Joshua 11
DOYLYriots with fire.] This is not the common practice in war; nor do princes, who want horses to mount their own troops, use to destroy those taken from the enemy, or render them useless by hamstringing them. But God had forbidden the people to have horses and chariots of war for their defence; see Deut. xvii. 16; xx. 1; not because they were thought useless in war, for it is well known that the strength of the ancient militia consisted chiefly in them, as appears in the Scripturehistory, and in the oldest writers of profane story; but because He Himself had undertaken their cause, and He wanted neither horse nor foot to fight His battles. There can be no foundation for the command to Joshua to destroy the horses, but this, that it was not lawful for him to keep them for the reason here assigned. Bp. Sherlock.
&c.] The inspired author of this book, before he gives an account of the division of the land, thinks fit to lay down, as in a table, before the reader’s eyes, the lands which had been conquered, and were now to be divided.
Joshua 11:2
2.—Chinneroth.] Or, Gennesareth, an ancient city which stood on the sea of Chinneroth or Gennesareth, otherwise called the sea of Galilee. Dr. Wells.
Joshua 11:4
4.—chariots] See the note on Exod. xiv. 7.
Joshua 11:5
5.—pitched—at the waters of Merom.] These waters are generally supposed by learned men to be the lake Senechon, which lies between the head of the river Jordan, and the lake of Gennesareth. Stackhouse. These waters are not so large as the lake of Gennesareth, and the tract about them is marshy ground. Dr. Wells.
6.—thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their cha- Hazor is taken and burnt. All the country is taken by Joshua. Before CHRIST 1450. Or, Zidonrabhak. Or, saltyits. Hab. burning of waters. Hab. any breath. a Numb. 33. 52. Deut. 7. 2. & 20. 16, 17. Hab. on their heap. people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly; and they fell upon them.
Joshua 11:8
- — Zidon, — Misrephoth-maim, — Mizpeh] Zidon, a city of note, to the northwest of Canaan, on the Mediterranean sea. The word Misrephoth-maim is understood by some to denote “salt pits,” by others, to signify “hot waters;” all agree in placing it near Zidon. The valley of Mizpeh must denote some valley adjoining to mount Gilead: as this lay “eastward,” it appears that the defeated Canaanites in their confusion fled, some to the east, and others to the west. Bp. Patrick, Dr. Wells.
Joshua 11:13
- — the cities that stood still in their strength.] It appears that the Israelites forbore to destroy those cities, whose walls were not battered down, or which were seated on an eminence, and of greater strength, reserving them for habitations for themselves. Dr. Wells.
Joshua 11:17
- Halak, — Baal-gad] Halak, the boundary of the country of Edom, and consequently of Joshua’s conquest, southward; Baal-gad, the boundary northward. Dr. Wells.
Joshua 11:18
- Joshua made war a long time] It is computed by many, that Joshua spent six years in this war before he could finish it. Bp. Patrick. Josephus reckons that it lasted five years. Dr. Hales. God Himself assigns the reason at Exod. xxiii. 29, why the war was so long continued: “I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, &c.” Stackhouse.
Joshua 11:20
- — it was of the Lord to harden their hearts,] God left these thoughtless and irreclaimable people to the impulse of their own passions, and the effects of those judgments which Moses had formerly pronounced upon them. Pyle. The Anakims cut off. Thirty-one kings smitten by Joshua. Before CHRIST 1450.
from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities.
Joshua 11:21
- — all the mountains of Judah, — of Israel. ] The mountainous country which, in the distribution of lands made soon after, fell to the tribe of Judah, — and to the rest of the tribes of Israel. Bp. Patrick.
Joshua 11:22
- — Gaza, — Gath, — Ashdod, ] Three cities of the Philistines, whose country the Israelites did not possess till the time of David.
Chap. XII. ver. 1. Now these are the kings of the land,