Bible Commentaries
Joshua 15

Verses 1-63

In the settlement of the nine and a half tribes, Judah was the first dealt with as being the imperial and kingly tribe. The position allocated to it was the fighting front. It was touched by enemies on three sides; on the east, Moab; on the west, the Philistines; on the south, Edom. Away to the southwest were the Amalekites.

The tribe whose standard was that of the kingly line, and from which that line presently was to spring, was to have its fiber toughened by the sternest discipline--constant watchfulness against the foe and long-continued fighting.

Necessarily, the proximity of these enemies had its peril in another and more insidious source. And, alas, it was in this source that Judah eventually found the elements of her breakup. The fighting line remained loyal longer than the rest, but subsequently even Judah became contaminated with the abominations of the heathen.

God's hosts are never overcome in fair and open fighting with His foes. Friendship with the enemies of God is the enmity against God which brings about corruption and defeat.

Caleb appears once again in this narrative, this time as the man of generosity, readily giving to his daughter at her request the field containing the nether and the upper springs. It is ever remarkable how much that man can give who has found his all in God.