And Joshua was old, advanced in age, and Jehovah said to him, Thou art old, advanced in age, and there remaineth yet very much land to take possession of.
Joshua is old, and God's first word to him here is not about rest but about unfinished work. God had given the whole land and divided it among the tribes, yet Israel had never set foot on much of it — so why the gap, and what does it ask of them now?
God's word reaches Joshua when his strength is failing.
About seven years had gone by since Israel crossed the Jordan. Joshua was now old and advanced in years, and the Lord spoke to him. He takes care of His servants in their old age and provides for their comfort. Much land still remained for them to take. Israel never responded to the fullness of God's gift to them. How great their failure — and ours too, as His spiritual people — to take hold of the possessions God's grace has put on our side!
His service now takes a form an old man can still carry out.
In passing, it should be observed how well and wisely Joshua in his old age adapts his service to his years. The great aim of his life was victory. When he was too old to lead the army, he led the whole nation to God's thoughts about the length and breadth of their inheritance. He did this to stir Israel to rise and take it.
God divided the land among the tribes before Israel had cleared out the enemies. Why hand over land they did not yet hold?
The land was not yet fully conquered, though it was fully divided. This was so because God would test Israel. The grace of the God of their fathers put them in possession of the land. But they were to keep it as a people bound to obedience, under the law they themselves had taken on at Mount Sinai. In one sense, then, they now had their inheritance; in another they did not.
From this chapter on, the danger changes shape.
As we open the thirteenth chapter of our book, we breathe a different air from the one we breathed in its first exhortations. We face new difficulties. They are not the iron chariots of the Canaanites, the cities walled up to heaven, or the giants of the mountains. They are foes harder to overcome: sloth and love of ease in the army of the Lord.
God's word here shakes His people out of settling for what is comfortable.
He was jealous for His servant, and rouses him to fulfil his commission. The Israelites had grown lazy. They were slow to act on the full grant of the Lord. They would have rested once they had enough to live on. But that is not the mind of God for us, any more than it was for them.
The promise that follows rests on God, not on the leader who is passing off the scene.
After describing the land that still remains, the Lord says to His aged servant, with emphasis, that He Himself will drive them out. Joshua may lose vigour, great leaders may become infirm, but the Lord remains ever the same. If the saints only looked to God and not to leaders, they would prosper even when death took such men from them. This does not mean that true leaders count for little. They are God's gifts to His people. Even so, God's people must look to God.
Israel judged the size of their inheritance by what they had already taken. God judged it by what He had already given.
Christians tend to measure their Christianity by the state of their own village or city. They do not measure it by God's standpoint, that all spiritual blessings are ours in Christ. So Israel judged the land of promise by what they had captured of it, and not by its actual length and breadth. But the Lord saw possessions He had given to Israel still untrodden: to the north and the south, toward the sunrise, and toward the country of the Sidonians. He saw cities and villages that Israel neither held nor lived in.
The same question presses on our grasp of Scripture.
How much of the truth of Scripture do we really possess? Godly, faithful men have led the way. They gave us possession of much scriptural knowledge that might otherwise have stayed of no value to us. They have certainly not exhausted Scripture, but have passed off the scene. Where is the energy of faith now to take possession of land that has not yet been taken? Should not every believer be stirred to study God's Word diligently — not just to gain knowledge, but to know the Lord better and be filled with all the fullness of God?
- Given. Grace put Israel in the land and divided all of it to them — conquered and unconquered alike. Their title was never in question.
- Untrodden. North and south, toward the sunrise and toward the Sidonians, God saw land He had given that Israel had never walked on.
- Slothful. The enemy in this half of the book is not giants or walled cities but contentment with enough — the army at ease.
- Promised. God's answer to a failing leader is not a stronger leader but Himself: the assurance that He will drive them out.
- Unfinished. Much of Scripture, and much of what is ours in Christ, still lies unwalked. It waits for the energy of faith.
This is the land that yet remaineth all the districts of the Philistines and all the Geshurites,
God's word to Joshua starts with what Israel had not taken. The Philistine coast and the country of the Geshurites head a long list of ground still in enemy hands. Why would God name territory His people had never walked on, and hand it out as their inheritance anyway?
One writer contrasts two ways of measuring the same country:
We miss the full force of the Lord's words, "There remains yet very much land to be possessed," unless we take His standpoint. From there we see the whole length and breadth of the possession. In the things of God, Christians tend to measure their Christianity by the state of their own village or city. They do not measure it by God's standpoint, that all spiritual blessings are ours in Christ. So Israel judged the land of promise by what they had captured of it, and not by its actual length and breadth. But the Lord looked north and south, toward the sunrise and toward the country of the Sidonians. He saw possessions He had given to Israel still untrodden, and cities and villages that no one held or lived in.
The list is not a record of defeat. It is a spur — and the promise behind it still holds:
What remains is now set out carefully, to stir them up to reach it. Reach it they never did, though David later ruled over much of it; but they never possessed it. It is theirs still, however, in the promise of God, along with much else, to be fulfilled in a day now very near at hand.
God told Joshua to divide the very districts named here, while their enemies still held them:
So the Lord commands Joshua to divide by lot even what was not yet taken from the hands of the inhabitants. What an encouragement to advance without fear! Is not the Lord worthy of trust? Yet He will have His people fight for Canaan. They fight not for redemption from Egypt, but for their inheritance in the promised land. They fight as those who are dead and risen with Christ, blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Him.
These enemies had reached Canaan by an easier road than Israel:
The first land not yet taken is "all the regions of the Philistines" (v. 2). The Philistines came from Egypt by way of the north, and they never had to cross the Red Sea. So they are a picture of those who have come into Christian profession without facing the truth of the death of Christ for them — not redeemed, but religious. Their name means "wallowers," for they wallow in the mire of empty forms and ceremonies, and they have always been a thorn in Israel's side.
Another writer weighs that easy road:
Exodus marks the "way of the Philistines" as the "near" way out of Egypt to the land. It was as easy as it was near. There was no Red Sea to cross and no Jordan. The Sihor named here was a boundary line in name only, not a barrier. So the Philistines are natural men who have come into spiritual things, not by the power of God, but in a natural way.
The Geshurites come next, and one writer reads them from the meaning of their name:
Their name means "proud beholders." It speaks of those who take the place of spectators only. They are well able to criticize, and proud of their ability to say what others should do. But they never take part in the work of the Lord at all.
By chapter 13 the enemy has changed. It is no longer the walled city:
When we open the thirteenth chapter of this book, the air is different from the air of its opening exhortations. We are face to face with new difficulties. The enemy is not the iron chariots of the Canaanites, not the cities walled up to heaven, not the giants of the mountains. These foes are harder to overcome: laziness and love of ease in the army of the Lord.
Kelly points to the same failure in Israel:
The Israelites had been slothful; they were slow to act on the full grant of the Lord. They would have rested once they had gained enough to keep themselves. But that is not the mind of God for us, any more than it was for them.
One writer points past the leader to God Himself:
Joshua may lose strength, great leaders may grow weak, but the Lord remains always the same. If the saints looked to God and not to leaders, they would prosper even when death took such men from them.
- Given: God promised the Philistine and Geshurite lands to Israel before Israel drew a single sword there.
- Granted: Joshua allotted ground that enemies still held. The deed comes first, the fighting after.
- Gauged: measure your portion by God's description of it, not by how much of it you now enjoy.
- Guarded: the Philistines picture people who are religious but not redeemed. The Geshurites picture the proud onlooker who comments but never fights.
- Given up: Israel stopped when they had enough to live on. The rest of the land stayed in enemy hands.
from the Shihor, which [floweth] before Egypt, as far as the borders of Ekron northward, [and which] is counted to the Canaanite; five lordships of the Philistines of Gazah, and of Ashdod, of Eshkalon, of Gath, and of Ekron; also the Avvites;
Chapter 12 listed the kings Israel had beaten; chapter 13 opens with God showing an aged Joshua how much land was still unclaimed. This verse maps the first piece of it — the coast from Shihor to Ekron — and raises a question: why does God name enemies who were never Canaanites?
The book turns here on the difference between a land taken and a land held:
Chapter 12 closes the first part of the book, which says that Israel had taken the whole land. But Joshua 13 opens by saying there remained "yet very much land to be possessed." In one sense they had taken all from north to south, so they could divide the land among the tribes. But they had not destroyed all their enemies, and they did not really hold all the land promised to Abraham. This is a picture of the Christian who has all things, and yet fails to enter into his full heavenly position.
Israel judged the size of their possession by what they had already captured. God measured it by what He had given.
You will only feel the full force of the Lord's words, "There remains yet very much land to be possessed," by taking His standpoint and looking from there at the length and breadth of the possession. In the things of God, Christians tend to measure their Christianity by the state of their own village or city. They do not measure it by God's standpoint, that all spiritual blessings are ours in Christ. The Lord was not willing that His people should lose the enjoyment of their blessings, so He promised them His support again, and gave Israel His emphatic "I will drive them out."
Shihor marks the southern end of the survey; older translations spell it "Sihor." Writers differ on which waterway the name means:
This refers to the river Nile. In Joshua 13:3 it is "Sihor which is before Egypt." In 1 Chronicles 13:5 the name is spelled SHIHOR, and marks the south-west boundary of Palestine. Some think both verses refer to the Wady el Arish, which was also called 'the river of Egypt.'
The phrase is unusual, because the people named in this verse did not descend from Canaan:
In the south are the lands of the Philistines, and with them the Geshurites and the Avvites. Neither the Philistines nor the Geshurites were Canaanites. Their land is still "counted to the Canaanites," and no doubt originally belonged to them.
How the Philistines entered the land shapes what they picture:
Their way in was as easy as it was near. There was no Red Sea to cross, and no Jordan. The Shihor named here was only a line on a map, not a barrier. So the Philistines are natural men who have come into spiritual things, not by the power of God, but in a natural way.
Their name points the same way:
The Philistines are a picture of those who have come into Christian profession without facing the truth of the death of Christ for them — not redeemed, but religious. Their name means "wallowers," because they wallow in the mire of empty forms and ceremonies. They have always been a thorn in Israel's side.
The verse names five rulers over five cities, and each name has a meaning:
Gaza (strong); Ashdod (I will spoil); Ashkelon (the fire of infamy); Gath (winepress, a type of wrath); Ekron (uprooting). These names describe the character of these powerful enemies of Israel.
Commentators differ on how to apply this. One writer sees the five lords in modern religion:
Five lords ruled the Philistines (Joshua 13:3; Judges 3:3), and five lords rule this modern religion too, for the five senses govern it. Its followers are controlled by what is natural, and they more or less deny everything outside the range of the senses.
The verse ends with the Avvim, a people someone else had already destroyed:
The "Avvites," or "Avvim," mean "perverters" or "overturners." God used the Caphtorim to destroy a people more evil than themselves. Yet the Avvim seem not to have been wiped out. They mixed with their conquerors, who may have learned their ways. A corrupted Christianity has certainly done the same. It has overcome forms of heathenism and then become like them, so that what was destroyed in one sense survived in another.
- Given — God gave the whole land, and God states its true size. A believer can hold all things in Christ and still live far inside the borders.
- Gap — this verse maps what God gave and Israel never took. They subdued the land without holding it.
- Guests — the Philistines came in by the easy road, crossing neither Red Sea nor Jordan: religious, but not redeemed.
- Governors — five rulers hold five cities: strong, I will spoil, fire of infamy, winepress and uprooting. The names describe the enemy's character.
- Ghosts — the Avvim were destroyed, then lived on by mixing with their conquerors. Corruption can survive by blending into what defeated it.
in the south, the whole land of the Canaanites, and Mearah which [belongeth] to the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the border of the Amorites;
God's word to the aging Joshua lists the land Israel had still not taken. Verse 4 covers the northern stretch of it: Canaanite country, the Sidonian district around Mearah, the land up to Aphek, and the border of the Amorites. Israel held none of it. God still called all of it theirs. That raises the question this chapter presses: what do you do with a gift you have not yet taken?
God and Israel measured the same country by two different standards. One writer names the difference.
In the things of God, Christians tend to take the standard of their Christianity from the state of their own village or city. They do not take it from God's own standpoint, that every spiritual blessing is ours in Christ. So Israel judged the promised land by how much of it they had captured, and not by its real length and breadth. But north and south, toward the sunrise, and toward the country of the Sidonians, the Lord saw land He had given Israel that they had still not set foot on. He saw cities and villages they did not hold and did not live in.
The Sidonians were the people of the coastal city of Sidon and its region, and they were no minor tribe.
They were renowned for cutting timber and as being fishermen and seamen… The Sidonians were idolaters: Baal and Ashtoreth were their gods.
Aphek, the northern limit named in this verse, carries its own quiet verdict.
City in the north border of Asher, from which in the time of Joshua the inhabitants were not expelled.
God's next order is surprising. He tells Joshua to divide land Israel does not yet hold. One writer shows why that is an encouragement, and what fighting still remains.
So God commands Joshua to divide by lot even the land Israel had not yet taken out of the hands of the people living there. What an encouragement to advance without fear! Is not the Lord worthy of trust? Still, He will have His people fight for Canaan. They fight not for redemption from Egypt, but for their inheritance in the promised land. They fight as those who are dead and risen with Christ, blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Him.
The name Canaanite has a meaning of its own. One writer builds on it, and turns this northern land into a warning for today.
The Philistines were in the south. To the northwest were the Canaanites (v. 4) and various peoples connected with them. Canaanites means "traffickers," so this northern area seems to stand for the evil of using Christianity to make money. Israel was responsible to subdue such enemies, just as the Lord Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple (John 2:14-16)… Each tribe had the work left of subduing and driving out every enemy in their own territory. In the same way, all believers today are to fight and subdue the spiritual evils that threaten their enjoyment of our spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:10-18).
The tone of this chapter has changed from the early battles, and the change is not about the strength of the opposition.
As we open the thirteenth chapter of our book, we breathe a different air from the air we breathed in the urgent calls at the start. We face new difficulties. Not the iron chariots of the Canaanite, not the cities walled up to heaven, not the giants of the mountains, but enemies harder to beat — sloth and the love of ease in the army of the Lord.
Having described the land that remained, God does not hand Israel a task and walk away. The promise attached to the list is the answer to a leader who is running out of strength.
The Lord says to His aged servant, "I" — and He says it with force — "I will drive them out." Joshua may lose strength, great leaders may grow frail, but the Lord stays the same for ever. If the saints only looked to God and not to leaders, they would prosper even when they lose such men by death.
- Given. God counted the Canaanite country, the Sidonian district and the land up to Aphek as Israel's. Israel had not yet set foot on any of it.
- Granted. God told Joshua to divide by lot even the land others still held. The gift was so sure that He shared it out in advance.
- Guarded. The enemy here is not iron chariots or giants. It is sloth and the love of ease, the settling down that stops short of what God has given.
- Gained. Each tribe still had to drive the enemy out of its own territory. Believers today must do the same with the spiritual evils that spoil their enjoyment of God's blessings.
- Guaranteed. The list of unfinished land ends with God's own promise to drive them out. The leader weakens; God does not.
and the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sun-rising, from Baal-Gad at the foot of mount Hermon to the entrance into Hamath;
This verse names the far northern edge of the land Israel still had not taken: the hills of Lebanon and the road up to Hamath. God had already given them this ground, yet they never took possession of it.
Lebanon here means the eastern range, and Scripture marks it by the direction of the sunrise.
The eastern range is often called ANTI-LEBANON. Scripture calls it "Lebanon toward the sunrise." Joshua 13:5. Its modern name is Jebel esh Shurky. Mount Hermon is its southern point.
The stretch starts at Baal-gad, a place named twice already in this book.
A place at the foot of Mount Hermon in the valley of Lebanon, the northern limit of Joshua's conquest. Joshua 11:17; Joshua 12:7; Joshua 13:5.
So the verse starts where the fighting stopped, and points past it.
The Gebalites at the start of the verse (Giblites in older translations) came from a city on the coast.
A maritime city of Phoenicia. Identified with Jebeil, the ancient Byblus, near the mouth of the river Adonis. Its inhabitants are called GIBLITES in Joshua 13:5. Some were workers in stone and helped in the work of the temple. 1 Kings 5:18, margin. Others sealed the seams of ships. Ezek. 27:9.
Their stoneworkers later helped build the temple — skilled hands living on ground God had already given Israel.
These northern peoples were Canaanites by descent. Israel owned their land on paper, and nothing more.
In the north were genuine Canaanites, especially the Sidonians. They were above all the merchant race, the firstborn of Canaan (Gen. 10), and they had their characteristics. With them go the Giblites ("borderers"?) on the northern slopes of Lebanon. All of it belonged to Israel, though they never possessed it.
Then comes the surprise. Joshua must hand out land the enemy still holds.
So the Lord commands Joshua to divide by lot even the land not yet taken out of the hands of its inhabitants. What an encouragement to advance without fear! Is not the Lord worthy of trust? Still, He will have His people fight for Canaan. They fight not for redemption from Egypt, but for their inheritance in the promised land. They fight as those who are dead and risen with Christ, blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Him. And in the smallest detail the Lord points out the borders of what He was giving them, and the enemies who must be driven out of their present hold.
The detail is itself a kindness. Israel knows what is theirs, and who stands in the way.
Israel judged the size of their inheritance by what they had already captured. God judged it by what He had given.
Take the Lord's words, "There remains yet very much land to be possessed." Their full force only reaches us when we stand where He stands, and look from there at the length and breadth of the possession... So Israel viewed the land of promise by what they had captured of it, and not by its actual length and breadth. But the Lord looked north and south, toward the sunrise and toward the country of the Sidonians. He saw possessions He had given to Israel still untrodden, and cities and villages still not held or lived in.
Commentators read this unclaimed land as a picture of truth God has given but His people have not yet made their own.
Yet there was "very much land to be possessed." How much of the truth of Scripture do we really possess? Godly, faithful men have led the way. They gave us possession of much scriptural knowledge that might otherwise have remained of no value to us. They have certainly not exhausted Scripture, but have passed off the scene. Where is the energy of faith now to gain possession of land that has not been possessed?
The same loss shows up among Christians now.
But how large a portion Israel had which they never claimed in faith and never got, although the grace of God preserves it for them still, with much more. And how little Christians have of the land that is their own, and of how much do modern Philistines and Canaanites dispossess them!
- The map. "Lebanon toward the sunrise" is the eastern range, with Hermon at its southern tip. Baal-gad, at Hermon's foot, was as far north as Joshua's armies ever got.
- The gap. Everything past that point belonged to Israel: Gebal's craftsmen, the Sidonian merchants, the slopes of Lebanon. Israel never took any of it.
- The gift. God told Joshua to hand out land the enemy still held. The title came before the conquest — an encouragement to advance without fear.
- The measure. Israel measured their inheritance by what they had captured. God measured it by its full length and breadth, and saw cities still untrodden.
- The call. The same gap runs through Christian life: God gives much, we claim little. Faith must still take hold of what is already ours.
all the inhabitants of the hill-country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, all the Sidonians; I will dispossess them from before the children of Israel. Only, partition it by lot to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.
The far north is still in enemy hands — the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians. God promises to clear it Himself, and meanwhile Joshua is to hand it out to Israel as an inheritance.
God stresses who will do the driving out. And He says it to a leader whose own strength is failing.
After describing "the land that yet remains," the LORD says to His aged servant, with all emphasis, "I myself will drive them out." Joshua may lose his strength. Great leaders may grow frail. But the Lord remains ever the same. If only believers would look to God and not to leaders! Then they would do well even when death takes their leaders away. This does not mean true leaders count for little, for they are God's gifts to His people. Even so, God's people must look to God. But leaders like Joshua and Paul die, and the only confidence for God's people must be God Himself.
Joshua must divide ground the enemy still holds. One writer calls that an encouragement — and adds that it does not remove the need to fight.
So God commands Joshua to divide by lot even land still held by its inhabitants. What an encouragement to advance without fear! Is not the LORD worthy of trust? Still, He will have His people fight for Canaan. They fight not for redemption from Egypt, but for their inheritance in the promised land. They fight as those who have died and risen with Christ, blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Him.
Why hand out land that is not yet subdued? One writer finds the answer in Israel's own condition.
God did not hold them back; He was now ready to establish them fully. The limit lay in themselves, and they could still lose the land. Some of the land stayed unconquered, yet all of it was divided, to put Israel to the test. God was faithful, and would show all His gracious promises fulfilled. Israel had still to prove their faithfulness.
Israel measured their inheritance by what they had captured. God's measure included the Sidonian country named in this verse.
In the things of God, Christians tend to measure their Christianity by the state of their own village or city. They do not measure it from God's standpoint, that all spiritual blessings are ours in Christ. So Israel judged the promised land by what they had captured of it, and not by its actual length and breadth. But the LORD looked north and south, toward the sunrise and toward the country of the Sidonians. He saw possessions He had given to Israel where no one had yet set foot, and cities and villages that Israel did not hold or live in.
God's power was ready. Israel's faith was not.
And the Lord promises to drive them out (verse 6). With His own power He was ready to drive out these wicked usurpers. The one condition was that Israel advance in faith and act on His promise. Here is where they failed. Oh, that we might see that God is on our side in the conflict and in the possession of our inheritance!
An enemy left in place costs more than the ground he holds.
The enemies are all conquered, but not all driven out. There will always be enemies, until the coming of the Lord. "The last enemy to be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26). But Israel has to drive them out. As long as the enemies hold anything, the enjoyment of the people of God is not complete. More than that, the people are allowing something among them that could keep causing them to fail. If the enemy is not destroyed, he will not be slow to lift his head and corrupt the people, if he cannot overcome them.
One writer turns the land not yet taken into a question for us.
Yet there remained "very much land to possess." How much of the truth of Scripture do we really hold? Godly, faithful men have led the way in giving us much scriptural knowledge. Without them it might have stayed of no value to us. They have by no means exhausted Scripture, but they have passed off the scene. Where is the energy of faith now to take land no one has taken yet? Should not every believer be stirred in heart to give himself to the diligent study of the Word of God — not only to gain knowledge, but to know the Lord better, and to be filled with all the fullness of God?
- Promise — The driving out is God's own work; leaders grow old and die, but He stays the same.
- Allotment — Joshua hands out land still held by enemies. God's gift does not wait on Israel's progress.
- Test — Joshua divided all the land while part of it stayed unconquered, to prove whether Israel would be faithful.
- Failure — God's power was ready if Israel would advance in faith. This is where they stopped.
- Call — Every enemy left in place costs enjoyment and invites corruption. There is still much land to take.