Joshua 13:1-7. The Divine Command to Joshua to distribute the Land 1. _Now Joshua_ With the thirteenth chapter begins the Second Part of the Book of Joshua. It describes the division of the Land, and rests no doubt on definite records which lay before the writer. "There is one document in the Hebre... [ Continue Reading ]
_the land that yet remaineth_ It is described as lying partly (_a) in the south_(Joshua 13:3), and partly (_b) in the north_(Joshua 13:5). The cities still occupied by the Canaanites were left for reduction by the tribes into whose allotment they might severally fall. _all the borders of the Philist... [ Continue Reading ]
_from Sihor_ = "_the Black Stream_," the usual name of the Nile. Here probably it is "the river of Egypt," the _Wady el Arish_(1 Chronicles 13:5), the Rhinokolura or Rhinokorura. Wyclif, following the Vulg., "a fluvio turbido qui irrigat Ægyptum," renders it, "the trubli flood that weetith Egipt.... [ Continue Reading ]
_from the south_ The LXX. here gives a proper name, "from Teman." This was the former southern limit of the Avites" territory. _all the land of the Canaanites_ Here some would insert a full stop, as though the words summed up what had gone before. _and Mearah_ "Mara of Sydonys," Wyclif. This place... [ Continue Reading ]
_the land of the Giblites_ i.e. the land of the inhabitants of Gebal, a name which occurs in Psalms 83:7, " _Gebal_, and Ammon, and Amalek; The Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;" and Ezekiel 27:8-9, "The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in... [ Continue Reading ]
_All the inhabitants_ In addition to those already enumerated there remained to be conquered all the inhabitants of the mountains from Lebanon unto Mizrephoth-maim, which has been already mentioned above, ch. Joshua 11:8. "May it not be the place," asks Mr Grove, "with which we are familiar in the l... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now therefore divide_ Here we have a more definite statement of the tribes amongst whom western Palestine was to be divided.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Territory of the Two Tribes and a Half East of the Jordan. Its Boundaries 8. _With whom_ i.e. with Manasseh. It alludes to the other half of that tribe. _the Reubenites and the Gadites_ These statements are the same as in ch. Joshua 12:1-6.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and all the plain of Medeba_ Instead of "half Gilead," as in ch. Joshua 12:2, we have here "all the plain (Mishor = "table-land" or "downs") of Medeba unto Dibon," "the wijld feeldis of Medeba," Wyclif. Medeba is first mentioned in the fragment of a populare song of the time of the conquest, Number... [ Continue Reading ]
_all the kingdom of Og in Bashan_ "With respect to the two tribes and a half beyond the Jordan, nothing is more striking at the first glance than their wide extent, compared with the narrow space into which the western tribes were compressed … it is certainly a domain which, taken in its entire supe... [ Continue Reading ]
_expelled not the Geshurites_ "Valiant as was the contest long kept up against their enemies, Israel could not prevent two little kingdoms in the north-east from maintaining their independence within her own borders. One of these was the Aramean Maachah, probably extending to the sources of the Jord... [ Continue Reading ]
_Only unto the tribe of Levi_ The Levites not being destined for agriculture, but being intended to become the regular teachers of the people, received no inheritance. See Joshua 13:33, and ch. Joshua 14:3-4. _the sacrifices of the Lord God_ "the sacryfices, and the slayn offryngis of the Lord God... [ Continue Reading ]
The Possession of the Tribe of Reuben 15. _the tribe of the children of Reuben_ The historian now gives us, on the faith of the ancient registers, the several boundaries of the tribes east of the Jordan. _Reuben_ Reuben naturally comes first. His boundaries are more briefly given, Numbers 32:33-42... [ Continue Reading ]
_their coast_ Observe the use of the word "coast" here, without any allusion to the seaboard. The word comes from the Latin _costa_= "a rib," "side," through the Fr. "coste." Hence it = "a border" generally, though now applied to the sea-coast only. Comp. "Bethlehem and in all the _coasts_thereof" ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bamoth-baal_ It was a site of the old heathen worship of Baal. It is probably mentioned under the shorter form of Bamoth, Numbers 21:19, or "_Bamoth-in-the-ravine_." It occurs again in Isaiah 15:2. _Beth-baal-meon_ At the first approach of the Israelites to this part of Palestine (Numbers 32:38) it... [ Continue Reading ]
_and Jahazah_ Also called _Jahaz_and _Jahaza_and _Jahzah_, in the Hebrew _Yahats_and _Yahtsah_. Here the decisive battle was fought between the Israelites and Sihon king of the Amorites (Numbers 21:23). _and Kedemoth_ Given to the Merarite Levites (Joshua 21:37). _Mephaath_ Lying in the district o... [ Continue Reading ]
_and Kirjathaim_ In Jeremiah 48:1; Jeremiah 48:23 and Ezekiel 25:9 the name is given in our version as _Kiriathaim_. This place, as well as Dibon, Beth-baal-meon, and Medeba, is found among the proper names recorded on the now celebrated "Moabite stone." Canon Tristram would identify it with the mod... [ Continue Reading ]
_and Beth-peor_ A place dedicated to the god Baal-peor, on the east of the Jordan opposite Jericho, about six miles above Libias or Beth-haran. Comp. Deuteronomy 3:29; Deuteronomy 4:46. _and Ashdoth-pisgah_ See ch. Joshua 12:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_all the cities_ = "all the other cities of the table-land, and all the kingdom of Sihon, as far as it extended over the plain." _with the princes of Midian_ They are also mentioned, and in the same order, in Numbers 31:8. _which were dukes of Sihon_ "dukys of Sion," Wyclif, from the Vulgate "duces... [ Continue Reading ]
_Balaam also_ The mention of these "vassals of Sihon" leads the historian to record also at this point the death of Balaam, which took place at the same time as that of these vassals (Numbers 31:8). He is here called a "soothsayer" (_kosem_); "the fals divynor" (Wyclif); like (_a_) the diviners of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_was Jordan_ i.e. "the boundary of the children of Reuben was the Jordan and adjoining land." Comp. Numbers 34:6; Deuteronomy 3:16-17. _the villages thereof = "farm premises_," not enclosed, like a city, with walls. Thus the boundaries of the tribe of Reuben were, (_a_) On the West, _the Dead Sea_;... [ Continue Reading ]
The Possession of the Tribe of Gad 25. _their coast was Jazer_ or _Jaazer_. We first hear of it in possession of the Amorites, and as taken by Israel after Heshbon, and on their way from thence to Bashan (Numbers 21:32). At present it is identified with _Szîr_, or _Seir_, nine Roman miles west of A... [ Continue Reading ]
_and from Heshbon_ Thus the extension northward of the tribe is expressed, _unto Ramath-mizpeh_, which is identical with the early sanctuary at which Jacob and Laban set up their cairn of stones, and which received the names of Mizpeh, Galeed, and Jegar-Sahadutha, and which probably was the same as... [ Continue Reading ]
_and in the valley_ i. e. the valley of the Jordan. The possessions of the Gadites are now described in this valley as far north as the Sea of Galilee. _Beth-aram_ or Beth-haran, the modern _Beit-haran_(Numbers 32:36). In later times it was known as Bethramphtha, and was called Julias or Livias by... [ Continue Reading ]
_This is the inheritance_ Thus, speaking roughly, the country allotted to Gad appears to have lain chiefly about the centre of the land east of the Jordan. Commencing at or about Heshbon on the south, it extended to the ancient sanctuary of Mahanaim on the north; on the east the furthest landmark wa... [ Continue Reading ]
The Possession of the Half Tribe of Manasseh 29. _the half tribe of Manasseh_ "The fact that it is always called a half tribe appears curious, especially on comparison with the similar, yet widely different, case of Dan, which sent out to the north an army which surprised the Phœnician town of Lais... [ Continue Reading ]
_from Mahanaim_ Which formed its southern border. For "the kingdom _of Og_" see above, Joshua 13:12. _all the towns of Jair_ The whole of Bashan embraced (i) _The Havoth-Jair_, sixty cities in the district of Argob (Deuteronomy 3:4), which had been captured by Jair the son of Manasseh and called a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ashtaroth_ See ch. Joshua 12:4, so called doubtless from being a seat of the worship of Ashtoreth, the principal female divinity of the Phœnicians, the Astarte of the Greeks and Romans. The only trace of the name yet recovered is _Tell-Ashterah_or _Asherah_. _and Edrei_ See above, ch. Joshua 12:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
_in the plains of Moab_ This distribution had been made during the lifetime of Moses in "the plains of Moab," opposite to the city of Jericho (Numbers 22:1; Numbers 34:15).... [ Continue Reading ]
_But unto the tribe of Levi_ See above, Joshua 13:14, and comp. Numbers 18:20.... [ Continue Reading ]