Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
was simply the bold language of faith wrestling with God in prayer-faith which could
not comprehend the ways of the Lord-and involved the most urgent appeal to the
Lord to carry out His work in the same glorious manner in which it had been begun,
with the firm conviction that God could neither relinquish nor alter His purposes of
grace.
The words which follow, "Would to God that we had been content (see at Deut 1:5)
to remain on the other side of the Jordan," assume on the one hand, that previous to
the crossing of the river Israel had cherished a longing for the possession of Canaan,
and on the other hand, that this longing might possibly have been the cause of the
calamity which had fallen upon the people now, and therefore express the wish that
Israel had never cherished any such desire, or that the Lord had never gratified it. (On
the unusual form hee`abarªtaa (OT:5674) for he`ebarªtaa (OT:5674), see Ges. §63,
anm. 4, and Ewald , §41, b. ) The inf. abs. ha`abiyr (OT:5674) (with the unusual i in
the final syllable) is placed for the sake of emphasis after the finite verb, as in Gen
46:4, etc. The Amorites are the inhabitants of the mountains, as in Gen 46:4, etc.
Joshua 7:8-9
O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!
The question which Joshua addresses to God he introduces in this way: "Pray ( biy
(OT:871a) contracted from bª`iy (OT:1164)), Lord, what shall I say?" to modify the
boldness of the question which follows. It was not because he did not know what to
say, for he proceeded at once to pour out the thoughts of his heart, but because he felt
that the thought which he was about to utter might involve a reproach, as if, when
God permitted that disaster, He had not thought of His own honour; and as he could
not possibly think this, he introduced his words with a supplicatory inquiry. What he
proceeds to say in vv. 8, 9, does not contain two co-ordinate clauses, but one simple
thought: how would God uphold His great name before the world, when the report
that Israel had turned their back before them should reach the Canaanites, and they
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