Joshua 1:4

From the wilderness For the boundaries of the Land of Promise compare (a) Genesis 15:18-21; (b) Exodus 23:31; (c) Numbers 34:1-12; (d) Deuteronomy 11:24. They were to be, on the South, the desert of El-Tíh; on the North, Mount Lebanon; on the East, the Euphrates; on the West, the Mediterranean Sea.

this Lebanon Compare also Joshua 1:2, "thisJordan," and Deuteronomy 3:25. The river was visible and lay close at hand; the Lebanon range ("the white Mountain") could be discerned, though at a great distance.

the great river "The great flood Eufrates," Wyclif. This is the term (comp. Genesis 2:14; Genesis 15:18) most frequently used in the Bible for the Euphrates, a word of Aryan origin, denoting "the good and abounding river," the largest, the longest, and by far the most important of the rivers of Western Asia.

the land of the Hittites This nation was descended from Cheth (A. V. "Heth"), the second son of Canaan. We first meet with them in Genesis 23:3-5, when Abraham bought from "the children of Heth" the field and the cave of Machpelah. On their relation to the other nations of Canaan see below. They are here put for the Canaanites generally.