The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 248

prolong~d as far as Sarepta, the Zarephath in the middle ages, so these Phcenicio.11 of t,he Old Testament, eight miles to the cities were placed upon hills, that they aout,h, "·hich ste.nds on a rising ground near might be more easily defended. The vo.rious the sea. and shows the remains of ancient tribes of Palestine were no doubt con- 'l'<alls (1,enrick, • Phcenicia,' pp. 17, 18). tinually at war, l\nd, e.s regards these Misrephoth Ma.Im. Literally, burnings of northern tribes at leo.st, were not accus- 11·atcr.s. l{imchi conjectures that these were tomed to subsist by commerce. Therefore hot springs, 'l'<hereas Jarchi more reason- each of these cities stood (the Hebrew 1r.ll/ ably supposes them to ha'l"e been salt-pits, surely implies sit1wtion here) on its own in which the water was e'l"aporated and the hill, a detail possibly obtained from au eye- salt left. Jlfo.sius, whom most modern com- witness, who was probably struck by this mentators follow, thinks that glass houses, feature of the district, a feature he had not of which thr-re were several near Sidon observed before. The expression 1s used, how- (" constat enim eas apud Sidonem fuisse ever, as Me.sins observes, by Jeremiah (eh. plurimas ''), are meant. But it is difficult to xxx. 18). Knobel observeil that all the early translate the Hebrew with him and Gesenius, 'l"ersions have no suffix here. What he calls .. buming near waters," and the idea of the "free tro.nslation," however, of the some that water stands here for glass is LXX. (which has avrwv) requires the suffix, absurd. Knobel regards it as equivalent to though the Vulgate requires none. We must water-heights, i.e., cliffs rising from these&, not adopt the very plansible explanation of and derives the word from an Arabic root, Knobel and others that Joshua burnt the snraph, to be high. The LXX. renders it cities in the valleys, but spared the cities by a proper name. Symmachns, " from the on the hills, because they could be more sea," reading tl~t;) for tl'7;1. The Chaldee easily defended (see eh. xvii. 16; Jndg. i. 19, has" fossas ague.rum." Misrephoth Maim 34), since we read that Hazor alone was (see eh. xiii. 6) was not far from Si don. burnt. The word here translated hill (Tell, Valley. The word here, Bik'a, signifies an Arabic) is one with which we are familiar open. wide 'l"alley between mountains (see in the modem name of places in Palestine ver. 17). Sometimes, as in Gen. xi. 2, it is (see note on eh. viii. 28). equi'l"alent to plain. Ver. 14.-Took for a prey 1111to them- Ver. 10.-TUrned ba.ck. From his march selves (see eh. viii. 2, 27, and notes). toward Sidon. For Bazor beforetime was Ver. 15.-Asthe Lord commanded Moses the head of all those kingdoms (see note on (see note on eh. x. 40). So did Joshua. The ver. 1). implicit obedience of J oehua to all the commands he had received of God, whether ,er. 11.-Utterly destroying them (see directly or indirectly through Moses, is a note on eh . .i. I 7; so below, ver. 12). striking feature of his character. Like most There was not any left to breathe (see great soldiers, he possessed remarkable sim- note on eh. x. 40). And he burnt Bazor plicity of disposition. He reminds us, in with fire. Comparing this verse with verses his rapidity of conception 11nd execution, of 13 and 21, there can be little doubt that Napoleon, but in his single-minded eye to Joshua had heard that the A.nakim had duty he is much more like our own Wel- succeeded in re-occupying the cities he had lington. Only one instance in which he captured in the south. He resolved to pre- erred, that of the league with Gibeon, is vent tLis in the case of Razor, which had recorded, and this was but an illlustration been the capital of the neighbourhood, of the unsuspicious straightforwardness of though he did not think the same step his character (see notes on eh. xix. 49-51; necessary in the case of the inferior cities. xxiii. 2; xxiv. 15). Hazor was afterwards rebuilt and re-occu- Ver. 16.-All that land Rather, "all pied by the Cane.anites (Judg. iv. 2), though this land;" the land, that is, which has been not in the time of Joshua. For the pre- spoken of in all the previous narrative. It sent, this destruction of the stronghold of must not be pressed to mean the utter de- PLcenician power in the north was a de- struction of all the Canaanites, and the un- cisi'l"e measure, and would have been so disturbed possession of the country. The permaneutly ha.d the Israelites followed np h1lls. The mountain country of Judah, in the policy of Joshua. the south. The same word is translated Yer. 13.-The cities that stood still in "mountain " immediately aftenvards, to their strength. This is the rendering of the confusion of the sense, which contrasts the Chaldee version. The LXX. has K,X,,,_ the mountains of Israel with the mountains µQnaµiva~, heaped up, i.e., defended with of Judah (see ver. 21). This would seem at mounds. Rather, on their hilt (" in collibue first eight to lead to the conclusion that the et in tumnlis site,," Vnlg.). As many of the Book of Joshua was composed after the towns in Italy, and the castles in Germany . jealousy between Judah and the rest of cm. XI. 1-28,] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 191