Joshua and Judges: Specific mention of the Anakim and the allotment of the land; Jos 11:15-25; 12-14.

Title: Joshua and Judges: Specific mention of the Anakim and the allotment of the land; JOS 11:15-25; 12-14.  

 

Announcements / opening prayer:

 

JOS 11:15 Just as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

 

The account of the wars of Joshua is brought to a close, and the way opened for proceeding to the concluding remarks with reference to the conquest of the whole land (vv. 16-23).

 

Clearly stated is that Joshua did all that he was commanded. The remnant of Canaanites in the land are left for the twelve tribes to destroy.

 

JOS 11:16 Thus Joshua took all that land: the hill country and all the Negev, all that land of Goshen, the lowland, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its lowland

 

JOS 11:17 from Mount Halak, that rises toward Seir, even as far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. And he captured all their kings and struck them down and put them to death.

 

JOS 11:18 Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings.

 

JOS 11:19 There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon; they took them all in battle.

 

JOS 11:20 For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

 

God will not violate the free will of man. Rahab is a testimony to this. God provides the circumstances in which a person who opposes Him may harden their hearts.

 

The circumstance provided by God is the invasion of the Israelites. No one submitted peaceably to the Israelites, with the exception of Gibeon's trickery.

 

It was never the case that the Canaanites would have subjected themselves to the rulership of Israel. The Gibeonites did not desire God's will or Law, but only survival by deception. It was the decree of God that the Canaanites be judged after centuries of evil opposition to Him, their Creator. This was prophesied by Noah. They, of their own self-determination, fought against Israel. In the past these peoples had subjugated themselves to Egypt, but they rightly saw Egypt as the dominating kingdom of that area, but they did not view Israel this way. They only saw Israel as a rag-tag group of escaped slaves who had no business subjecting them to anything. They saw their God, Jehovah, as competition with their own gods and would not believe that Jehovah was the one God who did anything or spoke anything or worked miracles. Their hardness of heart was set in them long before Israel arrived and God provided the arena in which their stubborn unbelief and pride might flourish, and it did, and they died.

 

This ends the conquest, but before it is closed, the writer adds a supplement in vv. 21-23.

 

JOS 11:21 Then Joshua came at that time [during the time of the southern conquest] and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab and from all the hill country of Judah and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities.

 

JOS 11:22 There were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod some remained.

 

JOS 11:23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land had rest from war.

 

The author specifically singles out the defeat of the sons of Anak since the spies of Moses described them as giants and used them as a reason to not attempt the conquest of the PL.

 

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 to specifically and expressly mention 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.

 

This is written to point out to the reader that the child of God should fear no foe, no matter how big they may seem.

 

We learn from JOS 15:14 that the Anakim who survived by fleeing to the west did return to this area and occupied it, but Caleb, who would be given this land, destroyed them.

 

NUM 13:27 Thus they told him, and said, "We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

 

NUM 13:28 Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

 

NUM 13:29 Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan."

 

NUM 13:30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it."

 

NUM 13:31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us."

 

NUM 13:32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.

 

NUM 13:33 There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

 

Think of this false report in light of the conquest we have just completed. The writer of Joshua sets aside the destruction the Anakim so that it stands out. The very people that the ten spies feared and the people feared were wiped out by Caleb.

 

JOS 11:23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land had rest from war.

 

This is an introduction to the second part of the book.

 

[Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament]

"The taking of the whole land does not imply that all the towns and villages to the very last had been conquered, or that all the Canaanites were rooted out from every corner of the land, but simply that the conquest was of such a character that the power of the Canaanites was broken, their dominion overthrown, and their whole land so thoroughly given into the hands of the Israelites, that those who still remained here and there were crushed into powerless fugitives, who could neither offer any further opposition to the Israelites, nor dispute the possession of the land with them, if they would only strive to fulfill the commandments of their God and persevere in the gradual extermination of the scattered remnants. Moreover, Israel had received the strongest pledge, in the powerful help which it had received from the Lord in the conquests thus far obtained, that the faithful covenant God would continue His help in the conflicts which still remained, and secure for it a complete victory and the full possession of the promised land."

 

Joshua had subjugated the entire land, indicating that the character and the power of the Canaanites had been broken. The lands that remained to be taken were left for the tribes to take. All they had to do was to continue to follow the Lord by loving Him with all their heart and submitting themselves to the Law. Unfortunately, this will not happen to the extent that it should have. Many Canaanites will remain due to the apostasy of Israel.

 

In chapter 12 a detailed list of all the kings who were slain are given. Thirty-one kings from the western side of the Jordan are listed.

 

They are listed in the order that they were defeated.

 

Chapter 13 - the allotment of the land and the list of the areas where Canaanites still needed to be destroyed.

 

Joshua was between 90 and 100 years old. He had accomplished all that God had willed for him to do. Before he died he had to distribute the land to the various tribes, most of which was done by lot after the unknown parts were roughly surveyed.

 

If you recall, Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh had already been given land by Moses on the east side of the Jordan. Levi, the tribe of the priesthood, is not given an area of land, but will reside in various places within the lands of the other tribes that they may serve them as priests. You may also remember that Joseph, the son of Jacob who became prime minister of Egypt, received a blessing by Jacob on both his sons, and so to Joseph go the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

 

GEN 48:20

And he blessed them that day, saying,

"By you Israel shall pronounce blessing, saying,

'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!'"

 

So we don't have a land of Joseph, but a land of Ephraim and Manasseh. Levi will not have a land, but will have lands and cities within the lands of the other tribes from which they will serve them.

 

So then, there must be given, ten allotments to the remaining nine tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh, west of the Jordan.

 

JOS 13:1 Now Joshua was old and advanced in years when the Lord said to him, "You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed.

 

JOS 13:2 This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and all those of the Geshurites;

 

JOS 13:3 from the Shihor which is east of Egypt, even as far as the border of Ekron to the north (it is counted as Canaanite); the five lords of the Philistines: the Gazite, the Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite, the Ekronite; and the Avvite

 

It is added that the Philistines are counted as Canaanite, meaning that they are put under the ban, but they are not descendants of Canaan, but rather from his brother Cush.

 

JOS 13:4 to the south, all the land of the Canaanite, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, as far as Aphek, to the border of the Amorite;

 

JOS 13:5 and the land of the Gebalite, and all of Lebanon, toward the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.

 

JOS 13:6 All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon as far as Misrephoth-maim, all the Sidonians, I will drive them out from before the sons of Israel; only allot it to Israel for an inheritance as I have commanded you.

 

JOS 13:7 Now therefore, apportion this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes, and the half-tribe of Manasseh."

 

Next is mentioned the allotment to Gad, Reuben, and the half of Manasseh on the east of the Jordan.

 

JOS 14:1 Now these are the territories which the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel apportioned to them for an inheritance,

 

JOS 14:2 by the lot of their inheritance, as the Lord commanded through Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe.

 

JOS 14:3 For Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan; but he did not give an inheritance to the Levites among them.

 

JOS 14:4 For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, and they did not give a portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to live in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property.

 

JOS 14:5 Thus the sons of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they divided the land.