Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
In vv. 21, 22, the destruction of the Anakites upon the mountains of Judah and Israel
is introduced in a supplementary form, which completes the history of the
subjugation and extermination of the Canaanites in the south of the land (ch. 10).
This supplement is not to be regarded either as a fragment interpolated by a different
hand, or as a passage borrowed from another source. On the contrary, the author
himself thought it necessary, having special regard to Num 13:28,31ff., to mention
expressly that Joshua also rooted out from their settlements the sons of Anak, whom
the spies in the time of Moses had described as terrible giants, and drove them into
the Philistine cities of Gaza, Bath, and Ashdod. "At that time" points back to the
"long time," mentioned in v. 18, during which Joshua was making war upon the
Canaanites. The words "cut off," etc., are explained correctly by Clericus: "Those
who fell into his hands he slew, the rest he put to flight, though, as we learn from
Josh 15:14, they afterwards returned." (On the Anakim , see at Num 13:22.) They had
their principal settlement upon the mountains in Hebron ( el Khulil , see Josh 10:3),
Debir (see at ch. 10:38), and Anab. The last place ( Anab ), upon the mountains of
Judah (Josh 15:50), has been preserved along with the old name in the village of
Anâb , four or five hours to the south of Hebron, on the eastern side of the great
Wady el Khulil , which runs from Hebron down to Beersheba ( Rob. Pal. ii. p. 193).
"And from all (the rest of) the mountains of Judah, and all the mountains of Israel:"
the latter are called the mountains of Ephraim in Josh 17:15. The two together form
the real basis of the land of Canaan, and are separated from one another by the large
Wady Beit Hanina (see Rob. Pal. ii. p. 333). They received their respective names
from the fact that the southern portion of the mountain land of Canaan fell to the tribe
of Judah as its inheritance, and the northern part to the tribe of Ephraim and other
tribes of Israel.
(Note: The distinction here made may be explained without difficulty even from the circumstances of
Joshua's own time. Judah and the double tribe of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) received their
inheritance by lot before any of the others. But whilst the tribe of Judah proceeded into the territory
allotted to them in the south, all the other tribes still remained in Gilgal; and even at a later period, when
Ephraim and Manasseh were in their possessions, all Israel, with the exception of Judah, were still
encamped at Shiloh. Moreover, the two parts of the nation were now separated by the territory which was
afterwards assigned to the tribe of Benjamin, but had no owner at this time; and in addition to this, the
altar, tabernacle, and ark of the covenant were in the midst of Joseph and the other tribes that were still
assembled at Shiloh. Under such circumstances, then, would not the idea of a distinction between Judah,
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