Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
temple (1 Chron 16:39; 21:29; 1 Kings 3:4-5; 2 Chron 1:3ff.). According to Josephus
, it was forty or fifty stadia from Jerusalem, and judging from its name was built upon
a hill. It is to be found in the modern Jib , two good hours' journey to the north-west
of Jerusalem, a village of moderate size, on a long chalk hill which overlooks a very
fertile, well cultivated plain, or rather a basin, consisting of broad valleys and plains,
and rises like a vineyard, in the form of separate terraces ( Strauss , Sinai, p. 332).
The remains of large massive buildings of great antiquity are still to be seen there,
also some fountains, and two large subterraneous reservoirs (vid., Rob. Pal. ii. p.
136). When the Gibeonites heard of the fate of Jericho and Ai, they also did
(something) with stratagem. In the expression heemaah (OT:1992) gam (OT:1571) (
"they also" ) there is a reference implied to what Joshua had done at Jericho and Ai;
not, however, to the stratagem resorted to in the case of Ai, as such an allusion would
not apply to Jericho. They set out as ambassadors: yitsªTayaaruw (OT:6737), from
tsiyr (OT:6735), which occurs in every other instance in the form of a noun,
signifying a messenger (Prov 13:17, etc.). In the Hithpael it means to make
themselves ambassadors, to travel as ambassadors. The translators of the ancient
versions, however, adopted the reading yitsªTayaaduw , they provided themselves
with food; but this was nothing more than a conjecture founded upon v. 12, and
without the slightest critical value.
They also took "old sacks upon their asses, and old mended wineskins."
mªtsoraariym (OT:6887), from tsaarar (OT:6887), lit. bound together, is very
characteristic. There are two modes adopted in the East of repairing skins when torn,
viz., inserting a patch, or tying up the piece that is torn in the form of a bag. Here the
reference is to the latter, which was most in harmony with their statement, that the
skins had got injured upon their long journey. Also "old mended sandals upon their
feet, and old clothes upon them (upon their bodies); and all the bread of their
provisions had become dry and quite mouldy." niqudiym (OT:5350), lit. furnished
with
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