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The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 11:18
A long time. Hebrew, many days. The campaign in southern Israel lasted for weeks, perhaps even months. But the campaign in northern Palestine must have lasted longer. The vast host which gathered at the waters of Merom…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 11:20
Doomed to destruction. The evil men do often appears to be attributed in Scripture to the Divine will and agency (Exodus 4:21; Jud Exodus 1:14 :4; 1 Kings 12:15; Romans 9:17, Romans 9:18). Reason and conscience, indeed,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 11:20
To harden their hearts (cf. Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:23). Muller, 'Christian Doctrine of Sin,' 2.412, says that "Scripture never speaks of God's hardening men's hearts, save in connection with His revelations through Moses…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 11:20
Hearts hardened by God. I. WHEN GOD HARDENS A MAN'S HEART IT IS BECAUSE HIS CHARACTER IS SUCH AS TO TURN GOD'S RIGHTEOUS ACTION TO THIS RESULT. The same act of Providence which hardens one heart softens another. Prosper…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 11:20
The extermination of the Canaanites. The terrible extermination of the Canaanitish nations remains a mystery too hard for us to understand. "It was of the Lord," we read (Joshua 11:20). The history of Israel is designed…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 11:21
And at that time (see Joshua 11:18). What is meant is, during the continuance of the war in which the country above described was conquered. The destruction of the Anakim was the conclusion of the work, and was rendered…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 11:22
Only in Gaza. This statement is confirmed by what we afterwards read. In Gath especially (1 Samuel 17:4; 2 Samuel 21:18-22; 1 Chronicles 20:4-8, the last passage preserving the true text, which has become hopelessly cor…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 11:23
Joshua took the whole land. The word must not be pressed to mean that every Canaanitish stronghold was razed or appropriated. The word כֹל, as has been before remarked, has a very loose signification in Hebrew. What is…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 11:23
Victory and rest. I. THE TRUE CHRISTIAN WARFARE IS DESTINED TO END IN VICTORY. II. WHEN VICTORY IS ATTAINED IT WILL BE AS AMPLE COMPENSATION FOR THE HARDSHIPS OF THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. (a) the home of our souls and the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 11:23
Rest from war. These words bring us a grateful sense of relief. We are weary of reading the long catalogue of bloody victories—how of one city after another it is said, "They smote all the souls that were therein with t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 11:23
The promise fulfilled. It is well to note the absolute fulfilment of God's promises. That which He has done for others He will do for us, if we trust Him. All who commit the keeping of their souls and the guidance of th…
Matthew Henry on Joshua 12:1-6
Fresh mercies must not drown the remembrance of former mercies, nor must the glory of the present instruments of good to the church diminish the just honour of those who went before them, since God is the same who wroug…
Summary of Israel's Conquests. (b. c. 1450.)
SUMMARY OF ISRAEL'S CONQUESTS. (B. C. 1450.) Joshua, or whoever else is the historian before he comes to sum up the new conquests Israel had made, in these verses receives their former conquests in Moses's time, under w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 12:1-24
The extent of the conquest. A few detached considerations occur to us here. I. GOD WELL NOT BE WORSE THAN HIS WORD. The reduction of the whole land had not yet been effected, but it had been rendered possible if Israel…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 12:1-24
EXPOSITION THE EXTENT OF JOSHUA'S CONQUESTS.
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 12:1
Now these are the kings. The historian now enters upon a complete description of the whole territory which had, up to this date, fallen into the hands of the Israelites. First he traces out the border of the trans-Jorda…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 12:2
The river Jabbok. Literally, the pouring or emptying stream. It is remarkable that, while the LXX. renders here by χείμαρρος, a winter torrent, it steadily renders the same Hebrew word, when referring to Aruon, by φάρ…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 12:3
And from the plain. There is no "from" in the original, which here ceases to describe the territories of Sihon, but continues the account of the Israelite dominions, which included the Arabah (not the plain as in our ve…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 12:4
The giants. Hebrew, Rephaim cf. Genesis 14:5; Genesis 15:20; also Joshua 17:15). The word, according to Ewald, is equivalent to "stretched out." It was also applied to the dead. The Rephaim were one of the various tribe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 12:5
The Geshurites. See Joshua 13:2, Joshua 13:11, Joshua 13:13; and Deuteronomy 3:14; also 2 Samuel 13:37, where we find the principality of Geshur still in possession of its independence. It was in the northeast corner of…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 12:6
Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave. Theodoret makes the tribes which received their inheritance through Moses the types of the believing Jews, and those who received it through Jesus (Joshua) the types of the believin…
Matthew Henry on Joshua 12:7-24
We have here the limits of the country Joshua conquered. A list is given of the kings subdued by Israel: thirty-one in all. This shows how fruitful Canaan then was, in which so many chose to throng together. This was th…
Matthew Henry on Joshua 12:7-24
We have here a breviate of Joshua's conquests. I. The limits of the country he conquered. It lay between Jordan on the east and the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and extended from Baal-gad near Lebanon in the north to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Joshua 12:7
And these are the kings of the country. We now proceed to the enumeration of the kings whom Joshua had overcome on the western side of Jordan. And the first thing that strikes us is their immense number, as compared to…