The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 230

home of the Caniumifah religious traditions. it as "one of a series of fortresses designed Debir nppeo.rs o.s Dapur in the list of forti- to protect the southern frontier of ,Judaaa" fied cities in Co.nno.n captured by Seti I. and (iii. 19~, 288). It beca1;lle a. Levitical city RameHes II. of Egypt. They o.re depicted (eh. xx1. 15; 1 Chron. v1. 58). on tl.te monumental records. See Tomkins, Ver. 40.-So Joshua. smote. We have now 'Studies of the Time of Abraham,' p. 84. before us the defined locale of Joshua's Debir has lately been identified by the oper11t10ns. He smote '' the hills," or rather Palestine Survey. Lieut. Conder(' Quarterly the "hill-country," a. tract of country ex- Paper,' Jan., 1876, p. 48) fixes it e.t El Dho- tending from Jerusalem southward. This heriyeh or Dh§.heriyeh. The identification limestone range formed the watershed be- depends upon the passages eh. xv. 19, and tween the Mediterranean and the Dead Judg. i. 15. See note on the former. The Sea. The south, now often spoken of by grounds of the identification a.re as follows: travellers by its Hebrew name of Xegeb, 1. Debir (see last note) wa.s southward of was, a.a the name signifies, an almost waste Hebron. 2. The circumstances require an arid district of limestone hills (cf. the Mount locality, but within a moderate distance two Halak, or smooth mountain, of eh. xi. 19). sets of springs, or pools of water. 3. There It was once more fertile than it is at pre- must be signs of ancient dwellings, and, a.a sent, but could never have been a very Debir was a royal city, it must be the con- fruitful region. As Knobel says, it is mid- verging point of the various roads. All these way between waste and fertile land. It pos- conditions are fulfilled by El Dh§.heriyeh. sesses grass and herbs and flowers, especially The rock excavations, the sign of the most in the re.iny season, and is thus suitable for ancient dwellings, are plentiful there ; an- pasture. But there a.re many tracts of sand cient roe.ds are found converging in all and heath, and it is not watered by brooks, directions. And six miles and a half north characteristics it he.s in common with the of the village fourteen springs, or pools, a.re wilderness. It was also hilly, though not so found, some at the head of the valley, some precipitous a.a the monnta.in district. Tris- lower down, and some at a lower level still. tra.m (' Land of Israel,' pp. 365, 366) de- The distance of these from Debir is in exact scribes some of the mountains as rising accordance with the narrative. They are gradually to a. height of 3,200 feet. Bart- too fa.r off to be included as a matter of lett, however, who devoted more time to the course within the boundaries of Debir, a.nd south country, describes it as treeless, but would naturally enough become the object fertile a.a a corn-producing country, and as of such a petition as Achsah is said to have very distinct in its physical features from preferred in the passage above cited. Wil- the desert, or what is known as the "Wil- son's 'Lands of the Bible,' i. 351, speaks derness of Judrea" (' From Egypt to Pales- of the excavations here, but does not a.ppee.r tine,' eh. xvii., xviii.). The best description to have been aware of their antiquity. He of this region is fonnd, however, in ' Seri p- describes the inhabitants as living in them. ture Lands,' by the late Rev. G. S. Drew. But he remarks-and it is a singular confir- He says (p. 6), " For a few weeks late in mation of Lieut. Conder's subsequent dis- spring-time II smiling aspect is thrown owr covery-that the sites of five out of the ten the broad downs, when the ground is red- cities mentioned in conjunction with Debir dened by the anemone in contrast with the in Josh. xv. 48-51, a.re to be found in the soft white of the daisy a.nd the deep yellow immediate neighbourhood of Dhaheriyeh of the tulip and marigold. But this flush (ibid. p. 353). From this passage and of beo.uty soon passes, and the permanent some others, however, Knobel has antici- aspect of the country is not wild indeed, or pated Lieut. Conder's suggestion. He de- hideous, or frightfully desolo.te, but, ns "e scribes Thaharijeh, as he ea.Us it, as on the may say, austerely plain; a to.me, unpleas- high road from Gaza, with ruins of great ing aspect, not causing absolute ,liscomlort antiquity, situated in the midst of a country while one is in it, but left without one which, though barren in appearance aud lingering reminiscence of anything lo,ely, destitute of trees and arable land, is yet rich awful, or sublime." The rocks are occa- in pasture. But he says nothing of the sionally rendered fel"tile by the system of springs, the only thing wanting to make the terrace cultivation, more common, as almost evidence complete. Ritter's description of every traveller since Mo.nndrell he.s re- the place as the "first place of importance" marked, in former times than now. That on arriving in Palestine from the south, and keen observer rem11rks, that if any one were as the meeting-pl!ice of the roads from Beer- to object th11t Palestine could not have sheba, from Gazo. and Egypt, 11nd from maintained the vast popuhition stated in Petra and Sinai, confirm Lieut. Conder's Scripture to have inhabited it, he would be view, but Ritter does not seem to h,wc confute,! by the fact that the most cursory identified it with Debir, though he regards observation shows that " the very rocks  172 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. LCH, x. 1-43, ---------------------------- were mnde fruitful," perhaps e'l'en to a tually was so in the days of Solomon (1 greater extent than plains could be, "by this Kings iv. 24). But until then the Israelites tn<'thod.'' The "'l'ale," or Shephela.h (see had not Leen able to subdue it, though (eh. note on eh. ix. 1), was a low strip of coast xv, 45-47) the whole land ot the Philistines extending from the foot of Cannel to near was assigned to Judah. What results this GazR.. The nnt?~, or "springs, '1 as it is failure produced upon the after history of translated in our version (better, "water- Israel we read in the Books of Judges and courses." or· 'slopes," ns Knobel),was a fertile Samuel. Not till the reign of David was the countI'_\·, intersected by ravines and brooks, Philistine power entirely broken. And Gazn situatecl between the mountains and the sea. played a very important part in the Philis- The word onh occurs in the Pentateuch and tine confederation. See Judg. xvi. 1-4, 21 Joshu, (a fact to be noted in forming an -23; l Sam. vi. 16, 17. Gazn has retained opinion on tbe genuineness of these books). i~s importance even tr the present day. Its See Kum. xxi. 15 (where it is translated s1tuat10n near the sea, and, still more its strea·11 in onr Yersion; Deut. iii. 17; iv. 49. position upon the high road from Pale;tine The root. signifying pouri11_q f01·tl1, is found to Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to in CLaldee and Syriac. The LXX. renders Arabia Petrooa, have secured it this perma- this. as well as "the south," strange to say, ne1:1ce, When Robinson visited it its popu- as a proper name. See note on eh. xv. 19. lation was between fifteen and sixteen The Yulgate follows its example in the former thousand-larger even than that of Jeru- case, but not in the latter. Th€ Syriac also salem. And it seems to have largely in- renders as a proper name. Utterly destroyed creased in population since the beginning of all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel the century. Goshen. rouoµ, LXX. Not, commanded. See for the word translated of course, identical with the land of Goshen " utterly destroyed," eh. 'l'i. 17. These words in Egypt, but inasmuch ns it lay to the are a quotation from Deut. xx. 16, 17. It south-east of Palestine, in the direction of seems impossible to evade one of the alter- their former habitation, it may possibly nati'l'es, either that Deuteronomy was writ- have Leen so named in memory of that so- ten Lefore the e'l'ents recorded in the book of journ. A. city of that nnme is mentioned in Joshua, or that we have no historical evi- the mountains of Judah, together with Debir dence tl.!at J cishua did " utterly destroy all (Josh. xv. 51). It clearly (eh. xi. 16) refers that breatbed." The hypothesis that the to a large district in the south-east, but its Di'l'ine sanction for such a war of extermi- precise locality is not known. Even unto nation was invented centuries after the Glbeon. The conquests of Israel did not Israelites hnd come to terms with the in- extend furtberin the north-west than Gibeon, habitants and were daily utterly violating its from whence Joshua had set out on his spirit. and that they then readily allowed triumphant campaign, themselves to believe it to be of Divine Ver. 42.-At one time, i.e., in one cam- origin. will scarcely bear examination. The paign, carried on without a respite. Because attitude of the people toward Gentiles after the Lord God fought for Israel It is the their capti,ity is only to be explained by the peculiar feature of Old Testament history hypothesis that it was the result of a belief that it draws the veil from the unseen. that their misfortunes were due to a law Other historians are content to note the which they bad previously received and secondary causes. The Scriptures trace nil neglected to obey. Calvin observes bow to their original source-the will of God. thoroughly these passages bear witness to And it is His will, as the page of history the fact that the Israelites felt themselves to shows, with exceptions that do but prove the be the ministers of a Divine purpose in this rule, that a just cause, assisted by bravery, slaughter. Origen (Hom. 15 on Joshua) purity, and devotion combined, will not fail, says that the Apostles gave order that the in the long rnn, to overcome force and fraud. Scriptures of the Old Testament were to be Wars of independence, wars undertaken to read in church, which, be adds, "they would chastise wickedness and oppression, seldom not ha,·e done had not these carnal wars fail in their object. And when they do foil, prefigured the spiritual warfare which we it is generally from the presence of similnr have to carry on ' against principalities, crimes among those who undertake the against powers, against the rulers of the righteous cause, and sully it by their own darkness of this world, against spiritual vices and crimes. History furnishes us with "ickedness in high places.' " Gaza. Hebrew abundant instances of this. The leaders of Azzah (or strong), as in 1 Kings iv. 24. the struggle for the Protestant Reformation Joshua's conquests extended to, but did not in Europe were often almost as crafty, ns am- comprise, Gaza (eh. xi. 22; xiii. 2, 3). It bitious, as self-seeking, as immoral, as those was to have been the uttermost limit of the against whom they contended. Struggles lsraelitish territory (see Gen. x. 19). It ac- patriotic in their origin have been marred  CB, X. 1-48.] '£HE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 173