The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 262

der is not cleo.rly defined, but the boundary to the region, though Hermon has really extended far further eo.etward in the north three peaks (see note on eh. xi. 3). And than in the south, since the territory of Og all the pla.1.n on the east. The Aro.bah was much more extensive than that of Sihon. (see eh. iii. 16). The depression of the On the west of J ordo.n the territory is Jordan, which lay eastward, of course, of described as extending " from Bo.al-gad in Palestine. This is mnch insisted on in the valley of Lebanon (i.e., Baalbec or the following verses. Caieo.tea Philippi; see note on eh. xi. 17) Ver. 2.-Thertver Jabbok. Literally, the unto the Mount Ho.lak which goeth up to pourine or emptying stream. It is remark- Seir, which we have seen to be a range of able that, while the LXX. renders here by mountains extending southward from n-?ar xeiµaf,po~, a winter torrent, it steadily the south point of the Dead .Sea. '.1.'he renders the same Hebrew word, when re- border of the lsrae!itish possessions is more ferring to Amon, by ,papay;. Th.is latter accurately defined in the succeeding chapters, word indicates the rocky cleft through but it was, after all, a slip of territory not which the water flows; the former, the fact more than 180 miles in length by about that, thongh rapid and impetuous in winter, 100 in breadth. Its influence upon the it was usnally dried up in summer. Cf. the history of the world, like that of Athens term xeiµappo~, applied to the Kedron by and Sparta, must not be measured by St. John (eh. xviii. l) ; e, remarkable instance its size, but by its moral energy. As of accuracy, by the way, ii, as we are con- the former city has attained undying fame fidently told, the author of that Gospel was by its intellectual power, the second by its an Ephesine Gentile who had never seen m.ihtary capacity, so Palestine has derived Jerusalem and was imperfectly acquainted her title to fame from her indestructible with Jewish localities and customs. The national life - indestructible because built Jabbok has been identified with the Wady alone, of all the religious systems of the Zerka, or blue stream. ancient world, upon the foundations of the unity and Fatherhood of God ; indestruc- Ver. 3.-And from the pla.in. There is tible, moreover, because.it came by revelation no "from " in the original, which here from God. There is no greater argument for ceases to describe tM territories of Sihon the Div:ine origin of the Mosaic law than but continues the nccount of the Israelit~ the unique spectacle of a national life like dominions, which included the Arabah (not that of the Jews, subsisting for nearly the plain as in our version) np to the sea of two thousand years after their expulsion Chinneroth. On the east; i.e., the east of from their land. From the river Amon Jordan. So also below. The way to Beth- (see Num. xxi. 24). The word Arnon sig- jeshl.moth (see Num. xxxiii. 48, 49). There nifies the swift streain (see Gesenius, was a desert tract near the Dead Sea called 'Thesaur.' s.v.). It is now called by the J eshimon, or the waste district. It is de- Arabs, El-lYiujeb. Seetzen represents the scribed by travellers as the most a.rid portion region round its mouth to be naturally of the whole land. In this, Beth-jeshimoth most fertile, but as abandoned now to a few (the house of desolations) was situated. It wilcl plants. Unto Mount Hermon. Now was south of the acacia meadows (see note on Jebel-es-Sheikh. We have a v:ivid descrip- eh. ii. 1), o.nd it formed part of the territory tion of the scenery of Hermon in Pea. xiii., of Reuben (eh. xiii. 20). As it lay upon with the noise of its foaming torrents, the Jordan, it must have been near the extreme "deep calling unto deep " from the recesses northernmost point of the Dead Sea. We of its dark ravines, where the infant Jordan are to understand, not thnt Sihon's ten-itory rushed along its rocky bed. The Psalmist extended to Beth-jeshimolh, but in that pictures to himself his troubles as over- direction. Possibly some of the western whelming him like the billows of the Canaanitish tribes here extended their ter- numerous streams that streo.ked the moun- ritories across the Jordan. And from the tain sides. And yet again Hermon is intro- south. The word here is not Negeb, but duced as the image of peace nnd plenty o.nd Teman, i.e., the literal south, which lay on brotherly love. The refreshing dews which the right (J't;l.;) to one looking eastward. distilled from the side of the giant moun- Ashdoth-piege.h. For Ashdolh see eh. x. to.in were the source of blessing to those who 40. Pisgah was the northernmost point of dwelt afBr off, and even the dry and po.re bed the Abarim range, of which the well.known sides of Mount Zion were cooled by their Nebo was the chief peak. Thither Moses delicious influence. In Paa. xlii. 6 the went up to view the land which he was Psalmist speaks of Hermon in the plural. not permitted to enter. There Balaam built Some have regarded this (e.g., Ritter) ae his seven altars and essayed in vain to referring to the double peak of the moun- curse the children of Israel. There were tain. The phrase most probably refers the watchmen ( Zophim) stationed to protect 206 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [ea. xn. 1-24.