24 matching verse commentaries
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Joshua Directed and Encouraged. (b. c. 1451.) 1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, 2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have an account of the scouts that were employed to bring an account to Joshua of the posture of the city of Jericho. Observe here, I. How Joshua sent them, ver. 1. II. How Rahab received them, and protected them, and told a lie for them (ver. 2-7), so that they escaped out of the hands of the enemy. III. The account she gave...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This chapter, and that which follows it, give us the history of Israel's passing through Jordan into Canaan, and a very memorable history it is. Long afterwards, they are told to remember what God did for them between Shittim (whence they decamped, ver. 1) and Gilgal, where they next pitched, ch. iv. 19, Mic. vi. 5, that they might know the...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This chapter gives a further account of the miraculous passage of Israel through Jordan. I. The provision that was made at that time to preserve the memorial of it, by twelve stones set up in Jordan (ver. 9) and other twelve stones taken up out of Jordan, ver. 1-8. II. The march of the people through Jordan's channel, the two tribes first, then...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Israel have now got over Jordan, and the waters which had opened before them, to favour their march forward, are closed again behind them, to forbid their retreat backward. They have now got footing in Canaan, and must apply themselves to the conquest of it, in order to which this chapter tells us, I. How their enemies were dispirited, ver. 1. II....
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Joshua opened the campaign with the siege of Jericho, a city which could not trust so much to the courage of its people as to act offensively, and to send out its forces to oppose Israel's landing and encamping, but trusted so much to the strength of its walls as to stand upon its defence, and not to surrender, or desire conditions of peace. Now...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
More than once we have found the affairs of Israel, even when they were in the happiest posture and gave the most hopeful prospects, perplexed and embarrassed by sin, and a stop thereby put to the most promising proceedings. The golden calf, the murmuring at Kadesh, and the iniquity of Peor, had broken their measures and given them great...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The embarrassment which Achan's sin gave to the affairs of Israel being over, we have them here in a very good posture again, the affairs both of war and religion. Here is, I. The glorious progress of their arms in the taking of Ai, before which they had lately suffered disgrace. 1. God encourages Joshua to attack it, with the assurance of...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Here is in this chapter, I. The impolite confederacy of the kings of Canaan against Israel, ver. 1, 2. II. The polite confederacy of the inhabitants of Gibeon with Israel, 1. How it was subtly proposed and petitioned for by the Gibeonites pretending to come from a far country, ver. 3-13. 2. How it was unwarily consented to by Joshua and the...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
We have in this chapter an account of the conquest of the kings and kingdoms of the southern part of the land of Canaan, as, in the next chapter, of the reduction of the northern parts, which together completed the glorious successes of the wars of Canaan. In this chapter we have an account, I. Of the routing of their forces in the field, in which...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This chapter continues and concludes the history of the conquest of Canaan; of the reduction of the southern parts we had an account in the foregoing chapter, after which we may suppose Joshua allowed his forces some breathing-time; now here we have the story of the war in the north, and the happy success of that war. I. The confederacy of the...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This chapter is a summary of Israel's conquests. I. Their conquests under Moses, on the other side Jordan (for we now suppose ourselves in Canaan) eastward, which we had the history of, Num. xxi. 24, &c. And here the abridgment of that history, ver. 1-6. II. Their conquests under Joshua, on this side Jordan, westward. 1. The country they reduced,...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
At this chapter begins the account of the dividing of the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel by lot, a narrative not so entertaining and instructive as that of the conquest of it, and yet it is thought fit to be inserted in the sacred history, to illustrate the performance of the promise made to the fathers, that this land should be given...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Here is, I. The general method that was taken in dividing the land, ver. 1-5. II. The demand Caleb made of Hebron, as his by promise, and therefore not to be put into the lot with the rest, ver. 6-12. And Joshua's grant of that demand, ver. 13-15. This was done at Gilgal, which was as yet their head-quarters. The Distribution of Canaan. (b. c....
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Though the land was not completely conquered, yet being (as was said in the close of the foregoing chapter) as rest from war for the present, and their armies all drawn out of the field to a general rendezvous at Gilgal, there they began to divide the land, though the work was afterwards perfected at Shiloh, ch. xviii. 1, &c. In this chapter we...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
It is a pity that this and the following chapter should be separated, for both of them give us the lot of the children of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, who, next to Judah, were to have the post of honour, and therefore had the first and best portion in the northern part of Canaan, as Judah now had in the southern part. In this chapter we have, I....
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The half tribe of Manasseh comes next to be provided for; and here we have, I. The families of that tribe that were to be portioned, ver. 1-6. II. The country that fell to their lot, ver. 7-13. III. The joint request of the two tribes that descended from Joseph, for the enlargement of their lot, and Joshua's answer to that request, ver. 14-18. The...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have, I. The setting up of the tabernacle at Shiloh, ver. 1. II. The stirring up of the seven tribes that were yet unsettled to look after their lot, and the putting of them in a method for it, by Joshua, ver. 2-7. III. The distributing of the land into seven lots, by certain men employed for that purpose, ver. 8, 9. IV. The...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In the description of the lots of Judah and Benjamin we have an account both of the borders that surrounded them and of the cities contained in them. In that of Ephraim and Manasseh we have the borders, but not the cities; in this chapter Simeon and Dan are described by their cities only, and not their borders, because they lay very much within...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This short chapter is concerning the cities of refuge, which we often read of in the writings of Moses, but this is the last time that we find mention of them, for now that matter was thoroughly settled. Here is, I. The law God gave concerning them, ver. 1-6. II. The people's designation of the particular cities for that use, ver. 7-9. And this...