Joshua 13 commentary

JOSHUA 13 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Land Still to Be Taken
1 When Joshua had grown old, the Lord said to
him, “You are now very old, and there are still
very large areas of land to be taken over.
BAR ES, "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).
CLARKE, "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 labor 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.
GILL, "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.
HE RY, "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 (Exo_17:10);
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_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 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, Ecc_
9:10.
JAMISO ,"Jos_13:1-33. Bounds of the land not yet conquered.
Now Joshua was old and stricken in years — He was probably above a hundred
years old; for the conquest and survey of the land occupied about seven years, the
partition one; and he died at the age of one hundred ten years (Jos_24:29). The
distribution, as well as the conquest of the land, was included in the mission of Joshua;
and his advanced age supplied a special reason for entering on the immediate discharge

of that duty; namely, of allocating Canaan among the tribes of Israel - not only the parts
already won, but those also which were still to be conquered.
K&D, "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.
COFFMA , "Here begins the second half of the Book of Joshua, the half which
relates the division of the land of Canaan among the children of Israel. Scholars are
still advocating all kinds of alleged "sources" for this material and at least a half
dozen dates for the time when it was written. One insurmountable fact is that Israel
accepted these divisions as originating with God Himself through Moses and
Joshua, and despite the Israelites' character of never having been able to get along
with any other nation in human history, the twelve tribes accepted these divisions,
and as far as we have been able to determine never, even one time, engaged in
quarrels, disagreements, or wars among themselves over the undisputed boundaries
of their possessions! Could such a thing have happened if the origin of these
divisions had been otherwise than as indicated in this chapter?
"Who actually made the divisions? Who made the allocations? Joshua 13:7 suggests
that it was Joshua; Joshua 14:1 that it was Eleazer the priest and the heads of
families; Joshua 14:5 that it was the people as a whole. These, however, are not
mutually exclusive."[1]
We may even go a bit further and declare that it was God who made the allocations,
by His determination of the issue in the casting of lots. "The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of Jehovah" (Proverbs 16:33).
Regarding alternative allegations regarding the date and authorship of these
chapters, there is, as yet, no agreement whatever among the scholars and critics.
Every seminary has its own theory, and as "prestigious" theologians are replaced by
others just as "prestigious," these theories are fluid, constantly changing and being

replaced by more theories just as fluid. If one does not wish to be contradicted by
the new theories that will be current 10 years from now, let him accept the time-
tested understanding of JOSHUA's authorship, as advocated here. othing can
destroy the conviction of the great majority of mankind that for thousands of years
has ascribed these writings to Joshua. Concerning all the suggestions as to
alternative dates and authors, Blair also commented that, "On the evidence
available, it is difficult to come to any conclusion; ...the basic form of these divisions
dates back to the conquest."[2]
These detailed boundaries and scores of particular places mentioned here, "Were
vital for the tribes themselves, for these were the title-deeds of their inheritance."[3]
We shall not be concerned with a discussion of each one of the places mentioned
here, because, as John Calvin said, "Great labor (on that project) would produce
little fruit to the reader."[4] About one-fourth of all the place-names given here are
absolutely "unknown."[5] Several of them are the grounds of contention among
archeologists, with some claiming one site, and others another site, as the location of
a given city. Besides that, in a number of other cases, there are as many as four
towns with the same name! The important thing is that the people concerned did
know and did understand the boundaries which are here outlined. Before moving to
a study of the Sacred Text itself, we take time to notice the following:
"The whole land has been subdued (Joshua 11:23-12), but here we read that even in
Joshua's old age there remained "very much land to be possessed." This plainly
comes through from an older source than Joshua 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 was written in Joshua 12, proceeds to explain the phrase "very
much land" by referring it to distant places in the West and in the orth, some of
which never came into the possession of Israel at all."[6]
We have included this comment, not for any value in it, there being none at all, but
for the purpose of showing the biased and fallacious reasoning of critics. ote that
Holmes says that the later writer brought the place into harmony with what was
already written, but how could he know that it was not the original author himself
who brought about the harmony? Furthermore, the "very much land" in the orth
and West had already been identified with that Canaan which God promised the
Israelites even from the days of Abraham and the later patriarchs! Sure, Israel did
not finally possess all of it, but that will be fully explained under Joshua 13:6, below.
God's promise to "drive them out" was never an unconditional declaration, but it
was always contingent upon Israel's obedience and cooperation, neither of which
God received.
Dean Stanley described this portion of the Book of Joshua, as, "The Domesday
Book," comparing it to the book of that name which was compiled by William the
Conquerer (1085-1086). However, Plummer pointed out the essential differences in
the books,[7] but, as far as God's intention of destroying the occupants of Israel's
remaining possessions was concerned, it was indeed the Doomsday Book. That
Israel failed to carry out God's intention in this matter did not change God's

purpose.
The conflict with which we are confronted here in the view of "a task well done" as
contrasted "with much yet left to do," is a fact of all life, especially in the spiritual
sector. This experience of the secular Israel is a type of the Christian Church, or a
type of 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
victory belongs only to him who has learned to keep guard over himself, and to
direct his ways to the counsels of God."[8]
" ow Joshua was old and well stricken in years; and Jehovah said unto him, Thou
art old and well stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be
possessed. This is the land that yet remaineth: all the region of the Philistines, and
all the Geshurites; from the Shihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the border of
Ekron northward, which is reckoned to the Canaanites; the five lords of the
Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the
Ekronites; also the Avvim, on the south; all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah
that belongeth to the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the border of the Amorites; and the
land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon toward the sunrising, from Baal-gad under
mount Hermon unto the entrance of Hamath; all the inhabitants of the hill-country
from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians; them will I drive out
from before the children of Israel: only allot thou it unto Israel for an inheritance,
as I have commanded thee. ow therefore divide this land for an inheritance unto
the nine tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh."
"Thou art old ..." (Joshua 13:1). "Joshua was 110 years old the year he died (Joshua
24:29); so he must have been more than 90 years old at this time."[9] If one wonders
why the age of Joshua is stressed here, "It was a principal reason why he should
speedily apply himself to the dividing of that which he had conquered."[10] Henry
further observed that, "All people, but especially old people, should set themselves
to do quickly that which must be done before they die, lest death prevent them."[11]
"Joshua's original commission required that he should `divide the land' to Israel,
and his advanced age was a special reason for discharging that duty at once."[12]
"Joshua 13:2-3 name the still unconquered areas in the south, and Joshua 13:4-5,
and Joshua 13:6 name those in the north."[13]
"Sihor ..." (Joshua 13:3). "This word originally referred to the ile river. Here,
however, it is located east of Egypt and apparently designates the southern border
of Canaan .... the Brook of Egypt (Wady el-'Arish).[14]
"From the south ..." (Joshua 13:4). This connects with what precedes."[15] "This
indicates the southern limit of the still unconquered territory, and Joshua 13:3 gives
the northern limit."[16] Jamieson pointed out the wisdom of putting these limits and

boundaries on record, "As in any case of misunderstanding or dispute about the
exact limits of each district of property an appeal could always be made to this
authoritative document."[17] This southern limit included the Mediterranean coast
as far as the Brook of Egypt. The northern limit was to Aphek, to the border of the
Amorites. "This was the Aphek in the allotment to Asher, and the `border of the
Amorites' was the northern boundary of the territory of Bashan."[18] We learn
from these same sources that Aphek was the site of the Syrian temple of Astarte,
dedicated to her as mourning for Tammuz, the ruins of which are still visible. It is
not believed that Asher ever actually occupied the territory this far.
"Them will I drive out from before the children of Israel ..." (Joshua 13:6). This was
by no means an unconditional promise. Despite this, some people have taken upon
themselves to deny the authenticity of Divine revelation on this matter, affirming
that, "God promised that Joshua should conquer the whole land,"[19] and then, of
course, it did not happen! Again from Clarke, "This is a total mistake."[20] God
never absolutely, or U CO DITIO ALLY, promised to put Israel in possession of
the whole land of Canaan. The promise of their possessing it DEPE DED upon
their fidelity to God. They were OT faithful, but rebelled against God repeatedly,
and that is why Israel actually failed to possess great portions of the promised land.
Furthermore, they did not drive out the Canaanites, even where they did possess it,
and eventually Israel was seduced and corrupted by the pagan worship that
surrounded them to such a degree, and in such an aggravated sense, that God
removed Israel, absolutely, and altogether, from their status of being God's Chosen
People. From the days of Hosea, and afterward, Israel's status was that of a "slave"
and not that of a wife, in the house of God. Read Hosea, especially the 9th chapter.
(Also see our full discussion of this question in Vol. 2 of my series on the minor
prophets.) "If Israel, through sloth, or cowardice, or affection to those idolaters (of
Canaan), sit still and let them alone, they must blame themselves, and not God, if
they be not driven out."[21] Although Israel never held all of the land described by
these boundaries, this chapter shows that ALL of Canaan was indeed promised by
God to Israel, contingent only upon their obedience and cooperation, neither of
which they gave.
CALVI , "1. ow 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. or 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. ay, 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. or 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.
BE SO ,". ow 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.
TRAPP, " ow 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. [1 Corinthians 3:22-23]
COKE, "Ver. 1. ow 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. Joshua 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. ow
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, Deuteronomy 31:23 and divide its territories
among them, ch. Joshua 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.
WHEDO , "LIST OF U CO QUERED CITIES A D DISTRICTS, Joshua 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 (Joshua 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 Joshua 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.]
ELLICOTT, "DESCRIPTIO OF THE TERRITORY TO BE DIVIDED
(Joshua 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
(Joshua 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 1 Kings 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 . . . ow therefore divide
this land.—The land had still to be inherited—i.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 named—viz., 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 Phœnicians) 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 conquered—
viz., 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 nations—of whom the Philistines and

Phœnicians were the chief—whom he left entirely intact. The purpose of this is
explained in Judges 2:20-23; Judges 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 (Joshua 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 up—i.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” (Joshua 11:20). But while they “stood still in their
strength” (Joshua 11:13) they were usually unmolested.
(2) The destruction of all traces of idolatry in the conquered territory (Deuteronomy
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 Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 7:25). All investigation of idolatrous
practices and usages was forbidden (Deuteronomy 12:30).
(3) o covenant or treaty was to be made between Israel and the nations of Canaan,
and all intermarriage was prohibited. (Deuteronomy 7:2-3; comp. Joshua 23:12-13.)
Of these rules, the first entails responsibility, chiefly upon the leaders—as 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 Joshua’s commission (Joshua 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 Phœnicians and Philistines maintained a
separate national existence to the last.
PULPIT, "Joshua 13:1
ow 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
territory—those, 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 ‫ֹד‬ ‫א‬ְ‫מ‬ 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.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Victories in Old Age
Joshua 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". o! 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, p43.
PI K, "The thirteenth chapter of Joshua is another chapter which offers very little
scope for the commentator, for it consists largely of geographical details. After a
brief but blessed word from the Lord to Joshua himself, the first six verses contain a
list of those parts of the land which had not yet been possessed by Israel, together
with an assurance from God that He would drive out from before His people the
inhabitants of those sections also. In the next six verses the Lord gives orders
concerning the dividing of apportioning of Canaan, naming some of the places
therein and the bounds thereof. Then comes a reference to the portion which Moses
had allotted unto the two and a half tribes on the eastward side of Jordan, with a
detailed description of the same. Parenthetically, mention is made of Israel’s slaying
of Balaam, and twice over we are informed that Moses gave no inheritance to the
tribe of Levi. Thus its contents admit of no unified treatment, its central subject
being, perhaps, best described as the spoils of victory enjoyed by Israel and the
respective portions therein assigned to her tribes.
Canaan was (as we have previously pointed out) at once a Divine gift, yet as to their
occupying of the same it was the result of Israel’s own prowess. It was bestowed
upon them by free grant from God, nevertheless it had to be conquered by them.
Therein there was an accurate shadowing forth of the Christian’s inheritance. That
too is wholly of Divine grace and mediatorial purchase, but it is not actually entered
into by the heirs of promise without much effort on their part. It is at this point that
theologians have so often gone wrong, by attributing either too much or too little
unto the creature. Only by cleaving very closely to Holy Writ as a whole—and not
by singling out detached fragments—are we preserved from serious error. On the
one hand, we must see to it that we return right answers to the questions, "For who
maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not
receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7); on the other, we must give due place to such exhortations as
"Strive to enter in at the strait gate" (Luke 13:24) and "Let us labor therefore to
enter into that rest" (Heb. 4:11); and not ignore such statements as "knowing that
of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance" (Col. 3:24). Only thus
will the balance of truth be preserved.
It is indeed true that the child of God has nothing good or spiritual but what the
Lord has freely bestowed upon him. But does that mean he is as passive a "receiver"
as the earth is when fructified by heaven’s refreshing showers and genial sunshine?
Great care needs to be taken in answering that question lest we contradict the Word
of Truth. Certainly he is no co-operator with Christ in the work of his redemption.
There is not the least warrant for us to say, "God will do His part if we do ours."
There is no dividing of the honors: the glory is God’s alone, and we have no ground

for boasting. Most assuredly the elect have nothing to do with their election, for God
chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world, and there is not a line in
His Word to show that His choice was determined by anything praiseworthy which
He foresaw in them. Those ordained to be vessels of honor were "clay of the same
lump" as the vessels appointed to dishonor. or had they a thing to do with their
redemption, for all that was required to make atonement for their sins and reconcile
them to God was accomplished by Christ centuries before they existed. or had they
anything whatever to do with their regeneration, for they were dead in trespasses
and sins when the Spirit quickened them into newness of life.
But it is quite wrong to infer from the above that the regenerated soul remains a
passive agent. Equally wrong is it to suppose that he is how possessed of any self-
sufficiency, that his new nature empowers him to perform his duty. Though he has
become a living branch of the Vine, yet he is entirely dependent upon the Vine’s
nourishing and fructifying. But we must not confine ourselves to that particular
figure and relationship. The Christian is a moral agent, and grace has been given
him to improve. Means of grace have been provided, and he is responsible to employ
the same. He has a conflict to engage him, a race to run. There is a world for him to
overcome, a devil to resist, a salvation to be worked out with fear and trembling.
True, in and of himself he is quite incapable of accomplishing such tasks;
nevertheless, through Christ he "can do all things" (Phil. 4:13). He must tread the
narrow way if he would actually enter into the fullness of Life, and is required to
endure unto the end if he is to be finally saved. He must fight the good fight of faith
if he is to enter into the eternal inheritance. These things are just as true and real as
those mentioned in the preceding paragraphs.
It must not be forgotten that Scripture itself records, and without the least
condemnation or criticism, such utterances as "by the word of Thy lips I have kept
me from the paths of the destroyer" (Ps. 17:4), "I have refrained my feet from every
evil way, that I might keep Thy word" (Ps. 119:101), "I keep under my body" (1
Cor. 9:27), "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith" (2 Tim. 4:7). Those are not carnal boastings but true statements of fact, and
due place must be given to them in our theological system, or our doctrinal beliefs
are very defective. True indeed, it was by Divine grace that those men conducted
themselves thus, yet they were active moral agents therein, and not passive ciphers.
Thus also was Canaan a Divine gift unto Abraham and his descendants, but they
had to fight—fight long and hard—in order to enter into possession of the same.
True also that the Lord fought for them, and that their victories must be ascribed
unto Him who so signally showed Himself strong in their behalf; nevertheless that
altered not the fact that they fought and subdued their foes. Both the Divine and the
human sides are to be recognized and owned by us.
In like manner our salvation has the same two sides unto it. God is indeed both the
Alpha and the Omega thereof, yet He deals with us as rational creatures and
enforces our responsibility in connection with the same. So far as we can discover,
the plants in the garden and the trees in the orchard owe their growth and fertility
entirely to the Creator. But it is otherwise with believers: they are required to use

the means of grace which God has appointed, and look to Him to bless the same.
The vegetables and trees are incapable of taking precautions against pests and
tornadoes; but we are obligated to avoid evil, resist temptation, and take shelter
from the storm. Eternal life is a Divine gift (Rom. 6:23), but we are to "lay hold on"
it (1 Tim. 6:12). The celestial inheritance is "the purchased possession" of Christ for
His people (Eph. 1:14), yet it is also "the reward" of service unto the Lord (Col.
3:24). Grace is freely given, but we are to use it, and must improve the same if we
would receive more (Luke 8:18; Matthew 25:16). "Seek the Lord, and His strength:
seek His face evermore" (Ps. 105:4)—there is the meeting-place of the two sides! We
have no sufficiency of our own, but if grace be duly sought (Heb. 4:16) then "our
sufficiency is of God" (2 Cor. 3:5).
" ow 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"
(Josh. 13:1). Unlike Moses, of whom it is recorded that at the close of a still longer
life his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated (Deut. 34:1), the strenuous life
Joshua had lived took heavy toll of him, and the infirmities of old age had come
upon him. Probably he had then reached the century mark, for he was one of the
twelve originally sent forth by Moses to spy out the land, and therefore would be at
least as old as Caleb, who was then eighty-five (Josh. 14:10), and most likely quite a
few years more, for he was but 110 at the time of his death (Josh. 24:29). But it is
blessed to see that, despite his increasing bodily weakness, the Lord did not desert
him in his old age, but now honored him with a special visit and a most gracious
communication. And that, dear reader, is recorded for the particular comfort and
encouragement of His aged pilgrims. Unto them He has given the sure promise:
"And even to your old age I am He [the unchanging One]; and even to hoar hairs
will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver
you" (Isa. 46:4), and that blessed assurance it is their holy privilege to rest upon day
by day with childlike faith.
It is to be noted that after informing His servant that he was old and stricken in
years—for the Lord never flatters man, nor withholds His Truth (except in
judgment) from man—He did not say "but there remaineth yet very much land to
be possessed": instead it was "and there remaineth." Thus He was not saying this
by way of reproach. It appears to us that God so addressed Himself to Joshua on
this occasion, First, to instruct Him: to let him know that He was no Egyptian
taskmaster, who imposed burdens grievous to be borne; rather did He tenderly
remember that Joshua was dust. By virtue of growing frailty he would be unfit to
complete so vast a task as conquering the whole of Canaan—the major part of
which remained to be done. Second, to humble him. While Joshua had much ground
to be thankful for the considerable success with which the Lord had crowned his
efforts, he had no reason to be elated, for the energy was still in possession of the
remoter sections of Israel’s inheritance. Third, it was, as the following verses make
clear, for the purpose of acquainting him with his immediate duty.
While the Lord took knowledge of the enfeebled frame of His servant, yet He did
not for that reason encourage him to be slack. On the contrary, He assigned him a

new though much lighter task. It is not the revealed will of God that His people
should spend their old age in idleness. He does not preserve them through all the
dangers of youth and the trials of maturity that they should be mere cumberers of
the ground. He may well suffer them to become exceedingly tottery and perhaps
bedridden and entirely dependent upon others; yet even so it is their privilege and
duty to beg Him to make good in them that precious word, "They shall still bring
forth fruit in old age: they shall be fat and flourishing" (Ps. 92:14). They may still
commune with the Lord, and manifest the effects thereof. The decay of nature is no
reason why grace should languish. Even when thoroughly helpless, the fruits of
patience, meekness and gratitude may be borne, and they may carry themselves as
the monuments of God’s goodness and the memorials of His faithfulness, and
thereby "show forth His praises." Though the strenuous efforts of earlier years be
no longer possible, the ministry of prayer is available unto the very end, and who
can say that more will not be accomplished therein for eternity than by any other
spiritual activity?
As intimated above, one of the Lord’s designs in now appearing unto Joshua was to
make known unto him his duty; yea, this seems to have been His leading object.
What that duty consisted of was revealed in verse 7: he was to superintend in the
apportioning of the land unto the nine and a half tribes—the other two and a half
having already been allotted their heritage by Moses. It was most essential that he
should be the one to perform this task. Clothed as he was with Divine authority,
called of God to be Israel’s head, so markedly used by Him in vanquishing the
armies of the Amorites and destroying their strongholds, none so well fitted as he
now to divide the spoils of victory. Enjoying the confidence of the congregation, it
behooved him to set about this important task while life and sufficient strength
remained; and not leave unto some successor to do what could be far better and
more appropriately done by himself. The decisions of the one who had in the
hearing of the nation commanded the sun and the moon to stand still would not be
challenged by the tribes; whereas it was not nearly so likely that they would freely
accept the rulings of another Joshua then must not delay.
ELLICOTT, "DESCRIPTIO OF THE TERRITORY TO BE DIVIDED
(Joshua 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
(Joshua 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 1 Kings 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 . . . ow therefore divide
this land.—The land had still to be inherited—i.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 named—viz., 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 Phœnicians) 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 conquered—
viz., 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 nations—of whom the Philistines and
Phœnicians were the chief—whom he left entirely intact. The purpose of this is
explained in Judges 2:20-23; Judges 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 (Joshua 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 up—i.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” (Joshua 11:20). But while they “stood still in their
strength” (Joshua 11:13) they were usually unmolested.
(2) The destruction of all traces of idolatry in the conquered territory (Deuteronomy
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 Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 7:25). All investigation of idolatrous
practices and usages was forbidden (Deuteronomy 12:30).
(3) o covenant or treaty was to be made between Israel and the nations of Canaan,
and all intermarriage was prohibited. (Deuteronomy 7:2-3; comp. Joshua 23:12-13.)
Of these rules, the first entails responsibility, chiefly upon the leaders—as 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 Joshua’s commission (Joshua 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 Phœnicians and Philistines maintained a
separate national existence to the last.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY
JOSHUA'S OLD AGE- DIVISIO FOR THE EASTER 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. ot 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. o
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. either 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.
ever 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 ( 15:5); and in the time of famine the
land of the Philistines was the hope of Palestine (2 Kings 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
(Deuteronomy 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 (1 Samuel 27:8), and the
Philistines themselves were brought into subjection, and had to yield to Israel many
of their cities (1 Samuel 7:14; 2 Samuel 8:1, 2 Samuel 8:12).
Another important section of the country unsubdued was the Phoenician territory -
the land of the Sidonians (Joshua 13:4, Joshua 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," Joshua 13:6, and comp. Joshua
11:8). o 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 (Joshua 13:9-12); then of the
allotments of each of the two and a half tribes (Joshua 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 Joshua 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 " (2 Samuel 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 (2 Samuel 13:37), to
whom that prince fled after the murder of Amnon. With the Maachathites also
David had a family connection (2 Samuel 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. ot 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 (1 Samuel 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 (Joshua 13:14, Joshua 13:33). o 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" (Joshua 13:22). It appears from umbers 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. evertheless, 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?"
(Matthew 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."
PARKER, "For All Gleaners
"There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed."— Joshua 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 ewton 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.
MACLARE , "U WO BUT CLAIMED
Joshua 13:1 - Joshua 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, ‘ ot 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 [Joshua 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.’
PETT, "Joshua 13:1
‘ ow 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 ( umbers 13:8), plus the time spent in
conquering Canaan. Thus he was at least in his seventies, or even older.

BI 1-33, "Thou art old and stricken in years.
Joshua’s 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 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.
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.
(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. 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 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 God’s 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

Joshua 13 commentary

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Joshua 13 commentary