John Gill Commentary Joshua 13

Now Joshua was old, [and] stricken in years
How old he was cannot be said precisely, but it is very probable he was now about an hundred years of age, for he lived to be an hundred ten; and the land of Canaan was seven years in dividing, as the Jews generally say, and it seems as if he did not live long after that:

and the Lord said unto him :
either spoke to him out of the tabernacle, or appeared to him in a dream or vision:

you are old, [and] stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very
much land to be possessed :
that is, very much of the land of Canaan, which God had promised to Abraham, yet remained unconquered by Joshua, and unpossessed by the children of Israel; and the old age of Joshua is observed, to intimate to him that through it, and the infirmities of it, he was unable to go out to war, and to finish this work, which must be left to be done by others hereafter; and that he should with all expedition set about another work he was capable of doing, before he died, which was the division of the land among the tribes of Israel.

This [is] the land that yet remains
Unconquered and not enjoyed, namely, what is after described; and this account is given for Joshua's information, that he might know what to divide, and for the people of Israel's sake, that they might know what they had a right to a claim upon; what they should endeavour to possess themselves of, and what the Lord would deliver into their hands, provided they were obedient to his will, for, because they were not, hence many of these places never came into their possession, though divided to them by lot:

all the borders of the Philistines ;
whose country bordered and lay upon the shores of the Mediterranean sea, in the southwest of the land of Canaan:

and all Geshuri ;
the principal city belonging to it is said to be in Syria, (2 Samuel 15:8) ; and had a king over it in the times of David, (2 Samuel 3:3) ; and seems never to have come into the hands of the Israelites.

From Sihor, which is before Egypt. Which Jarchi and Kimchi interpret of the river Nile, and so that river is called (Jeremiah 2:18). It seems to have this name from the waters of it being black and turbid; and hence it was called by the Greeks "Melas", and by the Latins "Melo".

Though it is thought that not properly the river itself is here meant, which did not reach to the borders of Palestine, but a branch of it, a rivulet from it, for so a traveller^F1 writes, ``in a journey of about five days from Gaza towards Egypt, the hithermost arm of the Nile is received by the sea, and is commonly called Carabus?''

even unto the borders of Ekron northward: that is, from the southwest of Palestine, near to which was the river Nile, to the northern part of it, where stood the principality of Ekron, one of the five which belonged to the Philistines.

which is counted to the Canaanite. Which was reckoned as belonging to the posterity of Canaan, though the Philistines got possession of it, who descended from Mizraim; and indeed it was only accounted as belonging to Canaan and his sons; of right, and according to the grant of God, it belonged to the seed of Abraham.

five lords of the Philistines. Who had not kings, as other countries and cities in the land of Canaan had, and their cities were called lordships, principalities, and not kingdoms, and are as follow:

the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites. So called from Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, the cities they were in possession of.

also the Avites. It is not certain whether these were a distinct principality from the other five, or a people dispersed among them; which seems most likely, since those were the original inhabitants, but were driven out or destroyed by the Philistines, though it seems some remained and dwelt among them; see (Deuteronomy 2:23).

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Jodocus a Gistella apud Drusium in loc. writes, ``in a journey of about five days from Gaza towards Egypt, the hithermost arm of the Nile is received by the sea, and is commonly called Carabus?''

From the south, all the land of the Canaanites
That is, of those Canaanites who are particularly so called, in distinction from those of the other nations or tribes, and who dwelt in several parts of the land, some in the east and others in the west, see (Joshua 11:3); and, as it seems here, some in the south: now on the side of the south, as Kimchi interprets it, all the land of the Canaanites was left, that is, remained unconquered and not possessed:

and Mearah that [is] beside the Sidonians ;
the inhabitants of Sidon, and parts adjacent: what this place was, which belonged to the Sidonians, for so it may better be rendered, is not certain; some take it to be a cave belonging to them: Sandys ^F2 speaks of a number of caves cut out of the rock in those parts, called the caves of the Sidonians, and afterwards the caves of Tyre; so it is interpreted by the Targum, and in the Syriac and Arabic versions others take it to be the river Magoras, Pliny ^F3 makes mention of as on the borders of Lebanon near Zidon and Berytus: mention is made of the waters of Mearah along with the waters of Tiberias in Jewish writings ^F4 ; but rather something of more importance than a cave or a river is meant; most likely a tract of land near Sidon, and which belonged to it, and reached

unto Aphek, to the borders of the Amorites ;
of this place, (See Gill on Joshua 12:18).

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: Travels, l. 3. p. 169. Ed. 5.
• F3: Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 20.
• F4: Misn. Sabbat. c. 22. sect. 5. T. Hieros. Sabbat, fol. 6. 1.

And the land of the Giblites This was another country that remained unconquered; the Greeks call it Byblus, and near to which Pliny ^F5 speaks of a place called Gabale, and is now called Gibyle; it is ^F6 said to be pleasantly situated by the seaside, and at present it contains but a little extent of ground, but yet more than enough for the small number of its inhabitants:'' it was in greater splendour, and its inhabitants of more fame, in the times of Ezekiel, (Ezekiel 27:9) ;

and all Lebanon toward the sunrising ; or east of the land; all that inhabited that mountain remained unconquered, though the conquest was carried as far as the borders thereof:

from Baalgad, under Mount Hermon ; of which see (Joshua 11:17) ;

unto the entering into Hamath : which was the north border of the land; see (Numbers 34:8) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 20.)
• F6: Maundrel's Journey from Aleppo p. 33.