Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
Verse 8-10. The third great act of God for Israel was his giving up the Amorites into
the hands of the Israelites, so that they were able to conquer their land (Num 21:21-
35), and the frustration of the attack made by Balak king of the Moabites, through the
instrumentality of Balaam, when the Lord did not allow him to curse Israel, but
compelled him to bless (Num 22-24). Balak "warred against Israel," not with the
sword, but with the weapons of the curse, or animo et voluntate ( Vatabl. ). "I would
not hearken unto Balaam," i.e., would not comply with his wish, but compelled him
to submit to my will, and to bless you; "and delivered you out of his (Balak's) hand,"
when he sought to destroy Israel through the medium of Balaam (Num 22:6,11).
Verse 11-13. The last and greatest benefit which the Lord conferred upon the
Israelites, was His leading them by miracles of His omnipotence across the Jordan
into Canaan, delivering the Lords (or possessors) of Jericho," not "the rulers, i.e., the
king and his heroes," as Knobel maintains (see 2 Sam 21:12; 1 Sam 23:11-12; and the
commentary on Judg 9:6), "and all the tribes of Canaan into their hand," and sending
hornets before them , so that they were able to drive out the Canaanites, particularly
the two kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, though "not with their sword and their
bow" (vid., Ps 44:4); i.e., it was not with the weapons at their command that they
were able to take the lands of these two kings. On the sending of hornets, as a figure
used to represent peculiarly effective terrors, see at Ex 23:28; Deut 7:20. In this way
the Lord gave the land to the Israelites, with its towns and its rich productions
(vineyards and olive trees), without any trouble on their part of wearisome cultivation
or planting, as Moses himself had promised them (Deut 6:10-11).
Verse 14,15. These overwhelming manifestations of grace on the part of the Lord laid
Israel under obligations to serve the Lord with gratitude and sincerity. "Now therefore
fear the Lord ( yªr'uw (OT:3372) for yirª'uw (OT:7200), pointed like a verb l''h , as
in 1 Sam 12:24; Ps 34:10), and serve Him in sincerity and in truth," i.e., without
hypocrisy, or the show of piety, in simplicity and truth of heart (vid., Judg 9:16,19).
"Put away the gods ( Elohim = the strange gods in v. 23) which your fathers served
on the other side of the Euphrates and in Egypt." This appeal does not presuppose
any gross idolatry on the part of the existing generation, which would have been at
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