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The Command to Distribute the Land
v. 1. Now, Joshua was old and stricken in years, literally, "well advanced in days," said of one whose age is showing plainly; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. These sections are now, by way of parenthesis, enumerated.
v. 2. This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, literally, all the circles of the Philistines, the five city-states of the country being referred to, the capitals with their suburbs and vicinity being joined in a confederacy, and all Geshuri, a small principality south of the Philistines, on the border of Egypt, 1Sa_27:8,
v. 3. from Sihor, which is before Egypt, the so-called brook of Egypt, 1Ch_13:5, for this actually flows northeastwardly from or before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, for thus far the territory of the Philistines extended, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines: the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites, that is, the inhabitants of Gaza, mentioned frequently in the Old and also in the New Testament, of Ashdod, of Ashkelon, of Gath, and of Ekron, all of which have been identified with the exception of Gath, which seems to have been totally destroyed; also the Avites, or Avim, a small tribe living southwest of Gaza; from the south, that is, in the south;
v. 4. all the land of the Canaanites, of the Phenicians living along the coast to the northwest, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, a well-known cave on Lebanon, east of Sidon, unto Aphek, a small city northeast of what is now Beirut, to the borders of the Amorites, the country of Bashan; for the entire Leontes Valley and the region in the neighborhood of Damascus was really included in the territory as the Lord intended it for Israel;
v. 5. and the land of the Giblites, of the race of Gebal, on the Mediterranean Sea, north of what is now Beirut, and all Lebanon, the entire region included within this range with its foothills, toward the sun-rising, from Baal-gad, under Mount Hermon, Jos_12:7, unto the entering into Hamath, a small territory in the Orontes Valley, Num_34:8.
v. 6. All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephothmaim, Jos_11:8, the present promontory of Ra-sen-Nakura, and all the Sidonians, an ancient name for all the Phenicians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel; only, although it is not yet conquered, divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee. The distribution of the country was to go on with a view toward the eventual possession of the entire country, as here described by the Lord. Israel afterward neglected to drive out the nations occupying all this territory, thereby not only reducing its own heritage, but also keeping these tribes as a continual temptation to idolatry.
v. 7. Now, therefore, divide this land for an inheritance unto the nine tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh, those that had not yet been assigned a part of Canaan,
v. 8. with whom the Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance, they had already entered upon the possession of the territory assigned to them, which Moses gave them beyond Jordan eastward, even as Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave them, there was no change made either in the extent or in the boundaries of their possessions:
v. 9. from Aroer, that is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the river, of the valley of the Arnon, Jos_12:2, and all the plain of Medeba unto Dibon, the plateau east of Mount Pisgah, so named after its principal city;
v. 10. and all the cities of Sihon, king of the Amorites, which reigned in Heshbon, unto the border of the children of Ammon;
v. 11. and Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites, Jos_12:5, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan unto Salcah;
v. 12. all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants; for these did Moses smite, and cast them out, Num_21:24-35.
v. 13. Nevertheless, the children of Israel expelled not the Geshurites nor the Maachathites, Jos_15:63; Jos_16:10; Jos_17:12-13; but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites until this day.
v. 14. Only unto the tribe of Levi he gave none inheritance, no separate territory; the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance, as he said. unto them, Num_18:20-24. They possessed no earthly inheritance; with all the greater zeal they should therefore devote themselves to Jehovah and His worship. In a similar manner Christians know that they have here no continuing city, but they seek one to come, Heb_13:14.