Albert Barnes Commentary Joshua 13
Albert Barnes Commentary
Joshua 13
Albert Barnes Commentary
Joshua 13
"Now Joshua was old and well stricken in years; and Jehovah said unto him, Thou art old and well stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed." — Joshua 13:1 (ASV)
Joshua is instructed 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 .
"This is the land that yet remaineth: all the regions of the Philistines, and all the Geshurites;" — Joshua 13:2 (ASV)
This and Joshua 13:3 name the still unconquered districts in the southern half of the land, Joshua 13:4–6 those in the north.
Geshuri - A district on the south of Philistia, the inhabitants of which are again named in 1 Samuel 27:8; but are not to be confounded with the land of the Geshurites mentioned in Joshua 13:13; Joshua 12:5.
"from the Shihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the border of Ekron northward, [which] is reckoned to the Canaanites; the five lords of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avvim," — Joshua 13:3 (ASV)
Sihor is derived from a root signifying “to be black,” and is suitable enough as a designation for the Nile (Isaiah 23:3). Here it most probably stands for “the river of Egypt” (Numbers 34:3, note), the modern “Wady el Arish.”
Ekron (“Akir”) lay on the northern boundary of Judah (Joshua 15:11) and was actually conquered by the men of that tribe (Judges 1:18), though assigned in the allotment of the land to Dan (Joshua 19:43). It seems to have fallen again into the hands of the Philistines in the days of the Judges (1 Samuel 5:10), was reconquered by Samuel (compare to 1 Samuel 7:14), but figures in subsequent times as a Philistine city only (compare to 1 Samuel 17:52; 2 Kings 1:2, 16, etc.).
Lords— The Hebrew word סרן seren means “an axle,” and is applied as a title special to the chiefs (compare to Judges 3:3 and marginal references) of the Philistines (Genesis 10:14).
Gaza was the most southern of the Philistine cities (Joshua 11:22). It was allotted to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:47) and was, with Askalon, taken by the warriors of that tribe (Judges 1:18). Both cities were soon re-occupied by the Philistines and subsequently are always mentioned as Philistine cities. Gaza lay on the direct route of the Egyptian armies in their invasions of Syria, by whom it was captured more than once.
Special judgments are denounced against Gaza for the cruelty of its people toward the Jews in the time of their humiliation (Amos 1:6–7; Zephaniah 2:4; Zechariah 9:5). In the time of Jerome, the ancient city was a ruin whose foundations could hardly be traced, and the town existing at that time was built on another site. Gaza was in later times an episcopal see and is now a thriving place containing some 15,000 inhabitants, a larger population than that of Jerusalem.
Ashdod (“Esdud; ” Azotus, Acts 8:40) was, like Gaza, allotted to Judah but was soon regained by the Philistines and became a principal seat of their Dagon worship. Here the ark of God was taken after its capture by the Philistines (1 Samuel 5:1 and following). Its name (“fortress,” “castle”), no less than its history (compare to 2 Chronicles 26:6; Isaiah 20:1; Nehemiah 4:7, etc.), indicates its importance as a stronghold; it withstood for twenty-nine years the longest siege on record by the Egyptian king Psammetichus. Like Gaza, it was doomed by the Jewish prophets to desolation, and it was utterly destroyed by the Maccabees (11:4). It was, however, rebuilt by the Romans and figures in Christian times as an episcopal city.
Askelon , the birthplace of Herod the Great, figures as an important town and seaport in the history of the Crusades, and very massive ruins still attest the ancient strength and grandeur of the place. It is situated about midway between Gaza and Ashdod.
Gath seems to have been first taken by David (1 Chronicles 18:1). It is not named again in the book of Joshua. It was the town of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4) and is mentioned in David’s elegy over Saul as a leading Philistine city (2 Samuel 1:20). It was the nearest of the Philistine cities to Jerusalem, but both the name and the city have perished; its site is conjecturally placed (by Condor) at Tell es Safi.
Avites— See Deuteronomy 2:23, note.
"on the south; all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongeth to the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the border of the Amorites;" — Joshua 13:4 (ASV)
Read on the south, and connect the words with the verse preceding. They indicate the southern limit of the still unconquered territory in this neighborhood, as Joshua 13:3 gives the northern one.
Mearah - The cave (see the margin) has been referred to “Mugar Jczzin” (“cave of Jezzin”), between Tyre and Sidon, or to a district characterized by deep cave-like ravines near Sidon and Dan-Laish.
"and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon unto the entrance of Hamath;" — Joshua 13:5 (ASV)
Giblites - The people of Gebal (“Jebail”, 22 miles north of Beirut). They were stone-squarers (1 Kings 5:18) and (ship) caulkers (Ezekiel 27:9).
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