ALL THEIR ENEMIES AROUND THEM: See Lesson, Nations “round about”.
Vv 13,14: Cp Jos 21:43: The Jews received the land promised to their “fathers”, ie the generation that came out of Egypt, but their “fathers” did not receive the promised land (ct Gal 3:16,27-29; Act 7:5; Heb 11:13,39).
THE EVIL HE HAS THREATENED: Deu 28:15-68; Lev 26:14-39.
Jos 13: “This chapter commences a new section in the record of Joshua. The great pioneer had brought tremendous zeal to his work, defeating Jericho, overcoming the trial of Ai and the judgment against Achan, upholding the covenant of the Gibeonites, and bringing the defeat of the powerful Canaanite kings to a successful conclusion. Small pockets of resistance still remain, but it now was the responsibility of the individual tribes and families of Israel. The army of Israel could now be disbanded.
“Each man was required to ‘go in and obtain’ his inheritance. In a spiritual sense, to ‘work out his own salvation.’ Joshua, like the Lord Yahshua, had done his work in leading the way and making possible each individual inheritance. But there are two verses remarkably significant. The first is Josh 13:14, in which the Levites are given no inheritance with the other Israelites. Their inheritance is Yahweh Elohim Yizrael.
“And further, the inheritance is a sacrifice ‘made by fire.’ Jericho was such a offering. It was to be ‘accursed’ (Josh 6:17), but the word means ‘devoted’ (as in the mg). It was devoted by fire, for fire is one of the three purifying principles in the Word. So the city was ‘burnt with fire’ (v 24), and now the Levites were similarly to be an offering of fire (Josh 13:14). The offering of fire was found in every part of the Tabernacle service. The lampstand was fired by oil (The Word); the table of shewbread was graced by the fire of frankincense (Activity), the golden altar was fired by the coals of incense (Prayer). Thus the Levites were to show a fire of a unique character: The ‘zeal of mine House hath eaten him up’; ‘the zeal of Yahweh Tzvaoth shall do this’; ‘he was clad with zeal as with a cloke.’ The second reference is in Josh 13:33. The Levites were to find their inheritance in Yahweh Elohim Tzvaoth and all that this majestic Name means. A grand inheritance awaits the true Levites, for what we now do, not only points to the sacrifice of Christ, but to the joy of a future in which we will abide for evermore” (GEM).
There were 5 major Philistine cities (1Sa 6:17; Josh 13:3), but in later days the prophets carefully leave Gath out of the picture (Amo 1:6-8; Zeph 2:4; Jer 25:20; Zech 9:5,6). Why? Uzziah, in his war against the Philistines, smashed up Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod (2Ch 26:6). The last of these was evidently strategic enough to warrant rebuilding (Isa 20:1), but the other two disappeared from history — and from prophecy also.
I AM AS STRONG TODAY AS THE DAY MOSES SENT ME OUT; I’M JUST AS VIGOROUS TO GO OUT TO BATTLE NOW AS I WAS THEN: “For fighting, and for all the intercourse and manifold activities of life, his sinews are as braced, his eyes as clear, his spirit and limbs as alert as they were in those old days. No doubt you will say that was due to miraculous intervention. No doubt it was; but is it not true that, in a very real sense, a man may keep himself young all his life, if he will go the right way to work? And the secret of perpetual youthfulness lies here, in giving our hearts to God and in living for Him. Christianity, with its self-restraint and its exhortations to all, and especially to the young, to be chaste and temperate and to subdue the animal passions, has a direct tendency to conserve physical vigour; and Christianity, by the inspiration that it imparts, the stimulus that it gives, and the hopes that it permits us to cherish, has a direct tendency to keep alive in old age all the best of the characteristics of youth. Its buoyancy, its undimmed interest, its cheeriness, its freedom from anxiety and care — all these things are directly ministered to, and preserved by, a life of simple faith that casts itself upon God, and dwells securely, in joy and in restfulness, and not without a great light of hope, even when the shadows of evening are falling.
“One of the greatest and most blessed of the characteristics of youth is the consciousness that the most of life lies before us; and to a Christian man, in any stage of his earthly life, that consciousness is possible. When he stands on the verge of the last sinking sandbank of time, and the water is up to his ankles, he may well feel that the best and the most of life is yet to be.
” ‘They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be full of sap and green.’ A gnarled old tree may be green in all its branches, and blossom and fruit may hang together there. The ideal of life is, that into each stage we shall carry the best of the preceding, harmonised with the best of the new… The fountain of perpetual youth, of which the ancients fabled, is no fable, but a fact; and it rises, where the prophet in his vision saw the stream coming out, from beneath the threshold of the Temple door” (MacL).
The “saviour” blesses the “dog” (a Gentile!) in the city of “alliance”!
HEBRON: Still inhabited: Num 13:23.
Caleb, prob a Gentile (Jos 15:13; 1Ch 2:9-50; cp Eph 2:12).
Jos 15: “The record lists the towns of conquest and the borders of the Land inherited by Israel. Many of these towns became famous in the history of Israel. Some faded into insignificance, so that their locations are not even known. So the ch reveals: [1] Judah’s borders: vv 1-12. [2] Caleb’s portion: vv 13-15. [3] Othniel takes Debir: vv 16-19. [4] Southern Division of Judah: vv 20-47. [5] Eastern Districts of Judea: vv 48-62. Such an inheritance must have been exciting to Joshua and his associates, as they located each area of conquest, and determined the means of overcoming. Antitypically, it presents the joy of the multitudinous Christ as the conquest of the nations is undertaken, and the victory of faith is achieved” (GEM).
Jos 15: “Judah was the imperial tribe, and it was fitting that he should be planted in a conspicuous territory. Even if the republic had not been destined to give place to the monarchy, some preeminence was due to the tribe which had inherited the patriarchal blessing, and from which he was to come in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed. Judah and the sons of Joseph seem to have obtained their settlements not only before the other tribes, but in a different manner. They did not obtain them by lot, but apparently by their own choice and by early possession. Judah was not planted in the heart of the country. That position was gained by Ephraim and Manasseh, the children of Joseph, while Judah obtained the southern section. In this position his influence was not so commanding at first as it would have been had he occupied the centre. The portion taken possession of by Judah had belonged to the first batch of kings that Joshua subdued, the kings that came up to take vengeance on the Gibeonites. What was first assigned to Judah was too large, and the tribe of Simeon got accommodation within his lot (Jos 19:9). Dan also obtained several cities that had first been given to Judah (cp Jos 15:21-62; 19:40-46). In point of fact, Judah ere long swallowed up a great part of Simeon and Dan, and Benjamin was so hemmed in between him and Ephraim that, while Jerusalem was situated within the limits of Benjamin, it was, for all practical purposes, a city of Judah” (EB).
ADUMMIM: Rt “red” or “blood”, becs of red clay and stone along the way from Jerusalem to Jericho. [Also, later, because of bandits that predominate along the path — as in Christ’s parable of good Samaritan (Luk 10:30). It is said that some construction workers from Herod’s Temple — being laid off with no other jobs to go to — set up shop as bandits on the Way of Blood]
VALLEY OF REPHAIM: Consistently translated in NIV. AV has “valley of the giants” (Jos 15:18; 17:15; 18:16) or “valley of the Rephaim” (2Sa 5:18,22,23; 1Ch 11:15; 19:9; Isa 17:5).
Cp v 49: This city belonged to Simeon (Jos 21:15). Apparently a “university” for training scribes: Significance of names: “Debir” = word; “K-sepher” = town of books or scrolls; “K-sannah” = town of instruction (Enj 159).
KIRJATH-SEPHER: The city of the “scroll” was “sealed up”, and no man could open it! Cp Rev 5:5; Gen 22:17,18.
GIVE ME ALSO SPRINGS OF WATER: Cp Joh 4:15: “Give me this water, that I thirst not.”
TO THIS DAY: Thus the Book was written before David’s reign (2Sa 5).
Jos 16: “The record continues the listing of inheritances, as Joshua sets out the landmarks that constitute the gift of Yahweh to His people. This chapter sets out the inheritance of Joseph who has two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and consequently stood as recipient of the divine firstborn, receiving a double portion of inheritance. Joseph was elevated to the firstborn instead of Reuben (1Ch 5:1). So Joshua sets out: [1] The general borders: vv 1-4. [2] Ephraim’s border: vv 5-9. [3] Ephraim’s failure: v 10. The rest of the inheritance of Joseph’s sons continues in Jos 17.
“As with the other tribes, so with Ephraim: they failed to fulfil the instruction of their commander: see Jos 16:10. It seems that although Joshua ejected the main power of the Canaanites, they returned to their former cities, whilst he completed the campaign elsewhere. This required that each tribe make its own effort to obtain its individual holding, although the land as a whole had been won for Israel. In like manner Christ has opened the way to life eternal, but we each must conquer our individual inheritance” (GEM).
BETH SHAN: In this area lies the 263-foot-high tell of Beth-shean, one of the oldest cities in Bible lands. The remains of 20 layers of settlement have been found going back more than three thousand years BC. The Israelites failed to conquer the city in Joshua’s time (Jos 17:16; Jdg 1:27), and the fortified town was still under Philistine control in the time of Saul, the first king of Israel. When Saul and his sons were slain in battle their bodies were hung on the walls of this city by the victors (1Sa 31:6-13).
Beth-shean is included in the cities of Solomon’s kingdom (1Ki 4:12). When the Greek empire dominated the area the city was known as Scythopolis. Pliny, the Roman author (1st century AD) mentions the city in his writings. It was one of the cities in the Roman province of Decapolis which was visited by Jesus (Mar 7:31). The city was further developed by the Romans and all around the ancient tell the archaeologists are busy uncovering this large city that was devastated by an earthquake.
DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THEM, BECAUSE BY THIS TIME TOMORROW I WILL HAND ALL OF THEM OVER TO ISRAEL: “A day now near at hand will see the revelation of God’s righteous anger, and then the further and final restoration of His house, when the glory will return embodied in the new rulers that God has promised to Israel. The ‘great fury’ of God is a necessity created by man’s sin — his pride, cruelty, and corruption of the earth. The classic illustration of what is coming is to be found in the clearing of the land of Palestine by Joshua and the settlement of a purified remnant of Israel in the place of the Canaanites, whose licentious and debased religions had forfeited their right to live. We know more of what the fury of man can do, in the terrible effects of modern war. We know its futility as we realize that there does not exist the power to bring order and peace when destruction has ceased. Apart from the overruling by which the sword of the wicked is made to do the work of God, it is not in man to dispense terrors according to deserts. The striving of the potsherds lacks the elemental basis of justice and righteousness which will never be absent from the fury of God” (PAE 86).
HAMSTRING THEIR HORSES AND BURN THEIR CHARIOTS: These acts would remove the possibility of use in war.
MISREPHOTH MAIM: A site on coast near Tyre (LB 303).
EVERYONE IN IT THEY PUT TO THE SWORD. THEY TOTALLY DESTROYED…: No partial victory. No half-salvation. No enemy undestroyed.
BUILT ON THEIR MOUNDS: The fortified cities on their heights, above plain of Esdraelon. Lit “on their tells”.
HAZOR, WHICH JOSHUA BURNED: The city of Hazor lay almost nine miles north of the Sea of Galilee. During the time of Joshua, it was a Canaanite stronghold in northern Palestine. During the conquest of Canaan, as Joshua marched his army northward, he was confronted by a coalition of forces under the leadership of Jabin, king of Hazor. The biblical record declares that the Israelite army resoundingly defeated this confederation and burned Hazor to the ground (Josh 11:1-14). In excavations at Hazor in 1955-1958, and in 1968, Yigael Yadin discovered evidence that this city had been destroyed in the 13th century BC. He identified the ruins with Joshua’s conquest.
Yadin’s discoveries actually revealed that there were two destructions of Hazor: one in the 13th century BC, and another in the 15th century BC (Avi-Yonah 481,482). This is precisely the picture presented in the OT. In addition to the conquest of Hazor during the time of Joshua in the mid-15th century BC, two hundred years later, in the period of Israel’s judges, the Hebrews again engaged the king of Hazor in battle. In the days of Deborah and Barak (c 1258 BC), the armies of Hazor, under Sisera, were decisively defeated by the Israelites (Jdg 4:2…), and, undoubtedly Hazor was destroyed again.
GATH: Where Goliath dwelled: 1Sa 17:4; 2Sa 21:18-22.
Josh 12: “The exciting excursions of Israel as they enter the Land of Promise are continued in this chapter, as it lists the conquests of the areas they are to inherit. The names of the kings are given in order of conquest, and represent the triumph of the multitudinous Christ in the Age to come. Vv 1-6 enumerate the victories of Moses each of Jordan. The remainder is a list of the kings conquered by Joshua: vv 7-24. So many kings in such a small territory show how small were their kingdoms. They were divided into seven nations (Deu 7:1), all of which were better equipped for warfare than was Israel. So the record sets out the Central Campaign (vv 9,16), the Southern Campaign (vv 10-18), and the Northern Campaign (vv 19-24)” (GEM).
Josh 12: “A fitting conclusion to the military campaigns of Joshua, containing as it does a summary of his numerous victories and a list of the 31 kings which were smitten by him. A short account is there given of the conquests made by Israel both in the times of Moses and of Joshua. The land which the Lord gave unto Israel consisted of two parts, for though it was but a single country, yet its terrain was divided by the Jordan. Thus the conquest of Canaan was a single enterprise, though it was actually accomplished in two distinct stages. That portion on the eastward side of Jordan was subdued by Moses, and given to the two and a half tribes, but the much larger half lay on the western side, and was subjugated by Joshua and allotted unto the nine and a half tribes” (Pink).
JERUSALEM: But this is kept only temporarily (cp Jdg 1:21; 2Sa 5:6), and then finally taken by David.
Jos 10: “Joshua’s military campaigns against the powers of Canaan take a new line in this chapter. His associated Gibeonites are attacked by a Canaanite confederacy. It is a dramatic outline, as God’s people are challenged by the power of the Flesh. So the record provides a type of the greater contest ahead. The record shows: [1] The confederacy is formed: vv 1-4. [2] Gibeon is attacked: v 5. [3] An appeal to Joshua for assistance: vv 6,7. [4] Joshua attacks suddenly at dawn: vv 8-15. [5] Destruction of the enemy: vv 16-21. [6] Execution of the kings: vv 22-27. [7] Makkedah and Libnah fall to Joshua: vv 18-30. [8] Siege of Lachish: vv 31,32. [9] Horam defeated: v 33. [10] Eglon falls: vv 34,35. [11] Hebron is taken: vv 36,37. [12] Debir conquered: vv 38,39. [13] Summary of the campaign: vv 40-43.
“The battle of Beth-horon was one of the world’s decisive battles. Joshua’s success against the confederacy which attacked Gibeon laid open the whole land to the nation of Israel — ensuring the success of the campaign. On the basis of that success Jews claim the right to return to the Land today. ‘Yahweh brought the counsel of the heathen to nought’ (Psa 33:10)” (GEM).
From Gilgal to Gibeon, 18 mi and 3,400 ft climb.
BETH HORON: “House of caverns”.
Jos 10:11.
LARGE HAILSTONES: In midwinter hail is most common on the coastal plain. 5/23/57: Hail size of small apples fell on this region (Baly 50).
THE SUN STOOD STILL: The Book of Jashar is, of course, poetry (cp 2Sa 1:18-27), and — like any poetic expression — this need not be taken in a perfectly literal manner. There are plenty of other examples of Bible poetry, not necessarily interpreted literally: Isa 55:12; Psa 98:8; 114:4,6.
So what happened?: Did the time of “daylight” simply appear to be extended, as measured by the work that was accomplished that day under the influence of God’s Spirit?
“The only way in which lengthening of the day could be measured would be by the amount of useful work the men of Israel were able to put into it. Consider Jos 10:9,11,15,17,28, etc. Joshua’s army covered 50 miles in one day, fighting all the way, through mountainous terrain” (WBS 72,73).
“The history of Israel is not only as strictly lit as any other histories, and truer too than those of the nations contemporary with their prophetic times, but it is also allegorical, which theirs are not. Joshua and his captains were like Joshua, the High Priest and his companions, ‘men of sign’; and represented Messiah and his Captains in their future wars with ‘the Kings of the earth, and of the whole Habitable’ (Rev 16) whom they are to tread down as ashes under the soles of their feet” (Phan 136,137).
THIRTY THOUSAND: Or perhaps 30 “captains”, each with his company of troops. See Lesson, Large numbers in the OT.
FIVE THOUSAND: Or perhaps 5 “officers”, with their men (cp v 3). See v 3 and Lesson, Large numbers in OT.
Notice sequence: an army of “about three thousand” (Jos 7:4); another army of “about five thousand” (Jos 8:12); and a king “hanged on a tree” (Jos 8:29). Cp sequence in Acts: 3,000 converts (Act 2:41); 5,000 converts (Act 4:4); and “Jesus, whom you killed by hanging on a tree” (Act 5:30; 10:39).
TWELVE THOUSAND: Or perhaps 12 “officers” with their men (cp Jos 8:3,12).
Joshua did not need others to strengthen his hand, in ct to Moses (Exo 17:12).
Notice sequence: an army of “about three thousand” (Jos 7:4); another army of “about five thousand” (Jos 8:12); and a king “hanged on a tree” (Jos 8:29). Cp sequence in Acts: 3,000 converts (Act 2:41); 5,000 converts (Act 4:4); and “Jesus, whom you killed by hanging on a tree” (Act 5:30; 10:39).
HE HUNG THE KING OF AI ON A TREE: Considering the // with Act 5:30; 10:39… how could the hanging of the king of Ai on a tree typify the Lord Jesus Christ hung on a cross? One was a wicked Gentile; the other was the preeminently righteous Jew. One died eternally; the other lives eternally. The answer: the death of Jesus was not “merely” the death of a righteous man — he was handed over to death by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge (Act 2:23): God’s purpose was that — in the obedient death of His own Son — the “righteousness” of God would be declared as a basis for the forgiveness of sins for all who have faith in him (Rom 3:21-31). How? Because Jesus in his death “condemned sin” (Rom 8:3), putting to death the flesh in which the sin-principle resided (Heb 2:14,15) — this is what made him the perfect sacrifice. So… Jesus “hanging on a tree” is not just the death of a perfectly righteous man, but also the death of “King Sin” (Rom 6:12-14) and the lifting up of the serpent on the stake (Num 21:8,9; Joh 3:14) and the destruction of the works of the “devil” (1Jo 3:5,8). Given this sense of the matter, the hanging of Ai’s king on a tree — despite being superficially dissimilar — is in fact a wonderful type of the crucifixion of Christ!