The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 229

in Greek 1tnd Hebrew, signifying the limit of the complete extermination of the Canaanite (,ezer (11) o.in). Since the inscription is re.ea from Palestine. Thus Joshua returned Greek nud Talmudice.1 in its che.re.cter (the from the north and found a large part of word 01.in has not the signification of the country he had subdued reoccupied by "limit" in the Hebrew Scriptures) it must, the giant tribes of the south. He " cut in spite of the early form of the letters, them oil from Hebron and Debir," i.e., he belong to a period long subsequent tc the compelled them to evacuate thoso cities, Babylonish captinty. M. Ganneau suggests but there was no necessity for a second the Maccabe1tn period. (See below.) But it of either. Yet nt a later period they still is, no doubt, the result of a re-measurement lurked in the neighbourhood (eh. xiv. 12), in accordance with the rules laid down in perhaps in the mountain fo.stnessess (a very Num. xxxv. 5. Some have supposed the common thing in the history of nations, ns abo-.e to have been designed to fix the limit the history of our own country, of the of the sabbath day's journey. But it is Basques in the Pyrenees, and of Swiss free- more probable that it served as a boundary dom Ehows), and were strong enough to between the Le-.itical and the tribe.I terri- regajn Debir (eh. xv. 17). Jerusalem itself tory. the more especially e.s the words are (see note on ver. 1) had a similar fate. so placed as to be read by one entering the After the capture of Jerusalem the Israelites town. It was a Lentical city (Josh. xxi. were unable to hold it permanently (eh. xv. 21, 1 Chron. vi. 67), or at lea.st assigned to 63; cf. Judg. i. 8, 21). And such expres- the Lentes; bnt Judg. i. 29 shows that the sions as " all the cities thereof " show that Canaanitish population lived on with the the south of Palestine was thickly populated. Lentes. It may have been the nondescript Ee.eh city was, like Gibeon, the head of a character of the population that caused it small confederacy, And e.s the chief cities to fall an easy prey to Phare.oh (1 Kings ix. smitten by Joshua would have been but a 16, where note that the Ce.nae.nites had tithe of the confederations existing in the never been dri-.en ont) ; bnt when Solomon south, the task of reoccupying muet have espoused his daughter he restored Gezer to been an easy one. It seems to be implied Israel. Under the same name Gazara it plays in Judges i. that Caleb took Hebron and a conspicuous part in the wars of the Macca.- Debir after Joshua's death. bees (1 Mace. ix. 52 ; 2 Mace. x. 32). From Ver. 38.-And Joshua returned. Rather, the latter passage we learn that it was " a Joshua turned. Debir was not on the way very strong hold." It retains its old name, back from Hebron to Eglon, but in a differ- being now known as Tell el Jezer. ent direction. His march we.s now south- Ver. 36.-Went up. The e.ccuracy of the ward instead of eastward. Deblr. A city geographical details must here be noticed_ of importance, since only Hebron e.nd it are Joshua " passes " from one city to another mentioned in the history of the campaign as in the plain. He " goes up " to Hebron, having cities dependent on them. It is also which is situated among the hills. See note called Kirjath-Sepher (Josh. xv. 15; Judg. on ver. 3; cf. also th. xi. 21 ; xiv. 12. i. 11), and Kirjath-Sannah (eh. xv. 49). The Hebron. <..,ommentators of the school of first name signifies "the city of the book," ~Iaurer and De Wette regard the taking of from whence it has been argued that it was HeLron and Debir as irreconcilable with the seat of what we should now call an uni- eh. xi. 21, xiv. 12, xv. 13-17. But this is versity. Recent discove1ies have rendered 1J,- no means certain. The operations of this supposition by no means improbable. Joshua were sudden, and, so far as they went, 'l he Hittite remains have proved that people decisive. But it is never pretended that his to have been a more influential and intellec- conquest of southern Palestine was com- tual people in early times than had ever plete. It is impossible to assert this in the been supposed until lately. Others have face o! snch passages as eh. xvi. 10, xvii. 12, suggested that it was the ab~de of ~n oracle, 13, and especially in the face of sur.h a fact which is rendered probable 1f De!J1r be con- as the continued existence of the Philistine nected with ,~, word. The meaning of 1,ower. Joshua extirpated the inhabitants of the cities he took, but there were many Kirjath-Sannal/is by no means clear. Some others- some of at least equal importance have derived it from the Arabic "sunna," -wliicb Le did not take. We me.y instance law, or doctrine (whence the Sunnite sect Gaza, Ga,b, and Ashdod. See eh. xi. 22. among the Mohammedans), and some fro11t Their inhauitants came and occnpied a.gain .iiQ or .,,.~, a palm branch, or more pro- the cities which Joshua had destroyed, first bably a thorn-bush. ~i~ter thinks tha~ both when he was engaged in operations in the Kirjath-Sepher and KirJath-Sannah imply north and west, and again when the Israelites the place where the publi_c records ~ere kept. had begun to repose upon their laurels, and to Perhaps what is meant 1s that, hke Mono. neglect the task God had set them, namely, or Anglesea to the Druids, Debir was lhe OH, X, 1-48.) THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 171