1 And it came to pass when all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that Jehovah had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel, until they had passed over, that their heart melted, and there was no spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.
Amalek dwells in the land of the south; and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the side of the Jordan.
and the food of his table, and the deportment of his servants, and the order of service of his attendants, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, there was no more spirit in her.
and said to the men, I know that Jehovah has given you the land, and that the dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard that Jehovah dried up the waters of the Red sea before you when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. We heard [of it], and our heart melted, and there remained no more spirit in any man because of you; for Jehovah your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became [as] a stone.
standing afar off, through fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour thy judgment is come.
For Gazah shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon shall be a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up. Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea-coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Jehovah is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines: I will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant; and the sea-coast shall be cave-dwellings for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
But I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was as the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; but I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore dost thou sigh? that thou shalt say, Because of the tidings, for it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall languish, and all knees shall melt into water: behold, it cometh; it is here, saith the Lord Jehovah.
and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of the Canaanite: thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.
Howl, for the day of Jehovah is at hand; it cometh as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt, and they shall be terrified: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them, they shall writhe as a woman that travaileth; they shall be amazed one at another, their faces shall be as flames.
For behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together; They saw, -- so they marvelled; they were troubled, they fled in consternation: Trembling took hold upon them there; anguish, as of a woman in travail.
Now when these things were completed, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, [even] of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites;
And the king called the Gibeonites, and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remainder of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them; and Saul sought to smite them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.)
-- And Canaan begot Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. And afterwards the families of the Canaanites spread themselves abroad. And the border of the Canaanite was from Sidon, as one goes to Gerar, up to Gazah; as one goes to Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, up to Lesha.
So then the LORD, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them?
These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sido'nians, and the Hivites who dwelt on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Ba'al-her'mon as far as the entrance of Hamath.
After the death of Joshua the people of Israel inquired of the LORD, "Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?"
And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods whom your fathers that were on the other side of the river served, or the gods of the Amorite, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.
but the hill-country shall be thine, as it is a wood, thou shalt cut it down, and its outgoings shall be thine; for thou shalt dispossess the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots; for they are powerful.
But the children of Manasseh could not dispossess [the inhabitants of] those cities; and the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one; the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one; the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one; the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one; the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one; the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam on Carmel, one; the king of Dor in the upland of Dor, one; the king of Goim, at Gilgal, one; the king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty and one.
And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
The peoples heard it, they were afraid: A thrill seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the princes of Edom were amazed; The mighty men of Moab, trembling hath seized them; All the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.
On the same day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates; the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Joshua 5
Commentary on Joshua 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
Israel have now got over Jordan, and the waters which had opened before them, to favour their march forward, are closed again behind them, to forbid their retreat backward. They have now got footing in Canaan, and must apply themselves to the conquest of it, in order to which this chapter tells us,
Jos 5:1-9
A vast show, no doubt, the numerous camp of Israel made in the plains of Jericho, where now they had pitched their tents. Who can count the dust of Jacob? That which had long been the church in the wilderness has now come up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved, and looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners. How terrible she was in the eyes of her enemies we are here told, v. 1. How fair and clear she was made in the eyes of her friends, by the rolling away of the reproach of Egypt, we are told in the following verses.
Jos 5:10-12
We may well imagine that the people of Canaan were astonished, and that when they observed the motions of the enemy they could not but think them very strange. When soldiers take the field they are apt to think themselves excused from religious exercises (they have not time nor thought to attend to them), yet Joshua opens the campaign with one act of devotion after another. What was afterwards said to another Joshua might truly be said to this, Hear now, O Joshua! thou and thy fellows that sit before thee are men wondered at (Zec. 3:8), and yet indeed he took the right method. that is likely to end well which begins with God. Here is,
Jos 5:13-15
We have hitherto found God often speaking to Joshua, but we read not till now of any appearance of God's glory to him; now that his difficulties increased his encouragements were increased in proportion. Observe,
And (lastly) Hereby he prepares him to receive the instructions he was about to give him concerning the siege of Jericho, which this captain of the Lord's host had now come to give Israel possession of.