John Calvin Commentary Joshua 11:16

"So Joshua took all that land, the hill-country, and all the South, and all the land of Goshen, and the lowland, and the Arabah, and the hill-country of Israel, and the lowland of the same;" — Joshua 11:16 (ASV)

So Joshua took all that land, and so on. In the uninterrupted series of victories, when the land, of its own accord, expelled its former inhabitants to give free possession to the Israelites, it was clearly evident, as is said in the Psalm (Psalms 44:3).

They got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou had a favor unto them.

The purpose of listing the places and districts is to show us that God continued to carry on the work He had begun without interruption.

However, it is a mistake to suppose, as some do, that the name Israel refers to a specific mountain. For it will be clear from the end of the chapter (Joshua 11:21) that the term is applied without distinction to the mountainous regions of both Israel and Judah.

Therefore, there is an enlargement in this listing, because the mountains of the ten tribes are implicitly compared with the mountains of Judah. Accordingly, an antithesis should be understood.

Regarding the other mountain mentioned (Joshua 11:17), its name is ambiguous. Some understand it to mean division, as if it had been cut in two; others interpret it as smooth, because it was bare of trees, just as a head is made smooth by baldness. Since this point is uncertain and of little importance, the reader is free to choose.