Joshua 13:1

_NOW JOSHUA WAS OLD AND STRICKEN IN YEARS; AND THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM, THOU ART OLD AND STRICKEN IN YEARS, AND THERE REMAINETH YET VERY MUCH LAND TO BE POSSESSED._ Now Joshua was old and stricken in years. He was probably more than 100 years old; because the conquest and survey of the land occupied about 7 years, the partition one; and he died at the age of 110 years (Joshua 24:29). The distribution, as well as the conquer of the land, was included in the mission of Joshua; and his advanced age supplied a special reason for entering on the immediate discharge of that duty-namely, of allocating Canaan among the tribes of Israel, not only the parts already won, but those also which were still to be conquered....

1._Now Joshua was old, _etc (127) Since we have seen above that the land was pacified by the subjugation of thirty-one kings, it is probable that some cessation now took place for the purpose of resting from their fatigues, lest the people should be worn out by continual service. Nor could that justly be blamed, provided they rested only for a time and continued always intent on the goal set before them. But lest that intermission which was given for the purpose of recruiting new vigor might prove an occasion of sloth, the Lord employs a new stimulus to urge them to proceed. For he orders the whole inheritance to be divided into tribes, and the whole line of the Mediterranean coast which was possessed by the enemy to be put into the lot. A division of this kind might indeed seem absurd and ludicrous, nay, a complete mockery, seeing they were dealing among themselves with the property of...

1-6 At this chapter begins the account of the dividing of the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel by lot; a narrative showing the performance of the promise made to the fathers, that this land should be given to the seed of Jacob. We are not to pass over these chapters of hard names as useless. Where God has a mouth to speak, and a hand to write, we should find an ear to hear, and an eye to read; and may God give us a heart to profit! Joshua is supposed to have been about one hundred years old at this time. It is good for those who are old and stricken in years to be put in remembrance of their being so. God considers the frame of his people, and would not have them burdened with work above their strength. And all people, especially old people, should set to do that quickly which must be done before they die, lest death prevent them, Ecclesiastes 9:10. God promise that he would ma...

CHAPTER XIII _Joshua being old, the Lord informs him of the land yet remaining_ _to be possessed_, 1. _Of the unconquered land among the Philistines_, 2, 3. _Among the Canaanites, Sidonians, and Amorites_, 4, 5. _The inhabitants of the hill country and the Sidonians to be_ _driven out_, 6. _The land on the east side of Jordan, that was to be divided_ _among the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of_ _Manasseh_, 7-12. _The Geshurites and the Maachathites not expelled_, 13. The

Joshua is bidden to allot the whole of the promised land among the twelve tribes in faith that God would perfect in due time that expulsion of the Canaanites which Joshua himself could not carry further (see Joshua 11:23)....

EXPOSITION THE DIVISION OF THE TERRITORY.— JOSHUA 13:1 NOW JOSHUA WAS OLD. This is usually regarded as the second part of the Book of Joshua; the first being devoted to the history of the conquest of Palestine, while the second is engaged with the history of its division among the conquerors. Dean Stanley, in his 'Sinai and Palestine,' as well as in his 'Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church,' describes this portion of the Book of Judges as the 'Domes. day Book' of the land of Canaan, and the remark has been constantly repeated. There is, however, a considerable difference between the great survey of the Conqueror and this one. The former was an accurate account, for purposes of taxation, national detente, and public order, of

NOW JOSHUA WAS OLD, [AND] STRICKEN IN YEARS,.... How old he was cannot be said precisely, but it is very probable he was now about an hundred years of age, for he lived to be an hundred ten; and the land of Canaan was seven years in dividing, as the Jews generally say, and it seems as if he did not live long after that: AND THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM: either spoke to him out of the tabernacle, or appeared to him in a dream or vision: THOU ART OLD, [AND] STRICKEN IN YEARS, AND THERE REMAINETH YET VERY MUCH LAND TO BE POSSESSED: that is, very much of the land of Canaan, which God had promised to Abraham, yet remained unconquered by Joshua, and unpossessed by the children of Israel; and the old age of Joshua is observed, to intimate to him that through it, and the infirmities of it, he was unable to go out to war, and to finish this work, which must be left to be done by others hereafter; and...

1. INSTRUCTION GIVEN: THE TWO AND ONE-HALF TRIBES CHAPTER 13 _ 1. Jehovah speaks to Joshua (Joshua 13:1)_ 2. Inheritance of the two and one-half tribes (Joshua 13:8) About seven years had gone by since the passage over Jordan and Joshua, being old and advanced in years, is addressed by the Lord. He takes care of His servants in their old age and provides for their comfort. Much land was yet to be possessed. Israel never responded to the fulness of God's gift to them. How great their failure, as well as our failure as His spiritual people, to possess our possessions, which God's grace has put on our side! The unpossessed land is described in verses (Joshua 13:2)2-7. It was never possessed in f

JOSHUA 13. PARTS OF THE LAND AS YET UNCONQUERED. IN HERITANCE OF THE TWO AND A HALF TRIBES ON THE E. OF JORDAN. In Joshua 13:1 we meet with a statement which causes surprise. The whole land has been subdued (Joshua 11:23 to Joshua 12:24), yet now we read that even in Joshua's old age there remained very much land to be possessed. This plainly comes from an older source than ch. 12, and is very much nearer the true state of things. The later writer, however, in order to bring the statement into harmony with what he has written in Joshua 12, proceeds to explain the phrase very much land by referring it to distant places in the W. and N. (Joshua 13:2

OLD AND STRICKEN IN YEARS. Figure of speech, _Synonymic._ App-6. Joshua, now in his 101st year (1544). THE. LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4. SAID. See note on Joshua 3:7....