{"commentary":{"id":"john-gill","name":"John Gill Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gill_(theologian)","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"John Gill Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"f6fcfd6c3a726dc834cfaf1ae1cd0bf49bffb88c1246ac3500699e8af7be71a5","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/john-gill/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/john-gill/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1189,"totalNumberOfVerses":29707,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"JOS","commentaryId":"john-gill","name":"Joshua","commonName":"Joshua","introduction":"INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA \n\nThe Jews distinguish the prophets into former and latter; the first of the former prophets is Joshua, or Sepher Joshua, the book of Joshua, as it is commonly called in the Hebrew copies; the Syriac inscription is, \n\n\"the book of Joshua, the son of Nun, the disciple of Moses:'' \n\nin the Arabic version it is reckoned a book of the judges, which adds, \n\n\"the first among the judges of the children of Israel was Joshua, the son of Nun, the twenty eighth from Adam, who reigned over Israel after the Prophet Moses.'' \n\nThis book bears the name of Joshua, either because it is concerning him, his actions and exploits in the land of Canaan, or because it was written by him, or both; though some ascribe it to Ezra, and others to Isaiah; but it must have been written before the times of Ahab, as appears from Kg1 16:34; and even before the times of David, as is clear from Jos 15:63, compared with Sa2 5:6; for though mention is made in it of the mountains of Judah and of Israel, from whence some have concluded, that the writer must have lived after the times of Rehoboam, in whose days the kingdom was divided; yet we find the distinction of Israel and Judah took place before, even in the times of David and Asaph, Psa 76:1; It is most likely that this book was written by Joshua himself, as the Jews in their Talmud (a) assert; and, indeed, who more fit for it than himself? and if written or put together by another, it is most probable that it was taken out of his diary, annals, or memoirs; and though there are some things recorded in it, which were done after his death, these might be inserted under a divine direction and influence by Eleazar, or Phinehas, or Samuel, to each of whom some ascribe the writing of this book, just as Joshua is supposed to add some verses concerning Moses at the end of the Pentateuch: however, be it wrote by whom it may, there is no doubt to be made of the divine inspiration and authenticity of it by us Christians, since some histories recorded in it are taken from it, or referred to, in Heb 11:30; and the promise made to Joshua is quoted, and applied to every believer, Heb 13:5; and the Apostle James refers to the case of Rahab, her character and conduct in it, Jam 2:25. The subject matter of this book is Joshua's taking upon him the government of the children of Israel, after the death of Moses, by a divine commission, exhortation, and encouragement given him to engage in war with the Canaanites; his conquests of them, the division of the land of Canaan to the children of Israel, and their settlement in it. It is of great use not only to give us the geography of the land of Canaan, and the history of the church of God, from the death of Moses to the times of the judges; but shows the exact fulfilment of prophecy, and the faithfulness of God to his promises in giving the land of Canaan to Israel, according to those made to their fathers, and the justice of God in punishing the Canaanites for their abominable sins, as had been foretold; and the wonderful care, of God, and his love to the people of Israel in preserving and protecting them, and in settling them in such a good land, notwithstanding all their murmurings, ingratitude, and unbelief, in the wilderness; and may serve to lead us to Christ, whose type Joshua was in the whole affair here related: his name has the signification of the salvation of the Lord in and he is by the Greek writers, and so in the New Testament, called Jesus, a Saviour, Act 7:45, Heb 4:8; and as they agree in their name, so they do in their state, condition, and character; Joshua was a servant of Moses, Christ was made under the law, and became subject to it, both moral and ceremonial; and also in their office, Joshua was the governor of Israel, and the commander of their forces, for which he was well qualified with wisdom, courage, and integrity; Christ is King of saints, the Leader and Commander of the people, who has fought their battles for them, being abundantly qualified, having the spirit of wisdom, counsel, might, and of the fear of the Lord, resting on him. Joshua was a type of Christ in various actions of his; in leading the people through the river Jordan, an emblem either of baptism, or of afflictions, or of death itself, in which Christ is with his people, and carries them through; in saving Rahab and her family, so Christ saves the worst and chief of sinners; in receiving the Gibeonites, who submitted to him, as Christ does all that come to him; in his conquest of the several kings of the Canaanites, so Christ has conquered all the spiritual enemies of his people, sin, Satan, and the world; in bringing and settling the people of Israel in the land of Canaan, their rest, and dividing it to them by lot, which Moses might not do; so Christ only brings souls into the true rest, into spiritual rest here, and eternal rest hereafter; in whom they obtain the inheritance of the heavenly glory by lot, and by whom only they enjoy salvation and eternal life, and not by the works of the law. This book contains an history of Joshua, of his government, his acts and deeds, from the death of Moses to his own; how long that was is not certain; the Jewish chronologers (b) observe, that the time of his principality we find not in the text; though they (c) say he succeeded Moses when he was eighty two years of age, and governed Israel twenty eight years; Eupolemus (d), an Heathen writer, says thirty years. Christian writers commonly make his reign to be twenty seven years (e); but an Arabic writer (f) stretches it further to thirty one years; he says, he took the government of the people in the seventy ninth year of his age, and reigned thirty one; but it seems more probable that he was ninety three years of age when Moses died, who lived to be an hundred ten, so that only seventeen years intervened between the death of the one and of the other; seven years Joshua was in subduing the land, and ten years more were taken up in dividing it to the people, and settling them in it, and in the government of them; after which Eleazar might rule ten years more, whose death is mentioned in it; so indeed the book may be reckoned an history of twenty seven years, though Joshua lived only seventeen of them. The Chronicle, to which the Samaritans give the name of the book of Joshua, is a spurious work; an epitome of which Hottinger (g) has compiled, and translated out of the Arabic exemplar into Latin. \n\n(a) T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 14. 2. (b) Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 7. 2. (c) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 12. p. 33. Juchasin, fol. 10. 1. (d) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30. (e) Tertullian, Lactantius, Eusebius, Augustin. apud Hottinger. Thesaur. Philolog. l . 2. c. 1. sect. 2. p. 960. so Ben Gersom in Jud. 11. 26. & Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 25. (f) Elmacinus apud Hottinger. p. 524. (g) Ad Calcem Exercitat. Antimorin. \n\n\n\nNext: Joshua Chapter 1\n\n","order":6,"numberOfChapters":24,"sha256":"4e39585f1661a78454434acff60b102e5d8c49d7554035e673cac47054538aec","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/john-gill/JOS/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"john-gill","book":"JOS","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":24,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/john-gill/JOS/24.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"john-gill","book":"JOS","chapter":24},"totalNumberOfVerses":658},"chapter":{"number":12,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":1,"content":["Now these are the kings of the land which the children of Israel smote,.... In the days of Moses, as Jarchi remarks, and as it clearly appears from what follows:\n\nand possessed, their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun; on the east of the land of Canaan:\n\nfrom the river Arnon unto the mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east; Arnon was the border of Moab between them and the Amorites, Numbers 21:13; and from hence to Hermon, a mountain adjoining to Lebanon, lay the country of the two kings of the Amorites after mentioned, Deuteronomy 3:8; and the plain on the east were the plains of Moab, which lay to the east of Jordan. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon,.... Which he took from the Moabites, and made his capital city, Numbers 21:26,\n\nand ruled from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the river of Arnon; a city of Moab, which never fell into the hands of Sihon, and therefore he is said to rule from it but not over it:\n\nand from the middle of the river; that is, the river Arnon, which being the boundary of the Moabites and Amorites, the king of the Amorites might be said to rule from the middle of it:\n\nand from half Gilead even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon; so it is said to be, Deuteronomy 3:16; it should be rendered, not \"from half Gilead\", but \"and half Gilead\", as it is in the Hebrew text, and so in the Targum; for half Gilead belonged to the kingdom of Sihon, as the other half did to the kingdom of Og, as in Joshua 12:5; and so Jarchi remarks. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["And from the plain,.... Or rather, \"and the plain\", the plains of Moab, which, before possessed by the Israelites, belonged to the kingdom of Sihon; and the plains of Jordan, which reached\n\nto the sea of Cinneroth on the east; the same with the lake of Gennesaret, and sea of Tiberias, mentioned in the New Testament, Matthew 14:34,\n\nand unto the sea of the plain; where stood the cities of the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah, &c.\n\neven the salt sea on the east; the same with the dead sea, into which the plain the above cities stood on was converted:\n\nthe way to Bethjeshimoth; which was a place in the plains of Moab, Numbers 33:49,\n\nand from the south under Ashdothpisgah; or the springs of Pisgah, which flowed from the mount of that name, Deuteronomy 3:17. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["And the coast of Og king of Bashan,.... The country that he reigned over, who was another king of the Amorites, smitten by Israel in the times of Moses:\n\nwhich was of the remnant of the giants; See Gill on Deuteronomy 3:11,\n\nthat dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei; of which two places see Deuteronomy 1:4; it seems as if Og had a palace in each of those cities, and sometimes was at one and sometimes at another, as is usual with kings. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["And reigned in Mount Hermon,.... That is, over all the people that inhabited that mount or dwelt under it, Joshua 11:17, and adjacent to it, of which mountain; see Gill on Deuteronomy 3:8 and See Gill on Deuteronomy 3:9,\n\nand in Salcah: which was a city belonging to the kingdom of Og, Deuteronomy 3:10,\n\nand in all Bashan; or Batanea, a country famous for pasturage, Micah 7:14, and for fat cattle, Ezekiel 39:18, and for oaks, Isaiah 2:13, frequently mentioned in Scripture:\n\nunto the border of the Geshurites, and the Maachathites; which were two nations the Israelites never expelled, Joshua 13:13; of which see Deuteronomy 3:14,\n\nand half Gilead; which belonged to Og, as the other half did to Sihon, before observed, which was as follows:\n\nthe border of Sihon king of Heshbon; here the two kingdoms joined, even in the midst of Gilead, which was divided between them, but now wholly fell into the hands of Israel. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["Them did Moses the servant of the Lord, and the children of Israel, smite,.... That is, the inhabitants of those kingdoms they smote with the edge of the sword, and took possession of them, the history of which see in Numbers 21:1,\n\nand Moses the servant of the Lord gave it; the whole dominion of the two kings before mentioned:\n\nfor a possession unto the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh: of which grant, and the conditions of it, see Numbers 32:1. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["And these are the kings of the country,.... After particularly named, Joshua 12:9,\n\nwhich Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west; that is, on the west of Jordan:\n\nfrom Baalgad, in the valley of Lebanon, even unto the mount Halak,\n\nthat goeth up to Seir; of which see Joshua 11:17,\n\nwhich Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for a possession,\n\naccording to their divisions; as after related in this book. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["In the mountains, and in the valleys, and in the plains, and in the springs, and in the wilderness, and in the south country,.... Which is a description of the whole land of Canaan; some parts of which were hills and mountains, others vales and champaign fields; others were dry and barren, and others well watered; some part of it lay to the north, as towards Lebanon, and others to the south, towards Seir:\n\nthe Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; which were the nations that inhabited the land of Canaan before it was taken and possessed by the Israelites. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["The king of Jericho, one,.... Who was first taken, and so named first, Joshua 6:21,\n\nthe king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; who was next taken and though Bethel was so near Ai, it had a king of its own, after mentioned, see Joshua 7:1. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["The king of Jerusalem, one,.... Whose name was Adonizedek, and was one of the five kings taken and hanged, Joshua 10:1,\n\nthe king of Hebron, one; another of the five kings, whose name was Hoham, Joshua 10:3. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["The king of Jarmuth, one,.... Whose name was Piram, a third of the five kings before observed, Joshua 10:3,\n\nthe king of Lachish, one; another of them, whose name was Japhia, Joshua 10:3. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["The king of Eglon, one,.... The last of the five kings, and his name was Debir, Joshua 10:3,\n\nthe king of Gezer, one; who came up to help Lachish, and his name was Horam, Joshua 10:33. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["The king of Debir, one,.... The same with Kirjathsepher, of which place; see Gill on Joshua 10:38,\n\nthe king of Geder, one: Jerom (h) seems to confound this with the tower of Eder, beyond which Jacob pitched his tent, Genesis 35:21; and he speaks of a Gaddera in the tribe of Judah, in his time a village belonging to the country about Aelia or Jerusalem, and of Gahedur in the tribe of Judah, a large village, ten miles from Diospolis or Lydda, as you go to Eleutheropolis: it seems to be the same with Gederah, Joshua 15:36, or Gedor, Joshua 15:58.\n\n(h) De loc. Heb. fol. 92. A. B. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["The king of Hormah, one,.... Which was formerly called Zephath, Judges 1:17; see Joshua 15:3,\n\nthe king of Arad, one; perhaps the same with Arath, which, Jerom (i) says, is the border of the land of Judah, and is twenty miles distant from Hebron to the south; see Numbers 21:1.\n\n(i) De Loc. Heb. fol. 92. L. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["The king of Libnah, one,.... Taken at the same time as the kings of Makkedah, Debir, and of other places were, Joshua 10:29,\n\nthe king of Adullam, one; a city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:35; Jerom says (k) there was a village in his time, not a small one, called by this name, ten miles to the east of Eleutheropolis: near to this place was a cave where David hid himself when he fled from Saul, 1 Samuel 22:1; See Gill on Micah 1:15.\n\n(k) De loc. Heb. fol. 88. F. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["The king of Makkedah, one,.... In a cave near to which five kings hid themselves, and were taken out and hanged, and the city afterwards was taken by Joshua, Joshua 10:16; which fell to the lot of the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:41,\n\nthe king of Bethel, one; a city near to Ai, about a mile from it, and yet had a king over it: it was taken at the same time that Ai was, Joshua 7:2; and fell to the lot of Benjamin, Joshua 18:22. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["The king of Tappuah, one,.... Which Jerom calls (l) Thaffu; it signifies an apple, and perhaps had its name from plenty of that fruit that grew there: a city of this name fell to the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:34; where also was another place called Bethtappuah, Joshua 15:53; and both different from another Tappuah on the border of Manasseh, which belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, Joshua 17:8; by some thought to be meant here:\n\nthe king of Hepher, one; mention is made of Gittahhepher as on the border of Zebulun, Joshua 19:13; the same with Gathhepher, of which place was the Prophet Jonah, 2 Kings 14:25; and of the land of Hepher in 1 Kings 4:10; which is said by Jerom to be in the same tribe, and not far from Diocaesarea or Zippore; and we read of a Chepher or Hepher in the Jewish writings (m), which, according to the account of it there given, could not be far from the same place, at least it must be less than twelve miles from it.\n\n(l) De loc. Heb. fol. 95. C. (m) T. Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 37. 3. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 20. fol. 161. 4. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["The king of Aphek, one,.... There was a place called Aphekah in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:53; and an Aphek that was on the border of the Amorites, Joshua 13:4; and another in the tribe of Asher, Joshua 19:30; but Adrichomius (n) places this Aphek in the tribe of Issachar, whose king Joshua smote, and takes it to be the same place where the Philistines in the times of Samuel and David brought their armies against Israel, 1 Samuel 4:1; and where the king of Syria fought against Israel, 1 Kings 20:26; and says that its ruins were now shown in the great plain not far from Gilboa to the east of Mount Carmel, and five miles from Tabor:\n\nthe king of Lasharon, one; which, according to the Vulgate Latin version, is the same with Saron, which, in Acts 9:35, in some copies is called Assaron; so Adrichomius (o), who places it in the tribe of Ephraim, and takes it to be the same Sharon Isaiah speaks of, Isaiah 33:9; and of which Jerom says (p), to this day there is a country between Tabor and the lake of Tiberias called Saronas, and also that from Caesarea of Palestine to the town of Joppa, all the land that is seen bears that name.\n\n(n) Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 35. (o) Ib. p. 30. (p) De loc. Heb. fol. 94. M. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["The king of Madon, one,.... Whose name was Jobab, Joshua 11:1,\n\nthe king of Hazor, one; whose name was Jabin, and of him and his city; see Gill on Joshua 11:1. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["The king of Shimronmeron, one,.... See Joshua 11:1, this place fell to the tribe of Zebulun, Joshua 19:15,\n\nthe king of Achshaph, one; see Joshua 11:1; this city fell to the lot of Asher, Joshua 19:25. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["The king of Taanach, one,.... It was in the tribe of Manasseh, Joshua 17:11; Jerom says (q), in his time it was a large village, distant from Legion on the plain of Esdraelon three miles:\n\nthe king of Megiddo, one; which belonged to the same tribe, Joshua 17:11; near this place were some waters where the Canaanites fought with the Israelites, Judges 5:19; and a valley where Josiah was slain, 2 Chronicles 35:22.\n\n(q) De Loc. Heb. fol. 95. D. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["The king of Kedesh, one,.... Which afterwards fell to the tribe of Naphtali, and was one of the cities of refuge, Joshua 19:37; it was situated in upper Galilee on Mount Naphtali, four miles from the city of Sephet, and as many from Capernaum, and twenty miles from Tyre (r):\n\nthe king of Jokneam of Carmel, one; a city that came to the lot of the tribe of Zebulun, Joshua 19:11; and was given to the Levites, Joshua 21:34; it was not far from Mount Carmel, from whence it is described.\n\n(r) Adrichom. Theatrum, p. 104. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["The king of Dor, in the coast of Dor, one,.... Of which see Joshua 11:2; it fell to the lot of Manasseh, but never was possessed by them, as were not Taanach and Megiddo, before mentioned, Joshua 17:11 Judges 1:27,\n\nthe king of the nations of Gilgal, one; not the place where Joshua encamped after he had passed Jordan, for that was then no city; the Septuagint version renders it the land of Galilee; and Dr. Lightfoot (s) is of opinion that Galilee is meant, and in the Apocrypha:\"Who went forth by the way that leadeth to Galgala, and pitched their tents before Masaloth, which is in Arbela, and after they had won it, they slew much people.'' (1 Maccabees 9:2)Galgala is spoken of as near to Arbel, a city in Galilee: Jerom (t) takes this to be the same with Glagulis, which in his time was a village six miles from Antipatris to the north.\n\n(s) Chorograph. Cent. c. 88. (t) De loc. Heb. fol. 92. B. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["The king of Tirzah, one,.... To what tribe this place fell is nowhere said: Adrichomius (u) places it in the tribe of Manasseh; and so does Bunting (w), who says of it, that it was a fair and beautiful city, situated on a high and pleasant mountain, in the tribe of Manasseh, twenty four miles from Jerusalem to the north: here Jeroboam had his royal seat, and so his successors unto Omri, 1 Kings 14:17; and Dr Lightfoot (x) seems to suspect as if Shechem in Mount Ephraim and Tirzah were the same; for, he says, if Shechem and Tirzah were not one and the same town, it appears that Jeroboam had removed his court, when his son died, from where it was when he first erected his idols; compare 1 Kings 12:25, with 1 Kings 14:17; and so it may argue that there was some space between: it was, no doubt, a very pleasant and beautiful city, as not only appears from its name, but from the allusion to it in Sol 6:4,\n\nall the kings thirty and one: it may seem strange that, in so small a country as Canaan was, there should be so many kings in it, since the length of it from Dan to Beersheba was scarce an hundred sixty miles, as Jerom (y) says; who further observes, that he was ashamed to give the breadth of it, lest it should give occasion to Heathens to blaspheme; for, adds he, from Joppa to our little village Bethlehem (where they then were) were forty six miles, to which succeeded only a vast desert: but it may be observed, that in ancient times, in other countries, there were a great many kings, as here in Britain, and in France, Spain, and Germany, as Bishop Patrick has observed from several writers; and Strabo (z) testifies the same of the cities of Phoenicia or Canaan, that they had each of them separate kings, as Joshua here describes them.\n\n(u) Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 74. (w) Travels, &c. p. 160. (x) Works, vol. 1. p. 78. (y) Epist. Dardano, tom. 3. p. 22. I. K. (z) Geograph. l. 16. p. 519. \n"]}]},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/john-gill/JOS/12.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"john-gill","book":"JOS","chapter":12},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/john-gill/JOS/13.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"john-gill","book":"JOS","chapter":13},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/john-gill/JOS/11.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"john-gill","book":"JOS","chapter":11},"numberOfVerses":24}