disputes between one tribe and another
(Prov. xviii. I 8), but that each tribe might be satis
fied that its inheritance had been assigned to it
by God Himself (Prov. xvi. 33). It may be also
remarked that the accordance in many particulars
between the prophecies of Jacob and Moses respect
ing the inheritance of the tribes of Israel (Gen. xlviii.,
xlix. ; Deut. xxxiii.), and the distribution of the
territory recorded in the Book of Joshua, is a proof
of the inspiration of those prophecies. Among
heathen nations a like custom prevailed in the
division of territory among conquerors or colonists
(see Herod., v., 77; vi., 100; Thucyd., iii., 50;
220 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xiv.
Cic., Epist. ad Div., xi., 20, " sorte agros legionibus
assignare ").
Vers. 3-4. Ver. 3 gives a reason why the land
was to be apportioned among nine and a-half tribes
only, viz., because two and a-half tribes had received
their inheritance, on the other side of Jordan, but,
inasmuch as the tribe of Levi received no share of
territory, ver. 4 declares that the number nine and a-
half was made up by the division of the tribe of
Joseph into two tribes, viz., Manasseh and Ephraim.
Ver. 4. Mnr*6l. : The 1 is not here = " there
fore " (Auth. Ver.), but == and, or with vh = neither.
"Cities to dwell in" : Cf. Numb. xxxv. 3, where Keil
remarks that the Levites had not the whole of the
cities as their own property, but as many houses in
them as their necessities required, which houses
could be redeemed (Lev. xxv. 32-33), if sold at
any time, and reverted to them without com
pensation in the year of Jubilee, even if not redeemed
before ; but any portion of the towns, which was not
taken possession of by them, together with the
fields and villages, continued the property of those
tribes to which they had been assigned by lot
(see also his note on xxi. 12). " And their
suburbs " (Auth. Vers., Luther, and Vulg. " subur-
bana "), rather, " their pasture grounds" i.e., the dis
tricts around their cities in which their cattle might
graze, from dha, to drive, to drive out. For their
extent see Numb. xxxv. 4-5. With the m. surf. DH
referring to D""W cf. xiii. 23 (note). "For their cattle
and for their (other) possessions " : The latter word
(Heb. (VJj? used here coll.) is rendered by the Vulg.
" pecora " (lesser cattle), Sept. KTTJVV), as by Chald.
VERS. 5, 6.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 221
Vers., but by the Syr. and Arab. " possessions," from
ru|5, to possess (cf. Gen. xxxiv. 23 ; Numb. xxxv.
3, where ti -ISl, "substance," is used for it, as here by
A. V.). The Levites had no territorial inheritance,
like the rest of the tribes, in order that their influence
on the nation at large might be increased.
Ver. 5. " As Jehovah Moses," cf. ver. 2. " And
tJiey portioned out (divided, A. V.) the land This is
a general statement relating to the distribution of the
land, for we learn from chapter xviii., etc., that not all
the nine and a-half tribes received at once their
inheritance.
VERS. 6-15. Before the Casting of the Lots an
Inheritance is assigned to Caleb.
Ver. 6. "And the children (sons) of Jttdah"
doubtless not all the tribe, but the principal men,
especially Caleb s relatives, whom he took with him
as able to testify to the integrity of his conduct. "In
("in the" 109, 3] Gilgal" i.e., the Gilgal near
Jericho (ix. 6, note). "Caleb" (Ka-lebh), 1 " son of
fcphunnch" 2 : A prince of Judah, and one of those
appointed to portion out Canaan (Numb, xxxiv. 19).
Keil thinks that he was the same as the Caleb in
i Chron. ii. 18, a descendant of (~}2) Hezron, the
son of Pharaz, and grandson of Judah. The house
1 Perhaps " dog," i q. 2?3, from 2?3 (unused), to bark (Ges.).
and the name may indicate fidelity, courage, vigilance ; or
" seizing vehemently," from ^!?3 (Fiirst), hence " bold, im
petuous."
2 "Y*4hun-nek" (perhaps meaning "for whom a way is
prepared," see Pual of H5S, Ges., Lex.}, neither his father nor
ancestors are named.
222 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xiv.
of Caleb may have been incorporated into the house
of Hezron ; but doubtless the genealogy in I Chron.
ii., iv. is involved in much obscurity. " The Kenesite"
(the Q e niz-zite, hunter, rt. TJj5, to hunt), cf. Numb,
xxxii. 12. The term may imply that Caleb was a
descendant of Kenez ; and as that was a name borne
by the dukes of Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 15,42; i Chron.
i. 53), and as in the genealogy of the family of
Caleb (i Chron. i., ii., iv.) there occur also other
Edomitish names, e.g., Shobal (i Chron. ii. 50, 52 ; cf.
Gen. xxxvi. 20-23) ; Korah (i Chron. ii. 43 ; Gen.
xxxvi. 5, 1 6); Ithran (i Chron. i. 41; Gen. xxxvi. 26);
Elah (i Chron. iv. 15 ; Gen. xxxvi. 41) ; it has been
surmised that the family of Caleb was of Edomite
extraction, and incorporated as proselytes into the
family of Judah (see Smith s Bibl. Diet., Art. " Caleb,"
vol. i., p. 242). On the other hand, as Esau and Judah
were alike of Israelitish descent, the same names
might possibly be found among the descendants of
both. xn trx, "the man of God" = Nr?3 (cf.
I Kings xiii. I, 1 8), and so rendered here in the
Chald. ; the same title is given to Moses in Deut.
xxxiii., i ; Ezra iii. 2, and in the inscription of Psalm
xc. nn S by, lit. " about my and your affairs}* i.e.,
" concerning me and thee " (Auth. Vers., Sept., and
Vulg.). For the promise referred to see Numb,
xiv. 24, 30. The express mention of Joshua refutes
the assertion of Knobel here that he was not one of
the spies. " Kadesh-barnea? x. 4 1 .
Ver. 7. 3W " and I brought back" followed by
an accusative both of person and thing (cf. xxii.
1 Properly "turnings," from "HN, to bend, to turn.
VERS. 8-io.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 223
32.) rzn^-Qi;, " in (lit. "with ") my heart" i.e., accord
ing to the best of my convictions, without fear of
man, or regard to any one s favour. The rendering
of the Sept., Kara rov vovv avrov, " according to his
mind," i.e.., the mind or wish of Moses, though sup
ported by one MS. of Kennicott, and approved by
Clericus, is rightly rejected by Maurer as containing
a most improbable statement.
Ver. 8. "My brethren" i.e., the rest of the spies,
of course with the exception of Joshua, to whom he
was speaking. Vppn, an Aramaism for -lopn (75,
v. 17), from nprp, i.q. DDS, to melt (cf. ii. ii). 1 nx^p
"nnx, construe, praegnans ( 141), subaud. nzbh after
the verb, " / fully followed? lit. " fulfilled to follow"
(cf. Numb, xxxii. I I, 12 ; Deut. i. 36).
Ver. 9. "Moses sivare " : Keil thinks that, as we
do not elsewhere read of this oath of Moses, it is
here for the first time recorded ; bu more probably
the oath of God, as made known through Moses, is
referred to (see Numb. xiv. 23, 24, 30; Deut. i. 34-36,
in which latter verse [ver. 36] a like expression to that
in this occurs, viz., " tlie land that he hath trod upon"
in allusion, evidently, to the territory around Hebron).
On KVDK, to denote strong affirmation, see 155,
2,f, 2nd par.
Ver. I o. "Jehovah hath kept me alive " : Caleb s
piety appears in his thus attributing his preservation
not to his own care, or strength of constitution, but
to the kind providence of Jehovah. " Forty-and-five
years " : These are dated from the autumn of the
1 According to Ewald (Lehrb., 142, a), VDOn is really the
regular and earliest form, which the Hebrew lost, but the
Chaldee retained.
224 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xiv.
second year after the exodus. The Israelites wan
dered thirty-eight years in the wilderness after that
date, and were occupied seven years in subduing
Canaan (xi. 1 8, note), which seven years are here
reckoned in their wanderings, as they had not during
them any fixed settlements, "^n TJ/X, " during wJtick
Israel walked": On "C ; x. in this sense see Ewald,
Lehrb., 321, c. ; it refers to the forty-five years.
Ver. 1 1. anw, "I am yet" ( 100, 5). ns> - DV?,
" in the day that Moses sent me" infin. construc
tive, with subject and object, the latter being
unusually placed after the infin. ( 133, 3, Rem.).
"TO : Being followed by a monosyllable, its accent is
retracted ( 29, 3, b}. Niztt nNV : Used to express
the performance of active duty (cf. Numb, xxvii. 17;
Deut. xxxi. 2 ; i Kings iii. 7). Caleb, like Moses
(Deut. xxxiv. 7), was made, on account of his fidelity,
an especial exception to the infirmities incident to
old age (Psalm xc. 10).
Ver. 12. m^ for in, imper. with n parag. ( 66,
i). " This mountain, i.e., the mountainous country
around Hebron (xi. 2, xx. 7). " Whereof Jehovah spake
in that day": We may, therefore, conclude that Jeho
vah s promise in Numb, xiv., Deut. i., to give Caleb
an inheritance in Canaan had special reference to
Hebron. " For tJiou didst hear in that day" (viz.,
what Jehovah spake) : The second *3 is not = " that "
(OTL) or " Jiow " (Auth. Vers.), but is co-ordinate
(Keil), and gives a farther reason why the mountain
should be given to him, " for (because) the Anakim
are there "... (cf. the Sept. and Vulg.). Joshua
himself had been one of the spies (Numb. xiii. 8), and,
therefore, did not learn merely by report that there
VERS. 13-15.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 225
were Anakim in Hebron. ^>-ix, "perhaps but here
expressing hope and desire, as in Gen. xvi. 2 ; Amos
v. 15. TUX for Fix, "with me" ( 103, i, Rem. i),
subau. nvi% D^trrfm., " and I drive (or root)
them out": The perfect here expresses assurance
( 126, 4). How this declaration of Caleb is recon
cilable with xi. 21, 22, see note there. His address
(vers. 6- 1 2), while removed alike from false modesty
and self-presumption, blends gratitude with firm con
fidence in God.
Ver. 13. "And Joshua blessed him," i.e., invoked
a blessing upon him, prayed God to prosper him.
"Hebron" (x. 3), not only the city so called, but the
neighbourhood ; the city was afterwards appointed a
city of refuge (xx. 7), and assigned to the Levites
(xxi. 1 1).
Ver. 14. The expressions " Kenezite" and "God
of Israel " have been thought to indicate that Caleb
was a foreigner and a proselyte (see note on ver. 6).
Ver. 15. "Before" (D Jfl?), *.*., prior to the date
at which this book was written, but not necessarily
from the time of the city s origin. " Kirjath-arba "
(Qir-yath- Ar-ba , "city of Arba "), see note on x. 3.
i?a-iN, " hero of Baal " (Fiirst), for ^a^x ; like ^xnx,
" the lion (i.e., hero) of God ; " or, according to Ges.
(Lex?), perhaps "homo quadratus." bnjPI Dnxn, " tJie
greatest man" perhaps in size and strength, as well
as authority and renown. The adjective with the art.
has here the force of a superlative ( 119, 2), and
tnx = E"X, which is more properly used of an in
dividual (cf. Eccles. vii. 28). The strange rendering of
Jerome " A damns maximns ibi inter Enakim situs est"
is based on a Jewish tradition in the Beresh-Rabba,
15
226 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
that Kirjath-arba means " city of the four," because
Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were buried there.
"And the land had rest" etc. (cf. xi. 23): The
Canaanites were so far subdued as to be unable to
offer an effectual opposition to the partition of the
land, of which the author commences an account in
the following chapter.
CHAPTERS XV. XVII.
T/te Lots belonging to Judah and Joseph.
THE account of the distribution, which was inter
rupted at the end of xiv. 1-5, is here resumed, and it
^s in accordance with the preference given by Jacob
in his prophetic blessing (Gen. xlix.) to Judah and
Joseph, that their descendants first received their
share of the conquered territory (xv.-xvii.). How,
says Kitto, the lot was taken at the first division we
do not know, but it was probably the same in principle
as in the mode followed with respect to the remaining
seven tribes (xviii.). We may, therefore, conclude
that, when this first conquered portion of the land
had been surveyed and found sufficient to furnish
three cantons, all the tribes cast lots for them, and
they fell to Judah, Ephraim, and the half-tribe of
Manasseh. The difference was, that at the first
division the question was not only what lot should
be had, but whether any should at present be ob
tained by a particular tribe ; at the second division
the former question was only to be determined, there
being then as many lots as there were tribes unpro
vided for (Illust. Bible}.
VERS. 2, 3.] THE BOOK OP JOSHUA. 227
CHAPTER XV.
TJte Inheritance of the Tribe of Judah (" praised,"
Gen. xlix. 8 ; see irr). Its General Boundaries
(1-12). Renewed Mention of Caleb s Inheritance,
because included in that of Judah (13-20). A
List of the Towns of Judah (21-63).
Ver. i. (The General Position of Judah s Territory].
131 *rn, " and there was the lot to the tribe of the sons
of Judah according to their families, toward the frontier
of Edom, toivard the desert of Zin soutJiward, on the
extreme south." In xvi. I, xix. I, vn is expressed
by N> .1, " there came out." " By (according to) their
families" see vii. 1 4. " Edom " ran parallel with the
desert of Zin on the east, and " Zin " (not to be con
founded with " Sin ") was the north-east part of the
great desert of Paran. tpvi n>*p, lit. "from the
extremity of the south" i.e., on the extreme south ;
see on \Q Ges., Lex. (3), c., p. 483.
Vers. 2-4. The SoutJicrn Boundary, corresponding
generally with that of Canaan (Numb, xxxiv. 3-5),
and including what was afterwards the territory of
Simeon (xix.).
Ver. 2. ^rrtP, "from the bay (tongue) which
looketh (turneth) southward" (Auth. Vers.), i.e., from
that southern point of the Dead Sea which now ter
minates in a salt marsh (cf. Isa. xi. 15, " tongue of the
Egyptian Sea ").
Ver. 3. "And it went out to the south side to (of)
Maaleh-Acrabbim" : On the composition of the par
ticles h, |p, !?N, see 154, 2,1). " Ma-a-leh Aq-rab
228 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
him" "the ascent of Aq-rabbim," the "scorpion pass" 1
between the south end of the Dead Sea and Zin,
perhaps the steep pass Nakb es Safdh (Pass of the
Bare Rock), by which the final step is made from the
desert to the level of the actual land of Palestine
(Grove, Smith s Bib. Diet., i., p. 42). "And passed
along (went across) to Zin " : n local (cf. Numb.
xxxiv. 4). " Qa-d/ies/i-Bar-nc- a" see x. 41 (note).
" Chets-ron " (from "ivn, to enclose), perhaps a collec
tion of nomad-hamlets, Dnvn, Deut. ii. 23 ; site
unknown, rrnx, " to Addar " (rt. TIN, to be wide),
perhaps one of the nomad hamlets above referred to,
for in the parallel passage (Numb, xxxiv. 4) this and
the foregoing word are joined. It is possibly identical
with the modern Ain-el Kudcirdt, on the north side
of the ridge, between Canaan and the desert (Robin
son, i., p. 280). nD3), " and turned itself" Niph. of
32D. "Towards haq-Qar-qa-a" (with art. and n loc.),
lit. " the low-lying flat," eScu^o? (Symm.), not men
tioned in Numb, xxxiv. 4, nor elsewhere in Scripture,
but Eusebius (Onomast.} speaks of A/cap/cots, and
calls it a village. The Sept. has Kara Sucr/xag
KaSi^s, and may have read tiHi? n\
Ver. 4. " Toward* Ats-mdn" (robust, rt. D>T, to be
strong; see Numb, xxxiv. 5) : Its site unknown, though
the later Jewish Targum would identify it with Kesam,
the modern Kasaimeh, a group of springs at a short
distance to the west of Ain-el Kudeirat. Grove (Bib.
Diet.} thinks it may possibly be another fcrm of the
word Heshmon (xv. 27). Eusebius and Jerome
a scorpion. It is found in great numbers in the
Jordan valley below Jericho (Von Raumer, p. 103).
VERS. 5, 6.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 229
mention it in the Onomast., but evidently it was not
actually known to them. " The torrent (water-course)
of Egypt" i.e., the Wady el Arish, on the confines of
Egypt and Palestine, which empties itself into the
Mediterranean. "And the goings out of the boundary
were to the sea " : D* here means the Mediterranean.
For the sing, nvi, with a plural noun, see 147, a,
and cf. xi. 22. The last words of the verse, "this
s/iall be your southern boundary" refer to Numb,
xxxiv . 2-5, and show that the southern boundary of
Judah was also that of the land promised to the
Israelites.
Ver. 5 * (The Eastern Boundary}. This was the
whole length of the Salt Sea to the end (i.e., the
mouth) of the Jordan, n^, " the extreme edge or
end," from ny|5, " to cut off the end," here denoting
the point of junction with the Dead Sea.
Ver. 5^-11 (The Northern Boundary}. "And the
boundary of tJie side northwards (was) from the tongue
of the (salt) sea from the extremity (i.e., the mouth) of
Jordan." The northern boundary of Judah corre
sponded with the southern boundary of Benjamin,
traced in the opposite direction (xviii. 15-19).
Ver. 6. " Beth-cJiogh-lah" " house of partridge "
(Ges.) : Jerome (Onotnasfy identifies it with the
threshing floor of Atad, between the Jordan and
Jericho, the ruins of which are probably still to be seen
at or near a magnificent spring called Ain-Hajla and
Kusr-Hajla (Grove). It stood on the border of Ben
jamin, as well as of Judah, and was assigned to the
former (xviii. 21). "Bcth-hd-a-rd-bhah" (house of the
desert plain) : Doubtless so called because it lay in the
wilderness (midh-bar) of Judah (ver. 61). In xviii. 18
230 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
it is simply called Arabah, and in xviii. 22 is reckoned
a Benjamite city. It probably stood on the border
between the two tribes; now Kaffr Hajla. " TJie
stone of Bohan" : Perhaps erected to commemorate
some exploit by a Reubenite leader in the wars of
Joshua (cf. I Sam. vii. 12); it was on the border
of Benjamin as well as of Judah (xviii. 17), and
apparently on the slope of a hill, but the site
unknown.
Ver. 7. "To D e bhir": Not the town mentioned in
vers. 15, 49, x. 38, nor that in Gad (xiii. 26), but
perhaps to be sought in the Wady Dabir, about half
way between Jericho and Jerusalem (Keil). " Valley
of A-khor," vii. 24. " And northward turning toward
(the) Gilgal " : According to Keil, Gilgal is here the
same as Geliloth in xviii. 1 7 ; but others, as Knobel,
identify it with the Gilgal in iv. 19. The name
Geliloth (says Grove) never occurs again in this
locality, and it, therefore, seems probable that Gilgal
is the right reading. Many glimpses of the Jordan
valley are obtained through the hills in the latter
part of the descent from Olivet to Jericho, along
which the boundary in question appears to have
run ; and it is very possible that from the ascent of
Adhummim, Gilgal appeared through one of these
gaps in the distance, over against the spectator, and
thus furnished a point by which to indicate the
direction of the line at that part " (Art. in Smith s
Bib. Die., vol. i., p. 66 1). " IV hick (is) over against tJie
ascent of Adliummim" : Probably the Pass of Jericho,
leading up from the Jordan valley to Jerusalem.
According to Jerome (Onom^ "A-dhum-mim" (red
places) alludes to the blood shed there by robbers,
VER. 7.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 231
or according to Stanley (Sin. and Pa/., 424, note 4)
to the red colour of the hair of some Arab tribe
which infested the pass (cf. Sept. cW/Sacris Trvppajv).
Here was the scene of the parable of the good
Samaritan (Stanley, Sin. and Pal. , 424; Trench On
Par,,p. 307-8); and the defence of travellers through
this pass led to the establishment of the Order of
the Templars, A.D. 1 1 18 (VVilke s Hist., p. 9). Keil
supposes that the name refers to the red colour of
the rocks, but Dean Stanley says, " There are no
red rocks, as some have fancied, in order to make
out a derivation. The whole pass is white limestone"
(Sin. and Pal., p. 424, note 4). " On the south side of
the watercourse" : Now the gorge of the Wady Kelt
(Robinson, Bib. Res., i., p. 558). " En-she-mesh"
(fountain of the sun): About a mile below Bethany,
on the road to Jericho, now perhaps Ain-Haud or
Ain-Chot, " the well of the apostles." The aspect
of Ain-Haud is such that the rays of the sun are on
it the whole day (Grove). En-roglicl, " fountain of
the fuller," rt. hr\, to tread : Probably now " the foun
tain of the Virgin," near the walls of Jerusalem, which
supplies the pool of Siloam (Dr. Bonar s Land of
Promise, App. v.). Here Jonathan and Ahimaaz
concealed themselves after the rebellion of Absalom,
in order to gain news for David (2 Sam. xvii. 17),
and near it Adonijah held his feast (i Kings i. 9).
Keil, after Robinson and others, identifies it with the
well of Job or Nehemiah, at the south-east corner of
Jerusalem, where the valleys of Hinnom and Kedron
unite ; but see forcible reasons against this view in
the work of Dr. Bonar, above referred to, quoted
by Grove (Art. Bib. Die., i., p. 558).
2.32 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
Ver. 8. "And the border went up into the ravine
of the son of Hinnom " : This ravine 1 is first men
tioned here, and next in xviii. 16; written "ravine
of the sons of Hinnom" (2 Kings xxiii. 10; Jer.
xix. 2, etc.), and "ravine of Hinnom" (Neh. xi. 30).
It surrounded Jerusalem on the south and west.
Stanley supposes that it derived its name from
Hinnom, an ancient hero who encamped in it (Sin.
and Pal., p. 172); but Hitzig and Bottcher regard
Hinnom as an appellative = " moaning," " wailing,"
in allusion to the cries of the innocent victims there
offered to Moloch, and to the drums beaten to drown
those cries. Tophet, at the south-east of the ravine,
was the scene of those sacrifices (2 Chron. xxviii. 3,
xxxiii. 6), and was defiled by Josiah (2 Kings xxiii.
10). The later Jews applied the name to the place
of torment, hence ye ewo, (D3n *}, Matt. v. 22). 2 " To
the side (lit. shoulder) of the Jebusite on the south":
The Gentile noun p-12? is either put ellip. for
*p-l3*n "W (Judges xix. 11), or the name of the tribe
is mentioned instead of the city. The word occurs
again in xviii. 16, 28, where it is rendered,
"Jebusi " in the Auth. Vers. "And the border went
up to the summit of the mountain, winch (lieth) before
the ravine of Hinnom westward, which (is) at the end
of the valley of Rephaim northward": "in here denotes,
not one particular mountain, but a rocky ridge
curving westward on the left side of the road to
Joppa (Keil ; cf. Robinson, Bib. Res., i., 219). On
1 ""I, see note, viii. i.
2 Compare Milton s Paradise Lost, i., 39, 2 ver., " First,
Moloch, horrid king, etc./ to ver. 405.
VER. 9.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 233
poy see note vii. 24. This valley, or valley-plain,
of Rephahn was on the west of Jerusalem, and
extended as far south as Bethlehem (Joseph., Antiq.,
vii., c. 12, 4), but at its northern extremity was
separated from the ravine of Hinnom by a mountain
ridge. It was famous for the victories of David over*
the Philistines (2 Sam. v. 18, 22, xxiii. 13). The
Rephaim were an ancient and gigantic tribe (Gen.
xiv. 5).
Ver. 9. "iNPi, " was marked out" or " was described"
(Ges., Lex.}, cogn. to i-in, to go round, whence "ix n,
form, outline, juro, lit. " a place watered by springs,"
but here py. a fountain (cf. Gen. vii. 1 1, viii. 2). " The
waters of Nephtoach" ("opening," rt. nris, to open), a
spring mentioned here and in xviii. 1 5 only ; now
probably Ain-Lifta, in a short valley which runs into
the east side of the great Wady Beit Hanina two
and a half miles north-west of Jerusalem (Van de
Velde, Memoir}. The name Lifta is not less suitable
to this identification than its situation, since " N " and
" L " frequently take the place of each other, and the
rest of the word is almost entirely unchanged (Art.
by Grove in Dr. Smith s Bib. Diet.}} "Mount Ephron"
not mentioned elsewhere ; probably the range of
hills on the west side of the Wady Beit Hanina
(traditional valley of the Terebinth), opposite Lifta,
which stands on the east side (Grove). " Baalah,
which (is) Kirjath-jearim" (Auth. Vers.). See note
on ix. 17. It seems that Baalah (mistress) was the
1 According, however, to Lieut. Conder s proposed alteration
of the boundary line of Judah, Nephtoach is made identical
with the spring" Atdn, the Talmudic Etam, near the pools
of Solomon, south of Bethlehem (Map, sheet xvii).
234 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
early or Canaanitish name (cf. xviii. 28, " Jebusi,
which (is) Jerusalem ").
Ver. 10. Ip3l : , cf. ver. 3. "Mount Se-tr (hairy,
rough) ; " not that in Edom (xi. 1 7, xii. 7, xxiv. 4),
but a shaggy or rugged mountain ridge running
south-west of Kirjath-jearim. The name may have
been derived from an ancient incursion of the
Edomites into these parts. " Mount Y e a-rw" 1
(mount of forests) : Possibly the ridge separating
Wady Ghuzab from Wady Ismail (Grove). " K e sa-
lon" (" firm confidence," Ges.; or rather, from ^D3, in
reference to the " loins " of the mountain), a town
apparently on the shoulder (side) of mount Yearim,
probably Kesla, eight miles west of Jerusalem (Grove,
Bib. Die?). " Beth-sJiemesh " (house of the sun), called
" Ir-shemesh " xix. 41, when it had afterwards been
assigned to Dan, on whose border it stood ; one of
the cities allotted to the priests (xxi. 16). For its
further history see i Sam. vi. 9, etc. ; I Kings iv. 9 ;
2 Kings xiv. 1 1 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 1 8 ; now called
Ain-Shems t on the north-west slopes of the moun
tains of Judah, " a low plateau at the junction of
two fine plains " (Rob., iii., I 5 2), about two miles from
the great Philistine plain, and seven from Ekron
(ii., 224-6). " Timnah" ("a part assigned," rt. njo,
to divide, Ges., unless the word rather refers to some
natural feature of the country, Grove), written also
Timnathah (xix. 43) and Timnath; assigned to Dan
(xix. 43), and thence Samson fetched his wife (Judges
xiv. i), probably distinct from the Timnath in Gen.
1 ~tl^ means a wood of some extent, a forest, as distinguished
from B^ n, a thicket.
VER. ii.] THE BOOK OF JOSH DA. 235
xxxviii. 1 2, which may have been identical with the
Timnah in Josh. xv. 57, in the mountains of Judah ;
now perhaps Tibnek, at the mouth of Wady Surar
two miles west of Ain-Shems (Beth-shemesh) (Rob.,
Pal., i., p. 344 ; Grove).
Ver. 1 1. Here the border follows a north-western
course. " Eq-ron" see on xiii. 3. " SJiik-ffron "
(drunkenness, from "Oy>, to drink to the full), on the
north-west border of Judah, probably between
Eqron (Akir) and Yabhneel (Yebna), see Smith s
Bib. Die., iii., p. 1273), or perhaps the modern Sugheir,
about three miles south of Yabhneel (Tobler and
Knobel). Because the word in Hebrew means
drunkenness, Simonis (Onomast. V.T., p. 348, coll.
p. 209) conjectured that the locality abounded with
vines. "Mount Baalali"; Mentioned here only ; the
name must have been given to one of the ranges
near the coast, in the vicinity of Yebna. " Yabh-
n e -el" ("may God cause to be built"), called Yabneh
in 2 Chron. xxvi. 6, where Uzziah is said to have
taken it from the Philistines, and to have destroyed
its fortifications; also Jamnia in I Mace. iv. 15,
v. 58, etc., and in Joseph., Antiq., v., I, 22, xii. 8,
6. Once famous as a school of Jewish learning,
and the seat of the sanhedrim after the fall of
Jerusalem (Philo, Op., ii., p. 575); now Yebna, or,
more accurately, Ibna (Grove), about two miles from
the coast, and eleven miles south of Joppa. Its ruins
stand on the edge of the Nahr Rubin, along which
ran the boundary line between Judah and Benjamin
towards the coast (Robinson, Bib. Res., ii., 227,
Another town of the same name is mentioned in
xix. 33.
236 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
Ver. 12. "And the west border (was) to (or at] the
great sea (i.e. the Mediterranean) and the adjoining
territory (thereof)." On 7)2}) in the last clause see
xiii. 23.
VERS. 13-20. Inheritance of Caleb.
This narrative, though involving a repetition of xiv.
6- 1 5, is properly inserted here, because Caleb s in
heritance was included in the territory assigned by
lot to Judah, and it was fit that it should be men
tioned before the enumeration of the cities of Judah
(ver. 2 i, etc.) commenced. As we meet with the same
narrative, almost verbatim, in Judges i. IO-I 5, among
the events described in that chapter as happening
after the death of Joshua (ver. i), it may have been
either inserted here from the Book of Judges by a later
hand, perhaps by Ezra, according to Bishop Patrick,
or, according to Keil, both accounts may have been
drawn from one common source. Caleb s delay in
taking possession of his inheritance till after Joshua s
death might be explained by his disinterestedness
in preferring the public service to his own private
interests ; cf. a like unselfishness on Joshua s part
(xix. 50, note).
Ver. i 3. " He gave " : The nominative is not
expressed in the Hebrew, and is either, therefore,
"Joshua," or the verb is used impers. ( 137, 3).
" A portion among (in the midst of) the children of
Judah " : The expressions here used may imply that
Caleb was a foreigner by birth, and became a
proselyte (see note on xiv. 6). "According totJie com
mandment" etc. : Though that commandment is
nowhere expressly recorded, it is consistent with the
VERS. 14-17.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 237
promise referred to in xiv. 9. " Arba," see xiv. 15.
" The father of Anak" i.e., the progenitor of the
Anakim (see note on xi. 21).
Ver. 14. PTI, Hiph. imperf. apoc. ( 49, 2, b).
" And drove out" see note on t^nin, iii. 10. " Sheshay" 1
etc. : Probably names, not of individuals, but of three
principal families of Anakim, a supposition which
seems confirmed by the mention of their names here
after the first mention of them in Numb. xiii. 22.
At the end of the verse, un ^ v!" is added as a still
further definition of un J.g, to prevent us from think
ing of the actual sons of Anak.
Ver. 15. D e -bhir, see x. 38.
Ver. 1 6. vinai, " then will I give " : \= " then " in
the apod., after a condit. protasis (cf. Judges iv. 8 ;
Psalm Ixxviii. 34 ; i 55, I (*/). The perfect denotes
the certain fulfilment of the promise ( 126, 4), Sept.
Swo-w; Vulg. "dabo." " Akh-sd/i" (an anklet or
ring, worn as an ornament by women round their
ankles (cf. Isa. iii. 1 8), mentioned also in I Chron. ii.
49, as Caleb s daughter, though the genealogy of
Caleb in that chapter is very obscure. Cf. with
Caleb s promise here that of Saul in I Sam. xvii. 25,
xviii. 17, and that of Creon, King of Thebes, who
promised his sister Jocaste in marriage to him who
should destroy the Sphinx (Hygin., Fab. Ixvii).
Ver. 17. " Ot/i-nt-er (lion of God). "The son of
Kcnaz, tJie brother of Caleb " : The Hebrew accent
Tiphcha, after Tip, shows that in the opinion 01
the Masorites the word " brother " here refers to
1 The according to 8, 5, retains its consonant power (cf.
vii. 2).
238 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP, xv
Othniel ; cf. the Vulg., " Othniel, films Cenaz, frater
Caleb junior ; " but the Sept., Arab., and Syr. regard
it as referring to Kenaz, though in Judges i. I 3, iii. 9,
the Sept. agrees with the other view. According to
the canon of Rabbi Moses ben Nachman on Numb.
x. 29, designations of this nature generally refer to
the principal foregoing word ; thus in Isa. xxxvii. 2
(Heb.) "prophet " refers not to Amon, but Isaiah (cf.
Jer. xxviii. i). "Son of Kenaz" probably = Kenizzite
in xiv. 6. The Jewish law did not expressly pro
hibit marriage with a niece (see Lev. xviii. 12, xx.
19, and cf. Talmud "Jebamoth," 62a, 6^b~).
Ver. i 8. fixn3, " on her entering" into the house
of Othniel to be his wife, irmpi-n, " then she urged
him" Hiph. of n-1D or JVD, not used in Qal., perhaps
"to be excited," whence in Hiph. "to excite."
Knobel thinks that by rnK> the land belonging to
Debir is meant, but that would naturally be assigned
along with it, whereas the allusion is to some piece
of land in the neighbourhood of Debir, plentifully
supplied with water, mypn, " and she lept " or " sprung
down quickly." The dismounting was a mark of
respect (cf. Gen. xxiv. 64; i Sam. xxv. 23). my
occurs here and in Judges i. 14, iv. 21 only, in which
latter place it is used of a nail, and is rendered by
Gesenius " went down " (into the earth). It is hardly
connected, says Keil, with wy, to be lowly or humble
(Ges.), but rather means primarily, according to Fiirst,
" to press or force oneself away," being connected
with pJT , in Piel, " to leap forth." Thus it corre
sponds here with bfsn in Gen. xxiv. 64. The Sept.
/ecu e/3o^crev IK TOV ovov, and the Vulg. "suspiravitque
ut sedebat in asino," may have arisen from a different
VER. 19.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 239
reading, viz., pyVR " What wouldest tJwu " (Auth.
Vers.), lit. " what is to thee ? " As nothing is said about
Othniel s making the request which Achsah had urged
him to make, x we may suppose that, because he hesi
tated, she had determined herself to accost her father.
Ver. 19. nsn?, "a blessing" Sept. evXoytW (cf.
2 Cor. ix. 5), a gift expressing goodwill and affection,
or offered with prayers for a blessing on the recipient
(cf. Gen. xxxiii. 1 1 ; 2 Kings v. 1 5). an fix, " a land
of the south country" evidently with allusion to its
aridity, for 233 comes from 33_3 T , to be dry (Syr., Chald.,
and Sam.), cf. Psalm cxxvi. 4, where "the south" =
" a dry or barren land." "OFirn, either the accus. suff.
is used briefly for the dat. ( 121, 4), or the verb
governs two accusatives (Ewald, LeJirb., 283, b}.
The rendering of the Sept., Chald., Syr., and Arab.,
" Thou hast given me into a south land," i.e., sent me
thither by marriage, though followed by Michaelis,
Bertheau, and others, is forced, but not ungrammatical,
as 333n Y1$ may be an accus. loci. " Give me springs
of water" i.e., a piece of land with springs of water in
it (Keil). n6a, lit. " bubblings," from ^>\, to tumble
or roll over, perhaps in allusion to the globular form
in which springs bubble up (Stanley, Sin. and Pal.,
p. 5 1 2), used here, and in the parallel passage (Judges
i. 15), only. In Cant. iv. i 2 the shorter form *?5 occurs.
The Alex. Sept. renders by T(j)\a9-^aii^, a proper
name ; so Furst. " The upper and lower springs"
cf. Bethhoron, the " Nether " and " Upper " (xvi. 3, 5).
Their site was no doubt a mountain slope, which had
1 Perhaps he might have feared lest he should seem to have
married Achsah from self-interested motives, i.e., with a view
to the dowry he might get with her.
240 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
springs both on its higher and lower ground, possibly
the modern Kurmul (Wilton s Negeb, p. 1 6 ; Speakers
This liberality of Caleb to his daughter, while it
teaches us that parents should make suitable provi
sion for their children, should also remind us of those
words of Christ, " If ye being evil know how to give
good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your Father which is in heaven give good things to
them that ask Him" (Matt. vii. 1 1).
VERS. 21-63. A List of Ike Towns of Judah, ar
ranged according to the Four Districts into which
their Territory was Divided, viz., those in the
Negeb or South Land (vers. 21-32); those in
the Shephelah or Lowland Plain (vers. 33-47),
those in the Hill Country (vers. 48-60) ; and
those in the Wilderness (vers. 61, 62).
Vers. 21-32 {The Towns in the Neghebh 1 }. The
towns in this district are arranged into four groups r
the names in each group being connected by the
copulative " Vav." First group of nine towns (vers.
21-23).
Ver. 2 i . " A nd the towns from (i.e., at) the ex
tremity of the tribe-territory of JudaJi towards the
border of Edom, in the region lying towards the south
were (the following)." nz.jsa, can only be rendered,
as above, by a circumlocution. " Qabh-ts e el" (God
gathers), probably the same as Jekabzeel (Neh. xi. 25),
the birthplace of the hero Benaiah, a slayer of lions
(2 Sam. xxiii. 20 ; I Chron. xi. 22), of which the
1 See note on x. 40.
VERS. 22, 23.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 241
Negeb was a common haunt (Wilton s Negeb, p. 42,
etc.). " E-dJier" (a flock) and " Ya-ghur" (a lodging,
rt. i-in, to sojourn) are both unknown ; the latter name
is rendered in the Sept. Acratp, and is joined by
Wilton with Kinah in the following verse.
Ver. 22. " Qt-ndk" (perhaps "a smithy," from rp
or f-ip [unused], to strike upon, to forge iron), un
known. Knobel and Stanley (Sin. and Pal., p. 1 60)
would connect the name with the Kenites, who settled
in the south of Arad (Judges i. 16), but this settlement
probably took place after the period here referred to.
" Dt-mo-nak" mentioned in the Onomasticon, but
evidently unknown to Eusebius and Jerome ; perhaps
the same as Di-bhon (" pining," rt. n-n, i.q. to languish),
a town re-inhabited by the men of Judah after the
return from captivity (Neh. xi. 25) ; "M" and " B,"
letters of the same organ, are often interchanged
( 19, i) ; possibly identical with the ruins called el-
(or eh-) Dheib (Van de Velde, Mem., 252), to the
north-east of Arad. " Adh-d-dhdh " (Syr. "festival "),
not mentioned in the Onomasticon of Eusebius ;
perhaps Sudeid (Robinson).
Ver. 23. " Qe-dhesh" (sanctuary), possibly the
same as Qa-dhesh-Bar-ne- a (ver. 3, Keil). " Cha-
tsor" ("enclosed"), mentioned nowhere else, and
unknown (Rob., ii., 34, note). Another of the same
name in Naphtali (xi. i). The Vat. Sept. joins it
with the following word, and the Alex. MSS. omit it
altogether. " Yith-nan " (" strong place," rt. fJV, to be
firm, stable), probably on the borders of the desert, if
not actually in it, but no trace of it yet discovered.
The word is joined by the Alex. MSS. of the Sept.
with Ziph in the next verse.
16
242 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
Ver. 24, 25 {Second Group of Five or Six Towns}.
Ver. 24. " Ztp/i" (perhaps " refining-place," rt. f]-ir,
in Arab. " to become liquid "), omitted in the Vat.
Sept., and, therefore, thought by Wilton (Negeb, 85) to
be an interpolation, but found in the Alex, and Peshito
(Zib) ; perhaps now Kuseifch (Knobel ; Rob., Pal., ii.,
191, 195), south-west of Arad. " Te-lem " (oppression,
rt. D^p, to oppress), unknown. Kimchi, Raumer, and
others, would identify it with Telaim (" young lambs,"
rt. r6tp, to be fresh [unused], I Sam. xv. 4), though this
latter word could have been more easily corrupted
into the former than vice versa. Possibly now el-
Kuseir, a spot in the Negeb, occupied by the Arab
tribe Dhullam (Wilton, Negeb, p. 85-9). "B"al6tk"
(ladies, mistresses), probably the same as Baalath-
Beer, the Ramath of the south, assigned to the
Simeonites (xix. 8), and called simply Baal (i Chron.
iv. 33), and South Ramoth (i Sam. xxx. 27).
Knobel and Wilton (Negeb, pp. 91, 92) would identify
it with the modern Kurnub.
Ver. 25. " CJui-ts6r-ch a -dhat-tah " (New Chatsor),
probably so called to distinguish it from the Chatsor
in ver. 23. The conjunctive accent under Chatsor in
the Hebrew text, and the absence of the copulative
1, authorise this rendering ; Vulg. " Asor nova " ; but
omitted by Sept. Some identify it with el-Hu-
dhairah on the south of Jebel Khulil (Rob., Bib. Res.,
i., p- 151 ; Keil). Q e ri-y6tJi (cities, hamlets) : This
word has in the Hebrew a great distinctive accnet,
which is some authority for its being regarded by our
Auth. Vers. as the name of a separate city ; but,
on the other hand, there is no copulative " Vav"
between it and the following word, and with this
VERS. 26, 27.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 243
latter it is connected by the Sept. (at
the Syr., and by Reland, Maurer, Keil, and others ;
the proper rendering, therefore, probably is, "Q*rt-
yotk-Chcts-ron, tvhicli is Cka-tsor." The latter name,
meaning " an enclosure," or " hamlet," may have
been the original name, which, when the place was
taken by the Anakim and fortified, was changed to
Q e ri-y6th, and afterwards by the tribe of Judah to
Q e ri-y6th-Chets-ron, in honour of their ancestor,
Chets-ron (Gen. xlvi. 12 ; Ruth iv. 18). Possibly
now el-Ktiryctein, south of Hebron (Rob., Bib. Res.,
ii., 101 ; Wilton, Negeb, pp. 100-106). The name
IcrKa/noiT^? (Matt. x. 4) is thought by some to
mean nt>1R &As.
Vers. 26-28 (Tldrd Group of Nine Towns}.
Ver. 26. " A-mam" (gathering-place), in the south
of Judah, but quite unknown. " Sh e ma " (fame,
repute) : Probably the same as Sheba, in xix. 2
(where, as here, it precedes Moladah), the labials " M "
and "B " being often interchanged (cf. ver. 22). M6-la-
dhah (birth), a town afterwards given to the tribe of
Simeon (xix. 2 ; I Chron. iv. 28), inhabited after the
captivity by the children of Judah (Neh. xi. 26), and
perhaps identical with Malatha, mentioned by Jose-
phus as an Idumaean fortress (Antiq., xviii., 6, 2).
Now probably the ruins of el-Milk, seventeen or
eighteen Roman miles south of Hebron (Rob., Bib.
Res., ii., 20 1 -2 ; Wilton, p. 109, etc.).
Ver. 27. " Clftsar- GaddaJi " (village of good
fortune). Some think that Jurrah, near Moladah
(el-Milh), is the modern site. " Chesh-mon " (fatness,
fat soil, rt. Dtt n, to be fat), possibly identical with
Atsmon, one of the landmarks of the southern
244 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
boundary of Judah (Numb, xxxiv. 4 ; Grove), or
with Chashmonah (Numb, xxxiii. 29), lying beyond
the natural frontier of the Holy Land in the extreme
north of the wilderness. " Beth-pa-let " (pa in pause
for pe ; "house of escape"), mentioned with Moladah
in Neh. xi. 26 as still inhabited by Judaeans.
Ver. 28. "CJftsar-shti-al" (fox, or jackal, village 1 ),
given up to Simeon (xix. 3), and after the captivity
inhabited by the children of Judah (Neh. xi. 27).
Perhaps " Saweh" in Van de Velde s Map (1858),
may mark the site, and be a corruption of the original
name (Grove). " & tr-she-bhd " (well of the oath; 2
see Gen. xxi. 14, 31, xxii. 19), mentioned in Judges
xx. i ; 2 Sam. xvii. 11, as on the southern frontier
of Palestine ; given to the Simeonites (xix. 2), but in
i Kings xix. 3 said to belong to Judah, the Simeon
ites being at that time absorbed into Judah ; after
the captivity still inhabited (Neh. xi. 27). It was in
the Wady es Seba, a wide watercourse, twelve miles
south of Hebron, where there are still relics of an
ancient town, called Bir-es-Seba, with two deep wells
(Rob., Bib. Res., i., p. 204 ; Wilton, p. 141) ; said by
Jerome to have been extant in his day (Qu. ad Gen.,
xxi. 31). " Biz-yd-th e yaJi " (contempt of Jehovah),,
site unknown.
1 Doubtless so called because those animals abounded in the
neighbourhood.
2 Or, "well of seven," the compact between Abraham and
Abimelech having been ratified by the setting apart of seven
ewe lambs (Gen. xxi. 28).
3 So Gesenius {Lex.}, who seems to regard the final syllable
HJ as = PP ; so in the forms rPTT (2 Sam. xii. 25) ; HvS^E (J er -
iL 31) ; n/nh^y, rv^n. (i Chron. viii. 24) ; iT^hl^ (ver. a;). Per
haps, however, i"P in these instances merely intensifies the
form of the word.
VERS. 29, 30.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 245
Vers. 29-32 (Fourth Group of Thirteen Tozvns in the
West Portion of the Negeb}. Ver. 29. u Ba-a-la/i"
afterwards assigned to the Simeonites (xix. 3, where it
is called Balah, but Bilhah i Chron. iv. 29); identified
by Knobel, Wilton, and others, with the present Deir-
el-BelaJi, near Gaza. " I-yim " (ruinous heaps, rt.
Hjy, to overturn), not known ; the same name was
given to a city of the Moabites (Numb, xxxiii. 45).
"A-tsem" (firmness, strength), in pause for E-tsem
(i Chron. iv. 29) ; afterwards assigned to the Simeon
ites (xix. 3 ; i Chron. iv. 29). Wilton (Negeb, p. 156,
etc.) somewhat arbitrarily connects this word with the
foregoing, and traces the compound name Ije-Azem
in the modern el-Aujeh, a spot covered with ruins,
near the Wady-el-Ain, in the country of the Azazimeh
Arabs, whose name resembles Azem.
Ver. 30. " El-to-ladli" ("whose posterity is from
God "). El is either the Arab, article, or means
"God;" written Toladh (i Chron. iv. 29), the first
part of a compound word being often omitted for
brevity, cf. D^ for D^-IT (Psalm Ixxvi. 3), D^i? for
D BB>n ^ax, but supposed by Wilton to be near the
Wady-el-Thoula, in the extreme south of the Negeb,
not far from the western extremity of the Jebel-el-
Mukreh. He thinks that Isaac was born there, and
that it was named after that great event. (The Negeb,
p. 1 80.) "K e sir (fool, impious), rt. ^>D3, to be fleshy,
fat, applied in a bad sense to languor and inertness,
and hence to folly (Ges., Lex., 3), Sept. Bcu^rpv., and,
therefore, perhaps the same as Bethul (xix. 4), and
Bethuel (i Chron. iv. 30), and identical with the
Bethel of i Sam. xxx. 27, and, therefore, not far
from Ziglag. The place may have been called K e sil
246 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
(fool) by the Israelites, because it had been a seat of
idolatry, perhaps of the worship of Orion (which K e sil
means in Job xxxviii. 3 1 ; Amos v. 8), and they
may have changed its name to Bethel (the house of
God), as the name of the Bethel in Benjamin was
changed to Beth-aven (Hosea iv. 15). Probably now
el KJiulasali, the same as the Elusa of ecclesiastical
writers, about fifteen miles south-west of Beersheba
(Rob., Bib. Res., i., 202). Jerome, in the fourth cen
tury, states that there was here a temple of Venus
Astarte, where Lucifer, the morning star, was wor
shipped by the Saracens (Vit. Hilarion, c. 25).
" CJior-maJi" see on xii. 1 4.
Ver. 31. " Tsiq-lagJi" written &j5 in I Chron.
xii. i, 20, perhaps from pVp ^, "wilderness of de
struction " (Ges.), 1 eventually assigned to Simeon
(xix. 5) ; recovered by the Philistines, and given by
the King of Gath to David, in whose family it per
manently remained (i Sam. xxvii. 6 ; Joseph., Antiq.,
vi., 13, 10); burnt by the Amalekites (i Sam. xxx. i);
after the captivity inhabited by the people of Judah
(Neh. xi. 28). The site unknown, but it appears from
I Sam. xxx. 9, 10, 21, to have been north of the
brook Besor. Kiepert, in his Map, places it about
twenty miles south-east of Beersheba, and nearly
fifty from Gath, on the edge of the desert. " MadJi-
man-nali" (dunghill, rt. JEn, unused, Arab., to dung),
not to be confounded, as in the Onom. (s.v. Made-
mena), with Madmena in Isa. x. 31, which was north
of Jerusalem, but probably identical with Menoi s, now
el-Minyay, on the caravan route south of Gaza. So
1 Simonis derives it from ?3 p\X^, an outflowing of a fountain
VER. 32.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 247
Keil and Robinson, and Kiepert (Map, 1856). This,
and the next place " Sansannah " (palm-branch), are
supposed by Reland, Keil, and others, to correspond
with " Beth-ham-mar-ka-bhoth" (house of the chariots)
and " Ch a tsar-siisak" (horse village) in xix. 5, I Chron.
iv. 31, names which indicate that the places so called
were stations or depots for horses and chariots, pro
bably on the road between Egypt and Palestine (Stanley,
Sin. and Pal., p. 1 60), by which the eunuch of Candace
was returning to Egypt when overtaken by Philip
(Wilton). They are perhaps rightly identified with the
modern Minyay and Wady-es-Suny, on the caravan
route south of Gaza. More recently it has been sup
posed by Lieut. Conder that possibly Madmannah
may be identical with the ruin Umm DeivineJi, north
of Beersheba (Pal. Explor. Fund Map, sheet xxiv.).
Ver. 32. " L b/ia- dtk" called Beth-l e bha- 6th
(house of lionesses, xix. 6), and Beth-bir- i (" house
of my creation " [perhaps a corrupted form] I Chron.
iv. 31) : The word indicates that the south of Judah
was the resort of lions. Site uncertain, though
Lebben, the first station between Gaza and Egypt,
bears a resemblance to the name. Wilton, with less
likelihood, places it at el-Bey-udh, near Mesada or
the Dead Sea. " SJiil-chim " (armed men), written
by A. V. Sharuhen^ (xix. 6) and Shaaraim (i Chron.
iv. 31), supposed by Van de Velde to be Tell-SJieriah,
between Gaza and Beersheba, but by Wilton to be
el-Birein, near Wady-es-Serum, much further to the
1 Heb. Sha-ru-chen, "dwelling of grace," or "pleasant
lodging-place; " for JH n-l")^, see fcOJ?, Chald. to loose, specially
used of those who turn aside at evening to an inn and loose the
burdens of their beasts ; hence " to lodge " (Ges., Lex.}.
248 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
south, and not far to the north-west of Kadesh-
Barnea. It is not mentioned by Eusebius and
Jerome. " A-yin" (a fountain 1 ), and " Rini-mon " (a
pomegranate) occur among the cities of the Simeonites
(xix. 7 ; i Chron. iv. 32), but without a connecting
" Vav," though they are evidently reckoned as separate
cities. Perhaps being close together, they afterwards
became one city (cf. the modern Mezieres-Charleville),
for after the captivity we find the name "En-Rimmon"
in Neh. xi. 29. The fertility of the situation seems
indicated by the meaning of the word, viz., " Fountain
of the pomegranates." Rimmon is supposed to be
identical with Um-er-Rufnamim, i.c., "mother of pome
granates," about ten miles north of Beersheba. "All
the cities are twenty and nine" In the Hebrew they
are thirty-six, reckoning two only in ver. 25 (see
note). Of this discrepancy the best solution perhaps
is that of Keil, viz., that the number nine is the error
of some early copyist, who misread the Hebrew
numeral letters; see a similar error in xix. 15, 38.
The Syrian version reads thirty-six. In this once
populous district there is now only desolation, the
waters once supplied by the rains having been
allowed to go to waste.
Vers. 33-47 (Towns in tJie Lowland or SJiepkelaJi}.
These are arranged in four groups, of which the
first (vers. 33-36) contains fourteen towns, situated
in the north-east portion of the shephelah.
1 Properly, an eye, " the spring in an Eastern country being
the eye of the landscape" (Stanley, Sin. and Pal., p. 509).
Many towns and places in Palestine are formed or compounded
of this Hebrew word, as is natural from the importance of
living springs in the East (id.).
VERS. 33, 34.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 249
Ver. 33. rbzyz, see on ix. I ; it here includes the
foot-hills sloping off gradually into the lowland (x. 40).
Esh-td-dl (perhaps " petition, request," as if infinitive
Hithp. of an Arab, form from the rt. bxc [Ges.]), and
Tsor-ali (place of hornets) 1 were border-towns between
Judah and Dan, and were afterwards assigned to Dan
(xix. 41); the former is now perhaps Kustul, east of
Kuriet el-Enab (Kirjath-jearim [Grove]) ; the latter,
which was the native place of Samson (Judges xiii. 2),
fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 10), and re-
inhabited by the Jews after the captivity (Neh. xi. 9),
is mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast.) as
ten Roman miles from Eleutheropolis, on the way to
Nicopolis, and is probably now Sfira/i, at the head of
Wady Surah (Robinson, Grove). Between Tsorah
and Eshtaol was the Danish camp (Judges xiii. 25),
and the burial-place of Samson (Judges xvi. 31).
" As/i-na/i" (strong, rt. }EJ>X, to be hard, strong), pro
bably north-west of Jerusalem, but unknown. Another
town of the same name is mentioned in ver. 43.
Ver. 34. "Za-nd-ach " (perhaps "a marshy place "
[Ges.], from nat, " to have an offensive smell "), now
Zaniia, not far from Surah towards the east, and on
the side of the Wady Ismail (Grove) ; it was reoccu-
pied by the people of Judah after the captivity (Neh.
xi. 30). The other Zanoach on the mountains (ver.
56) is unknown. " En-gan-nm n (fountain of gardens),
apparently the present ruin Unim Jina (Lieut. Conder,
Pal. Explor. Fund}. " Tap-pA-ach " (" a place fruitful
in apples "), not to be confounded with the Beth-
Tappuach near Hebron (ver. 53), but situated on the
1 The name seems to imply that hornets infested that part of
the country.
250 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
lower slopes of the mountains of the north-west
portion of Judah, about twelve miles west of Jerusalem
(Grove). " ha-E-nam" contract, for Jia- E-na-yim (the
two fountains), probably the same as Enayim (Gen.
xxxviii. 14), which was on the road from Adullam to
Timnath.
Ver. 35. "YarmAth," see x. 3. " A-dhul-latn,"
xii. 15. " So-khok" (hedge), near to Ephesdammim,
where the combat between David and Goliath took
place (i Sam. xvii. i) ; fortified by Rehoboam (2
Chron. xi. 7), and taken by the Philistines in the
reign of Ahaz (2 Chron. xxviii. I 8). It is mentioned
in the Onomast. under the name Soccoth, and described
as two villages, an upper and lower, on the road to
Jerusalem, about eight or nine miles from Eleuthero-
polis. Robinson (Bib. Res., ii. 21) identifies it with
esk-Skuweikeh, on the southern slope of Wady es-Sumt
(probably the valley of Elah, the scene of Goliath s
death), a mile south-west of Yarmuth. A-ze-qak,
see x. i o : Though it seems to have been to the
north of the shephelah, near Beth-horon, yet Eusebius
and Jerome speak of it as lying between (ava jaeow)
Eleutheropolis and Jerusalem, i.e., farther south, and
in the mountains of Judah ; but perhaps, like Sokhoh,
Apheq, etc., there was more than one place of the
same name (Grove).
Ver. 36. " SJia-a-ra-yim " (two gates), mentioned
in connection with the defeat of the Philistines after
the death of Goliath (i Sam. xvii. 52) ; it was west
ward of Sokhoh, and perhaps identical with Tell-
Zacharia on Wady es-Sumt (Rob., Bib. Res., ii., 16).
" A-dht-tha-yim" (twofold ornament), unknown.
* hag-G e dlie-rah " (the sheepcote), apparently in the
VERS. 37, 38.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 251
east part of the shephelah, because Azeqah, Sokhoh,
etc., are mentioned just before (ver. 35) ; perhaps the
same as the Gederoth taken by the Philistines from
Ahaz (2 Chron. xxviii. 1 8), (so Keil), and as the
Gedrus of the Onomast., situated ten Roman miles
south of Diospolis (Lydda), and identified by Lieut.
Conder with the present ruin JedireJi (Pal. Explor.
Ftind, Map, sheet xvi). Grove thinks that the
Hebrew word here with the art. indicates a sheep-
breeding locality. So the following word G e dhe-
ro-tha-yim (two sheepfolds) is connected by the Sept.
with the preceding, and rendered at eTrauXec? OLVTTJS.
" Fourteen cities " : The correct number is fifteen, but
the discrepancy may be explained as in ver. 32, or
G e dherothayim may be taken as synonymous with
Gederah (Kimchi, and margin of Auth. Vers.).
Vers. 37-41 (Second Group, containing tJte Towns
in the Middle Portion of tJie Shephelah). Ver. 37.
" Tsfnan" probably the same as Tsa- a-nan (place of
flocks, Micah i. 11), supposed by Knobel to be the
ruins of Chirbet-es-Senat, a little north of Beit-jibrin
(Eleutheropolis). " Ch a dha-shah " (new) : According
to the Talmud the smallest city in Judaea, having
only fifty houses, perhaps the same as the Adasa of
I Mace. vii. 40, 45, a day s journey from Gazera
(Gezer), and thirty stadia from Bethhoron (Joseph.,
Antiq., xii., 10, 5), but the site unknown (Grove).
" MigJi-dal-GadJi " (tower of Gad), unknown, though
perhaps Mejdcl, two miles west of Ascalon (Grove).
Ver. 38. " Dil-an" (cucumber-field), possibly
Ti na, about three miles north of Tell-es-Safieh, in
the maritime plain of Philistia, south of Ekron (Van
de Velde, ii., 1 60). " ham-Mits-pch " (the lofty place)
252 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
a name given to many places (see xi. 3). It stood,
according to the Onomast., north of Eleutheropolis,
and may be identical with the present Tell-es-Safiyeh,
the Blanche-garde of the crusaders (Van de Velde,
Grove). " Yoq-t/i e el" (" subdued by God," for *?$ n$j&
from rt. rm^, to serve), probably near to Lakhish, but
undiscovered. Possibly the ruins Keitulaneh in that
neighbourhood (Robinson, iii.. App. 126).
Ver. 39. On La-kJusli and Egk-ldn see x. 3 ;
near to them was " Bots-qath" (" swelling ground," rt.
PV3, to swell up), the birthplace of the mother of
Josiah (2 Kings xxii. I, where it is written Boscath
in Auth. Vers.) ; site unknown.
Ver. 40. "Kab-b6n" (" a bond," rt. n?2, to bind),
perhaps the ruins called Kitbeibeh, about ten miles
south of Eghlon, and once a strong fortification and
key to the mountainous passes (Van de Velde),
whence probably the name. " Lack-mas" Sept.
AajuoUj Vulg. Leheman : Thirty-two copies have
D!p!^, and here A. V. " Lahmam." It is not mentioned
in the Onomasticpn ; perhaps now the ruined site
called el-Lahem, discovered by Tobler (Dritte Wander-
ung, p. 129), a little south of Beit-jibrin. " Kith-lisk "
(probably contracted from ?I3 = bri 3, a wall, perhaps
as made of compacted clay (Cant. ii. 9), and fc^x (Ges.,
Lex.}, not mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome, nor yet
discovered by any later traveller. Possibly to be
found in Tell-Chilchis> S.S.E. of Beit-jibrin (Van de
Velde, Res., ii., p. 157; Keil).
Ver. 41. "G"dhe-r6th" (folds), apparently not that
referred to in ver. 36, but in the middle portion of
the lowland (see Keil). Lieut. Conder suggests the
present village Katrali, near Yebnah, as proposed
VERS. 42, 43.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 253
also by Col. Warren, R.E. (Map, sheet xvi.). " Beth-
DagJion " (house of Dagon), according to Clark s Bib.
Atlas between Joppa and Lydda ; perhaps the Beth-
dedsJian visited by Tobler on his fourth journey.
Another town of the same name was on the border
of Asher (xix. 27). "Na-a-mah" (pleasant) : Proba
bly Ndaneh, south of Ramleh, 1 as proposed by Col.
Warren, R.E. The situation is suitable (Lieut. Conder,
R.E., Map, sheet xvi.). " Maq-qe-dhah" see on x. 10.
Vers. 42-44 (Third Group in the Soutli of the
Shephelah). Ver. 42. " Libh-nah" x. 29. " E-tJier "
(abundance) and "A-s/ian" (smoke) were afterwards
given to the Simeonites (xix. 7). The former may
be the same as Tochen in I Chron. iv. 32, and is
mentioned twice by Eusebius (Onomast?), who also
confuses it with Yattir (ver. 48). The name has not
yet been certainly identified with any existing remains,
but Van de Velde heard of a Tcl-Athar in this direc
tion (Grove, Smith s Bib. Diet., vol. i.), and more
recently Lieut. Conder has suggested the ruin eVAtr,
near Beit Jibrin, on the west, as a satisfactory situa
tion. As/ian is perhaps identical with Kor-ashan
(i Sam. xxx. 30), and with Ayin (Josh. xxi. 16) ; it
was one of the cities of the priests (i Chron. vi. 59), in
the south of Judah, on the border of the Negeb (Grove).
Ver. 43. " Yiph-tach" (he will open), " Ash-nak"
(cf. ver. 3 3), and " N tstbh " (garrison, or station) have
not been discovered. In the Onomast. a " Neesib "
is mentioned as seven or nine miles east of Eleuthero-
polis (Beit-jibrin), between that city and Hebron, and
1 Marked in Arrowsmith s Map of Modern Syria (Southern)
as lying to the north-east of Yebna, and south-east of Jaffa, in
what was afterwards the territory of Dan.
254 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
now called Beit-Nusib, on the Wady es Sur. This
position, however, is among the mountains, rather
than in the shephelah.
Ver. 44. " Q e i-lah " (fortress) ; probably near to
the borders of the Philistines (see I Sam. xxiii. i) ;
mentioned after the captivity (Neh. iii. i/). 1 Euse-
bius and Jerome describe it in the Onomast. as existing
under the name Kr^Xct or Ceila, the present Kila,
about eight Roman miles to the east of Eleuthero-
polis, on the road to Hebron ; but this position, like
that of Beit-Nusib (ver. 43) is among the mountains
of Judah, and not in the shephelah, and, therefore, is
properly rejected by Keil (Comment, in loc^). " Akh-
zibh" (deceit, Micah i. 14), perhaps identical with
K e zibh (Gen. xxxviii. 5). The ruins of Kussabeh, or
Kesaba, a place with a fountain about five hours
south-west of Beit-jibrin, may mark the site (Rob.,
ii., 391). "Ma-re-shah" (chief city, i.q., n^xip, "that
which is at the head "), one of the cities fortified by
Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 8) ; near it Asa defeated
the Ethiopians (2 Chron. xiv. 9) ; mentioned in the
Maccabean wars (i Mace. v. 66), and by Josephus
(Antiq., xii., 8, 6, xiv., 4, 4) ; destroyed by the
Parthians B.C. 39 (Antiq., xiv., 13, 9). In the
fourth century Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast., s.v.
"Masera") mention its ruins as lying two Roman miles
from Eleutheropolis (Beit-jibrin), and which appear to
correspond with the Maras/i, discovered by Robinson
S.S.W. of Beit-jibrin (Bib. Res., ii., 67, 68). So
Tobler, Van de Velde, and Grove.
1 According to Geikie (on i Sam. xxiii. 2) it was a town on a
steep hill, overlooking the valley of Elah, or the Terebinth, a
short way south of Horeth and Adullam (Hours with the Bible,
vol. iii.).
VERS. 45-43.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 255
Vers. 45-47 (Fourth Group: The Towns on the
Philistine Coast}. Ver. 45. " Eq-ron," see on xiii. 3.
"Her daughters" i.e., her smaller towns, dependent on
Eqron, the capital, and distinct from the D HVD, en
closures, or pastoral villages.
Ver. 46. no*}, " and westwards." T^, " upon the
side of" " Ash-dodh" see xi. 22.
Ver. 47. " Az-sah" see x. 41. ^p-^m, cf. ver. 4.
For bnjp should be read the Q e ri bn$n, which is found
in the ancient versions, and in more than fifty MSS.
^n;n, see on xiii. 23. Note that Gath (xi. 22) and
Eshqelon (xiii. 3), though not named here, were in
cluded in this territory. The number of the towns is
not mentioned at the end of the list, as in that of those
preceding, because they were probably still in the
hands of the Philistines. In fact, the district of Phi-
listia, though assigned to Judah, was never subdued
by it (see xiii. 2, note *).
Vers. 48-60 (JI"Jie Toivns in the Hill Country
Divided into Six Groups], This hill or mountain
district of Judah extended from the Negeb to the
broad Wady, Beit-Hanina, above Jerusalem, and was
bounded on the west by the shephelah, and on the
east by the wilderness of Judaea. The hills are lime
stone, and in the neighbourhood of Hebron rise to a
level of 3,000 feet above the sea. On their tops are
now ruins of ancient towns, and their sides bear traces
of former vegetation. The district, however, is not
so much a region of hills, as a gentle undulating
table-land, cut into insulated portions by deep ravines.
(See Porter s Bib. Atlas \ and Stanley s Sin. and Pal. ,
p. 1 6 1, etc.)
Vers. 48-51 (First Group of Eleven Towns on the
256 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
South-West). Ver. 48. "Sha-mtr" ("a sharp point
or thorn "), unknown, though perhaps preserved in the
ruins of Um Shaumerah (Rob., iii., App., p. 115).
From its mention, along with Yattir, Sokhoh, and
Eshtemoth, it was probably eight or ten miles south
of Hebron (Grove). There was a town of the same
name on the mountains of Ephraim (Judges x. i).
Yat-tir (height, rt. "in;, " to be over and above "), al
lotted to the priests (xxi. 14), and one of the towns
to which David sent^ a present from the spoil of
Ziklag (i Sam. xxx. 37) ; now Attir, ten miles south
of Hebron (Rob., Bib. Res., i., 494-5). " So-khok"
(a hedge), in the Wady-el-Khalil, about ten miles
south-west of Hebron, bearing like the other So-khoh
(xv. 35) the name of esh-Suweikeh (Grove).
Ver. 49. " Dan-nah" (lowland, rt. jn, to be low),
unknown, though probably south or south-west of
Hebron. The village Idhnah in the low hills appears
a suitable position (Lieut. Conder). Qir-yatk-san-
nah," see note on D e bhir in x. 38.
Ver. 50. " A-nabk" (see on xi. 21), north-east of
Sokhoh and south-west of Hebron. " Esh-fnioh"
(obedience, rt. tf^), on the east of Sokkoh and Anabh ;
ceded to the priests (xxi. 14 ; i Chron. vi. 57), one
of the towns to which David sent a present (i Sam.
xxx. 27), now Es-Semua, seven miles south of
Hebron, an inhabited village with remains of walls
and of an ancient castle (Rob., Bib. Res., ii., 204-5).
" A-ntm" (fountains), the Heb. DW, contraction for
D^ry, now el-GJiuwcin, the ruins of a village south of
Semua (Rob., Bib. Res., ii., 204).
Ver. 5 i. The three towns mentioned in this verse
are unknown. " Go-shcn " : There is nothing to con-
VERS. 52, 53.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 257
nect it with the Goshen mentioned in x. 41. " Cho-
lon " (sandy, from ^fn, sand), ceded to the priests
(xxi. 15), called Hilen (Auth. Vers., I Chron. vi. 58).
Another of the same name in Moab (Jer. xlviii. 21).
" Gi-loli " (exile, rt. rta, to emigrate), the birthplace
of Ahithophel (2 Sam. xv. 12), and the place of his
death (2 Sam. xvii. 23). Lieut. Conder thinks it may
probably be the ruin Jala, in the Hebron mountains
(Pal. Explor. Fund].
Vers. 52-54 (Second Group of Towns to the North
of tJie Former in the Country around Hebron}.
Ver. 52. " A-rdbh " (ambush) ; Sept. Alex., Epeo/3,
and described in the Onomast. as a village in Daroma
(i.e., to the south), called Eremiththa. It has been
identified by Lieut. Conder with the present ruin er
Rabiyeh (Pal. Explor. Fund]. " DA-mah " (silence),
probably ed-Daume/i, a ruined village, six miles south
west of Hebron (Rob., Bib. Res., i., 2 1 2). " Esh-an "
(support), occurs here only, site unknown. Knobel
conjectures that it is a corrupt reading for Shema
(i Chron. ii. 43), because the Sept. reading is So/xa,
and hence he connects it with the ruins of Simia, on
the south of Daumeh (Keil). So Lieut. Conder :
" Possibly the ruin es Simla, near Dumah (Domeh),
south of Hebron. The situation is satisfactory, and
the site ancient."
Ver. 53. " Ya-niim" (sleep, from D-13, to slumber):
Unknown to Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast} ; pro
bably the village Beni Nairn, east of Hebron (Lieut.
Conder). " Beth-tap-pil-ach " (house of the apple or
citron), now TeffuJi, about five miles west of Hebron,
where there are olive-groves and vineyards (Rob.
Bib. Res., ii., 71). " A-phe-qah " (strength) : Probably
17
258 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
the same as that in xii. i 8 ; but distinct from that in
xiii. 4.
Ver. 5 4. " Chum-tah " (perhaps i.q. Syr. " a
defence," or "a place of lizards"), unknown. " Qir-
yath-Ar-ba\" see note on x. 3. " Tsi-6r" (smallness),
unknown, for the Tsior mentioned by Eusebius
(Onomast.\ with which Rosenm. would identify it,
was between Aelia and Eleutheropolis, and not, as
this, upon the mountains, near to Hebron.
Vers. 55-57 (Third Group of Ten Towns, East of
those in the two Preceding Groups, and next to the Wil
derness]. Ver. 55. "Ma- on" (a dwelling), gave its
name to the wilderness so called (i Sam. xxiii. 24) ;
was the residence of Nabal (i Sam. xxv. 2) ; now
Main, on a conical hill, eight or nine miles south-east
of Hebron (Grove). Geikie (on i Sam. xxiii. 24)
says that it was about five miles south of Ziph, and
hid in the ravines of a hill close by, which rises in a
great hump of rock, 2,887 ^ eet above the sea (Hours
with the Bible, vol. iii., p. 167 ; Map of Palestine, Pal.
Fund Survey, sheet xxv.). " Kar-mel" (fruitful field),
now Kurmnl, a little to the north-west of Main. It
is mentioned as the place where Nabal and Abigail
had their possessions (i Sam. xxv. 2), and where
King Uzziah had his vineyards (2 Chron. xxvi. 10).
In- the time of Eusebius and Jerome it was the seat
of a Roman garrison (Onomast.}. It figures in the
wars of the crusades, having been held by King
Amalrick against Saladin, A.D. 1172. " ZipJi" from
pj-IT (unused), probably i.q. 2-1T, to flow (Arab.), to
borrow (Chald.), near to the wilderness so called,
whither David fled from Saul (i Sam. xxiii. 14,
xxvi. 2, 3), fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 8) ;
VERS. 56, 57.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 259
now Tell Zif, three or four miles south-east of Hebron ;
it lies, says Robinson (ii., 191), on a low hill or ridge
between two small wadies, which commence here and
run toward the Dead Sea. Another Ziph is that in
ver. 24. " Yft-tah" ("stretched out," from ntaa),
allotted to the priests (xxi. 1 6), described by Eusebius
(Onomast.} as a very large village, eighteen Roman
miles south-east of Eleutheropolis, now Yutta, close
to Main and Kurmul (Robinson, Grove). Reland
(Pal., 870) would identify it with the TrdXts louSct
mentioned in Luke i. 39, a city in which Zacharias
resided, lovra having perhaps been changed into
lovSa, either by error of the text or for euphony s
sake. But this, though possible, has not yet been
confirmed by any positive evidence (Grove ; see also
Alford s note on Luke i. 39).
Ver. 56. " Yiz-r e El" (God sows), the native place
of Ahinoam, one of David s wives (i Sam. xxv. 43) ;
not to be confounded with the Yizreel in the plain of
Esdraelon (xvii. 16, xix. 18), but probably lying
south-east of Hebron. So the two following towns.
" Yoq-d e am " (" burning of the people," Ges., Lex. ;
or " possessed by the people," rt. \r\\> t in Syr. to
possess, Ges. in T/ies.), the site unknown. " Za-
no-ach" see on ver. 34 ; perhaps identical with
Sanute or Zctn&tali (Rob., Bib. Res., ii., 204, note),
mentioned by Seetzen (Reisen, iii., 29) as below
Senuia or Za-nu ah, and about ten miles south-east
of Hebron.
Ver. 57. " haq-Qa-yin" ("the lance," Ges.; or
from }, a nest, in allusion to its position, Grove) ;
site unknown ; possibly the same as Jukin, on the
south-east of Hebron (Rob., ii., p. 449). ^Gibh ah"
260 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
(hill 1 ), a name which under different forms often
occurs in Scripture. Here supposed by Robinson to
be identical with the village of Jebah, on a hill in the
Wady el-Musurr ; but this situation would be too far
to the north-west (see Keil in loc.}. It was doubtless
near to Karmel (ver. 55) and the other towns in this
group. " Tini-nak," not that mentioned in ver. I o
(see note), but probably the same as that in Gen.
xxxviii. 12. Site undiscovered.
Vers. 58, 59 (Fourth Group, on the North of the
last-mentioned}. Ver. 58. " Chal-chul" (trembling,
rt. p-in), called in the Onomast. "Alula juxta Hebron."
It still retains the same name Halhul or Hulhul, and
is about four miles north of Hebron (Rob., Later Bib.
Res., i., 281). A tomb, said by the Jews to be that
of the prophet Jonah, is to be seen among the ruins.
" BetJi-tsiir " (house of rock 2 ), one of the towns which
Rehoboam fortified (2 Chron. xi. 7), mentioned in
Neh. iii. 16, and in i Mace. iv. 29, 61, vi. 7, 26, 31 ;
2 Mace. xi. 5 ; according to Josephus (Antiq., xiii., 5, 6)
the strongest place in all Judaea ; now Beit-Sdr,
north-west of Halhul (Rob., iii., 277), and command
ing the road to Beersheba and Hebron. Near the
ruins of the town is a spring, Ain edh-Dirweh, which,
in the days of Jerome and later, was regarded as the
1 From 1733, i.q. 223, to be curved like an arch, whence 23 ?
something gibbous. The word HlDa is never applied to a high
or extended mountain, like Lebanon or Sinai, while from its
root it is particularly applicable to the humped or rounded hills
of Palestine (Stanley, Sin. a fid Pal., p. 497).
a Root 1-1 V, to bind together. The leading idea of the word
is strength and solidity, and it is accordingly applied to rocks,
irrespective of their height, height being only in one or two
cases (as Numb, xxiii. 9 ; Psalm Ixi. 2) associated with the
word (Stanley, Sin. and Pal., p. 498).
VER. 59.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 261
scene of the baptism of the eunuch by Philip (Acts
viii.), but as Beit-sur is not near the road to Gaza,
this legend is improbable. "G e dh6r" (hedge or wall),
the home of Joelah and Zebadiah, two of David s
mighty men (i Chron. xii. 7) ; now probably Jedur,
between Bethlehem and Hebron (Rob., iii., 283 ;
Grove).
Ver. 59. "Ma-a-rath" ("a place naked of trees,"
rt. rnr, to be bare) : Eusebius and Jerome mention
the name (Onomasticon, " Maroth "), but do not seem
to have known the site. Lieut. Conder would identify
it with the present village Beit Ummar (Pal. Explor.
Fund, Map, sheet xxi.). Perhaps, as Grove suggests,
the word may be derived from i"nrp, a cave, since
caves are a characteristic feature of the mountainous
districts of Palestine. " Bctli-a-ndth " (house of
response or of echo), perhaps the modern Beit-Ain&n,
near to Hallul and Beit-Sur, discovered by Wolcott,
and visited by Robinson (iii., 281). " El-fqdn " (God
the foundation), quite unknown. Here the Sept.
inserts a fiftli group of eleven towns, 1 which lay to the
1 Viz., QfKU), E<ppa$u avrrj eori Bat$Xee)i, 4>a-ycbp, Alrav, KovXci/,
Tara^i, 8a>/3j)y (or Scopes, Cod.AleX.}, Kape/x, TaXejn, 6e(%> (Bai&jp,
Cod. Alex.}, Mai/o^w. Of these 0eKa>, the well-known Tekoa,
or Tekoah (pitching, sc. of tents), was the home of the wise
woman who interceded with David (2 Sam. xiv. 2), and of the
prophet Amos (i. i), who is said to have been buried there. It
was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 6), and still inhabited
after the captivity (Neh. iii. 5, 27) ; now Tekuah, on the top of
a hill covered with ancient ruins, two hours to the south of
Bethlehem. E<ppa#a (fruitful), i.q. Beth-le-chem (house of
bread; Gen. xxxv. 19, xlviii. 7; Ruth iv. u ; Micah v. i).
Jerome and Kalisch observe that the two names have virtually
the same meaning, a view which is favoured by Stanley s
description of the neighbouring corn-fields (Sin. and Pal.,
p. 164). <ayo>p, now Faghur, a heap of ruins south-west of
Bethlehem (Rob., Later Bib. Res., p. 275). Alrav, written
262 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
north of the preceding group, and south of Jerusalem.
This, according to Maurer, Hengstenberg, and others,
was an arbitrary interpolation of the Sept. As, how
ever, it is unlikely that the writer of the Book of
Joshua should have omitted the names of the towns
lying in this locality, 1 and as some of those towns
are still standing or in ruins, it would seem more
Etam (2 Chron. xi. 6), one of the cities fortified by Rehoboam ;
the name is still recognisable in Ain-Attar between Bethle
hem and Phagor (Tobler, Dritte Wand., pp. 88, 89). KouAoi/,
now Kulonich ; identified by Grove and others with Emmaus
(Luke xxiv. 13), a colony of the Romans, which as such was
exempted by Titus from being sold (Joseph., Bel. Jud., vii. 6,
6) ; four and a half miles west of Jerusalem. Tara/i is undis
covered. Scopes, upon a ridge on the south of Wady Aly, now
Saris, ten miles east of Jerusalem. Kape/i, now Ain Karem,
a large flourishing village, two hours to the west of Jerusalem,
with a Franciscan convent, dedicated to John the Baptist, in
the middle, and a fountain (Rob., ii., p. 141 ; Bib. Res., p. 271).
rX/*, a different place from the Gallim (Isa. x. 30 ; i Sam.
xxv. 44) which lay north of Jerusalem, in the tribe of Benjamin.
Bai$!7p, now Bitter, a small, dirty village, south-west of Jeru
salem, with a beautiful spring and gardens arranged in terraces
on the west slope of the Wady Bitter (Rob., Bib. Res., p. 266).
"irG means a "section" or "division," and is applied to a
country divided by mountains and valleys (see Cant. ii. 17), and
this is the character of the country about Bether (Konrad
Furrer, Wanderings through Pal., p. 192). MOJ/O^OJ, con
jectured by Knobel and others to be the same as Manahath in
i Chron. viii. 6, an identification not considered satisfactory by
Grove. (See on " Manahath " in Smith s Bib. Diet.}. It may
possibly, says Lieut. Conder, be the village Malhah, south-west
of Jerusalem, " L " being often put for " N."
1 Keil remarks it as a circumstance worthy of consideration,
and one of no little importance, that not one of the groups of
cities hitherto named, embraces any part of the country between
Bethzur and Gedor on the one side, and Jerusalem on the other,
a space, i.e., of about twelve Roman miles in length, and nearly
ten in breadth. Yet, to judge from the closeness with which
the whole of the range of mountains was studded in other parts
with cities and villages, it is impossible that the only cities within
this space should have been the three mentioned in ver. 59.
VERS. 60-61.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 263
probable that the eleven names were originally in the
Hebrew text, but were omitted by a transcriber, who
mistook the word jiTlVD at the end of the missing
passage (" eleven cities and their villages ") for the
same word at the end of ver. 59. So Clericus,
Capellus, Knobel, Keil, Fay, etc. This omission
must have been of very ancient date, since the Sept.
is the only one of the ancient versions in which the
missing passage is found.
Ver. 60 (A Sixth Group of Two Towns and on tJie
North- West Border ofjudah). " Qir-yath-Ba-al" see
ver. 9, ix. 17. " ha-Rab-bah " (The Great), unknown.
Possibly the ruin Rtibba, west of Beit-Ibrin (Lieut.
Conder).
Vers. 61-62 (The Towns in the Wilderness \_Midh-
bar\ between the Mountains and the Dead Sea).
This district extended to Wady Fikreh on the south,
and to the region of Maon, Ziph, and Bethlehem on
the west. It was the scene of David s wanderings
(i Sam. xxiii. 24; Psalm Ixiii. i), of John the
Baptist s preaching (Matt. iii. i), and perhaps of our
Lord s temptation (Matt. iv.). Here there is scanty
vegetation, and the limestone abounds with caverns.
The small number of towns mentioned seems to
show that it was not much more fertile anciently
than now (Clark s Bib. Atlas, p. 12).
Ver. 6 1. " Beth-ha-a-ra-bhah" see ver. 6. u Mid-
din " (measures), probably close to the Dead Sea,
but unknown. " S e kJia-kJiaJi " (enclosure), in the
Judean desert. Possibly the ruin Sikkeh, east of
Bethany (Lieut. Conder, Map, sheet xvii.). Neither
of these places is mentioned by Eusebius and
Jerome.
264 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xv.
Ver. 62. " Jian-Nibh-shan " (the soft soil), cf.
Bashan, mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome under
the name of Nempsan, or Nebsan (Onomast.}, but
its position not indicated, nor has it since been
discovered. " The City of Salt" probably in the
salt valley at the south end of the Dead Sea (Rob.,
Bib. Res., ii., 109), the scene of repeated defeats of
the Edomites (2 Sam. viii. 13; 2 Kings xiv. 7 ;
I Chron. xviii. 12; Psalm Ix. 2). " En-ge-dM n
(the fountain of the wild goat), so called from the
numerous ibexes, or Syrian chamois, which inhabit
the cliffs in this district. " The oasis, which it forms
amidst the naked limestone precipices, must be one of
the most striking natural scenes in Palestine" (Stanley,
Sin. and Pal., p. 295). Anciently it was called
CJia-ts a -ts6n-ta-mar (the pruning of the palm ; Gen.
xiv. 7 ; 2 Chron. xx. 2), for the spot was once famous
for palms (Pliny, Nat. Hist., v., 17) ; it was one of
David s retreats (i Sam. xxiii. 29, xxiv. i), and lay
near the middle of the west shore of the Dead Sea
(Ezek. xlvii. i o) ; the water of the fountain is sweet,
and the temperature of it is 81 Fah. (Rob., ii., 210) ;
now A in Jidy.
Ver. 63. As we do not read in this book that
Joshua captured Jerusalem, but only that he slew its
king (x. 18-26, xii. 10), many think that the event
here referred to happened after Joshua s death, viz.,
when, as we read in Judges i. 8, the tribe of Judah
captured and set fire to Jerusalem. It is true that
the A. V. renders this latter passage "Now tJie
children of Judah had fought" etc., but, as M. Henry
well remarks, "the original speaks of it as a thing
now done, and that seems most probable, because
VER. 63.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 265
it is said to be done by the children of Judah in
particular, not by all Israel in general, whom Joshua
commanded." The expression " could nof," in xv.
63, may allude to the fact that the stronghold of the
city lay within the territory of Benjamin, to whom
Jebusi was allotted (xviii. 28). Of the Benjamites
themselves it is said (Judges i. 21) that they " did
not drive out the febusites" which may intimate
inertness on their part rather than inability. The
concluding words of ver. 63 are important as proving
that the Book of Joshua was written before the time
of David (cf. 2 Sam. v. 6-g).
CHAPTERS XVI.-XVIL
Territory of the Children of Joseph, viz., of EpJiraim
and of the Half- Tribe of Manasseli.
THERE was one lot drawn for both, that their terri
tories might be adjacent, as both tribes were closely
related. Hence (i) the southern boundary of the
whole territory is described (xvi. 1-4) ; (2) the limits
of Ephraim in particular (xvi. 5-10) ; (3) the limits
of Manasseh (xvii. 1-13). The inheritance of these
tribes comprised the fairest portion of the land of
Palestine, and Jacob s prophecy concerning them was
fulfilled, " Let them grow into a multitude in the midst
of the earth (land)" (Gen. xlviii. 16).
266 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP, xvi
CHAPTER XVI.
VERS. 1-4. Southern Boundary of tJie Inheritance
of Josephs Sons.
Ver. i. "And there came ont the lot" etc., i.e., the
lot came out of the urn ; cf, xix. i, 17, 24, etc. NT 1 ,
is here = 7K (xviii. 1 1), and 7"jja taken in connection
with the words " from Jordan, etc.," means a portion
of land received by lot (cf. Judges i. 3, and Ges., Lex.
[2], p. 165). F]pr r?;&, "for the sons of Joseph" i.e., the
kindred tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. inn? f^ p,
"from Jordan at Jericho" see on xiii. 32. nrnrp - ^7,
" at the waters of JericJw eastward" : This is added to
mark more clearly the point at which the boundary
commenced. The allusion is to the celebrated foun
tain called Ain-es-Sultan, healed by Elisha (2 Kings
ii. 19; Stanley, Sin. and Pal., p. 306). "(To) the
wilderness going up from Jericho into * the hill district
to Bethel," or, as Keil, " the wilderness," is put in
apposition to " lot " (i.e., the land obtained by the
lot), so that the sense is, " namely, the wilderness
going up from Jericho," etc. For a certain distance
the southern boundary was the same as the northern
boundary of Benjamin. The " wilderness " meant is
that of Bethaven (xviii. 1 2, vii. 2), which stretched
between Wady Suwar and Mutyar (Van de Velde s
Map}. ^N-n 11 ? (see vii. 2) according to the Masoretic
text is separated from ina, and is rendered as an
accus. by the Sept., Arab., and Chald., and by our
Revised Vers.
1 "Through" (Rev. Vers.).
VERS. 2, 3.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 267
Ver. 2. " And it went out from BetJiel to Luz" :
Keil thinks that Bethel here stands for the moun
tainous district around Bethel, because in Gen. xxviii.
19, Luz (see on vii. 2) and Bethel are names of the
same town; but perhaps it denotes " the certain place"
(Gen. xxviii. 1 1) where Abraham had set up an
altar, and which Jacob after his dream called Bethel
(house of God), which name, perhaps on account
of its sanctity, was afterwards given to the adjacent
city Luz (see Art. " Luz " in Smith s Bib. Diet.}.
"To the border of the ArcJiite to Ataroth" : Whether
the patronymic " Archite " is derived from Erech, a
town in Mesopotamia (Gen. x. 10), now Edessa, and
implies that a colony from thence had settled in
these parts, can be only matter of conjecture ;
possibly some ancient indigenous tribe may be so
called (Grove). The name is often given to Hushai,
David s friend (2 Sam. xv. 32, xvi. 16, etc.). A-ta-
rotli, called Ataroth-addar (crowns of greatness or
largeness; ver. 5, xviii. 13), perhaps to distinguish
it from the tribe of Gad (Numb, xxxii. 3, 34).
Robinson identifies it with the village Atdra, two
miles south of Bireh (Beeroth), a little to the south
west of Beitin or Bethel (Bib. Res., ii., 265).
Ver. 3. " The Yaphletite " (freed by the Lord), a
patronymic ( 86, 5). Our A. V. renders " Japhleti,"
and seems to have regarded it as a place. No trace
of the name is now to be found. Grove conjectures
that it may have belonged to an ancient native tribe
(see on ver. 2, and cf. the names Zemaraim, Ophni,
Jebusi). The " Yaphlet " in the genealogy of the
tribe of Asher (i Chron. vii. 32, 33) cannot be iden
tified with it. " BetJi-clid-ron the Nether" see on
268 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP, xvi
x. 10. " Ge-zer" (a place cut off, a precipice), x. 33,
xii. 12 : Grove says that it may possibly be in or
about Yasur, between Jaffa and Ramleh. " Towards
the sea" i.e., towards the Mediterranean.
Vers. 5-10 (Inheritance of Ephraini]. " Epk-ra-
yirn " (perhaps " double land," " twin land "). This
tribe took precedence of that of Manasseh, according
to the prophecy (Gen. xlviii. 20). It was subsequently
included in the Kingdom of Samaria.
Ver. 5. This verse gives a concise description of
the southern boundary, which had been described
more fully in vers. 1-4. Only the western half of
that boundary is noticed, commencing from Ataroth-
addar (ver. 2). Upper Bethchoron is substituted for
Bethchoron the Nether (ver. 3), the two places being
near together (x. 10), and belonging to Ephraim.
Ver. 6. "And the border went out toward the sea
[or west] to ham-Mikh-wfthath (the hiding-place 1 ) on
the north" : The northern border is here meant. In the
remainder of the verse, and in ver. 7, its direction from
a central point perhaps the watershed which sepa
rates the waters which flow into the Mediterranean
from those flowing into the Jordan is described east
ward, and in ver. 8 its direction westward, Keil thinks
that perhaps the original reading of the first clause was
" towards the north the border went out to Mikhme-
tkath." This town was before Shechem (xvii. 7), but
the site is unknown. Ta-a-nath-Shi-l6h (" approach
to Shiloh," rt. n ^K, to approach, to meet), said, in the
Onomast., to have been ten Roman miles from Nea-
polis (Sichem), and between it and the Jordan ;
1 Rt. n>3 (unused), probably i.q. DH3, to lay up.
VERS. 7, 8. THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 269
probably the r)va of Ptolemy (y. 16, 5), the present
Tana, Ain Tana, a heap of ruins south-east of Nablus
(Neapolis). " And passed by it on t/ie east of Ya-?io-
chak (rest)." TnTH, which is omitted by the Syr.,
Sept., and Houbigant, refers to n6t?, which is masc.
in form. The n in nnfJ*, according to Ges. (Lex.\ is
local, but see next verse, where it evidently forms
part of the word ; also here the preceding noun is in
the construct, form ( 89). Perhaps the place is
identical with the present Yanun, three or four miles
further than Taanath-Shiloh towards the east (Rob.,
Later Bib. Res., p. 297), where there are very ancient
and extensive ruins (Van de Velde).
Ver. 7. Mt A-ta-rdtk" (crowns), different from the
Ataroth in vers. 2, 5, which was on the southern
boundary. It is probably to be sought for in the
Ghor (Keil). " To Na-a-rah " (hand-maiden, damsel),
rnyj with n loc. 1 ; perhaps the same as Naaran
(i Chron. vii. 28), described in the Onomast. as a
small village of the Jews, five miles from Jericho,
probably on the north-east. "And it readied to (lit.
struck upon) Jericho" i.e., the northern side of the terri
tory, for Jericho belonged to Benjamin (xviii. 21),
and at this point it coincided with the southern
boundary of the tribe of Joseph (cf. ver. i) and the
northern of Benjamin (xviii. 1 2).
Ver. 8 ( Western Half of the North Boundary].
"Tap-pA-ach" (a place fruitful in apples), called En-
Tappuach (xvii. 8), probably west of Sichem, and
distinct from the Tappuach in xii. 17. "To tJie water
course of Qa-nah" (reed), between Joppa and Cesarea,
1 Written nrny: in the Hebrew text.
270 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP, xvi
perhaps the modern Nahr el Kassab, called in
Kiepert s Map the Nahr el Falik. Stanley says that
a portion of the plain of Sharon is called Khassab
(reedy), apparently from the high reeds which grow
on the banks of the rivers (Sin. and Pal., p. 260).
nra n, " towards the sea," i.e., the Mediterranean.
Ver. 9. "And the cities, the places which were
separately apportioned to the sons of Ephraim " :
n^jpn, lit. " the separations," rt. ^na, to separate. If
the full stop at the end of the preceding verse is
removed, the verb " were " need not be inserted as by
our Auth. Vers. before the words " among the inherit
ance." The verse indicates that to the inheritance of
Ephraim, as described above, were added separate
cities from the territory of Manasseh, doubtless
because the inheritance of Ephraim was otherwise
too little for them.
Ver. 10. "Geser" see xvi. 3. " They drove not
out" see Judges i. 29 ; I Kings ix. I6, 1 and cf. xv. 63.
This was in disobedience to God s express com
mand (Exod. xxiii. 3 I ; Deut. vii. 2), and was justly
punished by the corruption of morals, etc., arising
from association with idolaters (see Hosea xii. 7, 8,
iv. 1 7). 131 *n?l, " and was reduced to the tribute of a
servant" i.e., became tributary dependents, eyeVovro
vTTofyopoi SovXot, Sept. (cf. i Kings ix. 21). The
derivation of DO is uncertain ; perhaps it is contracted
from D3E, toll, tribute, rt. DD3, to number ; like HDp,
number, contracted from np3 (Ges., Lex.}. In what
form the tribute was rendered, whether in money,
products, or service, is unknown.
1 Here we have a proof that the Book of Joshua must have
been written before the beginning of Solomon s reign.
VER. i.] THE ROOK OF JOSHUA. 271
CHAPTER XVII.
VERS. 1-13. The Portion of ManasseJi.
Ver. i. In the first clause there seems assigned a
reason why an inheritance on both sides of the Jordan
was given to Manasseh, viz., because he was the first
born of Joseph, and as such was entitled to a double
portion, this his birthright not being invalidated by
the preference shown to Ephraim by Jacob (cf. Deut.
xxi. 1 5, etc.). In the second clause reference is
made to the portion which the half of this tribe
had already received on the east of Jordan. "V^ft 1 ? is
first put absol., and then resumed in the i 1 ? which
follows w\ (see 145, 2) ; render "to Ma-khtr, the
firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gil- adh, to him
were Gil-adh and BasJian (allotted), because he was a
man of war." 1 Ma-khir (sold) here stands for his
descendants, by whom Gil- adh was conquered
(Nurnb. xxxii. 39; Deut. iii. 15). The expression
" father of Gil- adh," denotes lord or possessor of
1 The Manassites at that time, says Dr. Geikie, were cer
tainly the most warlike of the tribes. Machir, Jair, and
Nobah, its chiefs, were not shepherds, like the Reubenites,
but valiant warriors, whose deeds are frequently recorded
(Numb, xxxii. 30 ; Deut. iii. 13-15). These districts were the
most difficult in the whole country, for they embraced the hills
of Gilead, and the almost impregnable* tract known as the
Lejah, or "refuge," from the security which its natural forti
fications afforded. But Manasseh also, like Reuben and Gad,
affected by its position and its isolation, gradually fell into the
wandering shepherd life, and ceased to be a power in Israel.
Nor did it even remain true to its ancient faith, but, like the
other tribes of the east of Jordan, gave itself up to the local
idolatry (i Chron. v. 25). Hours with the Bible, vol. ii., p. 376.
272 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xvn.
Gil- adh, for in the Hebrew Gil- adh with the article,
as here, denotes the country so called (cf. ver. 5, xiii.
11, 31 ; Numb, xxxii. 40 ; Deut. iii. 10, etc.) ; but
without the article the person (xvii. 3 ; Numb. xxvi.
29, 30, xxvii. i, xxxvi. i ; i Chron. vii. 17).
Ver. 2 (List of the Families which received their
Portion on the West Side of Jordan}. *rri, subau. ^niin,
from ver. i. Dnnian, "which were left" i.e., who had
not received their inheritance on the east of Jordan.
The six families mentioned are the same as those in
Numb. xxvi. 30-32, but A-b/ti-e-zer 1 (father of help)
is there abbreviated to lezer, and Sh e -mt-dhd (fame
of wisdom) is put before Che-pher (a well or pit),
nns-fn . . . \3|, the male descendants : The term " male"
is used in antithesis to the female descendants men
tioned in the next verse.
Ver. 3. Cf. Numb. xxvi. 33, xxvii. i. " Ts e loph-
chadJi " (" first fracture, or rupture," perhaps " first
born," cf. IDS). Some infer, from i Chron. vii. 15,
that he was the second son of his father Hepher.
He came out of Egypt with Moses, and died in the
wilderness, as did all that generation (Numb. xiv. 35,
xxvii. 3). " Mach-lah " (according to Ges., Lex., " sick
ness," rt. r6n, to be sick, or perhaps i.q. r6pn, gentle
ness, the nand being transposed). "No- a/i" (motion,
rt. r-13). "Chogh-lah " (partridge, Ges., Lex. ; cf. xv. 6).
"Mil-kak" (counsel; Tjta, in Syr.and Chald., to consult).
" Tir-tsah" (pleasantness, rt. nyi). All these daughters
married their cousins (Numb, xxxvi. 11).
Ver. 4. " Before Elcazar . . . and before Joshua"
1 From this tribe, though one of the poorest or weakest in
Manasseh, sprang Gideon, the most renowned of the judges.
VERS. 5-7.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 273
cf. xiv. I, note. "Jehovah commanded" etc., see
Numb, xxvii. 6, 7, xxxvi. 2.
Vers. 5, 6. " Ten portions" (lit. portions measured
by a line), viz., five to the male descendants of
Gil- adh, and five to the daughters of Ts e loph-chadh,
who represented the sixth family, viz., that of Chepher
(Hepher, Auth. Vers.).
VERS. 7-13. Boundaries and Extent of the In-
Jieritance of Manasse/i, on the Western Side of
the Jordan.
Vers. 7-10 (The Southern Boundary coinciding with
the Northern of EpJiraini). Ver. 7. " A-sher" (for
tunate, happy), not the tribe so called, but a town at
the east end of the southern boundary, now Yasir or
Teyasir, about fourteen miles from Nablus (Shechem),
on the road toBeisan(Bethshean). "ham-Mikh-m e thah"
see on xvi. 6. "Slfcliem" (shoulder, or ridge 1 ), see Gen.
xii. 6 (where in the Auth. Vers. it is written Sichem) ;
xxxiii. 1 8, between Ebal and Gerizim ; allotted to
Ephraim (Josh. xx. 7), but assigned to the Levites,
and made a city of refuge (xxi. 20, 21) ; the capital
of Jeroboam (i Kings xii. 25), afterwards that of
Samaria ; generally supposed to be the Sychar of
John iv. 5, but see Smith s Diet, of tlie Bible> Art.
" Sychar." It derived its name Shechem either from
its situation on a ridge, or from Shechem, the son of
Hamor. It is now Nabliis (Neapolis). 2 pn-ta, "to
1 Or rather "back," the town "Shechem" being, as it
were, on the back of Gerizim (Stanleys Sin. and Pal.,
Append., p. 496).
2 Founded by Vespasian, after the ruin of the older Shechem,
which probably lay further eastward, and, therefore, nearer to
18
274 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xvir.
the right" i.e., to the south (cf. I Sam. xxiii. 19, 24).
tl En-Tap-pAach," see xvi. 8.
Ver. 8. taj^s, "at" or "upon the border": It
seems that Tappuach was one of the separate towns
referred to in xvi. 9 as assigned to Ephraim.
Ver. 9. " The water-course of Qanah," see xvi. 8.
H3J13, " to the south of the water-course" " These cities
belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manas sell " :
The cities meant must be those which lay to the
south of the water-course, and are identical with the
separate cities alluded to in xvi. 9. " But the border
[or territory] of Manasseh was on the north of the
water-course" i.e., Manasseh possessed all the territory
and cities lying north of the Qanah, as is explained
in the next verse. For the construction of VV, with
vrfxy n in the last clause, see on xv. 4.
Ver. 10. " To the south (of the water-course of
Qanah, the land belonged) to Ephraim, and to tJie
north to Manasseh, and the sea was his boundary ;
and they toncJied upon Asher on the north, and upon
Issachar on tJie east": The subject of pi^?* may
be either the borders of Manasseh (Clericus), or
the two tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, regarded
as together representing the inheritance of Joseph
(Masius). The north and east boundary may have
the opening- of the valley. The situation is thus described by
Dean Stanley : "A valley, green with grass, grey with olives,
gardens sloping down on each side, fresh springs rushing
down in all directions ; at the end a white town embosomed
in all this verdure, lodged between two high mountains, which
extend on each side of the valley that on the south, Gerizim,
that on the north, Ebal this is the aspect of Nablous, the
most beautiful, perhaps it might be said the only very
beautiful, spot in Central Palestine (Sin. and Pal., v.,
P- 233-4)
VER. ii.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 275
been described in this general manner, because they
had not yet been accurately defined.
Ver. 1 1. "Beth-s/f an " (house of rest), in Issachar,
about four miles west of the Jordan, in the Ghor, and
twelve miles south of the Sea of Galilee. To its walls
were fastened the bodies of Saul and of his sons
(i Sam. xxxi. 10, 12 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 12). After the
exile it was called ScytJiopolis (Judith iii. 10 ;
2 Mace. xii. 29) ; in Christian times it was the see
of a bishop, who is mentioned as present at the
Councils of Nice and Constantinople ; now Beisan
(Grove ; cf. Stanley s Sin. and Pal. , p. 346). 35-1, see
on xv. 45. "Yibk-l c am" ("devouring the people,"
Ges., Lex.\ called Bil- y ain (non-populus, perhaps,
i.q. "a foreigner") I Chron. vi. 55 (70), a Levitical
town (xxi. 25), near Megiddo (2 Kings ix. 27). It
was probably in Issachar (Grove), and near Jenin,
where the village Je lama now stands (Rob., Bib. Res.,
ii., 319). 1ST nxi : the change of construct, to
the accus. may be explained by regarding *? \T as =
" received " or " had," and the author, when he wrote
the words, may have had in his mind what he ex
presses in ver. 12, viz., that the Manassites could
not expel the Canaanites from those towns. Dor "
(circle, habitation), see on xi. 2. " En-dor" (spring of
Dor), the scene of Sisera s overthrow by Barak
(Psalm Ixxxiii. 10), of Saul s visit to the witch
(i Sam. xxviii. 7). Eusebius (Oncm.} describes it as
a large village, four miles to the south of Tabor,
now Endiir, a considerable, but now deserted, village
(Grove). On "TaanakJi" and u M ghiddo n see xii. 2 i ;
both were in the valley of Jezreel. naan ^, " the
three heights" : naj is used coll., i.q. f|f3, see xi. 2. It
276 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xvu.
is probable that this was an elevated district, com
prising the three last mentioned towns, cf. the names
Tripolis, Decapolis, etc. 1 Perhaps all the six towns
mentioned in this verse may have been assigned to
Manasseh in compensation for those which it had
given up to Ephraim (xvi. 9).
Vers. 12, 13. Cf. xv. 63, xvi. 10. In Judges i.
27-8 Endor is not mentioned, probably because it
was included in the district of Dor. In ver. i 2 the
term " cities " is used by hypallage for the inhabit
ants of the cities, bxw, see on vii. 7 ; here it seems
to imply consent to, or acquiescence in, the proposals
made to them (cf. Exod .ii. 21 ; Judges xvii. 1 1).
The Manassites, not being strong enough to dispossess
them, may have proposed to them that they should
live peaceably in the land, to which proposal they
agreed. In ver. i 3 the \ before 13^ is not only con-
sec., but marks the apod. ( 155, i, a). DO 1 ?, see
xvi. 10 ; Judges i. 28, 33. For the construe, of the
infin. absol. Bnin, with the finite verb, see 131, 3, a.
VERS. 14-18. Complaint of the Children of Joseph
respecting the Territory allotted to them.
Ver. 1 4. C(1 ?, " to me" i.e., to the tribe of Ephraim
and the half-tribe of Manasseh, regarded collectively
as one tribe (cf. xvi. i ; Psalm Ixxvii. 16 [Heb.],
Ixxviii. 67 ; Amos vi. 6). TTfJ, a portion assigned by
casting a lot ; ban, a portion assigned by measure-
1 "The word (J"IQ?.) would appear," says Stanley, "to be a
local word applied to the plains at the foot of Carmel, much
as Ciccar and Geliloth were to the Jordan valley ; and
probably Cinneroth to the district on the shores of the Sea
of Galilee " (Sin and Pal., Append., p. 494).
VER. 15.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 277
ment ; here the two terms are used together for em
phasis. 2~\ Dy, "a numerous people : According to the
second census made in the time of Moses (Numb, xxvi.)
the tribe of Ephraim numbered 32,500 (ver. 3 7), that
of Manasseh 52,700 (ver. 34) ; therefore the tribe of
Ephraim and that of half Manasseh would together
be fewer in number than the tribes of Judah, Dan,
Issachar, and Zebulon respectively. The territory
assigned to them was fifty-five miles from east to west,
by seventy from north to south, and comprised the
most fruitful portion of the land of Canaan (Stanley,
Sin. and Pal., p. 229-30). Hence the complaint
here made was groundless, and arose from their
arrogance and selfishness, other instances of which
we have in Judges viii. I, xii. I ; 2 Sam. xix. 41 ;
2 Chron. xxviii. 9, etc. 1 i^ ir refers to gradation,
" so far as;" na-TU, to time, "/at/ierto" (cf. Exod.
vii. 1 6).
Ver. 15. Joshua was himself an Ephramite
(i Chron. vii. 27), but here in his reply he shows his
impartiality. ^,~\ is used, perhaps ironically, and =
" great " or " mighty." "iyn, " the forest" implying
1 Bishop Wordsworth sees in their character " an example
of that self-idolising and self-aggrandising spirit in nations
and in churches, which seek to extend themselves by colonisa
tion and conquest, and even by missionary enterprise, not
so much that they may gain kingdoms for Christ, and win
subjects to Him, but in order that they may have vassals and
tributaries to themselves." " It may be worthy of considera
tion," says he, "whether the sacred writer in this history
does not read a solemn warning to such nations as England,
which publicly and privately derives an immense revenue from
her two hundred millions of subjects in India, and yet has done
little hitherto to bring them into subjection to Christ, from
Whom all nations receive their power, and on Whom all their
happiness depends (Matt, xxviii. 18)."
278 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xvn.
dense growth or an abundance of trees, from ~\v\ to
abound. The " forest " is evidently here distinguished
from Mount Ephraim itself, and was probably a
mountainous (see ver. 1 8, where it is called in), woody
region, lying to the north-west and north-east of
Mount Ephraim, yet being an offshoot from it.
Such would be the range \vhich runs along the
northern border of Manasseh, and connects the
mountains of Gilboa and Carmel, and which belonged
to the Perizzites and the Rephaim, and is still well
wooded (see Rob., Bib. Res., ii., 455 ; Tristram, Land
of Israel, 422). n&TQ-l. " and cut out room for tJiee
there" (Ges.), Piel Perf. for imper. ( 126, 6, c\ from
fcO3, to cut. "The Perizzites" iii. 10. "The Re
phaim" xii. 4. } N from px, to be narrow, but used
in a different sense in x. 13. " Mount Eph-ra-yim"
(double fruitfulness, Gen. xli. 52) ; in is frequently
used of a mountainous district (cf. xi. 16). It ex
tended from the great plain of Esdraelon (Jezreel)
on the north to as far south as Ramah and Bethel
(Judges iv. 5), places but a few miles north of
Jerusalem, in the tribe of Benjamin. In structure
the district is limestone, rounded hills separated by
valleys, with streams of running water, and continuous
tracts of vegetation (see Stanley s Sin. and Pal.,
p. 229).
Ver. 1 6. K^-N , " will not suffice" (Sept., Chald.,
and Syr., followed by Keil), Niph. imperf. (cf. Zech.
x. 10) ; and, in Qal. (Numb. xi. 22 ; Judges xxi. 14).
" In the land of the valley" including the valley of
the Jordan near Bethshean, and the broad valley of
Jezreel. " Chariots of iron" see on xi. 4 : They are
mentioned here by the descendants of Joseph as a
VERS. 17, 18.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 279
reason why they could not take possession of the
plains. " TJie valley of Yis-^ El" (God sows), called
in Greek the plain of Esdraelon or Esdrelon (Judith
i. 8, iii. 9, iv. 6), reaching in its fullest extent from
the Mediterranean north of Carmel to the Jordan.
But the valley of Yiz-r e El proper ran from the town
of Yizr e El (the modern Zenin\ in Issachar, between
the mountains of Gilboa and the range of Little
Hermon (Chermon) to the Jordan eastward. This
valley, the natural " battle-field of Palestine "
(Stanley, Sin. and Pal., p. 331), was the scene of the
victory of Barak (Judges v.) and of Gideon (Judges
vii. i, 8, etc.), and of the overthrow of Saul and
Jonathan (i Sam. xxxi. 3, 8).
Vers. 17-18 (Joshua repeats his previous declara
tion [ver. 15], intimating, apparently with some degree
of irony, that if they had only sufficient courage, they
could easily enlarge their territory). Ver. 1 7.
"in^ rvrr, " there will not be to thee one lot only."
Ver. iS. 1 "For a mountainous district will be
thine, for it is a forest, and thou wilt clear it" in
means, not Mount Ephraim, which they already pos
sessed, but the woody mountainous district referred
to in ver. 15. rnfcyh, "its outgoings, i.e., the fields
and plains bordering on it (Keil). "Although* ( ?)
they have iron chariots, although they are strong " :
From this reply of Joshua to the complaint of the
children of Joseph we may learn that whatever
1 "This verse," says Dr. Geikie, "seems to connect the
destruction of the forests of .Western Palestine with the
Israelite invasion. But the loss of the trees has destroyed
the water supply, to the permanent injury of the country"
(Hours with the Bible, vol. ii., p. 432, note 2).
2 See Ges., Lex (6, e], p. 393.
280 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xvni.
blessings God places within our reach, we must use
our own best efforts to secure them, though in
dependence on His promised help.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THIS chapter records the setting up of the Taber
nacle at Shiloh (ver. i) ; the survey of the remainder
of the land (vers. 2-10) ; and the inheritance of
Benjamin (vers. 11-28).
Ver. i. " The whole congregation? see rny, ix. 15.
" SM-ldh" ("place of rest," rt. n^B>, to be secure),
written here and in ver. 8, nfcfc?, but nW in i Kings
if. 27; iw, Judges xxi. 21 ; k&, Judges xxi. ip). 1
Hitherto the Tabernacle had been at Gilgal, but
now that the tribe of Ephraim was settled, it was
removed to Shiloh, probably by God s express
command (see Deut. xii. ii) ? because Shiloh being
in a central and secluded spot may have been more
suitable than any other site. 2 Josephus (Antiq., v.,
I > J 9) gives another reason, viz., the beauty of the
situation, which is not corroborated by modern
1 The same name written rb*& is given in Gen. xlix. 10 to
the Messiah, Who is our Peace.
2 "The most hallowed spot of that vicinity, Bethel, which
might else have been more naturally chosen, was at that time
still in the hands of the Canaanites (Judges i. 23-27), and thus
left to choose the encampment of the Sacred Tent, not by old
associations, but according to the dictates of convenience,
the conquerors fixed on this retired spot in the heart of the
country, where the allotment of the territory could be most
conveniently made, north, south, east, and west, to the different
tribes " (Sin. and Pal., ch. v.).
VER. i.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 281
travellers. 1 It lay north of Bethel, on the east side
of the road going up to Shechem, i.e., Nablous (see
Judges xxi. 19); now called in Arabic " Seiliin "
(Robinson s Pal., iii., 85-89). Here the Tabernacle
remained till the death of Eli (i Sam. iv.) ; it was
then removed to Nob (i Sam. xxi. 2 [Heb.]), and
afterwards to Gibeon (i Kings iii. 4). In the reign
of Jeroboam I., Shiloh was the residence of the
prophet Ahijah (i Kings xiv. 2) ; but it gradually
declined, having been rejected by God (Psalm
Ixxviii. 60 ; Jeremiah vii. 12, xxvi. 6), and is men
tioned in Scripture for the last time in Jer. xli. 5.
Its real site was from the time of Jerome to the year
1838 completely forgotten, and its name transferred
to the commanding height of Gibeon (Stanley, Sin.
and Pal, chap, iv., p. 216, and v., p. 2 3 2). niflD ^n tf-nx,
" the tabernacle of tJte assembly" so called either
because God there met with Moses (Exod. xxv. 22),
or because before it the assemblies of the people were
held (Ges., Lex^}. The word irtD is derived from Ittj,
to appoint, and in Niph. to meet by appointment
(Ges.). Perhaps the rendering " tent of meeting or
of appointment," i.e., the appointed meeting-place
between God and man, would best express the
meaning. "And the land was subdued" etc., cf.
xi. 23, xiv. 15. Hence the occasion was favourable
for the further allotment of the land.
1 Thus Dean Stanley remarks that Shiloh is utterly feature
less, and in this respect forms a striking contrast to the sacred
localities of Delphi, Lebadea, and the Styx (Sin. and Pal.,
v., p. 232).
282 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP, xvm
VERS. 2-10. Survey of the Land which had yet
to be apportioned.
Ver. 2. 121 -ippn vh T:? ; X, " whose inheritance they had
not (yet) portioned out? p^n means " to divide,"
especially by lot. (Ges., Lex. ; cf. xiv. 5, xxii. 8), used
here with an indeter. nominative ( 137, 3).
Ver. 3. DjRX, "JF<?," emphatic, as contrasting the
conduct of the tribes addressed with that of those
who had already taken possession of their inheritances
The Part. D^E-nipp is not only reflexive but intensive ;
" how long do ye show yourselves so remiss ? " (see
Ewald s Gr., 243). This remissness may have
arisen from their preference of a nomad to a
settled life, and their unwillingness to wage an ex
terminating war against the Canaanites. No less
is it our own duty, as Christians, to be up and
doing, sparing no pains to make our calling and
election sure (2 Peter i. 10), and to bring others to
the saving knowledge of the truth (Matt, xxviii. 19).
Ver. 4. "Set for yourselves three men for each
tribe" i.e., for each of the seven remaining tribes :
Josephus, therefore, wrongly states the total number
sent to have been ten, viz., one for each of the seven
tribes, and three surveyors (Antiq., v., I, 21). -nn,
imper. of nrv, to give, but here to set or appoint, as
in Deut. i. I 3 ; Vulg. " eligite." -13^1., " and let them
describe " : The 2r\3 means, not " to measure," but
" to write," as in a book (see ver. 9), to give a general
account of the land which yet remained to be divided,
its situation, characteristics, number of cities, etc.,
without delineating the exact boundaries of each
VERS. 5-7.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 283
district. 1 Dr6rp_ aV, " according to their inheritance"
i.e., not, as Rosenm., according to the size of the in
heritance of each tribe (for this could only be deter
mined after the lots had been drawn), but according
to the number of the inheritances into which the land
was to be divided, viz., seven for the seven remaining
tribes. This general survey might have been easily
made without rousing the jealousy and opposition of
the Canaanites.
Ver. 5. -ipipn^ni., "and divide ye for yourselves"
Hithp. imper. ( 54, 3, c]. The remainder of the
verse declares that this division was not to include
the territory already assigned to the tribes of Judah
and Joseph, "ibi^, " shall stand " (i.e., remain) " on his
border."
Ver. 6. " Before Jehovah our God" i.e., before the
Tabernacle where Jehovah manifested His presence
(cf. xix. 51). Thus greater sanctity and validity was
given to the lot.
Ver. 7. With the assertion in the first clause cf.
xiii. 14, 33, xiv. 3, 4. "Priesthood" is put by
meton. for its emoluments. The sing, suffix in
inbra is used coll.
1 So William the Conqueror, in A.D. 1081, appointed com
missioners to make him an exact account of all the landed
property of his kingdom. " This monument, called Doomsday
Book, the most valuable piece of antiquity possessed by any
nation, is still preserved in the Exchequer, and though only
some extracts of it have hitherto been published, it serves
to illustrate . to us in many particulars the ancient state of
England. The great Alfred had finished a like survey of the
kingdom in his time, which was long kept at Winchester, and
which probably served as a model to William in this under
taking " (Hume, vol. i., chap, iv., p. 295).
284 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xvm.
Vers. 8-9 (Execution of the Command]. Ver. 8.
nn?^ is dependent on D o pnn, " who went to describe."
Ver. 9. D 11 ?!? 1 ?, "according to (its) cities" see on
ver. 4. The assertion of Josephus (Antiq., v., i, 21)
that seven months were occupied in this survey
seems to be arbitrary.
Ver. 10. "Cast lots" see on xiv. 2; and on
pipo see xi. 23. The portions allotted were un
equal, but were adapted to the circumstances and
requirements of those to whom they were assigned,
even as in the heavenly Canaan all the children of
God will be fully blessed, but each according to his
capacity (see Matt. xxv. 21-23 ; i Cor. xv. 41).
VERS. 11-28. Inheritance of Benjamin.
Vers. 1 1 -20. (Its Boundaries}. Ver. 11. " The
lot . . . came up" i.e., out of the urn (cf. Lev.
xvi. 9). D^nU hni}, "the border of their lot" (i.e.,
of the territory assigned to them by lot), " between
the children of Judah . . . of Joseph? By God s
overruling providence the tribe of Benjamin was
thus placed close to its kindred, the house of
Joseph, and close to the tribe of Judah, with which,
at a later period, it was to be brought into very
intimate alliance (i Kings xii. 21). The territory
of no other tribe, except perhaps Manasseh, con
tained such important passes into the adjacent
plains, nor such conspicuous heights, whether for
defence or as high-places of worship (see Stanley s
Sin. and Pal., pp. 200-1).
Vers. 12-13 (The Northern Boundary]. This
coincided with the southern boundary of Ephraim,
as far as Lower Bethhoron.
VERS. 13, 14.1 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 285
Ver. 12. "And there was for tJiem tJie border on
the side nortJnvards from the Jordan" On the con
struction of HMDy %b, see 90, 2, a. HNS = ns,
" mouth," from nxp, to blow, then " side," or " quarter,"
like "ora" from " os " (cf. vers. 14, 15). "And the
border went up to the side (lit. shoulder) of Jericho on
the north" i.e., it included Jericho within the territory
of Benjamin. "in3, "into the mountains" see note on
ii. 1 6, and cf. rbv, followed by ? in Psalm xxiv. 3 ;
Cant. vii. 9 (Heb.). nTjno : According to the pointing,
the following word " Beth-aven," stands in apposition,
and denotes not the town, but the wilderness so called ;
e.g., " forwards tJie wilderness, Beth-aven But some
emended MSS. and Kimchi read rninp, the construe,
form of ~Q"!P, with the addition of n loc. (see 90,
2, a, and cf. Ges., LeJirgcb., p. 633), "towards
the wilderness of Beth-aven," cf. I Kings xix. 15,
pl; n rn|np, " to the wilderness of Damascus." On
Beth-aven see vii. 2.
Ver. 13 (see on xvi. 2, 3). rm 1 ? ejJia^N, "to the
side (shoulder) of Liizali " : Here the n T in Luzah,
which in the former part of the verse is local ( 90, 2)
forms the termination of the word ; so in the Samar.
Vers., the Sept., Vulg., and Eusebius ; cf. Timnath,
Timnathah (xv. 10), Riblah, Riblathah (see note a,
on Art. " Luz " in Smith s Bib. Diet:}. Though
Bethel, according to the boundary here given, was
in Ephraim, it appears from ver. 22 to have been
assigned to Benjamin. ivi ; , " and descended" i.e.,
went southward.
Ver. 14 (The Western Border}. "isni, see xv. 9.
313 2C01 : , "and turned on the west side towards the south" :
On Kirjath-baal and Kirjath-jearim see ix. I7,xv. 9.
286 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xvin.
Here, therefore, the border of Benjamin touched that
of Judah. D T ^riK|, " the ivest quarter" or side towards
the sea (cf. vers. 12, 15). nsa comes from nxs, to
blow, and hence means a quarter of the heavens from
which the wind blows.
Vers. 15-19 (The South Boundary). This com
mencing from the city of Kirjath-jearim coincided
with the north boundary of Judah (xv. 5-9), but was
measured in the opposite direction, viz., from west to
east.
Ver. 15. "And the south quatter (was) from the
extremity of Kirjath-jearim" etc. n^, " on the west " :
n is here taken in a weaker sense than that of
towards " (see 90, 2, b}. " Neph-to-ach" see on
xv. 9.
Ver. 1 6. p-njn f|r>3, see on xv. 8. En-rogel,
xv. 7.
Ver. i 7. On En-shemesh and G e li-16th, see xv. 7.
" Stone of Bolian" xv. 6.
Ver. 1 8. ninyn, " the desert plain" i.e., of the
Jordan, see iii. 16. In the Auth. Vers. it is rendered
" Arabah," and appears to be identical with the Beth-
haarabhah in xv. 6.
Ver. 1 9. " Beth-chbgh-ldh" xv. 6. rui3) , " towards
the north" i.e., the boundary line, though taking an
eastern direction, somewhat turned towards the north
Mnjin vniKVW, according to this reading ^3|n is put in
appos. to the suffix of the governing noun, " the out
goings of it, vis., of the border" ( 121, 6, Rem. 3).
Ver. 20 (The Eastern Boundary). frux, "it" refer
ring to nt?o.
Vers. 21-28 (The Towns of Benjamin}. These
are divided into two groups, one in the eastern portion
VERS. 21-23.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 287
of the tribe, containing twelve towns; the other in
the western, containing fourteen towns.
Vers. 21-24 (.The Eastern Towns). Ver. 21.
" Y e ri-c/w" see on ii. i. " BctJi-cJwgJi-lah? xv. 6. And
" Emeq-Q c tsits " (the latter word, if Hebrew, is deriv
able from } V, to cut off, and may possibly be
connected with the general circumcision, which took
place at Gilgal in the same neighbourhood [Grove]),
mentioned here only in the Old Testament ; the
name is recognisable in the Wady el Kaziz, on the
road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Possibly the Beth-
Basi of i Mace. ix. 62, 64 (Grove, Index to Clark s
Bib. Atlas).
Ver. 2 2 . u B$th-haarabkah? xv. 6. " T/ma-ra-yim "
(two cuttings off, or precipices), perhaps in the
valley of the Jordan, and identical with the modern
es-Siimrali (Van de Velde s Map), about four miles
north of Jericho. Earlier writers, however, suppose
it stood on Mount Tsemarayim, in Ephraim, 1 where
Abijah besieged Jeroboam (2 Chron. xiii. 4). The
name in either case may have been derived from the
ancient tribe of the Tsemarites (Gen. x. 18). Betliel>
vii. 2.
Ver. 23. " ha- Ay-vim" (the ruins), perhaps built
by, or called after, the Avvites (see on xiii. 3) ;
unknown, but Knobel would identify it with Ay,
which stood near Bethel (vii. 2, xii, 9), and means
a heap of ruins or stones; cf. iW (Neh. xi. 31), JV1J
1 " The narrow territory of Benjamin soon melts into the
hills which reach to the plain of Esdraelon, and which, from
the great tribe which there had its chief seat, are known by
the name of the Mountains of Ephraim " (Stanley, Sin. and
Pal., p. 229). Cf. note on Ha-Ramah, ver. 25.
288 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xvm.
(Isa. x. 28 ; Ges., Lex.}. " hdp-Pd-rdh " (the heifer or
cow) : This name may have reference to pasture-
land (cf. Eleph in ver. 28), and the mention of the
"herd" in I Sam. xi. 5. Josephus says that the
smallness of the tribe of Benjamin was compensated
by the excellence of the land (Antiq., v., i). "Para/i"
is said by Jerome (Onomast., " Aphra ") to be five
miles east of Bethel. Perhaps identical with Far ah
(Robinson, Van de Velde), half-way between Jeru
salem and Jericho. " Oph-rah" (a fawn), different from
the Ophrah in Judges vi. II, which belonged to the
tribe of Manasseh, but probably the same as the
Ophrah in the land of Shual (i Sam. xiii. 17), and
which was called Ephrain (2 Chron. xiii. 19), and
Ec^ocuja, whither our Lord went before His last
Passover (John xi. 54) ; conjectured by Robinson
(Bib. Res., i., 447) to be the same as et Taiyibeh,
a small village on a hill, four miles N.N.E. of Bethel
(so Dean Stanley, Sin. and Pal., p. 213).
Ver. 24. "K e phar-ha-Am-monay" (hamlet 1 of the
Ammonites), read in the Q e ri and by the Chaldee
rnfsrn 3 ; unknown, but somewhere at the head of
the passes which lead up from the Jordan valley
to the table-land of Benjamin. The name seems
commemorative of an incursion of the Ammonites.
ha-Oph-ni? also unknown, but perhaps so called after
the Ophnites, a non-Israelitish tribe, mentioned here
only. Grove would identify it with the Gophna of
Josephus (Bel. Jud., iii., 3, 5), and with the
present Jifna, two and a half miles north-west of
Bethel. " Ga-bha " (in pause for Ge-bha , a hill),
1 Rt. "IQ3, to cover, see n"V33, ix. 17, and cf. Lat. tectum.
VERS. 25, 26.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 289
identical with the Geba in i Sam. xiii. 15, 16 ;
2 Kings xxiii. 8 ; Zech. xiv. 10, distinguished from
Gibeah of Saul (Isa x. 29). It was assigned to the
Levites (xxi. 17) ; fortified by Asa(i Kings xv. 22) ;
inhabited after the captivity (Neh. vii. 30) ; now Jeba,
on a hill opposite to Michmash, about eight miles
north of Jerusalem (Robinson, Bib. Res., i., 440).
Vers..2 5-28 {Second Group of Fourteen Cities, in
the West Part of Benjamin}. Ver. 25. " Gibh-on"
see ix. 3. "hd-Ra-mah" (the lofty), near to Ge-bha and
Gibh- on (Isa. x. 29), conjectured by Keil to be the
same as the Ramah of Samuel (i Sam. i. 19, ii. 1 1,
xxv. i), but this latter was in Ephraim, and was
also called Ramathaim Zophim (i Sam. i. i).
Perhaps, however, the name Ephraim at this early
period may have been extended over the moun
tainous region of Benjamin, which was in close
alliance with and in dependence on it (see Art. by
Grove in Smith s Bib. Diet., vol. ii., p. 998). Now
er-Ram, about five English or six Roman miles
north of Jerusalem, described by Robinson as a
wretched village on a hill, but with remains of
columns, squared stones, etc., all indicating a former
importance (Bib. Res., i., 576). 1 " B" e-rotk " (wells),
see on ix. 1 7.
Ver. 26. " ham-Mits-peh " (the watch-tower), dif
ferent from the Mitspeh in xv. 38 ; it was the place
where Samuel judged Israel (i Sam. vii. 5, the Maspha
of I Mace. iii. 46), and where Saul was elected king
1 "Er-Ram, marked by the village and green patch on its
summit, the most conspicuous object from a distance in the
approach to Jerusalem from the south, is certainly Ramah of
Benjamin" (Stanley, Sin. and Pal., p. 213).
19
29 o THE BOOK OP JOSHUA. [CHAP. xvm.
(i Sam. x. 17); it was fortified by Asa against
inroads from the north (i Kings xv. 22) ; and was
at a later period the residence of the Chaldean
governor Gedaliah (2 Kings xxv. 23, 25 ; Jer. xl. 6).
Now Neby Samwil (prophet Samuel), about five
miles north-west of Jerusalem, and one mile south
of Gibeon. " hak-K pht-rah" (the hamlet), ix. 17.
" ham-Md-tsah" ("the going out." "the spring-head;"
Stanley, Sin. and Pal., App., 52), probably
identical with Knlonieh, four miles west of Jeru
salem, and the Emmans 1 of the New Testament
(Grove, Index to Clark s Bib. Atlas]. A ruin called
Beit Mizzeh, west of Jerusalem, and near Kulonieh,
may, according to Lieut. Conder, indicate the site
(Map, sheet xvii.).
Ver. 27. "Re-gem" ("flower-garden," properly
" variegated,", rt. D[Ti, to adorn with colours) perhaps
Ain-Karim, west of Jerusalem (Grove). " Yir-p e El"
("God heals"), probably, according to Lieut. Conder,
the village Rafat, north of Jerusalem. The name,
he says, is derived from a similar root, and the situa
tion is satisfactory (Pal. Explor. Fund, sheet xvii.).
" Tar-a-lah" (perhaps i.q. r6inn, reeling, or trembling,
from bin, to tremble), only, like the two foregoing
towns, mentioned here, but unrecognised. The
genealogy in i Chron. ii. 43, 44, may indicate that
it was founded by a colony from Hebron.
Ver. 28. "Tsc-/a" (rib, side), the burial-place and
probably the residence of Kish and Saul (2 Sam.
xxi. 14). Site unknown. "ha-Eleph" ("the ox,"
1 Porter, however, considers that the site of Emmaus still
remains to be discovered (see Art. on " Emmaus " in Smith s
Bib. Diet., p. 549).
VER. 28.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 291
probably implying that the inhabitants were a
pastoral people). The Alex. Sept. joins it with
the preceding word, e.g., S^XaXe^) (ox-rib), but in
the Heb. the 1 may have been dropped by a tran
scriber, otherwise the number of towns would not
be fourteen, as stated in this verse, though such a
miscalculation might be the error of a copyist (cf.
xv. 32, 36). Lieut. Conder would identify it with
the present village Lifta, west of Jerusalem. The
situation agrees with the boundary of Judah (Pal.
Explor. Fund, 1881). D-nril : , see on xv. 8. " TJie
same (is) Jerusalem " : By comparing Josh. xv. 7, 8
with xviii. 16, 17, it seems that the boundary
between Judah and Benjamin (the north boundary
of the former, and the south of the latter) ran at
the foot of the hill on which the city stands, and,
therefore, that the city itself was in Benjamin ; but
any one -crossing the narrow ravine of Hinnom set
foot on the territory of Judah. It was doubtless
this position of Jerusalem, the city where the true
God was worshipped, which especially contributed
at a later period to a close union between these two
tribes. " Gibh-at$ " (hill), probably the same as the
Gibh- ah of Benjamin (Judges xix. 12, 14), and of
Saul (i Sam. x. 26, xi. 4; see on ver. 24), and sup
posed to have stood on Tiileil-el-Phul^ south-west
of Geba, and north of Jerusalem (Robinson, Bib. Res.,
ii., 114; Van de Velde, Strauss, Keil). " (And) Qir-
yatk " (city), perhaps Kerteh, west of Jerusalem
(Scholtz, Reise, p. 161), if Qir-yath, as Keil
supposes, be a different town from Qiryath-yearim ;
1 For the derivation see note , xv. 57.
292 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
but though this latter is reckoned among the towns
of Judah (xv. 60, xviii. 14), yet being on the
confines of Benjamin (xviii. 14, 15), it might have
been conceded to that tribe. This view (says Grove)
is confirmed by Qiryath s being in the construe, state,
and by the not improbable supposition that Dnr 1 ;,
being followed by Dnu, might have been over
looked by an early copyist. The Sept. has lapt/x,
Qiryath being omitted, and three Kennicott MSS.
read DniH for Dny. Some, however, join this word
to the foregoing, and render " hill of Qiryath," but
on this view we must suppose the number of the
towns at the end of the verse to have been in
correctly stated (see above on ha-Eleph).
CHAPTER XIX.
VER. 1-9. The Inheritance of Simeon (Shim- 6n,
"hearing v/ith acceptance," Gen. xxix. 33).
JACOB S prediction that this tribe should be dis
persed in Israel (Gen. xlix. 7) was partly fulfilled
in its portion being allotted to it within the limits
of Judah (ver. 9). Its towns formed two groups :
(i) those in the south-land of Judah (2-6) ; (2) those
partly in the south-land, partly in the lowlands of
Judah (ver. 7). To all these towns were added their
dependent villages (ver. 8).
Ver. i. an N3, of. xvdii. 1 1. -spn?, not, as usually,
" in the midst," but " within " (cf. Auth.Vers.).
VERS. 2-8.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 293
Vers. 2-6 (First Group}. For all the towns
mentioned in this group see on xv. 26-32, and cf.
I Chron. iv. 28-32.
Ver. 2. " Beer-Sheba" see on xv. 28. It would
seem that having been hallowed by the altars of
Abraham and Isaac (Gen. xxi. 33 ; xxvi. 23-25) it
was a religious centre both to Judah and Simeon.
"She-bhci " (Shema in xv. 26) is omitted in i Chron.
iv. 28, perhaps through the oversight of a copyist,
who may have been misled by the termination of
the preceding word. It is found in all the ancient
versions. " Moladhah" xv. 26.
Ver. 3. Cf. xv. 28, 29.
Ver. 4. " Bfthtil? written B e thu- El (dweller in
God) i Chron. iv. 30, and for which is found K e sil
in Josh. xv. 30 (see note). " Chormah" see xii. 14.
Ver. 5. See on xv. 31.
Ver. 6. See on xv. 32. " Thirteen cities " : The
number is fourteen, as in the Syriac Vers., unless
She-bha is omitted. A copyist may have con
founded the Hebrew letters for " fourteen " with
those for " thirteen " (see note on xv. 32).
Ver. 7 (Second Group}. A-yin and Rimmon, in
accurately here written Remmon (A.V.), were in the
south country of Judah (see xv. 32). " Ether and
As/inn" were in the valley (xv. 42). "Four Towns":
In the parallel list in I Chron. iv. 32, the number is
five, viz., Etam, Ayin, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan,
where, according to Grove, Tochen is substituted for
Ether (Smith s Bib. Diet., i., p. 558).
Ver. 8. "All the villages" for ivn see on xiii. 23.
" Ba-a-lath-B e V> " (having a well), called here Ra-
math-ne-ghebh (height of the south) ; see on Bealoth
294 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
xv. 24. It was apparently the extreme southern
limit of the territory assigned to Simeon.
Ver. 9. ^n, xvii. 1 4. Dnn :n, " too large for
them" ( 119, i). The reason why so small a
territory was assigned to the tribe of Simeon was
that it had- greatly diminished since the census in
Numb. i. 23 (see Numb. xxvi. 14). This decrease
was no doubt partly owing to the mortality conse
quent on the sin at Baal-peor, in which sin the
Simeonites had taken a leading part (Numb, xxv.). 1
VERS. 10-16. Inheritance of Z e bhu-hm ("habita
tion," Gen. xxx. 20), and its Boundaries.
This tribe is omitted in the lists of i Chron. Its
territory, which embraced one of the choicest portions
of the land, extended from the Sea of Galilee on the
east, to the river Kishon on the west, and was
bounded on the south by Issachar, and on the
north by Asher and Naphtali. It afterwards
formed a portion of Lower Galilee, and contained
the towns Tiberias, Cana, and Nazareth (cf. Matt.
iv. 13, IS)-
Ver. i o. " Sa-ridh " (a fissure, rt. Tib, to make
an incision), not known to Eusebius and Jerome
(Onom^), but must have been on the south boundary,
forming a landmark, whence the border was drawn
to the west (ver. i i) and the east (ver. 12). Knobel,
who derives the word as above, thinks it meant a
gully about three miles south-east of Nazareth; more
1 A brief sketch of the history of this tribe at a later period
is given in i Chron. iv. 39-43 (cf. Stanley s Sin. and Pal.,
p. 161).
VER. ii, 12.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 295
probably, however, it was a town so called from the
gully or wady near which it stood. The Sept. reads
2eSSov/c (Vat. MS.) ; and the original (says Lieut.
Conder) may be thought to have been Sadid, in
which case Tell-SJiadud occupies a very probable
position for the site (Map, sheet viii.).
Ver. ii. ns*^, "towards tlie sea" i.e., westward.
Though the border, according to Gen. xlix. 13, com
pared with Joseph., Antiq., v., I, 22, reached to the
Mediterranean, yet it seems from this ver. 1 1 that it
stopped short at Carmel. nbino-l, " even to Mar-a-la/i "
(" place of trembling," rt. ?in, to tremble, perhaps
so named from an earthquake) ; site uncertain. The
word n^r led Keil to infer that it was somewhere
on Carmel. According to Lieut. Conder it would
occupy the position of the present village Malul,
" L " and " R " being easily convertible (Pal. Explor.
Fund, Map, sheet viii.). 5 17321 (cf. xvi. 7, xvii. 10),
the same verb is also followed by bx in the next
clause. " Dab-ba-sheth " in pause for Dab-be-sheth
(a camel s hump, Isa. xxx. 6, rt. EJO^, to be soft,
round, Ges., Tkes.}, perhaps so called because it stood
on the heights of Carmel. /! ?53n, " the water-course"
etc., probably the Kishon. " Yoq-n e am" see
xii. 22.
Ver. 1 2 (Eastzvard Direction of tlic Border).
" Sa-ridh" as being a central point (see ver. 10) is
here repeated. " Kis-lotJi- Ta-bJwr " (loins or flanks 1
of Tabor), apparently a place on the side of Tabor,
1 It is common in the Hebrew Scriptures to personify the
features of a country (cf. ^fiB, shoulder, xv. 8 ; HiJT^, ears of,
xix. 34 ; DStf , back, xx. ;).
296 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
and possibly the same as ru^psn in ver. 18 (Masius
and others), and the vicus Chasalus of the Onom., i.e.,
the present village of Ik-sal, two and a half miles west
of Tabor (Grove). " Da-bk e rath " (" pasture " or
" sheepwalk," mentioned in xxi. 28; i Chron. vi. 57,
as being in the tribe of Issachar, and as assigned to
the Gershonite Levites ; now probably the village
Deburieh at the western foot of Tabor (Robinson, Bib.
Res.,i\., 350, 351). "Ya-pht-d" ("shining," from
i?B\ to shine, perhaps because seen from a distance) :
It must have been east of Deburieh, though the site
is unknown ; Yafa, with which Robinson and Grove
would identify it, lies to the west of that village.
Ver. 13. Render " And from thence it passed
toward the East, toward the rising of tlie sun, to Gath-
chepher " (" wine-press of the well ") ; n loc. ; the
birthplace of Jonah * (2 Kings xiv. 25), now el Mesh-
had (Rob., Bib. Res., ii., 350), where the prophet s
tomb is still shown, about four miles north of Naza
reth, on the road to Tiberias. " To Eth-qa-tsin "
(" time of the judge," nni; = nj?, with n loc.). Site
unknown. " And went out to Rimmon which rcacheth
to Neah " : "iNhtpn, which is made part of the prop,
name in Auth. Vers., 2 Sept., and Vulg., is prop, the
Pual. Part, with art. from "INPI, " to be marked out or
drawn " (cf. xv. 9). " Rimmon " (pomegranate), al
lotted to the Merarite Levites (i Chron. vi. 62, Heb.),
probably now Rummaneh in the plain of el-Buttauf,
six miles north of Nazareth (Rob., Bib. Res., iii., 1 10;
Von Raum., p. 138). " Ne-ah " ("shaking" [Ges.,
1 The Pharisees, therefore, were mistaken in supposing that
no prophet came out of Galilee (John vii. 52).
" Remnon-methoar."
VERS. 14, 15.] THE BOOK Of JOSHUA. 297
Lex\ rt. IN 3, to shake), unknown, but probably some
where to the north of Rimmon (Grove).
Ver. 14 (The NortJiern Boundary}. " And the
border compassed it (i.e., Neah) on the north to Chan-
na-thon." an (" gracious," or " pleasant "), is probably
the same as Cana of Galilee, the native place of
Nathanael and scene of Christ s first miracle (John
ii. i, II, iv. 46, xxi. 2) ; now Kdna el Jelil (Keil).
"And its goings out ^vere the ravine of Yiph-tach-El "
("God opens": On ^ not "valley" (Auth. Vers.), but
"ravine" or "glen" (see viii. 11). Yiph-tach- El is
thought by Robinson to be identical with the Roman
Jotapata, which Josephus long defended against
Vespasian (Joseph., Bel. Jud., iii., 7, 7) ; now Jefdt, in
the mountains of Galilee, half way between the Bay
of Acre and the Lake of Gennesaret. Thus the
ravine of Yiph-tach-El, at which Zebulon bordered
on Asher, would correspond to the Wady Abilen,
which commences in the hills near Jefat (Rob., Later
Bib. Res., p. IO3,/"), though "Wady" more accurately
denotes a ^>ro than a ^ (Stanley, Sin. and Pal.,
Append., 2, 38).
Ver. i 5. From a description of the boundary lines
the narrative here passes abruptly to an enumeration
of the towns of Zebulon. The ] at the beginning of
the verse not being followed, as in xviii. 21, xv. 21,
by Dnyn with the substantive verb, it is probable that
the text is here imperfect ; see also the concluding
portion of this note. " Qat-tath" (small), and
" Na-Jflal " (probably pasture, see Isa. vii. 19, from
7J13, to lead, cf. ")2"ip from i? 1 ^), are perhaps the same
as Qit-ron and Na-h a lol in Judges i. 30, but their
sites are unknown. In the Talmud (Megilla, 6, a)
298 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
Qit-ron is identified with Zippori, i.e., Sepphoris, now
Seffih ieh. Na-h a lal, in some copies written Mahalal,
was a Levitical town (xxi. 35) ; according to the
Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah, i., I) called in post-
biblical times Mahlul, which has been identified by
Schwarz with the modern Malul in the plain of
Esdraelon, four miles west of Nazareth. So Van de
Velde (Memoir, p. 335), Grove (Index to Clark s
Bib. Atlas, and Art. in Smith s Bib. Diet.}. " Shim-
ron" see xi. i . " Yidh-a-laJi " (that which God has
shown, Ges., Lex}, supposed by Van de Velde to be
Jeda or Jeida on the west of the village Semuniyeh,
but Schwarz (p. 172), probably on the authority of
the Talmudical books, gives the name as Yidalah or
Chirii, and would identify it with the village Kellah
el-Chirif, about three miles south of Beit-lahm (Grove).
" Beth-le-chem " (house of bread), probably the resi
dence of Ibzan (Judges xii. 8), now the miserable
village of Beit-laJim, six miles west of Nazareth
(Rob., Bib. Res., iii., p. 113). The town of the same
name in the south is often distinguished from it by
the addition of the word Judah (Judges xvii. 8, 9,
xix. 1 8 ; Ruth i. i), and Ephratah (Micah v. 2).
" Twelve towns and their milages " : As five towns
only are mentioned in this verse, and those in vers.
10-14 were border places, some of them not belong
ing to Zebulon, and as Kartah and Dimnah, though
towns of Zebulon (xxi. 34, 35), and also Nazareth,
are entirely omitted, the opinion of Michaelis, Keil,
and others, is probably correct, viz., that there is a
gap in the text here, as in xv. 59, xxi. 36.
VERS. 17, 18.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 299
VERS. 17-23. Inheritance of Yis-sas-khar (" he
brings wages," ~tiw NB", Gen. xxx. 1 8).
His allotment was bounded on the north by
Zebulon, on the east by Jordan, on the west by
Manasseh and Asher, on the south by Manasseh,
and contained the rich and noble plain of Esdraelon
or Jezreel. Like the territory of Zebulun, it after
wards formed part of Lower Galilee. 1 In vers.
18-23 a list is given of the principal towns instead
of a delineation of the boundaries of the tribe ; but
these latter may be easily traced from those of the
surrounding tribes.
Ver. i 8. " And their border was toward Yiz-r e El"
i.e., extended to and beyond it. " Yiz-t^ El" (God
sows), a town in the plain so called (xvii. 16), de
scribed in the Onomast. as situated between Scytho-
polis and Legio ; now Zerin t a poor and small
village, standing on a hill commanding a splendid
and extensive view (Rob., iii., 161) ; it formed part
of the kingdom of Ishbbosheth (2 Sam. ii. 8, 9), and
was noted as the principal residence of Ahab (i Kings
xviii. 45, 46, xxi. i). "K e sul-I6th " (" loins," the town
being perhaps on the slopes of a mountain), see on
ver. 12. " Shii-nem" contrac. from D?J-1B5> (two resting-
places), where the Philistines encamped before the
battle of Gilboa (i Sam. xxviii. 4) ; the native place
1 In this province our Redeemer spent the greatest portion
of the time He sojourned here on earth, and hence was called
a Galilean. Here He appointed His apostles to meet Him
after His resurrection (Matt, xxviii. 7, 16), and of this same
country most, if not all, of the apostles were natives, and,
therefore, were called by the angels " men of Galilee " (Acts
i. 11).
300 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
of Abishag (i Kings i. 3), and celebrated in connec
tion with Elisha (2 Kings iv. 8, viii. I, etc.) ; now
Solam or Sulem, a village on the south-west slope of
the range of Jebel ed-Duhy, commonly called from
tradition "Little Hermon " (Sin. and Pal., p. 336,
note 2), three miles north of Jezreel (Rob., Bib. Res.,
ii., 324).
Ver. 19. " CJfpha-ra-yim " (two wells), perhaps
the Chepher mentioned in xii. 17, but according to
the Onom. (s.v. " Aphraim "), villa Affarcea, six miles
north of Legio (el-Lejjun), and identified by Knobel
with the village el Alfuleh, west of Shunem, and
five miles north-east of Lejjun (Keil). Lieut. Conder
would identify it with the ancient ruined site el
Farriyeh (Pal. Explor. Fund}. " Shi- on " (" over
turning," see rt. NIK , Ges., Lex}, undiscovered, but,
according to Eusebius and Jerome (Onontast.}, " villa
juxta montem Thabor," possibly Chirbet Schiin, one
and a half miles north-west of Deburieh (Grove, Art.
in Smith s Bib. Diet}. " A-na-ch a ratk " (" a narrow
way," rt. n3N, i.q. p3n, to be narrow), identified by
Lieut. Conder with the village en Na urah" " in cor
rect relative position to other towns of Issachar "
(Pal. Explor. Fund}.
Ver. 20. " ha-Rab-bith " (the great place), perhaps
Arab-boneh, south of Gilboa (Rob., iii., p. 157); but
Lieut. Conder proposes the present village Raba,
south-east of the plain of Esdraelon, as a suitable
position (Pal. Explor. Fund, Map, sheet xii.), " Qish-
yon " (hardness, rt. nc ; p T , to be hard, and, therefore,
according to Ges., Thes., 1211, 1243, not to be
connected with the river Kishon, " winding," rt. trip,
to be bent), allotted to Gershonite Levites (xxi. 28),
VER. 21.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 301
but unknown ; for it Kedesh is substituted in I Chron.
vi. 72 (57 Hcb.). E-bkets l (white, shining, rt. pa,
to be white), mentioned here only ; possibly (says
Grove) a corruption of Thebez, now Tubas, not far
from Engannim, and Shunaim ; but, according to
Lieut. Conder, probably the present ruin el Beida,
at the north end of the plain of Esdraelon. The
Arabic exactly corresponds to the Hebrew, with the
same meaning, " white " (Pal. Explor. Fund}.
Ver. 21. " Re-meth " (height), called Ramoth in
1 Chron. vi. 58 (73 A.V.), and Yarmuth in ch. xxi.
29, where it is named as a Levit. city. These may
be different names of the same town. " En-gan-
nim " (fountain of gardens), also allotted to the
Levites (xxi. 29), called A-nem (i Chron. vi. 58,
73 A.V.), probably the same as the Fii/aia of
Josephus (Bel. Jud., iii., 3, 4), and now Jenin, in
the midst of gardens and orchards, on the southern
side of the plain of Jezreel (Rob. and Keil). It is
evidently, says Stanley, identical with BetJigan (Sept. ;
2 Kings ix. 27), translated "the garden-house" in
Eng. Vers. (Sin. and Pal,, p. 349, note 2). " En-
chad-dah " (fountain of sharpness, i.e., of speed), on
the border of Issachar, near Engannim. Van de
Velde would identify it with Ain-Haud, on the west
side of Carmel, and about two miles from the sea ;
but this, says Grove, is surely out of the limits of
the tribe of Issachar, and rather in Asher or Ma-
nasseh. According to Lieut. Conder, it is probably
the present ruin Kefr Adda, south-west of the plain
1 Written in the Hebrew text f 3X, the first syllable in pause
forK.
302 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
of Esdraelon. " Bcth-pats-tsets" (house of dispersion),
unknown.
Ver. 22, "And the border reached to " (lit. struck
upon), cf. xvi. 7. " Ta-bhor (either "a stone-quarry"
or " a lofty place " [Ges., Lex\ a town built on the
mount so called, on which considerable ruins were
found by Robinson (Bib. Res., ii., 352, etc.). In I
Chron. vi. 77 (A.V.) it is said to be in the tribe of
Zebulun, and to have been assigned to the Levites,
but it is not mentioned as a Levite town in Josh. xxi.
Being on the borders of both tribes, it may possibly
have been regarded as belonging to both (Keil).
" And S/ia-cIftsA-mah," for which the Q e ri reads S/ta-
ch a tsi-mah, " lofty places " x rt. pnB>, " to raise oneself
up " (Ges., Lex?)) a town unknown, but apparently
between Tabor and the Jordan. " Beth-she-mcsli "
(house of the sun), to be distinguished from the one
in Judah (xv. 10), and in Naphtali (v. 38); perhaps (as
Knobel and Keil conjecture) the present ruined village
of Bessum (Rob., Bib. Res., ii., 369) ; or, according to
the later researches of Lieut. Conder, the ruined site
Ain esh Shemsiyeh, in the Jordan valley. "Sixteen
tozvns" a number which would not be correct, unless
Tabor was reckoned as belonging to Issachar.
VERS. 24-31. Inheritance of A-sher (fortunate"
or happy).
The territory of this tribe contained some of the
richest soil in all Palestine (Stanley, Sin. and Pal.,
p. 265), and in its fruitfulness fulfilled the predictions
of Jacob (Gen. xlix. 20) and of Moses (Deut. xxxiii.
1 The ah is properly local, and denotes motion, " to Shach a -
tsim " (Grove).
VER. 25.] TPIE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 303
24) ; it had also mines of iron and copper (Deut.
xxxiii. 2 5 , and cf. the note on Misrephoth-maim, xi. 8).
It extended from Zidon to the south of Dor (see on
xi. 2), on the confines of Manasseh, and was bordered
by Zebulon and Issachar on the south-east, and by
Naphtali on the north-east. Here it is described
principally by an enumeration of its towns, and the
description begins in the neighbourhood of Accho
(Ptolemais), on the Mediterranean coast, which, though
not included among the towns here named, is men
tioned in Judges i. 3 i as belonging to Asher. From
this central point the description proceeds first
towards the south (vers. 26, 27), and then towards
the north (vers. 28-30). The position of many of
the towns is unknown.
Ver. 25. " Che!-qath" (portion), a town allotted
to the Gershonite .Levites (xxi. 31), called Chu-qoq
(i Chron. vi. 60, Heb. ; 77, A. V.), perhaps by an
error in copying, or because it had both names, but
not to be confounded with the Chuq-qoq on the
boundary of Naphtali (xix. 34) ; conjectured by
Schwarz to be the village Yerka, about eight miles
north-east of Accho (Akka ; Van de Velde s Map}.
" CJfli " (a necklace, from rhn, to be polished), per
haps Jit/is, between Yerka and Accho (Knobel).
" Be-ten " (perhaps " valley," i.q. KoiXct?. By Eusebius
(Onomast., Barwu) called Be/3erou>, a village, eight
Roman miles east of Accho (Ptolemais). This seems
to indicate the village el Baneh (Lieut. Conder, Pal.
Explor. Fund). " Akh-shaph" see xi. i. Knobel
would identify it with Accho (Ptolemais), with which,
however, it has nothing in common but the letter 3 ;
possibly, says Grove, it may be Kesaf, nearly midway
304 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
between Tyre and Banias, but he thinks the position
too inland, and suggests Kiiaifa at the foot of Carmel,
the Sept. rendering Kecu perhaps exhibiting the
name in the process of change from the ancient to
the modern form (see Art. on " Asher," note a, in
Smith s Bib. Diet.}. Lieut. Conder, however, would
identify it with the present village el Yasif, north-east
of Acre. " It is often mentioned in Egyptian records,
and the proposed site agrees both with these and with
the biblical indications of situation " (Map, Hi.).
Ver. 26. " A l-lam- me-lekh" (the king s oak):
The name has been preserved in Nahr el Malek, or
Malik, which falls into the Kishon near Haifa (Rob.,
Bib. Res., iii., 113). " Am-adh" (eternal people),
apparently (says Lieut. Conder) the ruin el-Amiid,
north of Acre (Pal. Explor. Fund Map, sheet iii.).
" Mish-al" (prayer), a Levite town (xxi. 30), written
"Mashal" (i Chron. vi. 59 [74]). According to the
Onomast. (s.v. " Masan "), it was on the coast, near to
Carmel, as seems indicated also in the remainder of
the verse. Probably, says Lieut. Conder, the ruin
MaisleJi, near Acre (Map, sheet iii.). " Kar-mel" see
on xii. 22. " SJii-chor-libli-nath " (black-white),
though taken for two separate places by the Sept.,
Vulg., and Syr., yet is more generally regarded as a
river. According to Masius, Michaelis, and Stanley
(Sin. and Pal., p. 505), it is identical with the Belus,
or glass river (so called from the glass there made
from the sand), in the neighbourhood of Acre, but as
this situation is too far removed from the southern
boundary of Asher, more probably the reference is to
the NaJir-Zerka (blue river), which flows into the
Mediterranean about eight miles south of Dor (see
VER. 27.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA 305
on xi. 2), at the southern extremity of Asher. The
epithet " blue " might correspond to " black and
white." As Shichor is a name given to the Nile
(Isa. xxiii. 3 ; Jer. ii. I 8), its use here may have a
reference to the ancient commerce of Phoenicia with
Egypt.
Ver. 27. In this verse the southern boundary
is traced from the Nahr-Zerka eastward. " Beth-
Da-g/wn " (house of Dagon) : The site is uncertain,
but Lieut. Conder would identify it with the present
ruin Tell D aiik, " in correct relative position near the
mouth of the river Belus " (Pal. Explor. Fund}. The
name seems to signify that it was a Philistine colony;
there was another town of the same name in Judah
(xv. 41). " Z e bJiii-lun " (habitation), not a town, as
Rosen m. says, but the tribe so called, which formed
one of the boundaries of Asher (cf. xvii. 10, xix. 34).
" Yiph-tach- El" see on ver. 14. " Bcth-ha-e-meg n
(house of the valley), according to Robinson (iii., 103,
107, 1 08), Amkah, about eight miles to the north
east of Akka (Acre), but if his identification of Jefat
with Yiph-tach-El be correct, the site of Beth-ha-
e-meq must be sought for farther south than Amkah
(Grove). "N e z-E/" (perhaps i.q. hwu* t ?K-1l?:, perhaps
" treasure of God," Ges., Lex.*), possibly Mi-ar, a
village on a lofty mountain brow, between Jefat and
Kabul. The change of " N " into " M," and of " L "
into " R," is frequent, and Mi- ar retains the Ayin of
Neiel (Grove, Smith s Bib. Diet}. "Ka-bhtil" probably
identical with the KW^ Xa/3<yA.Gj of Josephus ( Vit.,
43), now Kabul, about ten miles south-east of Acre
(Rob., Later Bib. Res., iii., p. 88), and on the borders
of Galilee. It was probably in the neighbourhood of
20
306 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
the district called "the land of Cabul " (i Kings ix.
i 3). In the Hebrew the term Cabul has no certain
meaning, but in the Phoenician tongue it means " dis
pleasing " (Joseph., Antiq., viii., 5, 3).
Vers. 28-30 (The Northern District of Asher).
Ver. 28. lt Ebh-r6n" (passage-ford), unknown, but
apparently near Zidon. Fourteen MSS. read "Abdon,"
which occurs in xxi. 30 ; i Chron. vi. 59 (74), and
possibly i may have been written by mistake for T
But, on the other hand, all the ancient versions accord
with the Masoretic text in reading Ebh-ron, except
the Vat. Sept., which has EX/3w^. Since some towns,
viz., Akko, Achlabh, and Chelbah, are omitted in this
list (see Judges i. 31), perhaps by the error of a
copyist, Abdon may also have fallen out. "R e chobh "
(wide space), evidently near Zidon, but the site un
discovered. Another town of the same name is
mentioned in ver. 30, and both are different from the
R e chobh in Numb. xiii. ?. i , which was probably near
Tell el Kady (Laish or Dan) and Banias (cf. Judges
xviii. 28 ; see Smith s Diet, of the Bible], " Cham-
mon " (warm or sunny), apparently not far from Zidon.
Schultz would identify it with the modern village of
Hamitl, near the coast, about ten miles below Tyre,
but both etymology and site are doubtful -(Grove).
Lieut. Conder suggests the ruin Hima, south-east of
Tyre, a situation which appears to him satisfactory.
" Qa-nah" (reed), perhaps Ain-Kana, eight miles
south-east of Saida (Zidon; Van de Velde s Map}.
" Great Tsi-dhon" see xi. 8. It does not appear that
the Asherites were ever able to expel the inhabitants
of any of the Phoenician towns, or to render them
tributary (see Judges i. 31, 32). The character of
VER. 29.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 307
the tribe was the reverse of warlike (Stanley, Sin.
and Pal., p. 265), for thus in the war against Sisera,
while Zebulun and Naphtali "hazarded their lives
unto the death," Asher " abode in his breaches," i.e.,
in his creeks and harbours (Judges v. 17, 18).
Ver. 29. "And the border turned to ha-Ramah " :
The Vulg. reads " Horma," but the other ancient
versions agree with the Masoretic text, hence n de
notes the article which is prefixed to the name by
way of distinction. Probably the Ramah is meant
which is marked in Arrowsmith s Bib. Atlas as lying
on the coast between Zidon and Tyre, about three
miles east of Tyre, according to Van de Velde s
Map (see also Grove, Art. " Ramah " [4], Smith s
Bib. Diet?). With less probability Robinson places
it more than ten miles south-east of Tyre (Bib. Res.,
iii., 64). " To the fortified city of Tsor" (lit. " to the
city, the fortress of Tsor ") : Tsor (" rock," i.q. i-iv),
Greek Tupos, " Tyre," is here mentioned in the Bible
for the first time, and the allusion, according to Keil,
is not to the insular but the inland city. Justin
(xi., 10) records a tradition of the inhabitants that
there was a city on the mainland before there was
one on the island. Tsor would, indeed, more
properly apply to a city built upon a rocky island
than to one on a fertile plain ; but if the island
formed part of the territory of the inland city, the
latter might have taken its name from it. It is now
called Star. "And the border turned to Chdsah, and
the outgoings thereof ^were at the sea from the district
towards Akh-zibh? " Chd-sali " (a refuge), mentioned
nowhere else. It is marked in Arrowsmith s Bib.
Atlas as lying on the sea-coast below Tyre, but
308 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
Keil regards it as an inland city. 1 Vsnrp, "from the
district" i.e., by the side of it (Keil). ^n, which
means lit. " land measured by a line," is here taken
in the general sense of territory, as in Deut. iii. 4.
The boundary, says Keil, took an inland course from
the maritime cities of Zidon and Tyre to Chosah,
and it was only at Akh-zibh that Asher s inheritance
was bordered on the west by the sea. " Akh-zibh"
(" a winter torrent," and hence " deceptive," as soon
drying up, rt. 2T3, to lie ; from it Asher could not
drive out the Canaanites, Judges i. 31) ; afterwards
Ecdippa (Joseph., B. /., i. 13, 4 ; Plin., Nat. Hist.,
v., 17), now Zib, on the coast, eight or nine miles
north of Acre. Another town of the same name
belonged to Judah (xv. 44).
Ver. 30. " Urn- mah" (junction), unknown, though
possibly Alma in the highlands on the coast, about five
miles E.N.E. of Ras en Nakhura (Grove). 2 " Aphcq"
see on xiii. 4. " R e chobJi" unknown ; see the same
name in ver. 28. It is uncertain which of the two
towns was assigned to the Levites (xxi. 30; i Chron.
vi. 60 [75]) ; but probably this here mentioned was
retained possession of by the Canaanites, as recorded
in Judges i. 31, for there it is also mentioned along
with A-phiq, probably i.q. Apheq. " Twenty and
tivo cities " [towns] : The number does not correspond
with the list given in vers. 25-30, but perhaps there
may be some omission in the text (see on ver. 28).
1 According to Lieut. Conder, it is apparently the present
ruin Ozziyeh, on the coast south of Tyre.
- So Lieut. Conder (Pal. Explor. Fund, Map, sheet iii.).
VERS. 32, 33.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 309
VERS. 32-39. The Inheritance of Naph-ta-li}
The territory of this tribe was mostly mountainous
(xx> 7), but contained also the rich plains of Merj-
Ayiin, and the well-watered country about Bariias
and Hasbeya, the springs of Jordan. Celebrated as
the birthplace of Barak (Judges iv.), and the scene
of Joshua s victory over the King of Hazor (xi.) ;
bounded on the west by Asher, on the south by
Zebulon and Issachar, on the east by the Sea 2 of
Gennesaret and the Jordan, on the north by the
ravine of the Litany, or Leontes, and the moun
tainous ranges of Lebanon. At a later period it was
comprised in the district called Upper Galilee, where
our Lord and His apostles chiefly exercised their
ministry (Matt. iv. 13, 14, etc.).
Ver. .33. In this verse the boundary is traced on
the west, north, and east. " Chelepk " (exchange), un
known, but conjectured by Van -de Velde to be
identical with Bcitlif, on the boundary between
Naphtali and Asher, east of Ras Abyad, " the white
promontory," and west of Kedesh. "From the oak-
forest in Tsa-a-nan-nim* " : Here $>x, an oak, is
probably a noun of multitude (quercetum, Junius and
Tremellius) ; in Judges iv. I I the Hebrew word is
interchanged with j1?8j which, according to Michaelis,
Meaning "my strife," rt. ^ns, not used in Qal, but in
Niphal, where it signifies to wrestle, to strive (see Gen. xxx. 8).
2 This is doubtless the sea (DJ) referred to in the prophecy
of Moses (Deut. xxxiii. 23), and rendered "west" in the
Authorised Version.
3 This word is written differently in Judges iv. n, but the
Q p ri of that passage adopts the form here used as more accurate.
3io THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
Rosenm., Kcil, and Del., means a terebinth-tree,
though Gesenius (Lex., p. 50) doubts this distinction.
ttX, " removings," from jrv, " to move tents," " to go
forward " (Ges., Lex.}, and hence a place where tents
stand ; near Kedesh Naphtali (Judges iv. i i), north
west of the Sea of Merom (Stanley, Jewish Church,
324, Localities, 197). Robinson found this district
still wooded with oak trees (Bib. Res., ii., 447).
" A-d/ia-mi of, the pass " * : Possibly Deir-el-Athmar
(red cloister), a place still inhabited, and deriving
its name from the colour of the soil in the neigh
bourhood, about eight miles north-west of Baalbec
(Knobel). 3|53, lit. a cavern, from n^, to excavate,
and hence " a pass between mountains." But the
Sept., the Jerus. Talmud, and Reland (Pal., 545)
separate the two words and refer them to two towns,
as in the A.V., the site of neither of which is known
(Clark s Bib. Atlas}. "Yabh-n ^l," cf. xv. 1 1, where
the same name occurs as one of the towns of Judah,
perhaps here the same as Janmeia, or Jamnith,
mentioned by Josephus among the villages in Upper
Galilee (Bel.Jud., ii., 20, 6). "Lag-gum" ("stopping
up the way," i.e., a fortified place, from an Arab. rt.
" to stop up the way," Ges., Lex.}, apparently between
Yabhneel and the Jordan, but unknown. "And its
outgoings were the Jordan " : The Upper Jordan, i.e.,
the Nahr Hasbany, a source of the Jordan, is meant.
Ver. 34. In this verse the boundary line is traced
on the south of Naphtali. "Turned westwards , i.e.,
from the Jordan. " To Az-noth-Ta-bhor" (" ears [i.e.
1 So Keil, following the accentuation of the Hebrew text,
which connects the first word with the second.
VER. 34-1 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 311
probably summits] of Tabor "), mentioned by Eusebius
(Onomast.} as a village lying in the plain on the con
fines of Diocaesarea (probably the modern Seffurieh ;
Rob., Bib. Res., ii., 337) ; the site is undiscovered,
but may have been on the east slope of Tabor, near
the Jordan. " To Chiiq-qoq" ("decreed portion"), men
tioned by Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast., " Icoc."),
but unknown to them ; perhaps Yakuk, a village
on the mountains of Naphtali, about seven miles
S.S.W. of Safed, and at the head of Wady el Amud
(VValcott, and Rob., Bib. Res., p. 82). An ancient
Jewish tradition places the tomb of Habakkuk here.
" A nd reached to (struck upon) Zebuhin on the south,
and reached to AsJicr on the ivest, and to Judah on the
Jordan toivard the sun rising " : Some (as Bachiene)
have supposed that " Judah " here denotes a town on
the east border of Naphtali, or a town in Issachar
(Knobel), or in Asher (Fay), yet it would be strange
that the mention of two tribes, Asher and Zebulun,
which imply territories, should be followed immedi
ately by that of a single town. Still less satisfactory
is the conjecture of Masius that the tribe of Judah is
meant, and that the expression, " Judah upon Jordan,"
signifies that Naphtali traded with Judah by means
of the Jordan,. If the reading in the Hebrew text is
correct, the best interpretation is that of Von Raumer
(Pal., 405-410), which is adopted by Keil and others,
viz., that "Judah here denotes the Havoth-Jair
(Numb, xxxii. 41), called "Judah" here because
Jair, the possessor of these villages, was a descendant
of Judah on the father s side through Hezron
(i Chron. ii. 5, 21, 22\ As, however, this explana
tion can hardly be said to clear up the difficulty of
312 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
the passage, Maurer, and after him Bunsen, regards
rn-liT2 as a corruption for D>13^1 ("and their boundary"),
referring to xvii. 10, xix. 22 ; l but Clericus simply
omits it on the authority of the Vat. Alex., and Aid.
MSS. of the Sept. fnifn, according to Keil, is in
appos. to rrnrP2, in the sense of "Judah of the Jordan,"
like "Jordan of Jericho," in Numb. xxii. I, xxvi. 3,
and ought not to have been separated by the Masoretic
pointing ; but, according to Maurer s reading, the
rendering will be, " and their border was Jordan on the
east," or, omitting " Judah," " the Jordan (was) toward
the sun rising," i.e., formed the east border.
Vers. 35-38 (The fortified cities of Naphtali}.
" The general character of the cities in this region is
that they stand on rocky spurs or ridges, above peace
ful basins, high among the hills " (Stanley s Sin. and
Pal., xi., p. 390).
Ver. 3 5 . ? ny, " cities of fortification." " hats-
Tsid-dim" ("the sides"), wrongly read nn*n (the
Tyrians) by the Vat. Sept., and jm by the Peshito
Syr., under the notion that the next name Tser was
Tyre ; but Tyre and Tsi-dhon were included in the
allotment of Asher, and not of Naphtali (xix. 28, 29).
The Jerusalem Talmud identifies it with Kefr C/iittai,
which Schwarz takes to be the present Hattin at the
northern foot of the well-known Kurn Hattin, or
" Horns of Hattin," a few miles west of Tiberias
(Grove). " Tser" probably on the south-west side of
the Lake of Gennesareth, but unknown. " Cham-
mat/i" (warm baths), near Tiberias, on the west of
Gennesareth, called -Chammoth-Dor (xxi. 32), and
1 See also Grove s Art. "Judah" in Smith s Diet, of the
Bible, p. 1156, note b.
VER. 36, 37.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 313
Chammon (i Chron. vi. 61, Heb., 76, Auth. Vers.),
and identical with Emmaus (Joseph., Antiq., xviii., ii.,
3 ; Stanley, Sin. and Pal., p. 373, note 6). " Raq-
qath " (bank, shore), not known, though, according to
the Talmud, occupying the site where Tiberias was
afterwards built. The nearest approach to the name
is Kerak, formerly Tarichaese, close to the embouchure
of the Jordan (Grove). " Kin-ne-rct/i" see on xi. 2.
All trace of the town is lost, but Knobel thinks that
it stood in the plain of Gennesareth, on the shore of
the lake, where now stands the KJian-Manijeh. For
a glowing description of the plain see Joseph., Bel.
Jud., ch. x., 8.
Ver. 36. " A-dha-mah" (red earth), unknown,
but possibly Ras el Ahmar, i.e., red-head, on the
north of Safed (Robinson, Bib. Res., p. 69 ; Knobel).
" hd-Ra-maJi" distinct from the Ramah in ver. 29,
perhaps the modern RameJi, between Akka (Ptolemais)
and the north end of the Sea of Galilee, and about
eight miles S.S.E. of Safed (Robinson, Bib. Res.,
iii., 78). It stands on a bold spur of the Galilean
Antilebanon, and is supposed by Stanley to be the
" city set upon a hill" (Matt. v. 14 ; Sin. and Pal.,
p. 429) ; but Grove remarks that, though the spot is
distinguished by a very lofty brow, commanding one
of the most extensive views in all Palestine (Rob.,
p. 78), and answering perfectly to the name of
Ramah, yet the village of Ramah itself is on the
lower slope of the hill (Smith s Bib. Diet., vol. ii.,
p. 1000). " Cha-tsor? see on xi. i.
Ver. 37. " Qe-dhesk " (sanctuary), not to be con
founded with that in xii. 22 (see note). It is called
Qe-dhesh-Naphtali (the home of Barak, Judges iv.
314 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
6, 10 ; was captured by Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings
xv. 29) ; now Kades, ten miles north of Safed, and
four to the north-west of the upper part of the
Sea of Merom. " Edh-r2-t" distinct from that in
xii. 4. Apparently the present village Y ater. The
relative position is suitable, and the letters " T " and
"D" often interchanged (Pal. Explor. Fund, 1881).
" En-Cha-ts&r" (fountain of the village of the fenced
place), probably. Ain Hazur, south of Ramah.
Ver, 38. " Ylr-dn" (place of terror), unknown,
though possibly Yan^n, to the west of Lake Merom
(Grove). "Migh-dal- El " (tower of God), conjectured
by some to be the same as Magdala (Matt. xv. 39),
on the Sea of Galilee (Stanley, Sin. and Pal., p. 382,
note 2), and now the wretched village el-Mejdel
(Rob., Bib. Res., ii., 396, 397) ; but as this site would
be outside the ancient limits of Naphtali, and within
those of Zebulun, Grove would rather identify it with
Mujeidel on Wady Kerkerah, near Yarun, eight miles
due east of the Ras-en-Nakurah (Scala Tyriorum).
" Cho-rem " (devoted, sacred), possibly Hnrah, a low
tell with ruins, between Ras en Nakhurah and the
Lake Merom, near Yarum (Grove). " Beth-d-natk "
(house of response, or echo), according to Eusebius
and Jerome (Onomast.} a village called Batanea,
fifteen miles east of Ca^sarea, but not discoverable.
" Bcth-shc-mcsh" distinct, of course, from that in Judah
(xv. 10), and from that on the border of Issachar
(ver. 22), but the site unknown. Neither from this
fortress, nor from Beth-anath, could Naphtali expel
the Canaanites (Judges i. 33). The total number of
towns given in this verse, viz., sixteen, does not tally
with the number, viz., nineteen, mentioned in the list
VERS. 40-42.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 315
(vers. 35-38). Probably some names are missing,
for Kartan or Kirjathaim, though mentioned in xxi.
32, and in I Chron. vi. 61 (76), is not found in the
list.
VERS. 40-48. Inheritance of Dhan (judge,
Gen. xxx. 6).
Dhan was own brother to Naphtali, which may be
a reason for his being here mentioned after him,
unless it be in anticipation of his occupying after
wards a northern position (ver. 47). His inheritance
was smaller than that of any of the other tribes, but,
being mainly in the sh e phelah, was one of the most
fertile in Palestine. Here its towns only are enume
rated, because its boundaries were determined by
those of the neighbouring tribes of Ephraim, Judah,
and Benjamin, already described. Of its towns
several were taken out of Ephraim and Judah.
Ver. 41. " Tsor-ah" and " Esh-td-6l," see xv. 33.
"ir-ske-incs/i" (city of the sun), called also Beth-
shemesh, xv. 10.
Ver. 42. " SJid-d-lab-bin " ("place of foxes," cf.
Ch a tsar-shual, xv. 28, and the incident recorded in
Judges xv. 4), more often written Sha albim (i Kings
iv. 9 ; Judges i. 35) ; the inhabitants seem to have
been called Shaalbonites (2 Sam. xxiii. 32 ; i Chron.
xi. 33) ; from it the Danites could not expel the
Emorites (Judges i. 35). Site unknown, but maybe
that of Esalin, lying next to Surah, the ancient
Tsor ah (Rob., Bib. Res., first edit., iii., App., 120, b].
It is mentioned indeed by Eusebius and Jerome in
the Onomast. (Selab), as a large village in the district
316 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
of Sebaste (i.e., Samaria), and then called Selaba ; but
there is no reason to conclude that any of the towns
of the Danites were near Samaria, nor could the
position here assigned to Shealbim, viz., between
Irshemesh and Ajalon, be thus accounted for. (See
Art. by Grove on " Shaalbim " in Smith s Bib. Dict^)
" Ay-ya-l6n? see x. 1 2. " Ylth-lah " (height, rt. nbn,
to suspend), mentioned in the Onomast. as Ie0Acu>,
but without any description or indication of position.
According to Knobel, the name may possibly be pre
served in the Wady Atallah, west of Yalo (Ajalon ;
Rob., Bib. Res., pp. 143, 144) ; but Lieut. Conder
suggests the ruin Beit Tnl in the low hills west of
Jerusalem as a probable site.
Ver. 43. " E-lon " (oak or terebinth), called Elon-
beth-chanan (i Kings iv. 9), perhaps Ellin, near Tim-
nath (Knobel), mentioned by Robinson (Pal., vol. iii.,
App., p. 120); but, according to Lieut. Conder,
probably the present village Beit Ellti (Pal. Explor.
Fund, 1881). " Tim-na-tkdh" xv. 10. " Eg-ron?
xiii. 3.
Ver. 44. " El-t e -gek " (" to which God is fear, or
object of fear," rt. Ki?.]ji, unused, Arab. " to fear "), a
city of the Levites, written Njp.Jji px, a Levite city (xxi.
23) ; apparently Beit Likia in the territory of Dan.
In the list of the victories of Sennacherib (Assyrian
Discoveries, pp. 302-5), the " plains of Eltekeh " are
mentioned with towns of Dan. This agrees with the
situation of the modern village (Pal. Explor. Fund,
1881). " Gib-tftlidn" (height), a city of the Levites
(xxi. 23), held by the Philistines in the early days of
the monarchy (i Kings xv. 27, xvi. 15); probably
the present village Kibbiali, at the foot of the hills
VERS. 45. 46-1 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 317
near Lydda. " The situation agrees with the context "
(Pal. Explor. Fund, 1881). " Bd-&-lath? fortified by
Solomon (i Kings ix. 18 ; 2 Chron. viii. 6) ; not far
from Gezer (Joseph., Antiq., viii., 6, i). Probably
the present village Belain, in a suitable position west
of Bethhoron, and commanding the main road to
Jerusalem (Pal. Explor. Fund, 1881, Map, sheet xiv.).
Ver. 45. "Y hiidk" (praise), not mentioned by
Eusebius and Jerome, perhaps identical with el-
Yehudiyeh in the neighbourhood of Lydd (Lydda,
Acts ix. 38), placed in Van de Velde s map seven
miles east of Jaffa, and five north of Lydd ; see
Rob, Bib. Res., iii., 45). " B e ne-B/i e raq" ("sons of
Berak, or of lightning," whether Danites or early
settlers dispossessed by them is unknown). Scholz
(R., p. 256) would identify it with the present Ibn-
Abrak, two miles from Yehudh. Eusebius and the
Vulg. divide the name into two, and the former says
that BapaKai was a village near Azotus. " Gath-
rtm-mon " (press of the pomegranate), according to
Eusebius (Onomast.) twelve miles on the road from
Diospolis (Lydda) to Eleutheropolis, probably near
Thimnathah, afterwards given to- the Kohathite
Levites (xxi. 24). Site undiscovered.
Ver. 46. " Me-hay- Yar-qon " (the waters of pale
ness or greenness), unknown, but the next name may
be a corrupt repetition of it (Grove). "Ha-Raq-qon"
(the thinness, rt. \>\r\, to spread out by beating, to
make thin, Ges., Lex.}. The situation of Tell er
Rakkeit appears suitable, north of Jaffa, near the
mouth of the river Aujeh. Probably the same as
Mejarkon (Lieut. Conder, Map, sheet xiii.). " With
tlie border over against Yapho " (beauty) : Yapho was
318 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. * [CHAP. xix.
a very ancient Philistine city, thought by the ancients
to be older than the Flood (Pomp. Mela, i. 1 1 ;
Pliny, Hist. Nat., v., 13) ; Greek IOTTTT^, the well-
known port of Palestine (2 Chron. ii. 16 ; Ezra iii. 7 ;
Jonah i. 3 ; Acts ix. 36, x. 8), often mentioned in the
Books of Maccabees, annexed by Pompey to the
province of Syria (Joseph., Antiq., xiv. 4, 4), but
restored by Csesar to Hyrcanus (xiv. 10, 6). It
afterwards became part of Herod s kingdom (xv. 7, 3)
and that of Archelaus (xvii. 1 1, 4), on whose depo
sition it reverted to the province of Syria. Having
been destroyed by C. Cestius (Joseph., Bel. Jud., ii.
i 8, 10), it was subsequently rebuilt, and became in
fested by Jewish pirates (Strabo, xvi., 759) in conse
quence of which Vespasian levelled it with the
ground, and erected a camp there where the citadel
had been (Bel. Jud., iii. 9, 3, 4). It appears, how
ever, that a new town gradually sprung up. The
name of the place now is Jaffa, containing about four
thousand inhabitants, and is celebrated for its groves
and gardens (see Stanley s Sin. and Pal., p. 243,
note ; p. 256 ; Thomson s The Land and the Book,
p. 511, etc.).
Ver. 47. " And the border of the sons of Dan went
on t from them" i.e., beyond them, or beyond the in
heritance allotted to them ; cf. Masius, " The Danites
emigrated beyond themselves, i.e., beyond the inherit
ance in which they were first placed by the Divine
lot, and set out in search of other possessions." So
De Wette, Keil, and others. The fact that the Dan
ites were unable to expel the Amorites, but were
driven by them into the mountains (Judges i. 34),
would account for this emigration, which, as we read
VERS. 49,50.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 319
in Judges xviii. 30, took place in the time of Jeho-
nathan, the grandson of Moses (see Keil on Judges
xviii. i, 30). "Le-shem " ("a kind of precious stone,"
Ges.) called Laish (Judges xviii. 7, 27), near the
western source of the Jordan, four miles from Panium,
or Csesarea Fhilippi. "And called LcsJiem Dan
after the name" etc. (cf. Judges xviii. 29 J ) : The
name Dan (judge) is preserved in that of the village
" Tell-el-Kadi" (" mound of the judge"), which now
occupies its supposed site. Here Jeroboam I. set up
one of his golden calves (i Kings xii. 29). On the
question of the identity of this Dan with that in Gen.
xiv. 1 4, see Art. by Grove in Smith s Bib. Diet.,
pp. 386-7.
VERS. 49, 50. Inheritance of Joshua.
Ver. 49. Vrpp, here, i.q. Piel, " to give to be pos
sessed " (cf. Numb, xxxiv. 17,1 8). "b, " according to
its borders?
Ver. 50. "According to the command (mouth) of
JeJwvah " : Though no express mention is made in
the Pentateuch of this command, it is probable from
1 So " Datos," or " Baton," was called " Philippi " after its
conquest by Philip of Macedon ; "Byzantium" was named
"Constantinople" after Constantine the Great; and "Zankle,"
in Sicily, had its name changed to " Messene " by the Mes-
senians (Herod., vii., 164). The brief account in Josh. xix. 47
of a transaction afterwards more fully recorded, was added,
Scott the commentator thinks, to complete the description of
the inheritance at length possessed by the tribe of Dan.
Probably the event occurred soon after the death of Joshua,
and the addition to the narrative might, he says, have been
made by Phinehas (Judges xx. 28). It is not probable that
the idolatry of Micah and of the Danites would have been
connived at by Joshua.
320 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xix.
Josh. xiv. 6 that it was given at the same time as the
command respecting Caleb. 1 Modesty and disin
terestedness may have kept Joshua from claiming his
inheritance sooner. " Tim-nath-se-rach " (" a portion
over and above," Ges., Lex., pp. 595, 868), called in
Judges ii. 9 Timnath-Cheres (portion of the sun),
because, say the Rabbis, a representation of the sun
was carved on Joshua s tomb in memory of the
miracle of Gibeon (Josh. x. 12); though others (as
Fiirst, i., 442) interpret Cheres as " clay," and
relating to the nature of the soil ; while others again
(as Ewald) consider it an error, which arose from a
transposition of letters. The Vulg., Syr., Arab., and
several Heb. MSS., read Serach, as in Josh. xix. 50.
It is described in Josh. xxiv. 30 as being in Mount
Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash ; thus
Joshua received, like Caleb, an inheritance amid his
own tribe. The site has been supposed to be where
now stands Tibneh, six miles west of Jifneh, and
about seventeen miles north of Jerusalem (Dr. Eli
Smith s BibL Sacra, 1843), but for a later view see
note on xxiv. 30.
Ver. 5 i. Conclusion. The ^ before nii3 is a sign
of the genitive, which is used to avoid the repetition
of the construe, state (cf. xiv. i). "In SJiiloh before
the Lord" cf. xviii. 10. nns, an adverb accus. of place
(118, i).
1 Possibly, however, there is a reference here to the Urim
which Joshua in Numb, xxvii. 21 is bidden to consult. That
we read not in this book of his doing so on other occasions is
explained by the fact that he had already received directions
in those commands which God had given to Moses, whose
minister he was ; see, e.g., i. 7, viii. 35, xi. 15.
VERS. 1-3.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 321
CHAPTER XX.
Appointment of the Six Cities of Refuge.
Ver. i. The word lavi connecting this chapter
with the preceding shows that this appointment of
the cities of refuge took place immediately after the
allotment of the land.
Ver. 2. Dab vy, "give (i.e., appoint) for you."
tD^pp, asylum or refuge, Sept. ^uyaSeiov (f)wya$evTr)-
piov KOLTaffrwyij, from B?!?, to draw together, to con
tract, to draw in, and hence to receive (a fugitive to
oneself), i.q. Chald. vh\). The asylums of the Greeks
and Romans, and the sanctuaries of mediaeval Europe,
were somewhat analogous to these cities of refuge,
but the main distinction was that the latter protected
criminals from unmerited, the former often from
merited, punishment. 1 At the same time, the restraint
put upon the unintentional man-slayer by his con
finement to a city of refuge sufficiently marked God s
disapproval of the sin of homicide, while the exemp
tion of him from death tempered justice with mercy.
" Whereof I spake to you" see Exod. xxi. 13 ; Numb.
xxxv. 2, 6, 13 ; Deut. xix. i, etc.
Ver. 3. D-1^, " that tlie slayer vvho killeth (smiteth)
a person by mistake in ignorance may flee" etc., cf.
1 Tacitus says that in the time of Tiberius " crebescebat
Grsecas per urbes licentia atque impunitas asyla statuendi
complebantur templa pessimis servitiorum ; eodem subsidio
obaerati adversum creditores suspectique capitalium criminum
receptabantur. Nee ullum satis validum imperium erat coSr
cendis seditionibus populi flagitia hominum, ut ceremonias
Deum, protegentis " (Tacit., Ann., iii., 60).
21
322 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xx.
Numb. xxxv. 15-24; Deut. xix. 4-13, where the
distinction between wilful and unintentional homicide
is accurately drawn, rvn, from n^n, to break or dash
in pieces, to kill, nJ3?>, from JJ2>, to err, to go astray.
K>S3, "person" (Ges., Lex., 4, p. 560). D^n h$i, " t/ie
avenger, of blood " : ^>K3, from 7N3, " to redeem," perhaps
originally " to demand back," and hence " to extri
cate." As this blood revenge and redemption of an
inheritance were the duty of a near relative, ^3 meant
also " one near of kin " (Numb. v. 8 ; Levit. xxv. 25 ;
Ruth iii. 12). The Sept. interprets by 6 dyxioreuow
TO al/xa, " one who by right of kindred avenges
blood." 1
Ver. 4. " A nd he shall flee to one of these cities,
and shall stand at the entrance of the gate" etc. Pin?.,
see xix. 51. Judges sat in the gate (Deut xvi. 18).
inrrrriN 15-1% " shall speak his words" i.e., plead his
cause (cf. 2 Sam. xix. 30 [Heb.] ; Psalm cxxvii. 5 ;
Jer. xii. i). fBP^I, " and they shall receive him," lit.,
shall gather him : The verb here implies " to receive
under one s care and protection " (cf. Deut. xxii. 2 ;
Psalm xxvii. 10). The meaning is, that, immediately
on his arrival at the city, the judges should investi
gate his case, and if there appeared prima facie
grounds for believing him innocent, he should be
allowed to reside in the city till the trial took place
before a larger tribunal (ver. 6). " Shall give him a
place" etc. : According to Maimonides all the forty-
eight Levitical cities had the privilege of asylum, but
1 The a-y^ioreur, being nearest of kin, could claim the in
heritance, and thus differed from the crvyyei^?, who had
no such claim, and from oiKelot, connexions by marriage
(Ammonius).
VERS. 5-7.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 323
the six refuge cities were required to receive and
lodge the homicide gratuitously (Calmet on Numb.
XXXV.).
Ver. 5. ^}, "and if" (or "when"), " cumque,"
Vulg. n)fffi} lit., " then they shall not shut up" i.e.,
shall not deliver (cf. <7fy/cA.eia>, Rom. xi. 32 ; Gal.
iii. 22), Hiph. fut.
Ver. 6. " Until he shall stand (Qal. infin. with
suff.) before the congregation" rny, from "i|T. " to
appoint," here means the congregation of elders or
representatives of the people in a city. It seems
that when the avenger of blood arrived at the city of
refuge, and claimed the man-slayer, the latter was
removed for trial to the congregation to which he
belonged, or to the place where the deed had been
committed; and if there it was decided that the deed
was accidental, he was taken back to the city of
refuge, where he was to remain till .the death of the
high-priest (so Keil). The high-priest, who was
anointed with the holy oil (Numb. xxxv. 25), was a
type of Christ, and his death may have been regarded
as typical of that of Christ, who " through the Eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God " (Heb.
ix. 14). This, therefore, may explain why the full
expiation of the man-slayer s guilt was connected
with the high-priest s death.
Ver. 7. ICJHi?!!, " and they consecrated" i.e., set apart
as for a holy purpose. The cities of refuge, being
Levitical cities, were regarded as peculiarly the pro
perty of God. " Qe-dhesh" see on xix. 37. W?|3, lit.,
" in the circuit" Sept. Iv rrj FctXiXcua, ; the name
applies here to the small circuit of country around
Qe-dhesh, in which were afterwards the twenty cities
324 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xx.
given by Solomon to Hiram (i Kings ix. 1 1). At a
later period Galilee embraced the whole of the
northern part of Palestine. In Isa. viii. 23 (ix. l) it
is called DJT3n b^|, on account of the many Gentiles
there (cf. Matt. iv. 15). "In Mount Naphthali" :
Named nowhere else in the Bible. The mountainous
district which formed the chief portion of the terri
tory of Naphthali, answering to Mount Ephraim in
the centre, and Mount Judah in the south of Palestine.
This mountainous district, the modern Belad-Besharah,
or " land of good tidings," contains some of the most
beautiful scenery and fertile soil in Palestine (Porter,
363). " Shechem" \ In the centre of the land (see
on xvii. 7). " Qiryath-Arba which is Chebhron? in
the south (see x. 3, xiv. 15). "ina, "in the mountain
district of Judah? cf. xi. 21.
Ver. 8 (cf. Deut. iv. 41-43). This repetition is
here made to complete the narrative ; so in xii. i,
etc., the account of the conquest of the land is re
peated, and that of its division on the east of Jordan
in xiii. 8, etc. " Be-tser" (cf. Deut. iv. 43), Sept.
Bocrdp, not discovered ; probably the same as the
Bosor of i Mace. v. 36. *ib>*B3, see xiii. 9. " Ramotk
in Gil-adh" identified with " Ramath-Mitzpeh " (xiii.
26). "Colon" (Golan, Q e ri), cf. Deut. iv. 43 : Ac
cording to Eusebius (Onomast.} a very large village
in Batanaea. It evidently gave its name to the dis
trict Gaulanitis, east. of the Sea of Galilee (Joseph.,
Antiq., viii. 2, 3, and Bell. Judg., i., 4, 4). The
word is recognised in the present Djaulan, mentioned
by Burckhardt (Syria, p. 286), as giving name to a
district lying east of the Lake of Tiberias.
These cities of refuge on both the sides of Jordan
VER. 9.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 325
were so situated that the distance from one to the
next was about sixty miles. A way, or convenient
road, was prepared, that they might be reached by
the man-slayer with greater expedition (see Deut.
xix. 3), and the Rabbis say that at the cross roads
posts were erected, which pointed the way to them,
and bore the inscription " Refuge, Refuge." The
Gemara also notices that the cities on each side of
the Jordan were nearly opposite each other, in ac
cordance with the direction to divide the land into
three parts (Deut. xix. 3 ; Reland, iii., p. 662).
Ver. 9. rnwn ny, not, as Kimchi, " urbes con-
gregationis," i.e., cities where the men-slayers were
gathered together, nor, as Ges. (Lex.}, " urbes asyli,"
but " cities of appointment," from 1ti\, to appoint (cf.
Chald., Sept., Vulg., and Arab.). "And for the
stranger" etc. (cf. Numb., xxxv. 15). ill is translated
TrpocnjXvTos by the Sept. in both places, though in
itself it denotes simply one who turns aside from his
own country to abide in a foreign land.
It is generally supposed that the cities of refuge,
besides being intended to be a check on the ancient
custom of blood revenge, which still prevails in the
East, were also typical of Christ ; and, whether
designed to be so or not, they remarkably illustrate
the security which is only to be had by belief in Him
(see e.g., Zech. ix. 12 ; Heb. vi. 18 ; Rom. viii. i).
326 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxi.
CHAPTER XXI.
Appointment of Cities for the Priests and Levites}
Vers. 1-3 (Demand of tJie Levites that Cities should
be assigned to theiri}. Ver. I. JTQ&J ^iO, see on
xiv i . This application on the part of the chiefs of
the Levites seems to have been made, not because
the claims of the Levites had hitherto been overlooked
(Calvin), but because now the fitting time had come
for asserting them.
Ver. 2. " In the land of Canaan " : Not added to
distinguish the Shiloh here mentioned from any other
city of the same name, but in allusion to the letter of
the instructions given by the Lord to Moses in Numb,
xxxiv. 29, xxxv. 10. " Jehovah commanded" etc.,
cf. Numb. xxxv. 1-8. D^^p, see on xiv. 4.
Ver. 3. It would seem from Numb. xxxv. 6 that
the cities which had been appointed as cities of
refuge were first assigned to the Levites, and that
afterwards were added to them forty-two other cities.
This distribution of the Levites among the rest of
the tribes was a wise and merciful regulation, for thus
1 A list of these cities is also given in i Chron. vi., which
differs in many respects from that in this chapter. The dis
crepancy may, however, be accounted for partly from the
springing up, in course of time, of new, and disappearance
of old, towns ; partly from changes in names ; and partly from
faulty readings. Moreover, though the number of cities
mentioned in i Chron. vi. is only 42, yet in vers. 60-63 (Heb.
45-47) it is stated that the children of Aaron received 13, and
the rest of the- Kohathites 10 ; the Gershonites 13 ; and the
Merarites. 12 cities ; and, therefore, in all there must have been
48 cities, as stated in Josh. xxi. 41.
VER. 4.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 327
the people could easily resort to them as their author
ised instructors in religion, and more especially those
who had fled to a city of refuge would have the
benefit of spiritual admonition, instruction, and
comfort.
Vers. 4-8. In these verses we have an account
of the number of cities assigned to the three great
branches of the tribe of Levi, according to their re
spective families, with especial mention of the number
assigned to the priests, who were of the Kohathite
branch (ver. 4).
Ver. 4. " The families of the Q hathites " : These
were the families of Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and
Uzziel (Exod. vi. 1 8), of which that of Amram was
subdivided into the descendants of Moses and Aaron.
To the line of the latter belonged the priesthood
(Numb, xviii. 1-7), and to them were assigned thirteen
cities out of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benja
min ; God doubtless overruling the allotment, since
by the position of those cities the priesthood would
be established near the future Temple at Jerusalem.
Hence, too, after the revolt of Israel, the priesthood
and authorised worship would naturally remain in the
tribes of Judah and Benjamin (2 Chron. xiii. 9-12).
To the objection that thirteen cities were too many
for the number of Aaron s descendants at this time,
it has been well pointed out by Keil and others, that
the appointment looked forward to the future increase
of those descendants ; that already they were nume
rous, since Aaron at the time of the exodus was
eighty-three years old, and his descendants might
have entered upon the fourth generation seven years
after his death ; also the cities were small, not ex-
328 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxi.
clusively inhabited by Levites, and many of them still
in the hands of the Canaanites. Almost the same
reply is applicable to the similar objection that the
sum total of the Levites, viz., twenty-three thousand,
did not require the allotment to them of so many as
forty-eight cities.
Ver. 5. " The rest of tJie sons of Q e hatJi" i.e., those
who were sprung from Moses, Izhar, Hebron, and
Uzziel. The rebellion of the non-priestly portion of
the Q e hathites had resulted in the diminution of their
numbers, cf. Numb. iii. 27 with Numb. xxvi. 5 7, etc.,
and hence ten cities sufficed for them.
Vers. 9-19 (List of the Cities assigned to the
Priests: I, in Judah and Simeon, vers. 9-16, Nine
Cities; 2, in Benjamin, vers. 17-19, Four Cities:
Total, Thirteen Cities). Ver. 9. &nfv, " one calls" :
The indeter. 3rd pers. ( 137, 3).
Ver. 10. N O} 1 ? vn, the nominative is either "the
cities," supplied from the former verse, or " the lot,"
supplied from the parenthesis at the end of this verse.
n3B"Ni, "first," an adv., the ancient form, but more
commonly written rub^N"!, as in the margin.
Ver. 1 1. " The city of Arba " etc., see on xiv. I 5.
pfjyn, more commonly read pjr.n, xv. 13.
Ver. 1 2. " But the fields . . . they gave to Kalebh " :
In xiv. 13, 14, he is only said to have received the
city, but from this verse we learn that he gave up the
city to the Levites, but retained the fields and valleys
belonging to it, except the necessary pasturage around
the city for the cattle of the Levites (see Numb.
xxxv. 2). Hence Keil infers that those who tilled
these fields lived also in the Levitical city, and that
the Levites had only certain dwellings assigned them
VERS. 13-18.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 329
in it, which were their inalienable property (Levit.
xxv. 32-34).
Ver. 13. " Chebh-ron, the city of refuge" etc. (cf.
I Chron. vi. 57, Auth. Vers.) : The words " to be" in
serted by the A. Vers. before " the city," etc., are not
in the original. Chebh-ron was already a city of
refuge (see xx. 7, and note on ver. 3 above). On the
words miq-lat and ro-tse a ch, see xx. 2, 3. "Libh-nah"
in the lowland (x. 29, xv. 42).
Vers. 14, I 5 (The cities here mentioned were in the
mountainous district of Judah, xv. 48-51). Ver. 15.
" Cho-lon" written Chilen i Chron. vi. 43, A.V. 58.
Ver. 1 6. "A-yin" (xv. 32), allotted to Simeon
(xix. 7), in place of which is found Ashan, a city in
the lowland of Judah (xv. 42 ; I Chron. vi. 44 [59]),
which is probably the correct reading (Keil). " Yut-
tah" in the hill country (see xv. 55), omitted in
i Chron. vi. 44 (59). " Beth-shemesh" on the northern
boundary of Judah (xv. 10). "Out of those two
tribes" viz. Judah and Simeon (ver. 9).
Vers. 17-19 (Cities of the Priests in the Tribe of
Benjamin}. Ver. 1 7. " Gibh-6n " (omitted in i
Chron. vi. 45 [60]), see on ix. 3. " Ge-bha\"
xviii. 24.
Ver. 1 8. u> A-na-th6th" (possibly "echoes"), and
" Al-mon " (hiding-place), written Al-le-meth, i
Chron. vi. 45 (60), are not found in the list of Ben-
jamite cities (xviii. 21-28), perhaps being omitted as
of little importance. Anathoth was the birthplace
of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. i. i), and thither Abi-
athar was banished by Solomon (i Kings ii. 26). It
is now Andta, about three or four miles N.N.E. of
Jerusalem (Rob., Bib. Res., i., 437-8). Almon is
330 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxi.
unknown, but is possibly Almit, about a mile north
east of Anata (Grove).
Vers. 20-26 (The Cities of the N on- Priestly Q e ha-
thites, viz., four from Ephraim, vers. 20-22, and four
from Dan, vers. 23, 24, and two from West-Manasseh,
ver. 25. Total, Ten Cities]. Ver. 20. The ^ before
nin^tpp means " as to " (Rosenm.), or here with *rp,
denotes possession, and the 1 before VP has the force
of " also." For the construction with a plural nomi
native see on xv. 4.
Ver. 2 i . " Shechem" xvii. 7. " Ge-zer" x. 3 3 , xvi. 3 .
Ver. 22. " Qibh-tsa yim" ("two heaps," from f3j?,
to collect), unknown. It is read Yoq-n e am
(" gathered by the people," from or and nipfj, to col
lect), i Chron. vi. 53 (68), probably another name for
the same place, and not to be confounded with Yoq-
n e am in ver. 34. It would seem (says Grove) from
i Kings iv. 1 2 to have been at the extreme east of the
tribe of Ephraim (Art. "Jokneam," in Smith s Diet, of
the Bible). Lieut. Conder suggests Tell Abu Kabi*is (a
name radically identical with Kibzaim), near Bethel,
as a not impossible site. " Beth-cko-ron" whether
upper or lower, or both, is not stated (see x. 10).
Vers. 23, 24. On the four cities here named see
xix. 42-45. The two in ver. 23, viz., Elt e qe and
Gib-b e thon, are not mentioned in i Chron. vi. 53 (69).
Ver. 2 5 . " Out of the half-tribe of West Manasseh."
" Ta -nakh," written Ta- a-nakh (xii. 21) : Instead of
it we find A-ner in i Chron. vi. 55 (70), evidently
an error (Keil). " Gath-rimmon " (xix. 45), but in
i Chron. vi. 5 5 (70), D^?, written El? ??. 1 (Josh. xvii.
1 1), the correct reading, according to Keil, who thinks
that Gath-rimmon may have crept into the text from
VER. 27-32.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 331
the preceding verse ; yet Gath-rimmon is the reading
in the Vulg., Syr., Arab., and Chald. Targ. Possibly
the town had both names.
Vers. 27-33 (Cities of tJie Ger shunnites ; To fa/,
Thirteen Cities). Ver. 27 (From the Half -Tribe of
Manasseh in Bashan). "Go-Ian" see xx. 8. " B e esh-
frah" contract, in the Heb. from irvi^irrva (so Winer),
and, therefore, as rV3 often falls away, undoubtedly
the same as the Ashtaroth of Og (xii. 4, ix. 10) ; so
it is written in I Chron. vi. 56 (71).
Vers. 28, 29 (From the Tribe of Issachar). Ver. 28.
" Qish~yon? see xix. 20. " Da-bh e rath" xix. 12.
Ver. 29. " Yar-milt/i" and " En-gan-nim" xix. 2 I
(note).
Vers. 30, 31 (From the Tribe of A slier). Ver. 30.
" Mish-al" see xix. 26 ; written Mashal, I Chron.
vi. 59 (74). " Abh-ddn" perhaps the same as
Ebh-r6n (xix. 28).
Ver. 31. " CAel-qatk," xix. 25. " R ckobh" xix.
28 ; i Chron. vi. 60 (75).
Ver. 32 (From the Tribe of Nap JitaK). " Qe-dhesh
in 1 Galil" cf. xix. 37, xx. 7. " Cham-moth-dor" see
note on xix. 35. " Qar-tan" an obsolete dual form
(contrac. from nrn) of rnj5, for which occurs the later
form, D?nn : i? (two cities), I Chron. vi. 61 (76) ; cf. jrn
(2 Kings vi. 13), contrac. from J^nn (Gen. xxxvii. 17).
It is not mentioned among the cities of Naphtali
(xix. 35, etc.), but is supposed by some to be identical
with Rakkath (xix. 35). The name " Iscariot " has
also been derived from it. (See the Art. on " Judas "
in Smith s Bib. Diet.}.
1 The preposition in the Hebrew here includes the article,
" in the Galil."
332 TPIE BOOK OP JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxi.
Vers. 34-40 (Merarite Cities : Total, Twelve Cities}.
Vers. 34, 35 (Out of the Tribe of Zebulun). Ver.
34. " Yoq-n e am" see xii. 22, xix. 1 1 ; the name is
omitted in I Chron. vi. 62 (77). " Qar-taJi" perhaps
the Qattah of xix. i 5 j 1 otherwise, like Dimnah (ver.
35), not mentioned in the list of Zebulonite cities in
xix. 10-16, nor in i Chron. vi. Knobel, indeed,
and others would identify Dimnah with Rimmon or
Rimmono, xix. 13 ; I Chron. vi. 62 (77), but the
text in Chronicles is undoubtedly corrupt, since it
records only two names, Rimmon and Tabor. So
Keil.
Ver. 35. " Na-ha-lal" xix. 15; omitted in I
Chron. vi. 62 (77).
Vers. 36, 37 (Out of the Tribe of Reuben}. Ver. 36.
" Be-tser" cf. xx. 8. For the three other cities
see xiii. 18. Though these verses (36, 37) are
omitted in some MSS. on the authority of Kimchi
and the greater Masora, yet they are found in all the
ancient versions, and in one hundred and forty-nine
MSS. collated by Kennicott, and in forty collated by
De Rossi. Also, if omitted, the cities of the Merar-
ites would not be twelve as stated in vers. 7, 40, nor
the total number of the cities of refuge forty-eight, as
stated in ver. 41. Probably the omission arose from
the similar ending of vers. 35, 37.
Vers. 38, 39 [Vers. 36, 37, in some Heb. MSS.]
(Out of the tribe of Gad]. Ver. 38. " Ramoth in
(the) Gil adh" (xx. 8), called Ramath-mizpeh (xiii.
26). " Ma-ch a nayim " (xiii. 26).
1 Such differences in writing or pronouncing a name are
not uncommon (cf. Eshtemoh and Eshtemon, xv. 50, xxi. 14;
Baalah and Balah, xv. 29, xix. 3).
VERS. 39-42.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 333
Ver. 39. " Cheshbon" xiii. 17. " Ya -tser" xiii.
25. The word "73 before D 11 "]^ is omitted in the Syr.
and Arab. vers.
Ver. 40 (38 in some Heb. MSS.). The word "so"
(Auth. Vers.) in the first clause is not in the Heb.,
and the construction of the clause is broken. Render
the last clause " and tJteir lot was tzvelve cities."
Ver. 41 (39). " Forty and eight cities" : According
to the command which had been given (Numb. xxxv.
7). Note that 48 = 12 x 4, and twelve is signifi
cant of the Church (Rev. vii. 5-8, xxi. 12, 14), and
four of universality (see, e.g., Rev. vii. I, "four winds,"
i.e., winds coming from every quarter (cf. Jer. xlix.
36, 37 ; Dan. vii. 2). Hence Bishop Wordsworth
well remarks here, " This dispersion of the ministry
of the ancient Church into twelve times four cities, in
all the tribes of the inheritance of Israel, which typi
fied the whole earth regarded as a Church of God,
evangelised by one and the same Gospel, was pro
phetic and figurative of the diffusion of the Apostolic
Church of Christ into all parts of the world. It
represented its catholicity and its apostolicity. The
refuge provided in the cities of refuge, accessible to
all Israelites, represented the one faith in Christ, the
true Refuge, preached to all ; and the diffusion of the
one tribe, that of Levi, teaching the same truths in
all parts of the land of Canaan, represented the
Christian ministry, bearing the same evangelical
message, of Christ crucified, to all."
Ver. 42 (40). m fiy, "city, city" i.e., each city
( 1 20, 5). After this verse the Sept. inserts a
clause, partly repeated from xix. 49, 50, but with the
additional statement, probably derived from a Jewish
334 THE ROOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxr.
tradition, that Joshua buried in Timnath-serah the
knives with which he had circumcised the people
after the passage of the Jordan (see v. 2). This
latter statement is also found in the Sept. Vers., at
the end of xxiv. 30.
Vers. 43-45. A conclusion to chaps, xiii. xxi.,
and referring back, not only to xi. 23, but to i. 2-6.
and connecting, as Keil says, the two halves of the
book together.
Ver. 43. "He had sworn to give unto their fathers" :
see Gen. xii. 7, xv. I 8. Though many parts of the
land were still occupied by the Canaanites (see xiii. i,
etc.), yet the whole territory had been apportioned
out among the tribes of Israel, who had so far con
quered the Canaanites that none of them, at the time
here referred to, offered any further resistance ; and
when they subsequently gained ascendency, their
success was due to the sloth and cowardice of the
Israelites. God had never promised the latter to
exterminate their enemies at once, but gradually
(Exod. xxiii. 29 ; Deut. vii. 22), and on condition of
their own fidelity to Himself (cf. note on xi. 23).
Ver. 44. " And Jehovah gave rest to them round
about" (i.e., as long as Joshua and the elders, his con
temporaries, lived, Judges i. i, ii. 7) "according to all
which He had sworn" etc. (see Exod. xxxiii. 14 ;
Deut. iii. 20, xii. 9, 10, xxv. 19). " And tJiere stood
not a man" etc., cf. i. 5.
Ver. 45. ^8J~S&, lit., "fell not" cf. xxiii. 14 ; more
fully with the addition of nvnx (2 Kings x. 10).
man "i:nn ^sp, " of all the good word" comprising
all the gracious promises which God had made to the
Israelites (cf. i Kings viii. 56). For JV3, some MSS.
VERS. i- 4 .] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 335
read ^3, Sept. rot? vtot?. N3, " came to pass " (used
also of the fulfilment of prophecy, see I Sam. ix. 6 ;
Deut. xiii. 2 [3], xviii. 22 ; Judges xiii. 12). St. Paul
assures the Christian believer that " all the promises
of God in Christ are Yea, and in Him Amen, to the
glory of God" (2 Cor. i. 20).
CHAPTER XXII.
The Dismissal of tJie trans- J or danic Tribes to their
own Inheritance, and their Erection of an Altar
near tJie Jordan.
Ver. I. TN, see on viii. 30. The time referred to
was probably that when Joshua, having effected the
conquest of Canaan, had portioned out the land, and
had assigned to the Levites their cities, for thus in
ver. 9 these trans-Jordanic tribes are said to have
returned from Shiloh, where the children of Israel
had assembled, in order that the distribution of their
several inheritances might be completed (xviii. i).
For nt2K> many MSS. in Kennicott and De Rossi read
B2EJ, which reading may have arisen from the occur
rence of this latter term in vers. 7, 9, 10. On the
distinction between the two words see on iii. 12.
Ver. 2. Cf. Numb, xxxii. 20, etc.; Josh. i. 12-15.
Ver. 3. n.T used adverbially and = now ( 122, 2,
2nd par., ft). " Ye have kept the observance of tlie
commandment" i.e., ye have kept all which the com
mandment of the Lord required to be observed (cf.
Gen. xxvi. 5 ; Levit. viii. 3*5).
Ver. 4. D3^ o^, cf. vii. 10. For j> many MSS.
336 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxn.
and editions read -irp, as in Numb. xiv. 25 ; Deut.
i. 7, but this latter verb is not construed both with h
and ^K. D^nx may refer to their habits as pastoral
tribes (Stanley s Sin, and Pal., viii., p. 326), though
they appear to have had also fenced cities (Numb.
xxxii. 17), and the Chald. Vers. here renders "cities,"
Sept. oi/cov5. Being the ancient term for a " dwell
ing," the word may be here used generally for homes
(cf. Deut. xvi. 7 ; Judges vii. 8 ; I Sam. xiii. 2 ;
2 Sam. xix. 8).
Ver. 5. Joshua here repeats the substance of the
commands given by Moses in Deut. vi. 5, x. i 2, xi. i 3,
22, xxx. 16, 20). nnnx. cf. xxiii. 11, is the infin.
with a fern, ending, or a verbal noun governing the
accus. ( 133, i).
Ver. 7. The renewal here of the statement about
the inheritance of the two half-tribes of Manasseh may
be intended to give a completion, or finish, to this por
tion of the narrative. It was usual with the Hebrew
writers to repeat the mention of a fact rather than to
refer to it as already mentioned ; see, e.g., the oft-
repeated statement that the Levites had no share in
the land of Canaan (xiii. 14, 33, xiv. 3, xviii. 7). 1
After 103, understand Tn-jng- "inyp, "on (lit. "out of")
the other side" z>., the side opposite to Bashan, which
was on the east of the Jordan. The Q e ri has "i3#2,
the more usual form. 03^! 3 D3i : , "and also when
. . . then he blessed them" As it is unlikely that
Joshua should, on account of his relationship to the
half-tribe of Manasseh (which was descended, like
himself, from Joseph) have blessed them apart from
1 Cf. Speaker s Com., and Keil in loc.
VERS. 8,10.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 337
the other trans-Jordanic tribes (ver. 6), this statement
may be another instance of the repetition alluded to
above, and serves to introduce the further particulars
mentioned in ver. 8.
Ver. 8. Q 11 ??^, from D?3, i.q. D33, to collect. The
occurrence of this word here shows that it is not a
word, as Gesenius (Lex?) says, of the later Hebrew. 1
The allusion is to the riches of which they had spoiled
the Canaanites. With the command about the divi
sion of the spoil cf. Numb. xxxi. 25, etc.; I Sam.
xxx. 23-25).
Vers. 9-12 (The Erection of an Altar on the
Banks of the Jordan by the trans-Jordanic Tribes,
and the Offence thereby given to the other Tribes}.
Ver. 9. Shiloh is here described as being "in the
land of Canaan," in order to mark the antithesis
between it and the land of Gilead, which is here put
for the whole of the trans-Jordanic territory (cf. Numb,
xxxii. i, 29 ; Deut. xxxiv. I ; Judges v. 17, etc.).
nrntnx J "i^, " in which they had been made possessors"
lit. had been held fast or established : Cf. Numb.
xxxii. 30, where the Niph. form is used in the same
passive sense, whereas in Gen. xxxiv. 10, xlvii. 27, it
is reflective, " to fix themselves firmly or settle."
Ver. 10. n rif^l, lit. the circles (cf. xiii. 2) of
Jordan? i.q. H1.L 1 ">?? (Gen. xiii. i o, 1 1 ), or simply
I33n (Gen. xiii. 12, xix. 17) ; 2 here that portion of the
1 Though found in 2 Chron. i. n, 12 ; Eccles. v. 18, vi. 2,
and common in Aramaean, it cannot be inferred with any
certainty that it therefore belongs to a later period of the
Hebrew language (Keil, Introd., p. 35).
2 Both words probably relate to the windings of the stream
(see Reland s Pal., i., c. 43, p. 274). Of Geliloth Dean
22
338 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxn.
Ghor which was on the west bank of the Jordan
(Keil and others). The words " which are in the land
of Canaan " show that the altar spoken of at the con
clusion of the verse must have been erected, not as
Josephus (Antiq., v., i) says, on the eastern, but on
the western side of Jordan. If on the eastern side,
it could not so well have served for a testimony that
the trans-Jordanic tribes had a part in Jehovah (see
vers. 21-29). i " 1 ^")^ f " 1 ?) lit- "great as to appearance."^-
Ver. 1 1. ^10 S:*, lit. "in the face or front of" " in
the fore- front of" (Rev. Vers.). n&j"^J : The prep,
here implies tarriance in after motion (Ges., Lex., B.,
47) ; cf. !?, Ges., Lex., B., and the use of ets and e? for
ev, examples of which we have in the Greek Testa
ment (see Matt. ii. 23; Mark i. 9; Luke .xi. 7).
".^ I5r^, " at the side of the sons of Israel" or, " on
the side that pertaineth to the children of Israel "
(Rev. .Vers.). "I3T means a "side" in Exod. xxxii.
15, also several times in this book it is used in
Stanley says that of the five times in which it occurs in
Scripture, two are in the general sense of "coast" or
"border" (Josh. xiii. 2; Joel iii. 4), "all the coasts of
Palestine," and three especially relate to the course of
Jordan (viz., Josh. xxii. 10, u, Ezek. xlvii. 8). The word may
perhaps find an analogy in the Scotch term "links," which
is used of the snake-like windings of a stream, as well as with
the derived meaning of a coast or shore. In later times no
doubt the words were taken merely as provincial terms for
" region," and as such were translated both in the Sept. and
New Testament 17 Trepix&pos, "the surrounding neighbour
hood " (p. 284, note 5),
1 Lieut. Conder would identify its site with the remains of
an altar-like structure on a lofty conical peak, called Kurn
S^trtab^h, about twenty miles north of Jericho, in the valley of
the Jordan, where the river, in its descent from its upper level,
winds round several islets (Pal. Explor. Fund, Monthly
Statement, Oct. 1874).
VERS. 12, 13.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 339
reference to the region on the west of Jordan (see
v. i, ix. i, xii. 7, xxii. 7). 1
Ver. 12. pn|3*i : This word seems to indicate
that, after the land of Canaan had been apportioned,
the cis-Jordanic tribes had dispersed to their several
inheritances. " To go up against them to war " : For,
if their suspicions of the apostacy of the trans-Jordanic
tribes had been correct, they would have been justi
fied in so doing (see Deut. xii. 4, i 3, xiii. 7, etc.).
Vers. 13-20 (Before declaring War the Israelites
send Ambassadors to demand an Explanation [herein
they obeyed Deut. xiii. 14]). Ver. 13. "Pt-n e chas"
(mouth of brass), see Exod. vi. 2 5 ; Numb. xxv. 7,
etc., xxxi. 6, etc. jnsn refers to Eleazar, see accents,
and cf. Sept. and Vulg., though the title is given in
1 The following remarks of Grove (in Dr. Smith s Bib. Diet.,
iii., p. 1033) merit attention : " The pile of stones which they
(the eastern tribes) erected on the western bank of the Jordan
to mark their boundary to testify to after-ages that though
separated by the rushing river from their brethren and the
country in which Jehovah had fixed the place where He would
be worshipped, they had still a right to return to it for His
worship was erected in accordance with the unalterable
habits of Bedouin tribes, both before and since. It was an
act identical with that in which Laban and Jacob engaged
at parting, with that which is constantly performed by the
Bedouins of the present day. But by the Israelites west of
Jordan, who were fast relinquishing their nomad habits and
feelings for those of more settled and permanent life, this act was
completely misunderstood, and was construed into an attempt
to set up a rival altar to that of the Sacred Tent. The incom
patibility of the idea to the mind of the western Israelites
is shown by the fact that, notwithstanding the disclaimer of
the two and a half tribes, and notwithstanding that disclaimer
being proved satisfactory even to Phinehas, the author of
Joshua xxii. retains the name Mizbeach for the pile, a word
which involves the idea of sacrifice, i.e., of slaughter (see
Gesen., Thes., 402), instead of applying to it the term gal,
as is done in the case of the precisely similar heap of
witness (Gen. xxxi. 46)."
340 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxn.
ver. 30 to Pinechas as the presumptive successor of
Eleazar.
Ver. 14. "^7/^(they sent) ten princes with him,
a prince for each house of a father according to all the
tribes of Israel" \ The repetition of "tn$ denotes dis
tribution ( 1 08, 4), and the tribes on the west of
Jordan are enumerated as ten, because the half-tribe
of Manasseh is reckoned as one. "And each one
was a head of their father-houses " : The expression
JTDNTI3, instead of 3i>PEQ, is a mode of forming the
plural of compound nouns more usual in the Syr.
(Ges., Lex., 10, p. 116); the fern. plur. expresses
dignity ( 107, 3, c] ; hence we might here render
" chief-houses." " Among the thousands of Israel" :
So Auth. Vers., but Rosenm. takes D" 1 ?^ to denote
"families" (cf. vii. 14, note), and renders "according
to the families of Israel."
Ver. 1 6. rnrv rny (cf. Numb, xxvii. 1 7, xxxi. 1 6 ;
in Psalm Ixxxii. i, 7>N rny, "congregation of God"),
appropriately so called, because it was by zeal for the
honour of Jehovah that they were moved to make
this remonstrance. 7BD, see on vii. I : This term is
applied especially to sins of unfaithfulness, such as
idolatry, which rob God of the glory which is His
due (see Levit. xxvi. 40; Deut. xxxii. 51). " in
that ye have built for you an altar that ye might rebel"}.
etc. : "nip is a much stronger expression than ^>rip
(Keil) ; it is used of rebellion against human rulers
(Gen. xiv. 4 ; 2 Kings xviii. 7, 20, xxiv. i, 20); but
here, and in Ezek. ii. 3 ; Dan. ix. 9, of rebellion
against Jehovah (Ges., Lex.).
Ver. 1 7. ifirnx, an accus. ( 117, 2). Render
" Is there too little for us as regards the iniquity of
VERS. 18-20.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 341
Peor,from which we have not cleansed ourselves 1 even
ttnto this day ? " The reference is to Numb. xxv. 3,
etc;, and it is intimated that the Israelites were still
in their hearts inclined to this sin of idolatry (xxiv.
14-23). "And"* the plague came upon the congregation
of Jehovah" i.e., the whole congregation was involved
in the punishment of the transgressors.
Ver. 1 8. "And (yet) ye are turning tJiis day from
(following) after Jehovah, and it sJiall come to pass yc
rebel this day against Jehovah, and to-morroiv He will
be ivroth with (will break forth against) the whole con
gregation" " Ye rebel" i.e., " if ye rebel . . . then,"
etc., cf. Gen. xxxiii. i 3, " and (if) men should over
drive them," etc.
Ver. 19. *$$(, "and truly" cf. Gen. xliv. 28 (Ges.,
Lex?), nxpp, " unclean" because many of its inhabit
ants were heathen, and it had not the Tabernacle of
Jehovah in it. " Unto tJie land of the possession of
Jehovah" cf. Levit. xxv. 23 ; Psalm Ixxxv. I. pt? ; ,
"hath dwelt and does still dwell" ( 126, 3). -ITqN n,
Niph. imper., " take possession." 1-hprr px : Here con
strued first with 3, and then with an accus. (cf. Job
xxiv. 13, Tferynb, "who rebel against the light" ].
Hi^ap, "besides" see 154, 2, last par., cf. Numb.
v. 20 ; Psalm xviii. 32 (Heb.).
Ver. 20. This verse is connected with ver. 18, the
preceding verse (19) being parenthetical. The argu
ment is from the less to the greater. If by the sin
of Achan alone wrath came on all the congregation,
Hithpael of "IHB, to be, or to become clean ; the H
before to assimilated ( 54, 2, ft).
2 The I. should not be rendered " although," as in the Auth-
Vers.
342 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxn.
a fortiori might the like result be expected from the
sin of two tribes and a-half. Ufy? N-irn, " and he
was one man ; he perished not (alone) in his iniquity."
So D. Glass and Sept. (Alex.). Achan s sin caused
the defeat before Ay (vii. 5), and the destruction of
his children (vii. 24). For $b the Vulg. reads -I 1 ?,
utinam. ifl|, lit. "breathed out life": For the middle
consonant see 72, Rem. 10.
Vers. 21-31 (The trans- J or danic Tribes satis
factorily refute the Charge brought against theni).
Ver. 22. Some (e.g., Maurer here, and Dean
Perowne on Psalm 1. i) render the three first words
" The God of Gods, Jehovah" but the Pesiq after the
first and second nouns shows that in the opinion of
the Masorets the nouns should be construed separately,
e.g., " The Almighty, God, Jehovah" cf. Psalm 1. I,
where b$, as here, is separated by the accent from
OWN ; also the Hebrew form of expression for " The
God of Gods " would rather be DVi^n v6x, as in
Deut. x. i 7 ; Psalm cxxxvi. 2. Probably, therefore,
we have here three separate titles, rising in sublimity,
to express the infinite majesty of the Deity, viz., El
= " The Mighty One ; " Elohim (perhaps from the
obsolete rt. H PN, to worship, to adore, to fear) = "The
Supreme Being worthy to be feared ; " Y e hovah =
The truly existing One, The covenant God." So
Keil, Delitzsch, and Hengstenberg. 121 irp N-in, " He
knowelh, and Israel, he shall know ; if in rebellion,
and if in apostacy"^ etc. : Supply DNTTIK -1JW, from
ver. 24, the ellipsis being, as Keil remarks, in accord
ance with the broken speech of suddenly accused
1 Sept. eV aTTocrracria.
VERS. 23-26.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA 343
innocence. The apodosis to the sentence beginning
at DN is contained in the closing words of ver. 23,
" Let Jehovah Himself require it." The exclamation,
" Save tis not this day" at the end of ver. 22, is
parenthetical, and a direct appeal to God for the
purpose of asserting more strongly their innocence.
Ver. 23. nt337, this and the following infinitives
carry on the oath, e.g. (if we have done this), " to
build for us," etc. DK in adjurations has the effect of
a negative particle; &6 DN of an affirmative ( 155,
2,/)-
Ver. 24. "And if not from anxiety, for a reason?
etc. ruin, " fear, anxiety," rt. ^, i.q. u&n, to melt,
and hence "to be afraid," "to be anxious " (Ges., Lex.}.
-tt, a cause or reason" cf. v. 4. "tb&6, " saying " (or
" thinking," Ges., Lex., 2, p. 61). "in, "hereafter" cf.
Josh. iv. 6, 21. D3^> no, cf. 2 Sam. xvi. 10 ; Matt,
viii. 29, TL TIIM.V /cat, trot ; xxvii. 19 ; John ii. 4.
Ver. 25. "And (shall moreover say) Jehovah hath
appointed the Jordan as a boundary between us and
between you, ye sons of Reuben" etc. For brevity s
sake no mention is made of the half-tribe of Manasseh.
" A nd (so) your sons shall make our sons cease from
fearing Jehovah? KT is the m. Qal. infin. of NT>
which with prefix *? is generally contracted to &O^
("see i Sam. xviii. 29). In the Pentateuch the fern,
form nto? is always used, e.g., in Deut. iv. 10, v. 26,
vi. 24, etc.
Ver. 26. " And so we said (we thought) let us do
(this) for us to build the altar" etc. : A Hebrew mode
of expression for " let us build," or rvJ ya may be ren
dered " let us prepare " (see Ges., Lex.}. Sometimes
is followed by the finite verb with 1, as in Gen.
344 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxii.
xxxi. 26. raj, a bloody sacrifice, which was not, like
the holocaust, entirely consumed by fire.
Ver. 27. "But that it may be a witness" etc.
(Auth. Vers.), or, " it shall be a witness " (Rev. Vers.) :
So the altar built by Moses, and called Jehovah-Nissi
(Exod. xvii. 15, 1 6), was not an altar for sacrifice,
but a memorial altar. vjp^>, " before His face" i.e.,
before His tabernacle.
Ver. 28. "And we said that it shall be, when they
shall say (thus) to us and" etc. 13~!J?5O, " then we will
say" either in our own persons, or in those of our
descendants. JV^n-nx, lit. " the structure" or " the
building" rt. n:i3, to build ; then " the pattern according
to wJiich a thing is made" (Exod. xxv. 9, 40 ; 2 Kings
xvi. i o) ; then, as probable here, " the image or like
ness of a thing " (cf. Deut. iv. 1 6- 1 8 ; Ezek. viii. i o) ;
Sept. 6jLtotw/Aa. The Vulg. renders " Ecce altare,"
either having omitted JV^Frnx, or having understood
it in its primary sense of a structure, as in Psalm
cxliv. 12, a rendering adopted by Rosenmiiller.
Ver. 29. The words 131 rh"hn are rendered by
Gesenius (Lex., p. 280) "woe be to us (profane or
accursed be it to us] from Him (i.e. Jehovah), if we
should sin against Jehovah " : Cf.i Sam. xxiv. 7 (Heb.);
i Sam. xxvi. 1 1 ; i Kings xxi. 3. This is prefer
able to the rendering of Masius and others, " Far
be it from us to rebel" etc., where -li? is regarded
as redundant. "n.f>P, " apart from" or " besides "
(cf. Gen. xxvi. i ; Numb. xvii. 14 [Heb.]).
Ver. 30. "It was good in their eyes" a Hebrew
form of expression, well rendered as to sense by the
Auth. Vers., " it pleased them" Sept. ripecrev avrot?.
Ver. 31. rrtrp . *s, " that Jehovah (is) in the midst
VERS. 32-34.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 345
of us" i.e., is propitious to us, for to Him they justly
attributed the preservation of the trans-Jordanic
tribes from the iniquity of which they had suspected
them. "i $, because" (Ges., Lex., B., 3, p. 89), more
fully "iE 8 ir. TN, " then " = " therefore " (cf. Jer. xxii.
15 ; Psalm xl. 8 ; Ges., Lex., p. 25), or "then (when
ye acted as ye did) ye delivered," etc.
This satisfactory vindication of the two and a-half
tribes from the charges brought against them teaches
us how careful we should be in our judgment of
others, lest we condemn those whom God approves.
"Judge nothing before the time" (i Cor. iv. 5);
" Who art thou, that judgest another man s servant,"
etc. (Rom. xiv. 4, I 3).
Vers. 32-34 (The Return of the Ambassadors and
the Naming of the Altar). Ver. 32. -IT^l, followed
by an accus. of person and thing (cf. xiv. 7).
Ver. 33. "And they thought (or spake) no more of
going up": Cf. ver. 24, and for the omission of
mention of the half-tribe of Manasseh in this and
next verse, see ver. 25 (note).
Ver. 34. "And the sons of Reiiben . . . named
the altar, ( It is a witness between us " : Though 11? is
supplied after na?p in the Syr., Arab., and Auth. Vers.,
and in some MSS., it is not found in the Sept. and
Vulg., nor in most MSS. The first ^ is a sign of
quotation, the Greek ort in oratio directa, and may
be omitted in English (see Ges., Lex., B. c., p. 391).
Thus the words contain-both the name and the expla
nation, or a name not inscribed upon the altar, but
intended to explain both its design, and importance ;
they (the Eastern tribes) gave the altar the name of
" witness between us," because it was to be a witness
346 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxni.
that they also acknowledged and worshipped Jehovah
as the true God (Keil). So the pile, which Jacob
and Laban erected, was called Gal- edh, " the heap of
witness" (Gen. xxxi. 47).
Note that in this chapter the testimony borne
by Joshua to the courage and fidelity of the trans-
Jordanic tribes, their zeal and that of the rest of the
Israelites for the worship of Jehovah, the absence of
any recrimination on the part of the trans-Jordanic
tribes when vindicating their character from a false
suspicion, and the readiness with which their apology
was accepted, were all highly creditable, and seem to
indicate that the nation at this time was under the
influence of a truly religious spirit.
CHAPTERS XXIII. XXIV.
Joshua s two farewell addresses: I, to the rulers
and authorities of Israel (chap, xxiii.) ; 2, to all the
people (chap. xxiv.). The former address may be
divided into two parts ; in the first of which (ver. 2 b-
I i) Joshua encourages the rulers, etc., to persevere in
the conquest of Canaan by promises of continued
assistance from God ; in the second (vers. 12-16) he
warns them of the consequences of disobedience.
Both addresses (chaps, xxiii. -xxiv.) strikingly dis
play Joshua s piety, zeal, and deep acquaintance with
human nature. They may be compared with Moses s
farewell addresses in the Book of Deuteronomy, to
which reference in them is often made. Our heavenly
Joshua, before He left this earth, gave a parting
charge to His apostles (Acts i. 4).
VERS. 1-3.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 347
CHAPTER XXIII.
Vers. i- 1 1. Ver. i. 131 Oi?J, "from (i.e., after)
many days" (cf. Gen. iv. 3 ; -Ezek. xxxviii. 8).
" After that Jehovah had given rest" etc. (see xxii.
3, 4, xxi. 43, 44) : This clause appears to be in appo
sition to the foregoing, from which it is separated
by a distinctive accent. The i before y^fiT should
be rendered " and," not " that," as in A.V., for the
apodosis begins at ver. 2. With the phrase 1:1 \\>\ cf.
xiii. i. Here it indicates the still further advance of
Joshua s age, so that he might any day anticipate his
death (cf. ver. 14).
Ver. 2. 131 JO[3?i, " that Joshua called all Israel, its
elders" etc. The h after N^j? need not be translated
(cf. Gen. xx. 8 ; Levit. ix. i, where it is untranslated
in the Auth. Vers.). The terms " elders, heads," etc.,
are explanatory, .being put in apposition to " all
Israel." The place to which Joshua summoned them
was eitherTimnath-serah (xxix. 50) or, more probably,
Shechem (xxiv. i), the centre of the land, and the
place of the sanctuary. The D^T. were the repre
sentatives of Israel ; the D^&o were the heads of
tribes, families, and houses, from whom were taken
the judges and overseers (Dnpb*, i. 10), see on vii. 14.
In the last clause the words "/ am old" etc., imply a
reason why he should lose no opportunity of exhorting
them, nor they of attending to his counsel.
Ver. 3. Dp ;?*?, not, as Auth. Vers. and Rosenm.,
" because of you" i.e., on your account, but " before
34$ THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxm.
you" i.e., driving them out before you ; a constructio
prsegnans (Keil). " For JelwvaJi, your God, (is) He
that hath fought for you" : See the promise of Moses
(Deut i. 30, iii. 22). So in our Christian warfare the
remembrance of what God has done for us in former
times, and His promises for the future, should en
courage and make us steadfast both in trust and
obedience.
Ver. 4. $l?9n, see on xiii. 6, and cf. Psalm Ixxviii.
55, where in like manner nations, instead of their
land, are said to be allotted, ui !"6nj?, "for a posses
sion to your tribes" "From the Jordan and all the
nations wlticJi I have cut off, and the great sea ^vards
the setting of the sun " : " The nations " are mentioned
instead of their territory, because they were given to
the Israelites to be destroyed ; and " the Jordan " and
" the Great Sea " mark the boundary of Canaan from
east to west.
Ver. 5. oann.;, "will expel them" from snn, to
thrust out (cf. Deut. vi. 19, ix. 4) : Chateph-qamets is
used instead of sheva ( 60) on account of the weak
ness of the guttural n (cf. Numb. xxxv. 20). On the
form Dfi^- see on * x 5-
Ver. 6. Dflptni, " therefore (and so) be ye very
strong" : The perfect is here used as an imperative,
the preceding clause implying a cause ( 126, Rem.
i, 2nd par.). With the exhortation cf. i. 7.
Ver. 7. Kia, followed by ?, means " to hold inter
course with" (Ges., Lex., p. 106), cf. ver. 12. ? *V3jn,
" to make mention of" viz., as an object of religious
affiance (cf. Isa. xlviii. i ; Psalm xx. 7 [8]). wK?o tib,
" cause ye not to swear" viz., " by the name of their
gods." Swearing by the name of a god was always
VERS. 8-12.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 349
regarded as an evidence of belief in that god (see
Deut. vi. 13, x. 20). "i?y relates to outward worship
by sacrifice and ceremonies ; niqntpn, to the bending
before God in prayer, and invocation of His name ;
the two are generally connected together, as here (cf.
Exod. xx. 5, xxiii. 24 ; Deut. iv. 19, v. 9, etc. ; Keil).
Ver. 8. DK ra, "btit" after a neg. (cf. Psalm i. 2, 4).
" As ye have done imto this day" : An assertion to be
understood in a general sense only, for there had
been many individual exceptions. Note how by
judicious praise Joshua encourages them to per
severance, lest they should lose a reward for the good
which they had already wrought.
Ver. 9. 131 wyi, " and Jehovah hath driven out
from before you" etc. : This was a fulfilment of Deut.
iv. 38, vii. i, ix. i, xi. 23. DflKI., " and you" : Put
absol. ( 145, 2). "No man liath stood" : A fulfil
ment of the promise in Deut. vii. 24, xi. 25.
Ver. 10. "^T., "c/iaset/i": Cf. the promise in Levit.
xxvi. 7, 8 ; Deut. xxviii. 7. The second clause of the
verse is a repetition of ver. 3 b.
Ver. 1 1 . " A nd take good heed to your souls"
B3 1 ? here means " for the sake of your souls" (cf. Deut.
iv. 15 ; Keil). " To love Jehovah" see Deut. vi. 5,
x. 12, xi. 13 : Likewise under the New or Christian
Covenant love and obedience are united (John xiv. i 5,
xv. 14).
Vers. 1 2- 1 6 (Warning against Apostasy}. Ver.
12. "But if ye do in any wise return" viz., from
following Jehovah (cf. xxii. 1 8). ffifj, " and if ye make
marriages with them " : This was prohibited (Exod.
xxxiv. 1 2-1 6; Deut. vii. 3). }nn means primarily
" to cut off," " to circumcise " (Ges., Lex^> and then,
350 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxm.
because marriage, like circumcision, was a kind of
covenant, " to contract affinity with anyone ; " cf. the
meaning of the cognate word in Arabic, and see
Hooker, Eccles. Pol., v., 62, 21, note 7 (end). In
Hithpael it means to intermarry either by giving or
receiving a daughter in marriage, and is here followed
by ?, as in Deut. vii. 3 ; i Sam. xviii. 22, 23, 26, 27;
Ezra ix. 14. W Dpsn-1, "and ye come among them"
i.e., enter into fellowship with them (cf. ver. 7).
Ver. 13. PIS ? : ns means a snare or net, rt. nns,
to spread out, cf. Tro/ytg, Luke xxi. 35 ; Psalm Ixix.
23 (Heb.) ; Isa. viii. 14, where it occurs also with
^JTID, a trap, from E>JV, to lay snares. t3t?b, "a scourge,"
from the Pilel of t3-i ; , to lash ; elsewhere the form
t31B> is used (see Prov. xxvi. 3 ; I Kings xii. 1 1, etc.).
The expression " a scourge in your sides, and thorns,"
etc., is similar but stronger than that in Numb,
xxxiii. 55. "Joshua crowds his figures together to
depict the misery and oppression which would be
sure to result from fellowship with the Canaanites,
because from his knowledge of the fickleness of the
people and the wickedness of the human heart in its
natural state, he could foresee that the apostasy of
the nation from the Lord which Moses had foretold
would take place but too quickly ; as it actually did,
according to Judges ii. 3, etc., in the very next
generation " (Keil). " Until your perdition from off
the good land." D?"!^, Qal. inf. (short o [ T ]), with
suffix ( 6 1, i) ; with the language of this threat cf.
Deut. xi. 17, xxviii. 21, in which latter place n!p*jx
(properly ground in respect of culture) is used as
here.
Ver. 14. nrn, "this day" art. emphatic ( 109),
VERS. 15, 16.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 351
meaning here that the time was close at hand (cf.
Deut. ix. i). " The way of all the earth" cf. I Kings
ii. 2. "All the eartJi" = all mankind, as in Gen.
xi. i ; i Sam. xvii. 46 ; I Kings x. 24 ; i Chron.
xvi. 2 3 ; Psalm htvi. 4. " Not one word ("i^n) hath
failed" : Cf. xxi. 45 ; i Kings viii. 24, 56. So when
through Christ, the glorious Antitype of Joshua,
believers are put in possession of the heavenly
Canaan, they will be able from their hearts to testify
that not one word (promise) of God hath failed to be
accomplished.
Ver. 15. jnn ... ^3, "every evil word" i.e., every
threatening, in allusion particularly to Levit. xxvi.
14-33 ; Deut. xxviii. 15-68, xxix. 14-28, xxx. 1-15.
DDpTK, see Ges., Gr. ( I 17, 2). This is the original
and regular form, which was contracted into D?J!tN at
a later period (Ewald, Lehrb., 264, a}.
Ver. 1 6. " When ye transgress . . . and go and
serve . . . then sJiall the anger of Jehovah" etc. The
word ^n here denotes continuance and progress in
impiety. The last clause of the verse is nearly a
verbatim repetition of that in Deut. xi. 1 7.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Joshua s Second Farewell Address. This was spoken
to all the Tribes of Israel in the Persons of their
Representatives assembled at SJiechem.
Vers. 1-15 {Joshua rehearses the benefits wJdch God
had conferred upon their nation from its origin up to
that time, and tliereupon claims for God their hearty
352 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP, xxiv
and entire allegiance ; he leaves it, however, to their
own choice to serve God or not}. Ver. i . n3^, " to
SJiechem" see on xvii. 7. A few MSS. of the Sept.
have Shiloh for Shechem, but the Syr., Vulg., and
the Chald. Targum accord with the Hebrew text.
As Shechem was the place where Abraham and
Jacob had erected an altar to God (Gen. xii. 6, 7,
xxxiii. 1 8. 20), and close to which the solemnity
recorded in Josh. viii. 30-35 had taken place, it was
natural that it should have been chosen on this
occasion as calculated, by its associations, to impress
the minds of the Israelites (cf. Dean Stanley s Sin.
and Pal., p. 239). .Dntpb , see i. 10, xxiii. 2. -n-yyv,
"presented themselves" from 2 T S " to place " (cf. Job
i. 6). Kn *ysb : This expression does not warrant the
inference of Rosenm. and Knobel that the ark had
been removed on this occasion from Shiloh to
Shechem. Neither it, nor ^ *}?, which occurs in
reference to the Tabernacle (xviii. 6, xix. 51), need
sometimes imply more than a general allusion to
God s presence as giving solemnity to a place or
ceremony (Hengstenberg, Beitrage, iii., p. 13, etc.,
quoted by Keil ; cf. Judges xi. I i). It is, however,
to be remarked that a sanctity attached to Shechem,
because Joshua had erected an altar on Mount Ebal,
near to it (see viii. 30).
Ver. 2 ( The first proof of God s favour A braham s
call}. "All the people" probably as many individuals
out of each tribe attended as were able. " God of
Israel" fitly so termed, since Joshua is about to
rehearse the benefits which God had conferred on
His people Israel from ancient times up to that
present day, when He had put them in possession of
VERS. 3, 4.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 353
the land of Canaan. " The river " (not " the flood," as
in Auth. Vers.), i.e., the Euphrates, called " the river,"
/car IJ-Qxfiv, as in Gen. xxxi. 2 1 ; Exod. xxiii. 3 I ;
see note on i. 4. The abode of their fathers was (i)
Ur of the Chaldees ; (2) Charan of Mesopotamia
(Gen. xi. 28, 31). D^Wip, "from time immemorial
rnn from rnri, Chald., to delay (Ges., Lex.~), Sept.
Qappa. He was the father of Abraham, Nachor,
and Haran (Gen. xi. 27), but the two first only are
mentioned here, because from them the Israelites
were descended, viz., from Abraham on the paternal,
and from Nachor on the maternal side (Gen. xxii. 23,
xxix. 10, 1 6). " And tJiey served other gods: " Perhaps
the teraphim (penates) mentioned in Gen. xxxi. 19,
34. According to the Jewish tradition Abraham did
not participate in this idolatry, and being persecuted
in consequence was obliged to leave his native land
(Targum Jonathan, on Gen. xi. 23), or rather was
called away by God, that he might escape from the
surrounding idolatry.
Ver. 3. ^?TKJ, "and I led" lit. "I made to go."
nnxi, " and I multiplied" 3ix, Hiph. imperf. apoc.,
for which the Q e ri has the more usual form n|~iN.
"Isaac" is explanatory of the foregoing word "seed,"
for in Isaac was his seed to be called (Gen.
xxi. 12).
Ver. 4. "A nd I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau " :
In answer to Isaac s earnest prayer, and after he had
been married twenty years (Gen. xxv. 21, 26 ; Psalm
cxxvii. 3). " And I gave unto Esau Mount Seir" 1 :
See Gen. xxxvi. 8 ; Deut. ii. 5, 12. Nothing is said
1 = hairy, rough. It extended from the Dead Sea to the
Elanitic Gulf.
23
354 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxiv.
here of the gift of Canaan to the posterity of Isaac,
because Joshua assumes that as well known to the
Israelites, and, therefore, only adds the statement in
the last clause of the verse in order to introduce what
follows in vers. 5-7.
Vers. 5-7 (Second Proof of God s Favour, viz., the
Deliverance from Egypt], Ver. 5. "And I smote
Egypt" i.e., its land and people. S|3J is used of a
plague, e.g., that of frogs (Exod. vii. 27, viii. 2), and
of the smiting of the firstborn of Egypt (Exod. xii.
23, 27). In Exod. iii. 20 ro3 is used in the same
sense. "ip??, " according to that which " (Auth. Vers.),
or " according to tJie plagues which" subaudi ntD.asn
from the preceding f|3K. The Sept. Alex, seems to
have read "i^N.2, which it loosely renders eV cr^eiots
ots liroLTfja a, cf. the Vulg., " et percussi ALgyptum
multis signis et portends." "And afterwards I
brought you out" viz., out of Egypt, thus fulfilling the
promise in Exod. iii. 20.
Ver. 6. nsn, " to the sea" i.e., the Arabian Gulf,
here called /car i^oyrpt, D*n, as in Exod. xiv. 2, but
f]-1D D^ at the end of this verse (cf. ii. I o, note).
Ver. 7. "And they cried unto Jehovah": See
Exod. xiv. i o. "And He put darkness " : The abrupt
change from the first person in vers. 3-6 to the third
person here is common in Hebrew (cf. Psalm xxii. 27
[Heb.], Ixxxi. 16 ; Zech. xiv. 5). ^?N., " darkness" rt.
^DN, to set, to be obscure ; the noun is used here
only, but the compound n^D^p, " the darkness of
Jehovah," occurs in Jer. ii. 31. The allusion is to
the pillar of the cloud (Exod. xiv. 20). " And ye
dwelt . . . many days" i.e., for forty years (Numb.
xiv. 33).
VERS. 8-12.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 355
Vers. 8-10 (Third Proof of God s Favour the Con
quest of the Land of the Amorites, and tlie Frustration
of tJie Designs of Balak}. Ver. 8. nN-QNi, with n
parag., instead of the Q e ri K3gJ- *Bnpi, " and ye pos
sessed," Vulg. " et possedistis " : See the history of
this conquest in Numb. xxi. 21-35.
Ver. 9. Dn^l, "and lie fought" not with weapons
of war (see Judges xi. 25), but by employing Balaam
to curse them, as said in the next clause.
Ver. 10. "nra "^a*!, "and he continued to bless"
( I 3 r > 3> b} " And I delivered you out of his hand"
/.<?., the hand of Balak, 1 who wished to destroy Israel,
if he could (Numb. xxii. 6, 1 1).
Vers. 11-13 (Fourth Proof of God s Favour the
Passage of the Jordan, and the Conquest of Jericho and
of the Nations of Canaan}. Ver. n. T ^ya, "in
habitants 2 (not " lords," Knobel) of Jericlw " (Ges.,
Lex.}, Sept. 01 /carot/cowreg lept^w (cf. Judges ix. 6 ;
2 Sam. xxi. 12). " FougJit" i.e., from the walls, for
no mention is made of a battle outside the city. The
same verb applies to the seven nations, or tribes,
which are next mentioned, and which are not to
be regarded as put in apposition to the inhabitants
of Jericho, as though they had severally taken
part with them in the defence of the city (Jarchi) ;
rather 1 should be supplied before ^bxrj (Keil and
Rosenm.).
Ver. 12. nin-yn, " the hornet" : (Art. collec.) from
iny, " to strike down," with which is connected the
idea of " to pierce ): (Ges., Lex} ; see the promise in
1 = "the spoiler," from p?3, to make empty.
2 Owners or citizens.
356 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA, [CHAP. xxiv.
Exod. xxiii. 28 ; Deut. vii. 20, where, as here, the
word " hornet " is used not literally (Bochart and
Rosenm.), but figuratively, to denote that effective
terror (Keil) with which God inspired all the sur
rounding nations (Deut. ii. 25 ; Josh. ii. 1 1). In
like manner, " bees " (or " wasps ") are spoken of as
the cause of terror (Deut. i. 44 ; Psalm cxviii. 1 2 ;
cf. //., xvi., 259, etc.) 1 "And it drave them out":
" Them " refers, according to the Auth. Vers., to " the
two kings of the Amorites " mentioned in the next
clause, but Keil and Rosenm. rightly understood \
before these words (cf. ver. 1 1). Not merely the
seven tribes on the west side of Jordan, but the two
kings of the Amorites on the east side, were driven
out. " Not by thy sivord, and not by thy bow" see
Psalm xliv. 4 (Heb.), " they got not the land ... by
their own sword," etc.
Ver. i 3. " In wJiicJi ye did not labour" i.e., to
render it fruitful. r;j means " to labour with toilsome
effort." DTin, lit. olive trees, though meaning here
olive plantations, for which Hebrew has no one word ;
hence rightly, as to sense, the Auth. Vers. renders
1 Though Bochart (Hieroz., lib. iv., c. 13) has collected
examples from ancient authorities of numerous bodies of men
being driven away by noxious insects ; and the Book of
Wisdom (xii. 8, 9) supports this view of the expulsion of the
Canaanites ; yet the majority of commentators understand the
term " hornet " to be used here (Josh. xxiv. 12) metaphorically.
This view is confirmed by the fact that there is in the Book of
Joshua no historical mention of the Canaanites having been
thus driven out. Also in Exod. xxiii. 28 the word " hornets "
is parallel with the word "fear " in ver. 27. And besides the
examples given above of the use of the word "bees," the
word cestrus, a gad-fly, is used poetically to denote madness
or frenzy.
VERS. 14, 15.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 357
"olive-yards," Sept. eXaioW?, Vulg. oliveta. With
this verse cf. the promise in Deut. vi. 10, 1 1.
Vers. 14, 15 (An Appeal to t/ie Israelites to renounce
Idolatry, and to cleave to tJie Service of JeJiovah
Josliuds own Resolve}. Ver. 14. nny), "and now"
i.e., on the ground of God s past benefits to your
nation (cf. Psalm cv. 45, where, after having rehearsed
God s mercies to the Israelites, the Psalmist declares
the design of those mercies, viz., " that they [the
Israelites] might observe His statutes and keep His
laws "). IN V, imper. of NT>, but pointed like a verb, rh
for -lan? (cf. I Sam. xii. 24 ; Psalm xxxiv. 10 [Heb.]).
n?y, see on *ny xxiii. 7, Sept. Xar/aevcrare. D^pn,
prim, an adjec., " perfect, complete," but here used
as a substantive, "integrity" (cf. Judges ix. 16, 19,
where the Sept. renders it by TeXetdr^rt). np.N, " sted-
fastness," from JON, to prop, to support, and hence
faithfulness, truth, sincerity. God requires the same
qualifications in His servants now (Matt. vi. 24 ;
John iv. 23, 24). " The gods . . . on tJie other side
of tJie river" see on ver. 2. "And in Egypt" see
Ezek. xx. 7, 8, xxiii. 3, 8, IQ. 1
Ver. 15. "And if it is evil in your eyes" : Sept.
et Se fJLT) apecrKeL v^lv. D3^ -nq?, " choose for your
selves whom ye will serve" (cf. I Kings xviii. 2i):
We have not the liberty to choose whether we will
serve or not ; all the liberty we have is to choose our
master (Bishop Sanderson, iii., 314). DVi^N-ng, i.e.,
the teraphim or penates (ver. 2). The " Emorites "
are probably put for the Canaanites generally, who
1 The golden calf, or steer (?3#), was probably an imitation
of Apis, or some other of the sacred bulls of Egypt.
358 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxiv.
were worshippers of Baal. The choice thus given to
the Israelites was intended to test their sincerity,
that they might not thoughtlessly pledge themselves
to the service of God. " But I and my house" etc. :
As Joshua does not appear to have been married, his
" house " probably refers to his servants (cf. " house
hold " in Gen. xviii. 19).
Vers. 16-24 (Tlie Determination of Israel to serve
Jehovah}. Ver. 16. -1^ rMn (cf. xxii. 29), here fol
lowed by JO with an infin. "Far be it from us that
we should forsake" (Ges., Lex.}, cf. Gen. xviii. 25,
xliv. 7, 17.
Ver. 1 7. n^n, Hiph. part, with art., " ivJw brought
up" answering to "nxytn I^N. (Exod. xx. 2). " The
house of bondmen": So in Exod. xx. 2. " TJiose
great signs" viz., those referred to in vers. 8-12.
Ver. 1 8. l^tf D]!, "also we" in reference to Joshua s
words (ver. 15), " I and my father s house."
Ver. 19. $79*m6, "ye will not be able," i.e., without
true conversion of heart. There is an implied allusion
to their fickleness and proneness to rebel. D ehp, plur.
adj., because Elohim is a plur. excellentiae, denoting
God in the fulness and multiplicity of the Divine
powers ( 1 08, 2, b ; cf. Hosea xii. I [Heb.] ; Prov.
ix. 10). N13 occurs here and in Nah. i. 2 only, i.q.
N2|5 (Exod. xx. 5, xxxiv. iv. 14; Deut. iv. 24, v. 9,
vi. I 5), a jealous God, who will not transfer to another
the honour due unto Himself (Isa. xlii. 8, xlviii. 1 1).
N^rK^j followed here and in Exod. xxiii. 2 I ; Psalm
xxv. 1 8, by a dat, but generally by an accus. of the
thing ; " will not grant forgiveness to your trans
gressions"
Ver. 20. rs, "when" 133 ^, " strange gods"
VERS. 21-25.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 359
(lit. gods of a foreign country), so in Gen. xxxv. 2 ;
Jer. v. 1 9. 3Kh : , " then He will turn" i.e., will assume
a different disposition towards you. r n^9), " and tuill
consume you" lit. "will finish" or " make an end of"
you. " After that He hath done you good" i.e., not
withstanding the past tokens of His goodness to you.
Ver. 2 r . &6, " nay" as in v. 1 4.
Ver. 22. After DHtf in the last clause is an ellip
sis of -iJrjJN. (we are) which is supplied in the Syr. and
Arab, versions.
Ver. 23. " Put away the strange gods which are
among you" Keil, after Levi ben Gerson, Augustine,
and Calvin, takes D3?~)p? to signify " within you," i.e.,
in your hearts, because it is said in xxiii. 8 that the
people had cleaved to the Lord " unto this day," and
in xxiv. 31, that they "served the Lord all the days
of Joshua." This meaning, however, seems forced,
and it is, therefore, better to suppose that Joshua
alludes to secret idolatry practised by individuals,
though there was no national public recognition of
strange gods. It is true that nothing is said of
delivering up these idols to be destroyed, as was done
in similar cases (see Gen. xxxv. 4 ; I Sam. vii. 4),
but it would be rash to argue from the silence of the
sacred narrative that no such surrender might have
taken place.
Vers. 25-28 (Joshua renews the Covenant, etc., and
dismisses the People}. Ver. 25. "Made a covenant"
i.e., renewed the one which had been made at Sinai
(Exod. xxiv. 3, etc.), and renewed by Moses in the
plains of Moab (Deut. xxviii. 69 [xxix. I, Auth.
Vers.]). "And he set for them (i.e., the people) a
statute and an ordinance" BStpp, prop, judgment,
360 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxiv.
and hence a law or ordinance (Exod. xxi. I, xxiv. 3 ;
Levit. xviii. 4). There is a reference to Exod. xv. 25,
and the meaning probably is that Joshua ratified the
covenant as a Divine statute and ordinance, by which
the Israelites were bound to obedience as a condition
of receiving the blessings of the covenant.
Ver. 26. nWi nnn^rrns refers not only to the
words spoken, but to all the transactions connected
with the renewal of the covenant. " Tlie book of the
law of God" i.e., the Pentateuch, which was laid up
in the Holy of Holies, close by the ark of the
covenant, probably in a chest (see Deut. xxxi. 24, 26).
This was done not only for the safe custody of the
book, and in testimony of its Divine authority, but as
a protest against a breach of the covenant, of which
the ark was a symbol, by idolatry (see Dr. Pusey,
On Daniel, pp. 308, 309). " Took a great stone and
set it up," cf. Gen. xxviii. 18 ; Josh. iv. 20-22 ;
i Sam. vii. 12). rta<n, " tfic oak" (Ges., Lex.}; so
Vulg., but Sept. " the terebinth " : The noun literally
means " a thick tree," rt. ^x, properly to roll, hence
to be round, thick (cf. "?-ix and n^x) ; the article pro
bably alludes to the oak or terebinth of Moreh (Gen.
xii. 6), where Abraham pitched his tent, and raised
an altar, and where Jacob buried the idols of his
household (Gen. xxxv. 4 ; see note on xxiv. i).
J* Bnpp?, " in the sanctuary of JehovaJi " : The allusion
is not to the Tabernacle, for that was at Shiloh
(xviii. i), but to the spot sanctified by the altar
erected by Abraham, and afterwards by Jacob. So
Keil, Hengstenberg, and others. 1
1 Dean Stanley thinks that the place indicated was the same
as that where Jacob buried the images and ornaments of his
VERS. 27-30.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 361
Ver. 27. "For it liatli heard": An example of
vivid personification (prosopopeia, cf. Detit. xxxii. i ;
Isa. i. 2 ; Jer. ii. 12). " Lest ye deny your God" viz.,
in feeling, word, or deed (Keil). The same verb B>n3
occurs in vii. 1 1 .
Vers. 29-33 (Death and Biirial of Joshua and
Eleasar, and mention of the Burial of JosepJis Bones}.
Ver. 29. "An hundred and ten years old" (cf.
Joseph., Antiq., v., i, 29) : The same age as that of
Joseph (Gen. 1. 26).
Ver. 30. " Timnath-serach" see note on xix. 50.
" On the north side of Mount Ga ash " : The word
BWJ meaning " shaking," " earthquake," from t?r|, " to
push, to thrust," and in the pass. " to be concussed,
to be moved " (Ges., Lex^ occurs again with "in in
Judges ii. 9, and with ^ru (torrent-beds, or wadys of
Gaash), in 2 Sam. xxiii. 30 ; i Chron. xi. 32.
Eusebius and Jerome record the name (Onomast.,
" Gaas "), but evidently had no knowledge of the
situation. There is, however, a remarkable consent
of Jewish, Samaritan, and Christian tradition, trace
able from the fourth century downwards, which points
to a village called Kafr Hdris, south of Shechem,
as representing the burial-place of Joshua. Lieut.
Conder ascertained that this tradition is still extant
among the Samaritans, and, although it appears little
understood by the peasantry, a sacred shrine exists
outside the village of Kefr Haris to which the name
Neby Luslia (no doubt a corruption of Yehusha or
Mesopotamian retainers (Gen. xxxv. 4), and that the tree or
spot appears to have been known in the time of the Judges,
as the traditional site of these two events, by the double name
of " the oak of the enchantments or " the oak of the pillar "
(Sin. and Pal., p. 142).
362 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [CHAP. xxiV
Joshua) is applied. Ancient tradition also places the
tomb of Nun at this same village, and a second sacred
place, called Neby Nun, was found close to the sup
posed site of the tomb of Joshua (Pal. Explor. Fund,
Quarterly Statement, 1881).
To this verse the Sept. and Arab, append the
legend that the stone-knives, with which Joshua had
circumcised the Israelites (chap, v.), were buried with
him (cf. xxi. 42 [40]).
Ver. 31. " The elders" i.e., the rulers and leaders.
WT, " had seen or experienced " : Cf. the statement in
this verse with Judges ii. 7. The good example set
by individuals in high station and authority may
influence a whole people.
Ver. 32. "And the bones . . . Egypt" (see Gen.
1. 25 ; Exod. xiii. 19). "Buried they in Shechem"
a place consecrated by Abraham s altar (Gen. xii. 7),
the oldest sanctuary in the land. " /;/ a portion of
the field * wJiicJi Jacob had bought . . . for a hundred
q e st-tali " (cf. Gen. xxxiii. 1 9). All the ancient ver
sions, except Targg. Jerusalem and Jonathan, render
na^p, " a lamb," whence it has been thought to have
been a coin bearing the impression of a lamb. But
more probably the word signifies something weighed
out, from DBfy an unused root, i.q. V&\>, in Arab. " to
divide," or "to distribute equally," and, therefore, might
denote money. Thus here Gesenius (Z^r.) renders
" a hundred measures, or portions of silver." This
interment of Joseph s bones probably took place when
the apportionment of the land had been completed,
1 i"li??D, a plot ; or portion, properly "a smooth piece "(cf.
Gen. xxvii. 16, from p?n, to be smooth (Ges., Lex.).
VERS. 33-] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 363
but was not mentioned before, that the thread of the
narrative might not be broken (Keil). To this day
the tomb, whether correctly or not, is pointed out
under the shadow of Mount Ebal (TJie Land and the
Book, p. 473).
Ver. 33. " Et- a- zar" : See note on xiv. I.
Whether his death was shortly before, or after, that
of Joshua, Scripture does not tell us. Josephus says
it occurred about the same time as Joshua s, twenty-
five years after the death of Moses (Antiq., v., I, 29).
" In the hill o/Pi-n e chas" or " in Gibh-at/i-Pi-n e c/tas,"
possibly a town so called. " This " (says Grove) "may
be the Jibia on the left of the Nablus 1 road, halfway
between Bethel and Shiloh ; or the Jeba north of
Nablus (Rob., ii., 265, note 312). Both would be in
Mount Ephraim, but there is nothing in the text to
fix the position of the place, while there is no lack of
the name among the villages of Central Palestine "
(Art. "Gibeah" in Dr. Smith s Bib. Diet., I., p. 692).
At the present day Samaritan, Jewish, and Christian
tradition identifies the Gibeah of Phinehas with the
village of AwertaJi, four miles south-east of Nablus,
and here, or in the immediate vicinity, are shown the
monuments of Phinehas and Eleazar. These were
visited by Lieut. Conder and his fellow-explorers, and
the former monument is described as bearing marks
of great antiquity, and the latter as having been
rebuilt (Pal. Explor. Fund, Quarterly Statement, I 88 1). 2
1 That is, Shechem.
" The tomb of Eleazar is " a rude structure of masonry in a
court open to the air. It is 18 ft. long, plastered all over, and
shaded by a splendid terebinth. That of Phinehas is ap
parently an older building, and the walls of its court have an
arcade of round arches, now supporting a trellis, covered with
a grape vine, and the floor is paved " (Tent Work, p. 41).
364 THE BOOK OF fOSHUA. [CHAP. xxiv.
Here appropriately closes the Book of Joshua, but
several editions and MSS. of the Sept. add some
particulars relative to Pin e chas and the apostacy of
the children of Israel after Joshua s death, which have
been manifestly taken from Judges ii. 6, 11, and
iii. 7, 12, etc., and are not found in any of the MSS.
and editions of the Book of Joshua.
GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.
(SPELT AS IN THE AUTHORISED VERSION.)
ABDON, xxi. 30
Abez, xix. 20
Achor, Valley of, vii. 24, 26, xv. 7
Achshaph, xi. i, xii. 20, xix. 25
Achzib, xv. 44, xix. 29
Adadah, xv. 22
Adam, iii. 16
Adamah, xix. 36
Adami, xix. 33
Adar, xv. 3
Adithaim, xv. 36
Adullam, xii. 15, xv. 35
Adummim, xv. 7, xviii. 17
Ai, vii. 2-5, viii. 1-29, ix. 3, x. i, 2, xii.
Aijalon,* xix. 42, xxi. 24
Valley of, x. 12
Ain, xv. 32, x ; x. 7, xxi. 16
Akrabbim, The Ascent of, xv. 3
Alammelech, xix. 26
Allon, xix. 33
Almon, xxi. 18
Amad, xix. 26
Amam, xv. 26
Ammon, xii. 2, xiii. 10
Amorite, ii. 10, iii. 10, v. i, vii. 7, ix. :
x. 5, 6, 12, xi. 3, xii. 2, xiii. 4, 10, :
xxiv. 8, 12, 15, 18
Anab, xi. 21, xv. 50
Anaharath, xix. 19
Anathoth, xxi. 18
Anim, xv. 50
Aphek xii. 18, xiii. 4, xix. 30
Aphekah, xv. 53
Arab, xv. 52
Arabah, iii. 16, xviii. 18
Arad, xii. 14
Archi, xvi. 2
Arnon, xii. i, 2, xiii. 9, 16
Aroer, xii. 2, xiii. 9, 16, 25
Ashan, xv. 42, xix. 7
Ashdod, xi. 22, xv. 46, 47
Ashdoth-Pisgah, xii. 3, xiii. 20
Ashdoth, x. 40, xii. 8
Ashdothites, xiii. 3
Asher, xvii. 10, u, xix. 24, 31, 34, xxi. 6,
Asher, xvii. 7
Ashnah, xv. 33, 43
Ashtaroth (in Bashan), ix. 10, xii.
xiii. 12
(in Manasseh), xiii. 31
Ataroth, xvi. 2, 7
Ataroth-Addar, xvi. 5, xviii. 13
Avites or Avim, xiii. 3, xviii. 23
Azckah, x. 10, n, xv. 35
Azem, xv. 29, xix. 3
Azmon, xv. 4
Aznoth-Tabor, xix. 34
Ba alah, xv. 9, 10, xv. 29
Ba alath, xix. 44
(Mount), xv. u
Ba alath-Beer, xix. 8
Baal-Gad, xi. 17, xii. 7, xiii. 5
Baal-Meon, xiii. 17
Balah, xix. 3
Bamoth-Baal, xiii. 17
Bashan, ix. 10, xii. 4, 5, xiii. n, la, 30, 31,
xvii. i, 5, xx. 8, xxi. 6, 27, xxii. 7
Bealoth, xv. 24
Beeroth, ix. 17, xviii. 25
Beer-Sheba, xv. 28, xix. 2
Beeshterah, xxi. 27
Bene-Berak, xix. 46
Benjamin, xviii. n, 20, 21, 28, xxi. 4, 17
Beten, xix. 25
Bethanath, xix. 38
Bethanoth, xv. 59
Beth-Arabah, xv. 6, 61, xviii. 22
Beth-Aram, xiii. 27
Beth-Aven,vii. 2, xviii. 12 (wilderness of)
Beth-Baal-Mcon, xiii. 17
Beth-Dagon, xv. 41, xix. 27
Beth-El, vii. 2, viii. 9, 12, 17, xii. 9, 16,
xvi. 2, xviii. 13, 22
Beth-El (Mount), xvi. i
Beth-Emek, xix. 27
Beth-Hcgla, xv. 6, xviii. 19, 21
Beth-Horon, x. 10, n, xvi. 3, 5, xviii.
13, 14, xxi. 22
Beth-Jeshimoth, xii. 3, xiii. 20
Beth-Lebaoth, xix. 6
Beth-Lehem (in Zebulun), xix. 15
Beth-Marcaboth, xix. 5
Beth-Nimrah, xiii. 27
Beth-Palet, xv. 27
Beth-Pazzez, xix. 21
Beth-Peor, xiii. 20
Beth-Shean, xvii. n, 16
Beth-Shemesh, xv. 10, xxi. i6(injudah);
xix. 22 (in Issachar); xix. 38 (in Naph-
tali)
Beth-Tappuah, xv. 53
Bcthul, xix. 4
Beth-Zur, xy. 58
Betonim, xiii. 26
Bezer in the wilderness, xx. 8, xxi. 36
Bizjothjah, xv. 28
Bohan, Stone of, xv. 6, xviii. 17
Bozkath, xv. 39
Cabbon, xv. 40
Cahul, xix. 27
* Written also Ajalon.
366
GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.
Cain, xv. 57
Canaan, v. 12, xiv. i, xxi. 2, xxii. 9, 10,
ii, 32, xxiv. 3
Canaanite or Canaanites, iii. 10, v. i,
vii. 9, ix. i, xi. 3, xii. 8, xiii. 3, 4,
xvi. 10. xvii. 12, 13, 16, 18, xxiv. n
Carmel (i, the mountain), xii. 22, xix.
26, (2, a town) xv. 55
Chephar Ha-Ammonai, xviii. 24
Chephirah, ix. 17, xviii. 26
Chesalon, xv. 10
Chesil, xv. 30
Chesulloth, xix. 18.
Chinnereth, xix. 35
Chinneroth, xi. 2
Chinnereth, Sea of, xiii. 27, or Chinne
roth, Sea of, xii. 3
Chisloth Tabor, xix. 12
Dabareh, xxi. 28
Dabbasheth, xix. n
Daberath, xix. 28, xxi. 28
Dan (i, the tribe), xix. 40, 47, 48, xxi.
5, 23 ; (2, the city of Dan), xix. 47
Dannah, xy. 49
Debir (i, in the highlands of Judah),
x - 38, 39. xi. 21, xii. 13, xv. 15, 49,
xxi. 15 ; (2, on the northern boundary
of Judah), xv. 7 ; (3, connected with
the boundary of Gad), xiii. 26
Dibon (on the east of Jordan), xiii. 9, 17
Dilean, xv. 38
Dimnah, xxi. 35
Dimonah, xv. 22
Dor, xi. 2, xii. 23, xvii. n.
Dumah, xv. 52
Ebal, Mount, viii. 30, 33
Eder, xv. 21
Edom, xv. i, 21
Edrei, xii. 4, xix. 37
Eglon, xy. 39, x. 3, 23, 34, xii. 12
Egypt, ii. 10, v. 4, 5, 6, 9, ix. 9, xiii. 3,
xxiv. 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 17, 32
Egypt, River of, xv. 4, 47
Ekron, xiii. 3, xv. ii, 45, 46
Ekronites, xiii. 3
Eleph, xviii. 28
Elon, xix. 43
Eltekeh, xix. 44, xxi. 23
Eltekon, xv. 59
Eltolad, xv. 30, xix. 4
Enam, xv. 34
Endor, xvii. n
En-gannim, xv. 34 (in the low country
of Judah); xix. 21 (on the border of
Issachar) ; xxi. 29 (allotted to Levites)
Engedi, xv. 62
En-haddah, xix. 21
En-Hazor, xix. 37
En-Rogel, xv. 7, xviii. 16
En-Shemesh, xv. 7, xviii. 17
En-Tappuah, xvii. 7
Ephraim, xiv. 4, xvi. 4, 5, 8, 9, xvii. 8, 9,
10, 17, xxi. 5, 20
Ephraim (Mount of), xvii. 15, xix. 50,
xx. 7, xxi. 21, xxiv. 30, 33
Ephraimites, xvi. 10
Ephron, Mount, xv. 9
Eshean, xv. 52
Eshkalonites, xiii. 3
Eshtaol, xv. 33, xix. 41
Eshtemoa, xxi. 14
Eshtemoh, xv. 50
Ether, xv. 42, xix. 7
Euphrates, i. 4
Gaash, xxiv. 30
Gaba, xviii. 24
Gad, iv. 12, xiii. 24, 28, xviii. 7, xx. 8,
xxi. 7, 38, xxii. 9, 10, n, 13, 15, 21, 25,
3<>-34
Gadites, i. 12, xii. 6, xiii. 8, xxii. i
Galilee, xx. 7, xxi. 32
Gath, xi. 22
Gath-Hepher, xix. 13
Gath-Rimmon (i, in Dan), xix. 45,xxi. 24;
(2, in Western Manasseh), xxi. 25
Gaza, x. 41, xi. 22, xv. 47
Gazathites, xiii. 3
Geba, xxi. 17
Geder, xii. 13
Gederah, xv. 36
Gederoth, xv. 41
Gederothaim, xv. 36
Gedor, xv. 58
Geliloth, xviii. 17, xxii. 10, n
Gerizim, Mount, viii. 33
Geshurites, xii. 5, xiii. n, 13
Geshuri, xiii. 2
Gezer, x. 33, xii. 12, xvi. 3, 10, xxi. 21
Gibbethon, xix. 44, xxi. 23
Gibeah, xv. 57
Gibeath, xviii. 28
Gibeon, ix. 3, 17, x. i, 2, 4-6, 10, 12, 41,
xi. 19, xviii. 25, xxi. 17
Giblites, The, xiii. 5
Gilead, xii. 2, 5, xiii. n, 25, 31, xvii. 5, 6,
xx. 8, xxi. 38, xxii. 9, 13, 15, 32
Gilgal, iv. 19, 20, y. 9, 10, ix. 6, x. 6, 7, g,
15, 43, xii. 23, xiv. 6, xv. 7
Giloh, xv. 51
Girgashites, iii. ip, xxiv. ii
Gittah-Hepher, xix. 13
Golan, xx. 8, xxi. 27
Goshen, x. 41, xi. 16, xv. 51
Hadattah, xv. 25
Halak, Mount, xi. 17, xii. 7
Halhul, xv. 58
Hali, xix. 25
Hamath, xiii. 5
Hammath, xix. 35
Hammon, xix. 28
Hammoth-Dor, xxi. 32
Hannathon, xix. 14
Haphraim, xix. 19
Havoth-Jair, xiii. 30
Hazar-Gaddah, xv. 27
Hazar-Shual, xv. 28, xix. 3
Hazar-Susah, xix. 5
Hazor (i, in North Palestine), xi. i, 10,
ii, 13, xii. 19, xix. 36 ; (2, in the South
of Judah), xv. 23 ; (3, Hazor-hadattah),
xv. 25
Hebron (i, in Judah), x. 3, 5, 23, 36, 39,
GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.
367
xi. 21, xii. 10, xiv. 13-15, xv. 13, 54,
xx. 7, xxi. ii, 13 ; (2, in Asher), xix. 28
Heleph, xix. 33
Helkath, xix. 25, xxi. 31
Hepher, xii. 17
Hermon, Mount, xi.3, 17, xii. 1,5, xiii.s, n
Heshbon, ix. 10, xii. 2, 5, xiii. 10, 17, 21,
26, 27, xxi. 39
Heshmon, xv. 27
Hinnom, Valley of, xv. 8, xviii. 16 ; or
Valley of son of Hinnom, xy. 8
Hittite and Hittites, i. 4, iii. 10, ix. i,
xi. 3, xii. 8, xxiv. n
Hivite and Hiyites, iii. 10, ix. i, 7, xi. 3,
19, xii. 8, xxiv. ii
Holon, xv. 51, xxi. 15
Horem, xix. 38
Hormah, xii. 14, xv. 30, xix. 4
Hosah, xix. 29
Hukkok, xix. 34
Humtah, xy. 54
Ibleam, xvii. n
Idalah, xix. 15
lim, xv. 29
Iron, xix. 38
Irpeel, xviii. 27
Ir-Shemesh, x!x. 41
Israel, Mountain or Mountains of, xi.
16, 21
Issachar, xvii. 10, ii, xix. 17, 23, xxi. 6, 28
Ithnan, xy. 23
Ittah-Kazin, xix. 13
Jaazer, xiii. 25
abbok, The Brook, xii. 2
Jabneel (i, on north boundary of Judah),
xy. ii ; (2, on boundary of Naphtali),
xix. 33
Jaeur, xv. 21
Jahaza, Jahazah, xiii. 18, xxi. 36
Janohah, xvi. 6, 7
Janura, xy. 53
laphia, xix. 12
Japho, xix. 46
armuth (i, in the lowlands of Judah),
xv. 35, x. 3, 5, 23, xii. n ; (2, in Issa
char), xxi. 29
Jattir, xv. 48, xxi. 14
Jazer, xxi. 39
Jearim, Mount, xv. 10
Jebusi, xviii. 16, 28
Jebusite, The, xi. 3, xv. 8, 63 Also, as
a usual formula for the conquered
people, iii. 10, ix. i, xii. 8, xxiv. n
Jehud, xix. 45
Jericho, ii. i, 2, 3, iii. 16, iv. 13, 19, y. 10,
13, vi. i, 2, 25, 26, vii. i, viii. 2, ix. 3,
x. i, 28, 30, xii. 9, xiii. 32, xvi. i, 7,
xviii. 12, 21, xx. 8, xxiv. ii
Jericho, The plains of, iv. 13, v. 10
Jerusalem, x. i, 3, 5, 23, xii. 10, xv. 8,
63, xviii. 28
Jcthlah, xix. 42
Jezreel.(i, in Issachar), xix. 18, also the
Valley of Jezreel, xvii. 16; (2, in
Judah), xv. 56
Jiphtah, xv. 43
Jiphtah-El, The Valley of, xix. 14, 27
Jokdeam, xy. 56
Jokneam, xii. 22, xix. ii, xxi. 34
Jokthe-el, xv. 38
Jordan, i. 2, n, 14, 15, ii. 7, 10, iii. i, 8,
"> iS- S) 17. v. i, 3, 5, 7-10, 16-20, 22,
8, 23, 27, 32, xiv. 3, xv. 5, xvi. i, 7,
xvii. 5, xviii. 7, 12, 19, 20, xix. 22, 33,
34, xx. 8, xxii. 4, 7, 10, n, 25, xxiii. 4,
xxiv. 8, ii
Judah, vii. i, 16-18, xi. 21, xiv. 6, xv. i,
12, 13, 20, 21, 63, xviii. 5, ii, 14, xix. i,
9, xx. 7, xxi. 4,9, ii
Judah upon Jordan, xix. 34
Juttah, xv. 55, xxi. 16
Kabzeel, xv. 21
Kadesh-Barnea, x. 41, xiv. 6, 7, xv. 3
Kanah, xix. 28
Kanah, The River, xvi. 8, xvii. 9
Karkaa, xv. 3
Kartah, xxi. 34
Kartan, xxi. 32
Kittath, xix. 15
Kedemoth, xiii. 18, xxi. 37
Kedesh (i, in the south of Judah), xv.
23 ; (2, in Issachar), xii. 22 ; (3, in
Galilee, a city of Naphtali), xix. 37,
xx. 7, xxi. 32
Keilah, xv. 44
Kerioth, xxv. 25
Keziz, The Valley of, xviii. 21
Kibzaim, xxi. 22
Kinah, xv. 22
Kirjath, xviii. 28
Kirjathaim, xii. 19
Kirjath Arba, xiv. 15, xv. 13, 54, xx. 7,
xxi. ii
Kirjath-Baal, xv. 60, xviii. 14
Kirjath- Jearim, ix. 17, xv. 9, xviii. 14, 15
Kirjath-Sannah, xv. 49
Kirjath-Sepher, xv. 15, 16
Kishon, xix. 20, xxi. 28
Kithlish, xv. 40
Lachish, x. 3, 5, 26, 31, 33, xii. n, xv. 39
Lahmam, xv. 40
Lakum, xix. 33
Lasharon, xii. 18
Lebanon, i. 4, ix. i, xi. 17, xii. 7, xiii. 5, 6
Lebaoth, xy. 32
Leshem, xix. 47
Libnah, x. 29, 31, 32, 39, xii. 15, xv. 42,
xxi. 13
Lo-Debar, xiii. 26
Luz, xvi. 2, xviii. 13
Maacahites, xii. 5, xiii. ii, 13
Maaleh Acrabbim, xv. 3
Maarath, xv. 58
Madmannah, xv. 31
Madon, xi. i, xii. 19
Mahanaim, xiii. 26, 30, xxi. 38
Makkeddah, x. 10, 16, 17, 21, 28, 29, xv. 41
Manasseh, i. 12, iv. 12, xii. 6, xiii. 7, 29,
31, xiv. 4, xvi. 4, g, xvii. 1-3, 5-12, 17,
xviii. 7, xx. 8, xxi. 5, 6, 25, 27, xxii. i,
7, 9-n, 13, 15. 21, 30, 31.
368
GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.
Maon, xv. 55
Maralah, xix. n
Mareshah, xv. 44
Mearah, xiii. 4
Medeba, xiii. 9
Megiddo, xii. 21, xvii. n
Me-Jarkon, xix. 46
Mephaath, xiii. 18, xxi. 37
Merom, The waters of, xi. 5, 7
Michmethah, xvi. 6, xvii. 7
Middin, xv. 61
Midian, xiii. 21
Migdal-El, xix. 38
Migdal-Gad, xv. 37
Misheal and Mishal, xix. 26, xxi. 30
Misrephoth-Maim, xi. 8, xiii. 6
Mizpeh, Land of, xi. 3 ; Valley of, xi. 8 ;
in the lowlands of Judah, xv. 38 ; in
Benjamin, xviii. 26
Moab, xxiv. 9
Moab, The plains of, xiii. 32
Moladah, xy. 26, xix. 2
Mozah, xviii. 26
Naamah, xv. 41
Naarath, xvi. 7
Nahallal, xix. 15, xxi. 35
Naphtali, xix. 32, 39 ; xx. 7 (Mount
Naphtali) ; xxi. 6, 32
Neiel, xix. 27
Nekeb, xix. 33
Nephtoah, The water of, xv. 9, xviii. 15
Nezib, xv. 43
Nibshan, xv. 62
Nile, The (i, Shichor), xiii. 3 ; (2, River
of Egypt), xv. 4
Ophni, xviii. 24
Ophrah, xviii. 23
Parah, xviii. 23
Perizzites, The, xi. 3, xii. 8, xvii. 15 ; also
iii. lo, ix. i, xxiv. n
Philistines, xiii. 2, 3
Rabbah (in Eastern Palestine), xiii. 25 ;
(in Judah), xv. 60
Rabbith, xix. 20
Rakkath, xix. 35
Rakkon, xix. 46
Ramah (i, in Benjamin), xviii. 25 ; (2, in
Asher), xix. 29 ; (3, in Naphtali), xix. 36
Ramath-Mizpeh, xiii. 26
Ramath of the South, xix. 8
Ramoth in Gilead, xx. 8, xxi. 38
Red Sea, ii. 10, iv. 23, xxiv. 6
Rehob, xix. 28, 30, xxi. 31
Rekem, xviii. 27
Remeth, xix. 21
Remmon, xix. 7
Remmpn-Methoar, xix. 13
Rephaim, Valley of, xv. 8, xviii. 16
Rimmon, xv. 32
River of Egypt, xv. 4, 47
Salcah, xii. 5, xiii. n
Salt, City of, xv. 62
Sansannah, xv. 31
Sarid, xix. 10, 12
Sea, The Salt, iii. 16, xii. 3, xv. 2, 5,
xviii. 19
Sea, of the plain, iii. 16, xii. 3
Secacah, xv. 61
Seir, (i, on the east of the Arabah), xi. 17,
xii. 7, xxiv. 4; (2, on the northern
boundary of Judah), xv. 10
Shaalabbin, xix. 42
Shahazimah, xix. 22
Shamir, xv. 48
Sharuhen, xix. 6
Sharaim, xv. 36
Sheba, xix. 2
Shebarim, vii. 5
Shechem, xvii. 7, xx. 7, xxi. 21, xxiv. i,
25, 32
Shema, xv. 26
Shephelah, ix. i, x. 40, xi. 2, 16, xii. 8,
* V 33
ohicron, xv. n
Shihon, xix. 19
Shihor-Libnath, xix. 26
Shilhim, xv. 32
Shiloh, xviii. i, 8-10, xix. 51, xxi. 2, xxii.
9> I2
Shimron, xi. i, xix. 15
Shimron-Meron, xii. 20
Shinar, vii. 21
Shittim, ii. i, iii. i
Shunem, xix. 18
Sibmah, xiii. 19
Sidonians, xiii. 4, 6
Sihor, xiii. 3
Simeon, xix. i, 8, 9, xxi. 4, 9
Socoh, xv. 35, 48
Succoth, xiii. 27
Taanach, xii. 21, xvii. ii, xxi. 25
Taanath-Shiloh, xvi. 6
Tappuah, xii. 17, xv. 34, xvi 8, xvii. 8
Tappuah, The Land of, xvii. 8
Taralah, xviii. 27
Telem, xv. 24
Timnah, xv. 10, 57
Timnathah, xix. 43
Timnath-Serah, xix. 50, xxiv. 30
Tirzah, xii. 24
Tyre, xix. 29
Limmah, xix. 30
Zaanannim, The plain of, xix. 33
Zanoah, xv. 34, 56
Zaphon, xiii. 27
Zaretan, iii. 16
Zareth-Shahar, xiii. 19
Zebulun, xix. 10, 16, 27, 34, xxi. 7, 34
Zelah, xviii. 28
Zemaraim, xviii. 22
Zenan, xv. 37
Zer, xix. 35
Zidclim, xix. 35
Zidon, xi. 8, xix. 28
Ziklag, xv. 31, xix. 5
Zin, xv. 3
Zin, The wilderness of, xv. i
Zior, xv. 54
Ziph (i, in the south of Judah), xv. 24 ;
(2, in the highlands of Judah), xv 55
Zorah, xv. 33, xix. 41
