Joshua 13:2

This [is] the land that yet remaineth,.... Unconquered and not enjoyed, namely, what is after described; and this account is given for Joshua's information, that he might know what to divide, and for

This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, This is the land that yet remaineth - i:e., to be acquired.

That yet remaineth unconquered by thee, and to be conquered by the Israelites, if they behave themselves aright. Geshuri; a people in the north-east of Canaan, of which see , as the Philistines are on the southwest.

Joshua 13:2 This [is] the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri,Ver. 2. All the borders of the Philistines.] Anciently called Caphtorims. Their country lay along the coast of the midland sea; whereby the Israelites were kept from much trading with other nations, that they might not learn their manners. Hence Judea is called an "isle," though part of the continent. Like Benjamin, who had his mess by himself.

XIII. OF THE 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 . . . Now 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?

Verse 2. The borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri] The borders of the Philistines may mean the land which they possessed on the sea-coast, southwest of the land of Canaan. There were several places named Geshuri, but that spoken of here was probably the region on the south of Canaan, towards Arabia, or towards Egypt. - Calmet. Cellarius supposes it to have been a country in the vicinity of the Amalekites.

2. the land that yet remaineth] It is described as lying partly (a) in the south (Joshua 13:3-4), and partly (b) in the north (Joshua 13:5-6). The cities still occupied by the Canaanites were left for reduction by the tribes into whose allotment they might severally fall. all the borders of the Philistines] Literally, all the circles of the Philistines. Vulgate, “Galilæa Philisthiim;” “Galilee of the Philistines,” Luther. “Galile Philistym,” Wyclif. The unsubdued district commences on the south with the Shephêlah and the maritime plain. The Philistines are now first prominently mentioned. Since the time of Abraham (Genesis 21:32; Genesis 21:34; Genesis 26:1; Genesis 26:8), this people had been transformed from a pastoral tribe to a settled and powerful nation, and had advanced northwards into “the plain of Philistia” or the “Shephêlah,” so well suited for war chariots, and offering by its occasional elevations secure sites for towns and strongholds. and all Geshuri] The Geshurites, not the country mentioned in chs. Joshua 12:5, Joshua 13:13, but an ancient tribe, which dwelt in the desert between Arabia and Philistia. See 1 Samuel 27:8.

This and Joshua 13:3 name the still unconquered districts in the southern half of the land, Joshua 13:4-6 those in the north.

2. All the borders of the Philistines — This territory is in the southern part of the Holy Land, lying on the Mediterranean. It was a confederacy of five powerful cities, Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.