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Joshua 13:3
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Remaining Land to Be Conquered

1 Now Joshua awas old, advanced in years. And the Lord said to him: “You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed.  
2 aThis is the land that yet remains: ball the territory of the Philistines and all cthat of the Geshurites,  
3 afrom Sihor, which is east of Egypt, as far as the border of Ekron northward (which is counted as Canaanite); the bfive lords of the Philistines—the Gazites, the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also cthe Avites;  
4 from the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians aas far as Aphek, to the border of bthe Amorites;  
5 the land of athe Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, bfrom Baal Gad below Mount Hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath;  
6 all the inhabitants of the mountains from Lebanon as far as athe Brook Misrephoth, and all the Sidonians—them bI will drive out from before the children of Israel; only cdivide it by lot to Israel as an inheritance, as I have commanded you.  
7 Now therefore, divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”

The Land Divided East of the Jordan

8 With the other half-tribe the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, awhich Moses had given them, bbeyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of the Lord had given them:  
Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
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Joshua 13:3

Sihor is derived from a root signifying "to be black," and is suitable enough as an appellative of the Nile Isaiah 23:3. Here it most probably stands for "the river of Egypt" (Numbers 34:3 note), the modern "Wady el Arish" .

Ekron ("Akir" ) lay on the northern boundary of Judah Joshua 15:11, and was actually conquered by the men of that tribe Judges 1:18, though assigned in the allotment of the land to Dan Joshua 19:43. It seems to have fallen again into the hands of the Philistines in the days of the Judges I Samuel 5:10, was reconquered by Samuel (compare I Samuel 7:14), but figures in subsequent times as a Philistine city only (compare I Samuel 17:52; II Kings 1:2, II Kings 1:16, etc.).

Lords - The Hebrew word seren means "an axle," and is applied as a title special to the chiefs (compare Judges 3:3 and marginal references) of the Philistines Genesis 10:14.

Gaza was the most southern of the Philistine cities (compare Joshua 10:41; Joshua 11:22). It was allotted to the tribe of Judah Joshua 15:47, and was, with Askalon, taken by the warriors of that tribe Judges 1:18. Both cities were soon re-occupied by the Philistines, and subsequently are always mentioned as Philistine cities. Gaza lay on the direct route of the Egyptian armies in their invasions of Syria, by whom it was captured more than once. Special judgments are denounced against Gaza for the cruelty of its people toward the Jews in the time of their humiliation Amos 1:6-7; Zephaniah 2:4; Zechariah 9:5, and in the time of Jerome the ancient city was a ruin of which the foundations could hardly be traced, and the then existing town was built on another site. Gaza was in later times an episcopal see, and is now a thriving place containing some 15,000 inhabitants, a larger population than that of Jerusalem.

Ashdod ("Esdud;" Azotus, Acts 8:40) was, like Gaza, allotted to Judah (see Joshua 15:46-47), but was soon regained by the Philistines, and became a principal seat of their Dagon worship. Here the ark of God was taken after its capture by the Philistines (I Samuel 5:1 ff). Its name ( "fortress," "castle" ), no less than its history (compare II Chronicles 26:6; Isaiah 20:1; Nehemiah 4:7, etc.) indicates its importance as a stronghold; it withstood for twenty-nine years the longest siege on record by the Egyptian king Psammetichus. Like Gaza, it was doomed by the Jewish prophets to desolation, and it was utterly destroyed by the Maccabees (1 Macc. 10:77-84; 11:4). It was, however, rebuilt by the Romans, and figures in Christian times as an episcopal city.

Askelon (see Judges 1:18), the birthplace of Herod the Great, figures as an important town and seaport in the history of the Crusades, and very massive ruins still attest the ancient strength and grandeur of the place. It is situated about midway between Gaza and Ashdod.

Gath seems to have been first taken by David I Chronicles 18:1. It is not named again in the book of Joshua. It was the town of Goliath I Samuel 17:4, and is mentioned in David' s elegy over Saul as a leading Philistine city II Samuel 1:20. It was the nearest of the Philistine cities to Jerusalem, but both the name and the city have perished; its site is conjecturally placed (by Condor) at Tell es Safi.

Avites - See Deuteronomy 2:23 note.




Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Joshua 13:3:

Deuteronomy 2:20-23
Joshua 11:22
Joshua 11:23
Joshua 13:2
Joshua 13:4
Joshua 13:8-33
Joshua 15:21-63
Joshua 19:25-26
Judges 1:18
2 Kings 12:17-18
2 Chronicles 11:8
2 Chronicles 26:6
Isaiah 23:3
Ezekiel 25:15-17
Amos 1:6

 

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