Joshua 14:1-5. Distribution of the Land West of the Jordan 1. _And these are the countries_ In this section, from Joshua 14:1-5, we have an introduction to the division of the country west of the Jordan among the nine and a half remaining tribes. _Eleazar the priest_ He was the third son of Aaron,... [ Continue Reading ]
_By lot was their inheritance_ See Numbers 26:55; Numbers 33:54, and note above on the use of "lots" ch. Joshua 7:18. (_a) The use of lots_was specially characteristic of the ancient world. Thus it was a standing custom of the Athenians to divide the land of conquered enemies to colonists by lot (D... [ Continue Reading ]
_For Moses_ In this verse the reason is stated why there were only nine tribes and a half, to whom the land was distributed by lot; viz. because two tribes and a half had already received their inheritance on the east of the Jordan, and no land was given to the Levites as an inheritance.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the children of Joseph_ There would have been only eight tribes and a half left, but the two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, had been adopted by Jacob as his sons (Genesis 48:5), and were reckoned as tribes, and therefore there were still nine tribes and a half to receive their inheritanc... [ Continue Reading ]
_they divided the land_ The division was not finished at once. See below, ch. Joshua 18:1. But that is not the point here. The section contains the general introduction to the distribution of the land.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Possession of Caleb 6. _in Gilgal_ Where the casting of the lots commenced. _and Caleb the son of Jephunneh_ Caleb was a prince of the tribe of Judah, a descendant of Hezron, the son of Pharez, and grandson of Judah (1Ch 2:5; 1 Chronicles 2:18; 1 Chronicles 2:25). He is first mentioned in the l... [ Continue Reading ]
_to espy out the land_ "for to behold the loond," Wyclif. "Espy" (comp. Genesis 42:27, "And as one of them opened his sack … he _espied_his money") comes from Fr. _espier_, Sp. _espiar_, which are modifications of the Latin _aspicere_. The old form was _aspy_or _aspie_. See below the quotation from... [ Continue Reading ]
_made the heart of the people melt_ (Comp. Numbers 14:1; Numbers 14:4; Deuteronomy 1:28), so that they murmured against Moses and Aaron, and wanted to return again to Egypt. "Discomfortiden the herte of the puple," Wyclif.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Moses sware on that day_ The oath of the great Lawgiver is not mentioned either in Numbers 14:23, or Deuteronomy 1:35. Caleb probably quotes an express declaration of Moses, not recorded in the Pentateuch, but familiar to Joshua, in whose hearing it may have been first related by Moses. _Surel... [ Continue Reading ]
_And now behold_ God had fulfilled His promise, and not only prolonged his life forty-five years, but had preserved his strength in such full vigour, that, though now in his eighty-fifth year, he felt as strong, and as well able to engage in war, as when he was forty years old.... [ Continue Reading ]
_As yet I am_ "To day Y am of fẏ ue and eiзti зeer, so myзti as that tyme Y was myghti, whanne Y was sent to _aspie_," Wyclif.... [ Continue Reading ]
_this mountain_ i.e. the mountain of Hebron. "The great elevation of this country above the level of the sea is most forcibly brought out by the journey we have made. From the moment of leaving the "Arabah has been almost a continual ascent. We mounted the great Pass of Sâfeh, and, having mounted, h... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Joshua blessed him_ The Hebrew leader cheerfully granted the request of his old companion in the work of espial, and emphatically prayed for a successful issue to all his efforts against his gigantic foes.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hebron therefore became_ Thus the city of Hebron passed into the possession of Caleb, to be by him ceded to the Levites (Joshua 21:11), while he retained the land for himself.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the name of Hebron_ "Hebron would appear to have been the original name of the city, and it was not till after Abraham's stay there that it received the name Kirjath-Arba, who was not the founder but the conqueror of the city, having led thither the tribe of the Anakim to which he belonged. It... [ Continue Reading ]