Miles de Libros Cristianos Gratis. Accede a nuestra Biblioteca Virtual

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 13:1

Para un estudio avanzado de: “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 13:1” utilice nuestra app.

Now Joshua was old [and] stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old [and] stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.

Ch. Jos 13:1-7. The Divine Command to Joshua to distribute the Land

1. Now Joshua ] With the thirteenth chapter begins the Second Part of the Book of Joshua. It describes the division of the Land, and rests no doubt on definite records which lay before the writer. “There is one document in the Hebrew Scriptures to which probably no parallel exists in the topographical records of any other ancient nation. In the Book of Joshua we have what may without offence be termed the Domesday Book of the conquest of Canaan. Ten chapters of that Book are devoted to a description of the country, in which not only are its general features and boundaries carefully laid down, but the names and situations of its towns and villages enumerated with a precision of geographical terms which encourages and almost compels a minute investigation.” Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine, p. xiii.

Now Joshua was old ] The Hebrew leader was now about ninety years of age. Much land still remained to be occupied. Strong fortresses like Jerusalem, Gezer, and Bethshean still remained in the hands of the defeated Canaanites. Their reduction by ordinary means would require time and entail difficulty. The command, therefore, is now given to wait no longer, but proceed to the division of the Land.

and stricken in years ] “Thou hast woxe eld, and art of loong age,” Wyclif. Comp. Gen 18:11; Gen 24:1; Jos 23:1-2.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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 Jos 11:23).

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Jos 13:1-33

Thou art old and stricken in years.

Joshuas old age

The Lord said unto Joshua, Thou art old and stricken in years. To many men and women this would not be a welcome announcement. They do not like to think that they are old. They do not like to think that the bright, joyous, playful part of life is over, and that they are arrived at the sombre years when they must say, There is no pleasure in them. Then, again, there are some who really find it hard to believe that they are old. Life has flown past so swiftly that before they thought it was well begun it has gone. But however much men may like to be young, and however much some may retain in old age of the feeling of youth, it is certain that the period of strength has its limit, and the period of life also, To Joshua the announcement that he was old and stricken in years does not appear to have brought any painful or regretful feeling. Perhaps he had aged somewhat suddenly; his energies may have failed consciously and rapidly, after his long course of active and anxious military service. He may have been glad to hear God utter the word; he may have been feeling it himself, and wondering how he should be able to go through the campaigns yet necessary to put the children of Israel in full possession of the land. So Joshua finds that he is now to be relieved by his considerate Master of laborious and anxious service. Not of all service, but of exhausting service, unsuited to his advancing years. Joshua had been a right faithful servant; few men have ever done their work so well. He has led a most useful and loyal life, which there is some satisfaction in looking back on. No doubt he is well aware of unnumbered failings: Who can understand his errors? But he has the rare satisfaction–oh! Who would not wish to share it?–of looking back on a well-spent life, habitually and earnestly regulated amid many infirmities by regard to the will of God. Yet Joshua was not to complete that work to which he had contributed so much: there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. At one time, no doubt, he thought otherwise, and he desired otherwise. When the tide of victory was setting in for him so steadily, and region after region of the land was falling into his hands, it was natural to expect that before he ended he would sweep all the enemies of Israel before him, and open every door for them throughout the land, even to its utmost borders. Why not make hay when the sun shone? When God had found so apt an instrument for His great design, why did He not employ him to the end? If the natural term of Joshuas strength had come, why did not that God who had supernaturally lengthened out the day for completing the victory of Bethhoron lengthen out Joshuas day, that the whole land of Canaan might be secured? Here comes in a great mystery of Providence. Instead of lengthening out the period of Joshuas strength, God seems to have cut it short. We can easily understand the lesson for Joshua himself. Joshua must be made to feel–perhaps he needs this–that this enterprise is not his, but Gods. And God is not limited to one instrument, or to one age, or to one plan. Never does Providence appear to us so strange as when a noble worker is cut down in the very midst of his work. A young missionary has just shown his splendid capacity for service, when fever strikes him low, and in a few days all that remains of him is rotting in the ground. What can God mean? we sometimes ask impatiently. Does He not know the rare value and the extreme scarcity of such men, that He sets them up apparently just to throw them down? But God reigneth, let the people tremble. All that bears on the Christian good of the world is in Gods plan, and it is very dear to God, and precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. But He is not limited to single agents. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)

God takes note of our ,failing strength

He says, concerning this man and that, Grey hairs are here and there upon him, and he knoweth it not. About some supposedly strong men, He says, They are wearing out; they are old at forty; at fifty they will be patriarchal, so far as the exhaustion of strength is concerned; they will die young in years, but old in service. Gods work does take much out of a man, if the man is faithful. A man may pray himself into a withered old age in one night: in one little day a man may add years to his labour. We can work off-handedly: the work need not take much out of us; but if we think about it, ponder it, execute it with both hands–if it is the one thought of the soul, who can tell how soon the strongest man may be run out, and the youngest become a white-haired patriarch? But blessed is it to be worked out in this service. A quaint minister of the last century said, It is better to rub out than to rust out. How many are content to rust out! They know nothing about friction, sacrifice, self-slaughter, martyrdom. (J. Parker, D.D.)

There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.

Unconquered territory

I. Revealed truth yet to be learned. We have not yet secured all the sacred knowledge which God has made possible, and which it would be profitable for us to acquire. Here is this book set out before us, the great region of revealed religion. May we not say that there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed? Who among us is familiar with all its histories, is acquainted with all its facts, knows all its truths, has seen all its beauties, or learned all its lessons? Some of you have been through the pass of Llanberis–perhaps twenty times. Did you ever see it twice alike? Always the same thing; and yet a different appearance, because seen under different circumstances. If you were to go through it twenty times twenty times, it would never appear twice alike. The light would be falling on it at different angles, and thus make a difference. On a cloudy day you would see something you did not see on a bright day, and on a rainy day you would see something you did not see on a fine day. It is thus with this book. You say that you read the Bible through last year, and you ask, What is to be gained by reading it through again this year? Have you the same hopes? the same joys? the same sorrows? the same aspirations? the same motives? and the same experiences? I care not how often you have read it, you have never read it as you feel now, with your present experience and in your present circumstances.

II. A holy character to be acquired. There remaineth much of that to be possessed. Men in ancient times had not a Divine standard to measure themselves by, or a Divine pattern to contrast themselves with, and learn how deficient they were and full of blemishes. We have had a perfect pattern set before us. In the life of our Lord Jesus Christ we have the map of the good land; see it in its length and breadth, and realise how true it is that there are glorious portions of it over which our flag has not floated, provinces which we have not made our own.

III. Christian usefulness. I am not going to slander the Christian Church, and tell you that former times were better than these. There is nothing gained by telling lies for God. If you want to quicken Gods people you must not talk as if the Church were more sleepy now than it ever was before. I do not believe it. As I read ecclesiastical history, I cannot find many periods when the Church, as a whole, was more vigorous and devoted than now. Let us not ignore what God has done for us, and enabled us to do. Not unto us, but unto Him be the praise and glory. But when we take into account all that has been done and all that has been attempted against the worlds ignorance, vice, and ungodliness, may we not still say, There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed? It is not the season for slothfulness, selfishness, or prayerlessness; the call is urgent and great. There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. Why did God keep His people to that struggle? He gave the people the land, and then they had to fight for it. They crossed the Jordan with the best title-deeds man ever possessed; they came from heaven, they were given by Him to whom all the earth belongs. The title-deed of the people said, The land is yours; and after God had given it to them they had to buckle on the sword, sharpen the spear, and go and win every acre of it. This is Gods way–He gives it to you, and yet He says, Get it; work it out with fear and trembling. Why does He treat us so? I cannot tell; but this I know, that if we cease to work the powers of evil never will. (Charles Vince.)

The Christians work

Canaan, though commonly used as a type of heaven, is, in some of its aspects, a type rather of a state of grace than of a state of glory. And taking this view of it, I remark that–

I. Canaan, as the Israelites found it, represents the state of mans heart when the grace of God enters it. Think of a soul like thine, made at first in the image of God; a being such as thou art, once occupying a rank in creation next to and but a little lower than that of angels; a heart like thine which, though blighted by sin, still retains some traces of departed glory, alienated from the true God, held captive of the devil, ruled by unholy passions, full of corruptions as difficult to root out as were these sons of Anak who, in Goliath and his giant race, disturbed the peace of Israel and defied the armies of the living God many long years after the land was, in a sense, both conquered and possessed. The Hebrews did not enter Canaan to find an empty land, which they had nothing to do but to occupy; nor does Jesus, when He enters our heart by His Spirit and saving grace. It is in possession of His enemies. They are there to dispute His rights, and resist His entrance–sons of Anak, indeed; more formidable still; for giant sins are less easily conquered than giant men.

II. The blessings of the kingdom of grace, like those of Canaan, have to be fought for. Bring out every sin before the Lord, and let it be condemned to death; pass the sword of the Spirit through and through it, till it has breathed out its cursed life, and has no more dominion over you. As the apostle says, Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from alliniquity. Beware how you leave innate corruption and old sinful habits to draw down on you the anger of a holy God and the afflictions threatened on Israel (Num 33:55).

III. The most advanced Christian has much to do in the way of sanctification. How truly may it be said to the most experienced, aged, honoured Christian, as the Lord said to Joshua, Thou art old and well stricken in years, and yet there is much land to be possessed. Sin still has more or less power over you, and it should have none; your corruptions are wounded, dying of mortal wounds, but they are not yet dead; your affections are set on heaven, yet how much are they still entangled with earthly things; your heart, like the needle of a sailors compass to its pole, points to Christ, but how easily is it disturbed, how tremblingly and unsteadily does it often point to Him; your spirit has wings, but how short are its flights, and how often, like a half-fledged eaglet, has it to seek the nest, and come back to rest on the Rock of Ages; your soul is a garden in which, when north and south winds blow to call out its spices, Christ delights to walk, but with many a beautiful flower, how many vile weeds are there–ready to spring up, and ill to keep down; requiring constant care and watching. Indeed, so many impurities and imperfections cleave to the best of us, that it seems to me a change must take place at death only second to what took place at conversion. How that is done is a mystery which we cannot fathom; but it would seem as if grace, like that species of cereus which opens its gorgeous flower only at midnight burst out into fullest beauty amid the darkness of a dying hour. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

The uncompleted work

There is much land to be possessed in–

I. The knowledge of God. Columbus was not content to pick up a few shells on the beach of the new world–he explored the continent; alas! we are too soon satisfied with coasting for a little on that great continent of the Divine nature.

II. The study of the bible. Christians are too prone to keep to the beaten tracks; they do not make excursions into less familiar paths; some pages well thumbed, others clean and uncut.

III. Christian character. Canaan was occupied by seven nations of ugly names; but our hearts and lives are cursed by still uglier things. We must not be content until all these are brought under obedience to Christ.

IV. The heathen world. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

On progress in religion

Christians, God has assigned you a glorious portion. Opening before you the discoveries of revelation, He said, Make all this your own; advance; leave nothing unpossessed. At first you were filled with spiritual ardour, laying aside every weight, &c. But, alas! your love has waxen cold.

I. Yes, Christians, there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed–many cities and strongholds, many fine plains, and springs of water, many beautiful valleys, and very fruitful hills–or, to speak less in figure, much of your religion is unattained, unoccupied, unenjoyed; you are far from its boundaries. Very little of it indeed do some of you possess; you command only a small, inconsiderable corner, scarcely affording you a subsistence.

1. Consider your knowledge. After so many years of hearing, what additions have you made to your stores? Are you filled with holy prudence to ponder the path of your feet, to look well to your goings, and to discern snares where there is no appearance-of danger? Do you walk circumspectly; not as fools, but as wise?

2. Observe your holiness. For the knowledge of persons may surpass their experience; and a growth in gifts is very distinguishable from a growth in grace. Review, then, your sanctification; and suffer me to ask, Have you no remaining corruptions to subdue? Is your obedience universal, unvarying, cheerful? Have you fully imbibed the tempers of your religion? Are there no deficiencies perceivable in every grace, in every duty?

3. Think of your privileges. It is the privilege of Christians to be careful for nothing. It is the privilege of Christians to enter into rest. It is the privilege of Christians to have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the privilege of Christians to count it all joy when they fall into divers temptations; and to glory in tribulation also. And all this has been exemplified. Men have received the gospel in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: they have taken pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christs sake; they have taken joyfully the spoiling of their goods; they have approached the flames with rapture; they have loved and longed for His appearing–but where are you? Always in darkness and alarms, &c. Do you belong to the same company?

II. Whence is this? Why will you suffer all this remaining religion to be unpossessed? How shall I awaken you from your negligence, and convince you of the propriety and necessity of making fresh and continual advances?

1. I place before you the commands of God. You are forbidden to draw back; you are forbidden to be stationary. Something more is necessary than languid, partial, occasional, temporary progression. You are required to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; to add to your faith, virtue, &c.

2. I surround you with all the images employed by the sacred writers when they would describe the nature of a religious life. For which of them does not imply progress, and remind us of the importance of undiminished ardour and increasing exertion? Light. Growing grain. Mustard seed. Leaven.

3. I call forth examples in your presence; they teach you the same truth. Who said, I beseech thee, show me Thy glory ? A man who had seen God face to face. Who prayed, Teach me Thy statutes: open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law? A man who had more understanding than all his teachers, a man who understood more than the ancients.

4. I hold up to view the advantages of progressive religion.

(1) A Christian should be concerned for the honour of God. He is under infinite obligations to show forth the praises of Him, who hath called us, &c.; but herein is our Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.

(2) A Christian should be concerned for the welfare of his fellow-creatures. He should be a blessing to his family, to his country.

(3) A Christian should be concerned for his own prosperity. And has he to learn wherein it consists? Need he be told that adding grace to grace is adding strength to strength, dignity to dignity, beauty to beauty, joy to joy? It is an awful proof that you have no real religion if you are satisfied with what you have. A degree of experience, however small, would stimulate; the relish would provoke the appetite; and having tasted that the Lord is gracious, your language would be, evermore give us this bread.

III. Some admonitions with regard to your future efforts.

1. Shake off indolence. Nothing is more injurious to our progress; and, alas! nothing is more common. Man loves indulgence; he needs a stimulus, to make him arise from the bed of sloth, to exert his faculties, and to employ the means of which he is possessed. And one would naturally conclude that in religion he would find it. As he sits at ease revelation draws back the veil, and shows him the most astonishing realities–an eternal world; whatever can sting with motive; whatever can alarm with fear; whatever can animate with hope. What a Being to please, on whom it depends to save or to destroy! What a state of misery is there to escape! What an infinite happiness to secure!

2. Beware of diversion. Discharge yourself as much as possible from superfluous cares. Distinguish between diligence in lawful business and entangling yourselves in the affairs of this life. There are not only diversions from religion, but diversions in it; and of these also you are to beware. Here, finding you are unsuspicious of danger, the enemy often succeeds; for his end is frequently answered by things good in themselves. He is satisfied if he can draw off your attention from great things, and engross it with little ones; if he can make you prefer opinions to practice, and controversy to devotion.

3. Guard against despondency. There are indeed many things which, when viewed alone, have a tendency to discourage the mind. We know your weakness, and we know the difficulties and dangers to which you are exposed. But you have the promise of a faithful God.

4. Be afraid of presumption. Our dependence upon God is absolute and universal. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. His agency is more indispensable in spiritual things than in natural; sin has rendered us peculiarly weak, helpless, and disaffected.

5. It would be profitable for you to call to remembrance the former days, and especially to review the beginning of your religious course.

6. It will not be less profitable for you to look forward, and survey the close of all. Christians! it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is your salvation nearer. Would you slumber on the verge of heaven? The stream increases as it approximates the sea; motion accelerates as it approaches the centre. (W. Jay.)

Territory yet to be taken by the Church

Who in the sketch of the inheritance given by God, the outline of the borders assigned to them in the grant of heaven, and sealed by covenant oath, could, in this seat of plenty and portion of the Church, behold with satisfaction and content so much of what mercy had made their own, still retained under the dominion of darkness, and occupied to the keeping out of their full right the true heirs of promise? Who, whatever his achievements in conquest and attainments in grace, but in this view feels the confined results of all his operations, and sees on every hand very much land yet to be possessed? Notwithstanding all that has been achieved by the Church of God, the spiritual inclosures of grace, and those precious plants of righteousness, where once grew the thorn and the briar, none whose contemplations seldom reach beyond such beauteous spots of mercy, such flourishing vineyards of grace, can possibly conceive of the melancholy darkness which still broods over by far the greater part of the land, those moral wastes of ignorance and corruption which everywhere meet the eye and distress the heart of the Christian traveller. Ah! what extensive wastes of sin everywhere meet the eye, for the cultivation of which but few hands are found! Vast multitudes in the possession of intelligence, and bearing the stamp of immortality, are living without the fear of God, or any hope of futurity, as indifferent to all the momentous concerns of eternity as they are ignorant of all the affecting realities of the gospel. The worldly-mindedness, profligacy, and pride of the rich, and their prevailing disregard of all that is serious and devout, demonstrate that they are equally without God and without hope in the world, and, till renewed by grace, or removed by death, are the pollution and burden of the place where they live. These are the Anakims, a people tall and strong, and as the sons of Anak, a gigantic race, who in their power and influence contract the inheritance of the saints, and hold them from a more enlarged possession, till the powers of heaven subdue or destroy. But with the promise of an inheritance wide as the world, and stretched in its extent to the remotest boundaries of the earth, how much, very much land yet remaineth to be possessed! (W. Seaton.)

More beyond

Spain inscribed on her coins the picture of the pillars of Hercules, which stood on either side of the Straits of Gibraltar, the extreme boundary of her empire, with only an unexplored ocean beyond; and on the scroll over there was written, Ne plus ultra–nothing beyond. But afterwards, when Columbus had discovered America, Spain struck out the negative and left the inscription, Plus ultra–more beyond.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER XIII

Joshua being old, the Lord informs him of the land yet remaining

to be possessed, 1.

Of the unconquered land among the Philistines, 2, 3.

Among the Canaanites, Sidonians, and Amorites, 4, 5.

The inhabitants of the hill country and the Sidonians to be

driven out, 6.

The land on the east side of Jordan, that was to be divided

among the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of

Manasseh, 7-12.

The Geshurites and the Maachathites not expelled, 13.

The tribe of Levi receive no inheritance, 14.

The possessions of REUBEN described, 15-23.

The possessions of GAD, 24-28.

The possessions of the half tribe of Manasseh, 29-31.

Recapitulation of the subjects contained in this chapter,

32, 33.

NOTES ON CHAP. XIII

Verse 1. Joshua was old] He is generally reputed to have been at this time about a hundred years of age: he had spent about seven years in the conquest of the land, and is supposed to have employed about one year in dividing it; and he died about ten years after, aged one hundred and ten years. It is very likely that he intended to subdue the whole land before he made the division of it among the tribes; but God did not think proper to have this done. So unfaithful were the Israelites that he appears to have purposed that some of the ancient inhabitants should still remain to keep them in check, and that the respective tribes should have some labour to drive out from their allotted borders the remains of the Canaanitish nations.

There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.] That is, very much when compared with that on the other side Jordan, which was all that could as yet be said to be in the hands of the Israelites.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Thou art old, therefore delay not to do the work which I have appointed and commanded thee to do.

To be possessed; to be conquered, and so possessed by the people.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. Now Joshua was old and strickenin yearsHe was probably above a hundred years old; for theconquest and survey of the land occupied about seven years, thepartition one; and he died at the age of one hundred ten years (Jos24:29). The distribution, as well as the conquest of the land,was included in the mission of Joshua; and his advanced age supplieda special reason for entering on the immediate discharge of thatduty; namely, of allocating Canaan among the tribes of Israelnotonly the parts already won, but those also which were still to beconquered.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

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:

thou art 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.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Introduction to the Division of the Land. – Jos 13:1-7. Command of the Lord to Joshua to distribute the land of Canaan by lot among the nine tribes and a half. Jos 13:1 contains only the commencement of the divine command; the conclusion follows in Jos 13:7. Jos 13:2-6 form a parenthesis of several clauses, defining the last clause of Jos 13:1 more fully. When Joshua had grown old, the Lord commanded him, as he was advanced in years, and there was still much land to be taken, to divide “ this land,” i.e., the whole of the land of Canaan, for an inheritance to the nine tribes and a half, and promised him at the same time that He would drive out the Canaanites from those portions of the land that were not yet conquered (Jos 13:6). The words “ grown old and come into years ” (vid., Gen 24:1; Gen 18:11, etc.) denote advanced age in its different stages up to the near approach of death (as, for example, in Jos 23:1). Joshua might be ninety or a hundred years old at this time. The allusion to Joshua’s great age serves simply to explain the reason for the command of God. As he was already old, and there still remained much land to be taken, he was to proceed to the division of Canaan, that he might accomplish this work to which he was also called before his death; whereas he might very possibly suppose that, under existing circumstances, the time for allotting the land had not yet arrived. – In Jos 13:2-6 the districts that were not yet conquered are enumerated separately.

Jos 13:2-4

All the circles of the Philistines ( geliloth , circles of well-defined districts lying round the chief city). The reference is to the five towns of the Philistines, whose princes are mentioned in Jos 13:3. “ And all Geshuri: ” not the district of Geshur in Peraea (Jos 13:11, Jos 13:13, Jos 12:5; Deu 3:14), but the territory of the Geshurites, a small tribe in the south of Philistia, on the edge of the north-western portion of the Arabian desert which borders on Egypt; it is only mentioned again in 1Sa 27:8. The land of the Philistines and Geshurites extended from the Sichor of Egypt (on the south) to the territory of Ekron (on the north). Sichor ( Sihor), lit. the black river, is not the Nile, because this is always called (the river) in simple prose (Gen 41:1, Gen 41:3; Exo 1:22), and was not “before Egypt,” i.e., to the east of it, but flowed through the middle of the land. The “ Sichor before Egypt ” was the brook ( Nachal) of Egypt, the , the modern Wady el Arish, which is mentioned in Jos 15:4, Jos 15:47, etc., as the southern border of Canaan towards Egypt (see at Num 34:5). Ekron ( , lxx), the most northerly of the five chief cities of the Philistines, was first of all allotted to the tribe of Judah (Jos 15:11, Jos 15:45), then on the further distribution it was given to Dan (Jos 19:43); after Joshua’s death it was conquered by Judah (Jdg 1:18), though it was not permanently occupied. It is the present Akr, a considerable village in the plain, two hours to the south-west of Ramlah, and on the east of Jamnia, without ruins of any antiquity, with the exception of two old wells walled round, which probably belong to the times of the Crusaders (see Rob. Pal. iii. p. 23). “ To the Canaanites is reckoned (the territory of the) five lords of the Philistines,” i.e., it was reckoned as belonging to the land of Canaan, and allotted to the Israelites like all the rest. This remark was necessary because the Philistines were not descendants of Canaan (see at Gen 10:14), but yet were to be driven out like the Canaanites themselves as being invaders of Canaanitish territory (cf. Deu 2:23). , from , the standing title of the princes of the Philistines (vid., Jdg 3:3; Jdg 16:5.; 1Sa 5:8), does not mean kings, but princes, and is interchangeable with (cf. 1Sa 29:6 with 1Sa 29:4, 1Sa 29:9). At any rate, it was the native or Philistian title of the Philistine princes, though it is not derived from the same root as Sar , but is connected with seren , axis rotae , in the tropical sense of princeps , for which the Arabic furnishes several analogies (see Ges. Thes. p. 972).

The capitals of these five princes were the following. Azzah ( Gaza, i.e., the strong): this was allotted to the tribe of Judah and taken by the Judaeans (Jos 15:47; Jdg 1:18), but was not held long. It is at the present time a considerable town of about 15,000 inhabitants, with the old name of Ghazzeh, about an hour from the sea, and with a seaport called Majuma; it is the farthest town of Palestine towards the south-west (see Rob. Pal. ii. pp. 374ff.; Ritter, Erdk. xvi. pp. 35ff.; Stark, Gaza, etc., pp. 45ff.). Ashdod ( , Azotus): this was also allotted to the tribe of Judah (Jos 15:46-47), the seat of Dagon-worship, to which the Philistines carried the ark (1Sa 5:1.). It was conquered by Uzziah (2Ch 26:6), was afterwards taken by Tartan, the general of Sargon (Isa 20:1), and was besieged by Psammetichus for twenty-nine years ( Herod. ii. 157). It is the present Esdud, a Mahometan village with about a hundred or a hundred and fifty miserable huts, upon a low, round, wooded height on the road from Jamnia to Gaza, two miles to the south of Jamnia, about half an hour from the sea (vid., Rob. i. p. 368). Ashkalon: this was conquered by the Judaeans after the death of Joshua (Jdg 1:8-9); but shortly afterwards recovered its independence (vid., Jdg 14:19; 1Sa 6:17). It is the present Askuln on the sea-shore between Gaza and Ashdod, five hours to the north of Gaza, with considerable and widespread ruins (see v. Raum. pp. 173-4; Ritter, xvi. pp. 69ff.). Gath ( ): this was for a long time the seat of the Rephaites, and was the home of Goliath (Jos 11:22; 1Sa 17:4, 1Sa 17:23; 2Sa 21:19.; 1Ch 20:5.); it was thither that the Philistines of Ashdod removed the ark, which was taken thence to Ekron (1Sa 5:7-10). David was the first to wrest it from the Philistines (1Ch 18:1). In the time of Solomon it was a royal city of the Philistines, though no doubt under Israelitish supremacy (1Ki 2:39; 1Ki 5:1). It was fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:8), was taken by the Syrians in the time of Joash (2Ki 12:18), and was conquered again by Uzziah (2Ch 26:6; Amo 6:2); but no further mention is made of it, and no traces have yet been discovered

(Note: According to the Onom. ( s. v. Geth), it was a place five Roman miles from Eleutheropolis towards Diospolis, whereas Jerome (on Mic 1) says: “ Gath was near the border of Judaea, and on the road from Eleutheropolis to Gaza; it is still a very large village;” whilst in the commentary on Jer 25 he says: “Gath was near to and conterminous with Azotus,” from which it is obvious enough that the situation of the Philistine city of Gath was altogether unknown to the Fathers. Hitzig and Knobel suppose the of Ptolemy (5:16, 6), Betogabri in Tab. Peuting. ix. e. (the Eleutheropolis of the Fathers, and the present Beit Jibrin, a very considerable ruin), to be the ancient Gath, but this opinion is only founded upon very questionable etymological combinations; whereas Thenius looks for it on the site of the present Deir Dubban, though without any tenable ground.)

(see Rob. ii. p. 420, and v. Raumer, Pal. pp. 191-2). “ And the Avvites (Avvaeans) towards the south.” Judging from Deu 2:23, the Avvim appear to have belonged to those tribes of the land who were already found there by the Canaanites, and whom the Philistines subdued and destroyed when they entered the country. They are not mentioned in Gen 10:15-19 among the Canaanitish tribes. At the same time, there is not sufficient ground for identifying them with the Geshurites as Ewald does, or with the Anakites, as Bertheau has done. Moreover, it cannot be decided whether they were descendants of Ham or Shem (see Stark. Gaza, pp. 32ff.). ( from, or on, the south) at the commencement of Jos 13:4 should be attached to Jos 13:3, as it is in the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, and joined to (the Avvites). The Avvaeans dwelt to the south of the Philistines, on the south-west of Gaza. It gives no sense to connect with the what follows, so as to read “ towards the south all the land of the Canaanites; ” for whatever land to the south of Gaza, or of the territory of the Philistines, was still inhabited by Canaanites, could not possibly be called “all the land of the Canaanites.” If, however, we were disposed to adopt the opinion held by Masius and Rosenmller, and understand these words as relating to the southern boundaries of Canaan, “the possessions of the king of Arad and the neighbouring petty kings who ruled in the southern extremity of Judaea down to the desert of Paran, Zin, Kadesh,” etc., the fact that Arad and the adjoining districts are always reckoned as belonging to the Negeb would at once be decisive against it (compare Jos 15:21. with Jos 10:40; Jos 11:16, also Num 21:1). Moreover, according to Jos 10:40, Jos 10:21, and Jos 11:16-17, Joshua had smitten the whole of the south of Canaan from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza and taken it; so that nothing remained unconquered there, which could possibly have been mentioned in this passage as not yet taken by the Israelites. For the fact that the districts, which Joshua traversed so victoriously and took possession of, were not all permanently held by the Israelites, does not come into consideration here at all. If the author had thought of enumerating all these places, he would have had to include many other districts as well.

Beside the territory of the Philistines on the south-west, there still remained to be taken (Jos 13:4, Jos 13:5) in the north, “ all the land of the Canaanites,” i.e., of the Phoenicians dwelling on the coast, and “ the caves which belonged to the Sidonians unto Aphek.” Mearah (the cave) is the present Mugr Jezzin, i.e., cave of Jezzin, on the east of Sidon, in a steep rocky wall of Lebanon, a hiding-place of the Druses at the present time (see at Num 34:8; also F. v. Richter, Wallfahrten in Morgenland, p. 133). Aphek, or Aphik, was allotted to the tribe of Asher (Jos 19:30; Jdg 1:31); it was called by the Greeks; there was a temple of Venus there, which Constantine ordered to be destroyed, on account of the licentious nature of the worship ( Euseb. Vita Const. iii. 55). It is the present Afka, a small village, but a place of rare beauty, upon a terrace of Lebanon, near the chief source of the river Adonis ( Nahr Ibrahim), with ruins of an ancient temple in the neighbourhood, surrounded by groves of the most splendid walnut trees on the north-east of Beirut (see O. F. v. Richter, pp. 106-7; Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 663; and V. de Velde, Reise. ii. p. 398). “ To the territory of the Amorites: ” this is obscure. We cannot imagine the reference to be to the territory of Og of Bashan, which was formerly inhabited by Amorites, as that did not extend so far north; and the explanation given by Knobel, that farther north there were not Canaanites, but Amorites, who were of Semitic origin, rests upon hypotheses which cannot be historically sustained.

Jos 13:5-7

There still remained to be taken (2) “ the land of the Giblites,” i.e., the territory of the population of Gebal (1Ki 5:18; Eze 27:9), the Byblos of the classics, on the Mediterranean Sea, to the north of Beirut, called Jebail by the Arabs, and according to Edrisi ( ed. Jaubert, i. p. 356), “a pretty town on the sea-shore, enclosed in good walls, and surrounded by vineyards and extensive grounds planted with fruit trees” (see also Abulfed. Tab. Syr. p. 94). It is still a town with an old wall, some portions of which apparently belong to the time of the Crusades (see Burckhardt, Syr. p. 296, and Ritter, Erdk. xvii. pp. 60ff.).

(Note: The evidence adduced by Movers (Phnizier, ii. 1, p. 103), that the Giblites did not belong to the Canaanites, has more plausibility than truth.)

“ And all Lebanon toward the sunrising:” i.e., not Antilibanus ( Knobel), but the Lebanon which is to the east of the territory of Gebal, “ from Baal-gad under Mount Hermon,” i.e., Paneas Banjas at the foot of Hermon (see at Jos 11:17), “ unto the entering in to Hamath,” i.e., as far up as the territory of the kingdom of Hamath, with the capital of the same name on the Orontes (see at Num 34:8). Lastly, there still remained (3) “ all the inhabitants of the mountains, from Lebanon to Misrephothmaim,” i.e., the promontory of Nakura (see at Jos 11:8), namely “ all the Sidonians,” i.e., all the Phoenicians who dwelt from Lebanon southwards, from the boundary of the territory of Hamath down to the promontory of Nakura. According to ancient usage, the Sidonians stand for the Phoenicians generally, as in Homer, on account of Sidon being the oldest capital of Phoenicia (see Ges. on Isa. i. pp. 724ff.). All these the Lord would root out before Israel, and therefore Joshua was to divide the whole of northern Canaan, which was inhabited by Phoenicians, among the Israelites. “ only divide thou it by lot for an inheritance,” etc. , only, i.e., although thou hast not yet taken it. , to cause it to fall, here used with reference to the lot, i.e., to divide by lot. “Fulfil thy duty in the distribution of the land, not even excepting what is still in the firm grasp of the enemy; for I will take care to perform what I have promised. From this we may learn to rely so perfectly upon the word of God, when undertaking any duty, as not to be deterred by doubts of fears” ( Calvin).

Jos 13:8-10

To the command of God to divide the land on this side the Jordan among the nine tribes and a half (Jos 13:7), the historian appends the remark, that the other two tribes and a half had already received their inheritance from Moses on the other side (Jos 13:8). This he proceeds to describe in its full extent (Jos 13:9-13), and then observes that the tribe of Levi alone received no landed inheritance, according to the word of the Lord (Jos 13:14). After this he gives a description in vv. 15-33 of the land assigned by Moses to each of the two tribes and a half.

(Note: Knobel ‘s remark, that Jos 13:8-14 anticipate the following section (vv. 15-33) in an unsuitable manner, rests upon a thorough misunderstanding of the whole; for the account of the division of the land to the east of the Jordan among the two tribes and a half (vv. 15-33) could not be introduced in a more appropriate manner than by a description of the circumference of the land and of its principal parts (Jos 13:9-13).)

The remark in Jos 13:8 is so closely connected with what precedes by the expression “with whom” (lit., with it), that this expression must be taken as somewhat indefinite: “with whom,” viz., with half Manasseh, really signifying with the other half of Manasseh, with which the Reubenites and Gadites had received their inheritance (see Num 32 and Deu 3:8-17). The last words of Jos 13:8, “ as Moses the servant of Jehovah gave them,” are not a tautological repetition of the clause “which Moses gave them,” but simply affirm that these tribes received the land given them by Moses, in the manner commanded by Moses, without any alteration in his arrangements. The boundaries of the land given in Jos 13:9-13 really agree with those given in Jos 12:2-5 and Deu 3:8, although the expression varies in some respects. The words of Jos 13:9, “ the city that is in the midst of the river,” i.e., the city in the valley, viz., Ar, are more distinct than those of Jos 12:2, “and from the middle of the river.” “ All the plain ” is the Amoritish table-land, a tract of land for the most part destitute of trees, stretching from the Arnon to Heshbon, and towards the north-east to Rabbath-Ammn (see at Deu 3:10), which is called in Num 21:20 the field of Moab Medeba, now called Medaba (see at Num 21:30). Dibon, now a ruin called Dibn, to the north of Arnon (see at Num 21:20). – Jos 13:10, as in Jos 12:2.

Jos 13:11-13

Gilead is the whole country of that name on both sides of the Jabbok (see at Jos 12:2 and Deu 3:10), the present Belka and Jebel Ajlun, for the description of which see the remarks at Num 32:1. “ The territory of the Geshurites and Maachathites ” is referred to in Jos 12:5 as the boundary of the kingdom of Og, and in Deu 3:14 as the boundary of the land which was taken by Jair the Manassite; here it is included in the inheritance of the tribes on the other side of the Jordan, but it was never really taken possession of by the Israelites, and (according to Jos 13:13) it had probably never been really subject to king Og. The other notices in Jos 13:11 and Jos 13:12 are the same as in Jos 12:4-5.

Jos 13:14

The tribe of Levi was to receive no land, but the firings of Jehovah, i.e., the offerings, including the tithes and first-fruits (Lev 27:30-32, compared with Num 18:21-32), were to be its inheritance; so that the God of Israel himself is called the inheritance of Levi in Jos 13:33 as in Num 18:20, to which the words “as He said unto them” refer (see the commentary on Num 18:20).

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Distribution of Canaan.

B. C. 1445.

1 Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. 2 This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, 3 From Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites: 4 From the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders of the Amorites: 5 And the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baalgad under mount Hermon unto the entering into Hamath. 6 All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephothmaim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.

Here, I. God puts Joshua in mind of his old age, v. 1. 1. It is said that Joshua was old and stricken in years, and he and Caleb were at this time the only old men among the thousands of Israel, none except them of all those who were numbered at Mount Sinai being now alive. He had been a man of war from his youth (Exod. xvii. 10); but now he yielded to the infirmities of age, with which it is in vain for the stoutest to think of contesting. It should seem Joshua had not the same strength and vigour in his old age that Moses had; all that come to old age do not find it alike good; generally, the days of old age are evil days, and such as there is no pleasure in, nor expectation of service from. 2. God takes notice of it to him: God said to him, Thou art old. Note, It is good for those who are old and stricken in years to be put in remembrance of their being so. Some have gray hairs here and there upon them, and perceive it not (Hos. vii. 9); they do not care to think of it, and therefore need to be told of it, that they may be quickened to do the work of life, and make preparation for death, which is coming towards them apace. But God mentions Joshua’s age and growing infirmities, (1.) As a reason why he should now lay by the thoughts of pursuing the war; he cannot expect to see an end of it quickly, for there remained much land, more perhaps than he thought, to be possessed, in several parts remote from each other: and it was not fit that at his age he should be put upon the fatigue of renewing the war, and carrying it to such distant places; no, it was enough for him that he had reduced the body of the country. “Let him be gathered to rest with honour and the thanks of his people for the good services he had done them, and let the conquering of the skirts of the country be left for those that shall come after.” As he had entered into the labours of Moses, so let others enter into his, and bring forth the top-stone, the doing of which was reserved for David long after. Observe, God considers the frame of his people, and would not have them burdened with work above their strength. It cannot be expected that old people should do as they have done for God and their country. (2.) As a reason why he should speedily apply himself to the dividing of that which he had conquered. That work must be done, and done quickly; it was necessary that he should preside in the doing of it, and therefore, he being old and stricken in years, and not likely to continue long, let him make this his concluding piece of service to God and Israel. All people, but especially old people, should set themselves to do that quickly which must be done before they die, lest death prevent them, Eccl. ix. 10.

II. He gives him a particular account of the land that yet remained unconquered, which was intended for Israel, and which, in due time, they should be masters of if they did not put a bar in their own door. Divers places are here mentioned, some in the south, as the country of the Philistines, governed by five lords, and the land that lay towards Egypt (Jos 13:2; Jos 13:3), some westward, as that which lay towards the Sidonians (v. 4), some eastward, as all Lebanon (v. 5), some towards the north, as that in the entering in of Hamath, v. 5. Joshua is told this, and he made the people acquainted with it, 1. That they might be the more affected with God’s goodness to them in giving them this good land, and might thereby be engaged to love and serve him; for, if this which they had was too little, God would moreover give them such and such things, 2 Sam. xii. 8. 2. That they might not be tempted to make any league, or contract any dangerous familiarity with these their neighbours so as to learn their way, but might rather be jealous of them, as a people that kept them from their right and that they had just cause of quarrel with. 3. That they might keep themselves in a posture for war, and not think of putting off the harness so long as there remained any land to be possessed. Nor must we lay aside our spiritual armour, nor be off our watch, till our victory be completed in the kingdom of glory.

III. He promises that he would make the Israelites masters of all those countries that were yet unsubdued, though Joshua was old and not able to do it, old and not likely to live to see it done. Whatever becomes of us, and however we may be laid aside as despised broken vessels, God will do his own work in his own time (v. 6): I will drive them out. The original is emphatic: “It is I that will do it, I that can do it when thou are dead and gone, and will do it if Israel be not wanting to themselves.” “I will do it by my Word,” so the Chaldee here, as in many other places, “by the eternal Word, the captain of the hosts of the Lord.” This promise that he would drive them out from before the children of Israel plainly supposes it as the condition of the promise that the children of Israel must themselves attempt their extirpation, must go up against them, else they could not be said to be driven out before them; if afterwards Israel, through sloth, or cowardice, or affection to these idolaters, sit still and let them alone, they must blame themselves, and not God, if they be not driven out. We must work out our salvation, and then God will work in us and work with us; we must resist our spiritual enemies, and then God will tread them under our feet; we must go forth to our Christian work and warfare, and then God will go forth before us.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Joshua – Chapter 13

Undivided Land, vs. 1-7

Verse one of this chapter indicates the passage of considerable time since the conquest of the land. The Lord seems to be chiding Joshua for attempting to retire before his task is done. Thus the great leader of Israel commits the third serious error of his career. Though it is not so strikingly apparent as those relative to Achan’s sin and Ai, and the deceit of the Gibeonites, its consequences may be of as great, or greater, scope than the others. It is always wrong for God’s children to quit before He gets ready for them to quit, (Gal 6:9).

The Lord describes the land which has been conquered on the west side of Jordan and now should be possessed by the tribes. Another indication of the passage of time since its initial conquest is noted in the fact that the Philistines had occupied the coastal land and settled in the towns of Gaza, Ashdod, Askelon, Gath, and Ekron. The Israelites would never dislodge them, but the Lord intended for Israel to possess the land nevertheless. Sihor was east of Egypt and the conquered land, to be possessed, reached from this place northward to the country of the Geshurites in the area of Lebanon.

The Avites were probably a desert people who were dwelling among the Philistines in the southwestern most part of the coastland. All the Canaanite lands were included.

God promised to drive out the inhabitants of the Sidonian and Lebanese countries and cities, areas in the present nation of Lebanon. Mearah was between Tyre and Sidon, the strong harbor cities of the ancient Phoenicians.

Several Bible towns were named Aphek, but this one was north of Sidon, while Gebal (the Giblites) was also Phoenician. Mount Hermon was the highest mountain in Palestine, at over 9,000 feet. Baal-gad was at the foot of Hermon, and Misrephoth-maim, in the same vicinity, is one of the places where the fleeing men of Jabin were pursued by the victorious Israelites after they had defeated them at the waters of Merom (Jos 11:8). .

The “entering into Hamath” means to the borders of that country, which was in upper Syria, northwest of Damascus.

Joshua is told to divide this land to the nine and a half remaining tribes of Israel. The other two and a half had their allotment already on the east of Jordan The allotment was to be determined by casting the lot.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. Now Joshua was old, etc (127) Since we have seen above that the land was pacified by the subjugation of thirty-one kings, it is probable that some cessation now took place for the purpose of resting from their fatigues, lest the people should be worn out by continual service. Nor could that justly be blamed, provided they rested only for a time and continued always intent on the goal set before them. But lest that intermission which was given for the purpose of recruiting new vigor might prove an occasion of sloth, the Lord employs a new stimulus to urge them to proceed. For he orders the whole inheritance to be divided into tribes, and the whole line of the Mediterranean coast which was possessed by the enemy to be put into the lot. A division of this kind might indeed seem absurd and ludicrous, nay, a complete mockery, seeing they were dealing among themselves with the property of others just as if it had been their own. But the Lord so appointed for the best of reasons. First, they might have cast away the hope of the promise and been contented with their present state. Nay, although after the lot was cast they had security in full for all that God had promised, they by their own cowardice, as far as in them lay, destroyed the credit of his words. Nor was it owing to any merit of theirs that his veracity did not lie curtailed and mutilated. The allocation by lot must therefore have been to them an earnest of certain possession so as to keep them always in readiness for it. Secondly, Those who happened to have their portion assigned in an enemy’s country, inasmuch as they were living in the meanwhile as strangers on precarious hospitality beyond their own inheritance, must have acted like a kind of task-masters spurring on the others. And it surely implied excessive stupor to neglect and abandon what had been divinely assigned to them.

We now see to what intent the whole land behooved to be divided by lot, and the seat of each tribe allocated. It was also necessary that this should be done while Joshua was alive, because after his death the Israelites would have been less inclined to obedience, for none of his successors possessed authority sufficient for the execution of so difficult a task. Moreover, as God had already by the mouth of Moses commanded it to be done, had he not performed the business thus committed to him, the whole work might have gone to wreck when the lawful minister was removed. Although the exact time is not stated, still it is probable that as there was no hope that while Joshua continued alive the people would again take up arms with the view of giving a wider extent to their boundaries, he then only attempted to divide the land, as if he were proclaiming and promising, by a solemn attestation, that the distribution would certainly be carried into effect, because the truth of God could not fail in consequence of the death of any man.

(127) The words, “old and stricken in years,” do not contain a tautology, but accurately express the period of life according to a division which was long familiar to the Jews, and may have been not unknown to them even at this early period. According to this division, old age consisted of three stages, — the first extending from the sixtieth to the seventieth year, constituting the commencement of old age properly so called; the second extending from the seventieth to the eightieth year, and constituting what was called hoary, or hoary-headed age; and the third extending from the eightieth year to the end of life, and constituting what was called advanced age, and caused the person who had reached it to be described as one stricken in years. At this closing stage Joshua had now arrived. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

THE DIVISION OF THE LAND

Joshua, Chapters 13 to 19 and 21, 22.

Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed (Jos 13:1). This is the land that yet remaineth, etc.

MEN grow old differently. Some men remain hale and hearty. Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated (Deu 34:7). Others are weighted with years, and feebleness is their lot. Joshua has been a mighty man; and yet, more than a century has swept over his head, and the Lord is reminding him that the end is near, and what remains to be done must have prompt attention. When the field yet to be occupied is Divinely surveyed, its immensity astonishes us, and suggests an essential truth, namely, that no matter what battles have been successfully fought, and what great victories have been won, there remaineth always much land to be possessed. One of the sad things about growing old exists in that very circumstance. What man ever accomplished marvelous resultsresults that amazed his fellows, without realizing that what he has done is small beside what he would like to live to do?

Youth has its ideals, and age sometimes experiences the realization of those ideals to a large degree, but in the very process of accomplishment, larger things have loomed before the worker; greater plans have evolved, and when life is drawing to a close, one feels that he has only succeeded in laying foundations, and yearns to live that he

might build thereon. But time moves, and the man who puts his stamp permanently upon it must remember his numbered days and wisely utilize till the last.

This division of the land relates itself to the twelve tribes, and in the appointments there will necessarily result some disputations.

THE EAST SIDE

This received first attention, as is shown in chapter 13.

There were conquests yet to be accomplished. We will not attempt to follow these borders and to show the exact location and limitation of each tribal occupancy. That were a work of super-erogation. Almost any good Bible carries a map showing these tribal locations in colors, and a moments glance of the eye at such a diagram would accomplish more than extended discussion. Let us learn, rather, the spiritual significance of this further occupancy of the soil.

What man ever lives long enough to do all that he ought to do; to put down all the enemies that ought to be trampled under his feet; to occupy all the territory that he himself should conquer? Not one! On the other hand, the best that we can do is to hope in our successors. Christ Himself was shut up to that necessity. When Luke came to write the Book of the Acts, he said, The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach (Act 1:1). How strange a sentence to employ with reference to the Son of God! We thought Jesus finished. Did He not say on the cross, It is finished? Was not His work in the world complete before the last breath went from His body? Nay, verily! He completed but one task and that was to make an atonement for the people. As for His deeds and His teaching, they were only beginnings; as for the progress of His church, it was in its infancy; as for the bringing in of His kingdom, that was a far-off event. He only began to do and to teach. His disciples, His Church; they must carry on. Joshua must die, but Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, must occupy the East Side. It was theirs to complete what Moses and Joshua had commenced; it was theirs to inherit and subdue the plains of Moab on the other side of Jordan by Jericho eastward.

The pledge of Moses was now to be fulfilled to them. The Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond Jordan eastward (Jos 13:8).

Joshua, then, was not to settle the question of that section. It was settled already; but Joshua was Gods agent to make good to Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh what Moses pledged.

In Jesus, our Joshua, we find both the execution of the law and the fulfillment of prophecy. It is in Him that we have both made sure to all believers.

The Lord was to be the portion of the Levites. But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance, as He said unto them (Jos 13:33).

That sounds like scant treatment, but, as a matter of fact, thats a declaration of great riches. What man is to be envied as that man who has the Lord for his inheritance? Is he not the richest and the most honored of all men? Is he not to be the most envied of all heirs? Can he not sing with good occasion,

My Father is rich in houses and lands,

He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!

Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,

His coffers are fullHe has riches untold.

Im a child of the King, a child of the King!

With Jesus, my Saviour, Im a child of the King?

Moses fell heir to honor and fortune. His adoption into Pharaohs house made him the child of both, but the day came when he deliberately chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward (Heb 11:25-26).

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

JOSHUA COMMANDED TO DIVIDE THE LAND: THE CITIES AND BOUNDARIES OF THE TWO AND A HALF TRIBES

CRITICAL NOTES.

Jos. 13:1. Old and stricken in years] Heb. = old and come into days, or years. A common form of expression for advanced age (Gen. 18:11; Gen. 24:1). Repeated of Joshua (chap. Jos. 23:1-2). There are no sufficient data for ascertaining Joshuas exact age at this time. Josephus (Ant. v. 1. 29) says that Joshua lived twenty-five years after the death of Moses. This would make Joshua eighty-five years of age at the time of Moses death, and about ninety-two at the date marked by this verse, according well with his death, about eighteen years later, at the age of one hundred and ten years (chap. Jos. 24:29). If these figures are correct, Joshua was six or seven years older than Caleb (chap. Jos. 14:5).

Jos. 13:2. The borders of the Philistines] Lit. = the circles, the circumference. The Philistines were not Canaanites, but were descended from Mizraim, through Casluhim (Gen. 10:6; Gen. 10:13-14; 1Ch. 1:8; 1Ch. 1:11-12). They must therefore be regarded as belonging to the second rather than the fourth branch of the great Hamitic race. In Gen. 21:32; Gen. 21:34; Gen. 26:1; Gen. 26:8, the Philistines are named as already inhabiting the neighbourhood of Gerar, in the extreme south-west of Palestine. In Deu. 2:23, we find them as the Caphtorim which came forth out of Caphtor, destroying the Avim, and making an encroachment northwards to Azzah (afterwards Gaza), and establishing themselves in what was subsequently known as the land of the Philistines, or the plain of the Philistines. They are more than once mentioned as Caphtorim by the prophets (Jer. 47:4; Amo. 9:7). They are sometimes called Cherethites (1Sa. 30:14; Eze. 25:15-16; Zep. 2:4-6), who are repeatedly named with the Pelethites (2Sa. 8:18; 1Ki. 1:38; 1Ki. 1:44). In view of this interchange of such names as point to the origin of the Philistines, perhaps it is safest to accept the hint given elsewhere by the prophets (Jer. 25:20; Jer. 25:24; Eze. 30:5), and regard them, in common with some other races included in the phrase, as a mingled people. This, too, is in part sustained by the probable meaning of the word Philistines Philista = prop, the land of wanderers, strangers; LXX., . [Gesen.] The language of the Philistines is held to have been Shemitic rather than Hamitic. Perhaps this merely points to a very early contact of these nomadic Casluhim and Caphtorim with some of the Shemitic families; e.g., Abimelech and his people with Abraham and Isaac, as above. Geshuri] Not the same as the border of the Geshurites, in chap. Jos. 12:5, but a district south of Philistia, on the way towards Arabia.

Jos. 13:3. Sihor] Or Shichor=the Black River. Thought by some to mean here the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. This has been controverted by Raumer and others. Keil says: The Sihor, which is before (on the east of) Egypt, can be no other than the Nachal Mizraim (brook of Egypt), which is described as being the southern boundary of Canaan towards Egypt, not only in chap. Jos. 15:4; Jos. 15:47, and Num. 34:5, but also in Isa. 27:12, 1Ki. 8:65, and 2Ch. 7:8. It is the brook which flows into the Red Sea near to Rhinocorura (el Arish). In 1Ch. 13:5, this is actually called Shihor of Egypt. The last passage shews that, in the time of David, the land had been taken as far south as this extreme boundary. To the borders of Ekron northward] Indicating the entire extent of the Philistine territory: although the Philistines were not a part of the devoted people, yet their land was counted to the Canaanites, i.e., it formed a part of Canaan proper. Ekron, now Akir; in 1Ma. 10:89 it is called Accaron. The city was celebrated for the worship of Baal-zebub, the fly-god (cf. 2Ki. 1:2). Gaza Ashdoth Gath] Cf. on chap. Jos. 11:22. Gath was the city of the Gittites. The Eshkalonites] Eshkalon, or Askelon, stood upon the sea coast, south of Ashdod It was taken by Judah (Jdg. 1:18), but is not named with the other Philistine cities, in chap. Jos. 15:45-47, as in the allotment of this tribe. The Avites] The former occupants of the land (Deu. 2:23), some of whom may have been spared, and suffered to retain a part of the land.

Jos. 13:4. From the south] The Masoretic division of this verse is confusing, and is generally held to be incorrect. Grosers remark seems to furnish the correct meaning: The words from the south have caused some difficulty, which disappears by reading them (as in the LXX. version) as a proper name,from Teman, the former southern limits of the Avites territory. All the land of the Canaanites seems to sum up what has gone before, and should be followed by a full stop. From Mearah on the north-west, between Tyre and Sidon, to one of the Apheks on the east, bordering the old Amorite territory of Bashan. [Joshua and his Successors]

Jos. 13:5. The Giblites] Probably the inhabitants of Gebal. The LXX. have Biblians;, the Vulg. Giblians. Gebal was apparently on the coast of Phnicia, near to Sidon (cf. Eze. 27:9; Psa. 83:7; see also Marg. 1Ki. 5:18). Lebanon toward the sunrising] = The eastern range, i.e., Anti-Lebanon. The entering into Hamath] The valley of the Orontes, between the two ranges of Lebanon, and leading into Upper Syria, towards its chief city Hamath.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jos. 13:1-7

GODS OUTLOOK UPON MANS LIFE, AND WORK, AND HOPES

The Lord, who had called His people to this war (chap. 1.), is here seen bidding them to rest from war. For nearly seven years they had been toiling and striving on the battle-fields of Canaan. Without this special commandment to rest, Joshua would probably have felt it to be his duty to go on with the conflict till every city was won, and there remained no more of the land to be possessed. The Divine command, while it may have wrought some anxiety of mind, must have been very welcome to Joshua personally. The aged warrior needed rest, and must have longed with deep desire to see the hosts of his people settled, each in their portion. This is given as a principal reason for the command to cease from war and proceed to the division of the land.

I. The outlook of God on a human life. Thou art old and stricken in years. now therefore divide this land.

1. God has regard to the failure of our lives. We do not grow feeble unobserved. The gathering infirmities of the aged are watched, not merely by loving hearts on earth, they are seen also from heaven. God marks our failing strength. He knoweth our frame. Few people know how to be old, said La Rochefoucauld; and Madame de Stael, It is difficult to grow old gracefully. Vast numbers prove the sayings only too true. Joshua had been a noble exception. Ever since he went with Caleb and the other ten spies to search out the land, he had been putting on with each increasing year something more of the fear of God; and now, as an old man of well nigh a hundred years, he was full of wise kindness and gentleness towards his fellows, and of love to Him who had given him strength in so many marches, and victory in so many battles. And Jehovah had respect unto His servant, (a) God sees the failure of men who are conscious that they are failing. (b) God marks the failure of men who are careless of their infirmities, or who seek to hide them. Young has told us that old age should

Walk thoughtful on the silent, solemn shore
Of that vast Ocean it must sail so soon;

but whether men heed their nearness to eternity or hide it, God daily watches their failing powers. Many years later He looked down upon the children of some of these very people whom Joshua led into the land, and said of Ephraim, Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not; yea, grey hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.

2. God thinks with sympathy on the hopes and disappointments of our lives. Joshua could not but have hoped to see the people settled in their lots. When Moses had to go up Mount Nebo and die, without leading the people into Canaan, it was regarded as a punishment. It was in mitigation of that punishment that he was permitted to see the land. So, doubtless, Joshua would have been disappointed had he been called away ere the people had received their inheritance. God had sympathy with the hopes of His servant. No less does our heavenly Father sympathise with our hopes, when they have regard to His glory and to His peoples joy.

3. God remembers the promises by which our hopes have been inspired and animated. Joshua had repeatedly received the promise that he should cause the people to inherit. It had been given through Moses (Deu. 1:38; Deu. 3:28; Deu. 31:7; Deu. 31:23). It had been given by God to Joshua directly (chap. Jos. 1:2-15). When God Himself has inspired our hopes and kept them alive, He will not suffer them to fail because of our weakness.

II. Gods contemplation of our lifes work. There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. Very much of what Joshua had been wont to consider as his assigned labour would have to be left undone. Consider the following features in the Lords thought of us as engaged in His work:

1. He is self-contained and patient in view of our slowness. There is no word of reproach to Joshua. God takes time for His own work. The length of the geological periods. The quiet and steady succession of the seasons. The silent and gradual growth of animal and vegetable life. God can allow His servants time for their work. He who hastens not Himself, is not dependent on the haste of men. No purpose of His will fail because human hands are but weak. God is willing to allow His servants all time that is necessary. He measures our work, not by what we have done, but by how we have done.

2. He is very compassionate towards us in our weakness and weariness. Looking back on our past, He sees where we have left our strength. Beneath His considerate eye, every act which we have done from a right heart becomes the visible embodiment of so much of our departed power. In the Jerichoes and Beth-horons and Meroms which lie in the rear of His childrens march, He is pleased to behold monuments reared to His own name, each one being built out of so much of their freely offered might. Their work, at places, may be rough and poor, and may stand for little of good to men or of glory to Himself; there may be Ais in it, as well as Jerichoes; it is enough for Him that His people have been trying to serve Him, and that the process has exhausted them. When He comes to the place where He has to say, Thou art old and stricken in years, that is also the place where He loves to think of their long-cherished hopes, and to add, Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance. God sees where our strength has been poured out. He pities us in our weakness, and if we have been spending our might in His service, His compassion will not come to us empty-handed. He still loves to connect His pity with our rest, and with some inheritance. Jesus also says to His weary disciples, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile; and the desert, like the sea immediately after, witnesses to new wonders both of His love and power (cf. Mar. 6:31-51).

3. His compassion does not leave us to idleness, but merely leads Him to change our work, Joshua might cease from war, but he must proceed to divide the land. So with the disciples just referred to: the rest of the desert was but a change of work, and the rest of the sea came only in the peace which followed the storm. The rest of faith should not be inactivity. The rest of heaven will not be inactivity. Here or hereafter, the Lord does not make a heaven for us out of idleness within us.

III. The stateliness of Gods words and purposes. Bring together yet again the words of the opening and closing verses of the paragraph: There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance. The land which was not taken was apportioned with the same calmness as the land already conquered. (Compare chap. Jos. 13:2-4 a, with Jos. 15:45-47; also Jos. 13:4 b6, with Jos. 19:24-48.) Had Israel been faithful, all would have been equally inherited.

Here, then, as we survey this calm assignment of the land of unconquered nations, we feel constrained to adoringly acknowledge that we are in a Presence far above our own. Like admiring David, when Divine mercy had spoken of his house for a great while to come, we can only say, This is not the manner of man, O Lord God (cf. also Isa. 55:8-9). These are ways and thoughts which, in their combination of calmness and majesty, are stamped with their own divinity.

1. This lofty manner gives us a glimpse of the sublime repose of God in His own consciousness of infinitude. (a) Touching His enemies, He rests in His felt might. No word is spoken to assert the sufficiency of the might. Nothing so much as looks in that direction. There are no disturbing thoughts whatever. The power is so great, that the question of sufficiency does not even occur. (b) Touching His people, God rests in His love (cf. Zep. 3:17). For the present, God said to assure Joshua, Them will I drive out. These are words, however, the Israelites well knew must depend on their faithfulness, and must be remembered together with some other words to which they had often listened, and which were yet to be repeated (cf. Exo. 23:20-24; Num. 33:52-56; chap, Jos. 23:11-13).

2. This lofty manner also belongs to the ministry of Jesus Christ. (a) It is manifest in all His miracles. He says, Fill the water-pots with water; Give ye them to eat; Take ye away the stone. The beginning of every miracle gives a pledge of the end, and the pledge is given in a manner peculiar to Christ Himself. Moses at the sea, or before the rock at Horeb, makes you feel his excitement. Elijah, standing on Carmel, or stretched on the body of the dead child at Sarepta, trembles in the consciousness of a mere humanity which is about to become the vehicle of a power so utterly beyond his own. Paul with dead Eutychus, and Peter with dead Dorcas, are ever so unlike Christ with the dead son of the widow, the dead daughter of the ruler, or dead Lazarus of Bethany. There is always this manner of men even when men in an unquestioning faith know they are to be aided to work the works of God; their manner is not the manner of Jesus Christ, (b) This feature is still more marvellously manifest in many of the Saviours promises and invitations. Examples: If I be lifted up, etc.; Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me, etc.; Heaven and earth shall pass away, etc. (c) There is the same assuredness of outlook in the Saviours words of doom over the wicked. His prophetic denunciations over particular cities sometimes embrace a considerable amount of detail; and however full the detail, nothing is left contingent or ambiguous. His utterances have in them nothing of the ancient oracles; they provide but one meaning, and never so much as glance at the possibility of that meaning remaining unfulfilled. This is so in His dealing with Chorazin and Beth-saida, and the same calm realism pervades the words which announce the fall of Capernaum. He seems to speak from within His own unerring consciousness, looking with quiet sadness at the clear map of the inevitable future lying unfolded there, rather than in indignation against the offending cities themselves. Thus above Jerusalem, which would not be gathered to Him, He beholds the hovering eagles of Rome, around it He sees the trench of Titus, while within it He marks the would-be fugitives who are hastening from point to point, only to learn in an increasing terror that they ought to have escaped to the mountains yesterday. All this, and more, is seen in a calmness disturbed only by His tears, and proclaimed as unavoidable just because the people will have the sin which not even He can separate from the doom. In the same august knowledge and power He still waits upon His throne. He must reign. There may be much more land which, as yet, His people have not possessed. He treats it already as His own. Meanwhile, in a great and calm anticipation which has not even a thought that it can be otherwise, He sitteth in the heavens, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool.

LESSONS.

1. Touching our inheritance, how peaceful should be the rest of our faith!

2. How realistic and bright should be our hope!

3. How inevitable, to themselves, should seem the destruction of all the enemies of Christ!

OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Jos. 13:1. OLD AGE IN ITS RELATION TO WORK.

The words, old and stricken in years, do not contain a tautology, but accurately express the period of life according to a division which was long familiar to the Jews, and may not have been unknown to them even at this early period. According to this division, old age consisted of three stages, the first extending from the sixtieth to the seventieth year, constituting the commencement of old age properly so called; the second extending from the seventieth to the eightieth year, and constituting what was called hoary, or hoary-headed age; and the third extending from the eightieth year to the end of life, and constituting what was called advanced age, and caused the person who had reached it to be described as one stricken in years. At this closing stage Joshua had now arrived. [Ed. of Calvin, in loc.]

In this verse several important practical considerations are suggested. Read in connection with the history, we have brought under our notice

I. A good man helped very much by God, but subject no less than others to the laws of nature. Joshua grew old. It was proper to say of him also that he was stricken in years. Gods love does not exempt any man from Gods laws. The holiest of men, in common with the wickedest, have ever been subject to the wear and tear of life. A poet said admiringly of the ocean,

Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow;

but however much Time may spare the face of the ocean, it spares no man. Abraham was the friend of God; but of him also it is written, he was old and well stricken in age. David is spoken of as the man after Gods own heart; he had to write of himself, nevertheless, I have been young, and now am old. John was wont to speak of himself as that disciple whom Jesus loved; he, too, drifted presently into that consciousness of many years, which made it seem to him quite appropriate to address men around him as little children. Paul knew much, and wrote much, of the love and fellowship of Christ; it did not keep him from coming to that sense of years out of which he wrote of himself to Philemon, being such an one as Paul the aged. Gods love to us will give us no immunity from Gods laws. Why should it? His laws are not to be set over against Himself, as though He were on one side, and they were on another. His laws are the outcome of His love, and not something working contrary to His love. Not a few have learned that this law of physical decay is also a law of love. Many besides Job have looked gratefully at even the issues of decay, and have said in their turn also, I would not live alway. Yet in the stately march of time there seems something of unfeelingness. We measure the flight of time by our clocks, and how ruthlessly each individual clock seems to tick! A clock seems the embodiment of a living thing with absolutely no heart. Are we in joy? no pulse of the clock beats any faster. Are we in sorrow? the length of the tick is exactly the same. The thing has no sympathyno bowels, as these ancient Hebrews would have said. Are we ill? nothing seems so unaffected by it as the clock. Are we strong in health, buoyant in spirits, cheered by some great victory, or made very glad by some of Gods good mercies? the clock seems absolutely indifferent. Are many lives depending for their rescue on two or three more minutes ere a tide flows or a train is due? the clock will not vary a single second for them all; it will not oven go faster; it has no delight in the deaths, and no concern in the lives; it is so aggravatingly itself. An heir is born to a throne; a city is moved with joy, and a whole kingdom is excited with gladness; even the iron cannon that greet the new life seem to put on an unusual loudness; but the clock puts on simply nothing, and puts off nothing. It is the same when people die. However great they may have been, however good, it makes no difference; through the long hours of the night in which loving watchers wait around the bed of the sufferer; amidst the interruption of the dying mans groans, and over the silence of his exhaustion; while friends anxiously stoop to see if the breathing has ceased, and when it has ceased; as if in contempt of the first bursts of passionate grief in the bereaved, and of indifference to the mute despair by which the passion may be followed: always, and everywhere, that eternal tick of the clock remains the same. With movement enough and rhythm enough to seem sentient, a clock is as impassible as a mass of cast iron which has been lying for ages in the same place; it is as indifferent as the Pyramids themselves.

After all, these clocks are only our obedient servants. They are the faithful registrars of time. It is Time which is so ruthlessso sternly indifferent. And yet this sternness of Time is Gods kindness through Time. Like the good surgeon, who cannot afford to weep with his patient while he uses his knife, but who uses it unflinchingly as the only possible way of using it beneficially, so Time deals with his subjects. Thus it comes to pass that the man loved much of his God fails even as others. It is only our mistake when we cry, as we are all apt to cry, and that with little more variation than the two sisters of Bethany, Lord, if THOU hadst been here, my brother had not died. God was with Joshua in the triumphs of Jordan, of Jericho, of Ai, of Beth-horon, and of Hazor; for all that, Joshuas end was coming fast. God would have His people inherit a better Canaan than any down here, and the way into that also lies through a wilderness and across a riverthe wilderness of decay and the Jordan of death.

II. An old man taught by God to regard his age as a motive for diligence. There was yet another great work for Joshua to do; he was to divide the entire land of Canaan among the people, and God virtually reminded His servant that if this were to be done at all it must be done at once. Many Christians seem to think it quite enough to have been active in early life, and quite becoming to do almost nothing when a ripened experience and a maturer wisdom might enable them to render to the Church a more valuable service than ever. It is recorded of John Wesley, that preaching one evening at Lowestoft, when he was exceedingly old and infirm, he was attended, and almost supported, in the pulpit by a young minister on each side. The chapel was crowded to suffocation. In the course of the sermon he repeated, though with an application of his own, the lines from Anacreon:

Oft am I by woman told,
Poor Anacreon! thou growst old;
See, thine hairs are falling all;
Poor Anacreon! how they fall!
Whether I grow old or no,
By these signs I do not know;
By this I need not be told
Tis time TO LIVE, if I grow old.

Perhaps no better example of diligence in old age has ever been given to men than that set by Wesley. Other aged men might think it time to die, or, at least, time to be idle, when burdened with the weight of many years; he found in his passing strength a renewed call to Christian earnestness. The aged, also, have their duties. They should hear in their infirmities the reiteration of their Lords word: The night cometh when no man can work. God teaches aged Joshua that he can yet serve his fellows by dividing the land.

III. A diligent man, who had been diligent all his life, having to feel that he must leave much of his work to others. Joshua had been led to regard the work of driving out the Canaanites as peculiarly his own. Now it had become evident that he must leave the work incomplete. No doubt God intended this. He had wise purposes yet to fulfil through the people who were unsubdued. To Joshua, however, it must have seemed, at times, as though his own special work had to be left in an unfinished state. Thus, too, was Moses called away. He had been called by God to lead the Israelites into Canaan; he was summoned away while they were yet in the wilderness. There are thousands who seem called to some great life-work, and who, when only well into the midst of it, have to retire from it, saying like Job, My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

1. Men should set themselves no work in life in which they would not be overtaken by infirmity and death. Failure of strength comes irrespective of the task in which men spend their strength. The most miserable outlook which this life can unfold to any man is at that point of infirm helplessness in the present from which not a few have to look backwards on many years which have been worse than useless, and forwards to an eternity which is utterly hopeless.

2. Life, and history, and Scripture, alike join in saying to every man, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. The young are apt to think that whatever else they may want, they have plenty of time; the aged get to feel that there is nothing which they need so much.

Youth is not rich in time, it may be poor:
Part with it as with money, sparing; pay
No moment, but in purchase of its worth:
And what its worth, ask death-beds, they can tell.

Young.

He who would not feel bankrupt in the possession of time when standing on the margin of eternity, should learn to change each available moment, as it passes, into the imperishable wealth of something done for his fellows, and thus for his God. That is the only wealth of ours which can be ferried to the other side, and that alone will have any kind of currency with the Lord of Life who awaits us there; for while our entrance into His presence will be all of His work, and not at all of our own, yet has he been pleased to announce His readiness to read our faith in Himself through true service rendered to His people, and to greet each believing worker with the welcome, Well done, good and faithful servant.

IV. A man with his life nearly done and his labour unfinished able to rest in the love of God both for himself and his work. Whatever frailty might have overtaken Joshua physically, and whatever of incompleteness might be manifest in the great task of his life, everything was rendered beautiful by his relation to God. After speaking of the appearance of some of our English ruins which he had been visiting, and of the delight which they had given him even in their decay, Nathaniel Hawthorne exclaims: Oh that we could have ivy in America! What is there to beautify us when our time of ruin comes? That which is outward may bear marks of decay; yet it may be even more beautiful in its ruins than it has ever been in its strength. The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. Beautiful as is Joshuas life in its strength, it is nowhere more beautiful than in the integrity and faith attending this closing work of his life (e.g. chapters Jos. 22:1-6; Joshua 23; Joshua 24). He who walks always in the obedience of faith and the joy of love will be ever moving into a life more peaceful to himself, and more beautiful to those by whom he is surrounded.

Jos. 13:2-6.THE LORDS INTEREST IN THE UNFINISHED LABOURS OF HIS SERVANTS.

The verses suggest for consideration the following thoughts:

I. The items of our unfulfilled labour as being all observed and counted by God. Philistia, Phnicia, and the region of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon were not yet subdued. God saw all that had been conquered, and all that was unconquered. The very boundaries describing the uncompleted labour are carefully defined. It is well that our prayers should also have regard to the things which we have left undone.

II. Our unfulfilled labour as being met by the promised help of God. Them will I drive out, etc. (Jos. 13:6). God is not unconcerned about that which His servants have done. He also, as well as they, regards with interest the work which they have been unable to finish. He meets His servants desires touching their unfinished work both with sympathy and with promises.

III. The promises of God as being only fulfilled to His servants when they walk with God. Some parts of this territory never were subdued by the Israelites. Occasionally they lost some land which had been conquered. This was in strict accordance with Gods word, which had repeatedly declared that all the people should not be driven out if the Israelites transgressed.

IV. The promises of God, where they are unfulfilled through His servants sins, becoming the very ground on which His servants sufferings are most severe. Some of these very people whose defeat was covenanted to Israel by this promise, became the source of Israels greatest pain and shame in the future (cf. Num. 33:55; Jdg. 2:1-5; Jdg. 10:6-9; Jdg. 13:1; 1 Samuel 4). When Balaam went to curse the Israelites, he could only bless them. With God for them, the false-hearted prophet could only cry, How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? With God for us, there can be no curse against us; with God against us, our very blessings may become the sorest curse of all (Mal. 2:2). An unfulfilled promise should be a cause of fear. Something must be wrong when the word of the faithful God is found returning void.

God orders the whole inheritance to be divided into tribes, and the whole line of the Mediterranean coast which was possessed by the enemy to be put into the lot. A division of this kind might indeed seem absurd and ludicrous, nay, a complete mockery, seeing they were dealing among themselves with the property of others just as if it had been their own. But the Lord so appointed for the best of reasons.
First. They might have cast away the hope of the promise, and been contented with their present state. Nay, although after the lot was cast they had security in full for all that God had promised, they by their own cowardice, as far as in them lay, destroyed the credit of His words. Nor was it owing to any merit of theirs that His veracity did not lie curtailed and mutilated. The allocation by lot must therefore have been to them an earnest of certain possession so as to keep them always in readiness for it.

Secondly. Those who happened to have their portion assigned in an enemys country, inasmuch as they were living in the meanwhile as strangers on precarious hospitality beyond their own inheritance, must have acted like a kind of taskmasters spurring on the others. And it surely implied excessive stupor to neglect and abandon what had been divinely assigned to them.

Thirdly. It was also necessary that the seat of each tribe should be allocated while Joshua was alive, because after his death the Israelites would have been less inclined to obedience; for none of his successors possessed authority sufficient for the execution of so difficult a task. [Calvin.]

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

10. By what name was this northern area known?

Gods Instructions to Jos. 13:1-6

Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.
2 This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri,
3 From Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites:
4 From the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders of the Amorites:
5 And the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon unto the entering into Hamath,
6 All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.

How old was ?Jos. 13:1

The statement is made that Joshua was old and stricken in years. His exact age is not given, but we know that he died at the age of one hundred and ten years (Jos. 24:29). He would of necessity have been at least sixty years old when he came into the Promised Land, since he was among those numbered at Sinai and also among those numbered in the steppes of Moab forty years later. Only Joshua and Caleb were among those counted in the first census and among those who were allowed to go into the Promised Land. If he were sixty when he came into the land and died when he was one hundred and ten, he would be allowed some fifty years for conquering the land and settling the tribes in it. It seems reasonable to suppose that he made this division of the land some years before he died. Nevertheless, he must have been approaching the last years of his life when God gave him these instructions.

How much land remained unconquered? Jos. 13:2-6

Part of the unconquered land lay towards the South, part toward the North. The cities still occupied by the Canaanites were left for capture by the tribes into whose allotment they might fall; but the land especially mentioned falls into the following districts: (1) The Shephelah and the Maritime Plain, being described as . . . the borders of the Philistines; (2) Geshuri, the land of an ancient tribe, which lived in the desert between Arabia and Philistia (cf. 1Sa. 27:8); (3) Pentapolis, the region of the five citiesGaza, Ashdod, Eshkalon, Gath, and Ekron; (4) Hamath, the extreme northern boundary point of Palestine; (5) and the land stretching from the Lebanon Mountains to Misrephoth-maim, probably the place later known as Zarephath.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

XIII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE TERRITORY TO BE DIVIDED

(Jos. 13:1-14).

(b) According to its boundaries.

(1) Joshua was old and stricken in years.Rather, he had aged, and was advanced in days. Old is too absolute a word. He did not live beyond a hundred and ten years (Jos. 24:29), and this was not a great age for the time. But in several instances the Hebrew word here employed is used not so much in respect of the number of years men lived, but rather in regard to the weakening of the vital powers. So it is said in Genesis 27, Isaac was old, i.e., he had aged, for he lived forty-three years after that. So in regard to David, the king was very old, i.e., much aged, in 1Ki. 1:15, for he could not have been more than seventy when he died. The hardships and anxieties of his life had aged him. So it was perhaps with Joshua. Moses was a signal exception; he had not aged at one hundred and twenty. But Jehovah constantly talked with Moses, and knew him face to face; and may we not say that that heavenly intercourse even sustained the vital powers? The work of the Lord, though it be successfully carried on, as it was by Joshua, may wear men out by its very excitement. But personal intercourse with Him is like eating of the tree of life, and in His presence is the fulness of joy. In this personal intercourse Moses was more highly favoured than his successor, Joshua.

(1, 7) There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed . . . Now therefore divide this land.The land had still to be inheritedi.e., not overrun, or conquered, as far as it could be said to be conquered by defeating the armies that took the field; all this was done already, but the land had not passed out of the hands of its actual possessors into the hands of Israel. It is remarkable that we have here a distinct order given to Joshua to divide to Israel land which was not yet conquered. In these verses several nations are namedviz., the Philistines, the Geshurites, the Avites, the Giblites, the Sidonians, besides anything more which may be included in the sometimes generic, and sometimes more specific, name of the Canaanites. Of these tribes, the Philistines and all the Sidonians (or Phnicians) were certainly not yet conquered. Can we say that they were ever conquered at any period in the history of the kingdom of all Israel, except in so far as they were reduced to the condition of tributaries?

We may say, then, that while the list of kings in Joshua 12 represents the territory in that aspect in which it was conquered, by the reduction of a number of fortified posts and strongholds, and the subjugation of all the principal rulers of the country, the description of its boundaries in Joshua 13 represents it as not yet conqueredviz., as still containing several nations whom the Israelites must dispossess when God gave them the opportunity and ordered them to drive them out.

It is important to mark clearly the distinction between the work done by Joshua and the work left for Israel. Joshua overthrew the ruling powers of Palestine, destroyed the kingdoms, defeated the armies, and captured the fortresses to such an extent as to give Israel a firm foothold in the country. But he did not exterminate the population from every portion even of that territory which he distributed to the several tribes. And there were several nationsof whom the Philistines and Phnicians were the chiefwhom he left entirely intact. The purpose of this is explained in Jdg. 2:20-23; Jdg. 3:1-4. The work done by Joshua was thus distinctly limited.

The work left for Israel was partly similar to that which Joshua had done, and partly different. It was the same when any great war broke out between Israel and the unconquered nations: for example, in the time of Deborah and Barak, or in the wars with the Philistines. But for the most part it was entirely different, and was the completion of the conquest of the land in detail throughout the several towns and villages. But how was this to be effected? Certainly not after the manner of the capture of Laish by the Danites, described in Judges (Jos. 18:27), when they came unto a people that were at quiet and secure; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. The rules laid down in the law of Moses were to be the guiding principle for Israel, as also for Joshua. The seventh and twelfth chapters of Deuteronomy give them clearly, and they are these.

(1) Utter extermination of the nations when Jehovah should deliver them upi.e., not at the pleasure of Israel, but at the Divine decree. The signal for this extermination was generally a determined and obstinate attack on Israel. It was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might destroy them utterly (Jos. 11:20). But while they stood still in their strength (Jos. 11:13) they were usually unmolested.

(2) The destruction of all traces of idolatry in the conquered territory (Deu. 12:1-2 : In the land which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it . . . ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods . . . overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and . . . hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. So also Deu. 7:5; Deu. 7:25). All investigation of idolatrous practices and usages was forbidden (Deu. 12:30).

(3) No covenant or treaty was to be made between Israel and the nations of Canaan, and all intermarriage was prohibited. (Deu. 7:2-3; comp. Jos. 23:12-13.)

Of these rules, the first entails responsibility, chiefly upon the leadersas Joshua and his successors; the second and third, upon all the people. And on the observance or non-observance of the two latter rules the completion of the conquest in detail very much depended. It is obvious that the persistent and general destruction of objects of Canaanitish worship, with the refusal to make treaties or intermarry, would tend to perpetuate a state of irritation in the minds of the Canaanites. Had these rules been faithfully observed, there would have been constant outbreaks of hostility, terminating in the further and more rapid extermination of the enemies of Israel, or else in their absolute submission to Israelitish law; and thus the entire conquest would have been completed in a comparatively short time. But, in fact, the second and third rules were constantly broken. Mixed marriages were common, and idolatry was maintained instead of being destroyed. Hence Israelites and Canaanites were mingled together, and it became impossible to carry out Rule 1; for one set of inhabitants could not be exterminated without inflicting serious injury upon the other.

When we consider the above rules, it is impossible not to be struck with the wisdom of them when regarded as a means to the proposed end. We are also able to understand more clearly why so much stress was laid upon the necessity of adherence to the Book of the Law in Joshuas commission (Jos. 1:6-8). The fact that these rules are not what human nature would be at all disposed to obey continuously and as a matter of set practice (have they ever been observed yet in any conquest recorded in history?) is worth noting, as a proof of the undesigned veracity of the story. It is a mark of thorough consistency between the law and the history of Israel. And if the authorship of Deuteronomy belonged to the late date which some claim for it, how could we account for the insertion of a law which was never kept, and could not be kept at the time when some suppose it was written? From the days of Solomon and thenceforward, the relation of the remnant of the conquered Canaanites to Israel was fixed. The Phnicians and Philistines maintained a separate national existence to the last.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

LIST OF UNCONQUERED CITIES AND DISTRICTS, Jos 13:1-6.

1. Joshua was old It was time for Joshua to be placed on the retired lists. Since he could not vigorously carry on the war, and no great captain had been raised up, it was deemed by God better that the delicate question of division should be made by Joshua, whose influence and authority would go far towards an amicable partition of the land. Joshua was now about one hundred years old.

[Much land to be possessed The writer proceeds (Jos 13:2-6) to name the unconquered districts. Joshua had effectually subdued Palestine, and gained for Israel a firm and lasting foothold there. It does not militate against this fact that there remained still unsubdued a number of scattered cities and provinces in various parts of the land. See note on Jos 11:23. It is usual, when a land is invaded and subdued, for the unconquered tribes to forsake the plains and seek refuge in the hills; but the unconquered nations here enumerated abode chiefly in the plains.]

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Land Not Yet ‘Possessed’ ( Jos 13:1-6 ).

Jos 13:1

‘ Now Joshua was old and bearing the signs of old age (well stricken in years). And YHWH said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed.” ’

Reference here is to lands untouched or uncontrolled by Joshua. ‘Possessed’ here refers not so much to the initial conquest of land and weakening of the peoples in preparation for moving in and taking over, but to that moving in and taking over. Joshua had expressed Israel’s ‘right’ of ownership. Such peoples were now vulnerable and weakened, and it would be up to the different tribes to take advantage of the situation and possess them literally. But some had still not been ‘possessed’. It must be remembered that conquering kings saw land as ‘possessed’ once they had conquered it, thus in terms of the times most of Canaan was ‘possessed’. But that possession then had to be continually enforced in order that tribute or settlement might be received. That was a more difficult matter, and was the problem that Israel faced.

Most of Canaan probably did not see themselves as possessed. In contrast Israel now considered that the land was theirs, not only by promise but by conquest. Final possession would, however, only become evident when tribute was claimed or the conquerors began to settle in the land. This case was especially unusual in that Israel were a stateless people and would therefore actually want to settle in the ‘possessed’ land and take it over, whilst YHWH had demanded the expulsion of the local inhabitants. This task, a very different thing from initial ‘conquering’, would now pass on to the individual tribes. But meanwhile a new problem had arisen. The arrival of the Philistines in the coastal plain.

“Old and advanced in years.” Forty years (a generation) had passed since Joshua had been one of the spies in Canaan (Num 13:8), plus the time spent in conquering Canaan. Thus he was at least in his seventies, or even older.

Jos 13:2-4 a

“This is the land that yet remains. All the regions of the Philistines, and all the Geshurites, from the Shihor which is before (east of) Egypt even to the border of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanites; the five Tyrants of the Philistines, the Gazites and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites. Also the Avvim to the South.”

All this up to verse 9 is described as words of YHWH. What this means is that as Joshua summarised the situation he was conscious that he was expressing YHWH’s will communicated to him probably through his thoughts. He saw all his plans as YHWH’s plans because he was seeking to fulfil God’s requirements as outlined in the Books of Moses.

The mention of these as yet unpossessed lands was a reminder that even Joshua’s ‘conquests’ had not covered the whole of the land promised to Israel, most of which, if not all, would be in the hands of the people of God at one time or another before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. YHWH wanted it to be known that their present exclusion was not intended to be permanent, therefore they are mentioned first.

It is clear that the Philistines were now seen as in the land although not yet as a major threat to Israel. This would date this statement to around 1200 BC and support the 13th century BC date for the conquest (the alternative suggested is the 15th century BC).

It is always possible that the particular phrase ‘ the five Tyrants (seranim) of the Philistines’ was inserted later by a scribe to bring the passage up to date, (with ‘land of the Philistines also possibly being an update, although this could refer back to the earlier occupation by a trading station – Genesis 26) and it would then read ‘which is counted to the Canaanites; the Gazites and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites. Also the Avvim.’ But ‘counted to’ fits well with the idea of the references to the Philistines being original, with the idea being that in spite of being Philistine it belonged to the land of Canaan, and the phrase itself makes better sense that way. The Philistines were a race of warriors who brought the Canaanites under their own domination, with they themselves being the military aristocracy. They did not try to drive them out of the country in the way that, at least theoretically, the Israelites did. Altering the text to fit a theory without any other evidence usually casts doubt on the theory.

As the text stands the Geshurites (compare 1Sa 27:8) were a people living in the Negeb between the Philistines and the Egyptian border (and were not the same as the Geshurites in Jos 12:5; Jos 13:11, although possibly connected). The Shihor is given as the border. In Isa 23:3; Jer 2:18 the Shihor (egyptian ‘s-hr’, waters of Horus) is the Nile proper, thus here the branch in the Delta nearest to Canaan is considered roughly to be the boundary so as to include the Wilderness of Shur. The idea is that anything east of the Egyptian Delta is included in the inheritance. In view of this there is no real justification for seeing the ‘Torrent-Wadi (nahal) of Egypt’ (Jos 15:4; Jos 15:47 – probably Wadi el-Arish) as being in mind.

Ekron is the northernmost of the five major Philistine cities, ruled over by five ‘Tyrants’ (seranim – a word uniquely used of Philistine lords) whose inhabitants are mentioned. Thus the description covers both Philistine and Geshurite territory. All this was seen as Canaanite territory, ‘counted to the Canaanites’, and thus included in the inheritance. If we connect ‘on the South’ to the Avvim, who ‘lived in villages as far as Gaza’ (Deu 2:23) and were displaced by the Philistines, this would place the Avvim within the broad description of Geshurite territory.

Jos 13:4-5 (4b-5)

‘All the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah which belongs to the Zidonians, to Aphek, to the border of the Amorites and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon toward the sunrising (the east), from Baal-gad under Mount Hermon to the entering in of Hamath.’

These refer to northern areas. ‘Canaanites’ probably here signifies ‘Phoenicians’ south of Zidon (see Jdg 3:3 – ‘Canaanites’ does not just refer to people who lived in the land of Canaan but is also regularly used extra-Biblically of Phoenicians further to the north). Me‘arah was presumably an important area on the southern Zidonian border (although ‘Me’ may be ‘from’ followed by the name of a town). Mention of ‘the Amorites’ here probably has reference to the kingdom of the Amurru in Lebanon, well known from Hittite and Egyptian sources. Aphek, which means ‘fortress’ and was a common name, was probably on its southern border. Designations of peoples were very fluid and depended on the viewpoint of those who used them.

Gebal (Byblos) was an important coastal town north of Zidon. The land of the Gebalites would possibly be in some way connected with it and this may have in mind its southern border. ‘All Lebanon’. The adjoining regions to the Lebanon Range, probably again thinking of its southern border. It is not likely that Joshua had these territories in mind as part of the promised land. Baal-gad (compare Jos 11:17) was in the far north of Israel’s territories at the foot of and to the west of Mount Hermon. It may be Tell Haus or Hasbeiyah, both in the Wadi et-Teim. ‘The entering in of Hamath’ or more probably ‘Lebo of Hamath’ (mentioned in inscriptions), is modern Lebweh at the head of the road north to Hamath.

Jos 13:6

“ All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Zidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel. Only allot it to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you.”

For Misrephoth-maim compare Jos 11:8. The reference is to the Zidonians in the hill country south of Zidon. This too was allotted to Israel as an inheritance. For the whole range of unpossessed territory compare Jdg 3:3. Thus God confirmed His promise that the whole land would be theirs. He always gives full measure. It was not His fault if they did not go ahead and take it.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jos 13:1 Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.

Jos 13:1 “and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed” Comments – Jimmy Swaggart referred to Jos 13:1 in one of his mail-out letters to his partners, saying that the Lord was telling him that there was much work to be done in bringing people to salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. [28]

[28] Jimmy Swaggart, “Monthly Partner Newsletter,” February 1988 (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Jimmy Swaggart Ministries).

Jos 13:1 “and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed” Comments – On 21 June 1987 I was reading Jos 13:1. At the end of that first verse, the words of the Scriptures, “There is much yet to be possessed,” seemed to leap out at me. The presence of the Lord filled my heart. I started to weep. The Lord spoke to me and said, “I will give you strength to bear up under this. And all the efforts of Satan must not defer you from doing My will. There is much land yet to be possessed and you must be about the Father’s business.”

Jos 13:6 All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephothmaim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.

Jos 13:6 “only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee” Comments – Moses told the children of Israel to divine the land by lot (Num 26:55-56; Num 33:54; Num 34:13). Joshua was following Moses’ commandment.

Num 26:55-56, “Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. According to the lot shall the possession thereof be divided between many and few.”

Num 33:54, “And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man’s inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit.”

Num 34:13, “And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe:”

The casting of lots to divine the Promised Land was an act of faith in God for the children of Israel. They were to trust in God’s divine providence that He would give them their proper portion of land and divinely provide for their daily needs. We see this trust when Abraham and Lot divided the land among themselves in Gen 13:1-18. Abraham was the peace-maker in this conflict between the tribesmen of him and Lot. Of course, it was his divine responsibility as head of his family. In these verses he offers a resolution by divine inspiration and with great wisdom and meekness. We find a discussion on meekness of wisdom in the midst of strife in Jas 3:13-18. Abraham let Lot make the choice on this occasion. He had just gone through the difficult lesson in Egypt when he chose this land above the famished land of Canaan, hoping to find peace. Instead, he encountered the great trial of his wife being taken from him, so that this choice to go into Egypt did not bring a blessing, but rather, a curse. Now, in Gen 13:8-9 Abraham has now learned ever so carefully to trust entirely in divine provision and divine providence and take the portion of land that Lot did not take. In contrast, Lot will choose the plush Jordon plains and encounter problems (Jos 13:10-13). This is the divine principle behind the casting of lots under the Mosaic Law, by which judgment was made and by which the land was divided unto the twelve tribes of Israel.

This is the first time that Abraham will be shown by God the extent of his rightful inheritance. But the Lord did not reveal this to him until he had developed the humility to trust in God’s divine providence, which Abraham demonstrated by letting Lot choose between the portions of land. This is what is meant by Jesus’ statement in the Beatitudes that the meek shall inherit the earth (Mat 5:5). The word “earth” in this verse describes our earthly, possessions in this life. Meekness is how a man demonstrates his faith in God’s divine providence and divine provision. Pride is demonstrated when a man looks to himself for material possessions and ignores divine principles to live by.

Jos 13:14 Only unto the tribe of Levi he gave none inheritance; the sacrifices of the LORD God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance, as he said unto them.

Jos 13:14 “Only unto the tribe of Levi he gave none inheritance” – Comments – The Levites were scattered throughout the tribes of Israel, in fulfilment of the prophecy of Jacob in Gen 49:7. Note that Simeon was also scattered within the tribe of Judah, and he eventually became assimilated into Judah.

Gen 49:7, “Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel .”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Command to Distribute the Land

v. 1. Now, Joshua was old and stricken in years, literally, “well advanced in days,” said of one whose age is showing plainly; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. These sections are now, by way of parenthesis, enumerated.

v. 2. This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, literally, all the circles of the Philistines, the five city-states of the country being referred to, the capitals with their suburbs and vicinity being joined in a confederacy, and all Geshuri, a small principality south of the Philistines, on the border of Egypt, 1Sa 27:8,

v. 3. from Sihor, which is before Egypt, the so-called brook of Egypt, 1Ch 13:5, for this actually flows northeastwardly from or before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, for thus far the territory of the Philistines extended, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines: the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites, that is, the inhabitants of Gaza, mentioned frequently in the Old and also in the New Testament, of Ashdod, of Ashkelon, of Gath, and of Ekron, all of which have been identified with the exception of Gath, which seems to have been totally destroyed; also the Avites, or Avim, a small tribe living southwest of Gaza; from the south, that is, in the south;

v. 4. all the land of the Canaanites, of the Phenicians living along the coast to the northwest, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, a well-known cave on Lebanon, east of Sidon, unto Aphek, a small city northeast of what is now Beirut, to the borders of the Amorites, the country of Bashan; for the entire Leontes Valley and the region in the neighborhood of Damascus was really included in the territory as the Lord intended it for Israel;

v. 5. and the land of the Giblites, of the race of Gebal, on the Mediterranean Sea, north of what is now Beirut, and all Lebanon, the entire region included within this range with its foothills, toward the sun-rising, from Baal-gad, under Mount Hermon, Jos 12:7, unto the entering into Hamath, a small territory in the Orontes Valley, Num 34:8.

v. 6. All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephothmaim, Jos 11:8, the present promontory of Ra-sen-Nakura, and all the Sidonians, an ancient name for all the Phenicians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel; only, although it is not yet conquered, divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee. The distribution of the country was to go on with a view toward the eventual possession of the entire country, as here described by the Lord. Israel afterward neglected to drive out the nations occupying all this territory, thereby not only reducing its own heritage, but also keeping these tribes as a continual temptation to idolatry.

v. 7. Now, therefore, divide this land for an inheritance unto the nine tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh, those that had not yet been assigned a part of Canaan,

v. 8. with whom the Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance, they had already entered upon the possession of the territory assigned to them, which Moses gave them beyond Jordan eastward, even as Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave them, there was no change made either in the extent or in the boundaries of their possessions:

v. 9. from Aroer, that is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the river, of the valley of the Arnon, Jos 12:2, and all the plain of Medeba unto Dibon, the plateau east of Mount Pisgah, so named after its principal city;

v. 10. and all the cities of Sihon, king of the Amorites, which reigned in Heshbon, unto the border of the children of Ammon;

v. 11. and Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites, Jos 12:5, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan unto Salcah;

v. 12. a ll the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants; for these did Moses smite, and cast them out, Num 21:24-35.

v. 13. Nevertheless, the children of Israel expelled not the Geshurites nor the Maachathites, Jos 15:63; Jos 16:10; Jos 17:12-13; but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites until this day.

v. 14. Only unto the tribe of Levi he gave none inheritance, no separate territory; the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance, as he said. unto them, Num 18:20-24. They possessed no earthly inheritance; with all the greater zeal they should therefore devote themselves to Jehovah and His worship. In a similar manner Christians know that they have here no continuing city, but they seek one to come, Heb 13:14.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THE DIVISION OF THE TERRITORY.

Jos 13:1

Now Joshua was old. This is usually regarded as the second part of the Book of Joshua; the first being devoted to the history of the conquest of Palestine, while the second is engaged with the history of its division among the conquerors. Dean Stanley, in his ‘Sinai and Palestine,’ as well as in his ‘Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church,’ describes this portion of the Book of Judges as the ‘Domes. day Book’ of the land of Canaan, and the remark has been constantly repeated. There is, however, a considerable difference between the great survey of the Conqueror and this one. The former was an accurate account, for purposes of taxation, national detente, and public order, of the exact extent of soil owned by each landowner, and it went so far as to enumerate the cattle on his estate, to the great disgust of the Saxon chronicler, who had an Englishman’s dislike of inquisitorial proceedings. There is no trace either of such completeness, or of such an inquisitorial character in this survey, neither has it quite the same object. It assigns to each tribe the limits of its future possessions, and enumerates the cities contained in each portion of territory. Bat it makes scarcely any effort to describe the possessions of particular families, still less of individual landowners. Joshua and Caleb are the only exceptions. Knobel observes that the most powerful tribes were first settled in their territorythose, namely, of Judah and Joseph. He remarks that the author must have had written sources for his information, for no single Israelite could have been personally acquainted with all the details here given. And stricken in years. Rather, advanced in age. There is no foundation for the idea of some commentators that the Jews, at the time this book was written, made any formal distinction in these words between different stages of old age. The Hebrew language rejoiced in repetition, and this common phrase is only a means of adding emphasis to the statement already made. And there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. The Hebrew is stronger than our version. Perhaps the best equivalent in modern English is, “And the amount of land that remaineth for us to occupy is very great indeed.” We may observe here that, as with the literal so with the spiritual Israel, whether the antitype be the Christian Church or the human heart, the work of subduing God’s enemies is gradual. One successful engagement does not conclude the war. The enemy renews his assaults, and when force fails he tries fraud; when direct temptations are of no avail he resorts to enticements. The only safeguard in the war is strength, alertness, courage, patience. The faint hearted and unwatchful alike fail in the contest, which can be carried on successfully only by him who has learned to keep guard over himself, and to direct his ways by the counsels of God.

Jos 13:2

This is the land which yet remaineth. The powerful league of the Philistines, as well as the tribes near them, remained unsubdued. In the north, likewise, the neighbourhood of Sidon, and the territory of Coele, Syria, which lay between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, was as yet in the hands of the enemy. Rabbis Kimchi and Solomon Jarchi translate by “borders.” Masius suggests the French marque, and the modern German grenze. All the borders of the Philistines. Literally, all the circles (Geliloth) of the Philistines. The expression is found in several places in this book (see Jos 18:17; Jos 22:10, Jos 22:11). We may compare the expression the circles of Swabia, Franconia, etc; in the history of Germany. The expression here may have more affinity with what is known as the “mark system” in the history of ancient Germany, and refer to the patch of cultivated ground which extended for some distance round each city. But this is rendered improbable by the fact that one circle only retained its name (Jos 20:7; Jos 21:32), and is still known as Galilee (see notes on these passages). Galilee was too large a district to have been originally a clearing round a town. Geshur (see note on Jos 12:5). Ewald conjectures that these Geshurites were the aboriginal inhabitants of the country (see 1Sa 27:8), and were the same as the Avites or Avvites. See next verse, where the Avvites are distinguished from the five lords of the Philistines. It is worthy of remark that the name Talmai, the name of one of the “sons of Anak” (Jos 15:14), comes in again as the name of a king of Geshur (2Sa 3:3 2Sa 13:37). It occurs, however, as a Hebrew name in Bartholomew, or Bar-Tolmai, i.e; the son of Talmai, or Tolmai, one of the twelve apostles. Ewald supposes that these aborigines were dispossessed by the Canaanitish tribes, and that the old name of Geshur was still applied to those regions on which this primitive race had retained its hold.

Jos 13:3

From Sihor. This word, which has the article in Hebrew, is literally the black river. This has been thought to be the Nile, known to both Greeks and Latins by that title. The Greeks called it . So Virgil says of it, “AEgyptum nigra foecundat arena.” The Vulgate has “a fluvio turbido qui irrigat AEgyptum.” The LXX. translates by . The phrase which is “before” () Egypt seems to exclude the idea of the Nile, since the Nile flowed through the centre of Egypt, and it is impossible to make equivalent to . As Drusins remarks, moreover, the Nile is always called either or “the river of Egypt.” The interpreation which has found most favour of late, therefore, refers this expression to a small river that flows into the sea at the extreme southern border of Palestine. This river was known as the “river of Egypt” (Gen 15:18), and is now called the Wady-el-Arisch (cf. also Jos 15:4, Jos 15:47, as well as Num 34:5; 1Ki 8:65; Isa 27:12, where the word is nahal, or winter torrent, a word inapplicable to the Nile). For Sihor, or Shichor, see Isa 23:3; Jer 2:18, and especially 1Ch 13:5, which seems decisive against the Nile. Which is counted to the Canaanite. These words are connected by the Masorites with what follows: The five lords of the Philistines are reckoned to the Canaanite. The five lords of the Philistines. The Philistines (Deu 2:23. Cf. Gen 10:14, and 1Ch 1:12) are supposed to be of Egyptian origin. Ewald believes Caphtor to be Crete, and supposes the Cherethites and Pelethites who formed David’s body-guard (2Sa 15:18) to be Cretans and Philistines (see Eze 25:16). But this opinion is disputed by many commentators of note, and is far from probable in itself. They were David’s most trusted and faithful troops, and it seems hardly probable that so truly national a monarch would have assigned the post of honour around his person to the hereditary enemies of his race. Ritter, however, believes the Cherethites and Pelethites to be Philistines, and appeals to 1Sa 30:14, and still more forcibly to Zep 2:4, Zep 2:5. It should be remembered, too, that Ittai was a Gittite, or native of Gath (see 2Sa 15:21). The term here used, translated lords (satraps, LXX), is peculiar to the Philistines. It is to be found also in Jdg 3:3; 1Sa 5:8, etc. In 1Ki 7:30 the word means an axle, or perhaps the outside plating of the wheel, and in the kindred languages it signifies a wheel. The expression is remarkable in connection with the phrase “circles of the Philistines.” The Eshkalalonites. The inhabitants of Ashkelon, as the Gittites are of Gath. Also the Avites. Literally, “and the Avites.” There is no “also” in the original, though the Avites or Avim are supposed (see Deu 2:23, and note on Geshuri in the last verse)to have been aborigines preceding the Canaanites, and dispossessed by the Philistines. Keil, however, disputes this view, and holds that we have no evidence that any but a Canaanitish people dwelt in southwestern Palestine. This Canaanitish tribe, he thinks, was driven out by the Philistines. Some few of the Avites, or rather Avvites, continued to dwell among their conquerors. But the coincidence between Deu 2:22, Deu 2:23, and 1Sa 27:8, makes strongly for Ewald’s view above. And Keil and Delitzsch, in their later joint work, incline to it. See Introduction III. The word Avvim, like Havoth, or Havvoth (see verse 30), is supposed to mean villages, or inhabited enclosures.

Jos 13:4

From the south. The LXX. and the best modern commentators connect these words with what precedes. This gives a better sense than joining it to what follows. For the south was not “all the land of the Canaanites,” but a large part of it belonged, as we have just seen, to a tribe not of Canaanitish origin, while the land of the Canaanites (see note on Jos 3:10) extended far to the northward. Therefore we must understand the words “all the land of the Canaanites” to begin a fresh section, and to be descriptive of the territory extending from Philistia northward towards Sidon. So the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. Mearah. The margin has “the cave.” But there is no article in the original The LXX. reads for Mearah, having clearly, as Masius observes, substituted Zain for Resh. But this mistaken reading compels a mistranslation of the passage. Vandevelde supposes it to be a remarkable cave still existing near Sidon, which is mentioned by William of Tyre as having been fortified by the Crusaders. He speaks of it as municipium quoddam, and states that it was commonly known as the “cave of Tyre.” “spelunca inexpugnabilis.” It was afterwards “the last retreat of the Emir Fakkr-ed-Din” (Vandevelde, s.v. Mearah). There is a village now, north of Sidon, called Mog-heiriyeh, or the village of the cave. So also Kuobel. Beside the Sidonians. Rather, near, or in the direction of, or which belong to the Sidonians. Aphek. Or Aphekah. This (Knobel) was the northern Aphek (Jos 19:30; Jdg 1:31), in the tribe of Asher, known later as Aphaca, and now as Afka. Not the Aphekah of Jos 15:53, probably the Aphek of 1Sa 4:1. It is the same Aphek which in later times was captured by the Syrians, and was the scene of several decisive victories of Israel (1Ki 20:26, 1Ki 20:30; 2Ki 13:17). It is doubtful which Aphek is meant in Jos 12:18, though it is probably the southern Aphek. The situation is described as one of “rare beauty” (Delitzsch), “on the north.west slopes of Lebanon,” amid exquisite groves (Conder). Here the Syrian Astarte was worshipped, and the ruins of her temple, dedicated to her as mourning for Tammuz, or Adonis, may still be seen. See Kenrick, ‘Phoenicia,’ 310, 311, and Mover’s ‘Die Phonizier,’ 1.192. Perhaps it was never actually occupied by the Asherites, but remained in the hands of Syria, and as a place of great resort was the natural point to which the attacks of Israel would be directed. Vandevelde, however, believes in four and Conder in seven cities of this name, and they suppose the Aphek which was the scene of the battle with the Syrians to have been on the east of Jordan, from the occurrence of the word “Mishor” in the narrative in 1Ki 20:1-43. The term “Mishor” is, however, applied to other places beside the territory east of Jordan (see Gesenius, s.v. Mishor). The Aphek in 1Sa 29:1 cannot be identified with any that have been named. To the borders of the Amorites. This can hardly be anything but the northern border of the kingdom of Bashan, in the neighbourhood of Mount Hermon.

Jos 13:5

The Giblites. The inhabitants of Gebal, called Jebail (i.e; hill city, from Jebel) by the Arabs, and Byblus by the Greeks. This is Masius’s idea, and other commentators have accepted it (see 1Ki 5:1-18 :32; Psa 83:7; and Eze 27:9, where the LXX. translates by Byblus). In the first named passage the word is translated “stone squarers,” in our version (where it is the 18th and not the 32nd verse). All the other versions render “Giblites” as here, and no doubt the inhabitants of the Phoenician city of Jebail are meant, since in the ruins of Jebail the same kind of masonry is found as is seen in Solomon’s temple. Byblus was the great seat of the worship of Tammuz, or Adonis. Here his father Cinyras was supposed to have been king, and the licentious worship, with its corrupting influences, was spread over the whole region of Lebanon and even Damascus. This territory was never actually occupied by the Israelites (see for this passage also Jos 11:8, Jos 11:17; and Jos 12:7). Hamath. The spies penetrated nearly as far as this (Numbers 42:21), and David reduced the land into subjection as far as the borders of this territory. But the Israelites never subdued it. Toi, king of Hamath, was an ally, not a tributary of David (2Sa 8:9). The border of Israel is always described as extending “to the entering in of Hamath” (1Ki 8:65; 2Ki 14:25), though Jeroboam II. is said to have “recovered” (Jos 13:28) Hamath itself. This “entering in of Hamath” commences at the end of the region called Coele Syria, according to Robinson, ‘Later Biblical Researches,’ sec. 12, at the northeast end of the Lebanon range. So Vandevelde and Porter. Vandevelde remarks that the expression refers to an “entrance formed by Nature herself,” namely, the termination of the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges. The city of Hamath, which gave its name to the territory, is situated on the Orontes, and was known later as Epiphaneia, no doubt after Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria.

Jos 13:6

All the Sidonians. The word here, as elsewhere, must be taken in a restricted sense. A large portion of the Sidonian territory was taken, but Sidon retained its independence (see Jdg 1:31, Jdg 1:32). It is clear, too, that the promise was conditional. Had not the Asherites been willing to tolerate the existence of the Canaanites in their midst, they need not have done so (see Jdg 1:28).

Jos 13:8

With whom. Literally, with him. The construction is defective, but the meaning is clear enough. To avoid the repetition of the words “the half tribe of Manasseh,” the historian writes meaning thereby the other half of the tribe.

Jos 13:9

Aroer. Three, or even four, cities of this name were known, and have been identified by modern travellers under names somewhat similar.

1. Aroer upon Aruon, on the north bank of that river, at the extreme south of the territory of Reuben (see Deu 2:36; Deu 3:12; Deu 4:48; Jos 12:2; Jos 13:9, Jos 13:16; and probably Jer 48:19).

2. Aroer in Gad (Jos 13:25), described there as “before,” i.e; on the way to “Rabbah.” It was no doubt some short distance to the westward of this chief city of the Ammonites (see also Num 32:34, where the Gadites are said to have built it). These two are probably the “cities of Aroer” referred to in Isa 17:2 (but see next note but one, where also 2Sa 24:5 will be discussed).

3. A city in Judah (1Sa 30:28).

To one of these cities probably belonged Shammah or Shammoth, the Hararite or Harorite (2Sa 23:11; he is called Harodite in 2Sa 23:25, and 1Ch 11:27). The river Arnon (see note on Jos 12:2). The city that is in the midst of the river. This city (or perhaps cities) has received but little attention from commentators, probably by reason of its bearing no name. Those who have tried to identify it have failed In Deu 2:36, in this passage, and in 2Sa 24:5, it is mentioned in connection with Aroer. In Jos 7:2, instead of “the city that is in the midst of the river,” we find simply “the middle () of the river.” But as 2Sa 24:5 stands in our version, the city referred to stood in the middle of the river of Gad. This would suggest the idea that the old derivation of Aroer by Wells and others from the word (city) doubled, with the signification of the double city, is nearer the mark than that of wasteness, or desolateness, or nakedness, as of a region bare of trees, which has found favour of late, and it is not without support in Hebrew forms. A city, moreover, in the midst of or “on the brink of” a winter torrent would be less likely to be waste or desolate than in other situations. But we are not yet at the end of our difficulties. The word Nahal, which comes before Gad in the passage of which we are now speaking, has the article. Thus the translation, “river of Gad” cannot be maintained. And besides, the enumeration of the people must have begun at the Arnon, or southern border of Israel beyond Jordan. It is possible that the text may be corrupt here, as it is in other parts of 2 Samuel, and possibly the meaning may be that the officers pitched in Aroer, passed through Reuben, and having come within the confines of Gad arrived at Jazer. This again is rendered doubtful by the close connection of Aroer and Jazer in Jos 13:25. It is of course, therefore, possible that the reference in 2Sa 24:1-25. is to the Jabbok, not the Arnon ravine. A question, of such intricacy can only be Settled, if settled at all, by an investigation on. the spot. The plain. The word here is . This derived from the root signifies level ground, and is applied to the region north of Moab, especially that part of it which belonged to Reuben. Flat, and almost unbroken, even by trees, it was particularly adapted for grazing land (see also note above, and on 2Sa 24:4). Medeba. This is mentioned in Scripture, together with Dibon, as here in Num 21:30; Isa 15:2. It was on the level ground before mentioned (see Gesenius, s.v. ). Dibon (see Jer 48:18, Jer 48:22, called Dimon in Isa 15:9; but Dibon in Isa 15:2; see also Num 33:45, Num 33:46). It was one of the cities built by the children of Gad (Num 32:34). It is now called Dhiban, and is a short distance north of the Arnon. The Moabite stone, found at Dibon in 1868, mentions the occupation of Medeba by Omri, and implies that Dibon, the principal city in those parts, was also subject to him, but recovered finally by Mesha.

Jos 13:11

Geshurltes and Maachathites. See note on Jos 12:5, of which this passage is little else but a repetition.

Jos 13:12

Giants. See note on Jos 12:4.

Jos 13:14

Only unto the tribe of Levi. See Num 18:20-24, where the original command is recorded. Like the clergy under the Christian dispensation, it was seen that they could not at once perform the duties of the priesthood, and act as instructors of the people, if they were burdened, like the rest, with the duty of carrying on war. Their place was supplied by the division of the tribe of Joseph into two, so that the inheritance of Israel was still divided among twelve tribes. Bahr, in his ‘Symbolik des Alten Testaments,’ 2:48, 49, gives other reasons for the dispersion of the Levites throughout the land. If the Levites were to keep the Law and Word of God, to take measures for its being properly kept by the nation in general, to spread abroad a knowledge of the precepts of the religion of Israel, to stir up the tribes to a devout and religious life, it was not merely desirable, but absolutely necessary, that they should be scattered among the tribes. On the other hand, to secure a proper esprit de corps, a mutual sustaining influence, and a common action, too complete a dispersion would have been a mistake. Hence their collection into the Levitical cities, which, however (see note on Jos 21:11), were not given up wholly to them. The Divine wisdom which dictated the provisions of the Mosaic law is clearly visible here. The instinct of the Christian Church in early times devised a similar provision for the evangelisation of the people in the organisation of the ancient and mediaeval cathedrals. As he said unto them. This quotation of Num 18:20, Num 18:24 by a later writer would, under all ordinary circumstances, be regarded as a proof that the Book of Joshua was quoting one of the books of Moses. But the “Elohistic” and “Jehovistic” theory escapes this conclusion in the cumbrous fashion to which reference has been already made. Origen regards this passage as symbolical of the more spiritually earnest among the laity, who” so excel others invirtue of mind and grace of merits, as that the Lord should be called their inheritance.” “How very rare,” he says, “are those who devote themselves to wisdom and knowledge and preserve their mind clear and pure, and exercise their minds in all excellent virtues, who illuminate the way wherein they walk for simpler souls by the grace of learning, and thus attain to salvation. They are the true priests and Levites, whose inheritance is the Lord, who is wisdom”. The Sacrifices. The word is derived from fire. It does not itself, as Keil asserts, signify fire in any place in Holy Writ, but it is used of the shewbread in Le Jos 24:7, Jos 24:9. It thus came to mean any sacrifice, whether offered by fire or not. And thus the tenth which (Num 18:21, Num 18:23, Num 18:24) was given to the Levites, as being offered for God’s service, might be reckoned as in some sense a sacrifice. With this passage we may compare various passages in the New Testament, where, in this respect at least, the Christian ministry stands on the same footing (1Co 9:11, 1Co 9:13; Gal 6:6, Gal 6:7). Thus the maintenance of the Christian ministry is a kind of sacrificeas we find such deeds called, in fact, in Heb 13:16. And an order of men who are set apart to the ministry of souls has a right to claim a sufficient maintenance at the hands of those to whom they ministera point which in these days of affluence and clerical destitution combined ought to be more largely recognised than it is (see Num 18:20-24). “For the law is entrusted to the priests and Levites, and they devote their energies to this alone, and without any anxiety are able to give their time to the Word of God. But that they may be able to do this, they ought to depend upon the support of the laity. For if the laity do not allow the priests and Levites all the necessaries of life, they would be obliged, to engage themselves in temporal occupations, and would thus have less time for the law of God. And when they had no time to spare for the study of God’s law, it is thou who wouldst be in danger. For the light of knowledge that is in them would grow dim, because thou hast given no oil for the lamp, and through thy fault it would come to pass, what the Lord said, ‘If the blind lead the blind, shall they not both fall into the ditch?'”. These words are well worthy of attention now, when a multiplicity of worldly business and a weight of worldly cares are devolved upon God’s ministers by a laity which has to too great an extent washed its hands of all cooperation in the work of God’s Church.

Jos 13:15

Reuben. This passage is an expansion of Num 32:33-42. We learn from it that the Israelites actually took possession of this land. But in the reigns of the wicked kings Omri and Ahab the power of Israel declined, and after the battle of Ramoth-Gilead, and the defeat and death of Ahab, the Moabites succeeded in shaking off the Israelitish yoke, and in wresting from Israel moreover a considerable portion of the territory of Sihon. In the next reign an attempt was made to regain possession of the lost territory. We learn from the Moabite stone that the important towns here mentioned, Medeba, Dibon, Baalmeon, Kiriathaim (or Kirjathalm, as it is here called), Ataroth, Nebo, Aroer, had fallen into the hands of Mesha at the rebellion, and that he had erected a citadel at Dibon, which had become his capital. Hence the endeavour to invade Moab from the south, recorded in 1Ki 3:1-28; which, however, though successful as a military promenade, was attended with no permanent results. For Isaiah (Isa 15:1-9)and Jeremiah (Jer 48:1-47) mention most of these places, as well as Elealeh and Heshbon, the former capital of Sihon, as being strongholds of the Moabite power. Jahaz, too, the place where Sihon gave battle of the Israelites, is numbered by Mesha, as well as at a later date by Isaiah and Jeremiah, among the possessions of Moab; while Horonaim, mentioned among the Moabite cities by the two prophets, is incidentally noticed by Mesha as having been captured from the Edomites. In this early extinction of the tribe of Reuben we may see the fulfilment of Jacob’s prophecy (Gen 49:1-33). The plain by Medeba. See verse 10; so again in the next verse.

Jos 13:17

Bamoth Baal. The high places or altars of Baal. The frequent mention of Baal in this passage shows how common the worship of Baal was in Palestine. The Moabites worshipped him under the name of Chemosh, to whom Mesha, on the Moabite stone, attributes all his victories (cf. Num 21:29; Jdg 11:24; 1Ki 11:7, 1Ki 11:33. So Beth-Peor below (cf. Num 25:3).

Jos 13:19

Sibmah (see Num 32:38). The vine of Sibmah forms a feature in the lament of Isaiah (Isa 16:8) and Jeremiah (Jer 48:32) over Moab. It was close by Heshbon, on the borders of Reuben and Gad. Zareth-shahar, or the splendour of the dawn, now garar, was on the borders of the Dead Sea. Canon Tristram, in his ‘Land of Moab,’ mentions the gorgeous colouring of the landscape here, more beautiful and varied, no doubt, at dawn than at any other time of the day.

Jos 13:21

Cities of the plain. “Mishor” once more. See above, Jos 13:9, not as in Gen 19:1-38; where the word is Ciccar. These, therefore, were not Sodom and its neighbours, but cities of the Amorites. Such touches as this, which display the minute acquaintance of our author with his subject, are almost of a necessity lost in a translation. But where our version has “plain,” the original has Mishor when the uplands of Gilead and Bashan are meant, Arabah when the writer is speaking of the Wadys in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea, Shephelah when he refers to the lowlands of Western palestine, bordering on the Mediterranean, Bik’ah when he speaks of the great valley of Coele Syria, Ciccar when he speaks of the territory due north of Jordan. With the princes of Midian. The word here used, signifies exalted persons, persons of rank, as we should say. It would seem to imply rather civil functions than the more absolute authority which the word also rendered “prince” in Hebrew, carries with it. With this passage compare Num 31:8. The Hebrew has no “with,” so that the difficulty some have found in the passage need not have arisen. It is nowhere said that Moses smote the “princes of Midian” together with Sihon. All that is stated is that they, as well as Sihon, were smitten, as the history in Numbers tells us they were. Dukes of Sihon. According to Gesenius, Rosenmiiller, and others, the word here translated “dukes” is derived from to pour out, means “anointed.” See Psalm if. 6, where it is translated “set.” But Keil rejects this interpretation, and says that the word never signifies to anoint. It is always used, he says, of foreign princes. But he has overlooked Mic 5:4 (Hebrews). See Knobel, who explains it of drink offerings, and regards these “dukes” as men pledged by a solemn treaty to be Sihon’s allies, though not vassals. Kimchi thinks that Sihon, before his reverses at the hand of Israel, had held some authority in Midian, and these were his prefects, or under-kings. The term is applied to Zebah and Zalmunna in Psa 83:12 (in the Hebrew).

Jos 13:22

The soothsayer. Or diviner, one who pretended to foretell future events. Balaam, it would seem, instead of returning to his own land, went to visit the Midianites, whose elders had joined in the invitation given by Moab (Num 22:7), and persuaded them to entice the Israelites into idolatry and licentiousness (see Num 25:1-18) For this crime he met with the punishment he had deserved, and was involved in the destruction which fell on the Midianites by God’s express command, in consequence of their treachery (Num 25:16-18. See Blunt, ‘Undesigned Coincidences,’ Part I. 24)

Jos 13:23

And the border thereof. These words have been omitted in the Vulgate, which does not understand them. The LXX. translates, “And the borders of Reuben were the Jordan-border.” This seems to be the meaning of the original. The phrase often occurs, as in Jos 15:12 and Num 34:6. Knobel’s explanation is probably the correct one, that the phrase means to refer to the natural boundary marked out by the river or sea and its banks. “The boundary of the children of Reuben was Jordan and the natural boundary thus formed.” As Dean Stanley reminds us in his ‘Lectures on the Jewish Church,’ Reuben, as predicted by Jacob (Gen 49:4), sank at once into insignificance. No ruler, no judge arose from this tribe and its territory. Villages. Hebrew , LXX. , Vulgate viculi. The original meaning is a piece of ground enclosed by a hedge or wall. Here it would mean,either with Gesenins and Keil, farm hamlets, or perhaps clearings of cultivated ground, which in Palestine would naturally be enclosed in some way, to prevent the ravages of wild beasts. In the primitive villages of Servia, where wild beasts are not entirely extirpated, not only are all the homesteads enclosed, but a fence is placed across the road, and removed when a vehicle has to pass through. Or perhaps the primitive Jewish community was similar to the primitive Teutonic community as described by Marshall in his ‘Elementary and Practical Treatise on Landed Property,’ published in 1804, who described the early distribution of land in this country as follows: “Round the village lay a few small enclosures for rearing young stock. Further a field the best land for arable purposes was chosen, and divided into three parts, for the necessary, rotation of fallow, wheat or rye, and spring crops. The meadows near the water courses were set aside for the growth of fodder for the cattle or for pasturage for milch cows, etc. The irreclaimable lands were left for what we now call ‘common’ uses for fuel, and the inferior pasturage.” These arrangements are found to exist in India (see Sir H. Maine, ‘Village Communities,’ sec. 4). But there, as in Palestine, the necessity for water was the cause of important modifications. Since the word is used to denote the court

(1) of a prison, Jer 32:2;

(2) of a palace, 1Ki 7:8;

(3) of a private house, 2Sa 17:18;

(4) of the temple in numberless places,

and as it is used of the enclosure of a nomadic camp (Gen 25:16, where our version has towns; perhaps Deu 2:23, where our version has Hazerim, following the LXX.which, however, alters the word to the more usual Hazerothand the Vulgate; Isa 42:11, with which compare the expression tents of Kedar, Psa 120:5), the translation villages can hardly be the correct one here or elsewhere (see also 2Sa 17:28).

Jos 13:24

Unto the tribe of Gad. The border of Gad extended further eastward than that of Reuben. Westward, of course, its border was the Jordan. Its northern border was nearly coincident with that of the land of Gilead, and passed by Maha-naim and Jabesh Gilead, unto the extreme southernmost point of the sea of Galilee. Many of these places also are mentioned in Isa 15:1-9 and Jer 48:1-47. (see note above, Jer 48:16).

Jos 13:25

Aroer that is before Rabbah. A different Aroer to that mentioned in Jos 13:9. This was near (Hebrew, opposite to, the expression being equivalent to the French en face) Rabbah, or the great city of the children of Ammon. Keil supposes that this territory had been taken from the Ammonites by Sihon, since the Israelites were not permitted to possess themselves of the land of the Ammonites (Deu 2:19). For Rabbah, see 2Sa 11:1; 2Sa 12:26. It is called Rabbath in Deu 3:11.

Jos 13:26

Ramath-Mizpeh. This is idenitified with Ramoth-Gilead by Vandevelde, and must have been the Mizpeh of Gilead mentioned in Jdg 11:29. It is supposed to be identical with the place called Mizpah, Galeed, and Jegar-sahadutha by Jacob and Laban respectively (Gen 31:47-49). If it be the same as Ramoth-Gilead, it is the scene of the celebrated battle against the Syrians, in which Ahab lost his life (1Ki 22:1-53), and where the fall of the dynasty of Omri was brought about by the revolt of Jehu (2Ki 9:1-37). Conder, however, thinks the two are distinct places, and fixes Ramoth-Mizpeh on the north border of Gad, about 25 reties west of Bozrah.

Mahanaim The dual of two hosts or camps. It received its name from Jacob, who with his own company met the angels of God, and who commemorated the meeting by this name (see Gen 32:2). Here Ishbesheth was crowned (2Sa 2:8). Here David took refuge when he crossed the Jordan, to avoid falling into the hands of Absalom (2Sa 17:24). Debir. Not the Debir mentioned in Jdg 10:1-18; but another Debir in the land of Gilead, whose site is unknown.

Jos 13:27

The valley. The Emek (see Jos 8:13). Beth-Nimrah (see Num 32:36). Afterwards Nimrim (Isa 15:6; Jer 48:34). Now Nimrin. Succoth. i.e; booths. Here Jacob rested after his meeting with Esau (Gen 33:17). Here Gideon “taught the men of Succoth,” who had declined to provide food for his army (Jdg 8:5, Jdg 8:7, Jdg 8:16). It is mentioned in connection with Zarthan, or Zaretan (cf. Jos 3:16) as being in the tract or of the Jordan, where the metal work of the temple was cast (1Ki 7:46; 2Ch 4:17). Zaphon. Perhaps, and the North; what remained of the kingdom of Sihon, i.e; as is implied above, the part which was not assigned to Reuben. Jordan and his border. Literally, Jordan and a border (see note on Jos 13:23). The edge. Rather, the end (see note on Jos 13:24).

Jos 13:28

This is the inheritance of the children of Gad. The cause of the difference between the Reubenites and the Gadites may perhaps be thus explained. While both inhabited a similar tract of country, a country from its open and pastoral character likely to develop a hardy and healthy race of men, the Reubenites were exposed to the seductions of the Moabitish worship of Chemosh, which, when combined with an ancestral temperament by no means prone to resist such influences (see Gen 49:4), soon proved fatal to a tribe, itself not numerous (Deu 33:6), and hemmed in on every side but the north by the unbelievers. The temperament inherited by the Gadites added to their more favourable situation and the nature of their pursuits, developed a hardy and warlike race ready to do battle, and fearless of their foes (1Ch 5:18). Of this tribe came the valiant Jephthah, and of it also came the brave soldiers of David, whose qualifications stir to poetry the sober chronicler of Judah (1Ch 12:8). We may see here the influence of circumstances on the character of a people. Originally (1Ch 5:18) the Reubenites and the Gadites were alike. But the Reubenites, as we have seen, from unfavourable surroundings, lost the character which the Gadites, more favourably situated, were enabled to preserve. And the distinctions of tribes, producing as they did a separate esprit de corps in each tribe, will serve to explain why one tribe did not immediately succumb to influences which proved fatal to another. In the end, as we know, all the people of Gad fell victims to the temptations which surrounded them, and, save in the case of Levi, Judah, and Benjamin, and the few faithful Israelites who went over to them, irrevocably. The same phenomenon may be observed in the history of nations generally. As long as their manners were simple and their morals pure, they have preserved their liberty, and in many cases have acquired empire. As soon as their bodies were enervated by luxury, and their minds corrupted by vice, they fell a prey to foes whom formerly they would have despised. Thus fell the Greek and Boman republics, thus the Britons became an easy prey to the Saxons, and the Saxons to the Danes. In every instance the history of a tribe and of a nation serves to illustrate the maxim that “righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Jos 13:29

The halftribe of Manasseh. The word used for “tribe” in the first and second half of this verse is not the same. Some German critics have derived an argument for the hypothesis that the historical and geographical portions of the book are not by the same hand, from the supposed fact that the former of these words is used almost exclusively in the first, or historical portion, and the latter in the second, or geographical portion, of the book. The word “almost” would be almost sufficient to overthrow the theory, but this verse is an insuperable objection to it. Is it seriously contended that one half of this verse is taken from one author, and the other from another? Or is it possible that the writer of the book may actually have understood the language he was using, and meant to use the two words in somewhat different senses? Gesenius, it is true, would explain the words as being precisely synonymous. But his own etymological remarks are fatal to his theory. the latter of the two words, is a bough, or shoot (derived from a word signifying to grow), capable of throwing out blossoms (Eze 7:10). It refers, therefore, to the natural descent of the tribe from Manasseh their father. But is allied to ; to judge, and the Greek , and perhaps the English shaft, and signifies a rod as the emblem of authority. Thus it is used in Gen 49:10, of a royal sceptre. So Psa 2:9, an iron sceptre, Psa 45:6. Thus the latter word has reference to the tribe as an organised community, the former to it in reference to its ancestral derivation. This view would seem to be supported by verse 24, where the of Gad is further explained to mean his sons and their families, as well as by this verse, where the is used absolutely, the in connection with the family

Jos 13:30

The towns of Jair. Literally, Havoth-Jair, as in Num 32:41; Deu 3:14. The word is derived from to live, and the word is compared by Gesenius to the names Eisleben and the like in Germany. So we use the phrase “five,” as synonymous with “dwell.” Why the term is confined to these particular cities is not known. Gesenius regards it as equivalent to “nomadic encampment.” But the ruins of the giant cities of Bashan, recently rediscovered in our own time, and displaying all the signs of high civilisation, dispose of this idea. These cities are mentioned in Deu 3:4 as “threescore cities, all the region of Argob,” and again in Deu 3:13, “all the region of Argob with all Bashan, which is called the land of giants.” “To the east he (Abraham) would leave the barren and craggy fatnesses of the formidable Argob, still (i.e; in Abraham’s time, not Joshua’s) the asylum of the fiercest outlaws; and would jealously avoid the heathen haunts in groves and on high places where smoke arose to the foul image, and the frantic dance swept round.”. Threescore cities (cf. Jos 17:1). It was the martial character, as well as the half tribe of Manasseh, that qualified him to receive and subdue this important territory with its wide extent and teeming population. In the article on Manasseh in Smith’s ‘Dictionary of the Bible,’ reference is made to the fact that, while Ephraim only sent 20,800, and Western Manasseh 18,000, Reuben, Gad, and Eastern Manasseh sent the immense number of 120,000, and this while Abner, the supporter of Ishbosheth, had his headquarters at Mahanaim. But the numbers are suspicious, especially when Judah, always a powerful tribe, comes below the insignificant tribe of Simeon in number. And a comparison of 2Sa 5:1 with 1Ch 12:22, 1Ch 12:23, would lead to the idea that the coronation of David after the death of Ishbosheth is the event referred to (see also 1Ch 12:38-40).

Jos 13:31

The one half of the children of Machir. See this question fully discussed in note on Jos 17:5, Jos 17:6.

Jos 13:32

Moses (see Num 22:1; Num 34:15). Plains. Hebrew, Araboth (see Jos 3:16)

HOMILETICS

Chap 13-14:5

The allotment of the inheritance.

I. THERE COMES A TIME WHEN WE MUST GIVE PLACE TO OTHERS. Joshua felt that his end was drawing nigh, and most likely, since we are not told otherwise, as in the ease of Moses, his natural force was abated. So with ourselves. We cannot expect to see the end of our work. We must do what God has set before us, and leave results to Him. Yet we, unlike Joshua, need not fear the failure of our efforts. The law could not make its votaries perfect; but the bringing in of a better hope did. In this later dispensation no work shall altogether fail of its effect if done to God.

II. WE MUST “SET OUR HOUSE IN ORDER” BEFORE WE GO HENCE. Though Joshua had to leave the completion of the task to others, he did not fall to put it in train. So we, when we have begun a good work, are bound to make proper and reasonable provision for its being carried on when God warns us that our time draws nigh. We are not to expect God to work miracles where our own reason would suffice. We must leave the result to God, but not until we have done all in our power to procure the fulfilment of His will. We must leave proper directions behind us to indicate what our wishes are, and a proper organisation, so far as possible, to carry out our purposes. We find nothing left to God in the Bible but what is plainly beyond the reach of man.

III. GOD ASSIGNS TO EACH MAN HIS PORTION. In parcelling out the land of Israel, Joshua is a type of Christ, “dividing to each man severally as He will.” The various powers and faculties we have, bodily, mental, spiritual, are given us by God. Each one has his own proper share, according to the work God requires of him. There must be no murmuring or disputing. The foot must not ask why he is not the hand, nor the hand why he is not the head. Each has his own proper portion of the good gifts of God, and according as he has so will it be required of them. All murmurings were hushed in Israel because Joshua committed the disposal of the inheritance to the Lord. We are equally bound to refrain from discontent because it is clear that God has portioned out the gifts of the spiritual Israel One man has wealth, another strength, another intellect, another imagination, another wisdom, another energy, another power over others, or these various gifts are apportioned in various degrees for God’s own purposes. Let none think of questioning the wisdom of the award.

IV. GOD‘S MINISTERS ARE TO BE DEPENDENT UPON THEIR FLOCKS FOR SUPPORT. Such is the meaning of St. Paul when he speaks of the double honour (no doubt in a pecuniary sense, as we use the word “honorarium”) to be given to the elders who rule well. In consequence of their special aptitude for the work, they were to be relieved from the burden of their own maintenance, that they might be able to devote more time to the supervision of the flock. Not necessarily that each minister should be maintained by his own flock, for he might be thereby deterred from speaking faithfully to them in the name of Christ. We do not find that each individual priest and Levite was maintained by some special synagogue of the Jews. But they who ministered in holy things lived of the sacrifice nevertheless. The offerings made at the temple at Jerusalem formed a general fund out of which the tribe of Levi was maintained, as its members went up by rotation to perform the duties of their office. And beside this, a proper number of cities was provided them, with a share, most probably (see note on Jos 21:12), in the privileges of their fellow citizens, of the tribe to which the land belonged. This ample provision for the ministers under the old law is in striking contrast, save in some special instances, to the provision made by Christians for their ministers now. A due maintenance for their clergy was one of the special characteristics of the Jewish religious system.. According to the principles laid down by the apostles of Christ, and always acted upon, save in some special instances, it was an equally marked characteristic of the Christian Church.

V. GOD IS THE PORTION OF HIS MINISTERS. A great comfort for those who are in straitened circumstances, as many are. They may remember the words, “I have been young and now am old, yet saw I never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.” If they abstain from murmuring, rigidly adapt their expenditure to their means, careless of appearances, careful only to do right, they wilt find their reward in God’s love and favour. He will be in truth their portion. Having food and raiment, they will be therewith content, for they will have abundance of spiritual blessings, the reward of an approving conscience, and the respect of all right thinking men. Nor is the promise confined only to those who lack the good things of this life, but it is given to those who, by God’s disposition possessing them, know how to use them. All God’s ministers who love and serve Him shall have Him as their portion, and they will treasure this above all earthly goods. “They that fear Him lack nothing.” The Lord is the strength of their life, and their portion forever.

HOMILIES BY J. WAITE

Jos 13:1

Life ending and the work not done.

The rest of the land from war, then (Jos 12:23), was not that of final and completed victory. It was only a temporary truce. The whole land was not yet in the possession of Israel, but enough of it was subdued to prove God’s absolute sovereignty over it. And now rest is needful to review the field and secure the ends that have been so far gained. Joshua is too old any longer to carry on the strife, but there is a work that he can do, and which must be done, before he is gathered to his fathersthe division of the land which in the Divine purpose, if not as an accomplished fact, is already Israel’s inheritance. Note here

I. THE HONOURED ENDING OF A LIFE OF NOBLE DEVOTION TO THE SERVICE OF GOD. There is no Divine approval of Joshua’s fidelity actually expressed here, but the spirit of it seems plainly to breathe through these words. It is as if God said to him, “Thou art old; thy work of life is donedone faithfully and wellnow rest; review thy path of service; gather up the fruits of it; set thy last seal to the truth of My word of promise, and enter into thy reward.” Old age has great dignity and beauty in it when it crowns a life of earnest practical godliness. “The hoary head is a crown of glory, etc.” (Pro 16:31). Like the rich glow of autumn when the fields have yielded their precious store to the hand of the reaper, and the song of harvest home is sung; like the golden sunset closing a day of mingled brightness and gloom, giving assurance of a glorious rising in the world beyond; such is the halo that surrounds the head of one of God’s veterans. Think of the moral grandeur of the Apostle Paul’s position when, in view of his past life work, and in prospect of its eternal issues, he could say, “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight,” etc. (2Ti 4:6-8). Such honour, in their measure, have all those who consecrate their days with whole-hearted devotion to the service of the Lord.

II. THE FAILURE OF THE LONGEST AND THE NOBLEST LIFE COMPLETELY TO FULFIL ITS OWN HIGH AIMS. “There yet remaineth very much land to be possessed.” This is not said in reproach of Joshua. He had accomplished the work to which God had called him. But it reminds us that; however rich a human life may be in the fruits of practical devotion, it is after all but a contribution towards the full working out of the Divine purposesmall, feeble, fragmentary indeed in comparison with the grandeur of God’s providential plan. Great as may be the victories it has achieved, it leaves “much land yet to be possessed.” More. over, the noblest spirit fails to reach its own ideal, the most fruitful life falls to realise its own aspirations. Human life at the best is but a tale half told, a song that dies away into silence when only a few timid notes have sounded. It is but a beginning, in which the foundation is laid of works that it is left to other hands to furnish, and purposes are born that find elsewhere their actual unfolding. How many a man in dying has had a painful sense of having fallen far short, not only of the diviner possibilities of his life, but even of the realisation of the hopes that inspired him in his earlier years. There is always a touch of sadness in the autumn gleam.

“The clouds that gather round the setting sun
Do take a sober colouring from an eye
That hath kept watch o’er man’s mortality;”

because they remind us of the brevity of our life day, and reflect the vanishing glory of so many of its fairest dreams. Full as it may have been of high endeavour and grand achievement, how much remains undone! “There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” This is capable of many applications.

(1) As regards science. Marvellous as its progress has been, how many undiscovered secrets has Nature still locked up in her bosom!

(2) As regards the practical uses of life. God has made man “to have dominion over the works of His hands;” but what vast resources of the material world still remain unutilised in His service!

(3) As regards personal spiritual development. The best of us fall sadly short of the Scripture standard of character. When good men die, how far off still appears to them the goal of Divine perfectionlike the horizon that seems to recede and widen and become more unapproachably glorious as we reach forth towards it.

(4) As regards the progress and consummation of the kingdom of God among men. Its triumphs thus far have been very wonderful, but how much remains yet to be done! How far as yet are the kingdoms of this world from having become “the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ”! How small the circle of light as compared with the vast outlying realms of darkness comparatively few of those who profess the faith of Christ, knowing anything of the living power of it, two-thirds of the human race being still heathen.

III.THE STEADFASTNESS OF THE DIVINE PURPOSE, in spite of the decay, one after another, of the instruments by which it is accomplished. Much land remains to be possessed, and it shall be possessed though Joshua pass away from the scene of conflict. “Them will I drive out from before the children of Israel (verse 6). God raises up men to take their particular part in His great work, some more prominent, some less, but He is independent alike of all The fall of His heroes on the field of battle in no way checks the onward march of the great unseen Captain of the host to final victory. All true leaders in the holy war point us, alike in their life and in their death, to Him whose presence is never withdrawn, whose years fail not, whose eye never becomes dim, whose force is never abated. In following their faith, and considering how their “conversation” ended, let us not forget that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Heb 13:7, Heb 13:8).W.

HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY

Jos 13:1

Old age.

The most active servant of God may be overtaken by old ago before he has completed what he believes to be the task of his life. This fact suggests various reflections.

I. THE GREATNESS OF DUTY AND THE LIMITS OF TIME TOGETHER URGE UPON US THE NEED FOR DILIGENT SERVICE.

(1) We must not postpone the commencement of work. Joshua began to serve God in his youth; yet Iris work was not finished in his old age.

(2) We must not be satisfied with any amount of work done. Joshua had accomplished great things, but much remained undone.

(3) We must not be willing to work at intervals or with wastefulness of time. The work of life is too great for the longest, most earnest life. Time is short; the day of work will soon pass. “Work while it is day” (Joh 9:4).

II. IN GOD‘S SIGHT THAT LIVE IS FINISHED WHICH HAS ACCOMPLISHED ALL WITHIN ITS POWER. Life is long enough for all that God requires of us. We may not be able to do all we wish, all we set before ourselves, all that appears to be needed, all that we think it our duty to do. But God apportions our duty according to our opportunities. Therefore in His eyes the broken, unfinished life is really finished if all is done for which opportunities have been given.

III. GOD JUDGES US BY FAITHFULNESS, NOT BY SUCCESS. It is not they who effect much, but they who serve truly, whom God accepts. We cannot command success. The finishing of our work is not in our hands. We can be faithful (Luk 16:10).

IV. THE UNFINISHED EARTHLY LIFE IS A PROPHECY OF A FUTURE LIFE. Our aspirations exceed our capacities. It is not simply that we desire the unattainable; but we are conscious of duties which reach beyond present opportunities, and of possibilities within us which the limits of life prevent us from developing. If God is too wise to waste His gifts and too good to deceive His children, we may take the broken life, and still more the incomplete life even of old age, as mute prophecies of a larger life beyond.

V. IN THE FUTURE LIFE THERE WILL BE NO OLD AGE. The pain of declining powers, of insufficient time, and of all other limits of earthly life will be gone. Eternity will give leisure for all service. The eternal life will not grow old, but flourish in perpetual youth.

VI. IT IS A PROVIDENTIAL BLESSING THAT GREAT MEN SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO FINISH THE WORK THEY SET BEFORE THEMSELVES. It is well that they should leave work for smaller men. The necessity thus created becomes a stimulus to others. When one falls, another is raised to continue his work (Joh 4:37, Joh 4:38).

VII. NO MAN FULFILS EVEN SO MUCH OF LIFE‘S WORE AS COMES WITHIN HIS POWERS. At best we are unprofitable servants; but we are all also negligent and slothful. We have left undone many things which we ought to have done. None of us can say with Christ, “It is finished.” Therefore we should review our lives with humility, contrition, and repentance, seeking forgiveness for the failings of the past and more grace for the duties of the future.

VIII. CHRIST‘S WORK ALONE IS THE GROUND OF ACCEPTANCE BY GOD. Our work is unfinished. It is faulty for the negligence it proves. It can earn us nothing on its own merits. Christ’s work is finished. On this our faith can rest. Then we may offer our own imperfect work to God through Christ, and He will transform it for us by lifting it into the light of His merits, till it will be worthy as dust shines like gold when the sunbeam passes through it.W.F.A.

HOMILIES BY R. GLOVER

Jos 13:2, Jos 13:7

The land allotted, though not yet secured.

“There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” “Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance”form a somewhat strange pair of precepts. It seems as if Joshua was dividing what he had not got; and as if Israel were casting lots rather for perils than property. It is not quite so extreme as this. The point in the conquest was reached when nowhere was there a resistance needing a nation in arms to quell it. The several tribes were each strong enough to make good the conquest of their several heritages. The work of the nation as a nation was over. The work of each tribe had now to begin. Still there is some of the grandeur of a Divine method in giving us something that still needs conquering; enriching us with something for which some fighting still requires to be done. Look at it.

I. GOD‘S GIFTS ARE GENERALLY HALF HOLDING AND HALF HOPE, All He imparts has this double characterit is always at once a possession and a responsibility His gifts resemble, say, a colonial estate needing to be cleared; a good house half builtrequiring to be finished before it can be used; a mine requiring to be wrought. They are always of vast value to those who will develop their value; but of little to the indolent or timorous. For the same gift, accordingly, some will be devoutly thankful, some thankless. Hebron, given to Caleb on condition of clearing out the Anakim, seems a fee simple, unencumbered, and he rejoices at his fortune. “The wood” still harbouring the enemy seems to Ephraim for a while at least a doubtful possession. Somethe heroicrejoiced with abounding gratitude over God’s gifts; somethe indolentdeemed them so hopelessly encumbered as to be valueless. So that His gifts were great to the great-hearted, and little to the mean-spirited. God’s gifts are ever of this kind. He gives daily bread, but only through the toil that wins it; saving grace, but only on condition of repentance and obedience which will use it. He gives not bags of either earthly or heavenly gold, but chances, opportunities, potentialities. “A little strength and an open door” gives the power of making our own blessed destinies, is God’s usual gift to all as well as the Church at Philadelphia. His grace is power to win character; not a certain pulp which, without effect, shapes itself into goodness; nay, it is something which we cannot keep except on the condition of getting more of it. The land divided is, in great part a land yet to be possessed. Observe secondly

II. GOD‘S METHOD IS THAT OF WISDOM AND OF MERCY. His gifts would not be blessings if action were needless for their improvement and enjoyment. That would then be stagnation of our powers with consequent enfeeblement. But the gift of that which requires enterprise and action, developes all qualities of strength, vigour, courage, self denial, self respect. Those who have no part in winning what they get generally lack power to keep it. Each tribe held with a stronger hand what it conquered for itself. The sense of possession was more secure, the enjoyment of it more perfect, If God were to give dignities instead of duties, enjoyments without responsibilities attached to them, how dull and earthly would His very gifts make us, In His mercy He gives us “high callings,” “new commandments,” “fights of faith to fight,” and so developes all manliness and godliness. Do not murmur that your bit of the land of promise can only be got, secured, and enjoyed by fighting; it is the mercy of God that so orders it,

III. IN COUNTING OUR WEALTH WE SHOULD ALWAYS INCLUDE THE LAND NOT YET POSSESSED. God’s Israel are always in this position. They have a little secure and grip of a great deal that needs still to be secured, but easily may be. “The good I have not tasted yet” was rightly included in her list of mercies by one of the sweet singers of our own day. With others “a bird in the hand may be worth “two in the bush;” with us, the “two in the bush”being attainableare to be discounted as of far greater worth. Caleb was thankful for the hill of Hebron, while yet the Anakim disputed its possession with him. Your land to be possessed is yours by title, by promise, by the power given you to win it. Be thankful for it and take it. In your gratitude remember the victories you have still to win; attainments which you yet will make; all the answers to your prayers that are on their way to you; the heavenly Canaan you yet will gain. For, though not yet “possessed,” these are all yours by God’s deed of gift, and we act wisely and devoutly only when we discount God’s promises as being absolutely true and certain to be redeemed.G.

HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY

Jos 13:14, Jos 13:33

The inheritance of Levi.

I. THE TRIBE OF LEVI RECEIVED NO INHERITANCE OF LAND.

(1) They who devote themselves to the service of God must be prepared to make earthly sacrifices. We cannot serve God and mammon. If our service of God costs nothing it is worth nothing (Luk 14:33). Therefore count the cost (Luk 14:28).

(2) Earthly possessions distract our attention from heavenly service. Therefore it is hard for the rich to enter into the kingdom of heaven (Luk 18:24).

(3) It is right that they who have the care of souls should be freed from the care of earthly business.

II. THE TRIBE OF LEVI HAD ITS TEMPORAL WANTS ADEQUATELY PROVIDED FOR (see Jos 13:14).

(1) They who serve at the altar have a right to live by the altar (1Co 9:7). This is

(a) just (1Co 9:11),

(b) necessary for unhindered service, and

(c) not injurious to true devotion so long as the servant of God does not degrade his vocation into a trade by working for money instead of receiving money that he may have means for work.

(2) In contributing to the support of God’s servants we are offering sacrifices to God. The sacrifices were the priests’ and Levites’ portion (Deu 18:1). We cannot benefit God by our gifts, but we can give to God through His servants (Mat 25:40). It is our duty to provide in temporal things for those who minister to us in spiritual things. He who starves the ministers of Christ is as guilty as if he starved their Master (Mat 25:45).

III. THE TRIBE OF LEVI FOUND ITS TRUE INHERITANCE IN GOD. The sacrificial gifts of the people were not its chief inheritance, but only the small necessary earthly portion of what it was to receive. Its true heritage was spiritual.

(1) The Christian minister should not regard the earthly returns which he receives for his service as his main reward. To do so is to commit the sin of simony. His real reward is spiritual.

(2) He who makes any sacrifice for God will be amply compensated in Divine riches.

(3) It is better to have God for our portion than any earthly inheritance (Psa 73:26). To have God for an inheritance is

(a) to enjoy communion with Him;

(b) to be protected by Him;

(c) to live for His service.

This is the best inheritance, because

(a) it is satisfying to the soul, while the earthly inheritance is full of dissatisfaction, and can never supply our greatest wants;

(b) it is eternal; and

(c) it is pure and lofty.

Note: In the Christian Church, though there is diversity of orders (Rom 12:6-8) there is no distinction of caste. All Christians are called to the altar of sacrifice (Heb 13:10), all are to serve as priests of the temple (1Pe 2:9), and all should find their true inheritance in God (1Pe 1:4).W.F.A.

Jos 13:22

The fate of Balaam.

I. WHEN SPIRITUAL GIFTS ARE USED FOR UNSPIRITUAL PURPOSES THEY LOSE THEIR SPIRITUAL VALUE. In the Book of Numbers Balaam appears as a prophet inspired by God. In the Book of Joshua he is only named as a common soothsayer. All spiritual gifts, of insight, of power, of sympathy, are worthy only so long as they are well used. As they become degraded by evil uses they lose their Divine character and become mere talents of cleverness and ability.

II. THE ABUSE OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS FOR PERSONAL GAIN IS A SIN WHICH CANNOT GO UNPUNISHED. Balaam had sold his prophetic powers for money, consenting to use them on the side of evil and falsehood. Now his sin has found him out. He who receives great gifts incurs great responsibility. No spiritual power is bestowed for merely selfish uses. The greater the talents we abuse, the greater will be the judgment we shall invoke.

III. THE POSSESSION OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS IS NO GROUND FOR THE ASSURANCE OF PERSONAL SALVATION. Balaam had great gifts, yet he suffered the fate of the heathen. Our privileges are no proof of a Divine favour which will overlook our sins. Salvation comes not from the gifts of the Spirit, but from the grace of God in Christ. The least gifted has as good ground for salvation as the most highly endowed. Pulpit power, the “gift of prayer,” theological insight, and religious susceptibilities may all be found in a Christless life, and if so they will be of no avail as grounds of merit in the day of judgment.

IV. THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH ONLY INCREASES THE GUILT OF THOSE WHO WILL NOT FOLLOW IT. Balaam knew the true God and the way of right. But not living according to his knowledge, his guilt was aggravated, and his doom certain. It is worse than useless to know Christian truth unless we obey it (Jas 1:22-24). The faith in Christ which secures to us salvation is net the bare intellectual belief in the doctrines of redemption (Jas 2:19), but submissive trust and loyal obedience to Christ as both Lord and Saviour (Mar 2:14).W.F.A.

HOMILIES BY E. DE PRESSENSE

Jos 13:22

God is patient in the exercise of His justice as well as in His compassions, for He is the Lord, with whom “a thousand years are as one day.” He knows that His threatenings, like His promises, cannot fail. Of this we have a striking proof, both in the punishment which came upon Balsam, during the war for the conquest of Canaan, and in the blessing of Caleb.

I. For many years Balsam had been untrue to his own conscience, in going back to the idolatries of Canaan, after having been made for one day the organ of the most glorious oracles of the true God. He is thus an illustration of the truth that the baser passions of the heart, if not subdued, will always quench the clearest light of the intellect. Balsam chose wittingly the evil part. He plunged again into the corrupt practices of the heathen. For a long time it seemed to the eyes of men, who judge only by the appearance, that he had made the right choice. Was it not better to sit under his own vine and fig tree, and enjoy the riches heaped upon him by Balak, than to join the Israelites in their dreary desert pilgrimage, beneath a blazing sky, and over the burning sand? Had not Balsam acted wisely? Unquestionably he had if the rule of true philosophy be, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die;” that is to say, if God does not reign in righteousness forever and ever. But when the old soothsayer fell beneath the sword of those Israelites whose warfare he had not been willing to share, he understood too late that it was these despised people who had alone been wise, and that, in spite of all the light he had received, he had lived and acted like a fool. How many are there now living who recognise with their minds the truth of the gospel, but who are unwilling to give up their sinful indulgences, until there rises upon them the terrible day of the Lord. Happy those for whom this day of awakening comes before death, so that they do not go down to the grave with their hearts made gross by merely material prosperity, only to be aroused by the stroke of Divine retribution. Let us remember the punishment of Balaam, which came surely, though it seemed to tarry, when the prosperity of the wicked seems to us a stumbling block.

II. The promises of God’s love are not less faithful and sure than His threatenings, though they also may seem slow of fulfilment. This is illustrated in the history of Caleb, who courageously served his people through a long lifetime, bringing back a good report of the land garrisoned by the enemy, which Moses sent him to explore. “Therefore Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children’s forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord thy God,” (Jos 13:9). This promise was not forgotten. Caleb received, as an inheritance, that hill of Hebron which was assured to him in the name of the God whom he served. Thus the promises of God are yea and amen.E. DE P.

HOMILIES BY R. GLOVER

Jos 13:22

Balaam.

A study of pathetic interest; one of the great “might-have-beens” of the world. One capable of winning an immortal fame, but actually finding only an immortal infamy. The Judas of the Old Testament: one travelling on the right road till within sight of heaven, and then turning aside to perdition. Consider

I. THE GREATNESS OF THE MAN. Evidently his position is one of great dignity and influence. He has raised himself to priest-kingship among the Midianitish tribes. He is considered to have such power in divination and forecast that he is brought all the way from a city in Mesopotamia to the borders of Canaan to “curse Israel.” This reputation would lead you to expect to find him at least a man possessed of great spiritual insight; able at least to guess well concerning all moral probabilities, He has, moreover, reached a clear knowledge of God; has not become entangled by any service of the lower deities whose degrading worship was so prevalent; showing that he was a spiritually minded man, who had gone on and on following the light which reached him, until that light exceeded that of any one else among his people. His divination is no black artcarried on by appeals to demonsbut by pure sacrifices offered to the supreme God. He had evidently been accustomed to utter exactly what God imparted. Pleasant or painful, what God sent him he said. And his honesty and courage are conspicuous in his actual declarations concerning Israel. When we have put together these qualities: spirituality sufficient to discover and serve the true God; great strength of integrity; the keen perception which can discern the essential differences and destinies of things; the fear of God to which “the secret of the Lord is always revealed”you get a character of the first quality, one that has in it the making of a Moses or an Abraham, one who could and should have been one of the grandest of the prophets of the Lord. If only he had reached the full development of his spiritual powers, Midian might have been another Israel, for generations a source of highest good. Doubtless till middle life this course of high righteousness, consecration to and communion with God had gone on. But beginning well and running well, he falls at last into ignominy and shame. Mark

II. THE PROCESS OF HIS FALL. It must not be dated strictly from the temptation before which he fell. There is always, or almost always, some declension before a fall. No one falls into crime by one stumble. Can we trace the process? The writer of the Apocalypse, with his power of going straight to the mark, sums up in one word: He loved the wages of iniquity; not iniquity, but what iniquity could give him. First the selling of his spiritual power was a declension. To seek God’s light in order to get man’s money was an activity damaging to his conscience. Whether it be the sale of masses, absolutions, indulgences, or oracles, the vitiation is in each case the same. A seemingly slender line divides Samuel’s acceptance of an honorarium from Balaam’s eager desire for it. But seeming alike, they essentially differ. In Balaam’s case the greed got headway, and instead of the prophet’s simple acceptance of gifts as a means of living, there was a valuing of all his spiritual powers and privileges only for their market value. [It is an awful thing when a Christian minister values his creed and his experience only as a means of making money.] Then hankering after money, he soon loses the fine edge of honour. When once God refused to give him leave to go with the messengers of Balak, there should have been no reopening of the question. But so anxious is he for the “rewards of divination,” that on their second embassy he goes to God for a second time, for the chance of finding Him permit what He had already refused. Declining to accept a reluctant service, God at once permits and punishes a less honourable course. Again and again he tries to get permission to curse Israel, just in order to get gold. That desire to get a different light from what God has given him is degrading and demoralising. Each dishonourable and dishonouring attempt to get God’s anathemas to hurl against a righteous nation fails to hurt Israel, but terribly damages himself; until, hunting after some means of possessing himself of Balak’s gold, in the pursuit he falls down, and down in degradation until, God refusing to inspire him with evil, his heart is ready to welcome and utter an inspiration from below. And his character is so disintegrated in this hankering after money, that at last he gives the most diabolical advice that man could give; viz; that instead of fighting Israel, they should endeavour to corrupt them (Num 31:16). The licentious feasts, the heathen orgies are of his counselling, and but for Phinehas might have been as disastrous to Israel as their intent was diabolical. What a fall, from the level of highest character, influence, and opportunity, down to the level of a Satanic crime. The love of money is daily making wrecks equally disastrous and irreparable. Beware of it.

III. Lastly observe THE RETRIBUTION. Likely enough he got his reward, and was for a moment as pleased as Achan. But had he satisfaction in it?

(1) Israel, in whose future well being he recognised the source of the world’s best help, is crippled, degraded, weakened through his advice, and that would pain him.

(2) Midian is all but completely annihilated. All the males and most of the women are slain (Num 31:1-54).

(3) Balaam himself has but a short lived enjoyment of his wealth, for he also is slain (Num 31:8).

(4) The loss of life probably pained less than the everlasting infamy that made what hitherto had been an honoured name a proverb for the vilest form of treacherous wickedness. These penalties are obvious. In the world of spirits there must have been others more serious still. May we fear dishonourable gold, as that which makes the heaviest of all millstones to drown men in perdition!G.

Jos 13:31

The border keep.

“Machir was a ‘man of war,’ therefore he had Gilead and Bashan.” These cities include the group which form such a striking stronghold in the northern part of the land beyond Jordan. Mr. Porter, in his ‘Giant Cities of Bashan,’ has described the surprising strength of the architecture of these citiesthe failure of even three thousand years of change and wear to render the houses unfit for habitation; and has also described the strange formation of the district of Argob, rendering it a natural fortress of the most formidable kind. Here, by special adaptation of place with people, this district is assigned to the family of Machir. It was wisely so assigned, for through all the succeeding generations the keeping of the frontier in this direction was well done. We may gather one or two hints not altogether valueless from this assignment. Observe

I. MACHIR HAS FOR HIS LOT THAT WHICH BY HIS COURAGE HE HAD CONQUERED. From Num 32:1-42 :89 we learn that, gigantic as were the inhabitants of Gilead, strong as was its cities, impregnable as its natural fortress seemed, the children of Machir “took it,” and dispossessed the Amorite that was in it. Now they enjoy that which their unusual valour won. Like Caleb, whose daring made him ask Hebron, even when it was in the hands of the enemy, they chose a difficult spot, and conquering, inherited it. More than any other they had a right to this, for their courage had conquered it. Your best inheritance will always be some Gilead that you conquer for yourself. The truth you discover for yourself will do you most good. The experience you develop for yourself will be your best guide. Even the money you make for yourself will be that which you at once employ and enjoy the best. Conquer what you want to have. By courage, diligence, enduring hardness, achieve what you would like to keep.

II. “A MAN OF WAR” IS THE RIGHT MAN FOR FRONTIER DUTY. The Jacobs in the middle; the Esaus are better on the borders of the land. The bravest should be those nearest the foe. They who keep the gates of a kingdom should be those to whom conflict has no terrors. Theologians that keep the frontiers of truth should be brave. Timid Christians that think all the world is going to turn catholic or infidel are not men for warfare on the border. Against assaults there should be placed those who have been through all the fights of faith and unbelief in their own hearts, and who can bring a strenuous, cheerful energy to the task of fighting for the truth. Those strong enough to expect a perpetual victory of truth are those alone fit to deal with the assaults of error. Ministers of religion, keeping the frontier between the Church and the world, should be in a good sense men of war; on their guard against encroachment of worldliness; strong enough to brave opposition and to be above the seductions of the flattery which a compromising spirit may win from the world; strong enough to keep out the intrusions of the secular spirit in all its forms of caste feeling, of cold heartedness, of indifference to the perishing; strong enough to carry the war into the enemy’s country, and secure by extending the kingdom of Christ. On all frontiers there is need of vigour. Wherever the enemy is near, set what is bravest and stoutest in you to watch. The pugnacious element in our nature is very valuableif it operates in Gilead. There is deficiency of it too often; and too often where it is, it is just in some position where it quarrels with its friends instead of with the temptations and the wrongs and the difficulties which are its proper foes. For frontier work of all kinds, courage is the prime qualification. Lastly

III. THERE IS NO CITADEL LIKE A FORTRESS WON FROM THE ENEMY. What he won was his reward, but it was something more. It was the best stronghold he could have against the enemy. The conquered fortress makes the best defence. The vigour enough to win it grows stronger and becomes the power to keep it. A victory is always a point of strength and a stronghold conquered, a vantage ground against the foe. The Church differs from all other communities in this, that she is never weaker by extension; each new conquest gives her a better frontier; every Gilead subdued becomes a new line of defence, making her more impregnable against attack. By God’s blessing, conquer a rebellious heart and subdue it to Him, and it becomes a fortified post from which you can assail or defend more powerfully than before. Graces that are easily Gained are easily lost. But those that are won with arduous difficulty are invariably much more securely held. None keep truth like those who have fought hard to get it. None are more generous than those who have fought hard with selfish tendencies within them. None keep elevation of thought and feeling more persistently than those who have reached it by crucifying the flesh. A conquered temptation is a grand fortress in which you are stronger to resist seduction than ever before. A grief conquered by faith becomes a quiet resting place, and one secure against all assaults of despair. Keep making daily some conquest, and so you will perfectly secure all that you have won.G.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Ver. 1. Now Joshua was old and stricken in years By assigning to Joshua the same age with Caleb, it is easy to justify what the sacred historian says; for Caleb was now eighty-five years old, ch. Jos 14:10. Joshua, however, is commonly made to be more, for reasons drawn from the chronology of the time which elapsed from the departure out of Egypt, till the building of the temple of Solomon. See Bedford’s Script. Chronol. b. v. c. 2. We suppose him, with the generality of interpreters, to have been about one hundred years of age; for, allowing him to have been forty-five when he left Egypt, if we add to them the forty years spent in the wilderness, and the seven which it took him to conquer the land of Canaan, we shall find him to be ninety-two years of age at the end of the war. Now he lived one hundred and ten years; so that, according to our supposition, he must have made the division of the country seven or eight years after the conquest. See Vignoles, tom. 1: p. 1-16.

And the Lord said unto him, Thou art old, &c. It is evident that Joshua meditated new conquests: to divert him from which, God leads him to reflect on his great age; as if he had said, “Although a part of the country which I promised to give unto my people remains still to be conquered, yet it is time to make a division of the whole. If this people keep my covenant, I will fully perform my promises; but, in the mean time, it is proper to exercise their faith, and try their submission.” God had never promised Joshua that he should conquer the whole land of Canaan; but only, that he should bring his people into it, Deu 31:23 and divide its territories among them, ch. Jos 1:6. On the one hand, his great age no longer allowed him to bear the fatigues of war; and, on the other, it invited him to a speedy division of the country among the children of Israel, in order to prevent, by his authority, all contest and ground of discontent among them.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

PART SECOND

The Division of the Land of Canaan

Joshua 13-24

____________

SECTION FIRST

Gods Command to Joshua to distribute the Land in West Palestine. Retrospective Glance at the Territory already assigned to the Two and a Half Tribes East of the Jordan. Beginning of the Division. Calebs Portion

Joshua 13, 14

____________
1. Gods Command to Joshua to distribute the Land

Jos 13:1-7

1Now [And] Joshua was old and stricken in years [far gone in years; Fay: come into the days; De Wette: come into the years]; and the Lord [Jehovah] said unto him, Thou art old and stricken [far-gone] in years, and there remaineth 2yet very much land to be possessed. This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders [circles] of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, 3From Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron, northward, which is [shall it be] counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines, the Gazathites,1 and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites [Gathite], and the Ekronites; [,] also [and] the Avites; 4[,] From [in] the south [;] all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside [which belongs to] the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders [border] of the Amorites; 5And the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon unto the entering into Hamath. 6All the inhabitants of the hill country [the mountain] from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children [sons] of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance [for a possession], as I have 7commanded thee. Now therefore [And now] divide this land for an inheritance [a possession] unto the nine tribes, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

2. The Territory of the Two and a Half Tribes East of the Jordan, as already granted to them by Moses

Jos 13:8-33

a. Its Boundaries. The Tribe of Levi

Jos 13:8-14

8With whom [him] the Reubenites and the Gadites have received their inheritance [possession], which Moses gave them, beyond [the] Jordan eastward, even 9as Moses the servant of the Lord [Jehovah] gave them; From Aroer that is upon the bank of the river [water-course] Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the river 10[water-course], and all the plain [table-land] of Medeba unto Dibon; And all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, which [who] reigned in Heshbon, unto the border of the children of Ammon; 11and Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites 12and Maachathites, and all mount Hermon, and all Bashan unto Salcah; All2 the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which [who] reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei, which remained of the remnant of the giants. For these did Moses smite and cast them out. 13Nevertheless the children [sons] of Israel expelled not the Geshurites, nor the Maachathites; but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites until this day.

14Only unto the tribe of Levi he gave none inheritance [no possession]; the sacrifices of the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel made by fire [Fay and De Wette: offering of Jehovah; Bunsen, after the Berleburg Bibel: fire-offerings] are their inheritance, as he said unto them.

b. The Possession of the Tribe of Reuben

Jos 13:15-23

15And Moses gave unto the tribe of the children [sons] of Reuben inheritance 16[omit: inheritance] according to their families. And their coast [border] was from Aroer that is on the bank of the river [water-course of] Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the river [water-course] and all the plain [table-land] by Medeba; 17[:] Heshbon, and all her cities that are in the plain [table-land], Dibon, and Bamoth-baal, 18 19and Beth-baal-meon, And Jahaza, and Kedemoth, and Mephaath, And 20Kirjathaim, and Sibmah, and Zareth-shahar in the mount of the valley, And Beth-peor, and Ashdoth-pisgah [the foot-hills of Pisgah], and Beth-jeshimoth, 21And all the cities of the plain [table-land], and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites which [who] reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses smote with the princes of Midian, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, which were dukes [Fay: the anointed] 22of Sihon, dwelling in the country. Balaam also [and Balaam] the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children [sons] of Israel slay with the sword, among them that were slain by them [in addition to their slain]. 23And the border of the children [sons] of Reuben was [the] Jordan, and the border thereof [De Wette, Fay: and that which bordered it; Bunsen: that is, its margin]. This was the inheritance [possession] of the children [sons] of Reuben, after their families, the cities and the villages3 thereof.

c. The Possession of the Tribe of Gad

Jos 13:24-28

24And Moses gave inheritance [omit: inheritance] unto the tribe of Gad, even 25[omit: even] unto the children [sons] of Gad according to their families. And their coast [border] was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the children of Ammon, unto Aroer that is before Rabbah; 26and from Heshbon unto Ramath-Mizpeh, and Betonim; and from Mahanaim unto the border of Debir; 27And in the valley, Beth-aram, and Beth-nimrah, and Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, [the] Jordan and his [its] border, even unto the edge of the sea of Cinnereth, on the other side [of the] Jordan eastward. 28This is the inheritance [possession] of the children [sons] of Gad after their families, the cities, and their villages.

d. The Possession of the Half Tribe of Manasseh. A Word concerning the Tribe of Levi

Jos 13:29-33

29And Moses gave inheritance [omit: inheritance] unto the half-tribe of Manasseh: and this was the possession of the half-tribe [properly: and it was for the half-tribe] of the children [sons] of Manasseh by their families. 30And their coast [border] was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns [villages] of Jair, which are in Bashan, threescore cities. 31And half Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, cities [De Wette, Fay: the cities] of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were pertaining unto the children of Machir the son of 32Manasseh, even to the one half of the children of Machir by their families. These are the countries which [are what] Moses did distribute for inheritance [possession] in the plains of Moab, on the other side [of the] Jordan by Jericho eastward.

33But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance [possession]: the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel was [is] their inheritance, as he said unto them.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

With the thirteenth chapter begins Part Second of the book. This describes the division of the land, and rests no doubt on definite records which lay before the author. Such records must have been prepared on taking possession of the land, and such are in fact referred to, Jos 18:8-9. Without them a single Hebrew writer would hardly have had so accurate a knowledge of the land as this author displays, especially in regard to the boundaries (Knobel). When these registers were established, whether already in Joshuas time,4 or, as Knobel, from certain circumstances feels obliged to infer, at a somewhat later period, cannot be made out with certainty. We have, at all events, to deal here, for the most part, with very ancient writings, reminding us of Exodus 20, Numbers 33.

1. Jehovahs Command to Joshua to divide the Land, Jos 13:1-7. Joshua has become old, much land is yet to be conquered, and no prospect of his completing the conquest of it; therefore God gives him the command to wait no longer, but to undertake the division. What yet remains is accurately mentioned, Jos 13:2-6, and in Jos 13:7 it is said, that it shall be given to the nine and a half tribes.

Jos 13:1. Well-stricken [far gone] in years, as Jos 23:1-2; Gen 24:1; Gen 18:11.

Jos 13:2-6. The land that remains to be occupied. It lies part in the south (Jos 13:3-4), and part in the north (Jos 13:5-6).

Jos 13:2. All the circles of the Philistines, and all Geshuri. , LXX. rightly: , Vulg.: Galila, and hence Luther: Galilee of the Philistines. Geshuri is not to be confounded with the country of the Geshurites on. Lebanon, mentioned Jos 12:5; Jos 13:13, but is to be looked for in the south of Palestine near Philistia.

Jos 13:3. From Sihor. from , to be black, properly, black stream; but not here, as in Isa 23:3; Jer 2:18, the Nile, which De Wette judges it to be, but, according to the convincing analogy of 1Ch 13:5, the ,, the brook of Egypt, Rhinokolura, or Rhinokorura, which actually flows before, i.e. eastwardly (more accurately northeastwardly) from Egypt, while the Nile takes its course through the middle of that country. Von Raumer well remarks in his excursus on this passage (p. 53): That under the name Shihor the Nile was by no means alone intended, is evident from the single fact that Jos 19:26 refers to a border stream of Asher of the same name. If the Nile was called Shihor, niger, quia nigrum lutum devehit, why should not other streams receive the same name for the same reason. Have we not in Germany and America streams which are called Schwartzbach, Black Creek, Black River, Green River, etc.? It may be added that many names of streams and streamlets may be met with bearing the same or closely related names, from the repetition of the same features in different places.

Even unto the border of Ekron. Ekron, , in the LXX., between Ashdod and Jamnia, one of the five cities of the Philistines, mentioned elsewhere in the Book of Joshua several times, Jos 15:11; Jos 15:45-46; Jos 19:43; according to Jdg 1:18 conquered by Judah, afterward lost again, then again conquered, under Samuel (1Sa 7:14). It was the city of the fly-Baal, Baal-zebub, whose protegs are still to be found there in great numbers. At least Van de Velde complains (ii. 173 apud von Raumer, p. 185) very bitterly of them. Jeremiah (Jer 25:20); Amos (Amo 1:8); Zephaniah (Zep 2:4); Zecharia (Zec 9:5; Zec 9:7) prophesied against Ekron. Robinson (3:2325) thinks he discovered it in Ahir, pronounced Aghrum, according to Furrer, p. 135, a small village built of unburnt bricks or clay. The radical letters of the Arabic name are the same as those of the Hebrew, and the position too corresponds with all we know of Ekron, that is, with the statement of Eusebius and Jerome, that it should be between Ashdod and Jamnia; for such is the actual position of Akir relative to Esdud and Gebna at the present day.

Shall it be counted to the Canaanites. This land shall be regarded as Canaanitish, and so subject to conquest, although the Philistines were not Canaanites, but according to Gen 10:13 sprang from Mizraim. So also Knobel: The country from the brook of Egypt, northward, is reckoned to the Canaanite, i.e. to Canaan, and was therefore to be taken into account also, since Israel was to receive the whole of Canaan.

Five lords of the Philistines: the Gazathite (Gazite), the Ashdothite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite (Gathite) and the Ekronite. The lords or chiefs are named instead of the cities. The Gazite, ruler of Gaza, , , first mentioned, Gen 10:19, as a border town of the Canaanite peoples; in our book, Jos 10:41; Jos 11:22; Jos 15:47, conquered by Judah, Jdg 1:18, afterward lost again, Jdg 3:3. Samson carried the gates of Gaza to a hill (Jdg 16:21-30) which is now shown one half hour from the city. As against Ekron, the prophets prophesied also against Gaza, Jeremiah (Jer 25:20; Jer 47:5), Amos (Amo 1:6-7) Zephaniah (Zep 2:4), Zechariah (Zec 9:5). On the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, Philip baptized the eunuch (Act 8:30). It lies in a fruitful region, rich in palms and olive-trees, on a small hill about an hour from the sea; is at present larger than Jerusalem (Robinson, ii. 372), a chief emporium between Egypt and Syria, lying on the great caravan route, and distinguished by good springs. The population may be about fifteen or sixteen thousand. Robinson (ubi sup.) gives a very instructive sketch of the history of the city, which has suffered much in the military campaigns of thousands of years. A very pleasant description is found in Furrer (p. 119122). The Ashdothite. Ashdod, , , Jos 11:22; Jos 15:46-47. Here Dagon fell before the ark of God (1Sa 5:1-7; 1Sa 6:17); and this city also shared in the maledictions of the prophets mentioned above, in the same passages which were there quoted. It likewise is named in the account of the eunuch from Ethiopia (Act 8:40). It is now called Esdud, a village of a hundred or a hundred and fifty miserable hovels, lying on a low round eminence, and surrounded by an extensive grove of olive trees (Furrer, p. 133, Robinson, ii. 368). Of antiquities Furrer found in the village, not a single one. Of the ancient city of the Philistines which once stood here, he says, that Ashdod about which the Assyrian (Isa 20:1) and Egyptian armies often encamped, everything but the name has utterly vanished. The Ashkelonite. Ashkelon (and Askelon), , mentioned nowhere else in our book, conquered by Judah (Jdg 1:18), but not named among the cities of Judah (Jos 15:45-47),a circumstance which favors the opinion that the list was composed in the time of Joshua, and not laterwas, next to Gaza, probably the most important city of the Philistines, at whose gates David would not have the tidings of the death of Saul and Jonathan proclaimed (2Sa 1:20), lest the daughters of the Philistines should rejoice. Like the other Philistine cities, Ashkelon was threatened by the prophets with divine punishment. Samson slew here thirty Philistines. Jonathan the Maccaban conquered the city twice (1Ma 10:86; 1Ma 11:60). Herod the Great was born here, according to Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. i. 6), was called Ascalonita, and adorned the place with baths and fountains. It was distinguished originally for hatred against the Jews, later for enmity toward the Christians. During the Crusades many conflicts took place here. Its destruction by Saladin (1191) terminated its splendor forever; and Lady Hester Stanhope, as Ritter relates at large, (16:70 ff. [Gages Transl. iii. 213 ff.]), caused its ruins to be explored without finding silver or gold. The ruins are of vast proportions. The village of New Ashkelon lying near the sea is surrounded with green. Thus Ashkelon, with the adjacent village, formed an extremely fertile oasis in the midst of a perfectly desert region; although, through the numerous gaps and rents in the gigantic stone wall, the wind has at certain points swept the sand of the desert into the very site of the city (Furrer, p. 128). The Gittite (Gathite) Gath, mentioned already, Jos 11:22; , , (Joseph.), (LXX.), was the home of Goliath (1Sa 17:4); connected with Ashkelon in Davids lamentation (2Sa 1:20), conquered by David (1Ch 19:1). Micha (Jos 1:10) and Amos (Jos 6:2) make mention of this city, whose ruins Robinson (ii. 220) sought for in vain. On Menkes atlas, map iii., its name is brought in without the sign of a town, on the border of the second group of low land cities belonging to the tribe of Judah. Knobel (p. 433), after the example of Hitzig (Urgeschichte der Philister, p. 154), conjectures that in Ptolem. 5, 16, 6, Betogabri in Tab. Peuting. ix. 6, Eleutheropolis of the Fathers, the present Beit Jibrin, is the same as Gath.The Ekronite, see above Jos 13:3.The Avites, south of Gaza, Deu 2:23.

Jos 13:4. In the South. The Masoretic division of the verse we must here give up, as Hvernick. Keil, and Knobel have done, since the specification, standing unquestionably in contrast with (Jos 13:3), suits very well with the preceding, but not at all with what follows. Rather the author turns here, Jos 13:4, to an enumeration of the portions of the country lying in the north which require yet to be fully subjugated.

All the land of the Canaanites. Phnicia is intended, and in particular, the low-land there as well as the mountain country from Mearah even to the border of the Amorites (Knobel).

Mearah. Since properly signified a cave, the conjecture proposed by Rosenmller (Bibl. Geog. ii. 1, pp. 39, 40), although Robinson (iii. 412) regards it as of very questionable value, may safely be approved, with Ritter (xvii. 99) and Knobel, namely, that we here have a reference to the cavea de Tyro mentioned by Will. Tyr. (Jos 19:11), which he describes as a spelunca inexpugnabilis, an old burial-place of the Sidonians; at present, Mughr Jezzin, i.e. Cave of Jezzin, on Lebanon, east of Sidon. Ritter, ubi sup.

Aphek, now Afka (Robinson, Later Bibl. Res. p. 603 ff.), northeast of Beirut; not to be confounded with the better known Aphek, in the tribe of Issachar, where the camp of the Philistines was pitched before their victory over Saul (1Sa 29:1-11), and where Benhadad was subsequently captured (1Ki 20:26-30). The Aphek before us, called by the Greeks , noted for the temple of Venus, destroyed by Constantine the Great, belonged, as we see from Jos 19:30, to Asher. A third Aphek (von Raum. p. 242), now Feik, a village of 200 families, lies on the east side of the sea of Tiberias, on the road from Hauran to the Jordan. This place is indicated in the Onom. as a castellum grande. There was also a fourth place of the name (Jos 15:53) on the mountain of Judah.

To the borders of the Amorites,i.e. to the land once inhabited by the Amorites, which belonged to Og, king of Bashan (Mich., Dereser, Rosenmller, Keil).

Jos 13:5. The land of the Giblites. The land of Gibli, i.e. of the race of Gebal (1 Kings 5:32 (1Ki 5:18); Eze 27:9), a district north of Berytus, on the sea, still called Jobail, by the Arabs, but in the classics Byblus (Knobel). Byblus itself lay on the sea (Eze 27:9), was a seat of the Adonis-worship (Winer, i. 206), home of the Phnician artisans called by Solomon to the building of the temple (1 Kings 5:32 (1Ki 5:18). The country belonging to it probably lay east of the city (von Raum. p. 26, 28).

All Lebanon towards the sun-rising,i.e. the Anti-Lebanon.

Baal-Gad, not Baalbec, as Knobel here again maintains, but, as was shown on Jos 11:17, Csara Philippi. So also Menke on Map iii., who strangely writes Baal-Gath instead of Baal-Gadperhaps a mere oversight.

Hamath. A northern boundary point of Palestine, mentioned Num 34:8, in our book here and in Jos 19:33, and many times throughout the O. T., particularly during the period of greatest renown of the Jewish dominion under David and Solomon. Then the kingdom actually extended to that point (see the side-map to Map iii. in Menkes Atlas), 2Sa 8:3-12; 1Ch 18:3-11; 1Ch 13:5; 1Ki 8:65; 2Ch 7:8; 2Ki 14:25-28. So far had the spies originally penetrated (Num 13:21). According to the Onom. Hamath = Epiphania on the Orontes, at the present time, Hamah, seat of a Greek bishop (Robinson, iii. 456 [see also Later Bibl. Res. p. 568]). Yet Jacobites also dwell there subject to the Jacobite patriarch who resides in Mesopotamia (Robinson, iii. 461). The city is very large, and numbers 100,000 inhabitants (Winer, i. 158).

Jos 13:6. There remain besides, and are to be conquered, all the inhabitants of the mountains from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, all the Sidonians,i.e. all the heathen tribes dwelling south of the Lebanon as far as to the present promontory Ras en-Nakura (see on Jos 11:8). Knobel here explains Misrephoth-maim simply as promontory of Nakura, while, according to the comments on Jos 11:8, his opinion, there controverted by us, appears to include under the name the other promontory also, Ras el-Abiad.

Only divide thou it by lot unto Israel for a possession. These words connect themselves with Jos 13:1, and particularly the conclusion of that verse, as Keil has well observed. As I have commanded thee, comp. Jos 1:6.

Jos 13:7. More definite statement as to whom the land should be divided among. According to Jos 14:1, Joshua did not perform this service alone, but in connection with the high-priest Eleazer, and the elders of the people.

2. The Territory of the Two and a Half Tribes East of the Jordan, as Moses had already bestowed it upon them, Jos 13:8-33.a. Its Borders, Jos 13:8-13. To that is added a notice of the failure of the tribe of Levi to receive a possession, Jos 13:14.

Jos 13:8. With him, i. e. Manasseh, but the other half of Manasseh.

Jos 13:9-12. These statements are, with slight variation, the same as Jos 12:1-6. Thus instead of the half Gilead in Jos 12:2, we have here All the table-land of Medeba unto Dibon. Of Medeba we shall speak on Jos 13:16, of Dibon, on Jos 13:17.

In Jos 13:13 it is significantly stated that the Geshurites and Maachathites were not driven out. Similar remarks occur Jos 15:63; Jos 16:10; Jos 17:12 ff.

Jos 13:14 is repeated in Jos 13:33, yet not in precisely the same expression. Thus, while it is said here that , i.e. the offerings of Jehovah, should be the portion of the tribe of Levi, Jehovah Himself is there called their possession. It is the same in sense; without earthly inheritance Jehovah and his worship should be the only possession of the tribe of Levi. The directions of the law Numbers 18, may be compared with this, from which it appears in what manner, through the divine worship itself, the bodily subsistence of the priests and their attendants was provided for.

b. The Possession of the Tribe of Reuben, Jos 13:15-23. There follow, now evidently on the ground of old registers, the several boundaries of the tribes east of the Jordan; of which Reuben comes first. They are found in shorter compass, Num 32:34-42.

Jos 13:16. Medeba, now Medaba, mentioned in a song of triumph, Num 21:30; according to Jos 13:9, and this passage, belonging to Reuben; later to Moab, Isa 15:2. The ruins, on a hill, have a compass of half an hour, about two hours from Heshbon. The plain () by Medeba. The plateau east of Abarim or mount Pisgah is meant (comp. Jos 12:3), comp. also Knobel on Num 21:10; Num 11:5

Jos 13:17.Heshbon, also, lies, like Medeba, on this table-land, comp. Jos 12:2.Dibon, mentioned Num 21:30, like Medeba; now Diban [the site of the recently discovered monumental stone (Moabite stone) containing a valuable inscription of great antiquity.Tr.], an hour north of the Arnon. There were not two Dibons, as the Onom. assumes, but the one Dibon is ascribed, Num 32:3; Num 32:34, to Gad, here to Reuben, comp. also, Jos 13:9.

Bamoth-Baal,Num 24:20, a stopping place of the Israelites.

Beth-baal-meon, called also, briefly Baal-meon (Num 32:38), now Maein, at the foot of the Attarus, which raises itself to the east of the northern end of the Dead Sea (von Raum. p. 71, 72).

Jos 13:18. Jahaza. Here Sihon was slain, Num 21:23; Deu 2:32; Jdg 11:20. According to Jos 21:36, a Levitical city, cf. also 1Ch 7:28. It was later retaken by Moab, Isa 15:4; Jer 48:21. Not given on Menkes map, on von Raumers accompanied with an interrogation point.

Kedemoth, another city of the Levites, Jos 21:37; 1Ch 6:79.

Mephaath, also a Levite city, Jos 21:37; 1Ch 6:79, later of the Moabites. In Jeromes time here was a Roman garrison for a protection against the dwellers in the wilderness (von Raum. p. 265).

Jos 13:19. Kirjathaim. It is related, Gen 14:5, that Chedorlaomer here smote the Emim. From the present passage, and Num 32:37, it belonged to Reuben; later to Moab, Jer 48:1; Jer 48:23; Eze 25:9. In the time of Jerome very many Christians lived here (von Raumer, p. 263).

Sibmah, very near Heshbon.

Zareth-shahar on the mount of the valley. The name signifies splendor of the dawn, ( according to Gesenius perhaps =, 1Ch 4:7). Von Raumer makes no mention of it. Winer and Keil conjecture that Zerethshahar, which is nowhere else named (nomen loci forsan in aprico colle siti, cujus nusquam alias fit mentio, Rosenm. on this place), may have lain near Nebo or Pisgah, not far from Heshbon on the west, (Keil). Menke has introduced the name west of Mount Pisgah, toward the Dead Sea, and somewhat south of Zerka-maim, perhaps because Zereth-shahar is indicated as situated on a mountain of the valley.

Jos 13:20. Beth-peor, probably not far from the mountain of Peor; opposite Jericho, according to the Onom.

The foot-hills of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth, Jos 12:3.

Jos 13:21. All the cities of the table-land and all the kingdom of Sihon king, etc. Meaning: all the other cities of the level (the plain) and the whole kingdom of Sihon, as far as it extended on the plain. So Keil, rightly taking into account the statement of Jos 13:27. The victory of Moses over Sihon is here related more fully than in Jos 13:12. There are beside himself five Midianite princes named, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, and in the same order as Num 31:8, where, however, they are called , while here they are styled , just as in Gen 17:20 the princes of the Ishmaelites, and in Num 4:34 as well as Jos 9:18 of our book, the princes of the congregation of Israel, , the princes of their tribes are mentioned (Num 7:11 ff; Num 34:18, and often). They are at the same time designated as the anointed of Sihon ( ), i.e. his vassals. In this sense of anointed, prince = , the word stands only in the plural, and always, as would seem, of native, although dependent and, as in Jos 13:21, subjugated, princes, and not of installed, ordinary officials (Gesen.). Keil would, with Hengstenberg (on Psa 2:6), translate by poured out [founded or cast], because he thinks cannot be proved to have been used in the sense of to anoint. Hitzig likewise contends that cannot mean anoint, for which rather stands, Psa 2:6, but will hear nothing of poured out. He reaches back after an Arabic root which should signify purify, refine, consecrate to God, so that in the passage above would be about the same as . In this view would properly mean consecrated (to God); comp. Hitzig, Psalms 1. p. 9.

Jos 13:22. Balaam,Num 22:5 ff., is here characterized as , soothsayer, like the prophets of the Philistines, 1Sa 6:2, and the necromancers 1Sa 28:8, different from the , the true prophet, who is also called (1Sa 9:9), or (1Ch 21:9; 1Ch 25:5; 1Ch 29:29). The divines properly through inscribed lots ().

Jos 13:23.And the border . was the Jordan and the border. Houbigant and Clericus, because the passage is obscure, would mend the text here and Num 34:6; Deu 3:16, also Jos 13:27; Jos 15:12; Jos 15:47. Gesenius (Thes. i. 394 ff.) takes = simul, etiam, thus: Jordanes qui simul terminus erat. Knobel (on Num 34:6) and Keil (at this place) explain: The sea (Num 34:6), the Jordan, with its territory, with its banks, shall be the boundary. This sense is indicated by De Wette also in his translation, which we have adopted [der Jordan und das Angrenzende, the Jordan and what borders it]. Bunsen appears to take as epexegetical, translating: that is, its margin, coming close therefore to Gesenius.

Their villages, comp. Jos 13:28; Jos 15:32; Jos 15:36; Jos 15:41; Jos 15:47-48, and often, , a farm, village, (LXX ), which was not inclosed, like a city, with walls, (Keil.) By the Caucasians such a village is called an Aul, reminding us of [and .]

c. Jos 13:24-28. The Possession of the Tribe of Gad.

Jos 13:25. Jazer, snatched from the Amorites, Num 21:32, belonging to Gad, Num 32:35, as here, a Levite city, Jos 21:39; 1Ch 7:31. Later, like many other of the cities already mentioned, it belonged again to the Moabites (Isa 16:8; Isaiah 9; Jer 48:32); conquered by Judas Maccabus, 1Ma 5:8. Burckhardt (p. 609) held the present Ain Hazir to be Jazer (apud von Raumer, p. 262), and with this von Raumer agrees. Seetzen conjectured that Szyr or Seir was to be regarded as this place, with whom, beside Keil, Van de Velde, and Menke (Map iii. compared with Map viii.) coincide.

All the cities of Gilead, i.e. of the southern part of Gilead, to the Jabbok, for the other half which belonged not to the kingdom of Sihon, but to that of Og king of Bashan, fell, as we learn from Jos 13:31, to the half tribe of Manasseh. For the rest comp. on Jos 12:2.

The half of the land of the sons of Ammon unto Aroer that is before Rabbah. This Aroer is not to be confounded with Aroer of Reuben on the northern bank of the Arnon, Jos 12:2; Jos 13:9; Jos 13:16. It is Aroer of Gad, which is before Rabba that is Rabba or Rabbath of the Ammonites (Deu 3:11), which, again, is different from Rabba of the Moabites (von Raumer, p. 271). Aroer of Gad, from Num 32:34, was built by the Gadites. From hence to Abel-keramim, Jephtha smote the Ammonites (Jdg 11:33) in that victory so portentous to the life of his daughter. There Joab encamped on the occasion of that census of the people so portentous to David (2Sa 24:5). Probably Ayra, southwest of es-Salt (von Raumer, p. 259). For before, cannot here, as von Raumer correctly says, possibly signify to the east of Rabbah, since Aroer, as a city of the tribe of Gad, must have lain west of Rabbah. Before signifies, probably, that if one goes from the Jordan toward Rabbah, Aroer lies before Rabbah. So likewise Burckhardt (p. 609).

Jos 13:26. From Heshbon to Ramothmizpeh and Betonim. Thus the extension northward of the territory of the tribe is expressed. From Heshbon. We need not suppose with Keil that Heshbon, belonging to Reuben (Jos 13:17), lay exactly on the border between Reuben and Gad, but from Heshbon = from the region of Heshbon. To Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim. Again, also, into the region of these cities. Ramath-mizpeh, i.e. Height of the Watch, as von Raumer translates. We have already, Jos 11:8, met with a valley of Mizpeh, concerning which see the explanation there. This Ramath-mizpeh is called also , Jos 20:8; a city of the Levites, Jos 21:38; 1Ch 6:80; a city of refuge, according to Jos 20:8, and Deu 4:43; in Solomons time the residence of one of his prefects (1Ki 4:13 (see the side map of Menkes Map iii.)). Here Ahab was mortally wounded, as Micha had prophesied to him (1Ki 22:1-37; 2 Chronicles 18), his son Joram slain by Hazael king of the Syrians, (2Ki 8:28), and Jehu anointed (2Ki 9:1-6). Probably it was the present Salt on the road from Jericho to Damascus. The road from Nablus (Shechem) also here joins the former, as Van de Veldes map distinctly shows. Without doubt this has been so for thousands of years, and hence the repeated collision of Israelitish and Syrian armies at this point was very natural.Betonim. It still existed in Jeromes time (Onom. s. v. Bothnia), yet he can say nothing of its site.

From Mahanaim unto the border of Debir. In this language the extension of the country of Gad from east to west is indicated. Mahanaim,i.e. double camp, or double army (of the angels), most familiar both from the narrative of Jacobs return homeward (Gen 32:2), and from the history of David who fled thither from Absalom (2Sa 17:24; 2Sa 17:27; 1Ki 2:8). Here also Ishbosheth was summoned by Abner to be king. A Levitical city, Jos 21:39; 1Ch 7:30; the residence of a prefect in Solomons time (1Ki 4:16). The site cannot be accurately given. Von Raumer looks for it in the Jordan meadow (p. 253), because it lay north of the Jabbok, and yet belonged to Gad. But north of the Jabbok Gads border (p. 231) only took in the Jordan meadow, as he thinks. To this assumption Keil rightly replies: But, since Mahanaim, according to Jos 13:30, lay on the border of Manasseh, and already belonged to Bashan, it may also have lain on the plateau north of the Jabbok, perhaps near a ford of that stream (Gen 32:22), since nowhere in the O. T. is the Jabbok spoken of as the northern border of the territory of Gad. This view is adopted also by Menke in his Atlas.

Unto the border of Debir (). Since as a sign of the Stat. constr. occurs nowhere else in our book, J. D. Michaelis, appealing to 2Sa 9:4; 2Sa 17:27, proposed to read , which is favored by the circumstance that in 2Sa 17:27, occurs in connection with Mahanaim. Hitzig (Begr. d. Krit. p. 137, apud Keil, p. 341) conjectures that the was only an error in copying, from the repetition of the in . Keil thinks it possible that the may have belonged to the name, which would then be sounded Lidhbir. Since the LXX. read , we decide for the view of Hitzig, rejecting the suppositions of Michaelis and Keil. Where this Debir lay (the third, for there were two in Juda, von Raumer, p. 184) is not made out. Even Eusebius could say nothing of it except that it was . Perhaps, on the heights which border the Jordan, and hence named as their western boundary point?

Jos 13:27. In the valley. The Jordan valley is meant, as in Jos 17:16, elsewhere called .

Betharam, already Num 32:36 belonging to Gad, at the foot of Mount Peor, afterward called Julius or Livias, but not to be identified with the Gaulanitic Julias (von Raumer, p. 260). Beth-nimra, also Num 32:36, referred to Gad; now the ruins of Remrim.

Succoth and Zaphon, likewise in the Jordan valley. In regard to Succoth, cf. especially Robinson (Later Bibl. Res., pp. 311, 312) and von Raum. (p. 256, Remark 347). Even unto the end of the sea of Cinnereth, cf. Jos 12:3.

Jos 13:28. Thus the country of the sons of Reuben and Gad together covers the kingdom of Sihon. Cf. Jos 12:2-3.

d. The Possession of the Half Tribe of Manasseh, Jos 13:29-32. This embraces the kingdom of Og, ch. xii. 4, 5. From Mahanaim. To be understood as was from Heshbon, Jos 13:26.

Villages of Jair. = life, the name of the first woman as the mother of all living, Gen 3:20; Gen 4:1; here as Num 32:41; Deu 3:14 = camp, tent-village. The name occurs only of the villages of Jair, and probably de notes a particular kind of towns; but it is yet ob scure (Knobel). Keil translates the name Jair life [Jairleben], thinking probably of names of towns among us, like Eisleben, Aschersleben. Knobel says further, on Num 32:41, concerning these villages of Jair: The division of Jair conquered the cities of the Amorites and named them after themselves. These Jair-towns, sometimes given as 23, sometimes 30, and again as 60 in number, as the Manassite occupation of the country changed in the course of time, were given up, together with Kenath and her daughters, to the Aramans and Geshurites (1Ch 2:23). They lay in Bashan (Jos 13:30) or in Argob, reaching as far as the border of Maacha and Geshur (Deu 3:14); hence in the plain of Jaulan and Hauran, but are also placed in the land of Gilead (Jdg 10:4; 1Ch 2:22), and are mentioned with Argob in Bashan (1Ki 4:13). This may be explained in this way. The southern part of Hauran lies east of northern Gilead, then follows, from about Remtha, the district ez-Zueit on as far as the Zerka (Jabbok, which goes up far to the east of Gilead), and is for the most part, a flat country with many uninhabited places (Burck. Syria, pp. 395, 397, 453 ff., Seetzen, i. p. 383). It belonged jointly to Manasseh. According to Arabian authorities there must lie in each of the three districts Zueit, Jaulan, and Ledja, 366 ruined towns and villages (Buckingham, Syria, ii. pp. 118, 142, 434); and Dhaberi speaks of it as a common opinion that in Hauran there are more than a thousand places (Rosenmller, Analecta Arabica, iii. 22).

Jos 13:31, comp. Jos 12:4. This northern Gilead belonged to half of the children of Machir (1Ch 5:24). The others received their portion west of the Jordan, Jos 17:2 ff.

Jos 13:32. A repetition of the statement that Moses had already ordered this division of the trans-Jordanic country.

Jos 13:33, comp. Jos 5:14.On von Raumers hypothesis concerning the Jair-towns, see the explanation of Jos 19:34, [comp. also, Stanley, Sin. & Pal. App. 86; Grove, in Dict. of the Bibl., art. Jair.Tr.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

[Matt. Henry: Note, it is good for those who are old and stricken in years, to be put in remembrance of their being so. Some have gray hairs here and there upon them and perceive it not. Hos 7:9; they do not care to think of it, and therefore need to be told of it, that they may be quickened to do the work of life, and make preparation for death which is coming on them apace.All people, but especially old people, should set themselves to do quickly that which must be done before they die, lest death prevent them.

The same, on Deu 18:2 : Care is taken that the priests entangle not themselves with the affairs of this life, nor enrich themselves with the wealth of this world; they have better things to mind,Note, those that have God for their inheritance, according to the new covenant, should not be greedy of great things in the world, neither gripe what they have, nor grasp at more, but look upon all things present with the indifference which becomes those that believe God to be all-sufficient.Care is likewise taken that they want not any of the comforts and conveniences of this life. Though God, who is a Spirit, is their inheritance it does not therefore follow that they must live on the air.Tr.]

Footnotes:

[1][Jos 13:3. This and the following Gentile nouns in the verse are all singular in the Hebrew and might better be so understood for the English.Tr.]

[2][In Jos 13:12-13, read: All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth, and in Edrei: he was left of the remnant of the giants, and Moses smote them, and drove them out. And the sons of Israel drove not out the Geshurite, and the Maachathite; and Geshur and Maachath dwelt in the midst of Israel to this day.]

[3]Some Codd. read here as in Jos 13:20, , doubtless to make Jos 13:23 conformable with Jos 13:28. We abide by the reading .

[4][The clear and positive statements made in Jos 18:4-9 would seem to leave little room for doubt on this point, to one who admits the historical credibility of the book.Tr.]

[5][Among recent travellers, the account given by Tristram in his Land of Israel, will be found graphic and instructive.Tr.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

This Chapter begins with the account of the division of Canaan, to the several tribes of Israel. After the subjugation and conquest of the promised land, the Lord’s promise is to be fulfilled in the enjoyment of it. A remarkable event is recorded in this chapter well worth the record, in order to manifest the. fulfillment of divine judgments, as well as mercies; and that is, the death of Balaam the sorcerer, whose awful history hath this termination.

Jos 13:1

Reader! are you old in the account of nature? Are you aged in the account of grace? Methinks I would wish to ask my heart these questions, while reading the account of Joshua. But Reader! whether old or young, do not fail to remark the kindness of Joshua ‘ s God to him. Joshua though old, perhaps required to be put in mind that he and Caleb were the only souls now surviving, which were numbered at Mount Sinai. Was it not gracious in God to remind him of it? And is it not profitable to all, when God enables us so to number our days, as to apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psa 90:12 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Victories in Old Age

Jos 13:1

God often speaks very plainly. Few care to be told to their face that they are old. But the Almighty recognizes these awkward facts and bids men recognize them. He is sometimes almost blunt, as He was in addressing Joshua. His is the directness of loving faithfulness. Matthew Henry says: ‘It is good for those who are old… to be put in remembrance of their being so’. And it was for Joshua’s highest good that God now puts him in memory of this unwelcome fact.

The Bible renders us the great service of introducing us to numerous aged or ageing people. They are not the least interesting figures of its fascinating and often pathetic gallery. Abraham, Sarah, David, Zacharias, and Elizabeth, have honoured place among the venerable saints of Scripture. It is to be observed that old age is associated in the Bible, I think invariably, with the saints. The tragedy of godless old age is not alluded to. Only the old age which is a crown of glory, because found in the way of righteousness, is honoured in the sacred treasury of honour.

I. Achievement Jehovah cheers His aged servant by a great and inspiring implication. It lurks delightfully in that ‘yet’. Thank God for that delectable adverb. ‘Yet’ carries the idea of ‘in addition,’ and addition implies something already in existence. ‘There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.’ Much land had already been possessed. Great victories had been won. The territory of the enemy had been heroically acquired. Joshua had not lived in vain. His greyed head had won its laurels and won them worthily and well. There is a gospel of sweet reminiscence and kindly hope in that gracious ‘yet’.

The Lord, the great Encourager, delights to remind his old warriors of the battles they have by His grace fought and won. He gives them light at evening time in many ways, and not least by recalling to them the ‘land’ they have already ‘possessed’. Divinely inspired memories are among the treasures of old age.

1. When we are old we, in many cases, have the recollection of temporal achievement.

2. It is a great thing to come to age and know that we have achieved doctrinally. Blessed are they who have possessed themselves of ‘much’ of this Emmanuel’s Land!

3. Experimentally some of God’s children achieve grandly ere they are old. They become experts in believing prayer. They abound in thanksgiving. They delight themselves in the Law of the Lord. They hate every evil way. They have fellowship with all such as love Jesus Christ in sincerity. Happy souls that in old age can give glory to God because they have possessed themselves of ‘much land’ in the Canaan of Christian experience!

4. It appertains to some to recognize in their old age that they have achieved altruistically.

II. Omission . When God said to Joshua, ‘Thou art old… and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed,’ there was kindly reproof in the faithful word. If there had been achievement, there had been omission. ‘There remaineth yet’ much had been left undone. He and his braves had possessed themselves grandly, but imperfectly. Jerusalem, Gezer, Bethshean, were but instances of the ‘very much’ that was still unaccomplished. Those forte were still untaken.

What a parable of life! Age reveals, and increasingly reveals, our omissions. Oh, the Jerusalems, Gezers, Bethshean’s, of our soldiership! Why did we not take those proud fortresses when we had boundless vigour? ‘There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.’

III. Opportunity . Even though Joshua was old, he had spacious opportunity before him. ‘Very much land remained’ ‘to be possessed’. He had not the opportunity of earlier days, but it was an opportunity relatively very great. The ‘very much’ was the measure of his possibilities.

Age always has its opportunity, greater or lesser. What land may not veteran victors possess! Do not regard old age as defeat; make it a triumph. God can strengthen Joshua to possess ‘very much land,’ albeit he be ‘old’. Bishop Creighton said, ‘We can scarcely recognize as one of the problems of life how to grow old happily’. But it is one of life’s hardest and yet most hopeful problems.

IV. Endeavour. ‘The Lord said unto him, Thou art old… and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.’ Then Joshua must make immediate endeavour. ‘You are not dangerously ill,’ said a physician to a patient; ‘but you are dangerously old.’ Ah, that is the spiritual peril of some. At once such must bestir themselves. There is no time to be lost if the ‘very much land’ is not to be lost. Arise, my friend, and call earnestly upon thy God and go forth to the battle and to the victory! ‘Tis time to live if I grow old’ was a favourite exclamation of John Wesley in his closing years. And it is well for all old people to soliloquize thus if they would be victors whilst the shadows lengthen.

Very trustful such may well be as they war their good warfare. Philip Henry declared, ‘Christ is a Master that does not cast off His old servants’. No! He never does. And He will not cast you off in the time of old age! The comforter shall still be with you. The Risen Lord shall empower you. You shall possess the land.

Dinsdale T. Young, The Gospel of the Left Hand, p. 43.

References. XIII. 1. C. Vince, The Unchanging Saviour, p. 120. John McNeill, Regent Square Pulpit, vol. iii. p. 393. XIII. 1-6. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Deuteronomy, Joshua, etc., p. 158. XIV. 6. Ibid. p. 160. D. T. Young, Neglected People of the Bible, p. 59.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

“Handfuls of Purpose”

For All Gleaners

“There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” Jos 13:1

This is no threat. This is no sentence of discouragement. This indeed is inspiration. It is true of every department of life. It is true, for example, of a man’s own individuality: every man is not yet master of his entire self: some men have possessed themselves of their whole reason who have yet left their imagination unchastened and unsubdued. Many men are chaste who are not generous. Many men are generous who are not just. Many men are impulsively good who are not rationally benevolent. Such men may say to themselves, “There is yet very much land to be possessed.” It is true with all intellectual education. He knows best how much land is yet to be conquered who has conquered the most. The advanced student is the most modest. The wisest man is most assured of his ignorance. Sir Isaac Newton said that he was like a child on the seashore who gathered a few pebbles, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before him. It is true with regard to the spread of the kingdom of Christ. Take a map of the world, and show where Christianity has made progress, and where it is unknown; and even the imagination will be appalled by the extent of land yet to be covered. We need not rest because there is no more to be done. We do not obliterate what is to be done by closing our eyes and resolutely refusing to look upon it. The infinite darkness is still round about us, and is not at all decreased by the closing of our eyes. But instead of the text being a discouragement, it is an encouragement; the land is there in order that it may be possessed; it is not afar off and inaccessible, but is immediately in front of us, and is intended for our use; we may have to obtain possession through battle and even through suffering, but the battle and the suffering do not destroy the possibility of possession. What is worth holding that has not to be secured through suffering and loss of a temporary kind? The kingdom of heaven itself lies at the end of a strait road; but the very straitness of the road gives some hint of the value of the kingdom. The Church must enter into a full realisation of the fact that the work yet to be done is greater than any work that has yet been accomplished: it is not an acre that awaits conquest, but a whole continent; not a whole continent only, but a whole world. The work to be done enlarges in proportion to the work that is done. If the work were superficial only, it might be completed with comparative ease, but it is cubic, solid, through-and-through work, and, therefore, it is difficult, but its difficulty is an indication of its glory.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

A Recorded Life

Jos 12 , Jos 13

THESE two chapters contain a good deal of hard reading. They are studded with unfamiliar and difficult words and names, so that reading them is like reading the writing upon gravestones in a foreign land. Still, there is much for our instruction here. For example, we are called to behold how good a thing it is to keep a detailed record of life. These chapters are in a certain sense diaries or journals. The men of the ancient time wrote down what they did that is to say, they kept their story freshly before their memories: they lost nothing; they wrote their accounts up to date; and at any given moment they could peruse the record and derive from it the advantage of stimulus which such an exercise could not fail to supply. The twelfth chapter deals with the slaughter of many kings. Their names are given, or the names of their cities. Men were not slain, and forgotten. This was not a heedless fight, wherein the soldiers on the victorious side struck in the dark and knew not what men they slew or what progress they made. The whole matter is detailed, put down simply, clearly, and definitely. Moses seems to figure but poorly in the record of slaughter. He killed but two kings; and Joshua killed thirty-one kings. But who are the kings that Joshua killed, compared with the kings slain by Moses? The two which Moses slew have famous names; they were great and mighty men. The thirty-one slain by Joshua did not add up to the two slain by Moses. Thus work is estimated by quality. We do not reckon by number in the sanctuary, but by quality and by relation, by just standards, and the weighing is done in scales of gold. The poor woman who gave all she had gave more than all the rich: for they gave out of the margin, out of the abundant and all but unreckonable profit, the surplus of their earnings or savings; but she plucked out her whole heart and cast it into God’s treasury, the only donation she could give; said the Treasurer, It is more than they all. This shall be the law of judgment: according to what we have, according to the quality of our work. The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. He who has killed many kings, and he who has killed but two, shall be judged, not according to the number, but according to the difficulty, the dignity, the quality involved in the tremendous exercise. Do we keep a record of life? How few men write their own story: in truth, there seems in many cases to be nothing to write. But this is quite a mistake. It is better to write the little nothing there is, than to omit the inscription altogether. A man may be shamed by the very nothingness of his entries to go out and do something worth putting down on paper and leaving as a record. We do not know what we do until we detail it. No man knows how much money he spends unless he puts down every coin. That is the difference between the wise man and the fool. The fool knows nothing as to what he is doing: he goes out in the dark, works in the dark, returns in the dark, and he cannot tell what he has made of the trust which was put into his hands. The wise man is his own judge, his own scribe and secretary; and many a page he peruses which his hands wrote long ago with tears and penitence, with the difficulty of self-conviction. No man knows how much he gives in charity unless he puts it down. But who dare put that down? Who can say how little paper would be required for the record in many cases? Yet, on the other hand, who can say how much paper would be required by other men? But there is a deadly sophism which relates, not only to the giving of money, but to the giving of service, which expresses itself in this form: I am always giving. If you think so, you are never giving. Have you put down what you have done, and added it up? Now add up the other page on which the luxuries are written, the adornments of the house, the decorations of the person, the indulgences of appetite, the tribute paid to social ambition. Add up the figures: recite them if you dare! Yet it is well to write down the story the story of discipline and battle and sorrow: the story of spiritual kings that have been slain, of enemies that have been conquered by love, and of positions that have been seized by prayer.

Then, again, we see how time beats the strongest This is set forth very pensively:

“Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed” ( Jos 13:1 ).

We have seen Moses go up to die with the fire of his eye unquenched. Joshua is said to be “old,” but not in the sense of years; he was “stricken in years,” that is to say, the years had told heavily upon him. There was not much of him to begin with. He was fertile, keen, quick, flashing; but he had not much stubborn stuff in him to stand the wear and the tear of a captain’s life. He was only about a hundred and ten when he died, a sum counted as nothing in the ancient days. But the word here used literally means, time has told upon thee; this wear and tear has made havoc in thy strength, Joshua; how old thou art! not in days, but in anxiety, in care; thou art whitened, blanched, withered; and yet there is much work to be done, much land to be possessed. So God takes note of our failing strength. He says, concerning this man and that, Grey hairs are here and there upon him, and he knoweth it not. About some supposedly strong men, he says, They are wearing out; they are old at forty; at fifty they will be patriarchal, so far as the exhaustion of strength is concerned; they will die young in years, but old in service. God’s work does take much out of a man, if the man is faithful. A man may pray himself into a withered old age in one night: in one little day a man may add years to his labour. We can work offhandedly: the work need not take much out of us; but if we think about it, ponder it, execute it with both hands, if it is the one thought of the soul, who can tell how soon the strongest man may be run out, and the youngest become a white-haired patriarch? But blessed is it to be worked out in this service. A quaint minister of the last century said, “It is better to rub out than to rust out.” How many are content to “rust out”! They know nothing about friction, sacrifice, self-slaughter, martyrdom. The work tells upon men in different ways. Moses was as young when he died as when he began. As for his spirit, his enthusiasm, he could have taken a thousand kings; but it was time he was in heaven: God knew his life, God counted his pulses, God estimated his strength; and God sends for a man when he wants him. Joshua came briskly forward, though at first we felt there was something wanting in the man somewhere. He needed so much encouragement. The opening of his story is full of “fear not;” “be not dismayed;” “only be of a good courage;” hope in God; keep your spirits up; cheer yourself: now go forward. We wondered as to the meaning of this. We could not tell at first all it signified. Now it comes out. He is old already, stricken in years before he has begun to live; and the land unconquered lies before him like a challenge, yet darkens upon him like a despair. No man completes the work. This is saddening, even to the point of agony. A man is permitted to build the wall of his tower half-way up, and then when he has got into the way of it, and could build blithely, because of added skill and experience, he is told to come down and to die! Providence is thus a continual rebuke to human ambition. We cannot put on the topstone. How much we would like to do so! to see the last child thoroughly educated and comfortably settled in life; to see the last effort crowned with success! Then we should retire into the sylvan shade, and listen to the singing birds all day, and spend a quiet eventide, and glide into heaven, rather than die into its splendours! But the column is broken in the middle. A man is old whilst yet his friends are rallying him on the fewness of his years. And the uncompleted work testifies that God is the Builder and man but the labourer of a day. Seldom can a man complete his own work. There is always “much land to be possessed.” The author has planned ten more volumes. Men, looking on, say, How active he is, and busy and prolific! He says, I have done nothing yet, I have not even begun; presently I will set to work and go through it like a man. It is not to be! The man who has lived well has a thousand schemes in his head when he dies. He says, I was just planning the noblest work of my life; I had just settled in my mind to begin what would have proved to be one of the most useful projections of the age; and now my right hand is withered, and the one strong arm falls by my side in impotence. “In the midst of life we are in death;” “boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth;” “work while it is called today, for the night cometh, when no man can work;” “whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;” for the time of ceasing is at hand. Does God look at the worker only? No; he looks at the work as well: “there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” So he will have the land divided; he will have it allotted before the battle goes any further. What, is not this an allotment on paper? The battle has not yet begun in these other regions. We have seen the conquest of Jericho, and the burning of Ai, but as to these other portions of the land, the foot of Israel has not even been set upon them. God says, That does not concern you; take pen in hand, and write after my dictation. Then he maps out the land, fixes the boundaries, appoints the possessor, determines the tribal relations, and creates a new geography. But suppose that the fortunes of war should alter all these appointments? What is God’s answer to that? His answer is, There are no fortunes of war, there are no accidents; life is not a speculation, human history is not a game of chance; all things are ordered and appointed, and move by a massive and inevitable law, the meaning of which in the long run is righteousness, beneficence, right. And the scribe wrote how the land was to lie. This is the Christian’s comfort!” The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” If we are doing anything on our own account, in a kind of practically atheistic manner, God will allow us to build a little more, but he will come down to see the tower we have been building; he will put his finger upon it, and in the morning it will be found a ruin! Only they build wisely who build under God’s direction and by his daily inspiration.

Then, comes the alarming, yet comforting thought, that God keeps a record, if we do not. Read chapter Jos 13:2-6 , and see how detailed is the knowledge and purpose of God: “This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, from Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites: from the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders of the Amorites: and the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baalgad under mount Hermon unto the entering into Hamath. All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.” Yet we try to exclude God from his own world. We think we make the fields to grow; whereas we have no power to make anything grow, except we obey the unwritten and eternal law of nature. We can do wonders in little patches of land; but who can strike a light that will illuminate a landscape? Who can kindle a fire that will warm the earth? We are such toy-makers; we do all our work on such a minute scale, that we deceive ourselves by supposing that we are doing something: whereas, in reality, we are only keeping the law. We can break the moral law, but we must keep the natural law. Breaking the moral law, we call ourselves free men; keeping the natural law, we do not know what we are. But that is our position. We work by the sun; we take our time from the meridian. We are the slaves of nature: we are the rebels of the sanctuary. Blessed is the man who meditates in the law of God day and night the great law, the whole law, natural, moral, spiritual: it is really one law, because the Law-giver is one. Why not be as obedient in morals as we are in labour, in agriculture, in travel? Who counts it degradation to wait for the tide? Who calls himself a slave because he waits for the seedtime, and cannot hasten it one hour? The whole scheme of things is set in law, “the Lord reigneth.” All we have to do is to study the law, understand it, obey it; then our peace will flow like a river, and our righteousness as the waves of the sea. God knows what has been done. He says, in effect, I have watched you, and I have marked down every step you have taken: you are at this moment at this point; now from this point the course is thus and so; and all the land is to be possessed. God will have the land, even if we die. Noble is the thought that he has entered into covenant with his Son. We may smile at the old theological terms as we please, but noble is the thought that there is a covenant pledging that Jesus Christ shall have the heathen for an inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. Sometimes it seems as if this could not be. We say it never can be accomplished; the so-called Christian civilisation is going backward. Only going backward as we have seen the waves go backward, that they might come in with a fuller force and throb against the appointed boundary. We believe that all the land shall be possessed, because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Then there is another consideration, and that relates to the recurrence of bad names in the comings and goings of human history. We are startled on reading the twenty-second verse of the thirteenth chapter:

“Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them.” ( Jos 13:22 )

Prayer

Almighty God, we pray for one another that, according to the necessity of each heart, thou mayest command a great blessing from heaven. Thou knowest what our life is how full of pain and trouble and unrest, how much disabled, how weary oftentimes, yea, how dejected and even despairing. But thine eyes are upon us for good; the heavens are opened unto our prayer; the Cross of Christ is still the centre of our hope. We come to that Cross day by day, longing to understand more and more of its love, of its deep meaning in relation to our sin. We would be affected by that love; we would see what thou feelest and thinkest concerning men, and would exclaim, Herein is love! God is love; God is very pitiful and kind: his mercy endureth for ever. He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. May we be subdued by that love, chastened and elevated by its infinite spirit; and as thou dost love us, so may we love one another. We know that we have passed from death into life because we love the brethren. May this love grow within us, and find continual expression in our speech and conduct, so that others looking on may begin to wonder and inquire, saying, Behold how these Christians love one another in deed and in truth! We have come up to worship God. We would be bowed down before thee in penitence and humiliation, because of sin. God be merciful unto us, sinners! The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. There is a fountain opened in the house of David for sin and for uncleanness. We have no answer; we are without excuse or defence; all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. Have mercy upon us for the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who freely bore our griefs and carried our iniquities. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XXII

CONQUEST OF THE NORTHERN TRIBES; ALLOTMENT OF TERRITORY; ESTABLISHMENT OF A CENTRAL PLACE OF WORSHIP.

Joshua 11-21

This section commences with Joshua II and closes with Jos 21 . That is to say, we must cover in this discussion eleven chapters,, and the matter is of such a nature that one cannot make an oration on it, nor can one give a very interesting discussion on it. It would be perfect folly for me to take up the chapters verse by verse, when all you have to do is to look on your map in the Biblical Atlas and glance at any commentary and get the meaning and locality of each town mentioned. All of the matters that require comment will be commented on in these eleven chapters.

The first theme is the conquest of the tribes in the northern part of the Holy Land, just as the preceding chapter considered the central and southern part of the land. You know I told you that Joshua, by entering the country at Jericho and then capturing Ai, occupied a strategical position, the mountains on the right hand and the left hand and they forced a passway by which he could go in any direction. We found that all the southern part of the country, after the capture at Jericho and Ai, was practically brought about by one decisive battle, the battle of Beth-horon, where the Almighty thundered and sent his hailstones and where the sun stood still. Now, the northern conquest was brought about by one decisive battle, all of the details that it is necessary for me to give are these: When the northern tribes learned of the subjugation of the southern tribes they saw that it was a life and death matter.

From this viewpoint they would be conquered in detail. As Benjamin Franklin said in a speech at the Continental Congress, “Gentlemen, we cannot evade this issue; we must either hang together or hang separately, every one of us if we don’t unite will be hanged.” Now, that was in the minds of those northern kings. We have had the account of Adonizedek, the king of Jebus. Hazor was a well-known place in the history of the countries. We will have it up again in the book of Judges. It was not very far from Caesarea Philippi, where Peter made his great confession in the time of our Lord.

I will not enumerate the tribes and the names of the several kings that were brought into this second league It not only included the central and northern tribes, but they sent an invitation to the remnant of the tribes that had been conquered. The place of rendezvous, or assemblage, for all of these armies of these several kings was Lake Merom. You will recall that in describing the Jordan, rising in the mountains, after running a while, it spreads out into Lake Merom, and lower down it spreads into the Sea of Galilee. Well, now around that Merom Lake the ground is level, very favorable for calvary and war chariots. For the first time the war chariot was introduced. The war chariot was more, in general, the shape of a dray than anything else two wheels, steps behind that one could go down, and one chieftain and two or three captains stood up and drove two or three horses, and they always drove the horses abreast, no matter how many. The men who drove were very skillful but unless they were very lucky they would fall to the ground. In the time of Cyrus the Great, he built one with blades that went out from the sides, so that it not only crippled those he ran over but the scythes on each side would mow them down.

Joshua learned of this combination of tribes and, under the direction of the Almighty, he smote them before they could organize. He was a Stonewall Jackson kind of a man and struck quick and hard. He pressed and pursued them and led his army up the valley of the Jordan by swift marches and instantly attacked the enemy when he got upon the ground and before they were prepared. Their defeat was the most overwhelming in history. All of the leaders were captured and slain; they dispersed in three directions specified in the text, and he pursued them in all three directions. He gave them no time to rally, and when they had been thoroughly discomfited, he took the towns. That battle was practically the end of the war of conquest. We may say the whole thing was decided in this battle; there were some details of conquest later, but this is Joshua’s part of it. I must call attention specifically to this fact, overlooked by many commentaries, that the general statement of the conquest is given in the book of Joshua and the details of some of these general statements are given more elaborately, indeed the last great item, the migration of Dan, in the book of Judges. All that happened before Joshua died. Therefore the book of Judges and the book of Joshua overlap as to time. And for this reason, that as soon as Joshua got through with his conquest, and the distribution of territory, he retired from leadership, living years afterward. The instant the war was over, Joshua surrendered the general leadership.

Just here I wish to answer another question. While the record notes that Joshua conquered all the land that Jehovah had originally promised to those people, yet the book of Joshua also states that there remained certain portions of the land that had not been conquered. The backbone of the opposition was broken by these two battles and by the cities that he captured after these battles, but the enemy would come back and occupy their old position and some of the walled towns were not taken.

I once heard the question asked a Sunday school, Why did God permit the remnants that you will find described later on in this section, the parts not subjugated, to remain? Nobody in the Sunday school could answer. Now, you will find the answer to the question in Num 33:55 ; Jos 23:13 ; Jdg 2:3 . Moses says, “If you do not utterly destroy these people leaving none, then God will permit those remnants that you spare to become thorns in your side, and whenever you are weak they will rise against you; whenever you are disobedient to God they will triumph over you.” It is stated here that the number of the kings of the separate tribes overcome by Joshua was thirty-one Part of this section says that Joshua waged war a long time with these kings. While this battle was fought and became decisive of the general results, the going out and capturing the different towns, completing the different details, required a long time.

Now we come to the next theme of our lesson, viz.: The distribution of the land, or allotment of specific parts of the territory to the tribes. We have already found in the books of Moses just how the eastern side of the Jordan was conquered and the allotment made to Reuben just above Moab, and to Gad just above Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manasseh way up in Gilead. This is on the east side of the Jordan, and the Biblical Atlas will show you at the first glance where they are. So that is the first distribution: Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

The next distribution takes place under the commandment of God. Joshua is old, well stricken in years and wants the land divided while he lives because he knows it will be divided right, and this, too, is the land allotted to Judah and the land allotted to Joseph, or Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh. So we have two and one-half tribes receiving their portion on the west side of the Jordan. That leaves seven tribes who have not yet received their land. In giving Judah his part three interesting events occurred, all of which were in connection with Caleb. Caleb is one of the original twelve men sent out by Moses to spy out the land, and because of his fidelity God promised that he should have Hebron, Abraham’s old home, which is not far from the Dead Sea. It has always been a noted place and is yet. Before this division took place, Caleb presented himself and asked for the fulfilment of the promise by Moses, that his particular part should be Hebron and when that was done, Caleb’s daughter, Achsah, steps forward and asks of her father springs of water, and he gave her the upper and nether springs.

The third fact is related at length in Judges, but it occurs at this time. Caleb having the certain portion, Kiriathsepher, the enemy of Hebron, he said that whoever should go over into that city first and capture it, he should have his daughter for a wife, and a very brave fellow, a nephew of Caleb, determined to try it and he took that city and got the girl. Now, that was a deed of daring, and like it was in the Middle Ages where a knight went forth and sought adventures that would entitle him to be his lady’s husband. All young fellows feel that they would surmount any difficulty to win a girl. I have felt that way. I felt that way when I was seven years old and about a certain young lady. There isn’t anything too dangerous or too great a sacrifice for a man to make in a case of that kind.

I told you when Judah received his part that Joseph’s tribe received theirs. Now we come to an interesting episode; the tribe of Joseph, and particularly the tribe of Ephraim, was always a tough proposition. You will find that all the way through the Old Testament and even when you come to the New Testament. Ephraim came up and when the allotment was made he said, “We are not satisfied.” Did you ever hear of people who were not satisfied about a division of land? Joshua said, “What is the trouble?” “Well, they said, “we are a big tribe, many men of war, and we are cooped up too much. We cannot go far west for there are the mountains, and then all around are woods.” Now, what did Joshua say to them? He said, “Well, you are indeed a big tribe and you have many men of war; now go up and cut down those woods and expand'” He determined to rest some responsibility upon the tribes after the allotment had been made. It is a fine piece of sarcasm. So Ephraim had to take to the woods.

Now before any other division takes place a very notable event occurred affecting the future history of the nation, and that was the establishment of a central place of worship, finding a home for the tabernacle. The tabernacle was established at Shiloh, and this brings us to another general question. How long did that tabernacle stay at Shiloh? How long did the ark stay, and when it left there, where did it go, and where was the ark finally brought? Trace the history of the ark from Shiloh to where it was set up in the tent, and then I want you to tell what became of the tent and tell how long it stayed there and what became of it. What became of the tabernacle? Some of the most interesting things in history and song are found in the answer to those questions.

I here propound another question. Which tribe had no inheritance, no section of the country allotted to it, and why? This tribe that had no particular section allotted to it was scattered over the whole nation and that leads to the next question that you are to answer. Where do you find the prophecy in the Pentateuch, in which book, and where, that this tribe and another one, Simeon, should be scattered over Israel? Where does Moses prophesy just what comes to pass? If not Moses, then somebody else, and you are to find out who did and when and where. The next general remark that I have to make is that this section tells us that Dan was shut up in a pretty tight place. Three strong tribes, Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim held them on one side and the Philistines on the other side, but Dan didn’t come to Joshua. Perhaps he thought it but took the question into his own hands. I suppose that he was afraid that as Joshua told Ephraim to go to the woods, he would tell Dan to capture those Philistine cities, and so Dan sent out some spies and found a good place to settle, and the story of the emigration of Dan is told at great length in the book of Judges. Some of it is told in the book of Joshua; that he took Laish and called it Dan and that became its name. So we say, “from Dan to Beersheba.” We will see all about how Dan improved it when we get to the book of Judges. I am showing you that it occurred, but when you get to the book of Judges you will have a detailed account of it.

The next thought in these eleven chapters is that Joshua, having ended his wars, obeyed God with singular fidelity. (I don’t believe I explained that after they came to Shiloh where he set the ark, the other tribes received their portion by lots. Now your map will show you where Shiloh was and Ephraim and Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and all the others. All you have to do is to look on your map and see their location.) He, having finished the wars, asked a small inheritance for himself, a little bit of a place. How that does shine in comparison with the other great conquerors! When they come to the division, they take the lion’s share. Joshua took a very modest little place in his own tribe. His retiring from public life devolved the work upon the tribes themselves, and to their own judgment. He remained in seclusion until he comes out to be considered in the next section.

This leaves for consideration only two other thoughts in the distribution of the territory, and I shall embody these thoughts in questions for you to answer. Look at the six cities of refuge established, three east of the Jordan and three west of the Jordan. You can find them on a good map, and as you look at them on the map, you are struck with the wisdom of their locality when you consider the purpose of these cities of refuge. And now what was the intent of these cities of refuge? A thousand preachers have preached sermons on the cities of refuge Spurgeon has one remarkable sermon. The allusions to them are very frequent, so that every one of you ought to have in your heart and on your brain a clear conception of what is meant by the cities of refuge. I am going to give you a brief answer, but you can work this answer out and make it bigger.

Under the Mosaic law there was no sheriff in cases of homicide, the killing of a man. In our cities the police go after the murderer, and the sheriff in the country, but under the Mosaic law the next of kin was made the “avenger of blood.” If I, living at that day, had been slain, without raising a question as to how it was done, my brother, J. M. Carroll, or my son, B. H. Carroll, Jr., under the law would be the sheriff, and his injunction would be to start as soon as he heard of the killing and to kill the killer on sight. Well, for us in that kind of a sheriff-law this difficulty would arise: Suppose in the assumed case Just now that, while I had been killed, it had been accidental; that we were all out hunting and a man with me accidentally discharged his gun and it killed me. Or suppose that, as Moses described it, two men were chopping and one went to make a big lick with an axe and the axe flew off and hit the other one and killed him, yet that law says that life was a sacred thing. Now, as there are several cases of manslaughter, of innocent men with no purpose to kill them, so there must be a distinction made between accidental homicide and willful murder.

The object of the cities of refuge, distributed as you see over the country, was to provide a place where one who had killed another, not intending to commit murder, might find a place of shelter until the matter could be investigated, and so, just as soon as a man killed another, he turned and commenced running. The avenger of blood, as soon as he heard of it, went after him and it was a race for life and death, to see which could get there first. Therefore the roads were kept in splendid condition, no rocks were left that the man fleeing for his life should stumble and be slain. The rabbis say they would not allow a straw to be left on the road lest they should stumble and fall.

Now, I close with just this question. I told you that one tribe had no inheritance, no lot of land all together and they had to go somewhere. So for that tribe certain cities with their suburbs were set apart. Now, on your map look for the cities of this tribe that had no inheritance.

QUESTIONS

1. Describe the strategical position of Jericho and Ai.

2. By what battle was the south country practically conquered?

3. What decisive battle brought about the northern conquest? Describe it. With whom is Joshua as a general compared?

4. What the connection between the book of Joshua and the book of Judges?

5. How do you harmonize the statements that Joshua conquered all the land that Jehovah had promised them and that there remained certain portions of the land that had not been conquered?

6. Why did God permit the remnants not subjugated to remain in the land? Where in the Pentateuch do you find the answer?

7. Explain the expression, “Joshua waged war a long time with these kings.”

8. Locate the tribes on the east of the Jordan.

9. What the second distribution, and to whom?

10. What 3 interesting events in connection with giving Judah his portion?

11. What complaint was made by Ephraim, and Joshua’s reply?

12. Where was the central place of worship located? How long did the ark stay there? When it left where did it go? Where finally brought? How long did the tent, or tabernacle, stay there? What finally became of it?

13. What tribe had no inheritance & why? Where do you find the prophecy in the Pentateuch that this tribe & Simeon should be scattered over Israel?

14. How does Joshua’s spirit compare with the spirit of the other great conquerors?

15. How did Dan get out of his straits?

16. Name and locate the cities of refuge. What the intent of these cities?

17. Locate the cities of the tribe that had no inheritance.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Jos 13:1 Now Joshua was old [and] stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old [and] stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.

Ver. 1. Thou art old and stricken in years, ] q.d., Thou hast not long to do; up therefore and be doing; work while it is yet day; the night of death cometh, when none can work. Divide what thou hast conquered, yea, that which is yet to be conquered, among the tribes; for all is theirs, unless they forget their charter. See the true Christian’s charter, which he cannot forfeit. 1Co 3:22-23

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Joshua

UNWON BUT CLAIMED

Jos 13:1 – Jos 13:8 .

Joshua was now a very old man and had occupied seven years in the conquest. His work was over, and now he had only to take steps to secure the completion by others of the triumph which he would never see. This incident has many applications to the work of the Church in the world, but not less important ones to individual progress, and we consider these mainly now.

I. The clear recognition of present imperfection.

That is essential in all regions, ‘Not as though’; the higher up, the more clearly we see the summit. The ideal grows loftier, as partially realised. The mountain seems comparatively low and easy till we begin to climb. We should be continually driven by a sense of our incompleteness, and drawn by the fair vision of unattained possibilities. In all regions, to be satisfied with the attained is to cease to grow.

This is eminently so in the Christian life, with its goal of absolute completeness.

How blessed this dissatisfaction is! It keeps life fresh: it is the secret of perpetual youth.

Joshua’s work was incomplete, as every man’s must be. We each have our limitations, the defects of our qualities, the barriers of our environment, the brevity of our day of toil, and we have to be content to carry the fiery cross a little way and then to give it up to other hands. There is only One who could say,’ It is done.’ Let us see that we do our own fragment.

II. The confident reckoning on complete possession.

Joshua’s conquest was very partial. He subdued part of the central mountain nucleus, but the low-lying stretch of country on the coast, Philistia and the maritime plain up to Tyre and Sidon and other outlying districts, remained unsubdued. Yet the whole land was now to be allotted out to the tribes. That allotment must have strengthened faith in their ultimate possession, and encouraged effort to make the ideal a reality, and to appropriate as their own in fact what was already theirs in God’s purpose. So a great part of Christian duty, and a great secret of Christian progress, is to familiarise ourselves with the hope of complete victory. We should acquire the habit of contemplating as certainly meant by God to be ours, complete conformity to Christ’s character, complete appropriation of Christ’s gifts. God bade Jeremiah buy a ‘field that was in Anathoth’ at the time an invading army held the land. A Roman paid down money for the ground on which the besiegers of Rome were encamped. It does not become Christians to be less confident of victory. But we have to take heed that our confidence is grounded on the right foundation. God’s commandment to Joshua to allot the land, even while the formidable foes enumerated in the context held it firmly, was based on the assurance Jos 13:6: ‘Them will I drive out before the children of Israel.’ Confidence based on self is presumption, and will end in defeat; confidence based on God will brace to noble effort, which is all the more vigorous and will surely lead to victory, because it distrusts self.

III. The vigorous effort animated by both the preceding.

How the habit of thinking the unconquered land theirs would encourage Israel. Efforts without hope are feeble; hope without effort is fallacious.

Israel’s history is significant. The land was never actually all conquered. God’s promises are all conditional, and if we do not work, or if we work in any other spirit than in faith, we shall not win our allotted part in the ‘inheritance of the saints in light.’ It is possible to lose ‘thy crow.’ ‘Work out your own salvation.’ ‘Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED TEXT): Jos 13:1-5

1Now these are the territories which the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel apportioned to them for an inheritance, 2by the lot of their inheritance, as the LORD commanded through Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe. 3For Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan; but he did not give an inheritance to the Levites among them. 4For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, and they did not give a portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to live in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property. 5Thus the sons of Israel did just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they divided the land.

Jos 14:1 Eleazar the priest This was the son of Aaron, who was the High Priest at this time and who served Moses (cf. Num 20:24-29; Num 26:1-4; Num 26:63) and Joshua during this very difficult period (e.g., chapter 22). Moses assigned the task of apportionment to Joshua and Eleazar in Num 34:17.

Jos 14:2 by lot We are not exactly certain as to how this apportionment was done (BDB 174, cf. Num 26:53-56; Num 33:54; Num 34:13). The rabbis say that there were two jars: one which contained the land allotments and the other which contained the tribes, but this is only speculation. It was the casting of dice or choosing a black or white rock out of a pouch or something like this, but we are just uncertain. Some try to relate it to the Urim and Thummin (cf. Exo 28:30), which was kept in the breastplate of the High Priest; this is a real possibility. Whatever the means, it was seen as God’s giving of the land to the tribes. The land could not be sold permanently (i.e., the year of Jubilee, cf. Lev 25:8-17).

nine tribes There are thirteen tribes. Joseph is given the double inheritance of the firstborn, thereby his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh each inherit. Levi, though a full tribe, does not inherit land. Therefore, only twelve tribes inherit portions of the Promised Land.

the half-tribe This refers to the fact that of all the tribes only Manasseh inherited land on both sides of the Jordan.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

old and stricken in years. Figure of speech, Synonymic. App-6. Joshua, now in his 101st year (1544).

the 8 LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

said. See note on Jos 3:7.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 13

In chapter thirteen,

Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; [It means that he was beginning to be a little feeble. The idea of “stricken in years” refers to more or less the feebleness that oftentimes accompanies old age.] … and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed ( Jos 13:1 ).

This, as I said, was one of their tragedies, is their failure to continue until they had taken all of the land that God had promised. Now there is a sequel to that in our own spiritual lives. As I have told you before, coming into the land of promise, and taking the land of promise as a spiritual sequel, the life of victory, the walking in the Spirit that God wants you to know, the victory over the flesh and the old flesh life.

Now God has promised you victory over your flesh life. It is a victory that all you have to do is go in and claim, lay claim to it. “Every place you put your foot, God has given it to you for a possession.”

Now the tragic thing with so many Christians is they start off in the Spirit in a very powerful way. They make great initial spiritual strides in their lives. But then they will hit a spiritual plateau where a complacency will settle over them, and they’re no longer eager for conquest. They’re no longer really striving towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God, but they begin to sort of kick back in spiritual ease and resting upon the past victory. So that oftentimes when you talk to them their conversation is always of some past spiritual victory and blessing that they experienced in their life. But there’s nothing fresh and up to date. Most of the spiritual victories are relegated to some historic period in their own walk and experience, and they’re always remembering the glory days of the past, “Oh, I can remember the days of the tent.” Glorying in the work of God in my life while we were in the tent. Or “the days in the little church”, but it is always a sign of spiritual stagnation when you’ve got to look back to relate some vital experience with God. God wants you to have an up-to-the-moment experience of His grace and power and love in your life, and His victory.

Now they came to the place where they were satisfied, they were content; they didn’t press on to the full victory. Beware of spiritual plateaus. Beware of that spiritual complacency where you come to the place where you’re spiritually satisfied, “This is as far as I need to go, far as I desire to go. As far as the rest of the things in my life, I can live with them.” Whenever you can start living comfortably with your flesh, you are in danger spiritually. Our flesh is a constant enemy to our walk in the Spirit. “The spirit is lusting against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit, and these two are contrary”( Gal 5:17 ), the scripture said. They’re opposed to each other. Thus, how important that we press on to the full possession of that which God has promised unto us. But there remained yet very much land to be possessed. So it tells the territories that they had not yet conquered.

Now God had told them to “divide it by lot to the Israelites for an inheritance as I have commanded you.”

Verse fourteen,

Only unto the tribe of Levi there is no inheritance; the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance, as he said unto them. Now Moses gave to the tribe of the children of Ruben the inheritance according to their families ( Jos 13:14-15 ).

He describes the borders on the other side of the Jordan River that belonged to Reuben. Then to the tribe of Gad he describes in verse twenty-five to the end, the borders of the area that were given to Gad, again on the other side of the Jordan River east from Jericho.

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

The second half of the Book of Joshua deals with the settlement of the people in the promised land. Dean Stanley says: “In the Book of Joshua we have what may without offense be termed The Domesday Book of the Conquest of Canaan.’ Ten chapters of that Book are devoted to a description of the country in which not only are its general features and boundaries laid down, but the names and situations of its towns and villages enumerated with the precision of geographical terms which encourages, and almost compels a minute investigation.”

It is not within the purpose of this book to follow such minute investigation, but the student of the Book of Joshua will surely wish to, with the aid of maps. We must, however, observe the relation of all this to the general movement. Now about ninety years old, Joshua was reminded that the conquest was by no means over. There remained much land to be possessed. In order that the chosen people might be able to complete the conquest and perfectly possess the land, it was now to be divided among them, so that the whole area might be covered. In this connection the provision a already made for the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan was ratified.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Much Land Yet to Be Possessed

Jos 11:16-23; Jos 13:1-7

We do not know how long the war lasted. Probably about seven years, Jos 14:10 (forty-five less thirty-eight). It was only in Davids reign that the Canaanites were finally subdued. Note that Joshua took the land and then gave it to Israel. So Christ received the fullness of the Spirit and all spiritual blessings as the Trustee of those who believe; but we must claim and appropriate our heritage. So at last there will be rest, Jos 11:23.

With Jos 13:1 begins the second division of this book. A Doomsday Book! How significant is the sentence, Much land to be possessed. This is true of tracts of the Bible, seldom read by ordinary Christians; of regions of experience, such as those alluded to in Col 3:1-4; and of countries in the world which have never been trodden by the feet of the missionary!

Read also Jos 13:13. What pathos it contains! Either they did not believe in Gods assurances, or were too indolent to claim them!

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

1. Instruction Given: The Two and One-half Tribes

CHAPTER 13

1. Jehovah speaks to Joshua (Jos 13:1-7)

2. Inheritance of the two and one-half tribes (Jos 13:8-33)

About seven years had gone by since the passage over Jordan and Joshua, being old and advanced in years, is addressed by the Lord. He takes care of His servants in their old age and provides for their comfort. Much land was yet to be possessed. Israel never responded to the fulness of Gods gift to them. How great their failure, as well as our failure as His spiritual people, to possess our possessions, which Gods grace has put on our side!

The unpossessed land is described in verses (Jos 13:2-7)2-7. It was never possessed in full by Israel, nor did they ever have the land, as promised to them from the Red Sea to the River Euphrates. Gods gifts and calling being without repentance (Rom 11:29) the time must yet come when they receive that land in the dimensions as promised in Exo 23:31. When their restoration comes with the coming of their once rejected King, our Lord, this promised land will be possessed by the nation.

These undisposed enemies may well be taken as the types of our spiritual enemies. The Philistines, who were not Canaanites, stand in the foreground. Their origin may be traced in Genesis. They were sons of Ham and sprang from Egypt. The name Palestine is derived from Philistine. They typify the power of corruption to the people of God. The Philistines today, which keep Gods people back from the enjoyment of their inheritance, are the corrupt forms of Christianity, Rome and her daughters. Note the five princes of the Philistines and their residence. Gaza (strong); Ashdod (I will spoil); Ashkelon (the fire of infamy); Gath (wine-press, a type of wrath); Ekron (uprooting). These names describe the character of these powerful enemies of Israel. We leave it with the reader to apply them to that powerful ecclesiastical world-system, Rome. The Avites belonged to the gigantic races, which dwelt in the land. The name means perverters. Satan with his powerful agencies perverts the truth and keeps Gods people in bondage.

And the Lord promises to drive them out (Jos 13:6). With His own power He was ready to dispossess these wicked usurpers, if Israel was but willing to advance in faith and act upon His promise. Here is where they failed. Oh! that we might see that God is on our side in the conflict and in the possession of our inheritance.

The inheritance of the two tribes and a half, Reuben, Gad and half Manasseh is then restated and confirmed.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

am 2560, bc 1444, An, Ex, Is, 47

Joshua: Jos 14:10, Jos 23:1, Jos 23:2, Jos 24:29, Gen 18:11, 1Ki 1:1, Luk 1:7

to be possessed: Heb. to possess it, Deu 31:3

Reciprocal: Gen 35:22 – Now the sons Lev 14:34 – which I Jos 12:7 – Joshua gave Jos 20:1 – spake Psa 136:21 – General Eze 48:29 – General

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Subdivision 1. (Jos 13:1-33; Jos 14:1-15; Jos 15:1-63; Jos 16:1-10; Jos 17:1-18; Jos 18:1-28; Jos 19:1-51; Jos 20:1-9; Jos 21:1-45.)

The Allotment of Inheritance.

The first subdivision gives the inheritance of the tribes according to lot the casting of the lot being characteristic of the apportionment on the west side of Jordan, that on the east side, as elsewhere remarked, being without it. By the lot, it is evident, was expressed, in a way more distinct than otherwise, the mind of God: “the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord,” says the voice of inspiration itself. (Pro 16:33.) But the lot seems to have only determined the position, and not the extent of these possessions, room being left for the revision of boundary-lines according as individual tribes might, as the result of their faithfulness or unfaithfulness, increase or diminish. Had they been as a whole faithful, the enlargement of their territories would have necessarily led to such revision.

1. Meanwhile, Joshua being old, God commands him to distribute the land, although there remained very much land to be possessed, even of that which was but the first installment, as it were, of what had been originally promised. For what is now spoken of reaches neither to the Red Sea nor the Euphrates. (Exo 23:31.)

What remains is now carefully put before them, that they may be stimulated to the attainment of it. Attain to it they never did, though over much of it David ruled at an after time: but they never possessed it. It is theirs still, however, in the promise of God, with much else, to be fulfilled in a day now very near at hand. Our main interest in it today is as a shadow of spiritual things, a meaning which has shaped and gives the most exceeding value to what else might seem but a barren list of names and peoples passed away. Spiritually read, they become once more living and present realities, and the fact that they do so is the fullest justification for so reading them.

The lands enumerated have two principal divisions, in the south and in the north of that already subjugated. In the south there are those of the Philistines, with whom are named the Geshurites and the Avvites. Neither Philistines nor Geshurites were Canaanites, though their land is “counted to the Canaanites,” and was no doubt originally theirs. The Avvites, from the relation in which we find them in Deuteronomy (Deu 2:1-37) seem to have belonged to those monstrous races which were as gigantic in evil as in stature, and which were marked out specially for judgment. There is a certain association of these three together, and this we shall remember as every fact of Scripture has significance. Here, as in nature, moreover, a full induction is necessary to a right deduction.

The Philistines have already come before us in the book of Genesis, and we have seen what they represent but we can add something to what has been there said. They are descendants of Ham, the sun-burned one, the one darkened by the light and next of Mitzraim, “double straitness,” who seems rather to have received his name from than to have given it to the land of Egypt, for which in Scripture Mitzraim stands. Thus they are natural men, and as such under the control of nature, a thing for which they are, however, righteously held responsible by Him who is ever ready with His help to lift above it.

Between the Egyptian and the Philistine there is another and important link, the Casluhim, who are named next before the Caphtorim as springing from Mitzraim: Both of these are, though not equally, connected with the Philistines, who are said to have come out of Caphtor, and to be the remnant of that island, or coast. (Jer 47:4 Amo 9:7.) According to their name, these are, in the Ethiopic, “emigrants,” but in the Hebrew, “wanderers,” the “way of the Philistines” being marked in Exodus as the “near” way out of Egypt to the land. It was as easy as it was near: no Red Sea to cross nor Jordan, the Sihor named here being a mere nominal boundary-line, but not a barrier. Thus the Philistines are natural men come into spiritual things, not by the power of God, but in a natural way. In Abraham’s history and Isaac’s, we find them in Gerar under their king Abimelech, “my father [was] king,” the picture of that successional authority which obtains in what claims most loudly to be the church today; Phicol, the voice of all,” the captain of his host, as Rome rules according; what is claimed as universal tradition, the voice of the Church. Achish of Gath, in David’s time, is in Psa 34:1-22. “Abimelech,” his name vaunting him “a man indeed.”

Thus the Philistines represent plainly the church of tradition and assumed catholicism, and we are prepared for the important place they have with regard to Israel in the generations that follow that of Joshua. But what connection have they, then, with the Casluhim and Caphtorim, and what do these names mean? Casluhim seems to present special difficulty to the lexicographers, who seldom venture an interpretation; but this can only be because of the strangeness of the meaning, and its apparent unsuitability to be the name of a nation.* Yet there is no doubt that “as those forgiven” is the unforced meaning of the word, as there can be none that what characterizes largely the ecclesiastical systems of which Rome is head is a quasi forgiveness, instead of an actual one. The first thing necessary for peace and for conscious relationship to God, that is, that there may be a church at all, is forgiveness of sins; and Rome recognizes this. Upon nothing does she insist more than upon the forgiveness of sins; but it is ecclesiastical forgiveness, sacramental and priestly absolution, constantly repeated, and in that proportion valueless. “For,” says the apostle, “the worshipers once purged would have had no more conscience of sins.” (Heb 10:2.) And from the inability of the Jewish sacrifices to purge once for all he urges their inability to put away sins at all. On the contrary he maintains that Christ hath “by one offering perfected forever them that are sanctified.” (Heb 10:14.) Here at the very beginning, then, Rome’s system fails: her forgiveness is but a quasi-forgiveness; and, with the highest claim for herself, she preaches continual doubt to her vassals; she is Philistine, and descended from the Casluhim.

{*And this kind of reasoning evidently influences them so largely as to make the meaning of proper names as given by them very unreliable. Their derivations of them are often the most arbitrary, and are the more approved the more they favor the most commonplace rendering. Its being literal is of very slight account.}

But she is also a “remnant of Caphtor,” which we may read in the same way as “quasi interpreters.” Two streams alike polluted mingle to produce both the ancient and the modern Philistine. As Rome builds upon her priestly absolution, so does she claim for herself to be the infallible teacher. Yet teacher she is not, for she shuts up the Word of God, and is afraid to give any free access to it, lest the fraud should be exposed. This double test shows that she is sham all through.

Has this to do with the unusual word for the Philistine districts, geliloth, “circles” or “circuits”? Sinuosities like the windings of a serpent, and sometimes the perfect circle, mark the ground that Rome covers, and the lines within which she is entrenched. She will build the authority of the church upon the Bible, and then the authority of the Bible on the church. Or, with better skill, skill not her own, will run her lines in tortuous labyrinths of argument from which her perplexed victims have no escape. Her moral lines are no straighter, and the Spirit of Jesus has for her no better expression than in the blasphemous sophistries of Jesuitism.

The five cities of the Philistines give us in growing intensity their menace to Israel. Gaza, the “strong,” to this day a greater city than Jerusalem. It is power that above all Rome seeks, -earthly power by whatever means acquired, and her spiritual power she uses for temporal aggrandizement. “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow,” is her language; and to secure this she is content to be a harlot with the kings of the earth. (Rev 17:1-18.)

Ashdod, the “spoiler,” shows us how she sustains and increases her strength. Hers is the parasite growth that saps the vigor of that which supports it. She may well be reckoned as a Canaanite who puts a tariff on sin itself, and shamefully sells every gift of God for money. The countries most Roman Catholic are those most spoiled, and that not of money only but of all that is really precious.

Ashkelon, the “fire of infamy,” shows us next the lightest of her weapons against those that resist her sway. Curses, reproach of heresy, railings of all kinds, she has ever dealt in, blasting the good name of all she dare attack in this way. It is a necessity laid upon her to destroy the character of those whom she dooms to more serious penalties. And

Gath, “the wine-press,” goes on to this. It is used in Scripture for the infliction of wrath, even divine wrath (Rev 14:19-20; Rev 19:15); and this is what Rome feigns her own to be. Finally

Ekron, “rooting out,” carries this on to complete extirpation of all that differ from her.

These, then, are the Philistine cities. With them the Geshurites are associated. “Geshur,” we are told, means “bridge;” but there is no mention of such a thing, and therefore no word for it, in Scripture. It may be a compound word, the first syllable much abbreviated, and mean “haughty observer,” which, however, though suitable enough for associates of the Philistines, we cannot with any certainty apply.

The Avvites are said in Deu 2:1-37 to have been living in villages as far as Gaza, and to have been destroyed by the Caphtorim out of Caphtor, who dwelt in their stead. Here the Philistines themselves, or those who by union with the Casluhim became afterward the Philistines, seem to be intended. The “Avvites,” or “Avvim,” mean “perverters” or “overturners;” and while God used the Caphtorim for the destruction of a people more evil than themselves, yet they seem not to have been fully destroyed, but mingled with their conquerors, who may have learned their ways. It is certain that a Christianity already corrupted has thus prevailed over forms of heathenism, to which it became itself assimilated; so that that which in one sense had been destroyed, in another, survived. And this seems to be the lesson here.

These are the southern foes, afterward to prove such thorns in Israel’s sides. In the north were genuine Canaanites, especially the Sidonians. They were pre-eminently the merchant-race, the first-born of Canaan (Gen 10:1-32), and had their characteristics. With them are joined the Giblites (“borderers”?) on the northern slopes of Lebanon, which belonged, all of it to Israel, though never possessed by them. Of all this we can say little to purpose here.

But how large a portion had Israel, thus, which they never claimed in faith, and never got, although the grace of God preserves it for them yet, with much more. And how little have Christians of the land that is their own, and of how much do modern Philistines and Canaanites dispossess them! We have of necessity not the material for working out such a problem. By and by we shall know, and judge ourselves for all our folly and unbelief. Happy are they who even now apprehend what they can of the glorious inheritance!

2. We now pass on to look at the inheritance of the two tribes and a half beyond Jordan, an inheritance here confirmed to them as having fulfilled the conditions stipulated by Moses. (Num 32:29-30.) The peculiar way in which this section commences cannot but be noticed, almost obscuring as it does the new beginning; but that there is this here is nevertheless plain enough upon even a slight consideration, and the reason for the peculiarity may be better considered when we come to look at the portion of Manasseh.

(1) But first we are to view the whole inheritance, essentially as we know the two Amorite kingdoms of Sihon and Og. Along with these we have now the territory of the Geshurites and Maachathites, which were mentioned in Deuteronomy as bounding Argob in Bashan, but not explicitly as coming within the limits of the two tribes and a half. Geshurites we have just met with in the south-west, probably the same people, though divided into two portions; and if “Geshur” signifies “haughty observer,” “Maachah” means “oppression.” They are little noticed afterward, and we can say little or nothing about them. The Israelites did not dispossess them, and we find kings of both places in David’s time; so that they must have soon drifted into independence.

(2) (a) It is in what was Sihon’s kingdom that Reuben finds his portion, in the southern half of it, in close proximity to Moab. Indeed it had, as we know, belonged to Moab, and been lost by them to Sihon. All this has to do with the meaning of what is before us, little as we may be able to render the meaning.

Reuben (“see a son”) we have seen to represent man as the offspring of God by creation, gifted with that intelligent will in which lies the natural image of God; but which as fallen has broken out in self-will and corruption. Humbled and restored by grace it becomes the will of dependent cleaving to God, of that faith by which alone we are truly sons, as we have seen in Reuben in the wilderness. It is in this aspect we must consider him here, forgetting even, as we may believe, the failure which has shown itself in choosing for himself his inheritance where now we find him. God is over it all, and has for us in it other lessons than that of failure: and this will be easily apparent as we proceed.

For in the first place, if Reuben in this way speaks now of faith, how significant is it that his portion is found in Sihon’s kingdom, and that it is he that builds up again Sihon’s capital, Heshbon, which falls to him. (Num 32:37.) “Heshbon” means “the reason, cause, or ground of a thing as an object of thought or study.” (Wilson.) It is rendered in the common version “device,” “reason;” “In Heshbon they have devised evil against her,” says the prophet, playing upon the name. (Jer 48:2.) Heshbon cannot be maintained by Sihon against Reuben, although the Moabite may have had to give it up to him; and so “reason” is not alien to faith, which only destroys it in its alien form, to build it up anew more securely. Its after-history we must consider later. Dibon also (“sufficiency of knowledge”?) falls to Reuben, whose boundary southward is Amon, (“the perpetual stream,”) the limit of “living water;” on the bank of which Aroer is the same word as that for the “heath” (or “savin”) in the desert, which furnishes to the prophet the picture of the curse upon “the man that trusteth in man, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah.” (Jer 17:5-6.) Then the “table-land by Medeba” (“quiet waters”) characterizes in general Reuben’s inheritance: a green upland pasture -“green pastures” and “quiet waters”! He too has the “slopes of Pisgah,” and the “splendor of the dawn” (Zereth-shahar), and the places devoted to Baal he purifies and renames. If we cannot go further than this, is it not enough to show the excellency and suitability of Reuben’s portion?

Nevertheless somewhat more may be attempted. It is divided evidently into four parts, the numerical character of which is easily recognized. The first section reminds us of the independence of faith; the second, of its dependence; the third contains twelve names, which ought thus to show how faith manifests itself in the establishment of the divine government everywhere, being itself, of course, everywhere subject; while the fourth is but a boundary-line.

The first begins also with a boundary-line, which is that of Moab; where Aroer, (literally, “laid bare”) significantly shows the acceptance of the divine estimate of any merely human trust. This is, on the one side, clearly the secret of the independence of faith. Then we have a nameless “city by the brook,” which in such connection may speak of busy activity content to be unknown to man; while the upland by Medeba (“quiet waters”), with the waters connected with both the previous places, shows how by the power and sustenance of the Spirit alone is all individuality maintained. Good and necessary lessons are these today! Never more needed.

The second section has but one name, though with many implied relationships; and while it shows the dependence of faith, stamps this as Heshbon, “reason.” This indeed it is, and not credulity, -not blindness, though at times and in a certain sense, as with Abraham, it may not know whither it is going. But unbelief never really knows, -knows least where it sees plainest; while faith sees even in the dark -sees God at least, and rests: walks in no vain show, but in the truth.

The third section has twelve names, as already said, a number speaking easily and beautifully, though some of the details may be obscure. 12 is 3 x 4, as we well know; and the four parts may indicate, (1) that the kingdom is above all; (2) yet now in conflict; (3) the fruit resultant; (4) its universality. To which, as a fifth part -though only an appendix to the rest -there is added a deuteronomic recital of how this land had become theirs by the overthrow of Sihon and of Midian, and of Balaam also.

(1) Dibon, “sufficiency of knowledge,” or “discernment,” shows first that the kingdom of God in the soul is by the truth. This is, indeed, its complete and moral supremacy. All error disappears. Bamoth-Baal, the “heights” whereon men adore their idols, fall thus into the hands of faith; as does Beth-baal-meon, the “house of the Baal of the dwelling,” the abode of idolatry in the house and heart.

(2) But the kingdom is yet only recognized by faith, and is thus in conflict in the world. Jahzah, “treading down,” Israel’s battle-field with Sihon, implies other fields trodden by the feet of combatants; while Kedemoth speaks of “confronting” hosts. Mephaath, “shining” may intimate what in the Lord’s eyes is the lustre of this “good fight of faith.”

(3) There is fruit also: Kirjathaim, “double city,” may imply the concentration of energy, and unification of diverse capacities, -that fitting together in one which comes naturally from the drill and discipline of war. Sibmah, if with some we render it “fragrance,” may speak of that diffusion of sweetness, the unconscious ministry to others of that which is the fruit of personal character. And Zereth-shahar, the “brightness of dawn,” as seen from the “mount within the valley,” gives the anticipation from the high place to which the low may bring you, of that sure coming day which gilds for us already, thank God, the clouds of night.

(4) Beth-peor is, as to its import, doubtful. Pisgah must speak of faith’s “survey” of the future inheritance; Beth-jeshimoth, the “house of the wastes,” of provision for the wilderness. These together imply God’s sovereignty over the future and the present. Does Beth-peor complete this by showing Him sovereign over that which led us captive in the past? This we must leave as but a question; certainly, however,

(5) The recital of the victories by which they had gained possession of the land is quite in keeping with such a thought.

Finally, the Jordan is plainly, in one sense, the limit of faith. In the joy beyond, we shall be “face to face.”

(b) Gad lies next to Reuben: Gad, the type of spiritual increase, and of a militant condition too. Both things are contained in Leah’s exclamation, “A troop cometh.”* Spiritual increase can hardly be without conflict in a world like this; and the men of Gad we find in David’s time eminent as warriors. (1Ch 12:8-14.)

{*Which thus again vindicates this reading of the passage. (Gen 30:11.)}

Gad shares with Reuben the land of Sihon; and their possessions seem at first sight strangely intermingled. Gad builds Dibon, though it falls to Reuben; and though Reuben builds and is allotted Heshbon, yet we find it afterward given to the Levites as a city of Gad (Jos 21:39). It was on the boundary-line, and might easily belong to either; but in this interweaving of Reuben and Gad, do we not find how inseparable “increase” is from faith; and how, if faith build up reason, it will take growth and militant energy to hold it? And so Gad also builds for Reuben Dibon (“sufficiency of knowledge”), for so Peter gives the connection -“Add to your faith virtue (valor), and to virtue knowledge.”

Suitable also it is that “all the cities of Gilead” (the “heap of witness”)* should belong to Gad; and half of Ammon (see Deu 2:1-37 notes), in the face of which they build another Aroer. Also that they should have Mahanaim with its memorial from Jacob’s history. Would one could say more as to Gad! but as to what should be possessed, how much remains!

{*Elsewhere (Num 26:29, n.), I have accepted, with most, Gesenius’ suggestion of “hard, rocky;” but Fay, even while not altogether refusing it, urges a number of texts against this (Num 32:1; Jer 8:22; Jer 46:11; Jer 50:19; Son 4:1; Son 6:4). Jacob’s history governs so much in the scenes of his eventful life, that the connection of Galeed with Gilead strongly commends itself.

“All the cities of Gilead” here are all that belonged to the kingdom of Sihon.}

(c) We may pass, then, to Manasseh: and here how exquisitely suited is it that Manasseh, the one “forgetful” of things behind, and of Manasseh just the children of Machir, “he who recollects” (of course, that to which he is pressing on), should have the kingdom of Og in Bashan put into their hands! For the things of the world can only be rightly used by him who is pressing on to another; and this is the only one of the tribes found on the east side of Jordan that in fact inherits on both sides of the river. Is it not this that we are reminded of in that strange beginning of the second section, so connected with the first: “With him the Reubenite and the Gadite received their inheritance,” where “with him” is with Manasseh, to whom with the other nine tribes Joshua has just been commanded to distribute the land west of Jordan? Reuben and Gad are on the east side, yet with Manasseh, who is both east and west. The oneness of the tribe is “thus emphasized, spite of this: and thus indeed Manasseh approaches nearer the final division in the yet coming day, when each tribe receives its inheritance on both sides, the boundary lines running east and west across the river. Whatever, then, Manasseh’s personal failure in all this, it seems clear that we are not to regard it here, but to see in him the competence to use the world as having the heart in heaven.

Among Machir’s sons we find Jair active in the conquest of the land. He is, according to his name, the “enlightener,” and the introduction of light is the way to conquer Satan’s kingdom of darkness. Life comes into the soul with light, if it be true light: so the cities Jair conquers he calls the “lives (havvoth) of Jair.” Men call Og’s luxury and self-pleasing “life,” but Jair shows us what is really life.

Machir shares Gilead with Gad; and this needs no further interpreting. The lesson of Manasseh here is as simple to read as it is good to learn and practice. Only in practice can it be really learnt. The reminder as to Levi’s portion closes fittingly this section. Reuben, Gad, Manasseh, Levi, -all belong to us.

Notice how the spiritual meaning in these three tribes connects together; how naturally the one develops out of the other; how really we are on the earth side of things all through. The more it is searched into, the more it will appear how consistent and harmonious is the whole of this.

3. We now cross the river, and come to the inheritance of Judah, as it would seem, the first possession on the west side, and by far the largest possession. The Spirit of God evidently marks it out for us with peculiar care, and when we consider the prominence of Judah in the after-history, and the spiritual significance (two things more closely connected than is usually imagined), we are at no loss to understand this. The spirit of praise must have precedence of all else in the land of the inheritance of the people of God, and will put us in possession, most of all, of our inheritance there.

(1) The first few verses here emphasize the fact that the inheritance was all given by lot at the hands of Eleazar and Joshua, and the heads of the people; and that in the distribution Joseph’s two tribes compensated for the lack of territory for the tribe of Levi. We have then a most important lesson which Caleb, the whole-hearted, is brought forward to give us. The man of eighty-five appears with the children of Judah before Joshua at Gilgal, to claim the inheritance promised to him forty-five years before. Save Joshua, all his generation has passed away, but he remains, and with all the strength of that former time. The Anakim whom he saw at Hebron remained there yet; and they must be subdued by him, if he is to receive the promise; but he desires no less difficult task; and his faith is as strong as his body. No need of many words to enforce the lesson in this case. We see at once how spiritual strength is perpetuated; and have it pressed upon us how our promised portion must be laid hold of and enjoyed.

Caleb is here, as once before, the Kenezite, and there is a Kenaz elsewhere said to be his brother. We shall not discuss in this place the difficulties of his genealogy; but what does the name mean? At least as good as any thing given, and completely in the line of thought of Caleb’s history, would be “receptacle of strength;” and in this way Othniel, of whom we hear in the next chapter and in Judges, would be the fitting son of Kenaz.

(2) The boundaries of the tribe of Judith are next marked out. It lies southern-most of all the tribes, bounded on the south by the land of Edom and the wilderness of Zin; on the east, by the salt, or dead sea; on the west, by the great sea, or Mediterranean; and only on the north by Israelitish territory. Thus Judah, lifted up upon her hills, has a most varied outlook. Within also she is divided into the south land, where a large number of her cities lay, the lowland, or shephelah, (which included the Philistine plain,) the hill-country, and the wilderness. How good is it thus to realize that one can face outside the world of the natural man, the wilderness condition, the awful lake of judgment, the sea of instability and distress, no less than the blessed portion of the people of God, and give praise in view of all! While also the most varied conditions affecting ourselves may give occasion not merely to contentment, but to adoration! And it is only in a spirit of praise that we can rightly view all this. Judah speaks of that kind of praise which is termed “confession.” It is the confession of God, of course, that is intended by it; and when as redeemed we know Him, then, as knowing that all things are in His hands, even where we know nothing more, and cannot penetrate the mystery of His dispensations, we have the fullest assurance that can be given us that all is well. Egypt, the Red Sea deliverance, the wilderness, with its miracles of care and its holy lessons, all lie southward from Judah: Judah fronts them all, and how can one look in, this direction, from the land flowing with milk and honey to which we have been brought, without adoring confession?

No wonder, then, if Judah take the lead and be the “lawgiver.” (Psa 108:8.) In the hearts of His worshiping people God will be supreme; the spirit of praise governs the heart and rules the life for God. Here is the citadel, which if surrendered, all is given up: when Judah goes into captivity, the national life is gone.

(a) The southern boundary comes naturally first. It should have meaning for us: can we attempt to explain it spiritually? Critics of a certain kind will laugh their loudest very likely, but we have come hopelessly under their condemnation long ago, and the desire to show that every part of the Word of God is profitable for edification is more attractive than their condemnation is alarming. If we should make some mistakes, let those who have made none cast their stones.

Over the boundary lie Edom, the wilderness of wandering, and, at a greater distance, Egypt. Edom and Egypt are allied as types of the natural world, -in the one, wilder; in the other, cultured; but both alike in independence of God. The wilderness shows the unbelief of the people of God bringing them back to the same condition of independence in departing from the living God. Israel’s boundary line may well show us, therefore, how God would separate His people from this sin.

In fact, we shall find lessons of this kind here, and in a certain connection with one another and progress of thought, such as a line traced in this way might suggest. The first three places here seem to give us the sin of independency as looked at in itself; the next two, the divine help against it; the three following, help of more internal sort; the fourth, and last, the witness of nature; and this division would be a true numerical one. The border throughout is nothing but an air-line, which requires, therefore, intelligence to discern, and obedience to maintain.

Of the first three, the first is the salt sea; and measurably we already know what this means. It is the awful similitude of the pit of woe, into which the river of death pours unceasingly without overflow or escape again. It fertilizes nothing, but abides under the curse of barrenness., which is but the perpetuation of what is in the nature of sin. Its first law, which we may most naturally see in this glimpse of one end of it (for we do not see it all), is just this utter barrenness which its waters, wherever they are, produce. This is only a first thought, and a negative one indeed; and yet in God’s creation, which all was once made good, and for good, barrenness is of itself a terrible reproach and stain.

But we have a further development at Maaleh-Akrabbim, the “ascent of the scorpions.” The sting of the scorpion is in its tail, and this is the way of sin, which May have its “pleasures for a season,” but, like the enchanted wine-cup, “at last it biteth as a serpent, and stingeth as an adder.” (Pro 23:32.) Sin -independence of God, -is not only barren: it has poison in its bowels, and death as its end.

Thirdly, we have Zin a “thorn;” and a thorn is the natural curse: “thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” The blight of divine judgment abides thus upon the sinner; and in this threefold picture this is the last feature: sin is in its nature what calls for and abides under divine wrath. This is no arbitrary thing, but must be, unless there is redemption; and this the cry of the twenty-second psalm declares.

God’s people are redeemed; but He must still show His holiness in His dealings with them; and of this, Kadesh-barnea, the “sanctuary of the wanderer,” may now well remind us. God had His place of refuge for His people in the wilderness, but it was a “sanctuary,” a holy refuge, and they for their sins were “wanderers.” In making it a city of Israel He bade them take home both the grace and the holiness of this to their hearts.

Hetzron, “enclosure,” may exhibit another kind of care, the hedge around His people which nothing but that which shall work blessing for them may come through. God guards them thus from what would from their feebleness be too much for them. This is a constant mercy, of which we need to be reminded, because we are necessarily so little conscious of it. “He will not suffer us to be tempted beyond that we are able; but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that we may be able to bear it.”

We come now to what speaks of deeper and more internal work. First, Addar, which means “glory,” “honor,” or else “a goodly robe;” such as are the white “garments” which those in Sardis had not defiled. (Rev 3:4.) These, of course speak, of practical righteousness: our righteousness in Christ is wholly beyond even the thought of defilement. The suggestion of such a robe is fully in the line of thought in this place, and may well be accepted as what is here. A robe to keep unspotted is a good argument against the seduction of sin.

We have next Karkaah, which is a word used for “pavement,” but compounded of two words which together imply “extension of what is joined together.” We need not think, then, of a pavement: the lesson may be of that mutual help rendered by those each severally feeble, which is indeed God’s way of making His people realize their need of each other, and training them in , lowliness: a barrier against independence surely.

And thus, last of the cities here is Azmon, “strong;” for God has strength for His people, to be found in the sanctuary, but in the way of lowliness and dependence, so that we reach it by the way of Karkaah, as we have said. Truth is here in most fitting order, and to take it thus gives it power and beauty.

Finally, the stream of Egypt becomes the boundary to the sea, as to which we have no great interest in this connection in deciding whether it is the Wady el Arish that is meant, as commonly believed, or rather, as Poole contends, the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. That in the promise to Abraham Israel’s border is the Nile there is no right question; but there the Euphrates is the boundary at the other end. In the division here there is as yet no possession of so wide a region, and the limit seems to fall short every way. But enough has been already said with regard to this.

In any case, the “stream of Egypt” would suggest to us still the thought of that ministry of natural blessings, which, while to natural men they seem so much a matter of course, have in them, to any one whom faith has restored to proper reason, abundant witness of the hand from which they come, and thus against independence. This too would make a fourth division of this boundary line, strictly according to numeric symbolism. Thus it is completed.

(b) The eastern border was the salt sea in its whole length to the mouth of the Jordan. The east has its two aspects spiritually, let us remember, as there are two words which express it in Hebrew. It was the place of sunrise, in this way of hope, though it might be far off. In the second sense, it was what immediately confronted one, and commonly evil. The sea of salt, or dead sea, suggests naturally the latter of these thoughts. From it Judah’s possession rose rapidly and in sublimity until Jerusalem towered thirty-five hundred feet above its surface; how different from the long slope of the land toward the western sea, ending in the broad wheat-plains of Philistia!

The salt sea, too, however evil in suggestion, is but a “lake.” You can look over it to the hills beyond: it is not interminable. And so also at the end we read of a “lake” of fire and brimstone; not a sea, with its shore out of sight, but defined and limitable, thank God! and even narrow in its limits, though in itself terrible, as it is meant to be.

Here there is no fire, not even a volcano-mouth; but stifling heat there is, and the smell of sulphur, which abounds in it. All living things that the Jordan brings into it die; but there is no breath of disease from its deep blue waters! Such is this type of sin’s awful judgment, between which and Israel’s blessed portion there is no middle ground at all. The shores of the land of Judah lie all along it, and the homes of “praise” rise in full view of the lake of judgment. There will be, and, thank God, there need be, no forgetfulness in heaven: our praise here, too, is founded upon knowledge, and the full light of eternity will but perfect it.

Thus the salt sea bounds indeed Judah’s possessions; but guards, and not invades them; as from the cross, from One forsaken of God, there was the witnessing voice, “But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” And how should not they praise who as the fruit of that work are saved and brought nigh to God? How can the view of the judgment of sin do aught but deepen in the soul the apprehension of salvation: “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood!”

The border on the second side is one of strict separation -of salvation: not an air-line now.

(c) Judah’s border on the north is Israelite, the only part of it that is. From what, then, must it be looked at as really separating? or what is the meaning of the boundary-line here? As the third border, we may characterize it, I think, as one of manifestation, bringing out more distinctly what belongs to worship itself, its place and power in connection with what the other tribes stand for spiritually.

Of these other tribes only Ephraim and Manasseh get their portion at this time. Judah’s boundary never touches Ephraim’s; but as yet there is nothing between them but unappropriated land. Hence it would seem that this boundary of Judah has respect as yet to Ephraim, and this will be confirmed by further examination.

Joseph’s two tribes we have already seen to be connected together in their spiritual meaning, as might have been anticipated. “Ephraim” speaks of “fruitfulness;” “Manasseh,” of the energy that presses forward to the goal, “forgetting” what is behind; a spirit not ascetic, though it might seem so, but acquisitive, and which is the spirit that makes fruitful. Thus the two tribes are one.

Judah and Joseph take possession of their lots in distinct priority of all others on the west of Jordan, and thus are in some sense to be looked at as dividing the land between them. They afterward did, as it were, divide the land (alas! in opposition to each other) as heads of the respective kingdoms of Judah and Israel, the latter of which is often spoken of as “Ephraim.” In reference to each other they do, in fact, represent typically two spheres of the spiritual life, absolutely necessary to each other and to the maintenance of this, and which yet have strange tendencies to divorce themselves from one another. These are, of course, the objective and subjective spheres, of faith and of practice, of piety Godward and manward; though none of these terms fully distinguish what God would never have separated, and which never can be, without the destruction of both; as Israel’s divided kingdom was her ruin.

Judah and Ephraim alike reach across the whole breadth of territory, from the Jordan to the sea; but at no point do they touch one another. Between them are afterward placed two tribes, who, on opposite sides -toward Jordan and toward the sea -fill up the gap, and join the separated lands together. As we look at them we shall find how truly they are intended to be holdfasts on either; side, and how beautifully in their spiritual meaning they fill up the interval.

Benjamin comes first of these, and fills up the Jordan side. The root-meaning here we have in the first notice in the book of Genesis (Gen 35:1-29, see vol. i. p. 99, n.). “Benjamin” is “Christ in us,” the “I, yet not I,” of the apostle (Gal 2:20), the real power for a walk on earth. “Not I, but Christ liveth in me;” which, let us note, is not the same as, “Christ is my life;” nor is it either, “To me to live is Christ;” though nearer akin to the latter than the former. But the one is aim, while the other is that realization of faith upon which it is dependent. “Christ has been crucified for me,” he says; “it was my death, though He bore it: I, then, am crucified with Christ; yet I live, really live now: death is behind me, not before me; I live beyond my death.” Then he shows the practical effect of this: “I live because Christ live; I live before God in Him; God sees me no more but in identification with the Son of His love, who appears in His presence for me. I also look where God looks; I see what God sees: it is no more myself I see; I have lost myself in my wondrous Representative, and even as I live down here, it is Christ that lives in me: I have exchanged myself for Him.”

Now, if this is what Benjamin means, he certainly in an admirable way fills the gap between Judah and Ephraim. This is, as it were, the objective in the subjective: it is what is before the eyes wrought into practical life. It is the worshiping heart pulsating through the body of the worshiper.

But Benjamin nevertheless does not fill all the space here. Westward, toward the great sea, another tribe is found, very different in the significance attaching to it from that of Benjamin. It is Dan, the last of all to find his place, and the most unsatisfactory of all perhaps in his after-history. But the failure has nothing to do with what he represents; and Benjamin’s history is also a sad one. Oftentimes the most blessed truths seem to be those that have the least influence over us. Dan in the wilderness is leader of one of the four camps there, and, as we have seen, though the son of a handmaid, represents “rule;” which is in fact service, where it is according to God.

But rule, to be exercised aright, must also be rule over one’s self first, -self-judgment; and Dan’s name, we know, means “judge.” Judgment, which implies discernment, is the ruler’s part. Self-judgment begins for the Christian with the apprehension of the cross, which is God’s estimate of man, the most solemn, because not that of an enemy, but of One who so loved us as to bear for us in Christ the judgment He had pronounced.

We have come thus far, then, toward Benjamin, with whose territory Dan’s joins toward the middle of the land. But Dan gives only the negative side of Benjamin, not the positive side. It is the judgment of self he emphasizes, which joins on, on the one side, to the “worship” of Judah, -every mind the least taught of God knows how, -and on the other, links with Ephraim’s “fruitfulness” as intelligibly.

The gap, then, is filled up in the most perfect way; and this should help us much in the study of the boundary-lines, which we find in the case of Judah’s first part plainly having Ephraim rather in view than Benjamin, as already said. What shows this is the way in which places in Benjamin itself are used to mark the line, as Beth-hoglah, and Beth-arabah, and Jebusi, or Jerusalem. On the west end of the boundary-line there are named similarly places that afterward belonged to Dan.

The description divides the boundary into two parts, the first of which, rising from the mouth of the Jordan, ends at Enrogel, just outside Jerusalem. The second part passes from Enrogel to the sea. The first part, in accordance with its being such, shows the priority of Judah to Ephraim, -no fruitfulness being possible till God takes his right place with the soul, -till it worships.

In this first part there are again five divisions, indicated by the repetition of “the border,” as if it started afresh. It will be seen too that the second of these contains Beth-hoglah and Beth-Arabah, while the fifth speaks of Enshemesh and Enrogel.

(1)* We are first of all directed to the point of commencement of the boundary: “And the border of the north side was from the bay of the sea at the end of Jordan.” “From judgment into which death brings” is clearly the typical meaning. Worship begins with the recognition of our natural lost condition, without which we might have an angel’s praise, but not a saint’s. That which begins here is the song of grace, of one who is a “brand plucked from the burning,” as it were the fire already kindled, judgment already beginning to take effect: a “bay of the sea” being, one may suppose, like the antechamber of hell. Almighty power and sovereign grace alone could work here, and thus with these the song begins.

{*These divisions are too minute for any corresponding notice in the text; but they are numbered to direct attention to their numerical structure.}

(2) Next, we have the way of salvation: “And the border went up to Beth-hoglah, and passed along from the north to Beth-arabah.” The places are both in Benjamin, as was before said. Beth-hoglah is interpreted by Simonis, from the Syriac and Arabic, as “house of the partridge;” for which last Young gives “magpie.” Neither meaning connects with Scripture or yields any intelligible meaning that one can see. As Hebrew, taking Hoglah as two words, the first letter of the second being dropped because identical with the last letter of the first, it might mean “the revealed sacrifice,” hag being either a feast or the sacrifice of the feast. The “house of the revealed sacrifice” would be specially fitting in reference to the passover.

The other name here, Beth-arabah, is undoubtedly “the house of the wilderness;” and passover and wilderness would in this connection remind us of that love and care which had delivered Israel from judgment in Egypt, and sheltered them on their journey to the land. For us the types speak easily and need no expounding. A salvation to the uttermost, or redemption and preservation through the Lamb of sacrifice, suit well the numerical place.

(3) Consecration follows: as we have had chapters from Exodus in the last section, so now, equally in order, we have one from Leviticus: “And the border went up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben.” Bohan means “thumb;” and we have no trace any where else of the thing or of the man referred to here. What profit are we to find unless we are at liberty to interpret the name?

When we have the name, how are we to apply it? The way to learn this, one might suppose, would be to see what we can find in Scripture in connection with the thumb.” The search need not be long. With the exception of the story of Adonibezek in the next book, the only Scripture references to the thumb are found in connection with the consecration of the priests and of the cleansing of the leper in Lev 8:1-36; Lev 14:1-57.* Have we not here, then, a plain intimation of what this would remind us? The thumbs of the priests or of the leper touched with the blood of sacrifice, and then with oil upon the blood, were tokens of consecration, in this double way, to the service of God. (Notes, vol. i, pp. 310, 330.)

{*Prescribed indeed in Exo 29:20, as to the priests, but only carried out in Lev 8:1-36.}

The stone of Bohan was naturally a memorial pillar such as that of Jacob at Bethel, and, as with him, a witness to some divine, not human, work: up to this time, we have no account of any man or human work so memorialized. Such a witness to God would suit well a consecrated hand, and that of a Reubenite, who speaks of the will that cleaves to Him. A stone would be meant to abide; and thus the stone of Bohan would be very plainly the memorial of consecration to God.

Every child of God is at the same time a “saint” -sanctified by the work of Christ and by the Spirit which dwells in him. He needs but to carry this in remembrance. We are set apart to God, not by any voluntary engagement of our own, but by Another’s devotedness to death for us. We are bought with a price, and belong to Him who has paid the ransom.

(4) We have now what is more difficult: “And the border went up to Debir from the valley of Achor, and turned northward toward Gilgal, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, which is on the south side of the water-course.” Here are two things, though connected: first, the ascent to Debir from the valley of Achor. Both words we are familiar with, though Debir is not the city of that name that we have before had; it has, however, the same significance, (either “speaker” or “oracle,”) while Achor is the valley named “troubling,” from the punishment of Achan. This part, therefore, seems simple, that while here in the world we have to meet the trouble which is the fruit of sin, yet there is a way of access (which is thus also an ascent out of it) to that oracular voice which (as in Action’s case) gives the meaning of it all. The number of this section governing it, shows where the emphasis is to be laid, and that the “oracle” has reference to the “troubling;” which the history too confirms.

The second part now completes the lesson: the border turns toward Gilgal, not reaching it indeed, for the words seem to indicate that Gilgal is on the north side of the water-course, opposite the way of ascent by which the border goes, which is on the south side. And this the modern investigations tend to establish.

Gilgal is the “rolling away” of the reproach of Egypt, -that is, of the bondage there -bondage to sin, and toward this the way of Debir turns. The oracle which enlightens as to the cause of the trouble points us to the deliverance from it already achieved, and which we have not again to reach but only to be reminded of; while our road lies on the south -the sunny? -side of the water-course (the stream of living water) up the ascent of Adummim (the “quieted ones”), -up, ever up, refreshed and rested, toward the end at hand.

(5) For now we reach the first halting place, and we may be certain that refreshment is abundant there. So it is: we end now with two springs, in the beautiful language of Scripture, “eyes,” in the purity and abundance of which God’s eye, as it were, looks out at you, and you are reminded, as was Hagar at Beer-lahai-roi, of the “Living One who seeth.” Two springs: the one Enshemesh, the fountain of the sun, because the sun is ever shining on it; the second, Enrogel, the fuller’s fountain, where our garments are made white.

We have finished our journey now as pilgrims: we are on the top of the ascent, and the city of the great King, Jerusalem, is right before us. “Our feet stand within thy gates, Jerusalem.” All this road speaks, then, of what we have as the material of worship. Can even “fruitful” Ephraim show such a road? Is not the pre-eminence of Judah demonstrated by it? Does it not all through speak of God, God, God? Here we have indeed our “songs of degrees” or “ascents:” every step is a song!

But here the second part of the border commences, and we have to follow it by a longer descent to the western sea.

It is after the first three stages an almost continuous descent, the interruptions being notable as such. It represents the continuous self-humbling so naturally suggested by the connection with Dan, which the apprehension of God induces in the soul, and which unites itself with and manifests the spirit of worship. Here too the difference is plain between Judah and Ephraim. The practical truth which Ephraim presents to us, necessary as it surely is, needs carefully to be guarded lest a spirit of self-complacency be nurtured by it. Ephraim must be kept in connection with Judah, and in dependence also, or he will slip into idolatry of the creature; and so the after-history testifies in the calf-worship at Bethel and Dan.

As before, the language employed marks out for us certain divisions, -here, eight in number; but we must go on to find the significance of this.

(1) “And the border went up to the valley of the son of Hinnom, to the shoulder south of the Jebusite, that is Jerusalem.” Is it not strange, that as it began with the salt sea below, so it now begins again, though at the summit of the ascent, with the picture of hell? for this without question the Gei-ben-Hinnom -Gehenna -is.

Here as the “valley” speaks of the place, the “son of Hinnom” must speak of the people destined to it; and here solemn it is to find that “Hinnom” means “gratuitous, causeless.” “Son of Hinnom” in Hebrew, would mean a person characterized as that. He is gratuitously what he is: there is no cause for it outside himself. And so Scripture puts it as to the penalty of the lost: God willeth not the death of a sinner. As the Lord says, weeping over Jerusalem, “How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”

But there is a connection with the Jebusite, the “treader down,” -that is, with the city then possessed by them, afterward, as we are at once informed, Jerusalem, the “foundation of peace,” which is righteousness. So that Gehenna is not the mere expression of power, as if Jebusite, but the execution of justice necessary for the establishment of peace (Isa 32:17.) And here we may easily see that, though still going on with Benjamin, we are approaching Dan’s border. This second part of the boundary-line leads us down the slope of humiliation, the needful humbling of man’s pride; and this begins here with the recognition of divine righteousness in judgment, -yea, of the congruity with it of all divine attributes. The first part of the border beginning with the salt sea, with judgment also and man’s lost condition, yet presented another truth in connection with it, the almightiness of the Deliverer. Thus they are distinct.

(2) “And the border went up to the top of the mount which is in the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of Rephaim northward.” The mountain is not named: we do not therefore need to know its name; but it divides between the judgment of the self-ruined (Hinnom) and the valley of Rephaim, “those who dissolve” people with terror. These giant races, the enemies of God’s people, overthrow one, as it were, with the mere sight of them: they are types of the enemy’s power, monsters, and, so to speak, superhuman. Are we not taught then by this mount of separation, (unnamed, because we are simply to think of it as this) to distinguish the judgment of sin from the mere effect of the enemy’s power? As connected with the judgment of sin it is necessary to remember that no mere lack of strength, to resist a foe however strong, or circumstances, (may we not say?) however pressing, must be confounded with that which is the cause of divine judgment. Hinnom here is emphasized from another side of it therefore: human responsibility is fully enforced.

(3) “And the border was drawn from the top of the mount to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah, and went out to the cities of Mount Ephron.” Nephtoah means “opening,” and reminds us of the rock opened in the wilderness, and of God’s words by Isaiah, “I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys” (41: 18.) If the riven rock be alluded to, we need not wonder at the abundance that is indicated, “the spring of the waters of Neph-toah,” the symbol, as always, of that fullness of the Spirit which is ours as the result of Christ’s death for us. And how important is this as the third step in the self-judgment of a Christian, that the fullness of the Spirit is really his? For then there can be manifestly no lack of power at any time, except what is due to lack of integrity or to lack of Nth. A spring will fill a vessel and overflow it, except the vessel be filled with something else. And here the necessity and blessedness of self-judgment are pressed upon us. “Be filled with the Spirit,” says the apostle: it is an exhortation, -a duty which belongs to us; not something which God would withhold, or has withheld, but which, if not ours, we are not sincere, or else not simple, in making it our own.

“And it went out to the cities of Mount Ephron,” which may as a compound word in Hebrew mean “a thrill” -or “quiver” -“of joy.” Ecstasy is what the apostle associates with the fullness of the Spirit, as we see by his antithesis: “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.” When they were all filled after this manner on the day of Pentecost, the people said, “These men are drunk with new wine.” In some respects to be compared, yet how different! “If we be beside ourselves,” says Paul again, “it is to God.” And here the mount of rapture, of thrilling joy, in what significant company is it with the “spring of waters of Nephtoah!” But this is not something known merely in seclusion; there is a busy hum of life about it: cities -and the word used means places of busy concourse -cluster upon Mount Ephron; the activities of divine life go with the joy of the Spirit.

(4) “And the border was drawn to Baalah, that is, Kirjath-Jearim.” The number 4 is that which, from its being the first capable of true division, expresses weakness, and thus speaks of the creature, necessarily weak as such, and liable to failure. It is also the number of testing, which brings out failure, and of the practical walk in which it is displayed. These lines run into one another, and under this number we find in general these thoughts together, as we have seen in Moses’ fourth book at large. From the third to the fourth of any series of this kind we expect generally a descent in character therefore, and are rarely mistaken. This makes it at first sight strange that at the fourth point of the border here we find nothing but the name of a city which seems to suggest other thoughts. Baalah means “mistress, possessor,” the other name of which is Kirjath-Jearim, the “city of the woods.” It is mainly noted in Israel’s history as the place where the ark, after its return from the Philistines lay unhoused -of its proper house -and well nigh hidden, all the days of Saul. “At Ephratah we heard of it;” says David: we found it in the fields of the wood.” And from thence he brought it to Zion.

Baalah, though certainly meaning “mistress” in Hebrew, has been thought to mean “belonging to Baal;” and this seems supported by the fact that in the list of the cities of Judah (v. 60) it is given as Kirjath-Baal. -the “city of Baal.” This seems as if it might set aside dispute; but one who has thought much on Scripture is slow to believe that there is in it any change without a meaning. That full inspiration, which, we shall not here question, which we must leave the risk of questioning to those who dare to take it, surely requires us to believe as much as this; and we shall gain much by acting as if we believed it.

If Baalah be “mistress,” it is at the same time a word little used in Scripture, and twice out of three times in ill connections, though Baal the masculine form is freely enough used for “owner, master, husband.” The “lady-” city is no strange conjunction of terms; and its import is easy enough; as that of queen-city, even in our own days.

Kirjath-Jearim “city of the woods,” does not seem readily to lend itself to interpretation in the way we seek. Jaar, “wood” primarily means “redundance, overflowing,” and so a “thicket of trees,” from the exuberance and luxuriance of vegetable life. But this in contrast with a fruitful field is used in Scripture as implying a useless prodigality (Isa 32:15) -and a city of woods or thickets would convey more strongly this thought of waste land not really barren but devoted to what was of little profit.

As connected with this it is used also as the symbol of pride doomed to destruction, to ax or fire, and thus it comes round to the thought contained in Baalah, a city of woods, and not of fruitful fields, barren of self-support, while it remains in haughty idleness, drawing from others what it does not repay,

So many of the lessons of Scripture have to do with pride, the great evil of man’s fallen nature, by which in various ways and in very humble degrees of it, man would still be “as God;” can it be wondered that the number of failure and of creature-weakness is attached to it here? For weakness with us is strength, and strength is weakness: he that exalteth himself must be abased, while he that humbleth himself is exalted. And this is indeed one inveterate evil and cause of all failure, which, in this line we are upon, (drawing close now to Dan,) could not be omitted from the materials of self-judgment which are being furnished to us here. Ah, what spendthrift prodigality of human strength is there at the bidding of this Pharaoh, and how we toil to build pyramids, which when built are but sepulchres at last!

And after all Baalah and Baal-worship are but too closely united, so that Kirjath-Baal, as a synonym for Baalah can easily be understood. Baal is “lord,” in that sense in which God disowns it for Himself. He will not be Baali, but Ishi, the title, not of mere authority, but of endeared relationship. (Hos 2:16.) Baal is force, power, and this is the god of pride, in the service of which it toils. How different the yoke of Him who, when He offers it to us, bids us “learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, that ye may find rest unto your souls”! (Mat 11:29.)

And now we reach the border of Dan

(5) “And the border turned from Baalah seaward toward Mount Seir, and passed to the shoulder of Mount Jearim northward, that is Chesalon; and went down to Beth-shemesh, and passed by Timnah.”

Now for the first time, as we come to Dan, it is noticed that the border turns seaward. It is the regular word for “west,” and of course the general direction has been west all through, but now it is directly so, and we are called to observe it. Of the two tribes that lie side by side with Judah to the north, Benjamin lies toward the Jordan, Dan toward the sea, and these are their respective limits. The sea is also Judah’s western border, the fourth in order on this account. It is the picture of man fallen, in his restlessness and barrenness, and chafing against all restraint. Yet it is that out of which the influence of heaven can draw up the fertilizing rain, as God’s mercy draws from man’s misery its opportunity to display itself. The very picture of trial is found in “those who go down to the sea in ships, who have their business in the great waters;” but “these men see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.” (Psa 107:1-43.) Trial is needed because of what we are, is adapted to our condition, and in it God’s governmental ways are often most clearly seen.

The line passes then seaward from Baalah to Mount Seir. Evidently the repetition of the last named, Baalah, is meant to show how it governs the next part of the road: pride must be abased, yet the road does not at once descend; on the contrary we find a “mount;” but we are going seaward, (the way of trial) and the mount is “Seir,” the “rugged.” The name certainly has no pleasant suggestion for an Israelite, though of course not Esau’s mount, but only like it. It suggests hostility as well as roughness; and though God “gave Mount Seir to Esau,” it was as a gift suited to the man, -a rough abode for a rough person. After all, an Edomite might flourish where an Israelite would starve.

A mount was not necessarily of evil significance, as we know. Mount Zion is to be the joy of the whole earth. Israel’s portion was largely mountain. Yet to humble the pride indicated by Baalah, a “rough mount” would be more suited than a valley. if we seek high things God may give them to make us realize that adversity may easily come in this shape. Thus Mount Seir is “seaward” from Baalah.

God’s guidance is for blessing in all this; and thus now we find the line passing to the shoulder of another mount, not rugged but leafy, the “mount of woods;” which cannot but recall the “city of woods,” which was the other name for Baalah itself. But there is no city here; it is as if passed away; and only the woods remain, a mountain of woods, not perhaps as rough as Seir, but hardly pleasantly suggestive yet. The city is gone, the hum of busy intercourse is exchanged for the loneliness in which we come so often to a better mind; and there before us are only the “woods” -the profitless prodigality of pride, emphasized as this last by being a mountain forest.

We are traveling northward, facing mysteries which we have to learn; and the token that they are being learnt is naturally in the interpretation here -“that is Chesalon:” only a slightly changed form of the last word in the sentence of the Psalmist upon those whose “inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever and their dwelling places, unto all generations, and” who “call the lands after their own names. This their way” he says “is their folly.” The word means “confidence” as well as folly, folly of a false confidence. But here we are surely not to take it as the sentence passed by another, but by a soul upon itself. The “city” that should have remained is passed; its houses have not continued: there is not Kirjath-Jearim, but only Jearim. It is repentance wrought by God in the soul; in evidence of which the line now runs downward; there is self-humbling; and the next place that is reached is how different! It is Beth-shemesh, “the abode of the sun.”

For the sun dwells in the valleys; though the spiritual truth goes beyond the natural type. But in the valleys its influence is most felt, even naturally. Of the spiritual truth, “thus saith the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a humble and contrite spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isa 57:15.) Thus Beth-shemesh could not be reached but on the descent: how beautifully every turn of the line develops the meaning! how plainly the spiritual meaning governs all! Is there not in all this verbal inspiration? Surely no one who reverently examines it can longer question! But to proceed:

“And it went down to Beth-shemesh, and passed Timnah.” Timnah means “apportionment,” “what is measured out.” A beautiful sign of true humbling and of one with whom the high and lofty One dwells, that he takes his portion now as measured out by Him and craves no more.

(6) “And the border went out to the shoulder of Ekron northward.” Ekron seems to mean “rooting out;” and we have before met with it as a Philistine city. While the meaning of the word must of course be the same, its application, when Ekron became Israelite, would be naturally different. Ekron falls within Judah’s boundary-line, and is named afterward as a city of Judah; yet it is given to Dan. If we are spiritually to apply it as the eradication of sin, it will indeed naturally fall to the latter as a necessary part of self-judgment; yet if Judah’s “praise” be the “confession of Christ’s name,” His having suffered for sins is part of the confession, which Peter links for us with “ceasing from” them (1Pe 3:18; 1Pe 4:1.) We must preserve this link with Judah, while we give Dan the city.

But what is meant by the eradication of sin? Not certainly the rooting out of the old nature, as some dream. The flesh lusts against the Spirit even in one who has the Spirit; and the remedy prescribed by the apostle is not, Root out the flesh, nor yet, Ask God to root it out, but “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil its lusts.” (Gal 5:16-17.) It has been suggested by some, that the lusting of the flesh is only in such unspiritual men as the Galatians; but the apostle certainly had not a lower standard for such than for others. What kind of “eradication” then can one speak of? Well, the keeping one’s garden clean of weeds, although one cannot destroy their germs out of the soil. We are not to be letting one kind alone, or even cultivating it while we root out others. And one may be so little skilled as not to know weeds from flowers. ,There the apostle’s word comes in: “I exercise myself that I may have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men.” (Act 24:16.) This earnest and absolute unsparing dealing with all sin is what seems to be meant by Ekron here.

(7) Under the number seven we expect to hear of the completion of this line of thought; and so we do: “The border was drawn to Shicron,” “satiation with drink,” not necessarily in a bad sense. “Drink abundantly, O beloved” (in Son 5:1), is the same word. “And passed Mount Baalah, and went out to Jabneel.” Baalah we have had before, and the repetition cannot be without meaning. Kirjath-jearim, its other name, is similarly repeated as to the last part of it, becoming also Mount Jearim, as here we have Mount Baalah. We are surely intended to draw these comparisons. Baalah is here not a city of man’s making, but something of God’s making. It does not exalt itself; as before: it is exalted. Then notice the last name, Jabneel; it means, “God is the builder” -not man. How plain, if we put all this together, the lesson seems to be, that the exaltation which man misses, when seeking it for himself; God has for him in His own way, and satiates thus man’s thirst to the full! “I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness.” (Psa 17:15.)

(8) Here the border ends at the sea, -somewhat disappointingly at first sight. And why the number 8, which would be suited enough to remind us of eternity, but what is its object here?

(d) The sea is the west border of Judah throughout, -the fourth border, -most suitably stamped thus with what speaks of trial. But those whom the sea tries, brought to their wits’ end by it, and crying to Him in their trouble, find the wonderful works of God. The shore which is Judah’s limit is that also which He has given the sea, and it cannot pass it, nor turn again to cover the earth. Every way trial ends in the demonstration of the power of God, and that He is for His people. At the sea, Jabneel, “God is the builder,” proves itself in this barrier of sand, so slight as it appears, in fact so mighty. In this lesson these two lines unite. The sea is not to exist forever: in the new world there will be none; but it will abide in the voice from it which will eternally proclaim the glory of God in His mastery of all circumstances, whereby all things work together for good, whatever their character. All conflict and trial past we shall praise God for the sea, and it will abide for us, as apostles and prophets abide, in the work that they have accomplished for us. May not this be the meaning of the number 8, with which the last section closes?

(3) And now we return once more to Caleb, whose history is so interwoven with this delineation of Judah’s possession as to show plainly its great importance for us in connection with the general lesson. Yet it has been supposed,from facts which will have to be considered in another place, that he was not himself by right of birth a member of the tribe. And this seems confirmed by what is said here, that he was given a portion among the children of Judah according to the word of the Lord, although this last may relate to what follows rather than to what precedes. Caleb seems to have been of Edomite stock, one of those believers from among the Gentiles, of whom we find many prominent examples in the history of God’s people, and of whom our Lord might have uttered the words concerning the Roman centurion, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Alas, the faith found among those brought up in a certain familiarity with divine things that have only availed to deaden the wonder of them, is so apt to be dulled to the average as it were between faith and unfaith; lacking the individuality that appears in those of whom we think as having lesser advantage.

Of Caleb’s conquest we have no details. To those with whom God is, what is all the banded strength of the sons of Anak? Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai are dispossessed, and Hebron is his own. The names of the three children of Anak are not easy to interpret, and one can only venture to suggest their significance. As Anakim, (“the long-necked”) of whom it was said, “who can stand before the children of Anak?” they may well represent the different forms of the pride of heart from which God is far off, and which is therefore the most terrible hindrance to the believer’s possession of Hebron, that is “communion.” Sheshai, which means most probably “white,” may in this way speak of self-righteousness, the pride of personal character; Ahiman, if we may take it with Fausset to mean, “who is my brother?” of the pride of station, birth, or worldly condition; Talmai, “my furrows,” of the pride of work accomplished, of one’s doings. This certainly might well represent the whole family of Anak. They all fall before whole-hearted Caleb; and they as surely will before every one like him.

Hebron is his own, but that is not his only possession. We hear at this point of another city which has already come before us, and of the meaning of which there is no question. Debir, we find, has had, like Hebron, its Canaanite name: it was Kirjath-sepher, the “city of the book;” and how striking it is that in Caleb’s hands the city of the book becomes the place of a divine oracle! a written word merely is exchanged for a living Voice, the voice of Him who when the heart is right with Him, delights to draw near and speak to the heart of the worshiper. Is not Debir in fitting company with Hebron? is it not its rightful complement? For the Christian of course, the “oracle” is not divorced from the “book:” it neither displaces nor overrides it. Nay, the “living oracles” is the title of Scripture itself, which faith owns and finds true. God never sets aside His Word; but the Spirit of God works with it and energizes it that it may be this to us, giving us the full reality of the divine Presence. Alas! how few yet know this in the measure it should be known!

It is not however Caleb himself who takes Debir, but Othniel, either his nephew, or a much younger brother, who gets, according to promise, Achsah Caleb’s daughter for his wife. Achsah would seem to mean “anklet,” as Othniel is said to be “lion of God.” What follows, however, is full of significance. Achsah on coming to him had* urged him to ask of her father a field, and she had got it, but in a south land -dry and needy: she boldly therefore goes further, and begs her father to give her springs of water. He gives her abundantly: upper springs and lower springs.

{*So I think it should be read, otherwise the connection is very difficult.}

But who cannot see that, if these be “living oracles,” there must be something deeper here? If only history, it would not seem very remarkable or worthy of preservation: and yet it is actually singled out from the midst of things apparently much more important, for repetition in the book of Judges. What is there so noteworthy in a young woman asking of her father a field and water? Yet we are warned carefully against looking for “gospel” in it! No wonder, if this be the temper of even orthodox commentators, that the “higher critics” should be encouraged, and God’s people should be starved.

If we will only remember that “all these things happened to them for types,” and that we have thus in type our own portion before us, how fruitful indeed, and well worth of double emphasis, Achsah’s story becomes. Would only that we had her eagerness after a good portion, with every requisite for its enjoyment! would that we might be bold also to add prayer to prayer, making one gift the argument for another, until we had blessing indeed! Here we may be permitted to lose sight even of the large-hearted Caleb, and to think of One who surely gives with His “whole heart.” Suppose Achsah had argued, “My father has given me already what he wished to give. I must not desire too much, nor reproach him as if his gift were not good enough,” -what would she have done with her south land, and no water? And just so God often gives what He knows necessitates more, and delights in the faith that says, not “It is enough,” but “It is not enough.” Of course, we are speaking of spiritual gifts, although the principle is of wider application, if we are only near enough to God to apply it rightly. But our land -our portion with Him -is a “south land.” It faces the sun, and we need the Sun: we never can have too much of it; precious things are put forth by the Sun: all we need is water, springs of water, living water; and Caleb’s liberality in this respect is but the faint image of God’s.

Our portion is workable land: it calls for diligence, for labor upon it; and it will repay labor richly too. Would that the people of God would realize this more! Ah, how it needs to be insisted upon, to be repeated, not once only, but continually. And thus the precious Word of God, by which alone our portion is made our own, how we should search it, dig into it, not be content to leave it so much to a special class to assert patent rights as its interpreters, while thankful for every right thought that any can contribute to us. But we must seek and use the water above all; for the south land is one of all lands most dependent; and we know how to ask believingly from Him who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not.

Then there are “upper springs and lower springs,” -those that spring out of valleys as well as out of hills, -wonderful high levels with large outlook, and low places, as in the valley of humiliation, where the streams linger, and fruits corresponding to each plane. There are glorious heights where, far above all storms, we gaze into clear, transparent, measureless infinity. And there are sweet recesses where we are shut in and see little, but where still there is the same Presence and the same Voice: “breadth and length and depth and height” are with all their variety still filled with one uniting, unifying blessedness, “the love of Christ that passeth knowledge.”

(4) We have now a detailed list of the cities of Judah, in which we are evidently not to think (or but secondarily,) of the people that filled them. They stand rather for localities, varied circumstances, conditions, experiences, in and through which God is known, and the worship of His people ascends to Him. It is thus, as I believe, they fill the fourth place here.

It is but a list of names, which seem indeed to have little for us, except as we find it in the meanings Of the names themselves. The best of commentators find here nothing but topography, and can give nothing but criticisms upon the language and historical references. There is surely room, therefore, for another treatment of them, which, if it can in any tolerable way give them consistent spiritual meaning, will demonstrate itself as true interpretation. If it speak to us in coherent language, -if it bring us lessons of holy wisdom, -why should we doubt that there is mind behind it? and then whose mind can it be but that of Him whom all His works confess?

We dread imagination; yet God has given us imagination, and appeals to it. We may abuse it -truly: not a good gift but may be abused. Have we not as much cause to dread the unbelief that carries with it its badge of weary dullness and inanity, which, because it is unbelief, can never “see the glory of God”? Scripture is fuller of this than even our imagination can easily suggest; and indeed it is imagination (for unbelief has its own,) that we have to oppose here with Scripture, -Scripture which asserts for itself that it is all “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” so that we must suppose even a list of Israel’s cities should be that. Let us see if, by God’s goodness, we may discover this: let us seek, that we may find. And Christians should be able to discern the difference between the day-dreams of the visionary and the clear sight of faith. “I speak as to wise men,” says the apostle; “judge ye what I say.”

One may freely confess that the subject is a peculiarly difficult one. The names are often hard to interpret, and the vocabularies give a bewildering variety of meanings. They are often capable of very different ones, and the difficulty is increased by conjectural vagaries of critics, who are as much troubled with imagination as any poor allegorical interpreter needs to be.

But there are difficulties with the text also, and some mistakes seem undoubtedly to have crept into the copies. These we shall have occasion to notice as we come to them. Here, if any where in Scripture, they would naturally be found. The numerical symbolism should be of the greatest help here, as it is all through, a check upon mere fancy instead of a loose rein to it, which brings in, indeed, something of the certainty of mathematical science into interpretation. If any one imagines otherwise, let him try any list of names in an uninspired book, and see how he will succeed, with the help of the liveliest fancy, in finding in it the faintest resemblance to what we trust to show to be here.

(a) The cities are gathered in larger and smaller groups, and sometimes numbered. Here again is a help to true interpretation, a guard against a false one. We have separately the cities in the south, (the Negeb;) in the Shephelah, or lowland; in the hill-country; and in the wilderness. The south (or Negeb, not the usual term for the south quarter,) we have seen already to speak of a dry land, yet productive, if its one necessity be met -that of water. As facing Edom, and the more distant Egypt, it is a land peculiarly dependent upon the rain of heaven. It was full of cities once, now shut up in desolation. As a needy land, it was well fitted to remind the dwellers in it of the divine Hand upon which they were dependent. It will be no wonder, then, if its cities preach specially to us of the power and work of God, as in fact they do; lying also more or less near to the southern border, the line of which we have followed throughout.

(*) The smaller divisions may be traced by the want of the usual conjunction, the first group in this way consisting of nine cities, which would again, according to the usual division of nine, fall into three threes. Thus already the structure is marked out for us before we have looked at a name, and we have a strict curb upon imagination. These are the numbers attached to the names and their divisions; if the symbolism of numbers is preserved here, then they will be justified by the significance throughout:

1. -1. Kedesh, 2. Hazor, 3. Ithnan.

2. -1. Kabzeel, 2. Eder, 3. Jagur;

3. -1. Kinah, 2. Dimonah, 3. Adadah;

We must take them up separately first, before we can see the meaning of this classification.

“Kabzeel” means “God gathers;” and the name of God (El) is that which speaks of power. A good thing for Israel to be reminded of and a real foundation for a nation’s praise. It affirms their unity as from God, the practical accomplishment of it as from His mighty hand. As a first thought, it is also a simple one, and numerically clear.

“Eder” is “flock,” from a verb which according to Parkhurst means “to separate, sever, distribute:” “a flock of sheep or herd of kine, which are separated or disposed at the will of the herdsman.” Such a flock too is Israel, to be distributed and disposed at the will of their Great Shepherd; and this is the natural sequence and supplement to the thought in “Kabzeel,” in some sense antithetical also, as their numbers are.

“Jagur” means “he sojourns,” the word used by the Psalmist for “abiding” in God’s tabernacle. (Psa 15:1; Psa 61:4.) The land of Israel was God’s, and they were His guests -“strangers and sojourners with Me,” He says. (Lev 25:23.)

God’s sovereignty shines in these three names, and is the thread that unites them together. He gathers them by His power, arranges and disposes of them in His wisdom, entertains them in sovereign goodness; and these are surely all materials for praise. These cities lie also near the border of Edom, and in a marked way characterize Israel as in opposition to the independence and profanity of Esau.

But if God is owned their Sovereign in the first three, He is seen no less as their Saviour in the second three; and this comes in natural as well as numerical order here. For “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Thus we have now

Kinah, which, from kanah, may mean “purchase.”

Dimonah, “sufficient numbering,” the terms of the purchase: “He was numbered with the transgressors:” the full price paid.

Lastly, Adadah, which may most literally mean, “the prey has departed.” For “therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong: because He hath poured out His soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors, and bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

The third series suitably begins, as a Leviticus one, with Kedesh, the “sanctuary.” It is Kadesh-barnea that is meant, and which we know was on the southern boundary; but “barnea,” “the wanderer,” is rejected, as unsuitable to what is here, and only the first part retained.

Hazor also, “an enclosure,” is, with Kadesh, on the boundary; but

Ithnan is a place which is only mentioned here, and means, apparently, “he shall spread himself abroad.” Thus we have again easily connected thoughts: a sanctuary -a safe retreat; an enclosure -a hedge around; and yet that only keeps out evil, does not prevent extension and multiplication. These thoughts all connect with sanctification, but speak, as all do here, rather of work done for one that this may be, than of the internal work, except in some measure the last, which gives the result, and which, as the third name in a third series, naturally emphasizes more what is internal. Here, then, the first group of cities is completed: in it divine power manifests itself throughout.

(**) The second series has but five names, and is a simple one. Young gives the first, Ziph, as “place of refining,” and this seems to agree well with the general thought of the series, and to characterize it. Humiliation and its results seem to be here spoken of, and this is a deeper necessity for us, and a matter for more abundant praise, than it is easy to believe. Yet if pride was that by which an angel became a devil, the sin which alone seems possible to one in all the created perfection which Ezekiel ascribes to him (Eze 28:15; Eze 28:17), one may not wonder if even as saints we have to be guarded in every possible way against it.

Telem, “oppression,” -a strange word amid the rest -seems thus, however, intelligible; and from God’s hand it may come sweetened, though an enemy for enmity alone be the oppressor.

Bealoth, “on the ascent,” comes suitably in the third place; for with God there is always a way out; and a way out is always a way up. Then comes, under the number of weakness,

Hazor-hadattah, a “new enclosure,” a fencing about still for safety, while relieved from the past distress; and then

Kerioth-hetzron, “cities of enclosure,” which is, after all, old Hazor with a new meaning. When the fencing round is found to be the folding about of the everlasting arms, and that is consciously fulfilled to the soul, “Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance” (Psa 32:7), then begins the stir of busy, fruitful life of which the “cities” speak.

All this is Judah’s portion; and we have only looked at a little corner yet.

(***) With the third group, another nine, we come to what is strictly internal work -divine work in the soul;* a theme for praise indeed, as that which alone makes competent for praise. These nine divide once more (as nine seems always to do) into three threes:

1. -1. Amam, 2. Shema, 3. Moladah;

2. -1. Hazar-gadda, 2. Heshmon, 3. Beth-pelet;

3. -1. Hazar-shual, 2. Beersheba, 3. Biziothiah.

{*For full detail as to the nine names here, see my tract, “From Amam to Biziothiah.”}

The first three begin with that with which all here must begin, -with new birth.

“Amam:” I take it to mean “their mother,” and to refer to the common mother of us all. Eve fallen has involved in her fall all the children descended naturally from her: “Behold, I was shapers in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psa 51:5.) With this truth, sad and humbling as it is, we must begin, or we cannot understand the necessity for new birth. Two words, which we must connect together in order to apprehend their force, give us now this very simply.

“Shema,” “report,” and

“Moladah,” “birth,” thus easily convey to us the truth which Peter emphasizes, -“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” (1Pe 1:23.) “Faith cometh by a report, and the report by the word of God.” (Rom 10:17, Gk.) Here the first triad ends; the first stage of the journey is reached.

“Hazar-gaddah,” an “enclosure of conflict” begins the next three. This is now the internal strife which is found after new birth, -“I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” (Rom 7:23.) “Hazar,” “enclosure,” speaks, on the other hand, of the law of God, which while we are under it in conscience, holds us in for conflict. “The strength of sin is the law,” though it condemns and urges us against it. This is the lesson of Pharaoh, Migdol, and the Sea, and which is acted out for us in that grand type. A new deliverance is needed, of which we have the method revealed in

“Heshmon,” “quiet reckoning.” We do not conquer by fighting, but by faith: “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 7:25.) It is by learning our place before God in Christ, in full simplicity, and that God does not identify us with the evil in us, but with Him who by His cross has put it away, that we reach

“Beth-pelet,” “the house of escape,” the sanctuary into which He has entered, and where He abides for us. How safe and complete a shelter! But it is in the third series that we find the full result. As in all three, the first of the triad is the most mysterious: it is

“Hazar-shual,” “the enclosure of the jackal” -“the jackal-pen.” “Shual” is the word translated “foxes” in the common version, but for which, in general “jackal” is allowed to be better. Both are “burrowers,” as the word means; but the jackal only is a carrion-feeder, as Psa 63:10, and gregarious, as Samson’s exploit would imply. (Jdg 15:4.) The two former habits, and the whole connection in which we find the word here, induce the belief that it is the symbol of the evil nature, the flesh, with its earthliness and its greed for corruption. This jackal-nature cannot be slain, moreover. It can be “penned,” and thus practically “annulled,” the real word in Rom 6:6, the fruit of faith in what the cross has done for us: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Faith indeed must keep the pen, even when deliverance is fully known; and so it is further written, “Reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God in Christ Jesus;” and “Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” (vv. 11, 12.) The knowledge of deliverance, however, by a soul practically in the faith of it, pens the jackal-nature.

So we come to “Beersheba,” “the well of the oath,” or “of the seven,” the number of lambs by which the well that he had dug was secured to Abraham. So to the delivered believer the well of water is secured by divine promise, founded on the perfection of what Christ is for God. All the fullness of the Spirit belongs to him, and yet not without the need of diligence on his part, as the well implies: not a free-flowing spring, though this is the suited symbol at other times, but the need recognized of maintaining access to these living waters. The numerical place dwells upon the office of the Spirit as a witness to Christ.

Lastly, we have “Biziothiah,” which Young gives as “the house of Jah’s olives.” It may be, more simply, “among Jah’s olives;” but either yields a good sense. Not only is the believer granted access to the living water, he is himself a vessel of the Spirit, of which the oil of the olive is an undoubted symbol. The oil resides in the olive; and so the Psalmist: “But I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.” (Psa 52:8.)

How beautifully do these names tell out, from first to last, the internal work in the soul of the saint! The exact numerical significance may be traced just as fully, Hazar-gaddah, as the first of the second series, speaking of the reign of law; and the series itself, of deliverance from the law; Hazar-shual, the first of the third series, of the dominion of the Spirit; and the series itself, of realized sanctification. What could be more entirely appropriate and more beautiful? The other numbers are easy.

(****) We come now to the fourth group of these cities of the south, and which ends the catalogue. Here we have in our Bibles thirteen names, a number of which as yet we have no knowledge. The two final names, indeed, “Ain and Rimmon,” says Keil, “are given as Simeonite towns, and, being written without the copula, are treated as one name in Jos 19:7 and 1Ch 4:32, although they are reckoned as two separate towns in chap. 19: 7. But as they were also called “En-Rimmon” after the captivity, and are given as one single place in Neh 11:29, they were probably so close together that in the course of time they grew into one.” Some would reckon them, therefore, as one here; and if that could be done, the number would be 12, which, according to what seems as yet the constant law, would be divided as four threes. Trying to divide them thus, however, there seems not a ray of light as to their meaning.

The whole number of these cities of the Negeb is given in ver. 32 as twenty-nine -“twenty-nine cities and their villages.” But there are, in fact, thirty-six names, and not twenty-nine; and commentators have in general, with Keil, taken this as a textual error, the Syriac version reading thirty-six, which would be right. However, the correction would be very easy to be made, and quite likely to be a critical emendation only, as Fay allows.

But another alternative has been adopted by other commentators; and Hollenbeck suggests that the additional names have been interpolated from Neh 11:1-36. This is unlikely enough, for the books are too far apart in time. A more likely interpolation, if we must (as seems plain,) suppose error somewhere, would be from Simeon’s cities, as given in chap. 19. The cities of Simeon, who was to be “scattered in Israel,” were all given him in Judah’s territory; and some of them have been actually thus already mentioned, as Moladah, Hazar-shual, and Beersheba, -names which assuredly we could not afford to lose out of the places which they occupy. Moreover, if we would blot out all Simeonite cities out of the list, there would be now a deficiency as before an excess. Blot them out, however, out of this fourth part only,* the number becomes exactly right -twenty-nine cities.

{*They are bracketed in the text above.}

Moreover, looking at the list so altered, light begins at once to dawn on us. There are thus but six cities left, if we retain Baalah, which may indeed very probably be the Balah of Simeon, filling the right place in the list in the nineteenth chapter; but which, if so, is essentially altered in meaning as well as in spelling, so that we cannot reckon it as the same really. 6 is a more likely number than 12 in such a record as the present, approaching, and indeed going beyond, 4 in its significance of evil, and yet, as we know, speaking of it always as under the curb of divine power, and of final victory over it. While 12, though related to 4 -as 4 x 3 -contains the 4 as the earth-number, being manifest divine government over the earth. 4, in the present case, speaks rather of the weakness and failure of the creature, which, taken in connection with the 6 of victory, a distinct meaning emerges at once for the whole series.

And here, first, “Baalah,” “mistress,” whose lesson we have already in another Baalah upon the northern boundary. Its clear right to its numerical place, and its indication of that pride that goeth before a fall are equally plain.

Then “Iim,” the plural of “Ai,” “heaps of ruins,” gives the fall itself; not, I think, that outward fall which is often but the judgment upon the sin, leading, as in Peter’s case, to self-judgment and recovery from it, but rather a simply spiritual collapse, which may be startling often in its rapidity.

Thirdly -the number of manifestation, -“Chesil,” when applied to man, is invariably, in our Bible, translated “fool.” It is a word we have met before in but a slightly altered form, (in connection too with Baalah,) as Chesalon, on the northern boundary; and there, as significant of folly in a special form, “the folly of a false confidence.” This is what ever, indeed, deceives man to his fall, a false faith being as potent for evil as the true for good, and this faith being constantly self-confidence in some form. “Having no confidence in the flesh” means, for the Christian, power in the Spirit; and in this sense, “happy is the man that feareth always, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.” (Pro 28:14.) Here is the divine interpretation of failure.

Fourthly, “Madmannah” gives the open downfall which brings man into his native weakness, and so to himself. Most give it, indeed, as “dung-hill;” but in Jer 48:2 there is a play upon the name, though of another place: “Thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen;” perhaps, “Thou shalt be leveled, O leveler;” where the R.V., “Thou shalt be put to silence,” seems to miss the connection. The Septuagint and Vulgate agree in rendering the word as “cart” of a threshing-floor (Isa 25:10); and such a figure would be quite appropriate here. God has to humble and bring down when we have stiffened ourselves against Him, though the wheat is only helped by the threshing, and even Satan’s sieve He uses to accomplish this.

“Sansannah,” “palm-cluster,” then speaks of peaceable fruits of righteousness found by exercise under God’s chastening hand. And

“Shilhim,” “armed” men, in the sixth place, which speaks of victory, may remind us of how experience of the past prepares for the future, and the weapons of the enemy taken from his hand may be used against him.

Thus, in view of failure also, we can praise our unfailing God. The furnace of trial is secured by covenant for us, and, if we endure chastening, God dealeth with us as with sons. Here the enumeration of the cities of the Negeb ends, and the numerical structure, in the consistent exposition which it gives of the last portion, seems to prove the number 29 of the closing verse to be the true one, and therefore the interpolation of names from the Simeonite list, the order being also exactly similar in the two places.

(b) We come now to the cities of the lowland, a term which, though objected to by some, is only the simple rendering of “Shephelah.” As a district, however, it includes both the Philistine plains and the low hills, and does not extend north of Carmel. In its designation it is already physically in agreement with the number attached to it. Whatever may be the connection, it seems to me, however, that relationship is what is pictured in the cities now before us; and here in the first place the need of new relations, because of the rupture of the old by sin. And these new relations, which are in and through Christ, meant for Him that wondrous humiliation which “shephelah” from shaphel,” to humble, would point out.

(*) The cities here are arranged in three larger groups first, of which connection, fourteen names, “Gederah” and “Gederothaim” being only the singular and dual forms of the same word, and given as alternative names for the same place, and the connective “ye” being used for “or” as well as “and.” Otherwise there would be fifteen cities, and the number given would be in disagreement with the facts, as some believe they are. But we are not at liberty to suppose changes in the text, when there is no absolute need of them, and there seems none here.

The arrangement of the names, as indicated by the presence or absence of the conjunction, is 5, 2, 2, 5, or thus:

Eshtaol and Zoreah and Ashnah and Zanoah and Engannim

Tappuah and Enam;

Jarmuth and Adullam;

Socoh and Azekah and Shaaraim and Adithaim and Gederah, or Gederothaim.

And, first, “Eshtaol,” a word, like many others, capable of diverse significations, means, if we may judge by the connection, “strong woman;” and this seems to lead us back, as in a previous group, to the beginning. “Strong woman” looks, indeed, like pure satire upon Eve, who fell at the first breath of temptation; yet, in fact she ventured upon her strength when the sense of weakness and insufficiency would have preserved her. Adam was not deceived, but she waited not for counsel from him to whom God had joined her. She acted in independence, and then proved her strength only to pull down her husband with her in her fall. Here, alas, she was strong enough, and how often since has this story repeated itself! Thus

“Zoreah,” “hornet,” which derives its name from its virulent “stroke,” -a word closely related to that for leprosy, the well-known type of sin in its inward malignancy, -stands in ominous conjunction with this woman’s strength. And this is what strength in man naturally connects itself with ever since, and the secret of overcoming still is, “When I am weak, then am I strong.”

“Ashnah,” next, may mean “returning,” closely related to “shanah,” “year,” which is a revolution of the seasons, a circle returning into itself. And thus man’s life has become but a brief cycle of development and decay, and the voice that called man from the dust, says, “Return, ye children of men.” (Psa 90:3.) This is the seal divinely put upon man’s condition, to manifest it to himself. His link with God is gone. The old relation is ended, and though man exists beyond death, it is naturally only in, a state to which judgment has brought him.

But if man but accepts this judgment, there is mercy with God, and thus in the next place, under the number which speaks of weakness and of failure, “Zanoah” announces a “provision of rest.” Not in the grave, thank God, but in restoration to Him. Then Paradise returns, and this the fifth name declares

“En-gannim,” a “fountain of gardens,” -Eden, as it were, multiplied, and watered by living water, with the vision of which the revelation of God closes; the next thing is perfection -“face to face.”

Is it but the old relationship restored? No, blessed be God again, it is not. This the next two names, held fast to each other, tell us:

“Tappuah and Enam,” as the lexicons say, “an apple” and a “double spring.”

Common thought is that the “apple” was the instrument of man’s fall. Here, at least, an apple may disclose the mystery of man’s recovery. The simplest things in nature are full of divine secrets. We miss them because we so little care to find them. The world has abundant treasures to pour out at the feet of him who is not of the world, and it will be good if we find in this place a lesson of this kind.

“Tappuah,” -whether “apple,” “citron,” “apricot,” or whatever the learned may decide it to be, -is named in Hebrew from its fragrance: it means “breather,” its emitted fragrance being called its “breath.” But what then has this for us? Let us meditate upon it and see. “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly unto them, that thy profiting may appear unto all.”

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”

This is figurative language also. All the deepest things are expressed to us in figures. God’s inbreathing into man, never said to have been with the beasts, is that which implies the new and peculiar relationship between Him and this new creature of His making. Man is the offspring of God, and thus in his image. His spirit is from the “Father of spirits;” and the word which answers to this in Hebrew, as in our own language, is in fact identical with the word “breath.” But God’s breath, what is it? Common air? And man’s spirit, what is it? That which is in constant influx and reflux, -never at a stay? This rubbish of materialism the devil must laugh over, when he sees the flimsy structures men can build with it. No, this breath of God is man’s true, personal, and eternal essence, -spirit from the Spirit, and “what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?” It is the permanent difference which exists between himself and every other being that exists upon the earth.

But the relationship which is here with God can only abide aright as man abides in moral likeness also. This the Lord affirms to the Jews, who claimed God for their Father. (Joh 8:42.) The competency for the place is lost by moral insolvency, and God must again come in by salvation and quickening from the dead, that men may be restored. Thus, again, having recourse to the figures by which God is pleased to communicate so often His deep things to us, the Lord, in the midst of His disciples, on the day of His resurrection from the dead, “breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” (Joh 20:22.) As “last Adam” now, in contrast with the first, who as breathed upon, became a living soul, He is a “quickening Spirit.” (1Co 15:45.) A new life from God in Christ brings His people into new and better relationship, and Christ is the Inspirer, -“Breather,” “Tappuah,” of whom the spouse may indeed say, “His mouth is most sweet.” (Son 5:16.) Here, indeed, is fragrance from God and for God Himself.

And then we have “Enam,” “a double spring,” -living waters. “He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” Here is surely the spring, -yea, the “double spring,” -for such was the pentecostal gift. It was not merely what all saints had enjoyed from the beginning, but a double portion and more, transcending that: but I cannot dwell upon it now. Thus does the new life attain its fullness for us.

From resurrection to ascension is the natural progress of thought, and we must remember that we do not lose Him from the place of representative which he took for us upon the cross, when we follow Him back to his eternal home in glory. He is gone “to appear in the presence of God for us.” (Heb 9:24.) Thus the two names bound together next can present no difficulty. We have, first

“Jarmuth,” “elevation,” “exaltation,” a name with which we are already familiar, if not in this application; and then

“Adullam,” the most literal rendering of which word would seem undoubtedly to be “in very deed a witness.” How simply applicable to Him who has gone in for men as Man, the testimony to the value of His completed work and of the acceptance therefore of His people! Our relation to God is characterized for us on the one side by the new life we have in Him, and on the other by the heavens opened and furnished by His presence there.

The fourth group of five names is less plain as to the detail, though its general significance is surely warning, -so far as we have gone yet, the one exception of this kind we have found among the themes with which Judah’s cities engage us. We have here

First, “Socoh:” either “his hedge,” or, as in Lam 2:6, “his tabernacle,” and then

“Azekah,” “fencing round,” or, as more generally taken, “breach,” two nearly opposite thoughts. But “his hedge” with “fencing round,” would seem mere tautology, and his tabernacle,” if it be applied to God, would seem to make the idea of being broken through less probable. Would not the thought be that God having thus, as all that goes before has shown, drawn near to men, He must “fence round” this grace from rash intrusion? To treat grace as grace is none. This glorifies God, and is His way of blessing for us. All may come freely who will come through Christ; but how many would draw near Cain-like without the shelter of the blood? Thus He Himself reminds us of the “strait gate “and the “wide,” the “narrow way” and the “broad,” and of these the next two names surely strikingly bear testimony:

“Shaaraim,” “two gates,” and

“Adithaim,” “two ways!”

The fifth name, “Gederah,” with its apparent variation merely, “Gederothaim,” is again more difficult. The word means a wall or enclosure, generally, at least, of stone, such as was used often at night for the protection of sheep,” a sheep-fold,” or “two sheep-folds.” The numerical place seems to speak of the end of the way and the dual form of the final word to carry the previous alternatives to their conclusion. The word is not always an enclosure for sheep, and there may be intentional ambiguity, significant as that. This seems not difficult to understand. But why the first “Gederah?” May it be that divine love would have but one enclosure -one happy fold at last, but that man’s way necessitates two, how different? This is only a suggestion; but it is at least a sweet while solemn thought with which to end the series. God is calling men, whose old relationship to Him sin has broken, to new relationship with Him in a higher way. Man’s will is, alas, a terrible factor in the final result; and, “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life,” are words that apply yet even to multitudes that are professedly Christ’s own people.

(**) The second series of the cities of the Shephelah, sixteen in number, seems to represent the service implied in relationship, as the first series has shown us the ground of it. All relationship, of necessity, supposes duty as flowing from it, and that on both sides, and as various as are the aspects of the relationship itself. It is only as we come to look at the names that we shall be able to see just what the Lord has chosen to bring before us here.

There are three groups, of six, seven, and three names respectively:

Zenan, Hadasha, Migdal-gad, Dilean, Mizpeh, Joktheel;

Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, Cabbon, Lahmam, Kithlish, Gederoth;

Beth-dagon, Naamah, Makkedah.

The place of each number in this is again definitely determined for us, and we have no choice at all about it. For this we may be very thankful, for even the significance of the names is at times quite difficult to make out, and then they are in their nature symbolical -true hieroglyphs, and we need all the help that can be obtained to read them.

“Zenan,” the first of the first group, signifies “sheep,” or “a place of sheep.” We are in a part of the land, and among names which remind us of these, as “Gederah” and “Gederothaim” in the first series, and another “Gederoth” further on in the present one. Standing where it does -at the head of the series, it would naturally suggest to us a relation of His people to their Lord, which He Himself emphasized strongly. As the “good Shepherd,” He laid down His life for the sheep: as the “great Shepherd” “brought again from the dead, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” He guides them now. On their part the terms suppose docility and obedience, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” We have next

“Hadashah,” “new,” where the only difficulty can be as to what it refers to. “Other sheep I have,” says the Lord again, “which are not of this” Jewish “fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock,” -not “fold,” -“one Shepherd.” One flock of Jews and Gentiles together, outside the legal fold, kept together by the one authoritative voice they know and follow. To this the word may well apply.

“Migdal-gad,” “tower of the troop,” may also have reference to a flock. Such towers were built for its safety; for better watching against beasts or men; and with Micah the “tower of the flock” is “the stronghold of the daughter of Zion.” (Mic 4:8.) The exalted Lord, with all power His in heaven and in earth, thus cares for His people, and none can pluck them out of His hand.

Thus they are provided for. But the fourth name suggests quite different thoughts, and yet in complete accordance with the number. “Dilean” signifies, as I believe, weak with humbling,” and brings back to our thoughts once more the condition in itself so healthful for us, yet to which we have often to be brought by such painful discipline. The sheep is naturally weak and defenseless enough, and no further image should be needed to convey such a thought to us; but we know well that we have to be reminded of and made to realize this condition, that we may be content to remain in the place of dependence, and follow without straying from the Great Shepherd.

Of this, I think, the next word, “Mizpeh,” the “watch-tower,” is intended to remind us. It comes in the fifth place, under the number of responsibility, and is surely not meant to repeat the thought of Migdal. The words of the Psalmist rather give the meaning, “In the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will watch.” (Psa 5:3; ) or, those of the Prophet, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” (Hab 2:1.)

This watching is indeed the product of “Migdal” and “Dilean” together, as we may say, -of the apprehension of our weakness and of His wise and holy guardianship and guidance: “Behold, as the eyes of a servant look unto the hand of his master, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God.” And how, indeed, apart from this attitude, can we be guided by His eye?

But it is to this we must be brought, and then will “Joktheel,” “subdued by God,” celebrate His love-triumph over us. Note that this is the sixth place we have reached, the number of victory, but the victory is His if the fruit is ours. Moulded to His will, brought into the attitude of habitual dependence upon Himself, what more can be wanting to us? And He, too, sees in us the fruit of the travail of His soul and is satisfied.

Thus, what we have in this first group is the Shepherd’s service to the sheep; it is the fruit of this relationship in which He is to us. The second group has seven names, and begins on our side with

“Lachish,” which we have already twice over looked at, as signifying, “Walk as men;” not here of course in the carnal sense in which the apostle reproves it in the Corinthians, but as we have seen to be the meaning when the city becomes Israelite, “Walk as the man;” or, “Walk in Christ.” The Second Man alone is man after God’s own thought, and we are to “walk as He walked,” -a heavenly man in the world. This alone is Christian obedience, too sadly forgotten, but of which the numerical place bears witness. The next name gives the character of this walk, as

“Bozkath,” “in being poured out.” “Yea,” says the apostle, “and if I be poured out upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.” (Php 2:17, marg.) “Poured out” is the word, -as a drink-offering; and the drink-offering meant joy; but it was, of course, as all offerings, an offering to God, not man. And this was the principle of Christ’s life, “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.” (Heb 12:2.)

The “Eglon” which we have before met comes in beautifully here. It is the wheel of man’s destiny, but, as the third place shows, in the chariot of Deity; and as such it has nothing but good for the man of God. It is ordained for the abasement of man’s pride, and writes vanity upon the world; but only as unbelief and pride refuse the judgment upon man as fallen, and shut themselves out from the revelation of the grace beyond. Faith, humbling itself before God, accepts the lesson, and finds God in it. The law of sacrifice consents to the losing life in this world as the way of keeping it to life eternal. And he to whom Christ’s footsteps mark the road of his choice, realizes the very darkness and difficulty and need of the way as being like the wilderness, for Israel only the occasion for divine glory to manifest itself, and where faith too, as precious to God, is trained and exercised. The wheel of God’s providence moves forward to the accomplishment of holy purposes, breaking up the stubble and sifting the wheat from the chaff: where all seems most confusion, God’s granary garners most the precious grain.

And this may be the connection with the following word, “Cabbon,” which seems to be “as one that understands,” -that, Christ’s spirit received into the the life, and the enigma of the world solved, the discipline of its government accepted, men become really those that understand. Faith is not credulity, though to the “fool” it may appear so: it is the opening of all secrets, and the fitting practically for every position and function of life. And thus “wisdom” in Scripture has always a distinct and inseparable relation to godliness; there is not even the beginning of it without “the fear of the Lord.”

Moreover, as it owns God, so it regards man: fellowship with Him who is Love must be love too: it is “in” godliness that is developed brotherly love, and “in” brotherly love, a love still wider. So Peter’s words (2Pe 1:7.) really intimate. If Christ has found the door of the heart, He keeps it open, as His own is. And thus we find in the two names succeeding the fruit of a life devoted to God for others

“Lahmam,” “their bread;” the ministry, we may conclude, to the inward need of man, bread being the type of all other subsistence; while

“Chithlish,” “the beating down of the lion,” speaks of other need, in deliverance from him who as a roaring lion goeth about, seeking whom he may devour;

“Gederoth,” again, closing the record here with a vision of securely folded sheep, preserved and rescued.

Thus the service of relationship is illustrated from the merely human side. Three names now seal the blessedness of all this

“Beth-dagon,” “house of the fish,” the last in Hebrew named from its fecundity. This in the fish is marvelous: and who shall tell the fruitfulness of a life given to God in accordance with His will? The numerical place would emphasize it, I think, as obedience, -no supererogatory work; nor left for the Christian either to carry out or not as he pleases. God has various places for us to fill indeed, and many members in the one body of Christ; but He has no different grades of that one life of which Christ is the measure always. What is short of this is only sin.

As the name recalls, Dagon was the Canaanite and Philistine fish-god; and to this day such as these represent worship fish, that is, a fruitful life: but Beth-dagon in Israelite hands was, of course, no more idolatrous. The light must “shine before men:” Christ must be testified to, that is, as the One who is the only true light; and thus, says the Lord, “they shall see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.” (Mat 5:16.)

“Naamah,” the second name, tells that this life is “pleasant.” Such it is, as has been often testified even by those that have persecuted to the death those that lived it. Stephen’s face, to all that looked upon it, shone like that of an angel. Yet they battered the glory out with stones.

Lastly, “Makkedah,” “bowing the head,” speaks of that subjection to God which glorifies Him, as making Him God indeed, and testifying how our hearts have been recalled to Him. This completes the blessedness.

(***) The third series of the Shephelah, emphasizes its number in the nine cities it contains, which are, according to what has proved hitherto the constant rule, a three by three. We should not be surprised to find, what is the fact, that they lead us into the sanctuary, and give us in one aspect of it, our relation to the Lord there. The first three speak plainly of His work as typified in what the apostle calls “the first tabernacle,” the outer holy place; the second three of His entrance into the second, the inner one; the third, of our own realization of blessing in it. The lesson is from Hebrews throughout.

1. -1. Libnah, 2. Ether, 3. Ashan;

2. -1. Jiphtah, 2. Ashnah, 3. Nezib

3. -1. Keilah, 2. Achzib, 3. Mareshah.

The place and number of every name are thus rigorously determined for us as before.

Libnah we are again familiar with: it means “white,” and represents “purity.” Moreover, in our former glance at it, we considered it to represent especially separation from evil. We shall now see how perfectly all this unites in the present application.

The high priest in Israel went into the sanctuary, not in the garments of glory and beauty, in which he appeared before the people, but in simple white linen garments only. All depends, as to him who draws near to God, upon the absolute purity of what we have seen the garments to represent, the personal ways -the habits. The unblemished victim spoke in another way of the same truth. Christ on the cross when heard by “Him who was able to save Him” -not “from,” but -“out of death, was heard for His piety” (Heb 5:7. margin.) He was “raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,” (Rom 6:4,) God not suffering “His Holy One” -or rather “His Pious One,” and thus in strict unity with Hebrews -“to see corruption.” (Act 2:27.) The plain white garments of the high priest taught the same obvious but solemn truth.

But Libnah gives us an additional thought, which Hebrews exactly interprets: “For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” (Heb 7:26.) As the high priest’s intercession in Israel was upon the ground of sacrifice, and for a (typically) redeemed people, so the Lord in heaven is for those of whom it is said, “By one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” (Heb 10:14.) Of these He is now the Intercessor on high: “I pray for them,” He says Himself; “I pray not for the world, but for those whom Thou halt given Me; for they are thine” (Joh 17:9.) While the atonement is for all, in this sense, that all men are welcome, and besought to avail themselves of its full provision for them, His intercession in heaven is for His own, and Libnah presents the precise truth as to the High-priest in the Sanctuary. How absolutely perfect is the Word of God!

Ether follows Libnah, and is generally interpreted as “riches, abundance.” There is a form in Scripture athereth, which means this: it occurs but once, while Athar in the simple form, occurs once as “thick” (Eze 8:11) “a thick cloud of incense went up.” The R.V., with the Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac, translates here “the odour of the cloud.” Hengstenberg objects to this however, as “a meaning that rests on no ground whatever.” He translates, “And the prayer of the cloud of incense went up,” and adds, “The cloud of incense is called ‘prayer,’ because it was an embodied prayer.” The same word is translated suppliant” in Zep 3:10; and the verbal root (Athar) is commonly used for “intreat, pray.” Wilson defines athar, “to pray as a suppliant, to supplicate God, powerfully, abundantly, or successfully; being generally used in Niphal of intreaty that prevails with God.” Surely this is what the word means in this connection, found as such in exactly the right place, and being exactly the right word to express the prevailing intercession of the Lord.

Ashan, “smoke,” reminds us of the “incense” which we find in Revelation added to the prayers of the saints, and which typifies the fragrance of Christ’s own acceptability with which He makes them a sweet savor to God.

Thus all here speaks of the sanctuary; and the incense-altar stood in the outer sanctuary, or what the apostle calls the first tabernacle. (Heb 9:2; Heb 9:6; Heb 9:8.) This remained through the whole legal dispensation separated by the vail from the holiest of all, in which was the mercy-seat and where the glory of God appeared. Only once a year, covered with the cloud of incense and to put the blood of propitiation before God, the high priest went in for a moment within the vail. The law which could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper could not therefore bring near to God: and this the intervening vail declared.

In Christianity the true blood of atonement does perfect the conscience and brings nigh the worshiper; the first tabernacle, as distinct from the second, is done away: and that is what we go on to in the second three names; the first of which is

Jiphtah, “he openeth!” The veil is rent by that which provides the precious blood for the mercy-seat. Atonement is accomplished, the work which He undertook is done; the Son of God is gone up where He was before: which the single word

Ashnah, which we met among the cities of the Negeb, not the same city, but the same name with the same meaning, “return,” declares as His own proper home. Therefore, in contrast with the high priest’s merely momentary entrance

Nezib, “station,” comes to assure us that He has taken His place there, and abides where He has entered -the numerical place affirming that now we have the realization of what the Jewish ceremonial only shadowed.

Here the second three end with the Lord’s place taken in the heavens; the third three now coming to give us the realization of what has been done for us:

First, “Keilah,” which from the Arabic is said to mean “castle” or “refuge.” Thank God, this place in the innermost sanctuary is both for us. We are urged, as “having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the vail, and having an high-priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb 10:19-22.) Here, with such a welcome, we may well abide. What shaft of the enemy can reach us here?

We have also a witness of this place into which He is gone, and gone to appear in the presence of God for us:

Achzib, is indeed generally considered to be the same as Chezib, and to mean “that which fails or deceives,” as a winter torrent dried up by the heat of summer. And Micah (1: 14) is quoted for this, that “the houses of Achzib shall be (achzab) a lie unto the Kings of Israel.” Yet the true meaning, and in perfect harmony with the prophet also, is almost the exact opposite of this. Taken as two words joined together, ach zib would be “a flowing indeed,” such as the Holy Ghost as living water is, such as the “houses of Achzib,” a mockery of their name, were not. It comes also in the second place, not the third, with perfect propriety, because the Spirit of God is looked at, as already said, as a witness of Christ’s ascension and glory: “Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth that which ye now see and hear” (Act 2:33.)

Thus a third word now closes the whole with the full conviction of what is implied for us as to the sanctuary into which Christ has entered

Mareshah, “possession.” Let it remain for us a living word, no theory, no dream: here let us abide, in the consciousness of what grace has made our own.

(****) From this to the Philistine cities of the plain! But the number gives us to know that we are descending here. Moreover the practical reality of sanctuary life has to be testified in the world; and we may not shrink from it. Of course, the Philistine cities as Judah’s possession are no longer Philistine. Nor are they dwelt upon in much detail now. Indeed some commentators reputed orthodox believe in some omissions here, or else, that these verses are but a fragmentary addition by a later hand. I think, however, arguing from what is the fact, that every detail falls into its place, and the whole seems to be really complete in spiritual significance, that we have no reason for any such supposition. It gives the practical result of what precedes it.

There are five divisions here:

1. Ekron and her dependencies and her villages.

2. From Ekron and toward the sea, all that are beside Ashdod and their villages.

3. Ashdod and her dependencies and her villages.

4. Gaza and her dependencies and her villages, unto the brook of Egypt.

5. The great sea and its coast.

All the names have already received their interpretation and the numerical place of each division is clear; so that we have narrow limits, as narrow as may well be, for the imagination. In fact, all this narrowing only simplifies our work, while it proportionately more confirms the result arrived at: a manifest mark of divine truth in it.

1. Ekron then means “eradication.” We looked at the truth conveyed when we were surveying the border of Judah, and need not at length repeat it here. The numerical place is simple: it may well show us what is implied in “integrity” with God, the uncompromising judgment of evil: not turning the blind eye to things that we would spare, but judging with God, by His Word, not our own opinions, all that He judges. This is indeed a first principle for a true life, and the order here may well be considered a divine one.

3. To make out the second division, it is clear we must first of all look at the third. Ashdod, we have interpreted to be “the spoiler;” and again it is not hard to see that the heavenly things revealed, if received in heart, rob the earthly of their glory. We cannot enter into the heavenly except as we leave behind the things of earth: “if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God; set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth: for ye are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:1-3.)

Thus Ashdod, as an Israelite city, clearly has its place under the resurrection number.

2. The second section is not so easy to interpret. It is simply characterized as places reaching from Ekron and the sea, alongside Ashdod. We may interpret it then as somewhat which takes its measurement from the “eradication” of evil and the paling of the world in the light of higher glory: and this, if we look at it in connection with the guidance of its numerical place, may well give us the thought of its being “growth” that is thus marked. Perhaps this is why we find no one city named also, because it is a thing so various in its manifestations, and so relative to other things -growth in this respect or in that. But it is of such great importance that we need not wonder to find a place reserved for it in such a catalogue as this. Growth characterizes life: even to meet daily wear and tear, there must be fresh production and renewal. And the life which is eternal, never reaching here its mature development, must surely grow. If any fresh knowledge be acquired, and it is by the truth that we are sanctified, must not this of itself necessitate it? Thus there seems full ground for believing that this is what is insisted on in this place, that a living soul must grow. While, if the lack of integrity and the sufferance of evil, with heart-occupation with the world, hinder this, then Ekron and the sea and Ashdod are of simple, easily read significance in connection with this.

(4) In the fourth place -not first, as in the former list of Philistine cities, and for many reasons, -under the number which speaks to us of “weakness” also, it is no more strange, but most appropriate, to find Gaza, “

strength.” The connection and order are (as always) most important to observe. Such things can be little dwelt upon here, but those who study Scripture with practical intent cannot afford to pass over what is indicated in them.

(5) Lastly, the sea and the sea-board, with their well-known meaning, and under the number that speaks of “exercise,” fall also into Judah’s portion. “Those that go down to the sea in ships,” and learn there the wonders of the Lord, must not be lacking among Judah’s worshipers.

Here the list of the Shephelah cities closes; and we go on to the cities of the mountain region. Shall we find the truth mount also, as we proceed?

(c) The cities of the mountain we may well suppose, from their position alone, to lift us up nearer to heaven and to God. The third place in which they come would confirm this, and suggest that they speak of the manifestation and glory of God Himself, although not as if apart from the blessing of His people: the names engraven upon the high-priest’s breast-plate would be alone enough to assure us that this could not be. “In the ages to come, He,” will “show forth the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” And this verse from Ephesians, the New Testament Joshua, we might expect to characterize in an especial way the section of the book which we have reached now.

There are five series of these cities according to our common Bibles, to which Keil would add from the Septuagint a sixth. This question we must consider in its place. The first series here consists of eleven cities. No groups are marked for us in this eleven; nor do we know as yet of any recognized Scripture way of dividing this, though no number so large as this would seem to be without it. We are left therefore to what the names in connection with the numbers themselves may indicate; and in this way there seems to be two groups of six and five respectively. The first seems to speak of God as manifested in the counsels of His grace, the second of the response of man to this manifestation.

The first group then consists of

“Shamir, and Jattir, and Socoh, and Dannah, and Kirjath-sannah, which is Debir, and Anab.”

Shamir is a word which, in the book of Isaiah, is translated “briar;” elsewhere, in three places “adamant” or “diamond.” In either case the derivation is from shamar, to “preserve,” and in the latter case, if not the former, implies “hardness” and thus “durability.” In this sense, and especially as standing for a durable precious stone, it fills undeniably its place in this series. It would speak thus of the unchangeability of God’s attributes, which His counsels proclaim to us, the first necessity for the conception of God at all. Without caprice or uncertainty in His own nature, so also nothing from without can thwart His will or introduce confusion into his perfect ways. He is the “Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning;” and as such the first of these mountain cities represents Him.

Jattir is an intensive form of the verb jathar, to “exceed, go beyond, excel.” We must translate it, “He far excels;” and this would suit exactly the numerical place in which we find it. God goes beyond all knowledge and all thought. “He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” And this also is necessary to our conception of God. He would not be that if we could compass Him in our thoughts. But that inscrutability which of necessity belongs to Him, while it affords room for faith, is not and cannot be aught but His perfection. We do not say even any more that He dwells in darkness: He dwelleth in the light inaccessible, One whom no man has seen or can see; not because there is obstruction to the sight, but because there is infinity before it. Hence alone come our difficulties; and therefore the humbler we are the less we have. The Cross presents and removes them; we see what darkness is, and it passes from us; we are “in the light, as God is in the light.”

The third name we are familiar with, and that it is in its place cannot be questioned; it is Socoh, “His tabernacle.” The word implies that He has come forth out of His eternity into man’s time, and become with him a traveler. It is literally “His booth,” a light temporary structure, put up for the care of a garden or vineyard, suggesting thus the object of this amazing condescension, those “delights with the sons of men,” of which Christ is at the same time the expression and the justification. Hence in the fourth place here we have

Dannah, a word not elsewhere found in Hebrew, but from the Arabic would mean, “pressed down,” a meaning perfectly suited to its numerical place, but strange at first sight in connection with the display of God. Yet our hearts understand well the mystery of love which could constrain a divine being to take the creature place which this Dannah, found under this number four, the number of the creature, indicates.

Then we have in the fifth place, Kirjath-sannah, which we are told is Debir, evidently, from its position, the same Debir that we have already more than once met, and which was also called Kirjath-sepher. Kirjath-sannah, means “the city of instruction,” and is thus allied in its significance to the former name; while Debir, the “oracle,” and in this fifth place in which God and man meet together, repeats for us the assurance that it is God Himself who has become our teacher. “God has spoken to us in [the] Son,” says the apostle (Heb 1:2 🙂 “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He, hath told Him out.” (Joh 1:18, Greek.)

Thus Socoh, Dannah, Debir, agree in their testimony, proclaiming the fullness of the grace that has visited us; and now in connection with these, and in the sixth place, a number that speaks of victory over sin, we have Anab, “He has bound together.” This ought not to be difficult: it signifies the Mediator’s work complete, the triumph of divine love achieved. This closes the series on the Godward side.

The human response we find now in five cities more,

“And Eshtemoh, and Anim, and Goshen, and Holon, and Giloh.”

First, for there is absolutely no result as yet, where the spirit of it is not found, Eshtemoh, “obedience.”

Secondly, Anim, which interpreters take as a contracted form of Enim, “springs;” but this suits neither the numerical place nor the connection. A better rendering, and one which agrees with both of these, is that of “responsive songs,” the joy of man’s heart echoing the joy of God’s.

Thirdly, we have Goshen, “drawing near.”

Fourthly, Holon, which is by some rendered “sandy,” from hol, “sand.” But the latter part of the word may well be a separate one, and the whole a compound, hol-lon, with the middle letters become one. The meaning then would be “lodging for the night upon the sand,” and this in beautiful appropriateness to the wilderness-number, and to the connection, which the

Fifth word, Giloh, “removing,” strikingly confirms. Drawn near to God, the heart becomes that of a stranger here, of one who tarries but the night in the wilderness, and for whom there is to be “removal” in the morning; the number is that in which man is seen with God, and the desire in departure is fulfilled! How the numbers certify and fill up the meaning at every point!

Thus the first series of the cities of the mountains ends. The second has nine names which are once more a three by three. They lead us evidently beyond the present world and uncover the secrets of the state of the dead, who “sleep in Jesus.” It is a wonderful picture of what was little known indeed in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament is clearly revealed. Yet not even the New Testament itself would seem to go further than what we find here in the heart of the Old! The names are

1. -1. Arab, 2. Dumah, 3. Eshean;

2. -1. Janum, 2. Beth-tappuah, 3. Aphekah;

3. -1. Humtah. 2. Kirjath-arba or Hebron, 3. Zior.

Of these three groups, the first connects man with the body, though giving Christian hope as to the body itself; the second unveils hades, and shows us where the unclothed spirit is found; the third reveals in connection with this its internal condition.

The first word, Arab, means “a place of lying in wait.” Generally used for the ambush of an enemy, the character of hostility is not necessarily in it. It is a place of hiding in expectancy; and such is the grave for the redeemed of the Lord.

The second word, Dumah, “silence,” adds another character obvious enough. It, too, often implies expectancy, as where it is said, “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord” (Lam 3:26, ) this word is used for “quiet expectancy.”

The third word, Eshean, means “bed” or “couch;” and here the sleep is plainly temporary. Put these three words together, and there can be no doubt of what is referred to.

The second group carries us further: here the first name

Janum, “he slumbereth,” assures us that the sleep is only partial. It is the exact force of the word, though when applied to what is here before us, we must remember that this partial sleep is to be divided in this way, that as it is complete for the body, so it does not exist at all for the spirit or soul. Scripture never applies the term to these. Certainly for him who but dozes life still exists, and this may be the significance of the numerical place, especially when we connect it with the next word

Beth-tappuah, the meaning of which has been already dwelt upon; it is the “house of the Breather,” the term which we have seen to designate Christ as the last Adam, the communicator of life, and that a higher than natural. Thus the departed saint not merely exists: he lives the life which is eternal, and where Christ is, in His own dwelling place. And this is his

Aphekah, “fortress” or “strong place:” how safe from all possibility of harm, with Christ, where He is: “absent from the body, present with the Lord.”

We go on now more deeply into the internal state,beginning with

Humtah, the only word akin to which in the Bible seems to be hornet, a word once used (Lev 11:30) to indicate a “lizard,” in the common version “a snail.” The verb from which it is derived exists in the Chaldee, with the meaning, “to bow down, prostrate,” and this therefore we seem to be compelled to take as the significance here -“prostrate.”

For the man departed, even to be with Christ, death, as that which deprives him of the companionship of the body, would seem to argue the end in the meanwhile of such activity as the body enables for. The separate state, as such, is necessarily an imperfect one. Resurrection alone can give the full powers of manhood, of course for the first time in their absolute perfection. The word here seems as if it meant to admit the prostration of strength in this respect, while in full view of it, rendered only more emphatic by the acknowledgment, there is the maintenance of the condition as being one of communion, as in the next name, so familiar to us as it is,

Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron. And may not the introduction of the first name here, the Anakite name, be meant to remind us that, if death be the humbling of all human pride, that which is of God shall be more helped than hindered by it?

To be with Christ means nothing short of perfected communion, death smiting down for the Christian all foes that would keep us out of it. Yet, just because it is perfected, and because Christ Himself waits for His full joy yet, so the condition of the soul is still that which the last word here implies

Zior, again a compound word, and which literally means “the ship of the watcher,” the saint waiting still for the signal to be given to go forth, by Him upon whom his eyes are, and whose presence he will not leave when he goes forth in the beauty of resurrection to enjoy the inheritance of the co-heirs with Christ.

The third group contains ten cities in four smaller divisions:

“Maon.

“Carmel, and Ziph, and Jutah, and Jezreel, and Jokdeam, and Zanoah.

“Cain.

“Gibeah and Timnah.”

What now does this third group bring before us? We most naturally expect perhaps that after this view of death and the separate state we should go On to resurrection and the heavenly condition. It would be strange indeed if these were omitted, and their omission would seem to cast a shade of uncertainty over the rest. While that is true, and we shall assuredly find them in their place, yet that place is not here, as we shall soon see. The numbers themselves seem to be against it: ten cities, four divisions, and the arrangement, 1. 6. 1. 2. Still this would not be decisive: the numbers, like notes in music, can play many tunes. But when we come to the meanings of the names, we have what is plainer. Such names as Ziph, “place of refining,” Jezreel, “God sows,” even Carmel, “God’s vineyard,” carry our minds away from heaven, and forbid the thought of a condition suited to it. Carmel suggests at once Israel as being referred to; for Israel was of old God’s vine, and though He has for the present given it up, a day comes in which He will “sing unto her, a vineyard of red wine: I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day” (Isa 27:2-3.) When seen as a picture of Israel as restored to God, risen as a nation from the dead according to the common figure in prophecy, all becomes easy, and the difficulties make not a discord but a harmony.

The first name stands here by itself, and indicates the character of what is before us. It is Maon, “dwelling-place,” which in this first place and with this emphasis, naturally speaks of God dwelling in the midst of His people, which when it shall be again a reality for Israel, will be the seal of their perpetual blessing. Then will be fulfilled the prophetic word, that “the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation: this is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it” (Psa 132:13-14.) No wonder if this stand by itself as Israel’s special portion. It is the fore-taste of that which, in a wider and fuller meaning, is said of the new earth at last, “The tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God.” (Rev 21:3.)

The next section shows in its six names, His triumph in their salvation. First, Carmel, from a word which means to “prune,” implies what is ever the need of a vineyard, if it is to bear proper fruit. God’s long labor of centuries cannot be at last in vain. Israel will yet answer to His work upon it, and “the excellency of Carmel” shall once more be spoken of and with a fuller emphasis. But for this there is to be yet severer trial than they have known, and of which

Ziph, “place of refining,” is the assurance to us. Out of this they come with

Jutah, “enlargement,” their borders stretched out, and with corresponding spiritual increase. Thus blessed, the fruit of their previous scattering will be seen in them, as

Jezreel, “God will sow,” affirms. “I will sow her to Me in the earth,” He says in Hos 2:23 “Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the earth with fruit” (Isa 27:6.) Then we have their worship as they realize what God has wrought, in

Jokdeam, “the people are made to bow the head,” and thus reach -Zanoah, “a provision of rest.” Thus ends the second section.

The third is again a single name

Kain, “acquisition.” There is an article with it which makes it more emphatic: “the acquisition” so long delayed; the fulfilment at last of so many centuries of deferred hope. No wonder if God mark it as something of special importance. How much for His glory and man’s blessing are summed up in it! “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?” God shall bless us,” said one of old, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.”

The fourth section has but two names:

Gibeah, “hill, height,” and

Timnah, “apportionment;” for God’s will is to put this light for Him, the testimony at once of His grace and holiness, upon a candlestick, and to exalt Israel, as the number indicates, upon the earth. God indeed has a special” hill” of which He has written, that “it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it” (Isa 2:2.)

Naturally, every way, we go on now from Israel’s blessing to that of the nations, a fourth group of six cities

“Halhul, and Beth-zur, and Gedor, and Maarath, and Beth-anoth, and Eltekon,”

Another triumph of divine grace. We must perforce go over it rapidly, but would not be thought to make little of what sounds the note of God’s evangel as to the world in the near future:

Halhul, “travail-pain,” necessarily preceding it, as the ordinance has been since the fall. No child is born without a pang; no spiritual birth takes place without a deeper pang; how great then when it is the world’s labor-pain, as here: what a convulsion when those judgments of God are on the earth, in which the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness (Isa 26:9.) Man’s day will end in terror and dismay; the day of the Lord will be upon all the pride of his heart and the work of his hands, to bring him into the dust out of which His grace shall new-create him. In the time when the earth trembles to its foundations

Beth-zur, “the house of the rock,” will be revealed to him, the firm shelter for faith which will not give way. Christ is of course this, and being found, Christ’s arms are put about him, and we find in

Gedor again the stone “enclosure” for a flock to keep them from wild beasts; and next

Maarath, “meadow” for pasture. Thus the symbols of a shepherd’s care come naturally up where Christ is in connection with men. But this is not enough: He must have hearts that answer to His heart, and thus now we find

Beth-anoth, the “house of responsive songs.” This is the fifth name; the sixth is a genuine note of triumph

El-tekon “God makes straight” “I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.” (Isa 42:16.)

Thus righteousness reigns, and the course of the world is no longer under the power of him “who worketh in the children of disobedience.” Christ reigns, and the whole earth rejoices.

According to our common Bibles, the cities of the mountains end here, with the exception of two names only which stand together in a fifth division. These certainly do not furnish us with the heavenly things of which we are in search; and yet, if not the third, the fifth should, one would suppose, speak of them. Or, after all, can it be that we have not even a hint of these?

Now it is just in this place that the Septuagint introduces another group of eleven cities to which there has been found nothing corresponding in the Hebrew copies. Certain critics, and some of these, as Keil, quite orthodox, contend for the genuineness of this insertion; others refuse it. Is it possible that here may be that of which we are in search?

Those who refuse the testimony of the Septuagint, allege the many additions as well as omissions and arbitrary changes made by the Greek translators in this part: a thing which cannot be denied. Bunsen also objects that “The forms of many of these names are decidedly not Hebrew; besides, except Tekoa and Bethlehem, not one of the cities is elsewhere mentioned in the Old Testament.” To which Fay replies that “the first reason is an assertion without proof; and the second has no weight, because very many of the cities mentioned in this chapter are named nowhere else in the Old Testament.” Our own ability to use them depends upon the practicability of finding them in Hebrew, while other names than those given by Bunsen have at least their possible representatives elsewhere.

Keil says: “This group lay to the north of the fourth, and reached as far as Jerusalem. It comprised a district in which even now there are at least fifteen places and ruins, so that we have not an arbitrary interpolation made by the LXX., as Jerome assumed, but rather a gap in the Hebrew text.” A number of the names can be identified with those of places found in this part of Judea at the present time.

Interpretation for us however furnishes the only conclusive test; and this decisively confirms the addition. Spite of whatever difficulty there may be in transliterating the Greek names back to the Hebrew, we are easily able to show that there is a gap filled by it, which would be felt indeed in the spiritual much more than the literal application. Coming under that fifth number in which we find “man with God” as the fundamental thought, we find just what we looked for vainly in the third place; while the section which in the Hebrew stands fifth, and out of place as that, fills thus, as we hope to show, with perfect accuracy, the sixth and final place. We proceed therefore with assurance to the interpretation.

The eleven names seem to divide into two smaller groups of seven and four, and not as before into six and five. These giving essentially the Godward and manward sides of the eternal life with Him, ending with one sweet word which is the seal of it all, -that we “enter into His rest.” Could anything be more perfect as a conclusion than just what is here expressed? But all in God’s book is perfect: only our astonishing dullness, the fruit of indifference and indolence, and these springing out of unbelief, hinder our perception of it. When shall we awake?

With what does the series begin? With Tekoa, “the sound of the trumpet,” -that which summons the dead in Christ from their graves, and the living to go forth to meet Him! as suitable a beginning as the ending. Divine power accomplishes the call, and the next word we have is

Ephrata “fertility,” the wilderness exchanged for ever for the place of abundance, “which is Bethlehem,” “the house of bread,” the “Father’s house,” of which even far-off prodigals bear witness that there is “bread enough and to spare.” Little need should there be to apply “the sound of a trumpet” and “the house of bread,” as thus connected together! Next we have

Phagor, (still found as Faghur between Hebron and Bethlehem, “the cessation of sojourning.” Then

Aitam (the Ethan of 2Ch 11:6,) “the ravenous beast consumed.” And then

Kulon, “the end of the night-lodging.” These three, just in the style of Rev 21:1-27, picture for us in joyful negations the bliss that is begun. Then

Tatami, “underneath them Jah:” the everlasting arms still needed by, and ever supporting, creature weakness. While

Soresh, “the turning aside of fire,” would indicate that the holiness of God, which must needs burn against the evil in us -and so it is written, “Our God is a consuming fire” -has done its work in this respect, and exists for us no more after this manner. This is the seven complete; and perfection and rest will then manifestly have come. The other numbers can be traced all through by one who desires to do so.

Now comes the manward side. First,

Karem, “meetings:” the joy of mutual recognition not forgotten, the attachments begun on earth provided for, by Him who has already united us together for eternity, and who said of old to the sorrowing Martha, “Thy brother shall rise again.”

Then Galem (Gallim?) reminding us of Gilgal, where the reproach of God’s people of old was “rolled away.” Now this shall be done completely; while

Baither, or Bether, reminds us no less of those “mountains of Bether,” (“separation, seclusion?”) here amid the joy of heaven to let us know of that inner sanctuary of the heart which shall be kept ever sacred to the joy of One Voice that speaks there, -no more any babble of other sounds to keep it out.

Then comes the final word, Manocho, perhaps the Manahath of Chronicles (1Ch 8:6), but yet with a termination which gives it all its distinctive beauty in this connection, “the place of His rest.” Words would but take away from the fullness of meaning here.

Who will deny that the insertion of the Septuagint justifies itself, if spiritual significance is to count for anything? But a witness to it yet remains, that of the last two of the cities of the mountain, which, as already said, become now a sixth, instead of, as in the Hebrew, a fifth division. Six speaks of the full development of evil, yet as under the hand of Him who has power over it. And the names here are Kirjath-Baal, which is Kirjath-jearim, and Rabbah.

One form of evil remains, as it would seem, for distinct notice now, and Kirjath-Baal, the city of Baal, brings it before us in the most vivid way. Idolatry, and where in the idol also the true God is not even pictured, is indeed the triumph of Satan over man, his deluded captive. But Satan is cast down; Kirjath-Baal becomes in Israel’s hands Kirjath-jearim, the “city of woods.” We have met this when tracing Judah’s northern boundary to the sea, and we have seen that it there conveys no good suggestion. It is the abode of pride and prodigality, that on the one hand which betrays us into Satan’s hand, and that in which as prodigals in a far country we bring ourselves into a want, out of which no power but one can ever rescue us. The change of Kirjath-Baal into Kirjath-jearim implies the judgment of it before God, its name declared with that which leads to it, and to which it leads. And this is God’s sweetest triumph over it, when Satan’s captives are thus set free by self-judgment, and judgment of what has ensnared them. Here we are, in fact, on the border of Dan. For the rest

Rabbah, “great,” sufficiently explains it. The power of God must needs prevail; the hand of God will cast down the enemy. This is not even formally said, nor needs to be. It is enough to know that God is God. What shall the wildest effort of men or devils accomplish against Him?

(d) Thus fittingly the cities of the mountain end. We have still six cities left, the cities of the wilderness, the number assuring us of another triumph on God’s part; which would not be complete, unless the wilderness could furnish, with all else, its material of praise. After having seen, therefore, the end of all, we return now to see that not in vain were the steps that led to it. The sorrow and trial have been temporal, but the lessons are eternal. As we look back from the end we shall see how well suited all God’s ways have been, and how completely He was master when we could discern little but man’s wild will.

Beth-arabah, the “house of the wilderness,” begins the list. It speaks plainly of a Father’s sufficiency and care, which the wilderness is the very place to learn. Cut off from all natural resources, the heavenly bread, the water from the rock, the daily guidance, were a constant testimony of this to the people of old; and to educate them in it was a perfect argument for the path by which He led them. And these things are our types: the antitypes transcend them; only faith is needed to behold that which is spiritual; but the clear light of eternity will reveal it all.

We have next Middin, “measurement,” the apprehension of things in relation to a standard, the discernment of difference. Here, again, the world, as sin has made it, is where such knowledge is to be attained. Here is the great field of conflict between good and evil. Here sin is seen in its growth and in its effects. Here in the child of God it is brought face to face with that which is of God, and there is learnt the secret of power over it. Here Christ, the Light of the world, has brought very darkness into light. Hence “measurement” of every kind is possible, and “by reason of use” the senses become “exercised to discern both good and evil.”

Secacah leads us further. It means “overshadowing,” and, under the number which speaks of divine manifestation, naturally leads us to think of the cloud that overshadowed Israel in the wilderness, and was the token of the divine presence in their midst. Their need and His love had brought Him there to minister among them, which for us has been done in a transcendently blessed way. Only in one world has God become incarnate; and over it the heavens opened and poured out their multitudes when Christ was born in flesh. To be in the wilderness of this world is to be where the Son of God has walked and suffered and died; and to have consciousness of the need which He has met, and that He has met it for us, will give us songs the angels know not. Surely God has made the wilderness in this way to blossom for us, and made it good for us to have known its sorrows.

These become intensified in Nibshan, if it mean, as Young says, “furnace,” which may refer to the glow of the khamsin, the desert wind. Such seasons, with all their trial now, have their commission from God, and so their blessing, consuming, as with the three of old, only the bonds that have bound us, while the Son of God is with us in the fire. It is not adversity we have to fear, though we do fear it, and court what we have rather cause to fear.

Fruit is again found in Ir-hammelach, “the city of salt,” that diffusive power of holiness, the true aggressive spirit of Christianity, without which even gracious words fail to minister grace to the hearers.” (Eph 4:29.) Is it not that the world’s furnace prepares this “salt” for use, or puts it into activity at least? And that he who realizes most the one will be most apt to manifest the other?

The last word here is Engedi, “the spring of the young goat,” where Saul afterwards “went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.” (1Sa 24:2.) The word in the last case means “climbers;” gedi is the young of the same race; and en the fountain which sustains them. “The high hills,” says the Psalmist, “are a refuge for the wild goats” (Psa 104:18); and there the spring is found. The mountains nourish a hardy race, given to surmount difficulties, and the wilderness has water for them. Difficulties call for faith, and increase the faith they call for; while God has special cheer for special need. The number here is again the number of victory.

(e) Here the tale of Judah’s cities is at last completed; save one, which, on account of Judah’s failure, is not added to the rest. Jerusalem, the chief city of all, is yet in Jebusite hands; and there Judah and the Jebusite dwell in strange fellowship together. It is the first indication of that which in the book of Judges soon becomes the token of universal decline. The “could not” here speaks of divine government, as the numerical division does; and we shall have it dwelt upon when we come to Judges. The seed of the future was here at the beginning.

4. We now come to the inheritance of the double-tribe of Joseph, which we have already seen represents the practical spirit which springs from faith, and with this the numerical division is in precise accordance. It is divided again into four subsections, which can be only properly characterized after examination in detail.

(1) The southern boundary is first given us as that of the whole tribe. As this it may well represent to us practice from the divine side, or as obedience to the call of God. This the examination of it will, we think, confirm. The language suggests a further division into five parts, giving so many aspects of the practical life, in orderly relation to one another, as we may be sure. There is nothing haphazard in the Word of God.

(a) The first stage is from Jordan to the mount of Bethel. The line starts on the east from Jordan, for all true Christian , that is heavenly life for us begins where the waters of death have yielded to the ark of Jehovah’s strength, and given us access to the land which is our possession. Then it begins from Jericho also, where the world has received its judgment for faith, and from the “waters of Jericho:” for the streams of divine blessing which are taken (as we have seen in Egypt) to nourish the spirit of independence in men away from God, are ours to use freely and without asceticism, yet as from Him and to His praise. Nevertheless, the way is then a “wilderness, which leads up from Jericho to the mount of Bethel,” the house of God. The first stage even of our journey is sadly incomplete if it does not bring us there. With the lesson of this house we ought to be, from Jacob’s history, already familiar.

(b) The second stage is scarcely one at all, and yet of vast importance. It is “from Bethel to Luz” only; and Luz is the old name of the city of Bethel itself. But Jacob’s pillar was outside the city at the first, and only after a while, probably by natural outgrowth, they seem to become identified. From the Israelite point of view it was Bethel that absorbed Luz; and at the time of the apportionment the city and the place of the vision were still, it would seem, different.

At any rate, for our purpose it is enough that Luz follows Bethel here. Luz means “separation;” and however much it may exist apart from Bethel (and then it will have only heathen significance), when it is connected with and follows it, then it has its right and necessary place. To be with God as sons and daughters in His house, He has told us, we must not “touch the unclean thing.” (2Co 6:17-18.) And defilement must be estimated, not by natural conscience or our own conception, but by His word. It is here, in the very face of His word, that Christians can go so far astray.

(c) The third stage is that the boundary “passed over to the border of the Archite, to Ataroth?” Archite is from arach, “to advance, make progress,” and the Archite is therefore a man of progress. What is before him is very clearly told in the point where the line touches his border, Ataroth, which means “crowns;” and so the apostle says: “Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.” (1Co 9:25.) The lucidity of the text here makes it need little the interpreter.

(d) In the fourth stage the line descends, and under the number which tells, if any, of contact with the world, we reach the border of the Japhletite, “one who causes to escape,” and “as far as the border of the lower Bethhoron” (“the house of wrath”) and “as far as Gezer,” “isolation:” words that, for those who are sent into the world with the Gospel of the Master, do not seem as if they should need much more interpretation than the former ones.

(e) Hence the border runs to the sea: for in this practical life there are exercises also, and the experiences of storm-tossed mariners, which make the haven more desired to which surely at last Jehovah bringeth them. The line ends here at the haven of the sea.

(2) This is the southern boundary of Joseph. We are now called to look at Ephraim separately in the second sub-section, which should apparently in its numerical significance have to do with the name. Ephraim means literally “doubly fruitful,” and may refer to his being the second son, through whom indeed Joseph attains the double portion of the birthright. Thus Ephraim in his name expresses the value of both Joseph’s sons, and the double fruit would seem to be not only in what we commonly call that, but also in the Manasseh energy of character acquired which turns its back upon all that is “behind,” in its racer-like eagerness for goal and prize.

(a) In the fifth verse we have the southern boundary of Ephraim given again, but in a fragmentary way, which has induced many criticisms and attempts at emendation. But we could hardly expect a mere repetition of what has just been given; and in the light of the spiritual meaning all is explained easily, distinctive beauty being found in the very points which before were most in question. Thus we have “addar” appended to Ataroth of the former account, and Beth-horon the upper given in place of the lower: a thing which to one commentator seems of small account, because the two were so near together! But this is to lose the perfection of the Word of God. The last change is of the most absolute importance for the spiritual significance which it ought not to need to be insisted on governs all. Geography may not need so much precision; but here assuredly is more than that, or I know not why we still take interest in it as Christians.

In fact in these two places on Ephraim’s border we have two governing principles of practical life. Ataroth-addar means “crowns of honor;” and note that it is stated to be -not “eastward” merely, geographically, but -“toward the sunrise,” spiritually. Beth-horon the upper is west from it, as we already know, -seaward, -and suggests rightly the exercises and experiences connected with the sea. Beth-horon is the “house of wrath;” but notice the importance, then, of distinguishing between the lower and the upper. Wrath below is the misery of hell, utter and irremediable; wrath above, speaks indeed of sin as the evil thing which God hates, and must hate, because He is holy: but which is not wrath against the person, but may be, as chastening, the most tender and paternal love toward him.

Hence Ataroth-addar and Beth-horon the upper are opposite thoughts, yet governing as a double star the course of the saint, -divine approbation or divine displeasure, -though divine love is for the redeemed in both. Beth-horon the nether, the threat of hell, would be for these quite unsuitable, and rob the salvation of Christ of its character as eternal, and our souls of all the peace which it now assures to them.

(b) We come now to Ephraim’s northern border, which divides into two parts, in which it is traced in opposite directions, -two views in some sense opposite, therefore, though not in contradiction. The one gives, it would seem, individual items of the practical life, looked at from its human side from conversion, facing sunrise, that is, in view of accountability at the coming of the Lord. The other, brief indeed, and the more striking for its brevity, gives us, as exercised by these things (looking toward the sea) the helping principle which carries securely through.

In the first case the line begins facing westward -merely the sea; in trouble and exercise of heart, we find ourselves at Michmethah, the “corruption of the dead;” then, as the line turns sharply round toward sunrise, we have the striking image of conversion; and in Taanath-Shiloh reached “access to Him who gives peace” to the soul. Thence we come to Janohah, “rest,” still turning more toward the coming day.

And now the road descends: the path in which power and fruitfulness are to be shown is one that leads downward, as our Lord’s did. But this is a fourth step, warning us by the number that trial will be found upon it: remembering which we may rightly interpret the Ataroth, -very different from the former one, to which we now come, -“crowns,” before the end is reached, and which can be nothing but temptation to be put away from us; and then we find Naarah, “tossing”; we must needs “touch” Jericho, the world, and have to do in some way with Jordan also, death; and here the list closes on this side.

In the opposite direction we take it up again, to find first a name that has twice truly fulfilled itself to us where we have found it -Tappuah, the “Breather.” Here is, indeed, a precious and inspiriting thought. Christ, the last Adam, has breathed into us the breath of a new, eternal life. We belong to a new creation: “old things are passed away.” And we who thus live are no more to live unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again.”

This is, in fact, the brook Kanah. Kanah means “He has purchased” and is the thought needed to supplement even Tappuah. Yes, He has purchased us! Let us make it strictly individual, and say, He has purchased me; and may it be to us the inspiration that it was to the apostle: “the life which I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

But Kanah is a “brook”! Yes, for if this be in my heart, the Spirit of God delighting to glorify Christ, becomes a full flow of living water in my soul, which allows no want. The rest of the line is now nothing but the watercourse itself, until the end is reached. Blessed be God! How sweetly and powerfully, even though they rebuke us, do these “mere names” speak to a Christian soul!

(c) It is noted further that besides the cities enclosed within these boundary lines, there were certain others out of Manasseh’s territory that were granted to Ephraim. This will come before us where shortly the names are given.

(d) But Ephraim does not escape the common failure; and Gezer is noted as a place where the Canaanites were suffered to remain, though becoming servants. Sins are but too often spared as serviceable; and among Ephraimites as much as any. And because a gracious God still blesses, we think He cares but little. Yet a day of reckoning comes at last.

(3) We have now Manasseh’s portion in the land: that across Jordan has been already given. He is here in some sense realizing that for which he “forgets” elsewhere. The number of the section may intimate this.

(a) The heirs are numbered first, and this is the case with no other of the tribes. Is it that the personal state is more before us, -the man himself as distinguished from his inheritance? The family of Machir have their inheritance already the other side of Jordan: six other, all spring originally from Machir, but are reckoned as Gileadites instead of Machirites. (See Num 26:1-65.) Thus in different ways Machir and Gilead cover the whole territory of Manasseh. It is Machir the family that seems to be the “first-born of Manasseh,” as the individual Machir is the father of the whole; and Keil takes “father of Gilead” here as equivalent to ruler of the land of Gilead. This interlacing of names must have its reason, and should help us to see that names count for something throughout the history. Even the women of Manasseh show the courage of faith, and gain an inheritance with their brethren. Their story is repeated here, to their praise. We do well to covet the portion God has given us. There is abundance for all, and to enjoy it to the full will only enrich and not impoverish others. Manasseh gains thus ten portions: for the single portion of Zelophehad swells into five through the inheritance of his daughters. “Covet earnestly the best gifts.”

(b) We have now Manasseh’s borders, only on one side really defined, and that the south, where Ephraim’s line has already been traced. Yet this is repeated with variations from the former account, not surely a mere supplement on account of imperfection in the first, but something very different from this, and proving how little geography is in question. On the north there is no line given at all, simply the statement that it touched Asher on the north, and Issachar on the east, and that Manasseh had cities in both, which looks as if the undetermined line were left for progress, -of which Manasseh is surely the expression. On the south he too yields to Ephraim, expansion being the rule for the people of God. Had they been only faithful, their borders on all sides would have been similarly pushed out. God desired for them growth: they chose, alas, contraction.

The southern border is traced from east to west, not the whole of it, and with some addition in the part given. The starting-point is from Asher, -not the tribe, of course, but a place supposed to be still known, with the same meaning, “happy,” man’s original condition. Thence it passes to Michmethah, “the corruption of the dead,” which is now marked as opposite to Shechem, “shoulder,” already familiar to us as the type of obedience, the bearing of the yoke. So man, not ignorantly, but in full view of duty, turns away from God.

But there is a change: the border passes south, literally “to the right hand,” the place of exaltation and honor, but in dependence, and so comes to the inhabitants of En-tappuah, a word we well know as significant of the Breather of new life, a new creation, and with a prefix “En,” which means “spring,” the living water that waters the new creation-life. Here we are stopped to have it explained that the land only belonged to Manasseh; Tappuah, itself upon the boundary-line, belonged to Ephraim: and so Paul, in New Testament style, tells us that we are “Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before prepared, that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10.)

Next we have again the brook Kanah to the sea, south of which the cities are Ephraim’s, and north of it Manasseh’s, although the boundary-line would have given it all to Manasseh. I do not know the meaning of this.

The boundary-line north, as already said, is not traced, except that it touched Asher on the north, and Issachar toward the sunrise, and that Manasseh possessed cities in both tribes. Yet the extension seems to go beyond their strength, an evil which too often accompanies energy; and the Canaanites retain these cities still, though they become tributaries. The lesson further will be considered in the book of Judges.

(4) The expostulation of the brother tribes with Joshua is a pleading of weakness such as can go with high pretensions, and that is but shame. Certainly they have no slight opinion of themselves; yet when it comes to meeting the enemy they are willing to take shelter under the most humiliating confession. It is “when I am weak, then am I strong,” so that the true sense of weakness would have only given them encouragement by casting them upon God. Let us be well assured, the plea of weakness will never be used in this way by those who know rightly what their weakness is. They should have said, We are unbelieving, we dare not trust God: we are slothful, and do not want the trouble of clearing the mountain; but then they could not have faced Jehovah with this! How good a thing it would be to look honestly at all our excuses after this fashion; although the effect would surely be that we should find that we had not an excuse that would stand the test! Can we have an excuse for not taking possession of what God has made our own? Not unless God fails: if He be for us, who can be against us? Joshua, therefore, cannot admit the excuse. True it is, there is plenty of land for all, and their boundaries, as we have often seen, are quite open for enlargement where there is real need; but this cannot be until they are able to fill what has been already apportioned to them, and the enemies of God are dispossessed from their inheritance. The answer from their Captain is an exhortation with an encouragement. True, if we measure ourselves with difficulties, there is no hope at all: measure them in faith with God, and where have they disappeared?

But all this from the tribe of Joseph is mournful enough. Alas, when has there been a time in the history of God’s people in which the seeds of departure were not manifest on every side? And how could there be confidence at any time about them, except in the way the apostle found it, “I have confidence in you through the Lord”?

5. We go on now to consider the portions of the remaining tribes, which are allotted them at one time in Shiloh, the tabernacle having been set up there. This surely is something not irrelevant, but in true relation to the apportionment itself, in which are illustrated God’s governmental ways with a people in relation to Himself. And this, of course, implies that the tribes now receiving their apportionment illustrate also responsibility in a way in which previous ones do not. This is very evident as to Judah; while as to Joseph no less is it apparent, I think, that it is not responsibility that is emphasized in what is given as to them. On the other hand, in that which follows it is, -Benjamin first of all here giving the abiding in Christ (and therefore He in us), which enables us for it. It is therefore the first and most important duty so to abide. This is the responsibility to which Christ in us answers as the necessary result. And while every true Christian must in the first sense of this abide, yet there are degrees of practical realization none the less.

(1) The tent of meeting is established at Shiloh, “the place of rest” or “peace,” -peace having been actually accomplished, and the land subdued before Israel. The tabernacle stood here from Joshua’s to Samuel’s days, when it was forsaken, the ark going into captivity into the Philistines’ land, and never returning to its first abode. Jerusalem, afterwards the throne of the Lord, and now in its turn given up, is yet only abandoned for a time, and has the promise of being God’s rest forever, but this very promise to the one assures us that the other is finally abandoned.

The things that happened unto Israel happened unto them for types, and so surely in this case. Like the choice of Saul before David the true king, the choice of Shiloh had no doubt a probationary purpose, as all the history connected with it indicates. The situation of Jerusalem between Benjamin and Judah will be realized by one who considers what we have seen to be expressed by these tribes respectively to be the ideal seat of the lawgiver; Jerusalem itself also being the “foundation of peace,” that is “righteousness” which is the foundation of God’s throne no less. Shiloh, on the contrary, was in Ephraim the fruitful, to which men naturally accord the sovereignty. When the kingdom was divided Ephraim became, as we know, the seat of government, ten tribes uniting to give this place to her -the ominous number of responsibility. Shiloh in Ephraim seems evidently, therefore, much as Saul before David, or the law before grace, a needed concession to man’s natural thoughts, ordained for the trial of them.

However, this scarcely appears as yet, save that the beginnings of failure are in fact seen all round, as we know, and at Shiloh itself the first word is of expostulation: “How long will ye be slack to go and possess the land?” Nor have we any outbreaking of song as when David afterwards brings the ark to Zion. These things speak to the attentive ear discouragingly: God for Himself “chose not the tribe of Ephraim” as the place of His throne.

Yet there in the mean time the tent of meeting is, and thither the assembly of Israel gathers.

(2) Seven tribes have yet to find their portions, and for this Jehovah bids

them appoint three men of each of these tribes to survey the land and divide it into seven parts, the lot being that which is to determine the portion of each according to these divisions.

(3) The lots come forth in an order which must, of course, have numerical significance:

(a) First, Benjamin, who receives, as we have already noticed, his inheritance between. Judah and Ephraim on the east side, filling up exactly the interval, and uniting these to one another.

Small as the tribe is, we see yet its importance in the care with which its boundaries are traced and its cities enumerated. Though its borders are necessarily those of Ephraim on the one hand and of Judah on the other, and have thus already been given, yet they are repeated now, with certain variations in the description, which are, of course, significant. Its cities, too, are given with care, and numbered like those of Judah, while those of Ephraim and Manasseh both are almost wholly passed over. These things do not merely happen to be, but are guided by the hand of God with careful consideration. We should only lose the edification designed for us, if we did not note all this carefully, so as to linger over that on which the Spirit of God lingers, emphasizing in due place, and giving all parts their balance and proportion.

If Benjamin speak of Christ in us, the power for a fruitful life in the world, it is easy to see why this should receive more attention and emphasis than the details of the fruitful life itself (Ephraim); and thus it is that Benjamin fills the gap between Judah and Joseph, and comes at the head of the seven tribes here finding their place. “Little Benjamin” is, in this sense, “the ruler” (Psa 68:27), having in it, in fact, Jerusalem, the city of the King, though Judah might supply the King himself. “Christ in us” is, as has been already said, the objective in the subjective, the personal Christ in His image in the soul; we must expect, therefore, that Benjamin will receive the greater consideration, and should expect ourselves to find the deepest instruction and edification in the details so carefully given here.

We have first the boundaries, then the cities. The boundaries tell us in detail what Benjamin is; for to limit and to define are the same things. They are given consecutively, the line being run completely from the northeastern extremity at the Jordan, west to the south of Bethlehem, giving the north side; south to Kirjath-Jearim, -the west side; east from thence back to Jordan, -the south side; Jordan itself being the east side.

The northern is, of course, at the same time the boundary of Joseph; it is given us also in the same way, froth east to west, and thus presents itself for comparison throughout. For there is no mere repetition of what has been already given: the whole is restated, even although the parts may be the same. We have Benjamin now in view, not Ephraim; while, as already said, comparison is necessarily suggested all the way through.

The starting-point is Jordan, and this is given separately, to be considered by itself: “And their border on the north side was from Jordan.” Ephraim, too, starts from the river of death, but does not linger there. The difference all through seems to be that in Benjamin we have identification with Christ, in Ephraim development of a life which is individual and distinct, although none the less springing from the life of Christ in us. Benjamin’s border begins at Jordan, that is in identification with Him in death; but it is as having life in Him that we are thus identified. Benjamin and Ephraim thus begin together, but on different sides of the same line: if we say “life in Christ,” Ephraim emphasizes the life, Benjamin that it is in Christ. These things are never to be separated, but they are easily distinguished.

But thus Ephraim does not, so to speak, tarry at Jordan; Benjamin does. For power upon earth it is of the most essential consequence to realize that we begin with identification with Christ in death, which is thus my death, the end of me for faith, that Christ may live in me. If this first identification be not well realized, the dead self, after all, survives; separate interests become necessarily distraction; the eye not single blurs the image of Christ; and instead of day there is but, at best, a twilight in the soul, which does not develop like the flush of the early morn, “from glory to glory:” for this you need, and only need, thank God, the Sun!

But now we go up: “And the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north” -the shadowed side, notice, of the world, but a world which thus (and only thus) becomes ours, Jericho coming, as we see, into the possession of Benjamin by this fact. But still we go up: there is no tarrying here -“and went up through the hill-country westward,” nearer heaven and facing the sea, “and ended at the wilderness of Beth-aven” -“house of vanity.” Not a cheerful road, one might think, for the feet of a Benjamite; but the cheer is elsewhere: identification with Christ is not that which makes the world bright or the path smooth. It makes the way a pilgrimage.

But that is only one stage of the road. “And the border passed from thence to Luz, to the side of Luz (the same is Bethel) southward.” Luz, as has been already said, means “separation”; but Luz is here identified with Bethel, as in Joseph’s border it is distinguished from it. It is the Luz aspect that is emphasized in connection with Benjamin, and no wonder: realized identification with Christ cannot fail in maintenance of true separateness, which in the Lord was fuller than the Baptist’s, great as was he. But Luz is Bethel, as the apostle fully explains to the Corinthians (2Co 6:16-18). It is true Benjamite “separation” which makes us realize the blessedness of that home relationship with the Lord Almighty which is indeed what Bethel (the house of God) implies. And how much is implied in this! Let the Benjamite who is reviewing his border not pass hastily on from Bethel, not make it merely, in fact, a station by the way. Nay, with him who knows it, it will be no transient thing, as in the Lord’s blessed assurance: “If any man love Me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him; and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (Joh 14:23).

The fourth portion of the line brings us to the end of the north border: “and the border went down to Ataroth-addar, at the hill which is on the south of the lower Beth-horon.” Both these names we know, but the utter and solemn contrast is at first sight surprising. That the line goes down to “crowns of honor” need not surprise us: with the Lord it did, and thus the identification with Him is maintained. He “humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name.” “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.”

So much is simple: but what is “the mount which is on the south of the lower Beth-horon”? The mount unnamed must be simple elevation, and on the south side excludes Beth-horon from the portion of Benjamin. Does not the whole point simply and impressively to the day of the Lord in which the crown of glory and the judgment upon evil will be recompensed to saint and sinner?

Here the northern boundary ends, and we turn south along the western one. This is very short, and has but one portion of the line within it: “And the border was drawn so that it turned on the west side southward, from the mount that is before Beth-boron on the south, and it ended at Kirjath-baal (this is Kirjath-jearim), a city of the children of Judah.” This is on the border of Dan, and it speaks correspondingly of judgment from its start to its termination. We have already seen in Kirjath-jearim the exposure of Satan and his overthrow. In what perfect connection do we find it here both with the border of Dan and the city of wrath! And we see in Benjamin’s “mount” how identification with Christ and exaltation upon earth come at last into visible display together; and this is shown us just where Ephraim’s border gives place to Dan! Who is the author of all these harmonies? Is any imagination equal to the feat of creating them? Every name here is a standing proof of verbal inspiration.

We are now come to the southern boundary, which is at the same time Judah’s, and trace it back to Jordan. It is as if looking back from the end, (to which in the previous part we have arrived,) we retraced, as we shall retrace, the way by which we have come thither; and in this Benjamin and Judah (“praise”) will surely come together. Passing back over the way we have already traced, the landmarks will be the same substantially -almost exactly -all the way through, and the principal difference will be in the direction and in the stages of the journey, which will be numerically different, as indeed they are differently divided also.

The line is broken into five divisions, in the first of which we are bidden simply to consider the point from which we start: “And the south side was from the end of Kirjath-jearim.” The number speaks of the righteousness and omnipotence of God, which are clearly shown in the detection, baffling, and overthrow of Satan, not one dupe duped any longer by him, and God supreme in all His excellency as God, every cloud removed. How wondrous will be the time! well may we be called to pause and consider it before we pass on -the time when the barrenness and misery of evil will be manifest to all, and the victory seen to be essentially one of goodness, not merely of power: thus only worthy of Him. This opens the meaning of the second portion:

“And the border went out westward, and went out to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah.” This second portion, under the number which speaks of Christ and of salvation, takes us to the Cross, Nephtoah, “the opening” of the Rock, whence flow the living waters. The connection with Kirjath-jearim is evident. In the Cross power was absent from the side of good, was present with the evil only, yet the victory was complete, as shown in the streams flowing forth, and which have ever since flowed forth. At the first, though on the southern border, and to go east, we find, in fact, the border going west! we are facing the sea of trial, in which, also, the works of the Lord and His wonders appear: thus the character of what is here should be manifest. The bruised foot it is that, as such, bruises the serpent’s head. In the day of triumph, it is the Lamb who appears.

The third division of the border is a much longer one, though with a number of smaller breaks. It is, in fact, that part of it in which is found the retracing, step by step, of the road traveled; the two former introducing us to it in the light by which it must all be read. Thus we begin again now with judgment:

“And the border went down to the end of the mountain that is before the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is in the valley of Rephaim on the north.”

Here we have already seen that hell is carefully distinguished from the enemy’s power, which the valley of the giants represents. It is the power of God, and for the repression of evil. Satan does not triumph in a single soul cast into hell. If he could do so, heaven would be darkened forever, and the songs of the righteous turned into a wail. This first portion of the third division speaks in its number attached (as I think) of the barrenness of rebellion accomplishing nothing but its own shame, while obedience is the incorruptible seed which really produces, and whose fruit abides.

“And it went down the valley of Hinnom at the side of the Jebusite on the south.” The Jebusite stands here, as we know, for Jerusalem; but this is not named as it was when tracing Judah’s boundary. The valley of Hinnom, distinguished from any mere effect of the enemy’s power, speaks still of the doom of the sinner as not the will of God; as “causeless,” save by the sinner himself. Thus it is at the south side of the “treader down,” not in the shadow of the oppressor.

From thence the line “went down to Enrogel,” the “fuller’s fountain;” at the third step we find the place of cleansing of garments, going down to find it. Not the toil of climbing is needed to find the renewing of the Spirit for one’s personal life; not labor nor the uplifting of self, but self-abnegation only. How guilty, then, is he who refuses to take the place in which the grace of God can minister to him!

“And it was drawn on the north, and went forth to Enshemesh,” the “fountain of the sun” -a beautiful picture of the Spirit of Christ reflecting Christ; and this comes under the number which speaks of practical walk: what a testimony of the ease and simplicity of a true Christian walk, the power of which is from above, and which without effort reflects the beams that are poured around it! Man is still made nothing of, but in his weakness ministered to, as freely as the sun shines for all that will have it: and that is what the apostle really gives as the witness of Christ: “That was the true light which, coming into the world, shines for every man” (Joh 1:9).

But why this specification, “drawn on the north,” just here? Is it because, with all its simplicity, there seems so deep a mystery in it for most? This is at least true, that legality and little faith, and want of devotedness, both cloud the sun and diminish the flow of waters, and Enshemesh often does not answer to the beauty of its name. “This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”

“And it went out toward Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim.” Geliloth here replaces Gilgal in the boundary of Judah: it is a plural, but otherwise very similar, meaning circuits or revolutions. Yet there must be a difference in meaning, answering to the difference of form, for no change can be without a purpose in the word of God. God Himself interprets Gilgal, applying it to the rolling away from Israel of the reproach of Egypt. Geliloth, as a plural, can hardly be so definite in application. With the number five attaching to it, the number which speaks of God’s governmental ways, one would think naturally of the revolution of those wheels of Divine Providence of which we were reminded in the kindred Eglon, and which are full of intelligence and blessing for the man in Christ, while his place as this no revolutions can affect. Thus Geliloth is simply “opposite” the ascent of Adummim, the homeward path of the “quieted ones.”

“And it went down to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben.” This is the sixth point, a number which, as we know it is that of the overcomer, Bohan, the man of the consecrated hand, may show us the way of overcoming. Only the hands tipped with blood and oil can be expected to leave the Ebenezer stones upon the way; and these will do it.

And now we are nearly back to the beginning of the journey, and the next step brings us face to face with the desert: “and it passed over to the side in front of the Arabah northward.” A singular seventh point, as it must seem; and the desert itself is the eighth: “and it went down to the Arabah.” But, looking back as we are doing here, why should not the contemplation of the desert be in rest, and the desert itself become a prophecy of new creation? God does not patch, and will not have the wilderness forever: must He not, then, have “all things new”?

This after all may not be the interpretation: let it stand then only till a better is suggested. It is evident that this completes the journey, and that in the next division we have got to what in Egypt stood at the beginning of it for Israel, and without which not a step of the journey could have been taken: “And the border passed over to the side of Bethhoglah northward.” Bethhoglah, if we have rightly interpreted it, means “the house of revealed sacrifice,” and that the word means strictly “festal sacrifice” makes the reference to the passover only more complete. The new beginning, “and the border,” occurs for the fourth time in this southern boundary, and so should signify that we have here a fourth division. This may be another surprise; but it must be remembered, that looking backwards, as we are doing now, things are seen naturally in new aspects. In this case the number of experience seems a beautiful assurance of how the shelter, the joy, the power of the sacrifice under which first we learned the blessing of redemption, have abode with us all the way. Redemption has been itself testified by the full strain of all the way on to the land before us, and it has more than borne the strain. Its song has not died out, and never will. Well may we bless our God, and joyful indeed may be our hearts, that the strain of the wilderness does really fall upon the redemption provided! The question, will the saint certainly come through, means really, is the salvation of Christ a complete salvation? is Christ our Lord a sufficient Saviour?

We are now back to the sea: “And the border ended at the north bay of the salt sea, at the south end of Jordan.” The meaning can only be what we have before seen when looking at Judah’s boundary, death bringing to judgment, and the number given here affirms it as God’s government. That it is not the death of the sinner He desires, that we have seen most solemnly affirmed also. Judgment, we have been assured at the valley of Hinnom, is His “strange work;” here, we are equally assured, it is what nevertheless, when forced to it, He will execute.

The fourth boundary of Benjamin -the eastern one -is Jordan, where we began. Death as the penalty on men connects necessarily with death as the penalty borne for us by Christ, and our identification with Him in it. And Jordan as the fourth boundary is death as stamped upon the fallen creature, -the base line, so to speak, of Benjamin’s portion, leaving all that he has to glory in to be Christ alone!

This is the inheritance, then, of Benjamin as defined by its borders. We have yet to look at its cities, which fill here a second place, not, as in Judah, a fourth. Is it because they do not speak of experiences, but of attributes, namely, of that divine government which “Christ liveth in me” implies? This would seem to be confirmed by the grouping of the cities also. There are two groups of these (an eastern and a western, although not noticed as such in Scripture), and the first consists of just twelve names, the number of manifest divine government. The second, indeed, has fourteen, and yet by division stands as twelve and two, so that the same number is shown in it also, though more obscurely.

The names themselves are, some of them, quite difficult, and do not recur. The words for “hill” are proportionately frequent, as Geba, Gibeath, Ramah, and agree with the character of the land of Benjamin, physically and spiritually: for God hath made the physical the pattern of the spiritual. Would that we knew only how to discern it better?

The twelves in Scripture seem, for the most part, if not always, to divide into four threes, and thus every city here will find its number. The first group of twelve seems to emphasize the power of the rule of Christ where the truth of identification with Him is known and recognized by faith. The first necessity for rule is power, and this in its various characters the cities here seem to express. They are thus arranged:

1. -1. Jericho, 2. Beth-hoglah, 3. Emek-keziz;

2. -1. Beth-arabah, 2. Zemaraim, 3. Bethel;

3. -1. Avim, 2. Parah, 3. Ophrah;

4. -1. Chephar-ha-Ammonai, 2. Ophni, 3. Geba.

Two of the first three are familiar to us. The third, Emek-keziz, the “valley of cutting off,” has been suggested by Grove, with great probability, to refer to the circumcision of the people after they had crossed Jordan, which certainly took place in this neighborhood. Together, and especially if Emek-keziz may mean “deep cutting,” they may show us the sufficiency of Christ to meet the condition of the soul and govern it for God.

Jericho, the well-known type of the world, passes, as we have already seen, into the possession of Benjamin -a world which belongs to the Christian only as he belongs to Christ, and as it, too, is kept by him under the shadow of the cross. Joseph, Manasseh, Machir, have borne in various ways testimony to this truth before; and Scripture is not weary of putting us in remembrance. Thus, if Jericho be the shadow of Egypt here

Beth-hoglah carries us back to the passover, to the judgment of Egypt on its first-born, to the day of deliverance and departure from it; while

Emek-keziz gives us the circumcision of heart which is the “putting of the body of the flesh” (Col 2:1-23), and thus strikes at the root of all the power of the world. “We are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” (Php 3:1-21.) This is sufficient power.

The next three would naturally speak of it as saving power, but in the sense in which the apostle uses the term in Philippians, not in Romans. Salvation may have various applications; and that which the apostle speaks of in. Philippians is not a salvation from wrath and condemnation merely. It is one agreeing with “my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that in everything, as always, so now also, Christ may be magnified in my body, whether by life or death.” Here we have, first of all

Beth-arabah, the “house of the wilderness,” the world become that, a barren place, in which Christ is the need and home of the soul. This carries on clearly the truth of the first section, while it expresses in the most vivid way the reality of the world’s power being broken. The next word

Zemaraim, is one of the difficult ones. It has been supposed to refer to one of the families of the Canaanites, the Zemarites, tenth in the genealogical list in Genesis; but this gives no help of the kind we seek. It has been referred to an Arabic root meaning “to be weak, to languish,” and to a Chaldee one signifying “to be hot.” Yet there is a Hebrew word akin to it, Zemer, which means “wool,” and was the chief clothing material in Israel. As a dual form, may it not speak of double garments, of protection from the cold which can be often keenly felt in Palestine? and this would not appear unsuitable to the line of truth beginning with Beth-arabah. We are bidden to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” and the open testimony to Him implied in this is indeed an effectual safeguard from the chill of the world’s night air. Lastly

Bethel, the house of God, which, as we see in Jacob’s history, infers also the discipline of the house, is a third security for the preservation of holiness in the soul, and of the soul in holiness.

The third three seem to speak of fruitfulness. Here we have, first

Avvim, which was the name, we may remember, of a nation destroyed by the Caphtorim, and who seem characterized by their name as “perverters, overturners.” It is not of necessity that they recognized this name themselves, or the character implied in it: such, alas, are the most quiet and respectable of those that are away from God. Their attitude is rebellion. They are not merely negatively fruitless, but positively corrupters and destroyers of what is good and godly. But what is the meaning of the insertion of this name among those of Benjamite cities? Is it, as with Israel’s first name, to magnify the grace of Him who out of such material can make a vessel for His praise? So I think we must take it, the confession of what once the people of God were in contrast with

Parah, in which the effect of grace is seen:

He hath become fruitful” is only rightly appraised when it is seen whom this “he” stands for. While in the third name,

Ophrah, “the female fawn,” while still the central idea is fruitfulness, there seem added the thoughts of beauty, gentleness, even fear, which, when it is of God and not of man, can clothe a Benjamite warrior with the most attractive grace.

These three sections seem to yield consistent meaning, on the whole, not doubtful. When we come to the fourth, there is more room to doubt, especially as to the second word, which is in general taken to refer to one of those petty nations with which of old, as in Christian times, the land of Israel was overrun. But this, for one who seeks spiritual meaning, leaves the difficulty as great as ever. Confessing it where we find it, there is still room to suggest what seems to be in harmony with the rest, and not devoid of practical instruction.

The number speaks of testing, and the first name here is

Chephar-ha-Ammonai, “the village,” perhaps “covert,” “of the Ammonites.” If we have rightly characterized the Ammonite (vol. i., p. 531, n), he is just the especial enemy and snare of the Benjamite. Leave him but Christ, and he is safe. Filch Christ away from him, and he will be but a shorn Samson, weak as other men, and much more pitiable in his weakness. Now the Ammonite is, as we have conceived him, the heretic in doctrine, not openly but subtly ready to steal Christ away. And we need not wonder, so little are we competent to keep our choicest blessings, to find an Ammonite covert upon Israelite territory. Nay, it would seem they have associates, for such foes seldom work alone:

Ophni is named from Ophnite, another stranger possibly, although also possibly not; for it is no new thing, alas, for one’s foes to be they of one’s own household. Ophni is variously interpreted, but the meaning which seems most to be in keeping with its position here is that which makes the derivation to be from a word which in Arabic and Syriac signifies “to become mouldy.” Certain it is that it is where decay has come in, we find a soul ready to take part with the Ammonite. Decay shows already that the freshness of first love is gone. Christ is not what He was to it; and here is the enemy’s opportunity to tamper with His image, and bring in something which seems, perhaps, at first, to be only a new point of knowledge. But it is leaven in the meal, and it works as leaven: by degrees the whole is leavened; there is another Christ, and not the old one.

What is the remedy? That surely must be in the third name, which has the number. of revival, of restoration, and the third name is

Geba, “hill.” Benjamin, as has been said, is full of hills. As places of comparative security, cities were largely built on them, and the hill of Geba might well suggest a refuge from an Ammonite “covert.” A hill lifts one up above the common level, and gives largeness of view also. Spiritually, the resort to a hill is a confession of feebleness, of need to be raised above oneself, of consciousness that we are in an enemy’s country; and, simple as all this is, it is really our effectual safeguard, and the only one. Pride and self-sufficiency are at the bottom of all going astray. They prevent our recourse to Christ: “the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek.” What snare could prevail against us, if we walked in self-distrust and humility with God? if, instead of from the common level of the world, we looked at things from the height to which He would lift us!

Thus the last three cities show us the simple condition which secures us against failure and defeat: it is but the abiding in the weakness of which the number of weakness, the number of the creature, reminds us. How, then, it might be thought, could we ever be defeated? Certainly from lack of power we never can.

The rest of the cities of Benjamin form a group, fourteen in number, in which we have presented to us, as it would appear, the ministry of Christ, as entered into by the one in whom Christ lives and rules. The spirit of Christ must surely be eminently a spirit of service. “I am among you as one that serveth” were His own words: “the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” This was His glory, that He had come down into the world to meet, as He only could, the need of the world. This characterized His whole life in its human aspect; and while atonement was His work alone, and it is made, yet he in whom Christ lives will be of necessity one in whom He will be carrying on the work for which He came, in the spirit of the wondrous sacrifice which was, in its full reality, His alone. Hence it is most interesting to see how in Benjamin now we have this thought dwelt upon; and in this respect also we see how he unites Judah with Ephraim, while filling his own individual place. Ephraim is fruitfulness, and here surely is fruitfulness; yet, on the other hand, in it the Judah character of “confession” is as clearly found -the fruit is evangelical; not in personal life, which is Ephraim, but in testimony; while yet having to do in the closest way with personal life, and inseparable from power for it. Thus Benjamin’s cities are 14, or 2 x 7, the number of testimony united with that which speaks of a perfect and divine work; while, when divided, as it is divided for us here, it exhibits the numbers 12 + 2, again the number of testimony, with that which speaks of divine rule, as in the last series.*

{*There is, however, lack of an “and” before “Eleph,” which should be pointed out and would suggest, as in other cases, a division here. The 14 would then stand as 10.2.2. I can only mention this and leave it, as the meaning seems to make it 12.2, as shown directly. The letter v may have dropped out, but I know of no evidence from MSS.}

Let us now look at this larger section, which as 12 we should find again to be a 4 x 3, and to begin with the work which stamps its character upon the whole of it, the work of the cross. The cities are thus arranged:

1. -1. Gibeon, 2. Ramah, 3. Beeroth;

2. -1. Mizpeh, 2. Chephirah, 3. Mozah;

3. -1. Rekem, 2. Irpeel, 3. Taralah;

4. -1. Zelah, 2. Eleph, 3. Jebusi (Jerusalem).

What does Gibeon mean? The almost unanimous assurance of lexicographers and commentators is that it is connected with Gibeah, a common word for “hill,” the termination giving it a possessive form -“of a hill,” a hill city. I confess I can make nothing of it if this be the interpretation: others may, no doubt, succeed better.

But there is an alternative. It may be a compound word, and so mean “pit of iniquity”; or the last part of the word may stand, as sometimes, for “suffering for iniquity.” The latter meaning I believe to be the true one, and it connects then clearly with the history. The Gibeonites did suffer for the deceit they practiced upon Joshua and Israel, being reduced to bondmen for the imposition.*

{*A question naturally will be raised here which would equally apply to the interpretation assigned to many of these names, and for that reason deserves a special answer. It may be asked, Could one suppose the Gibeonites to have designated their city by such a name, a name which would have been a prophetic judgment upon their own condition? To this, however, there may be given more than one sufficient answer.

1. The name may not be exactly the original one, but somewhat altered by the Israelites, as we know to have been the case in other instances (as, e.g., Deu 2:11; Deu 2:20 : comp. Gen 14:5), as a comment upon the history.

2. With other names, it may be really ambiguous, and capable of a deeper meaning, which the Spirit of God develops for us.

3. It must not be overlooked that the hand of God

has been manifestly over the history, and that numerous names are distinctly prophetic. All those of typical persons are of necessity so, and evidently without any thought of prophesying on the part of those who bestowed them. He without whom not a sparrow falls overrules men in their ignorance continually, leading them undesignedly and in spite of themselves to fulfill His will. These three considerations cover as I believe, every case such as that before us; and not merely answer the questions, but give us deeper views of divine government than are commonly entertained among Christians today.}

But while there is thus a plain link with the history, the spiritual significance is a much deeper one; and here the Cross is surely the true Gibeon, the “pit of suffering for iniquity” indeed. In a series of names developing the significance which we should easily find in them, how divinely suitable is it that that which was the Lord’s supremest act of ministry, in its full character quite inimitable, should lead the way!

Then the second name, Ramah, an “elevated place,” under the number of salvation, points clearly to the acceptance of that wondrous work, the answer of God to the humiliation and suffering of His Son; and then the answer of the Holy Ghost follows in

Beeroth, the “wells” of salvation, out of which, for the need of men, with joy we may draw abundant water.

Here, then, is the fountain-head as well as sublimest pattern of ministry, and that which constitutes our sufficiency for it. The next three contemplate the enemy of this work, whose opposition we have to meet, and from the beginning.

Mizpeh, the “watch-tower,” bids us cultivate the spirit that this implies, and be upon our guard against an observant, powerful, and unchanging foe. This is an imperative need for one who would follow in any measure the footsteps of the Saviour of men. We cannot afford for a moment to ignore this foe; only at our peril can we be “ignorant of his devices.” Thus the second name here is

Chephirah, a word which is from caphar, to “cover,” and is but the feminine form of chephir, a “young lion,” so called from his habit of constantly lurking in the coverts: “covert-lion” would be a just rendering, and combines the idea of treachery and craft with power and destructiveness. Here is the enemy, and in

Mozah we have the mode of attack. Mozah means simply “going forth,” and must refer to the attack simply, the lion leaving his covert. But this by itself would be almost insignificant: it is a matter of course that the lion will attack. Combine this thought with another, and you have a real warning. Mozah, as going forth, is by interpreters given as a “fount or spring-head”; and it is well known how the lion will look around such places to prey upon the thirst-driven herds that resort to the waters. Here, indeed, is the place, also, of Satan’s special attack. Where the Spirit of God is working and souls are being ministered to, there he delights with his roar and the agonized cry of some victim to scatter those of whom God says, “Gather my people together, and I will give them water.”

And what remedy? Faith in the great Shepherd whose watchful care is over His own. Vigilance and alertness on the part of His people. The knowledge of Satan’s method of itself arms us against him.

We have now another three, which, as a third, should show us the Holy Spirit’s work; and so it does. The first word is peculiar and touching: it is

Rekem, “embroidery,” a word that might be thought to have only a very fanciful connection with any spiritual work. Nor is it employed exactly in this way; but the verb is used in a striking passage in that wonderful psalm, the 139th, in which God’s thought and care of man is traced from his beginnings in the womb: -“My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought” -“embroidered” -“in the lowest parts of the earth.” And, indeed, the curious interweaving of nerves, veins, arteries, together can be compared to nothing more justly than to a marvellous embroidery. This, of course, in all men: and can God be wanting in consideration and tenderness for a being upon whom He has bestowed such wonderful care?

This is but the body; but the Psalmist rises up to the a fortiori argument -how much more, then, must He care for the soul!

But the body falls a victim to disease none the less, and in death all this elaborate workmanship becomes a prey to corruption. Yes; for the spirit, which is the crown and unifier of the body, has fallen away from God its life, and thus the unity which depends upon it tends ever to break up, too! None can restore the body but He who can restore and set right the spirit. Here the marvellous work of Christ alone can suffice to assure us that man is still unchangeably the object of divine regard. The ministry of Christ addresses itself to every one of these creatures that He has made, and the next word is

Irpeel, “God healeth”: that is the glorious news. It is the precious fact, which every true worker for God realizes in his own experience. The breach in man is healed, because the breach with God is healed, and thus there is

Taralah, “the turning away of curse.” Simple all this is; how good to know that such blessedness as this today is simple. Yet, simple as it is, how great -as great as ever -the need of the proclamation of it still!

We have now come to the fourth three, the number of practical life, the number, also, as we are continually reminded, of creature weakness. Here we have, first

Zelah, “rib,” that which the Lord God at the beginning took from Adam, and built up into a woman, and ordained her to be the help-meet of man. Here the weakness of the creature was recognized and provided for. “It is not good that the man should be alone,” God says; and yet he was then as he had been made exactly. The woman, weaker still than he, is ordained his helper. Was she not in some way that by her very weakness? Cast upon him in his strength, a being formed for affection, as an object for the heart to develop the heart in him, deliver him from self-occupation, and, by the help she needed, help her helper? Here is natural ministry, ordained at creation, by which we are linked together by the need we have of one another, and in giving receive, and receive more than we give. Thus, indeed, is ministry as mercy “twice-blessed”: and this reflex influence of it Zelah seems to stand for and suggest.

Eleph, “ox,” from alaph, “to learn” implies training, education, while it is the well-known type of the patient laborer. The number, which is that of addition, progress, emphasizes the former meaning. He who would teach must himself be taught; and he who would teach with God must have learnt with God. God’s school is one how different from man’s! and in it we must never disjoin “Master and Lord.”

Thirdly, Jebusi, the “treader down,” when synonymous with Jerusalem, “the foundation of peace,” that is, with righteousness, leads us to think still of the laborer, and, indeed, of the threshing of wheat, which was done after this manner. After David had taken the city, so that it had really become Jerusalem, we find the Jebusite Araunah at this work. Threshing is distinguishing work: the wheat is separated from the chaff; and this not as mere classification, but because the wheat is wanted, and wanted free from chaff. “If thou take forth the precious from the vile,” says God to Jeremiah, “thou shalt be as My mouth.” And this is the sanctification of labor, when it is used to separate that which is of God for God; when the heart is on that which is precious, deals with evil only that God may have His place and glory -what is His. And thus the picture is complete.

But there are still two cities more, exceedingly simple in their names; simple, also, in their significance

Gibeath, which is “hill,” and Kirjath, which is “city” -“walled city,” really. What can be implied by this, except to show us what is the help of labor, what it looks toward and intends. Gibeath the hill is the foundation of the city: “His foundation is in the holy mountains” is said of Zion. (Psa 87:1.) There is but one foundation for the laborer with God, and that is Christ: “other foundation can no man lay;” let us maintain it in these darkening days.

Upon this foundation God is building a city; and, blessed be His name, we are permitted to be helpers therein. It is a city “compacted together,” a place where, at last, the links begun on earth shall find their appropriate sphere and sweet acknowledgment. It will be seen, then, that God never intended man to be alone, and that the city, though not in His paradise of old, was His first thought. There, too, shall His delight in man of old find its expression. God shall dwell among them; His glory shall be over them forever, and the Lamb the lamp thereof.

(b) The second lot comes forth to Simeon, in perfect accordance with the character of the tribe, whose weakness we have seen to be in its readily formed associations, and for whom God has now, it appears, associations after His own mind, while thus is fulfilled Jacob’s prophecy as to them, “I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.” These two seemingly so opposite things are accomplished by their receiving their inheritance in the shape of cities scattered, more or less, within the territory already given to Judah -cities that they are unable to occupy by reason of their portion being too large for them. Alas, how little are we able to enjoy all the blessing God has made our own! But thus He makes the need of Simeon supply the need of Judah, and exhibits to us the dependence of communion (which Simeon stands for) upon worship -the dependence, too, (though with a characteristic difference,) of worship upon communion. Very much as the Levites were in Leviticus given to the priests, so here, we may say, is Simeon given to Judah.

Simeon has thus not a territory, properly, at all; and so no boundary-lines are drawn or spoken of. Communion has in fact, so to speak, no territory of its own -no boundary-lines. The cities speak, not of the things which it has for its own peculiar enjoyment, but of what God has provided for it that it may be maintained. Thus, for instance, Hazar-shual, the restraint upon the flesh, is necessary for the existence of communion, but ideally it belongs as much to Judah, as we have already seen; nor can that be a matter of communion which is not one of worship also.

There are questions about these Simeonite cities, even as to the number of them, the first series being given as thirteen, while there are in the Hebrew text fourteen. The names themselves, according to the commentators, are often represented differently in the Judean list, with sometimes a third difference in 1 Chronicles. For the most part, we may pass over all this, except as the spiritual meaning may be in question, and therefore shall address ourselves to this at once, believing assuredly that “all these things happened unto them for types, and” in this way “were written for our admonition.” There are abundant commentaries upon the letter, so that it scarcely needs to add much to the mass that has been accumulated with regard to this.

The first and much the largest series of names, whether they are thirteen or fourteen in number, seems to divide again into four parts, the first three of these being again series of threes. They present to us that which is necessary for the existence of communion, the first three carrying us back to new birth itself. We have had the names before: they are

First, Beersheba, the “well of the oath.” This speaks to us clearly of the Spirit of God, ours as secured and justified by the value of Christ in His perfection as the sacrificial Victim -the seven lambs.

The second, in the common text, Sheba, seems to be an error of transcription for what the Septuagint substitutes for it, Shema (“report”), which in the list of cities of the south stands in the same way before

Moladah, “birth,” and with the same meaning. We are born of the Spirit, born of the Word; and this is the first qualification for communion, a nature capable of apprehending and enjoying the things of God.

The second three speak of the sin yet within, from the power of which there must be deliverance; and first therefore here

Hazar-shual, “the jackal-pen,” the restraint upon the flesh, which has been elsewhere more fully pictured to us. We have, then

Balah, “withered, old,” which, under the number which speaks both of the cross and of salvation, reminds us that “our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed (annulled), that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Rom 6:6.) And thus

Under the number of the Spirit and of resurrection from the dead we have Azem, “strength” -ability to enter unhindered into the portion God has made our own, to enjoy it with God.

The third three now speak of realized consecration: first

Eltolad, “God is begetter,” which gives the divine claim over us as His children -no more absolute or endearing claim than this; and God is here El, “the Mighty,” able, spite of all hindrances, to make good His claim. Hence, on the one side we have

Bethul, “separated to God,” or, on the other

Hormah, “ban,” separated to destruction, if against Him. Here is absolute devotedness, that knows no indifference, no neutrality. He, and that, that is not for God is against Him; he that gathereth not with Him scattereth abroad.

The fourth section is more difficult, though not as to the meanings, except with regard to the first word, which is

Ziklag. If the last syllable be, as some believe, inverted for the sake of euphony, then it may mean most fittingly “the pressure of the wave”; and this would suit well the number of the section at the head of which it stands. It would thus plainly indicate an hour of trial such as is permitted to test everything that purports to be of God. The next two words

Beth-marcaboth, the “house of chariots,” and

Hazar-susah, the “horse-enclosure,” remind one perforce, in such a connection, of the psalmist’s words “Some trust in horses, and some in chariots.” (Psa 20:7.) The multiplication of either was forbidden to the Israelites on this very account. Both were used mainly for purposes of war; but Israel’s reliance was to be the Lord their God.

Beth-lebaoth, the “house of lionesses,” follows in the fourth place, in the Hebrew text. There does not seem the usual clearness, and there must be somewhere some mistake; for while Sharuhen, the “dwelling of grace,” according to the dictionaries, would come not unsuitably in the fifth place, the number must then be fourteen instead of thirteen, as in the Hebrew text. The differences in the Septuagint and in 1 Chronicles do not lessen the perplexity, which we must leave, however regretfully, just where it is.

The next group is only of four cities. Two of them, Ether and Ashan, we have had already, plainly referring to our Lord’s sanctuary work. Rimmon, the “pomegranate,” was on the border of the high-priest’s garment. Ain, the first, means “eye” as well as “spring”; and the eye of the priest was constantly in requisition. What we have here, then, is that priestly work of Christ for us, which is needed for the maintenance of communion, as of worship.

Ain comes in the first place, the “eye” which searches out perfectly the truth, in order that intercession may be according to the need, and so the grace ministered. This eye may well be courted, rather than feared: it is the eye of the physician and the friend, not of the judge or accuser; and for the maintenance of communion, what is more necessary than the cry, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me” (Psa 139:23-24)? The Psalmist knew not, as we know, the blessedness of One standing as the Mediator-priest, where Christ stands now; and that “throne of grace” to which we are bidden to “come boldly, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need,” was not to him fair and full in view, and sprinkled with the blood of Christ, as today we know it. We can “draw near” as he could not; and what hinders in us the drawing near, except the fear that the light of the throne and the eye of omniscience may lay bare in its reality something we would not have exposed -that we do not wish to see just as it is?

Can there yet be in us such treachery toward Him whom yet we know we cannot deceive? or can there be in Christian hearts such power for self-deception? Let us face the question for ourselves -not in the abstract merely: “Lord, is there possibly such ingratitude, as well as self-deceit, in me?”

Ain has thus very special importance in the list of Simeon’s cities.

There follows it Remmon, or Rimmon, the “pomegranate,” beautiful in flower and rich in fruit, and packed with its many seeds; on the high-priest’s garment it speaks of the gospel and its results, and here apparently of the same precious Word, which is indeed nothing else but gospel, and by means of which alone communion is maintained. In the pomegranate, though not of great height (which would make its treasures difficult of access), the leaf is evergreen, the flower and fruit are alike beautiful, the seeds of future fruit are found everywhere in the fruit: a precious picture of the word of divine testimony. And that which goes for communion, yet is not dependent on and maintained by that which is the communication of the grace of God, His mind for men, -is not communion. So important is this second city of Simeon, in this place.

The third is Ether, which has been before shown to speak of “prayer,” and that the “effectual, prevailing prayer” of the truly “Righteous” One -“Jesus Christ the righteous.” This the number marks as special sanctuary work: and hidden from us as it is, what we owe to it we shall only rightly know above.

The fourth city -reminding us once more of our weakness is Ashan, “smoke,” and which also we have seen to refer to the sanctuary incense. We are thus brought now to consider the need we have of prayer ourselves, and the virtue which Christ’s perfection gives to it. With which this series seems to be every way, indeed, complete.

To these, as an appendix, are added many unnamed villages round about these cities to Baalath-beer, the Ramath of the south, names beautifully and simply expressive. The “mistress of the well” must of necessity be “the exalted one” of the dry “south,” but which only needs the water to develop into magnificent fruitfulness. Blessed be God that for us there is this constant need of water from beneath and from above. Egypt, with its river of which they cannot see the source, is not our portion; we have need of the Spirit, and thus His gracious, patient, abundant ministry, as witnessed to us in the first of Simeon’s cities, secured to us by oath. “He who can swear by no greater has sworn by Himself, saying, Surely, blessing, I will bless thee!” Be it so, amen, Lord; and may faith in Thy people grasp the blessing!

(c) And now we go on to Zebulon, whose significance is simple from his name and the way in which Leah uses it. She called him Zebulon (dwelling), saying, “This time will my husband dwell with me.” The spiritual thought connected with Zebulon is dwelling in the relation which God has given us to Himself, which is the only true thought of consecration. And with this the number under which we find Zebulon here plainly agrees.

Zebulon’s border is given in three divisions, not completely: why should it be assumed that it ever was, or was intended to be, complete? We touch everywhere here upon things that are beyond us; and they cannot always, perhaps, have -sometimes need not have -complete definition. The spiritual sense -spiritual profit -governs everything here as much as in any other part of the word of God; and this destroys entirely the value of much acute criticism: we must get the divine, not the mere human, point of view. Certainly it can hardly be supposed that all the deficiencies that are to be found in this respect in the enumeration of cities here or the tracing of the boundary-lines are mere gaps in the manuscripts! If so, they are more imperfect than we have had any idea of. On the other hand, that there is design in the omissions is evident to one who will reverently consider them in the light only of such imperfect study as we are pursuing now; and the deeper the study, if a believing one, the more will this be apparent.

Judging simply from the language used, the description of the border falls into three parts, the first of which goes no further than to name the starting-point. This must, then, be of intense importance. From it the boundary is traced both west and east:

“And the border of their inheritance was as far as Sarid.”

Sarid means “remnant” -“what is left”; and this, under the number which may imply singularity or solitariness, should be, indeed, sufficiently impressive. “Antipas,” whom the Lord calls “my faithful martyr,” according to the significance of a name evidently meant to be significant, had “every one against” him: and if we are to be truly consecrated men, we must, before all things, dare to be singular. God must control us, as if there were not another. I do not mean, of course, that He will desire to have us, even for a moment, indifferent to others. Yet, says the Lord, “If any man come after Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luk 14:26.) This is simply uncompromising obedience, which to anything but a perfect will would be insanity, but which to God is the highest reason that can be. And this is insisted on, by the mere description of this boundary of Zebulon, in the most absolute way. “You must start,” it says, “if you are going to define for yourself what consecration to God is, by yourself alone -a remnant of one, if need be”! How important is it to get the right starting-point!

The consequences are not hidden: “And the border went up westward, even to Maralah (‘shaking’), and touched Dabbesheth (the murmuring of reproach ), and touched the brook which is before Jokneam (‘the possession of the people’). Before, in front of, not in the possession of, the people: there is the refreshment God has provided for you; and alas, you will find, if you are on this track, that the mass do not share it with you! It is beyond them, not because God will have it so, but they will have it.

In this part of the line we have been going westward -facing the sea. But there is another way. However, we must return to Sarid first:

“And it turned from Sarid eastward, toward the rising of the sun” -the double view of the east, meeting, like Judah in the wilderness, the breath of the desert with the song of the dawn -“to the border of Chisloth-Tabor” (the “loins,” that is, the strength of purpose”).

Here there is a well-provided road: “And it went forth to Daberath (‘pasture’), and went up to Japhia,” “shining.” The splendor of the dawn already greets one on this higher land.

“And thence it passed eastward, toward the rising of the sun, to Gath-hepher (‘the winepress-digging’), to Ethkazin (the occasion for a captain’); and it went out to Rimmon,” the “pomegranate,” which we have seen but awhile since to symbolize the precious word of God -“which reacheth unto Neah” (the “wanderer”) -thank God, it does! All this speaks easily of the activity and energy which characterize the Zebulonite who dwells with God. Notice that the word of God in its fullness, which the pomegranate so strikingly represents, furnishes and gives direction to these activities; and that the “captain” is, literally, “the outermost man,” the one who stands out from the rest, which is really the thought with which we started here.

We have now come to the third and last part of the border, which seems as if it should speak of inward realization of the Zebulon portion. “And the border turned about it (Rimmon) northward to Hannathon, and ended in the valley of Jephtah-el.” Hannathon means “obtained by grace,” and the border clings to Rimmon in reaching it. Nothing, indeed, to the soul that walks with God, can be a deeper experience than that all is of grace; there is none with which the Word more unites itself than this. But why does the border turn northward here? Is it because this abundant grace is at the same time a great mystery? It ends at Jephtah-el, “God openeth,” the word for God being El, the Mighty. But openeth what? Is it the way of access to Himself? Is it the deep things which His Spirit searcheth? Is it the way before us as we travel it? It may well be all these, as nothing here would seem to limit it. But with the man who dwells with God, the grace and power of God, with the fullness that is in His bounteous hand, seem to be spoken of as the sweet and certified realities. Correspondingly, the line ends in a valley”: weakness and nothingness are realized, not in dismay or discouragement, but the very opposite. Still they are realized: for “the High and Holy One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy,” saith: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isa 57:15.)

The list of the cities of Zebulon comes in the fourth place, not separated from the boundary, but apparently including those that have been mentioned in it: for they are said to be twelve in number, while only five are given apart from these. Keil owns that “after deducting Chisloth-Tabor and Dabrath, which belonged to Issachar, the names Sarid, Maralah, Dabbasheth, Japhia, Gath-hepher, Eth-Kazin, and Channathon, give just seven towns. Nevertheless,” he adds, “there is very little probability in this conjecture.” The only alternative being to imagine a gap to this extent in the text, impossible to fill up, or that five should replace twelve, as the number of cities, involving a merely conjectural alteration of it, let us see how interpretation may help us to decide the matter.

Now the number five, as that of man with God, is one that we might expect to find in relation to Zebulon. The twelve of the text, however, does not displace it as the number of cities in this fourth section, while it adds to it the thought of manifest divine control which suits Zebulon certainly, no less than Benjamin. But this is not enough to decide so doubtful a matter. Our only sufficient argument will be found in examining, in the light of the numerals, the names actually found here, and see how they will read on either supposition.

There is a difficulty as to the meaning of one, if not two, of the names also, which is disappointing, especially where a question of this kind is to be decided. Critics are, however, I believe, agreed that in Isa 7:19, the word which stands second here means, not “bushes,” as our common version reads, but “pastures.” The fourth word, Idalah, is much more uncertain. Simonis gives “God exalteth,” but the etymology is not as clear as one would desire. Dr. Young gives “memorial of God,” but of course says nothing of etymology, and is in general but little reliable on account of his common preference of an inferential for a literal rendering. The other names are clear, and the list will stand thus:

1. Kattath, “little.”

2. Nahalal, “pasture.”

3. Shimron, “watch,” or “watchful care.”

4. Idalah, “God exalteth,” “memorial of God.”

5. Bethlehem, “house of bread.”

If these, as Keil suggests, are part of a series of twelve, the numbers will be quite different. Twelve is always in Scripture, as far as I am aware, a series of three (4 x 3); but then we do not know the places of the five here in the twelve. You may interpolate names ad libitum, and give existing ones any imaginable place. If they are the closing fragment, the numbers would be 2. 3. 1. 2. 3, and would belong to the third and fourth sections of the whole. I think that they will be found to yield in this way no consistent interpretation.

Now let us read them as they stand. First, as a fourth division of the account of Zebulon, they give us things which test the truth of such consecration as we have seen that he represents. This thought of “tests” is the only one the number stands for, which links together these five names in one consistent meaning.

The first name is Kattath, “little,” the number being that which speaks of integrity, wholeheartedness. Now it is just that which is little which tests us in this respect. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” (Luk 16:10.) The great things many motives may conspire to induce us to regard. Things that are in themselves moral or immoral command any ordinary conscience; but to that of which no account can be given but that it is the Lord’s will, how many excuses can be found for disobedience! Thus, how many respect James’s admonition as to rich and poor in the assembly (Jam 2:1-4)? and there are things in abundance, that can be found by any one who will seek for them, that are much keener tests than this.

The second name is Nahalal, “pasture”; and while, at first sight, there does not seem much in this to connect with the line of thought before us, it is a fact that there is scarcely anything, perhaps, that is a greater test of the soul’s condition than that of where it seeks its food. The Israelite’s restrictions as to food have here plain and serious application. (See Lev 11:1-47.) He who finds his recreation in the novel or the newspaper, how can he seek or find it in the things of God? On the other hand, can there be a soul that is with God, to whom His word is not a constant necessity, and an unfailing source of interest and delight? Such questions have but one answer; and they completely justify the place of Nahalal among the Zebulon names: while the numerical place puts to us the apostle’s admonition itself, so emphasizing the necessity we have just appealed to, “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.” (1Pe 2:2.) How MUCH does a new-born babe need milk?

The third name is Shimron, “watchful care.” And the habitual realization of the Lord’s presence will surely be marked by habitual watchfulness over ourselves. Not that it will induce or promote legal self-occupation. Legality makes much of self; which is the centre of its hopes and fears. The presence of the Lord, where realized in the sense of His grace, occupies us with Him, but thus makes evil much more hateful and horrible, and throws over one the shield which repels it. The holiness of God’s presence therefore furnishes the third test.

The fourth name is Idalah: and here Simonis gives, at least, the meaning which seems to furnish one of the most searching tests of all. When “God exalteth,” how readily may we forget that native weakness of which the number reminds us! Even the apostle Paul needed in such a case a “thorn in the flesh” -Satan’s buffeting to balance the tendency to self-exaltation. Here is the snare of one who may stand forth at the moment of need for a “captain”; and how great is the need of such leaders being remembered at the throne of grace!

The fifth and final name is Bethlehem, the “house of bread.” We have before recognized it as the sweet and fitting title of the Father’s house. There there will be no testing; but for the Zebulonite who dwells with God even here, where He is pleased to have a tabernacle in the wilderness, it will not surely be the less, but the more, a longing to dwell with Him where His own house is. The coming of the Lord is thus left as the final appeal to the heart in Scripture: “Behold, I come quickly.” May our hearts answer, as did his to whom the announcement was made! The number here is five, that of God with man, and of the recompensing end! Could there be greater harmony?

I think that the demonstration is complete that the names of the cities are not a fragment, but a perfect whole. Yet the number twelve seems to me right also in the way that others have suggested, viz., by counting in the border cities. In this way the text of our Bibles is right in both respects.

(d) The fourth lot is that of Issachar. And while we have had little to show us the spiritual significance of the tribe, there is but one which can be attached to it in the place which it here occupies. Issachar must speak of the walk upon earth, of course to be distinguished from Ephraim, which is fruit developed in character. The character being manifested in the walk, and the deeds done in the body that of which account is to be given, and for which reward is received, very clearly explains the name Issachar, “there is reward.” We see, too, why there is no real attempt to draw the boundary-line: little definition can be in this case needed.

There are three parts to the description, the first of which contains thirteen out of the sixteen cities. This first part considers the walk in itself, and is subdivided again into four parts, three of three, and the fourth of four names. It is the usual division of twelve with one name additional added to the last part.

Looking at the names, it is evident that they are very different in character from most of the former ones. They seem to be full of warnings, the first section to be little else; and .the walk itself pictured as in a scene of danger and of sorrow, although there is, blessed be God, another side. The first section stands thus:

1. -1. Jezreel, 2. Chesulloth, 3. Shunem;

2. -1. Hapharaim, 2. Shion, 3. Anaharath;

3. -1. Rabbith, 2. Kishion, 3. Abez;

4. -1. Remeth, 2. En-gannim, 3. En-haddah, 4. Beth-pazzez.

The first three give us what we may call the harmony of the walk. The first,

Jezreel, “seed of God,” reminds us again of the new birth without which there can be no right walk at all, and which is of the incorruptible seed of the word of God. (1Pe 1:23.) This “seed,” when truly received in the power of the Holy Ghost, carries the life in it, according to the natural type. God’s work comes thus necessarily at the beginning of all else, and we have as the result developed in it

Chesulloth, literally “loins,” which are so called from their stiffness and strength, and stand spiritually for the confidence which gives strength, enabling the back to carry its burden and the whole man for his work. The stiffness here implied is an important feature, imaging an unyielding faith which is needed for the world we pass through; while

Shunem, “conformity,” literally “their being leveled” or “made like,” speaks of the life being shaped by the word received. These three things are clearly at the basis of all right walk.

The next three warn us at once of the opposition to be met and of the possible result of much toil and eager expectation:

Hapharaim, “double confusion,” a word which “applies,” says Wilson, “to being frustrated and disappointed of one’s plans and expectations.” Here it is in the dual number, and may perhaps imply disappointment both of present success and future reward. For even with the Christian, alas, not everything that seemeth right in his own eyes is really found to be so: how much is not conformed to the one only standard of the word of God, but, at the best, to what we may think reasonable! But reason cannot rise up to that “wisdom which is from above,” and which, with “every good and perfect gift, cometh down from the Father of lights.” (Jam 3:17; Jam 1:17.) Here is what avails for every position in which one can be found; but alas, our own wills come in to obscure to us His perfect will; and may not this be what the numerical place indicates, the thing in which our danger lies so constantly -an independent will?

Shion, though generally given as “destruction,” may mean, rather, “he who puts at ease,” the link between the two meanings being that of “security;” in the sense of that false ease which often exposes to destruction. Here it would seem that we should have the better sense. Having given us already the “confusion” which may be ours from taking our own way, what should the names show us now under the number of salvation but the One Person who alone can give us rest and security, “quiet from the fear of evil”? Christ is unfailingly our safeguard in all doubtful matters, the Shepherd who “leads in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (Psa 23:3.) And suitedly there would follow, under the number that speaks of holiness

Anaharath, for which Dr. Young gives the meaning of the “narrow way.” This seems to verify itself by its perfect appropriateness to all the connection. Truth is one, and the right way for us at any time is only one, for God has only one thing in His will for us at any one time. The Spirit of God says to us, “This is the way,” and not “any one of these is the way.” Thus it is narrow; but who that knows it would wish it to be broader? Who would desire to have a choice of his own, who could have instead God’s choice for him?

The third three are more difficult. The numerical place may speak of realization or of manifestation, possibly both: at least the realization of many a hope makes manifest what it is, and the true nature of our desire after it. This seems to connect the three following names together in an intelligible manner, and to be the only thing which does so. The first name here, alas, gives the nature often of such hopes

Rabbith, a “great place.” Emulation is that which the training in all our schools today deliberately fosters, as the spirit of success in life; and it has how many religious forms! It was the spirit which the desire to sit on Christ’s right and left hand in His kingdom showed in the sons of Zebedee, as well as in the other disciples by their murmuring at it. The Lord rebukes it by appeal to His own chosen place among them, “come, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” How little like the kingdoms of the Gentiles would be the kingdom of such a King!

And what must be the consequence of being permitted to realize these hopes of greatness? This seems to be answered in the two names that follow: first

Kishion, “hardness,” or perhaps preferably “hardening.” For if self be in the desire, the “seeking our own things,” which the apostle characterized as the condition general among the Christians at Rome when he wrote to the Philippians, what will the attainment of the desire naturally do but give opportunity for the indulgence of self which this implies, and in result harden the heart by shutting it up in self-gratification?

This is but the law of progress, and the stamp upon which the Spirit of God puts in the next name

Abez, which seems akin to bizzah, “mire,” and to be illustrated in Habakkuk’s “Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!” A terrible weight upon himself may be thus accumulated by one who is yet Christ’s, but who in the government of God must meet the consequences, though as a father’s chastening, and for final blessing!

These three sections, while contemplating the earthly walk, keep the eye, however, fixed upon oneself; the fourth contemplates more the world through which the walk is, and this in perfect conformity with the number attached. Here we have, first

Remeth, “height,” the possession given us in God’s grace being above the world. It is as taken out of the world we are sent into it, and the first necessity is to maintain the possession.

To be above the world is to be master over it; and the Lord has given us all this place, not of it, as He is not of it. We only need to fill that place -by faith to be living in it, and this will be “the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” “If any man be in Christ, it is new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2Co 5:17.) This is the vantage-point for us.

En-gannim, a “fountain of gardens,” speaks of the Spirit’s work in the world. A garden is a special enclosure, and implies the need of separation, protection, and a nurturing hand. The Spirit’s work is thus to separate and nourish the people of God, as exotics in a strange country. The world around remains a wilderness. “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed; . . . a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.” (Son 4:12; Son 4:15.)

Thus we are above the world, but in it, and yet separated from it:

En-haddah, the “fountain of exhilaration,” makes us contemplate the Spirit as filling the soul with its proper joy. “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess” says the apostle, “but be filled with the Spirit” -wherein is no excess. (Eph 5:18.) How important is it to ask ourselves, what is it that I look to for recreation? what is it that bubbles out of me when I am glad? To pray when we are afflicted, that is well; but if we are merry, do we sing psalms? (Jam 5:13.) Is Christ our Deliverer from sin and wrath, and should He not be the the joy and brightness of our lives also -our very life? Certainly En-haddah is a most needed memorial to us, coming in the place it does; and we do well to give the most attentive heed to it.

Lastly, Beth-pazzez, the “house of disruption,” reveals the world as the place of contradiction and of opposition, of the need of separation, and of the difficulty of the accomplishment of this; of a scene where the precious needs to be taken from the vile; and where we ourselves have to experience the ruin which has come in, and opposition to Christ in our own homes and hearts.

We have now evidently a new division of Issachar’s cities, and though a very small, yet a most interesting one. The language shows the new beginning:

“And the border reached unto Tabor and Shahazum and Beth-shemesh.”

“Crucified to the world” is, after all, the salvation-side of the practical walk; and that is what this second division emphasizes for us. The number is that of the cross, as we know. The names show us this as a practical reality wrought into the life. First

Tabor, “purpose,” for, while we can promise nothing to God, “purpose of heart,” such as Barnabas exhorted the saints to (Act 11:23), is most needful. Next

Shahazum, not a plural form, as most take it, and meaning “heights,” but, as in Kethib, the written text of our Bibles, rather a compound word, and meaning “humbled with fasting.” This is the practical carrying out of purpose, not so much in literal abstinence as in spiritual holding off from what incites the flesh. For the flesh is the world’s advocate, and here the victory is to be really got.

The third name, Beth-shemesh, the “house of the sun,” shows how little dark need be a life of this sort. Nay, we are children of the light and of the day, not of the night, nor of darkness: of a day, too, in which the sun never sets, and where the sky never need be clouded. A good name, this, with which to end the list of Issachar’s cities. We have only, besides, that

“Their border ended at the Jordan”: where, of course, the earth-walk must end; but this is a third division, because for death there is a resurrection; nay, there is a resurrection-life now, to which the end of earth is but the entrance into heaven.

(e) The fifth lot falls to Asher, “the happy,” -if the thought answer to the name, -a singular idea, it might seem, to have distinct representation thus among the tribes of Israel. So far, we have had no indication of any other; and a deeper consideration will make it apparent that it is of immense importance that the people of God should be known as a “happy” people. If “the joy of the Lord is your strength,” then happiness must have for the soul a large spiritual value. As a testimony to God it must be of no less. One of the characteristics of the true “circumcision,” as given by the apostle, is that they “rejoice in Christ Jesus”: and his exhortation to the same people is, “Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice.” (Php 3:3; Php 4:4.) Such joy is one of the best signs that the knowledge of the gospel has reached the heart, and that the life will be governed by it. It is quite true that feelings may easily be put in a wrong place, as in the first quest of peace they are almost sure to be. There is plenty of need for insisting on the truth that we are not justified by feeling but by faith. Nay, it is certain that the reception of the gospel with immediate joy is made by the Lord Himself a sign rather of stony-ground hearing than of a fruitful reception of the Word. (Mat 13:20.) Plowing up must be before the seed can spring up aright; repentance before God will accompany “faith in our Lord Jesus Christ,” where the latter is real and effective. This is all true; yet, on the other hand, it is no less true that the effect of the gospel -the “glad tidings” -is to produce gladness, and that the apostle prays for believers that “the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” (Rom 15:13). The third character of the “kingdom of God” he gives, after “righteousness and peace,” is “joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom 14:17). “The fruit of the Spirit is” said to be “love, joy, peace” (Gal 5:22.) “And not only so, but we joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (Rom 5:11.)

These passages, of course define the happiness which they speak of, so that it is impossible to confound it with the mere play of animal spirits, or even the happiness derivable from the hope of salvation. One might have this last, and and yet in fact be unsaved. “Joy in God through Christ” is something perfectly distinct, and infinitely higher. As manifested in Asher, we shall find it carefully distinguished from everything that could be confounded with it, as well as in relation to other features of the divine life which find expression in these living pictures. Noticeable it is that Asher occupies the fifth place in this series, as in the wilderness he does in connection with Dan (Vol. 1., pp. 384, 393, n). There the meaning cannot be mistaken that exercise of heart and conscience have essentially to do with the maintenance of a happiness worthy to be called that. Here we may well suppose the numerical place to repeat and emphasize the same thought. Asher’s territory runs up to the extreme north, between Naphtali and the sea, connecting on the south with Zebulon and Manasseh. All its relations speak thus of trial, exercise, and practical life. If Judah keeps guard at one end of the land, Asher does at the other. The territory assigned it by God is a proportionately large one, but it fails, alas, to fill its limits.

The boundary is described in three divisions of very unequal size. The first begins in the middle of its sea-board line, descends to below Carmel, and then turns eastward, and soon northeast and north, until it reaches its northernmost point at Zidon. The second division is along the sea, southward again, only as far as Tyre; and the third runs down to where it began, somewhere in the neighborhood of Accho or Acre, although the names are little to be traced as yet, and Asher,s cities are almost altogether irrecoverable. The history of Asher corresponds with this but too well: Asher has no great names to memorialize what was once a large and important tribe.

The first division of the boundary defines happiness in the various elements which make it up, or which it implies; and the first part of this, which has seven names, more strictly still defines it in itself, as we shall see better when we examine them in detail.

Helkath, “portion, share,” is the first of these. Halak, from which it is derived, means, according to Wilson, “to divide into parts, each receiving his portion; to part, distribute, especially by lot.” It implies, therefore, that God has, in respect of happiness, given all His people their portion, each his own. He has shut none out. He has not made it difficult of attainment, the prize of great ability or great effort, either. Faith to receive, giving God credit for what He has done, for what He has said, for what He is, is all that is on our part needed.

But though with Christ the secret of happiness is ours, and we have it freely, it has been wrought out for us with infinite pains and cost; and this is what

Hali assures us of. It means “an ornament curiously wrought with great labor and pains” (Parkhurst), the verb from which it is derived meaning “to faint with labor, to labor even to faintness.” He who wears such an ornament is seldom the one who fashioned it; and so with the jewel of which we speak, Christ has made it, at what personal cost and sacrifice, and made it ours forever: of this how natural and needful to be reminded here. So in the “wine that cheereth God and man,” we find at His table the memorial of His precious blood. Next

Beten, “belly,” speaks of the inward realization. The craving of our souls has been met, -so met, that, out of that which by its imperious demands becomes the “god” of other men (Php 3:19), the refreshing streams pour out for the need of others. (Joh 7:38.) Here we are reminded that happiness is within, in the inmost parts, -no outside circumstances can produce it; and Christ must be for this received into the heart: we have but to drink, for the living water to flow out. It is not effort, but we must first ourselves be filled, that there may be a genuine overflow. Christ received into the heart, what can be wanting for abundant happiness? The lack of it is surely proof that there is not heart for Him, or else not faith to entertain Him.

Achshaph is a stranger name in this connection. We have had it before, at the beginning of the eleventh chapter, where the king of Achshaph is one of Jabin’s confederates. There we understand it to mean “sorcery,” the use of natural things endued by magical formulae or prayers with supernatural powers, to enchant and captivate. In Israel’s hands these cities lost their significance for evil; of which we have had many an example. Thus we may apply the Achshaph here without real difficulty to the subject before us. Faith in the soul will indeed exert a transforming power upon the things around. When all that comes is seen in the light of Christ glorified and upon the Father’s throne, it is of necessity transformed. “All these things are against me,” said Jacob of old; but faith says “He maketh all things work together for good to them that love Him.” That which may have been done by an enemy’s hand becomes thus the fruit of unmistaking love. “The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” was the Lord’s own and unanswerable question with regard to what was the worst of all iniquity and the most mysterious of afflictions. The cross has lifted the veil of all other mysteries, and shown us everywhere One well-known Face. This is, according to the number here, our happiness as to the world through which we pass: it is in this way transformed by it.

The last three of these seven names give us now in a clear and pronounced way the secret of this happiness: -first,

Alammelech: “God is King.” This is the Old Testament version of the apostle’s “Rejoice in the Lord,” where, of course, Christ is the Lord. But this is only a more pregnant and intelligible way of saying, “God is King.” Not only is Christ God, and upon the throne of God, but also Christ it is who has manifested God to us, and given Him in our hearts the glorious throne which now He has. He who knows Christ, with him is the “shout of a king” (Num 23:21); and to know who fills the throne is happiness indeed. This brings with it also the spirit of obedience; and such joy has in it stability and safety. God and man are at one indeed.

Amad confirms this from the other side: it means “an eternal people.” Brought to God, we are His forever: sin and all its effects are triumphed over, and Christ a man is the eternal link with men, a pledge never to be taken back, a bond never to be broken or unclasped. This is the necessary complement of Alammelech; and yet there is for present happiness one thing more; and this we find in

Misheal, “feeling after God,” which gives us the energy of soul in one before whom God is, and whose heart is won by Him, who on this account, and realizing his little knowledge, seeks for more; yea, presses on after that being with Him “face to face” which. is the unimaginable joy before us all. The Psalms are full of this longing after God, which in the epistle to the Philippians takes for the apostle the shape of seeking to “win Christ and be found in Him,” that Christ whom he had seen in glory, and the vision of whom had stamped itself upon his soul, and henceforth led him, “doing one thing.” This is the Manasseh spirit, and Asher touches Manasseh very near to Misheal, -how near, no one can yet say. But who doubts the happiness of so great an attraction in an object not uncertain of attainment, but most certain to be attained? It is the happiness which is the power.

The second portion of the main division gives us but three names, which all mark connection with Manasseh, whose border must be in contact with Asher near this point, although we cannot trace it with any exactness. But the spiritual meaning is in evident accordance with the trend of the boundary. Manasseh is, of all the tribes, that which speaks most of progress, and the three names here all imply this.

“And it reached Carmel westward, and Shihor-libnath, and turned toward the sunrise to Beth-dagon.”

Carmel, “vineyard of God,” suggests the thought of concentration, the very spirit of Manasseh, read in the light of the epistle to the Philippians. For a vineyard is, above all, that which exemplifies the need of pruning, and it is from a word of this meaning that that for vineyard here is derived. To have fruit such as is sought, a vine needs the knife to be applied unsparingly: “every branch in me that beareth not fruit” the husbandman “taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he pruneth it, that it may bring forth more fruit:” the lesson of which is the need of concentration -of turning all our energies into that which has profit in it; spending none upon what is merely of no harm. Nor is this legalism or asceticism: it is, as we may learn from the connection here, what makes for happiness, as well as fruitfulness.” What can be more productive of joy than the continual pursuit of that in which Christ finds His own, and and in which we find fellowship with Him?

Shihor-libnath means “diligent search after purity,” -a thing not needless for those to be reminded of who are most diligently seeking fruit. Alas, there will not rarely be the danger of “doing evil,” in some modified way, “that good may come”; and the over-anxiety about results may make one misjudge seriously what is the mind of God. God’s seed may be a long time buried before it springs up, and the shallower sowing springs up all the quicker. Results will indeed speak truly at the end; but then there must be faith to leave things to the end: and for that the word of God must test all ways and methods, and guide us as to our course in the meantime. Here it is indeed true that “he that believeth shall not make haste.” (Isa 28:16.) What life, with all the glory of it, must seem so vain as Christ’s life? The corn of wheat, according to His own saying, had to fall into the ground and die, that it might not abide alone. “Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain”: -this would decide for many the failure of it; -“but surely,” He adds, “my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. (Isa 49:4.)

And is not this the meaning of the third thing here, that the border from this point “turns toward the sunrise, to Beth-dagon”? The sunrise is emphasized by the full expression for it being given, as is not generally the case; and Bethdagon, as we have already seen, speaks of abundant fruitfulness. But to realize this the day of account must be kept in view, that is, the sunrise, the day of Christ’s appearing. And in this way the three names here are very complete in meaning.

We now reach the boundary of Zebulon, and should be prepared to find that in this third stretch of the border of Asher the names speak of the “dwelling” with God and its results:

“And it reached Zebulon, and the valley of Jiphtah-el, northward at Bethemek and Neiel.”

The theme of Zebulon we have become already acquainted with: it is plain that Asher must be closely connected with it. In God’s presence is “fullness of joy.” (Psa 16:11.) To know it in whatever measure here must be the bright side of our life; and Asher would be terribly incomplete without the names that follow. The valley of Jiphtah-el we have also had in connection with Zebulon; and the breadth of its significance -“God openeth” -may well be taken in all its fullness. In God’s presence His word is opened, and our understandings also, to understand the Word (Luk 24:45); and who that is Chest’s does not know the joy attendant upon this? The words following are remarkable and blessed in this connection: the boundary strikes the valley of Jiphtah-el at -Beth-emek, “the house of the depth”; and “the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him, God hath revealed unto us,” says the apostle, “by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” (1Co 2:9-10.) What happiness to be made at home by the Spirit of God in the deep things of God! But we come also to infinities where man as man cannot go further. He cannot be God, or “as God.” He must be limited by his finite nature, and thus

Neiel, “the shutting of God,” in contrast with Jiphtah-el, His “opening,” comes as a wholesome warning, to heed which is not without its importance to our happiness. Important it is also to get the right spiritual location of this Neiel, if its location on the map cannot be given. To know where we are free to inquire reverently, and where to recognize the limit which must belong to us, is a point of great and needed wisdom. But the whole range of what is revealed is ours: “Secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but things which are revealed belong unto us.” (Deu 29:29.) To remain in uncertainty where God has really spoken is a shame and dishonor to the grace that has met us; and the plea that we cannot know is but too often the vain plea of indifference and spiritual sloth. Neiel is on the boundary of Asher; but we need to take the pains to locate it right.

The fourth and concluding section of the main boundary carries us along the border of Naphtali, northward, as far as Zidon. Naphtali is not, however, mentioned, and has not, spiritually, the nearness to Asher that Zebulon has. This is quite evident; and yet the presence of Naphtali on the northeast border has its significance. There are six names

“And it went out to Cabul on the left hand, and Ebron [Abdon?] and Re-hob, and Hammon, and Kanah, as far as great Zidon.”

The border runs now to the left hand, that is, in a general northerly direction. The first place on the line is

Cabul, which, taken in connection with the gift of it to Hiram at a later day, is said to mean “given as a pledge [of friendship],” or, better, “in discharge of debt.” We have not yet to consider the history, and Cabul itself means simply “bound.” It is a significant word at the beginning of the fourth section, which naturally speaks of the walk through the world, and the frank acceptance of it is of great moment in connection with the spiritual happiness which we have seen Asher to represent for us. The constraint of love and gratitude is a sweet yoke to bear; and a life so inspired is of necessity a happy life. Christ died for us, “that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him that died for them, and rose again.” (2Co 5:15.) Thus is the misery of self-bondage broken, and the moral life set right. We are freest when the moral obligation is most felt; and the constraint of love is motive which ensures happiness. And thus the proposed reading of

Abdon for Ebron would seem to find strong support. Ebron, akin to Eber of the genealogy of Shem (Gen 12:1-20) and not to Hebron in Judah, means “passing over.” Abdon means “bond-service.” Twenty MSS. support the latter, which occurs also in Jos 21:30, and in 1Ch 6:74, as one of the Levitical cities of Asher, Ebron occurring nowhere else. The difference between them is only that which our Lord calls a “tittle” (Mat 5:18), a slight projection or shoulder which distinguishes the “d” in Hebrew from “r.” The numerical place speaks strongly for Abdon, as is evident, as does the connection, so that we may provisionally at least accept it. Cabul is thus the recognition of the “bond”; Abdon, the taking up of the “service” it implies; while

Rehob, “breadth” or “broad way,” shows how the soul of the enfranchised saint finds not straitness but largeness in the path with God: these three words fit well, therefore, together.

Hammon, “sunny,” comes next, under the number of experience, in a similarly beautiful manner; for, whatever the circumstances of the way, the sky ought always to be clear; the heavens cannot fail us.

Kanah, “He has purchased,” is the explanation of the whole series here; and it comes under the number which speaks of responsibility, or of God with man;

Zidon, the end of this part of the line, adding to this the thought of “taking the prey,” which is here, as its number indicates, victory over the power of evil. Thus the first division of the border ends.

The second division must not be judged of as to its importance by its length. It has but two names; but it is that which puts Christ before us in direct relation to our happiness:

“And the border turned to Ramah, and to the fortified city Tyre.”

Ramah we have had already, though another city, and in Benjamin; but we have only to transfer the meaning there to find how perfectly it suits in this case also. The meaning is “an elevated place,” and points to the acceptance of Christ’s work, and the exaltation of Him who had been in the place of humiliation for us. The only difference is that instead of being as there the second city of a second group, it is the first city, but still of a second group. This first place speaks of supremacy (as I think), which is His there; and thus indeed the happiness of one who realizes this is secured. It is exactly what the apostle exhorts to, “Rejoice in the Lord.” (Php 4:1.) If He is supreme, surely our blessing is secure. Yet even this is expanded for us in the next name

Tyre, which means “rock,” and to which is added that it is a “fortified city.” This, under the number of salvation, reminds us of how Scripture connects these thoughts together. A risen Christ is indeed the “Rock of our salvation,” fortified against any possibility of successful attack. How important are these two names among the cities of Asher, and how sufficient as thus joined together!

The third division, as naturally now, speaks of the Spirit and of the work in the soul:

“And the border turned to Hosah; and it ended at the sea by the region of Achzib, and Ummah, and Aphek, and Rehob.”

Hosah means “trust,” or “taking refuge,” clearly corresponding to what was just now said of Christ as the rock of salvation. And we need to be reminded that while “He abideth faithful,” faith, too, on our part must abide. We must avail ourselves of our privileges; we must make that our own which is our own. How marvelous a thing thus is faith! and what an enriching for the soul of the poor and empty one!

The border now ends at the sea, in the region of Achzib, three names being added here, which are generally taken as from different points, and not belonging to the boundary at all. Aphek, we are told, is the modern Afka a good way to the north. On the other hand, Ummah is supposed to be the modern Alma, not very far from Achzib, and the names recur so frequently as to make their identification often doubtful. It would be quite possible that, as with Zebulon, these three names should be added to the rest, to complete the number of Asher’s cities, though there is against this that, after all, this list does not apparently complete them, as Accho (now Acre) properly belonged to Asher, as is plain from Jdg 1:31, although, as with Zidon, Tyre, and other places allotted to them, they failed to get possession. After all, it seems that our appeal must be to the spiritual meaning, which certainly governs all, and that we are left free to accept what explanation of the facts may be thus afforded us.

If the three cities are to be detached from what precedes them, they do not form part of the boundary at all, but must come in, like those of Zebulon, as a distinct fourth section. If they form part of the boundary, then they will belong to the third; and their meaning will accord with this: they will speak of the work of the Spirit in some way.

Now Achzib we have already seen to do this. Among the cities of the low country of Judah we found one of this name; and read it as “a flow indeed,” referring it to the Spirit of God, as the witness -coming in the second place -of Christ’s ascension and glory. It comes exactly in the same place here, and must in consistency receive the same interpretation.

Ummah means “union”; and “he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit.” (1Co 6:17.)

Then Aphek, which is Aphik in Jdg 1:31, though given as “strength” or “fortress,” -there is a monotonous rendering of various names in this way -may rather mean “channel”: it is the bed of a stream, whether full or empty.

Rehob, again, we are acquainted with in Asher itself as “breadth,” or “broad way.”

Now these names put together yield a very consistent sense: for thus it is, as united to Christ by the Spirit, we become channels for what the Lord Himself calls “rivers of living water.” (Joh 7:38.) Surely this yields so simple and good a meaning that it will hardly be worth while to go further to find another. These names seem to justify their place very fully as part of the third division of the boundary, -all four facing the sea, where it comes to an end. Have we not here full ability to face the sea of trial with the abundant happiness of which Asher speaks? We glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by His Spirit which He hath given us.” Asher only goes beyond this to the outflow which the passage in Romans explains but does not openly point out. He fulfills, then, his name all through: let us remember that it is ours also, and challenge ourselves that we fulfill it; for if we will, such is God’s grace toward us, we surely may.

The number of the cities, twenty-two, seems here to be too small. There seem twenty-three. Keil suggests, as the only possible explanation, that Neiel in the border may be the same as Neah in Zebulon, and belong to the latter. But may it not be possible that the two Rehobs are in fact the same? The territory of these cities seems to have been sometimes considerable, and the breadth of Asher’s portion at this point quite contracted; while the four cities named together may not have been all exactly on the border, which was simply “by” that district. If this suggestion be true, the number twenty-two is exactly right.

(f) Naphtali follows Asher in the sixth place: “with divine wrestlings” wrestlings nerved by God? -says Rachel at his birth, “have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed.” Hence his name, Naphtali, “my wrestling,” which, in the sixth place here, speaks clearly of the overcomer. Thus overcoming is the subject presented to us now.

In the case of Naphtali, the boundary is distinguished from the cities of his possession. In the boundary we have, first, what overcoming is; for to define is to bound, to limit. In the second division (the cities), we have presented the helps and hindrances to overcoming.

The boundary is itself divided into two parts, which both end at Jordan. They divide the subject into two parts, the first reminding us of the steadfastness which belongs to overcoming; the second, of the progress which is implied in it. “Steady progress,” in a world like this, means “overcoming.”

“And their border was from Heleph, from Allon-zaanannim and Adami-nekeb, and Jabniel, to Lakkum; and ended at the Jordan.” This is the first half.

Heleph means “renewal,” and this is the first element of steadfastness. In the strife from which Naphtali warns us we never can escape, the wear and tear incident to it makes it impossible to hold our own, except the constant waste is as constantly repaired. “The inward man is renewed day by day” (2Co 4:16), says the apostle. This drawing from divine strength is necessarily the first thing.

From Allon-zaanannim,” the “oak of ladings,” the place where loads are put upon the beasts: hence it means, also, “removals”; but the primary thought seems to be all that is needed here. We have a double picture: the oak, which is a type of strength, a strength sustained by just such a process of renewal as we have had already before us; the loading of the beasts of burden, which day by day repeat their tasks and offer themselves to what is laid upon them. Just such daily loads, limited to our strength, and with intervals of relief, have we; and to take up this daily duty, -drudgery as it may seem, and as the figure suggests, -is indeed an essential part of overcoming. In Christian life there are no drones, but all are workers, -no sinecures, but plenty everywhere to do. Earnest, serious application to duty is that which (in the apprehension of God’s precious grace) already puts within our grasp the strength alone sufficing. No triflers can be overcomers, and daily duty is a daily discipline and training needed for the conflict that is the lot of us all. Here where the adjusted burden is taken up, the oaks of God are grown indeed.

Adami-nekeb, “the stigma of man,” is an accompaniment we shall not miss, if duty have for us the right Christian character. They were the “marks of the Lord Jesus” that Paul bore in his body (Gal 6:17) from a world which had rejected Christ. Will any overcomer be without them? Is it not part of the overcoming, in faith to accept our place and portion with Him here, who has given us these with Him in a place where His name has its rightful honor? Without Adami-nekeb there could surely be no prevailing Naphtali at all.

Jabniel, “edification of God,” then shows us the other side: in weakness we find how God can build up the soul; for Jabniel comes under the number of weakness. God can surely not fail more than the world in showing His thoughts as to His beloved Son: while beyond the present trial and weakness faith sees the things that are invisible, and looks on

Lakkum, “to resurrection.” “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.” (2Co 4:13-14.) The briefest reference to the place of this quotation will show how perfectly the names before us keep in the track of the apostle there. The spirit of the overcomer is very clearly, if briefly, expressed. The fifth number here is that which speaks of recompense, while under the sixth the border ends at Jordan, death being the limit of the struggle Naphtali pictures, and already triumphed over by divine grace.

We have now the second and concluding portion:

“And the border turned westward unto Aznoth-tabor, and went out from thence unto Hukkok; and reached unto Zebulon on the south, and reached Asher on the west, and Judah of Jordan toward the sunrising.”

Aznoth-tabor means “ears of purpose,” -hearing that has purpose in it: if Job could speak of “making covenant with his eyes” (Job 31:1), a covenant with the ears is no less to be desired. “Take heed what ye hear,” and “take heed how ye hear,” are both exhortations from the Lord Himself. (Mar 4:24; Luk 8:18.) We are not to be open to all influences, but to be like sensitive plants, recoiling from the contact with evil. An unwalled town is easy of occupation, and a continued exposure to pestilence saps the power of resistance. The company we choose assimilates us to itself, and we are in a world where the “prince of the power of the air” is he who “worketh in the children of disobedience.” (Eph 2:2). How necessary, then, to be at all times, and in all points, controlled by purpose! And this surely leads to

Hukkok, a “well defined” path, clear cut and straight, to the point it aims at. “I have set the Lord always before me,” is that which secures it from deviation and inconsistency. This path connects with Zebulon, “consecration,” leads to Asher, “happiness,” and finds Judah, “praise,” at Jordan, -traveling with the dawn in view, “toward the sunrise.” The uncertainty as to this Judah, which perplexes commentators, is, for our purpose, quite unnecessary to be removed, and has no practical existence as a difficulty: the moral lesson is the same. Good progress is there all along this boundary, and triumph all the way.

We now come to the cities, nineteen as they are numbered, sixteen in fact, except some of those upon the boundary are to be reckoned in. The sharp division between the two is against this, as the opposite of this, in the case of Zebulon, tells the other way for it. I know no way to settle this difficulty, the manuscripts and versions being in agreement here. The names seem to speak with less than their usual decisiveness, and it would be easy to imagine the addition of others in certain places without disordering the arrangement of those that we find. Yet it is hard to believe in an absolute loss of this kind, and more reasonable to suppose that the number should be changed.

The cities speak, as already said, of the helps and hindrances to overcoming; yet it is a happy thing to know that hindrances of an external kind may become even helps where there is decision of soul in meeting them. Every difficulty overcome gives fresh assurance for the future, and the wisdom and strength that grow out of experience. The hardiness of the mountaineer has its spiritual counterpart.

The absence of the conjunction, as in other cases, suggests four smaller divisions, one of which again, by its number (ten), would imply another. The meaning of ten undoubtedly implies its factors to be five and two; but that it does not follow that it must be so divided is evident by the division of the ten commandments into 4 and 6. We take it here, however, as 5 + 5; and the names will stand, therefore, thus:

1. Ziddim.

2. Zer and Hammath.

3a. -1. Rakkath, 2. Chinnereth, 3. Adamah, 4. Ramah, 5. Hazor;

3b. -1. Kedesh, 2. Edrei, 3. En-hazor, 4. Iron, 5. Migdal-el.

4. Horem, and Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh.

Ziddim stands by itself at the head of the list, and means “lying in wait.” It might well be the fourth in a series, and allow the three names which may be missing to come before it. As a first, it is indeed hard to characterize it, though, as “the wiles of the devil” are what the apostle bids us “stand against” (Eph 6:1-24), and for which he would have us “put on the whole armor of God,” we might say that “lying in wait” is the governing thought in that which follows here. It would naturally be a prominent one, inasmuch as Satan is the great adversary, and he always prefers to fight under cover. Deceit and sudden surprises are his tactics: and by these he gains but too frequent advantage.

Zer and Hammath come together in the next place, and are in some respects contrasts. Zer means “strait,” “adversity”; Hammath, “heat of the sun,” prosperity: both seem, as we can easily understand, adverse really; and the latter often more so than the former: the sun may smite.

The third section is one more difficult to read: it is divided into two parts, and speaks, as it seems to me, of realization. Conflict is that by which many truths, perhaps hard for us to learn in the same degree apart from it, are impressed upon us. The two parts here give us, first, realizations as to ourselves with reference to God as Creator; second, with reference to God as Saviour. These are plainly the two great spheres of relationship. Both series are stamped with the number five, which is that of relationship between God and man.

First of the first five, Rakkath, “emptiness,” “vanity.” It is the fundamental lesson of all as to man.

Next, Chinnereth, which means “harp,” suggests the music of which he may be the instrument, under the divine hand. The harp was used in Israel as the expression of joy and praise, not of lamentation; and this it is for which God made man. Among the Greeks, however, the same word essentially seems to have been used for “lamentation”; and man, yielding himself to other hands than the divine, has fulfilled abundantly this character. The number here may emphasize this contrast, simple to us indeed, and yet transcendently important. Feeble as man is, He who chooseth the weak things of the world to glorify Himself with, will be at no loss to know how to make him a witness to Himself.

In the third place, Adamah, “ground,” carries on the thought. Man is Adam, from adamah, “dust from the ground;” and in it every element of all flesh (as that) is found. God has to add to it a higher principle to make it such, and lift it thereby into a higher sphere. Instead of mere chemistry, it is now permeated by vitality, and displays powers wholly foreign to it before. Thus, as in man God has taken up the dust of the earth to raise it above itself and lift it into another sphere, so with man himself; what he is in the old creation is but the shadow of what he shall be in the new creation. The dust of the ground is, as exalted in man, a type and prophecy of man himself.

Ramah, an “elevated place,” under the number of “weakness,” which governs it (as the numbers govern throughout what they are connected with), gives us, as we might suppose, a very different line of thought. Here the elevation of what still retains the frailty of its origin, sufficiently points the lesson. “Man being in honor, abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish,” says the psalmist. (Psa 49:1-20.) God uses this exaltation to point the lesson, uses it to abase pride; not for destruction, but that the creature may learn what is so needful for him. Let him accept it only, and he shall find strength: “to them that have no might He increaseth strength.”

Thus Hazor, a familiar word to us, “enclosure,” comes in the fifth place, where we find man with God once more. The arms of God are about this feeble creature. There is providential care, the “hedge” about Job, of which Satan so complains, -of which Eden itself was the type at first, and of which the memory survives as a witness to us, a witness for One who abides the same, however much His creature may have wandered from Him. Hazor is indeed not Eden, and yet God is none the less near; and here the first pentad ends, the second coming to re-inforce the teaching of creation with the teaching of redemption, that God may be fully known.

First of the second five, we have Kedesh, “sanctuary.” At the southern border of Israel we had Kadesh-barnea, the “sanctuary of the wanderer”; here we have Kedesh-naphtali, the “sanctuary of the struggler.” It is akin, evidently, to Hazor, which we have just had, and in this redemption series implies the rest with which here we begin. Here are enfolding arms that wrap us round, dearer than all providences, however wonderful; and which are a “sanctuary,” -holy, and constraining to holiness.

Where our refuge is, there is also, as we know so well, entertainment: Edrei, “plenty of pasture,” follows Kedesh, and we are at once reminded of a Shepherd’s care. Then we have

En-hazor, the “spring of enclosure,” which in the third place we can have no difficulty in recognizing. Our pastures know no drought; our enclosure has, beyond Eden, its plenteous streams.

In the fourth place, Iron, “fearing,” speaks of that which grace, beyond nature or the terrors Of law, awakens in the creature brought thus nigh to God. How can it be otherwise? But this does not put at a distance, or make us desire distance: it is simply the creature conscious of creaturehood, as where else should it be so conscious? and which is its safeguard. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”: for God is kept in His place, and man in his; and this is the simple key to true understanding.

In the fifth place, then, we have Migdal-el, “a tower of strength,” where El, “strength,” is also “God”: for, indeed, is there any strength apart from Him? Thus the second series, and the third division of Naphtali’s cities, end.

The fourth division has but three names, and these speak, as commonly with the number, of practical walk. Here, first, as implying wholeheartedness, Horem, akin to Hormah, means “devoting to God,” and that in general of what could only glorify Him in its destruction. The idols of the land were thus to be unsparingly destroyed by Israel; and there are idols of the heart as evil in God’s sight which a true-hearted following of Him will doom no less. The names that follow are read without difficulty, as divine approval of this fidelity to Him:

Beth-anath, the “house of response,” and

Beth-shemesh, the “house of the sun”: neither of them needing interpretation, surely. Here Naphtali’s cities end.

(g) Now, seventh and last of these tribes (for Levi comes apart, and is not numbered with them), Dan comes, in his own history almost entirely in contrast with what he stands for here. He stands for the spirit of rule, -of judgment in this sense, -which must necessarily begin with self-rule, self-judgment. His history, even as he appears in Samson in the next book, is but the expression of the utter want of it. But it is not the history with which we have now to do. We have now God’s ideal; the departure from it will be told out in its own place.

Dan’s original portion is in the south part of the land, upon the sea-coast, between Ephraim and Judah, some of whose cities come into his possession, and with both of whom he is spiritually connected, as we have already seen. On the east his border is on Benjamin; and the meaning underlies and interprets, as elsewhere, the physical fact. All this has been already briefly shown, and there is nothing that invites repetition in this place. The boundary is not given again, but only the cities: not, therefore, the definition of what he represents, but the contents, the range of the “judgment” of which he speaks; and this is broken into two parts, entirely separate, and unequal. For Dan, incompetent to take possession of much of his original allotment, lays hold of Leshem, or Laish, in the north, and to it the name of the tribe (or of the father of the tribe) is given. Leshem becomes Dan, and the whole tribe seems identified with this its northern seat, and to put on the northern character. (See Vol. 1., pp. 384, 392, n.) But this again is history; though here also we find Dan coming after the other northern tribes, as Asher and Naphtali.

Dan comes in the seventh place, as implying spiritual perfection. For the service of rule there must be self-government, and of him who offends not in word James says, “the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” (Jam 3:2.) Self-government implies the application of truth to the whole man; and thus we see why Dan follows Naphtali. No wonder, too, that the history should so little rise to the ideal, and that even comparatively the failure here should be so great. Not that there is any excuse to be found in this: for the power that man has not is to be found with God.

The cities of Dan’s original allotment illustrate “self-government.” They are not divided for us by any indication in the text, but are eighteen in number, which would easily divide as three equal series of six each, the number of “mastery” being thus upon the whole: and this is in perfect keeping with the spiritual meaning. For self-government, self-knowledge is a first necessity, knowledge of ourselves being also the knowledge of man everywhere, of the world to which naturally we belong. Thus the first section gives the moral identification of the world in the light of God, the truth convicting and giving power over it. Here, first, we find the names of two of Judah’s cities already known to us, although in reverse order to that in which they appear there; in both places, of course, exactly right.

First, Zoreah (which in the common version is given also as Zorah and Zareah), the Hebrew word for “hornet,” named from its virulent “stroke,” and almost identical with that for leprosy, speaks with sufficient plainness of where all self-knowledge must begin, that plague which is “deeper than the skin,” more inveterate and wide-reaching than poison in the blood -the sin that is inbred within us, as leprosy often is.

The second, Eshtaol, “strong woman,” comes as the reminder of this. The number is that of succession and dependence (vol. 1., p. 321, n), and Eve, in her assertion of strength for independence, shows herself, clearly enough, the mother of us all. The Nazarite character in which the man is taught to assume the long hair of woman, is the spiritual judgment of this sin; and Samson, the Danite judge of Israel, is a Nazarite.

But the world goes on merrily enough, heedless as it is helpless really: Ir-shemesh, “the city of the sun,” shows it to us in its own way of recovery from the fall. Ir gets its name, according to Parkhurst, from the stir and bustle of the city, which the sun produces, and which dies, too, with the sun. So the world maintains itself with natural things, the goods of the Father’s house, not caring that it is far from Him, or indeed glad to be that, and seeking to banish the thought of the night that must be. Poor “city of the sun”! how well the term characterizes it, in its brightness and its brevity, its ephemeral glitter, ignorant and careless of another brighter and eternal glory! One of the phrases of Ecclesiastes, the world’s photograph, is a key to the language here -“under the sun”!

Shaalabbin, or Shaalbim, -“the MSS.,” says Groves, “preponderate in favor of Shaalbim, in which form it is found in two other passages” (Jdg 1:35; 1Ki 4:9), -gives us, under the number of testimony, the truth about it -“hollow-hearted.” How willingly men are hypocrites in this respect, while they deceive no one, and least of all themselves!

Ajalon, in the fifth place, speaks of relationship to God, responsibility and recompense; and here the “hart” can only be the figure of timidity and apprehensiveness. That it is used in a good application elsewhere does not in the least prohibit, in a series like the present, one of a different character. This opposite use of the same figure is common enough in Scripture.

Jethlah, “he hangs,” concludes as with a cry of pain this first series. It is the spiritual conclusion, for faith characterizing the world, and sealing man’s condemnation. “He that hangeth upon a tree is accursed of God”; and the cross of Christ, while faith sees in it the curse taken and removed, shows fully what man is under, what he who believeth not the Son abideth under. Yet it is faith’s victory over the world, and may well occupy therefore the place it does: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Gal 6:14.)

Thus the first series ends, the second coming now in contrast with it, a contrast to which the last name naturally leads the way. But the last name on this series is also characteristic, as it is that to which the preceding ones work on. Here Baalath, “mistress,” is near indeed to “mastery.” It is the competency given by redemption for self-government that is the subject of this series. The first name here,

Elon, a name of the oak, or one of the oaks, of Palestine, signifies the “strong.” The oak is everywhere a familiar type of strength. It is so near, also, to one of the names of God (El), as to suggest clearly where alone strength is found, as the number under which it appears also is that of supremacy, and which speaks in an eminent way of Him. To Him all power belongs, and the secret of having it is simply in the faith that lays hold of Him for it; and finds from Him

Timnathah, “her measured portion.” This does not imply, of course, any scant measure, but the reverse. He measures who knows absolutely our need, and who has full resources as well as love wherewith to meet it. This, then, is complete assurance that there shall be no lack. For our appointed path there can be none; and faith finds its portion along with all needful discipline, and not without difficulties which cast us continually on Himself; and make Him ever more known, ever dearer. How different from the independence of the world!

As to sin in us, the power of it is only thus met, and

Ekron “eradication,” in the sense in which we have considered it before (page 92), becomes a possibility. Sin is judged, not allowed, does not overpower us. This is self-judgment, self-government, in practical attainment, and the name is central among Dan’s cities: it is the heart of what they speak of. Its number in the smaller series is that of “realization.”

Eltekeh, “God the object of fear,” in the fourth place, that of the creature, shows the proper attitude of such toward the Creator, which the knowledge of grace confirms, not sets aside. “There is forgiveness with Thee,” says the psalmist, “that thou mayest be feared.” (Psa 130:4.) Such fear is the invariable accompaniment of nearness to God: he that knows it not has not been near Him.

Gibbethon, “height,” stands in the fifth place, where relation to God is expressed. The place that He has given us in Christ makes no interpretation needed. Lastly

Baalath, “mistress,” ends the series in perfect harmony with its character, and the sixth place, in which we find it.

The third series shows us the fruit which is the outcome of this; and here now the first word is

Jehud, “praise.” There is no possibility of power without this, as we have abundantly seen from Jacob’s prophecy as to his fourth son onwards. And it is well to remember that in this word “confession” is the form it takes. Confession of what He is is His sufficient praise. With praise in the heart comes activity, of which

Bene-berak, “sons of lightning,” naturally speaks: no half-hearted or hesitating service, surely; but prompt, energetic, decisive. No dull moderation of speech is sufficient to express the enthusiastic devotedness which becomes the servants of the Most High God, and the followers of Him who was the perfect Servant. Men may think such speech as this extravagant; but it is not so: “a son of lightning” means, in the language of a Hebrew, one taught of this to do the will of God as the elements of Nature do it, which curb and humble the pride of man with the assurance of what is high above it: “who hath resisted His will?”

In the third place we have

Gath-rimmon, “the wine-press of the pomegranate,” a figure not difficult to understand. If the pomegranate speak of the gospel of God, the wine of the pomegranate is the reviving power of the Word, its sweet, refreshing, stimulating influence, in which, however, there is no excess. The soul of the believer, is it not just that which by meditation and communion with God becomes the wine-press of His Word? And Dan in his “rule,” whether of himself or others, needs ever this Word to be in him in its strength. Without it there can be no ability to serve aright, with promptitude and decision such as the last word expressed.

Hence now, too, and in this way only, can we reach

Mejarkon, or Mei-hajarkon, “waters of greenness, verdure,” not waters themselves green, as the commentators mostly suppose, but which sustain greenness. Thus the connection with what has gone before is plain, while the figure of necessity changes. The connection is much as between the Lord’s words to the woman of Sychar, and those to the people at the feast of tabernacles. To the one he speaks of “living water springing up” within the believer; to the others of “rivers of living water” flowing forth out of the belly the inward parts. (Joh 4:14; Joh 7:38.) The last is blessing for others, which naturally follows blessing for one’s self. Here, too, Dan’s service of rule is in as manifest relationship as the waters at Beer with the “ruler’s staff” with which they were digged. (Num 21:18.)

What follows is more difficult. The next word, “Rakkon,” or, more exactly, Ha-Rakkon, has been supposed by Grove (in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible) to be a mere error, inexactly repeating the previous Ha-jarkon. The Septuagint omits it, but is itself so inexact in all this part as to be of no real authority if taken alone. Then the change of language “with the border opposite Japho”: does this stand in a sixth, or as part of the fifth division? Does it mean that Dan’s border ends opposite Japho (Joppa), or does “border” stand as sometimes for “region” or territory”?

The last question seems as if it must be answered affirmatively, since there is no mention of a border elsewhere in Dan, and the end of a border has through all this part one form of expression, literally the “going out”; the spiritual interpretation also confirms the meaning of territory,” or “region.”

Next Japho means, as I take it, “what is fair (beautiful) to Him,” and would naturally come into a fifth place, not a fourth or sixth; while the clause in which it is found is surely a dependent, not an independent, one. Thus Rakkon would be required before it, and the omission in the Septuagint be an error, not an emendation. Thus, although there are still six names in this third section of Dan’s cities, there are but five divisions.

Putting these names together, now; we shall find in them a contrast which is in perfect harmony. Rakkon means “leanness,” and the sentence would read as “leanness, along with that which is before (or has respect to) what is fair to Him.” That is, the soul, while conscious of its nothingness, seeks that which is pleasing in the sight of God.

These are the cities of Dan’s original portion. Beyond these, however, they had another territory, which, in fact, their own inability to lay hold of what God had given them, compelled them to seek. The failure is, however, not related here, but in the book of Judges. Here we have only the fact of the conquest of Leshem (in Judges called Laish) in the north of the land. They call it Dan, as if in it, in some way more than elsewhere, the character of the tribe was expressed; and from its possession here, we find it, in fact, put along with the northern tribes in this enumeration.

But of what does this solitary city in the north speak? There is but one name, in fact, to add anything to what we have had before, and that name is one which is displaced and passes away before the later one with which we are familiar. Dan, as the name of true rule, is “judgment”; and this is but “discernment,” the realizing of the nature of things and pronouncing accordingly. What, then, is the Canaanite city which passes away before it? It is Leshem, “glitter,” the vain show of ambitious authority with which self-seeking man is charmed, the tinsel of greatness, which the glory of Christ has shamed forever for him who knows it. “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors; but ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.” (Luk 22:25-27.)

True rule is ever service, putting things in their place and giving them their proper meaning: the rod is the shepherd’s rod, guided by love and beneficent; for which there must be reality -things taken for what they are. But this rule cannot be under the Zidonians, the takers of prey; the true Dan, the Judge of men, must come, and the world fall under Him, up to the last careless and secure as with the Canaanites in this case. “The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night.” “As in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away, so shall the coming of the Son of man be.” (Mat 24:38-39.) Judgment thus must clear the scene, that true rule may be established: in Christ alone will it be seen in its perfection.

(h.) The assignment of an inheritance to Joshua closes the history of these apportionments. The word of Jehovah assigns to him the city that he asks, namely, Timnath-serah, in the hill-country of Ephraim. Timnath-serah means simply “an abundant portion.” Who can say what Christ’s portion is now -for of this the division at this time speaks, -as “anointed with the oil of gladness above” his “fellows?” That of Joshua is spoken of as but a barren inheritance; but how could anything be added to Him to whom already all things belong? It is satisfaction given to His heart that alone could recompense Him; and this He has, though as yet but the earnest of that which will be.

Yet the victory on His part is gained once for all; and He has entered into heaven itself, our Representative and Forerunner. This is the beginning of that which abides eternally; and this the number of the section marks.

(6) The ordinance of the cities of refuge, and the assignment of the Levitical cities evidently belong to one section. The cities of refuge formed a part of those given to the Levites, and were connected, as much in spiritual meaning as they were in fact, with Levite ministry. In both we find a provision for the control of sin: the Levitical cities thus scattered through the land being like a garrison of the Lord to maintain the people in the knowledge and fear of Him.

(a) There are, however, thus two quite distinct parts: the ordinance of the cities of refuge, and how it was carried out, being the first part; the assignment of the Levitical cities coming in the second. The order here is not hard to read, the cities of refuge being indeed the expression of the grace of God to Israel themselves, as we have seen, while applying to us also; the Levitical cities being for the maintenance of ministry, which would have been their salvation as a nation, had they hearkened to it, and had not the ministry itself betrayed its trust.

The law of Num 35:1-34 is with more brevity repeated here. We must refer to the notes upon the previous passage for the spiritual application. We have then the cities appointed in Canaan, with the enumeration of those beyond Jordan also, which have been already before us (see the notes on Deu 4:41-43). Comparing them together, we shall find, in the first series, the divine side of salvation, the display of God in it; in the second series, the human side, the salvation itself. Of the three Canaan cities we have

First, “Kedesh in Galilee, in the hill-country of Naphtali.” Galilee means circle,” or “circuit,” -reminding us of Eglon, and of Gilgal, to both of which it is near akin. The wheel of God’s government, as we have seen in the case of Eglon (page 62), is for the abasement of man, writing vanity upon him, but for his ultimate blessing when he accepts what is the stamp upon and judgment of his sin. Thus Galilee speaks of God’s ways with man to bring him to repentance; and Kedesh-Naphtali, the “sanctuary of the struggler,” as found in Galilee, shows how God has met the restlessness of heart which He Himself has awakened, with a refuge and rest in which man is still and forever abased, and He is glorified. The prodigal’s return to his Father is the fruit of a coming to himself, which the exhaustion of his own resources, the famine in the far-off land, the misery of hunger sought to be satisfied with swine’s food, have all combined to bring about. But in these things also the Shepherd has been already seeking the sheep, and the Father devising means whereby His banished may be restored to Him. Man is blessed, but blessed in being humbled; and God’s righteousness is owned in man’s confession of unrighteousness.

The second city is “Shechem, in the hill-country of Ephraim.” Here the names are simple enough, and have been again and again before us. Shechem is “shoulder,” that which bears the burden, and is the easily read type of “service.” On each side of it stood mounts Ebal and Gerizim, whence the curses and blessings of the law were published after Israel entered into the land. Here, therefore, the city of refuge speaks of Christ as the servant of God and doing His will, hearkening to the voice of the law, and even (though Himself perfect) to the curses for the breach of it: magnifying and making it honorable by His submission to a penalty which others had incurred. Thus again God was glorified in the cross, and the divine side of His work appears.

Thirdly, “Kirjath-arba, that is, Hebron in the hill-country of Judah,” presents “communion” to us in a new and striking form. It is in this aspect, and in the third place among these cities, Christ, as the One in whom “all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily,” and in whom thus

“All the mind in heaven is one,”

as we see it in the three parables of the fifteenth of Luke. That Kirjath-arba, the Anakite name of the city before Israel had it, and named from their great man Arba, should be still mentioned here, may be intended to point the contrast with this other Man, whose flesh was the tabernacle of Deity.

The second series of refuge-cities on the other side of Jordan plainly insist, as has been already said, upon the salvation side of the same story. The meanings will be found elsewhere. (Vol. 1., p. 540-541, n.)

(b) The Levitical cities are next assigned by lot, as the Lord had commanded. We have first, separately, the mention of the respective tribes, out of which the different families of Levi received their portions, and then the enumeration of the cities in full. The priestly family receives thirteen cities out of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin; and this is easy to understand, except as to the number. For the priests look Godward, as ministry, typified in the order of Levites, does manward; and these tribes (though with a certain difference as to Benjamin, which we shall find recognized in its place) do the same. The other Kohathites, typifying objective ministry, receive ten cities out of Ephraim, Dan, and half Manasseh, the reason for which as to the first and the last is evident; while Dan, too, subjective as the two others, requires the Kohathite ministry to maintain ability for self-judgment. Gershon, the subjective ministry, has thirteen cities in Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and half Manasseh: for practical walk, happiness, overcoming, need the lesson of strangership that he can teach them, while he has only to confirm in it the other and eastern half of Manasseh. Merari, finally, has his twelve cities out of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulon, to check the excess of individuality in all of them, and lead them into the apprehension of those relationships in which this finds its proper sphere and complement.

The cities are now enumerated according to these four divisions of the Levites, which are strictly three: the priestly, and the simple Kohathite, the Gershonite, and the Merarite.

First, the children of Aaron; and here the cities out of Judah and Simeon are distinguished from those out of Benjamin, for a reason which is easily to be discovered. Judah, as exemplifying worship, leads Simeon, that is, communion; and the two must not be separated. Benjamin, though holding fast to Judah also, yet extends toward Ephraim. Thus while the two former tribes furnish nine cities to the priests (the usual 3 x 3, the divine number emphasized), the number of Benjamin’s cities is four, that of the creature. We shall see more as to this directly.

The cities of Judah and Simeon stand, then, as follows:

1. -1. Hebron, 2. Libnah, 3. Jattir;

2. -1. Eshtemoa, 2. Holon, 3. Debir;

3. -1. Ain (or Ashan), 2. Juttah, 3. Beth-shemesh.

The whole series is headed by a city of refuge, specially emphasized, as it would seem, by the repetition, first, as the city of Arba, the father of Anak, and then as the refuge for the manslayer. In the latter character we have just seen its meaning, where also it is called Kirjath-arba. A divine Man has taken the place of him who exemplifies the pride and independence of man’s heart as fallen; and in Him the whole counsel of God is found. Hebron, as expressing thus the communion of the whole Godhead, naturally fills the first place in the series. How blessed and wonderful a portion for the priests of God!

The second name, Libnah, “whiteness,” we have had like Hebron several times already. Where it first comes before us as a city taken by Joshua, it represents, as we have seen, separation from evil (page 66). Where we find it again, among Judah’s cities in the lowland, it still retains this meaning, but applies to Christ entering into the sanctuary, clad in the white linen garment of the priest (page 106). Here it speaks similarly of the absolute purity of the Mediator, the Man, Christ Jesus.”

But there is in Him what no one can utter, the glory of Him who “dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see”; and this we have found to be the thought in

Jattir, “he far excels,” a town in the hill-country, notice, as Libnah is in the lowland. Had we not this name here, something would still be wanting to the expression of the glory of Christ: thus revealed as, in His own Person, the blessed portion of the priests of God.

The second three cities seem still to speak of Christ, but in His service among men. Here we have

First, Eshtemoa, “obedience,” the Father’s will the motive and governing principle of His life.

Then, the number of humiliation brings us to Holon, “night-lodging on the sand.”

Thirdly, Debir, “oracle,” a familiar word, gives us what He was in the world, the one perfect divine voice in it. We must not separate what are united here, the absolute obedience to the will of God, with the personal knowledge of human circumstances and sorrows, which, so far as they are found in those who follow Him, will enable them also, in their measure, to “speak as oracles of God.” So He declares of Himself, by the prophet: “The Lord God has given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I should know how to sustain with words him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught.” (Isa 50:4, R.V.) How blessed and comforting for us this language of One who, God over all, blessed forever, is yet not ashamed to call us brethren! The three names here have a real inward connection.

The third three, on the other hand, in accordance with their numerical significance, go on to resurrection and the heavenly place. The first name here in Joshua is Ain, but 1Ch 6:59 reads Ashan. Both are among Simeon’s cities, but one would seem to be a mistake. Commentators generally prefer the latter, and the context inclines us to it. Ain, as we have there interpreted it (p. 100), does not seem appropriate; but Ashan, “smoke,” referring, as it seems (see p. 107), to the smoke of incense, is perfectly so. He whom we have seen below in His ministry among men, is now above, still engaged for them; the number showing how that “obedience” of His below becomes a sweet savor in behalf of His own above.

Then Juttah, “enlargement,” may speak of the coming in of the Gentiles, with the new hopes of a heavenly people, united with Christ above; while

Beth-shemesh, “the house of the sun,” may well represent divine glory in the face of Jesus, as we now behold it, by faith, in heaven. Thus the third series is complete.

We now come to the Benjamite cities, which are four in number, the number of the creature: for Benjamin, “Christ in us,” unites, as we have seen, the subjective with the objective. Benjamin, even dispensationally, is thus Christ in power on the earth; and the truth individually applied is hardly different: the effect of Christ known in glory is seen in power for a walk on earth. Correspondingly, these four names divide as 2 x 2, -the first portion speaking of Christ Himself, the latter of the effect in us. Here

First of the first two, Gibeon, “the pit of suffering for iniquity,” represents, as before (p. 133), the cross. The second, Geba, “hill,” we have also seen as the “hill that is higher than I,” the recourse of the saint in trial, and which is, of course, Christ exalted. These two things are characteristic of the Benjamite condition. Christ crucified crucifies us to the world; Christ glorified lifts us above it. This is power for the walk on earth.

The next two are Anathoth and Almon, and they correspond respectively to the two former. Anathoth, “afflictions,” answers naturally to Gibeon, the cross. We have to take up our cross, -how different to His, however, -and to follow Him. Almon, “concealment,” answering to Geba, speaks of a “life hid with Christ in God,” the effect of a heart occupied with a hidden Saviour. The world that knows Him not cannot know the life inspired by Him, though they may be quite conscious of a power they know not.

These are the priests’ cities; those of the simple Kohathite-Levites follow next. Here, first, they have out of Ephraim four cities, a number which we have had in connection with Benjamin, and which now prevails with only one exception, that of Naphtali, which has three. Manasseh furnishes two to Kohath and two to Gershon.

The Kohathite cities give us the character of an objective ministry, such as we have before seen this family to represent. (Vol. 1., pp. 397, 400, 401.) Those out of Ephraim declare it to us as a ministry of power; the Danite ones as a ministry of confirmation; the Manassite as one of revival. These characters unite easily together, and show objective ministry as what is typical ministry, ministry of the highest kind; and no one that has experience of it but knows it to be that; Gershon and Merari have their needful place, but with Kohath are the ark and mercy-seat, the altars, the table of show-bread, the lamp of the sanctuary, and even the veil, things of which we know in measure the meaning and value. They speak of Christ Himself in person and work, and upon this all else must depend.

The first name among the Ephraimite portion is again that of a city of refuge, Shechem, “shoulder,” that which bears the burden, and which represents. as this, Christ as the Servant of God’s will, for us the Burden-bearer, or indeed bearing us, as the Shepherd the lost sheep, according to His own parable. Here indeed is power, a power outside ourselves equal to all emergencies -to every possible demand upon it. Thus “the government is upon His shoulder,” as fully competent.

Next we have Gezer, “cutting off, isolation,” a word which directly reminds us of the “land cut off” to which the scape-goat bears the sins of Israel on the day of atonement. This goes beyond the city of refuge, a place of shelter, but no more. Here the sins themselves are gone, never to be found again. Justification is full and entire. Peace is made, never more to be broken. Hence a way is made for God to display the love that is in His heart, and to gather His people; and

Kibzaim shows us a “double gathering,” as also the day of atonement does. “He died for that nation (Israel), and not for that nation only, but also that He might gather together in one the children of God which are scattered abroad.” (Joh 11:51-52.) The Church it is that comes now at the present time upon the ground of sins put away. And here power is realized by us; for the knowledge of grace is the attainment of power.

Yet sin is dealt with also, in the saint as well as in the sinner; and this Beth-horon, “the house of wrath,” comes fittingly to assure us of. Beth-horon is double -there is an upper and a lower city; and we have had to distinguish these already (page 118.) The nether Beth-horon is judgment as it falls upon the impenitent and unbeliever. The upper is judgment (and thus wrath) against sin, though assuming for the believer the form of chastening mercy. “For if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged; but when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” (1Co 11:31-32.)

This double city has thus the full character of witness-warning against the abuse of grace, while it limits not in the least the grace itself. The names thus closed show us in this way the real elements of a ministry of power, and are all objective, and suit Kohath well. They are guard and guide to fruitful Ephraim no less, as is easy to be seen.

But we come now to Dan, and shall find, according to what is expressed in him, the subjective side of an objective ministry. Dan is intensely subjective, and something of this must be found in all that is really ministry at all. We shall see how it is, in fact, that which comes in to confirm, not displace or modify, the former; and thus to confirm, also, the soul itself.

Here, first, Eltekeh, “God the object of fear,” gives us the constant, only right, attitude of the soul in His presence. Whatever weakens this condemns itself. Does grace weaken this? Nay, it only gives it its proper character as filial, not servile, fear: “There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayst be feared.” God is not less on the throne, but more; for the rebellion of the will is vanquished, and the heart bows with the head. This character of grace needs to be well understood, and with many is not, simple as it really is. The main cavil against grace it is that is here overthrown indeed, and the gospel buttresses itself against all attack. Worthy is Eltekeh of a first place.

Next, Gibbethon, “height,” which we have already found applying to our relation to God in Christ, comes in as a second bulwark against the moralist’s objection. Our place in Christ gives us at once the basis of our walk, and power for it. To walk in Him is to walk as He walked, but it is to walk also as dependent upon and drawing from Him. It is that abiding of the branch in the vine that makes it fruitful. Occupation with Himself is deliverance from the power of the world and sin.

In the third place, Ajalon, “the place of harts,” suggests the agile, yet firm, tread of this animal, with reference to which it is said, “He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places.” (Psa 18:33.) The “high places” belong to the weakest believer; but we need to be made competent to occupy them, -the firm, sure tread of the hart upon the mountains. It is but the realizing power of faith that is needed for this; of which the number here may remind us. It is but to take God at His word; and if the blessed place be ours, to fill the place.

Then Gath-rimmon, the “winepress of the pomegranate,” speaks to us once more of the animating power of the word of God, which can only, when the soul is thus established, do its proper work, and enrich and exalt all its faculties. The fourth place in which we find this name affirms these results as facts of experience. They are truly the experience of every one who lives and walks in communion with God. This closes the list of Dan’s cities.

In Manasseh’s possessions on the west of Jordan, Kohath has only two cities, Taanach and another Gath-rimmon. For the last, Chronicles substitutes Bileam, a transposition of Ibleam, as generally supposed: one of the towns that Manasseh receives from Asher or from Issachar, but fails to take out of the hands of the Canaanites. The Septuagint has a different name here from both, however, and criticism seems able to determine nothing: for Gath-rimmon may be another name for Bileam, the recurrence of names and the duplication of them being alike common, and we must not too readily suppose that a copyist’s error which has in its favor all the Hebrew copies. Altogether, we are free to ask what the spiritual interpretation may have to say in the matter, and have no decisive reason for refusing to submit ourselves entirely to its guidance.

With the meaning of Manasseh we are well acquainted. Its “forgetting” is in order to pressing on, and is closely linked with Ephraim’s “fruitfulness.” Some connection with this should appear in these two cities, which, in becoming Levitical do not cease to be Manassite.

Again, as two is the number of contrast, a dual division like this will often be found to show this. Taanach and Gath-rimmon may thus give contrasted thoughts, as indeed “sandy soil” and the pomegranate naturally suggest. It does not need that Taanach should be a desert to suggest the thought of it; and besides, the sand of the desert is spiritually fruitful, and intended so to be. God meant the wilderness to teach Israel the grand lesson of faith; and for us He means the world as that to wean us from other dependencies than Himself, and make us look on to our rest. Thus Taanach’s sandy soil may be really fruitful, and not the less typical on that account, while Gath-rimmon may show us where faith finds refreshment and stimulus for the way that leads to God.

The numbers are in accordance with such an interpretation: for one is the number of solitariness, and thus barrenness; while two is that of the Word and of ministry. Interpretation would thus, I judge, decide for Gath-rimmon as the true reading. Bileam and Ibleam have substantially the same meaning, and that the same as that of the unfaithful prophet. Bileam is only Balaam; and if this is substituted for Gath-rimmon I see no proper sense. Taanach and Gathrimmon harmonize, also, perfectly with the lesson of Manasseh, as is manifest; and this cumulative witness may well be decisive of the question of criticism.

The Gershonite cities are thirteen in number, and they belong to four tribes -Manasseh, Issachar, Asher, and Naphtali. Manasseh comes first, -the half-tribe east of Jordan, -and again with two cities, Golan and Be-eshterah.

As with Kohath, so with Gershon, a city of refuge heads the list. Golan is “exultation” the fullness of joy in Christ Jesus that marks the true circumcision. (Php 3:3.) Gershon, the “exile,” is near akin in spirit, evidently, to Manasseh, “forgetter,” and for each joy is a needful element of strength; the joy in One who is absent: as Peter expresses it, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.” (1Pe 1:8.) For a Levite, also, how necessary a possession such as this! A joy in Christ that is “full of glory,” is in itself a ministry of Christ to men; and we are admonished to be “teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.” (Col 3:16.)

Be-eshterah is given in Chronicles as Ashtaroth, and the mass of commentators follow Gesenius in considering the prefix “be” as an abbreviation of “beth,” understanding the compound word to mean “the house of Ashterah,” or “Ashtoreth.” There was, as we know, an Ashtaroth in Manasseh, the old city of Og; and, according to the testimony of Eusebius and Jerome, more than one, so that the one before us need not have been the heathen capital. Is it the “house of Ashterah”? The abbreviation of “beth” into “be” is more than doubtful; no certain example can be given of such a change; and it is not likely that Israel, when they changed similar names because of their connection with idolatry (Num 32:38) would allow one like this to stand. It might be, indeed, here mentioned by its old heathen name after it had acquired another; but in such cases the new name would naturally, at least, be given with it, as with “Kirjath-baal, which is Kirjath-jearim” (Jos 15:60).

But if it be not the heathen name, what is it? “Ashteroth” is, indeed, found four times in Deuteronomy (Deu 7:13; Deu 28:4; Deu 28:18; Deu 28:51), translated in the common version “flocks,” and in the revised version “young”; by others, again (much better), “ewes”; while Young gives “multiplications.” Perhaps all consider it as a mere adaptation of the heathen word; which seems, however, strange enough as that. The greater probability would surely be that the heathen goddess took her name from, rather than gave it to, the ewes of the flock.

If this be admitted, the be may be what grammarians call the beth essentiae, a simple emphasizing of the word which follows it; and which, in its idea, Dr. Young’s translation gives as “multiplication.” This agrees with the number of “increase,” under which it stands, and yields a simple sense in connection with Golan: for the joy in Christ, which is full of glory,” is, indeed, nothing else than the sunshine of His face, while “from glory to glory” expresses the necessity of progress in the soul to whom Christ is thus unveiled. This is obviously, also, a thought quite in accordance with what is represented by Manasseh, and seems thus additionally worthy of acceptance as the thought here.

These two express, therefore, for Gershon, the “exile,” that which separates his strangership from mere asceticism, and shows the spring of power which is in it. And now Issachar, who speaks of the earth-walk, furnishes to him in its four cities the means of preservation of this power amid the adverse influences of the world. These cities are

First, Kishion, “hardening,” which, as a Levitical and Gershonite city, naturally changes its significance, and shows us what the very opposition of the world may do for us, as begetting in us force of character and independent individuality, which dares to stand alone, in single obedience to the will of God. All difficulties are but a discipline to the soul in earnest. The habit of overcoming can be acquired, like other habits; and thus adverse circumstances may be none the less helpful, -God making, as He has promised, all things work together for good to them that love Him. Thus Kishion is, after all, not so strange a word to find beside

Daberath, “pasture”; for there are “pastures of the wilderness,” and the world being what it is only makes the refreshment He has provided for it .sweeter and more satisfying. There is grace always equal to the need also, where the heart turns with its need to Him. Then we have

Jarmuth, “height,” which we have seen once to speak of Christ exalted, and once of our own exaltation in Him, -things that naturally go together. From this height, one may say, is fed

Engannim, the precious “spring of” God’s “gardens,” where His plants are nurtured. With all these thoughts we are familiar; and their study in these new connections must be left very much to be worked out by those who care for it. Where there is not such care, volumes might be written in vain.

Asher follows Issachar; and here again all the names have been before us. We need not wonder that the first Gershonite town should be

Misheal, “feeling after God”; nor the second

Abdon, “bond-service”; the third is

Helkath, “equal division”; and the fourth

Rehob, “room.” These four, where God is known and relation to Him established, are all blessedness, and worthy, therefore, of Asher. They show us the portion of the true Levite, which is in God Himself, and the heart of ministry such as the Levite speaks of.

Lastly, out of Naphtali Gershon has three cities. Naphtali, the triumphant struggler, and in the fourth place here, speaks clearly of experience, a thing quite necessary to the ministering Levite, and with which he, too, is called to minister. Here

Kedesh in Galilee, a city of refuge, the soul’s sanctuary-rest in self-humiliation before God, is the first sweet lesson of experience, -a lesson how blessed for the soul that has learned it, -how blessed, therefore, to enrich others with! Then

Hammoth-dor, “heat of the dwelling,” -sun-heat. It may be the Hammath which we have had as one of the cities of Naphtali already (page 154), although here a plural, which intensifies the thought, and with Dor attached. The spiritual meaning is self-evident.

Kartan, in the third place, is considered to be a contraction of Kirjathaim, “two cities,” or the double city, and would seem to speak of fellowship in activity; and this would not be unsuited, perhaps, as a name for any Levite city, but yet especially appropriate in this place. Here the Gershonite cities end.

The Merarite cities are twelve in number, and furnished by three tribes, -Zebulon, Reuben, and Gad. We have already (vol. i., p. 397, sq.) seen that Merari’s ministry speaks of that which has to do with the maintenance of the Church itself; and this is why, perhaps, its cities are twelve, the number of manifest divine government. Alas, we have lost much this manifestation in the multiplicity of human rules and machinery that have been introduced, and the self-will that breaks all bounds continually. Few Merarites, in truth, seem to remain to the Church, but here in Joshua we have the divine thought, not the human failure; and the twelve cities are in accordance with this.

The first tribe that furnishes cities to the Merarite is Zebulon: for dwelling with God, which implies practical consecration to Him, is here first of all important for the upholding of His claim upon men. The cities are, first,

Jokneam, “possession of the people,” -for the first need on the part of His people is to be put in possession of what is theirs from God. We have next

Kartah, “city,” which implies fellowship, living activity, and yet boundary-lines preserved, care being taken that these in the church of God are of divine establishment, marked out by the word of God alone. We have next

Dimnah, “dung,” for which, in 1Ch 6:62, there seems to be substituted Rimmon (or Rimmono), a word with which we are familiar, and of much pleasanter suggestion than the word before us. The change in the Hebrew is such as might come through slight corruption of the text, but Keil rightly reminds us that in Chronicles we have but two cities here instead of four; and the other, Tabor, is not found here either. Remmon, or Rimmon, is found, however, in Zebulon, while Dimnah occurs nowhere else than in this passage: thus on both sides there are things to be considered.

Rimmon, standing for the “word of God,” as the pomegranate typifies it, would imply the holy fruitfulness which it produces. Dimnah could only, as it would seem, point out the need of apprehension of that which defiles, as part of true Levite ministry in the church of God, most necessary for the Merarite. This would suit well, also, the numerical place which speaks of sanctification. On the whole, Dimnah seems to give the clearer spiritual thought; and which, being in the text also, we must prefer. The last word here,

Nahalal, a “place whither they lead” cattle to pasture, suggests very different thoughts. Nahal means “to lead with gentleness and care” (Wilson); and such a tender helpfulness must, indeed, characterize the Merarite ministry. True love must govern all, acting oftentimes in ways that may seem even opposed to one another, but are not: it is the “bond of perfectness.”

Reuben next furnishes her quota: the subject will of faith is, indeed, necessary to him who would stand for the rule of God over the people of God. But here

Bezer at once shows how ample is the “store” of him who makes Christ his resource and treasure-house. Dependence on the living Lord, habitual reference to Him in all things, is the indispensable requisite for standing in the prophet’s place before men: and this is what, in his measure, every Merarite does. Then

Jahazah, the same as Jahaz, where Israel met and defeated Sihon, with its meaning, “a place trodden down,” reminds us of the resolute tread of the soldier of Christ, and of the well-contested fields in which he is to be found, as does

Kedemoth, of “things that confront” him. But these are among his possessions, none the less, as things whereby faith is exercised and matured, which are “for” him, as to him that loves God all things are, -working together for good. Finally, here

Mephaath, “shining forth,” naturally speaks of the end which faith has before it, “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ,” which is also connected with the appraisement of the responsibility of disciples, and the rewards of grace. These four cities are a fit contribution, then, from Reuben to Merari.

One tribe alone remains now to be considered, and that is Gad, whose four cities are already familiar to us, save the last: Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the manslayer; Mahanaim, where of old Jacob met the host of God; Heshbon, Sihon’s capital; and Jazer, “He shall help.”

Gad, as we have seen, speaks of spiritual increase, as well as of activity, not apart from conflict either. Ramoth in Gilead shows the place of acceptance in the Beloved, of power as raised up with Him, in whom alone all increase finds its secure starting-point, and all activity its safeguard as well as power. Taken out of the world, we are sanctified and sent into it again by the Lord our Head, as He was sent into it by the Father. How necessary the knowledge of this for the Merarite who has to do with the Church on earth! Then

Mahanaim, “two hosts,” which speaks certainly, from its history, of heavenly succor, with an implication of warfare, for which the battle-cry is that “the Lord of hosts is with us!” Thus we are not only sent forth, but accompanied and sustained.

Heshbon, then, reminds us how, as restored by faith (for the children of Reuben rebuilt the city, Num 32:37), “reason” has its place and use for spiritual increase (Gad), and for Merarite ministry. While

Jazer -which may be a contraction for Jah-ezer, “Jah is help,” -closes, then, the whole series with the tender reminder of our weakness, and of the divine strength to which it appeals, -which the frank recognition of it ever brings in for us.

Thus the enumeration of Israel’s cities ends; and of what a wealth of blessing may they not put us in possession, if in faith and patience we seek to possess ourselves of it. This account of them, pitifully brief and incomplete as it is, is yet a witness of how much God has stored up here for the earnest-hearted. There has been shown, at least, the gleam of gold abundantly throughout; and little labor is required to make one possessor of it. Meditation and study are always needed, however, and here will be abundantly repaid. “The diligent soul shall be made fat.”

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

DIVISION OF THE LAND

Seven chapters make a long lesson from one point of view but not from another, as the subject matter will not require the same attention as in other cases. It is about the division of the land among the tribes, and we will touch on the principal points by chapters.

Joshua 13

Although the warfare of extermination had been carried on for some time, some think seven years, yet it was not entirely completed (Jos 13:1). The Lord therefore stirs Joshua to portion out the territory among the tribes, that each may continue to work in its own neighborhood after he has departed. He died at 110 (Jos 24:29), from which it may be gathered that he was now past 100.

There follows an account of the land unappropriated which includes, as a first division, the country of the Philistines on the southwest, and that of the Geshurites bordering on it and further south (compare 1Sa 27:8). A second division is that of the Canaanites near by the Sidonians, in what we know as Upper Galilee. A third the land of the Giblites on the Mediterranean north of Sidon (Jos 13:2-6).

This sketch of the unconquered territory finished, the directions for allotment are taken up (Jos 13:7), but not until a record is made of the boundaries of the two and a half tribes on the East of Jordan which Moses allotted them in his lifetime (Jos 13:8-33).

The distribution was by lot (Jos 13:6), as announced in Num 33:54, a system which accomplished two purposes: the prevention of partiality on the part of the leaders, and the acknowledgment of Gods rights in the disposal of His and not their property. The lot seems to have been used only in determining the general locality where a tribe should be settled, the actual extent of the settlement being otherwise determined (Num 26:54). The control of God in the whole matter is seen in that each tribe received the possession predicted by Jacob and also Moses (compare Genesis 49 and Deuteronomy 33).

Joshua 14

At this point the allotment begins on the west of the Jordan. Nine and a half tribes only are mentioned (Jos 14:2), because the other two and half, Reuben, Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh, were provided for on the east.

It is to be remembered that the Levites were to have no allotment as the others (Jos 14:3), but only certain cities with their suburbs. To make up the even number of the twelve tribes, Josephs inheritance had been multiplied by two, and Ephraim and Manasseh, his sons, each represented a separate tribe (Jos 14:4). This covers Jos 14:1-5 of this chapter. From Jos 14:6 to the end we have the story of Calebs choice and allotment of Hebron. See Num 14:24 and Deu 1:36.

Joshua 15

This gives the borders of the tribe of Judah, whose possession was large because of its preeminence over the other tribes.

Calebs possession is within Judah, and in connection with it is the story of his daughters dowry (Jos 15:16-19). She married Othniel the brave, the first successor to Joshua in the time of the Judges.

The last verse is interesting because of the subsequent history of the Jebusites and Jerusalem in Davids day. If Judah could not drive out the Jebusites it was not for lack of power, but faith. But oh, how fatal to them as to other tribes with a similar history, that they should have neglected the divine command to drive out the idolaters. All the sufferings of Israel for hundreds of years arose from that neglect.

Joshua 17

This describing the lot of Manasseh is interesting for two things. The first is the apportionment made to the daughters of Zelophehad (Jos 17:3-6) according to the command of God through Moses (Num 27:1-11). And the second, Joshuas rebuke of the unbelief of Ephraim (Jos 17:14-15). There was the spirit of patriotism in this sarcasm.

Joshua 18

The first verse of this is the most important, testifying to the setting up of the tabernacle at Shiloh where the camp had now moved. By the camp is meant the remainder of the tribes after the departure of those receiving their allotments (Jos 18:2). Look up Shiloh and identify its location about twenty-five miles north of Jerusalem.

The importance of this is its bearing on the higher criticism. The view of the rationalistic critics is that the Pentateuch was written much later than the period commonly supposed. That instead of its contents being revealed by God they were conceived by the priests and palmed off on the people as the work of Moses, to bolster their power. According to this the tabernacle and its worship were of comparatively late origin, a hypothesis shaken by the circumstances recorded here. The tabernacle seems to have remained at Shiloh for a long period, probably more than three hundred years, if we may judge by the reference to the ark in 1Sa 4:11.

Verse 3 of this chapter is an unhappy revelation of the feeling in Israel at this time. Perhaps the people loved ease, perhaps they preferred a nomadic life, but for some cause they were slow to avail themselves of their opportunities to do the will of God.

If Canaan be a type of Christ and the privileges of the risen life in Him, what a rebuke these words convey to many a Christian heart! How foolish we are, and how ungrateful to God to be satisfied with present attainments when there is so much more and so much better ahead.

And do we say, O, that our Joshua would stir us up to possess the land? Is He not doing it? Do we not hear the rebuke of the still small voice?

Let us get back to the Word of God and its great and precious promises. Let us arise and go through the land and describe it, that a holy passion may be quickened to possess it.

Joshuas directions to the twenty-one land surveyors in verses 4-9 give rise to the question as to where, or how, the latter obtained their knowledge, for the task was no simple one. Had they been taught geometry in Egypt? What light this throws upon the civilization of the Hebrews at this time.

Joshua 19

The feature in this chapter is the allotment to Joshua recorded in the last two verses. Notice when it was done (Jos 19:49), and by whose authority and decree (Jos 19:50). There is no record of this decree, but it probably had a similar history to that in the case of Caleb (Jos 14:9).

So they made an end of dividing the country.

QUESTIONS

1. About how long a time was covered by the campaign of conquest in Canaan?

2. Was the conquest entirely completed by Joshua?

3. What advantages were there in the distribution by lot?

4. How was the providence of God shown in the distribution?

5. What was the character of the allotment for the tribe of Levi?

6. Of what sin of neglect were the tribes guilty?

7. What was the root cause of this sin?

8. Where was the tabernacle set up in Joshuas time, and how long presumably did it remain there?

9. What bearing has this circumstance upon the science of Biblical criticism in these days?

10. What important spiritual analogy do we find in chapter 18?

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

Chapter 13 begins a description of the division of the land. Verses 2-3 name the unconquered areas in the south, while those in the north are described in 4-6. If Israel had have been obedient and faithful to God, they would have been able to drive out the people with God’s help as promised in verse 6. However, they were not and ultimately were corrupted by the evil influence left in the land. The remainder of chapter 13 details the inheritance of land given to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh in accord with Moses’ directions in Num 32:1-42 and Deu 3:1-29 .

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Jos 13:1. Now Joshua was old To what age Joshua was advanced we cannot determine, because we do not know how old he was when the Israelites came out of Egypt. Some think he was three and forty at that time, and then he was fourscore and three when they came into Canaan. And now, it may be gathered from probable conjectures, that he wanted not much of a hundred. And, in this declining age, he could not hope to live to conquer what remained of the land unsubdued, and therefore he was to go about another business, namely, the dividing of it. The Lord said unto him, Thou art old Therefore delay not to do the work which I have commanded thee to do. It is good for those that are stricken in years to be reminded that they are so; that they may be quickened to do the work of life, and prepare for death, which is coming on apace.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jos 13:1. Joshua was old; now more than a hundred years of age.

Jos 13:3. Sihor, Sichor; that is, turbid, the waters being muddy. The map will show the geographical situation of most of the towns to which this chapter refers. The five cities of the Philistines belonged to Israels lot, but could not be taken.

Jos 13:5. The entering into Hamath, through the pass on mount Lebanon, which opened on a new country.

Jos 13:9. From Aroer, a city of Moab, on the banks of Arnon, which disembogues into the sea of Sodom.

Jos 13:25. Half the land of the children of Ammon, of which the Amorites had possession, for Moses had forbidden them to meddle with the Ammonites. Deu 2:37.

REFLECTIONS.

Joshua stayed not his victories till he had conquered an extent of country sufficient for the people. He placed the twelve tribes in the centre of the promised land; around him was a broad belt of heathens and of enemies unsubdued. These were left to try and prove the true generations; meanwhile they prevented the wild beasts from multiplying against the people. The christian church is in like manner surrounded by a host of worldly men, to try and prove both us and our children, whether we will be faithful to God and his covenant; or whether we will suffer ourselves to be carried away with carnal desires of the flesh, and the corruptions of the age. If we contract covenants with them, and bow to their idols of pleasure and licentious opinions, we forfeit the blessings of the covenant, and entail its curses on ourselves and posterity.

Joshua having warred sufficiently, must now enjoy repose from the field, and interpose the weight of his wisdom and power in dividing the conquered land, and in forcing each tribe to march to its lot. He must not allow the covetous heart to rest in any favourite portion accidentally enjoyed in the changes of conquests. Let us learn that the government of interior affairs, whether civil or religious, should be vested chiefly in the hands of venerable magistrates, ministers and elders, that people may obey their wise and salutary counsels and commands; God having graciously given these to be fathers and guardians of the public.

How good was the Lord in giving Joshua rest and quiet in his old age, that, forgetting the severities of vengeance, he might cultivate all the meekness of a heavenly mind, and employ all his leisure in piety and domestic devotion. The mind of an aged man, when divested of business, discovers its natural and moral characteristics in a very conspicuous manner. Whether it be worldly, or vain, or religious, it then simply appears. But it is a most glorious proof of genuine piety when the aged man, settling his affairs, employs his time wholly for God, and for the good of his people.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Joshua 13. Parts of the Land as yet Unconquered. In heritance of the Two and a Half Tribes on the E. of Jordan.In Jos 13:1 we meet with a statement which causes surprise. The whole land has been subdued (Jos 11:23 to Jos 12:24), yet now we read that even in Joshuas old age there remained very much land to be possessed. This plainly comes from an older source than ch. 12, and is very much nearer the true state of things. The later writer, however, in order to bring the statement into harmony with what he has written in Joshua 12, proceeds to explain the phrase very much land by referring it to distant places in the W. and N. (Jos 13:2-6), some of which certainly never came into the possession of Israel at all. And these places were to be divided amongst the tribes and constitute their inheritance! For Jos 13:29-31, which is unhistorical, see end of ch. 17.*

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

LAND REMAINING TO BE CONQUERED

(vv. 1-7)

Joshua became “old and advanced in years” (v. 1). In fact, he was not a young man when he led Israel across the Jordan, at least in his sixties. If, as we rightly consider, he is a type of “Christ in you,” his aging would indicate that the spiritual energy of God’s people, though it may be fresh and vigorous at first, nearly always begins to wane with time. We see this in Israel and we see it in the Church, and sadly in many individual believers.

Yet there was “very much land to be possessed.” How much of the truth of scripture do we really possess? There have been godly, faithful men who have led the way in giving us possession of much scriptural knowledge that might otherwise have remained of no value to us. They have certainly not exhausted scripture, but have passed off the scene. Where is the energy of faith now to gain possession of land that has not been possessed? Should not every believer be stirred in heart to apply himself to the diligent study of the Word of God, not only to gain knowledge, but to thereby know the Lord better, to be filled with all the fullness of God?

The first unpossessed land mentioned is “all the territory of the Philistines” (v. 2). The Philistines had originally come from Egypt by way of the north, not having to cross the Red Sea, so they are a picture of those who have come into Christian profession without facing the truth of the death of Christ for them, — not redeemed, but religious. Their name means “wallowers,” for they wallow in the mire of empty forms and ceremonies, and have always been a thorn in Israel’s side. In the history of the Church too this same evil has continually opposed the simplicity of the truth of the gospel of grace, and only faith can overcome it. In David’s day the Philistines were largely subdued, though never expelled from the land.

Geshurites are mentioned along with the Philistines. Their name means “proud beholders,” speaking of those who take the place merely of spectators, well able to criticize, proud of their ability to tell what should be done, but not involving themselves in the work of the Lord at all. We all know people of this kind, but let us not be like them: rather let us fully judge this kind of evil, triumphing over it by the faith of spiritual energy.

Verse 3describes the territories of these nations in more detail, including the five major cities of the Philistines, and adding “the Avites.” Gaza, a city of the Philistines, means “strong,” for ceremonial religion seeks the greatest power in the world and boasts of the strength of its numbers. Such strength means nothing to those who walk by faith. Let us never be intimidated by it. The harlot city Babylon may be so strong as to reign over the kings of the earth (Rev 17:18), but “her plagues will come in one day — death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her” (Rev 18:8). We may now defeat such evil by trusting in the strength of the Lord God.

Ashdod means “the spoiler,” for such formal religion as we see in the Philistines becomes a spoiling, desolating thing to its victims, leaving no positive blessing for them. This negative, harmful character of religious pretense is again only to be overcome by the positive energy of faith in the living God.

Askelon has a strange meaning for a city, “the fire of infamy.” But false religion often strongly attacks those who will not submit to it by putting them in the worst light possible. Through the middle ages many were branded as heretics by the professing “Church,” who were godly, devoted believers. But we must not be intimidated by this kind of enmity, rather let us overcome it by faith.

Gath means “the winepress.” The winepress speaks of the wrath of God’s judgment (Rev 14:19-20), and again in the middle ages it was often seen that the professing “Church” claimed to be the executor of the judgment of God against those she called “heretics.” Only faith can capture Gaza, so that the winepress will be truly in the hand of God alone, not in the hands of perverters.

Ekron means “rooting out.” Various false religions have tried hard to root out all who do not submit to them, but this is a dreadful evil when that religion is clothed with a Christian name. They want complete domination, but again Ekron should be captured

for the Lord. For it will be right for Him in His own time to fulfill His own words, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted shall be uprooted” (Mat 15:13). Thus the energy of faith will give Him His rights.

The Philistines were in the south, then northwest were the Canaanites (v. 4)and various peoples connected with them. Canaanites means “traffickers,” so that this northern area seems to symbolize the evil principle of using Christianity for monetary gain. Israel was responsible to subdue such enemies, just as the Lord Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple (Joh 2:14-16), but though the Canaanites were in general conquered, yet there remained pockets of resistance. Joshua was told by the Lord to divide the land between Israel’s tribes (vv. 6-7), then each tribe had the work remaining of subduing and banishing every enemy in their territory, just as today all believers are to fight against and subdue the spiritual evils that threaten their enjoyment of our spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph 6:10-18).

LAND DIVIDED BETWEEN THE 2 & 1/2 TRIBES

(vv. 8-14)

While half the tribe of Manasseh was included in the inheritance of property west of Jordan, the other half tribe is now seen connected with Reuben and Gad on the east of Jordan (v. 8). They had asked for this before and Moses had granted it to them (Num 32:1-22). This land was divided between these 21/2 tribes. “Nevertheless the children of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites (v. 13). They still had the evil principle of the “proud beholder” (the meaning of Geshur) to contend with, just as believers today must contend with the pride that can observe and proudly criticize without being involved in the testimony of the Lord. This is an evil not easily banished! Yet, let us have serious exercise not to allow any such attitude to surface in our own personal experience.

Verse 14 reminds us that the tribe of Levi was given no inheritance for themselves, for they were scattered among the tribes to serve the Lord where they were placed, and were dependent on God’s providing for them by the sacrifices and offerings of the people. They were therefore simply to look to God for their support, as is true for any servant of the Lord today who engages his full time in the Lord’s work.

THE LAND GIVEN TO REUBEN (vv. 15-23)

The land of Reuben on the south adjoined Moab. On the west of it was the Dead Sea and a little further north the River Jordan. The north border was the south border of Gad. Heshbon is the farthest north city mentioned in Reuben’s territory. The east border is not so well defined, perhaps because of desert toward the east, but Reuben inherited all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites (v. 21).

It is noted here, because Reuben is so close to Moab, that the children of Israel killed Balaam the soothsayer, who had been hired by Balak to curse Israel, then had counseled Balak to have his people mingle with Israel to corrupt them (Num 31:16).

GAD’S INHERITANCE (vv. 24-28)

The land given to Gad was north of that of Reuben, including the territory of Jazer (evidently just north of Heshbon) and continuing north to include Succoth which was near the Jordan River. Jordan was again the west border of Gad, and the east border is once more apparently indistinct. In this territory and the meaning of the names of cities there is without doubt spiritual instruction to be found if we were diligent and discerning enough to find it.

THE EASTERN PORTION FOR MANASSEH (vv. 29-33)

Manasseh’s inheritance (for its half tribe) was north of Gad’s, including the territory taken from Og king of Bashan, its west border being also the Jordan River, though the other half tribe of Manasseh was given its portion on the west side of the river, opposite the half tribe on the east. Again we are reminded that it was Moses who had given this inheritance to Manasseh (v. 32), and again we are told that the Levites were not given territory of their own, for the God of Israel was their inheritance (v. 33).

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

13:1 Now Joshua was old [and] {a} stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old [and] stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be {b} possessed.

(a) Being almost a hundred and ten years old.

(b) After the enemies are overcome.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

A. The land yet to be possessed 13:1-7

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Joshua was probably in his 80s at this time.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER XXI.

JOSHUA’S OLD AGE- DIVISION FOR THE EASTERN TRIBES.

Joshua Ch. 13, 14:1-5.

“THE Lord said unto Joshua, Thou art old and stricken in years.” To many men and women this would not be a welcome announcement. They do not like to think that they are old. They do not like to think that the bright, joyous, playful part of life is over, and that they are arrived at the sombre years when they must say, ”There is no pleasure in them.”

Then, again, there are some who really find it hard to believe that they are old. Life has flown past so swiftly that before they thought it was well begun it has gone. It seems so short a time since they were in the full play of their youthful energies, that it is hardly credible that they are now in the sere and yellow leaf. Perhaps, too, they have been able to keep their hearts young all the time, and still retain that buoyant sensation which seems to indicate the presence of youth. And are there not some who have verified the psalm – “They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing “?

But however much men may like to be young, and however much some may retain in old age of the feeling of youth, it is certain that the period of strength has its limit, and the period of life also. To the halest and heartiest, if he be not cut off prematurely, the time must come when God will say to him, “Thou art old.” It is a solemn word to hear from the lips of God. God tells me my life is past; what use have I made of it? And what does God think of the use I have made of it? And what account of it shall I be able to give when I stand at His bar?

Let the young think well of this, before it is too late to learn how to live.

To Joshua the announcement that he was old and stricken in years does not appear to have brought any painful or regretful feeling. Perhaps he had aged somewhat suddenly; his energies may have failed consciously and rapidly, after his long course of active and anxious; military service. He may have been glad to hear God utter the word; he may have been feeling it himself, and wondering how he should be able to go through the campaigns yet necessary to put the children of Israel in full possession of the land. That word may have fallen on his ear with the happy feeling – how considerate God is! He will not burden my old age with a load not suited for it. Though His years have no end, and He knows nothing of failing strength, “He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust.” He will not “cast me off in the time of old age, nor forsake me when my strength faileth.” Happy confidence, especially for the aged poor! It is the want of trust in the heavenly Father that makes so many miserable in old age. When you will not believe that He is considerate and kind, you are left to your own resources, and often to destitution and misery. But when between Him and you there is the happy relation of father and child; when through Jesus Christ you realize His fatherly love and pity, and in real trust cast yourselves on Him who clothes the lilies and feeds the ravens, your trust is sure to be rewarded, for your heavenly Father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask them.

So Joshua finds that he is now to be relieved by his considerate Master of laborious and anxious service. Not of all service, but of exhausting service, unsuited to his advancing years. Joshua had been a right faithful servant; few men have ever done their work so well. From that day when he stood against Amalek from morning to night, while the rod of Moses was stretched out over him on the hill; thereafter, during all his companionship with Moses on the mount; next in that search-expedition when Caleb and he stood so firm, and did not flinch in the face of the congregation, though every one was for stoning them; and now, from the siege of Jericho to the victory of Merom, and all through the trying and perilous sieges of city after city, year after year, Joshua has proved himself the faithful servant of God and the devoted friend of Israel. During these last years he has enjoyed supreme power, apparently without a rival and without a foe; yet, strange to say, there is no sign of his having been corrupted by power, or made giddy by elevation. He has led a most useful and loyal life, which there is some satisfaction in looking back on. No doubt he is well aware of unnumbered failings: “Who can understand his errors?” But he has the rare satisfaction – oh! who would not wish to share it? – of looking back on a well-spent life, habitually and earnestly regulated amid many infirmities by regard to the will of God. Neither he, nor St. Paul after him, had any trust in their own good works, as a basis of salvation; yet Paul could say, and Joshua might have said it in spirit: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.”

Yet Joshua was not to complete that work to which he had contributed so much: “there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” At one time, no doubt, he thought otherwise, and he desired otherwise. When the tide of victory was setting in for him so steadily, and region after region of the land was falling into his hands, it was natural to expect that before he ended he would sweep all the enemies of Israel before him, and open every door for them throughout the land, even to its utmost borders. Why not make hay when the sun shone? When God had found so apt an instrument for His great design, why did He not employ him to the end? If the natural term of Joshua’s strength had come, why did not that God who had supernaturally lengthened out the day for completing the victory of Bethhoron, lengthen out Joshua’s day that the whole land of Canaan might be secured?

Here comes in a great mystery of Providence. Instead of lengthening out the period of Joshua’s strength, God seems to have cut it short. We can easily understand the lesson for Joshua himself. It is the lesson which so many of God’s servants have had to learn. They start with the idea they are to do everything; they are to reform every abuse, overthrow every stronghold of evil, reduce chaos to order and beauty; as if each were

“the only man on earth Responsible for all the thistles blown And tigers couchant, struggling in amaze Against disease and winter, snarling on For ever, that the world’s not paradise.”

Sooner or later they find that they must be satisfied with a much humbler role. They must learn to

“be content in work, To do the thing we can, and not presume, To fret because it’s little. ‘Twill employ Seven men, they say, to make a perfect pin, . . . Seven men to a pin, and not a man too much! Seven generations, haply to this world. To right it visibly a finger’s breadth, And mend its rents a little.”

Joshua must be made to feel – perhaps he needs this – that this enterprise is not his, but God’s. And God is not limited to one instrument, or to one age, or to one plan. Never does Providence appear to us so strange, as when a noble worker is cut down in the very midst of his work. A young missionary has just shown his splendid capacity for service, when fever strikes him low, and in a few days all that remains of him is rotting in the ground. What can God mean? we sometimes ask impatiently. Does He not know the rare value and the extreme scarcity of such men, that He sets them up apparently just to throw them down? But “God reigneth, let the people tremble.” All that bears on the Christian good of the world is in God’s plan, and it is very dear to God, and “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” But He is not limited to single agents. When Stephen died, He raised up Saul. For Wycliffe He gave Luther. When George Wishart was burnt He raised up John Knox. Kings, it is said, die, but the king never. The herald that announces The king is dead,” proclaims in the same breath, “God save the king!” God’s workers die, but His work goes on. Joshua is super- annuated, so far as the work of conquest is concerned, and that work for a time is suspended. But the reason is that, at the present moment, God desires to develop the courage and energy of each particular tribe. And when the time comes to extend still farther the dominion of Israel, an agent will be found well equipped for the service. From the hills of Bethlehem, a godly youth of dauntless bearing will one day emerge, under whom every foe to Israel shall be brought low, and from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the entire Promised Land shall come under Israel’s dominion. And the conquests of David will shine with a brighter lustre than Joshua’s, and will be set, as it were, to music of a higher strain. Associated with David’s holy songs and holy experience, and with his early life of sadness and humiliation, crowned at last with glory and honour, they will more fitly symbolize the work of the great Joshua, and there will then be diffused over the world a more holy aroma than that of Joshua’s conquests, – a fragrance sweet and refreshing to souls innumerable, and fostering the hope of glory, – the rest that remaineth for the people of God, the inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.

So Joshua must be content to have done his part, and done it well, although he did not conquer all the land, and there yet remained much to be possessed. Without entering in detail into all the geographical notices of this chapter, it will be well to note briefly what parts of the country were still unsubdued.

First, there were all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri; the five lords of the Philistines, dwelling in Gaza, Ashdod, Ascalon, Gath, and Ekron; and also the Avites. This well defined country consisted mainly of a plain “remarkable in all ages for the extreme riches of its soil; its fields of standing corn, its vineyards and olive yards, are incidentally mentioned in Scripture (Jdg 15:5); and in the time of famine the land of the Philistines was the hope of Palestine (2Ki 8:2). . . . It was also adapted to the growth of military power; for while the plain itself permitted the use of war chariots, which were the chief arm of offence, the occasional elevations which rise out of it offered secure sites for towns and strongholds. It was, moreover, a commercial country; the great thoroughfare between Phoenicia and Syria on the north and Egypt and Arabia on the south. Ashdod and Gaza were the keys of Egypt, and commanded the transit trade, and the stores of frankincense and myrrh which Alexander captured in the latter place prove it to have been a depot of Arabian produce.”

“Smith’s ” Bible Dictionary.”

Geshuri lay between Philistia and the desert, and the Avites were probably some remainder of the Avims, from whom the Philistines conquered the land (Deu 2:23).

In many respects it would have been a great boon for the Israelites if Joshua had conquered a people that were so troublesome to them as the Philistines were for many a day. What Joshua left undone, Saul began, but failed to achieve, and at last David accomplished. The Geshurites were subdued with the Amalekites while he was dwelling at Ziklag as an ally of the Philistines (1Sa 27:8), and the Philistines themselves were brought into subjection, and had to yield to Israel many of their cities (1Sa 7:14; 2Sa 8:1, 2Sa 8:12).

Another important section of the country unsubdued was the Phoenician territory – the land of the Sidonians (Jos 13:4, Jos 13:6). Also the hilly country across Lebanon, embracing the valley of Coele-Syria, and apparently the region of Mount Carmel (from Lebanon unto Misrephothmaim,” Jos 13:6, and comp. Jos 11:8). No doubt much of this district was recovered in the time of the Judges, and still more in the time of David; but David made peace with the King of Tyre, who still retained the rocky strip of territory that was so useful to a commercial nation, but would have been almost useless to an agricultural people like the Israelites.

Joshua was not called on to conquer these territories in the sense of driving out all the old inhabitants; but he was instructed to divide the whole land among his people – a task involving, no doubt, its own difficulties, but not the physical labour which war entailed. And in this division he was called first to recognise what had already been done by Moses with the part of the country east of the Jordan. That part had been allotted to Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh; and the allotment was still to hold good.

It is remarkable with what fulness the places are described. First, we have the boundaries of that part of the country generally (Jos 13:9-12); then of the allotments of each of the two and a half tribes (Jos 13:15-31). With regard to the district as a whole, the conquest under Moses was manifestly complete, from the river Arnon on the south, to the borders of the Geshurites and Maachathites on the north. The only part not subdued were the territories of these Geshurites and Maachathites. The Geshurites here are not to be confounded with the people of the same name mentioned in Jos 13:2, who were at the opposite extreme – the southwest instead of, as here, the north-east of the land. But no doubt the Syrian Geshurites and Maachathites were brought into subjection by David, with all the other tribes in that region, in his great Syrian war, “when he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates ” (2Sa 8:3). But instead of expelling or exterminating them, David seems to have allowed them to remain in a tributary condition, for Geshur had its king in the days of Absalom (2Sa 13:37), to whom that prince fled after the murder of Amnon. With the Maachathites also David had a family connection (2Sa 3:3).

But though the subjugation and occupation of the eastern part of the land was thus tolerably complete (with the exceptions just mentioned), it remained in the undisturbed possession of Israel for the shortest time of any. From Moabites and Ammonites on the south, Canaanites and Syrians on the north and the east, as well as the Midianites, Amalekites, and other tribes of the desert, it was subject to continual invasions. In fact, it was the least settled and least comfortable part of all the country; and doubtless it became soon apparent that though the two tribes and a half had seemed to be very fortunate in having their wish granted to settle in this rich and beautiful region, yet on the whole they had been penny-wise and pound-foolish. Not only were they incessantly assailed and worried by their neighbours, but they were the first to be carried into captivity, when the King of Assyria directed his eyes to Palestine. They had shown somewhat of the spirit of Lot, and they suffered somewhat of his punishment. It is worthy of remark that even at this day this eastern province is the most disturbed part of Palestine. The Bedouins are ever liable to make their attacks wherever there are crops or cattle to tempt their avarice. People will not sow where they have no chance of reaping; and thus it is that much of that productive region lies waste. The moral is not far to seek: in securing wealth, look not merely at the apparent productiveness of the investment, but give heed to its security, its stability. It is not all gold that glitters either on the stock-exchange or anywhere else. And even that which is real gold partakes of the current instability. We must come back to our Saviour’s advice to investors, if we would really be safe: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust do corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”

The specification of the allotments need not detain us long. Reuben’s was the farthest south. His southern and eastern flanks were covered by the Moabites, who greatly annoyed him. “Unstable as water, he did not excel.” Gad settled north of Reuben. In his lot was the southern part of Gilead; Mahanaim, and Peniel, celebrated in the history of Jacob, and Ramoth-gilead, conspicuous in after times. East of Gad were the Ammonites, who proved as troublesome to that tribe as Moab did to Reuben. To the half tribe of Manasseh the kingdom of Og fell, and the northern half of Gilead. Jabesh-gilead, where Saul routed the Ammonites, was in this tribe (1Sa 11:1-15). Here also were some of the places on the lake of Galilee mentioned in the gospel history; here the “desert place” across the sea to which our Lord used to retire for rest; here He fed the multitude; here He cured the demoniac; and here were some of the mountains where He would spend the night in prayer.

In our Lord’s time this portion of Palestine was called Perea. Under the dominion of the Romans, it was comparatively tranquil, and our Lord would sometimes select it, on account of its quiet, as his route to Jerusalem. And many of His gifts of love and mercy were doubtless scattered over its surface.

Two statements are introduced parenthetically in this chapter which hardly belong to the substance of it. One of these, occurring twice, respects the inheritance of the Levites (Jos 13:14, Jos 13:33). No territorial possessions were allotted to them corresponding to those of the other tribes. In the one place it is said that “the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire were their inheritance”; in the other, that “the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance.” We shall afterwards find the arrangements for the Levites more fully detailed (chaps, 20, 21). This early allusion to the subject, even before the allotments in Western Palestine begin to be described, shows that their case had been carefully considered, and that it was not by oversight but deliberately that the country was divided without any section being reserved for them.

The other parenthetical statement respects the death of Balaam. “Balaam also, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them” (Jos 13:22). It appears from Num 31:8 that the slaughter of Balaam took place in the days of Moses, by the hands of the expedition sent by him to chastise the Midianites for drawing the Israelites into idolatry. That the fact should be again noticed here is probably due to the circumstance that the death of Balaam occurred at the place which had just been noted – the boundary line between Reuben and Gad. It was a fact well worthy of being again noted. It was a fact never to be forgotten that the man who had been sent for to curse was constrained to bless. As far as Balaam’s public conduct was concerned, he behaved well to Israel. He emphasized their Divine election and their glorious privileges. He laid especial stress upon the fact that they were not a Bedouin horde, rushing about in search of plunder, but a sacramental host, executing the judgments of a righteous God – “The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.” This was a valuable testimony, for which Israel might well be grateful. It was when Balaam took part in that disgraceful plot to entice Israel into sensuality and idolatry that he came out in his real colours. It seemed to him very clever, no doubt, to obey the Divine command in the letter by absolutely refusing to curse Israel, while at the same time he accomplished the object he was sent for by seducing them into sins which brought down on them the judgments of God. Nevertheless, he reckoned without his host. Possibly he gained his reward, but he did not live to enjoy it; and “what shall a man be profited if he gain the whole world and forfeit his own life?” (Mat 16:26, R.V.). The two and a half tribes were well taught by the fate of Balaam that, in the end, however cunningly a man may act, his sin will find him out. They were emphatically reminded that the sins of sensuality and idolatry are exceedingly hateful in the sight of God, and certain to be punished. They were assured by the testimony of Balaam, that Israel, if only faithful, would never cease to enjoy the Divine protection and blessing. But they were reminded that God is not mocked: that whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Balaam had sown to the flesh; of the flesh it behoved him to reap corruption. And so must it ever be; however ingeniously you may disguise sin, however you may conceal it from yourself, and persuade yourself to believe that you are not doing wrong, sin must show itself ultimately in its true colours, and your ingenious disguises will not shield it from its doom: – “The wages of sin is Death.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

Disfruta de miles de canciones cristianas en exclusiva sólo en Bibles