Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

http://207.44.232.113/~bible/comment/ot/k&d/josh/jos76.html
composition of ch. 13-21 from three different documents. The material discrepancies
have been forced upon the text, as we shall see when we come to an explanation of
the passages in question; and the verbal differences prove nothing more than that the
geographical account of the boundaries and towns contains no allusion to the
priesthood, to sacrifice, or to certain other things which no one would think of
looking for here.)
Command of God to Divide the Land of Canaan. Description of the
Territory of the Two Tribes and a Half. Ch. 13.
Joshua 13:1-14
Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art
old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.
Verse 1-14. Introduction to the Division of the Land. - Vv. 1-7. Command of the
Lord to Joshua to distribute the land of Canaan by lot among the nine tribes and a
half. V. 1 contains only the commencement of the divine command; the conclusion
follows in v. 7. Vv. 2-6 form a parenthesis of several clauses, defining the last clause
of
v. 1 more fully. When Joshua had grown old, the Lord commanded him, as he was
advanced in years, and there was still much land to be taken, to divide "this land,"
i.e., the whole of the land of Canaan, for an inheritance to the nine tribes and a half,
and promised him at the same time that He would drive out the Canaanites from those
portions of the land that were not yet conquered (v. 6). The words "grown old and
come into years" (vid., Gen 24:1; 18:11, etc.) denote advanced age in its different
stages up to the near approach of death (as, for example, in Josh 23:1). Joshua might
be ninety or a hundred years old at this time. The allusion to Joshua's great age serves
simply to explain the reason for the command of God. As he was already old, and
there still remained much land to be taken, he was to proceed to the division of
Canaan, that he might accomplish this work to which he was also called before his
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