Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 14:8
Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God.
8. made the heart of the people melt ] (Comp. Num 14:1; Num 14:4; Deu 1:28), so that they murmured against Moses and Aaron, and wanted to return again to Egypt. “Discomfortiden the herte of the puple,” Wyclif.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Which self-commendation is justifiable, because it was necessary, as being the ground and foundation of his petition.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me,…. Meaning the rest of the spies, excepting Joshua, that went up with him into the land of Canaan to spy it, which they might be properly said to do, since they went up a hill or mountain, in order to go into it,
Nu 13:17;
made the heart of the people melt; discouraged them, filled them with fears, sunk their spirits, that their hearts flowed, and became as weak as water, having no strength left in them, or hope of possessing the land; being told what stout and gigantic men the inhabitants of it were, and how strongly fortified were their cities:
but I wholly followed the Lord my God; and did not join with them in an ill report of the good land; but having the fear of God before his eyes, walked after that, and delivered in his report faithfully, according to the dictates of his conscience, and the real sentiments of his mind; of this phrase, [See comments on Nu 14:24].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Whereas the other spies discouraged the people by exaggerated reports concerning the inhabitants of Canaan, he had followed the Lord with perfect fidelity (Num 13:31-33). He had not been made to waver in his faithfulness to the Lord and His promises either by the evil reports which the other spies had brought of the land, or by the murmuring and threats of the excited crowd (see Num 14:6-10). “ My brethren ” (Jos 14:8) are the rest of the spies, of course with the exception of Joshua, to whom Caleb was speaking.
(Note: That Joshua was not included was evident from this circumstance alone, and consequently it is a complete perversion on the part of Knobel to argue, that because the expression is a general one, i.e., because Joshua is not expressly excepted by name, therefore he cannot have been one of the spies, not to mention the fact that the words “concerning me and thee,” in v. 6, are sufficient to show to any one acquainted with the account in Num 13-14, that Joshua was really one of them.)
for (see Ges. 75, anm. 17, and Ewald, 142, a.), from = (see Jos 2:11).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
8. My brethren Words of tenderness for his long-remembered comrades.
Heart melt In modern sense this would indicate compassion; in the ancient, fear.
Wholly followed the Lord my God This phrase wholly followed is emphatically repeated from Jehovah’s own words, (Num 14:24; Deu 1:36,) here reiterated at Jos 14:9 and at Jos 14:14. This wholeness of his adherence to Jehovah is explained by his and Joshua’s loyal speech, given Num 14:6-10. There no treachery of their brethren the fellow-spies, no panic of their own, no fury of the people, could disturb the calmness of their witness for God. Then and there the sentence of death in the wilderness, passed upon the entire people, left them untouched. And of that eventful day these two Hebrew princes were now the sole living and speaking mementoes.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 8. I wholly followed the Lord my God The Hebrew literally is, I filled after the Lord my God: Words, the energy of which is very well rendered in our version; they give the idea of a traveller, who, attentive to the following of his guide, so treads in his steps, as to leave hardly any void space betwixt his guide and him, and continually fills up the traces of his feet. See Poole’s Synopsis.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jos 14:8 Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God.
Ver. 8. But I wholly followed the Lord my God. ] Heb., I fulfilled after the Lord. A metaphor taken from a ship under sail carried strongly with the wind, as if it feared neither rocks nor sands. Thus he commendeth himself, that none might tax him of injustice or ambition, for that which he was now about to require of Joshua.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wholly: Jos 14:14, Num 14:24, Deu 1:36, Rev 14:4
Reciprocal: Exo 15:15 – melt Num 13:31 – General Num 32:11 – because Num 32:12 – for Deu 1:28 – discouraged Jos 2:11 – our hearts 1Ki 11:6 – went not fully after Psa 7:1 – O Psa 78:8 – whose Jer 49:23 – fainthearted
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
14:8 Nevertheless my {d} brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God.
(d) Which were the ten other spies.