This mountain. The neighbourhood of Hebron is described by Bartlett 'Egypt to Palestine,' p. 401, as "a region of hills and valleys." In one of the hollows in this "hill country of Judaea" Hebron still nestles, hut at a height which is "only 400 feet lower than Helvellyn," the highest point but one in England.
The Dean remarks on the fact that Palestine was a mountainous country, and that therefore in its history we may expect the characteristics of a mountain people. Whereof the Lord spake in that day. There must therefore have been a promise made to Caleb, regarding which the Pentateuch, having to deal with matters of more general interest, is silent, that he should lead the forlorn hope, as it were, of the children of Israel, and that the task of subduing the mountain fastnesses of the most powerful tribes in Palestine should be assigned to him.
That the original inhabitants reoccupied the districts round Hebron, while the Israelites were otherwise engaged, we have already seen (see note on Joshua 11:21). The final work was to be carried out by Caleb.
Houbigant, it is true, thinks that here the same incident is referred to as in Joshua 11:21, Joshua 11:22, and that Joshua is there credited with what was clone by Caleb at his command. But we read that that expedition followed close upon the battle of Merom, whereas seven years elapsed before the final expulsion of the Anakim by Caleb.
It is important to notice that the author of the Book of Joshua has access to sources of information beside the Pentateuch. This, though not sufficient to disprove, does at least seem inconsistent with the "Elohist" and "Jehovist" theory.
For thou heartiest in that day. The LXX. and Vulgate avoid the difficulty here by referring these words to what goes before—i.e; the promise made to Caleb. In that case we must render the second כִּי "for," instead of "that," or "how."
Joshua can hardly have heard for the first time that the Anakim were in Hebron if, as Numbers 13:22 appears to assert, he, in common with the other spies, had visited the place. But it is possible, though the narrative as it stands seems to suggest that they went together, that the spies went different ways, either separately or in pairs, and that Caleb visited Hebron, and that Joshua heard the account of it for the first time from Caleb's lips, as they brought their report to Moses, and that Caleb then asked and received the grant of Hebron.
We may observe the minute agreement here in matters of detail between the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua. The Pentateuch states that the spies visited Hebron. The Book of Joshua, without mentioning this, makes Caleb appeal to Joshua as a witness that a premise had been made to him, long before the entrance of Israel into the promised land, that this particular place should be allotted to him.
The description of Hebron also in Numbers 13:1-33. agrees in every respect with what is stated here. Fenced. Literally, inaccessible, as surrounded by walls. If so be. Rather, perhaps.