Bible Commentaries
Joshua 13

Introduction

Here commences the second portion of the book, the statements of which were drawn from pre-existing documentary records (compare Joshua 18:9); the whole of the history being introduced by a command of God to Joshua to proceed to allot the land among the tribes.

Verse 1

Joshua is bidden 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 (see Joshua 11:23).

Verse 2

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.

Verse 3

Sihor is derived from a root signifying “to be black,” and is suitable enough as an appellative of 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 1 Samuel 7:14), but figures in subsequent times as a Philistine city only (compare 1 Samuel 17:52; 2 Kings 1:2, 2 Kings 1:16, etc.).

Lords - The Hebrew word סרן seren means “an axle,” and is applied as a title special to the chiefs (compare Judges 3:3 and marginal references) of the Philistines Genesis 10:14.

Gaza was the most southern of the Philistine cities (compare Joshua 10:41; 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, and in the time of Jerome the ancient city was a ruin of which the foundations could hardly be traced, and the then existing town 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 (see Joshua 15:46-47), 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 ff). Its name ( “fortress,” “castle”), no less than its history (compare 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 (1 Macc. 10:77-84; 11:4). It was, however, rebuilt by the Romans, and figures in Christian times as an episcopal city.

Askelon (see Judges 1:18), 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.

Verse 4

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.

Verse 5

Giblites - The people of Gebal (“Jebail”, 22 miles north of Beyronut). They were “stone-squarers” 1 Kings 5:18 and (ship) “caulkers” Ezekiel 27:9.

Verse 6

The King James Version would exhibit the sense more clearly if the words from the beginning of Joshua 13:2 to the words “the Sidonians” in this verse were placed in a parenthesis, and the order of the words before us changed thus: “I will drive them out.” The “them” meaning the inhabitants of the “very much land to be possessed,” spoken of in Joshua 13:1.

Verses 8-33

On the conquest of Bashan, see especially Numbers 32:33, etc. and notes.