Joshua 13:1

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 Hebrew Scriptures to which probably no parallel exists in the topographical records of any other ancient nation. In the Book of Joshua we have what may without offence be termed the Domesday Book of the conquest of Canaan. Ten Chapter s of that Book are devoted to a description of the country, in which not only are its general features and boundaries carefully laid down, but the names and situations of its towns and villages enumerated with a precision of geographical terms which encourages and almost compels a minute investigation." Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, p. xiii.

Now Joshua was old The Hebrew leader was now about ninety years of age. Much land still remained to be occupied. Strong fortresses like Jerusalem, Gezer, and Bethshean still remained in the hands of the defeated Canaanites. Their reduction by ordinary means would require time and entail difficulty. The command, therefore, is now given to wait no longer, but proceed to the division of the Land.

and stricken in years "Thou hast woxe eld, and art of loong age," Wyclif. Comp. Genesis 18:11; Genesis 24:1; Joshua 23:1-2.