The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 263

the land, in the days before the Israelitish naturally than those of Zilpah, 1Lre entirely invasion, from the inc1ll'sions of the tribes on omitted. the other side of Jordan (Num. xxiii. 14). Ver. 7.-And these are the kings of the The position of Pisgah has not been precisely country. We now proceed to the enumero.- identified, but the range extended on the tion of the kings whom Joshua hlLd over- eastern side of Jordan to a point nearly come on the western side of Jordan. And opposite Jericho. See Deut. xxxiv. 1. the first thing tl.utt strikes us is their im- Yer. 4.-The giants. Hebrew, Rephaim mense number, as compared to the two cf. Gen. xi,. 5; n. 20; also Josh. xvii.15). potente.tes who alone occupied the le.rge The word, according t-0 Ewa.Id, is equivalent tract of country subdued on the other side to " s(retched out." It was also applied to of Jordan. Such a divided territory could the dead. The Rcphaim were one of the hardly ha~ maintained itself in the face of mrious tribes of giants, like the Anakims, the powerful monarchs Sibon and Og to the Zuzims. and Emims, of whom we read in the eastward of Jordan. We are thus led to land of Canaan. They occupied the land of the conclusion that the smaller kings must Basban and "half Gilead "--that is, its have been tributary to some more powerful northern portion {see Deut. iii. 13). The monarch who was the head of tlie con- term " remnant " would imply that they federacy. Such Bretwaldas, to borrow a had suffered some reverses at the hands of term from our own history, the kings the other tribes, though they still remained of Jerusalem and Hazor appear to have in possession of their populous territory in been, the one the head of the northern, the the north. This view is con.firmed by Gen. other of the southern tribes of Palestine, xi,·. 5. Asb.ta.roth (see note on eh. ix. 10). while possibly the five Philistine cities may Edrei Or "the strong city." " the city of have constituted another league, as they the arm," according to Gesen., 'Thes.,' s.v. appear to have successfully defied the This name, together with the immense power of the Israelites from the first. That number of ruined cities which have been such confederacies existed at a much earlier found of late years in a ma.rvellons state of time, we find from Gen. xiv. 1-5, where the preser-ation in this ,region, shows that Og king of Elam, or Persia, appea.-s as the was a powerful monarch. The ease with head of such an one, though of a more which h• was overcome bears witness to the extensive character. The resiste.nce to his ener-ating effects of luxury and licentious- power organised by the kings in the neigh- ness upon a people of strong physique, vast bourhood of the Dead Sea is another case numbers, and high ci.-ilisation. in point. Possibly in later times Persia Ver. 5.-The Geshurttes. See eh. xiii. 2, and Babylon fonnd their hands full in their 11, 13 ; and Deut. iii. 14; also 2 Sam. xiii. conflict with one another, and with Egypt 37, where we find the principality of Geshur under Thothmes III., as afterwards under still in possession of its independence. It the all - conquering Rameses II., better was in the north-east comer of Bashan, known e.s Sesostris, and they had to leave abutting upon Syria, and is called "Geshur the tribes of Palestine awhile to themselves. in Syria " (2 Sam. xv. 8). It is perhaps an Or the rulers of the central power at instance of undesigned coincidence that Carchemish (see Introduction) may have Maachab, tlie mother of Absalom and the exercised a kind of suzerainty over all. daughter of the king of Geshar, was so The next point to be observed is that, in the named, since she probably derived her name list of kings that follows, a good many are from the adjoining territory of Maachah mentioned beside those enumerated in (see note on eh. xiii. 2). eh. x. No doubt, as io the earlier history Yer. G.-lllloses, the servant of the Lord, of this island, there were not only beads of gave. Theodoret makes the tribes which leagues, and their tributary monarchs, ~ut received their inheritance through Moses under-kings also, who were e.ctually subiect the types of the believing Jews, and those to the reigning Jl!Onarchs, and involved in who received it through Jesus (Joshua) the their le.II. Compare the other cities men- t-"pes of the believing Gentiles. Reuben, tioned in connection with Gibeon, eh. ix. 17. Gad, and Manasseh were the first-born of Ba.al-Gad, In the valley of Lebanon. See their respective mothers, and were thus for this whole passage note on eh. xi. 16, 17. types of the Jews, who were God's first- Ver. 8.-The mounta.l.ns. "Which, as the born. As they passed over armed before mountains of Judah (oh. xv. 48), Ephraim their brethren, so we received the good (eh. xvi. 1), and Naphtali (oh. xix. 32), ran tidings of salvation from the lips of Jews. through the midst of the land" (Knobel). This is a characteristic specimen of the al- Bee eh. xi. 16, 21, and note. legorical interpretation of the early fathers. Ver. 9.-The list of the cities subdued. But it will Le observed that the children of The king of Jericho, one. Here follows a Bilhab, who might have bee.n selected more list of the royal -cities of the CanHnites,  OH, XII, 1-24.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 207