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The Conquest of Western Palestine
v. 16. So Joshua took all that land, the hills, the mountainous sections of Canaan proper, and all the south country, the great steppes of Judah, and all the land of Goshen, the foothills country toward the west, and the valley, the plains in the central and northwestern section, and the plain, probably that of Sharon, and the mountain of Israel, Ephraim, in the center of the land, and the valley of the same, its lowland on the west;
v. 17. even from the Mount Halak that goeth up to Seir, the smooth or bald mountain in the Azazimeh range in the south, whose chalk cliffs probably gave it the name, even unto Baal-gad, in the Valley of Lebanon, under Mount Hermon, in the extreme north; and all their kings he took, and smote them and slew them. Thus the entire campaign, lasting some seven years, is summarized.
v. 18. Joshua made war a long time with all these kings.
v. 19. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel save the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon, Jos_9:3-7; all other they, the children of Israel, took in battle.
v. 20. For it was of the Lord, it was His dispensation, to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favor, no compassionate sympathy from Him, but that He might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses, Deu_20:16-17. Theirs was an obduration, a hardening of heart, like that of Pharaoh, Exo_4:21.
v. 21. And at that time, in the course of the conquest of the entire country, came Joshua and cut off the Anakim, the race of giants, Num_13:28 ff. from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, Jos_10:36-38, from Anab, another city south of Hebron, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel; Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities. This account supplements that of the preceding chapter and shows that the giant race was by no means unconquerable, as the spies had reported on their return to the camp of Israel in Kadesh-barnea.
v. 22. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the children of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, the city of Goliath, and in Ashdod, the city of the idol Dagon, these three being cities of Philistia, there remained.
v. 23. So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes, as related in the subsequent account. And the land rested from war, not because all the Canaanites had been exterminated or even all their cities taken, but because their power was broken, their dominion a thing of the past, and Israel master of the entire land. The remnants of the heathen nations might easily have been conquered and annihilated, if Israel had but remained faithful to Jehovah, for with His help, in His power, everything is possible.