properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
Gibeon
גִבְע֑וֹןgiv.'on
H1391
Gibon · proper noun, a place name
took
לָקְח֥וּla.ke.Chu
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
battle
בַמִּלְחָמָֽהva.mil.cha.Mah
H4421
a battle (i.e. the engagement) · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Joshua 9:3-27 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 11:15–end
We have here the conclusion of this whole matter.
I. A short account is here given of what was done in four things: - 1. The obstinacy of the Canaanites in their opposition to the Israelites. It was strange that though it appeared so manifestly that God fought for Israel, and in every engagement the Canaanites had the worst of it, yet they stood it out to the last; not one city made peace with Israel, but the Gibeonites only, who understood the things that belonged to their peace better than their neighbours, Jos 11:19. It is intimated that other cities might have made as good terms for themselves, without ragged clothes and clouted shoes, if they would have humbled themselves, but they neve…
from the mount Halak--Hebrew, "the smooth mountain."
that goeth up to Seir--an irregular line of white naked hills, about eighty feet high, and seven or eight geographical miles in length that cross the whole Ghor, eight miles south of the Dead Sea, probably "the ascent of Akrabbim" [ROBINSON].
unto Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon--the city or temple of the god of destiny, in Baalbec.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 11:18
Joshua made war a long time - The whole of these conquests were not effected in one campaign: they probably required six or seven years. There are some chronological notices in this book, and in Deuteronomy, by which the exact time may be nearly ascertained. Caleb was forty years old when he was sent from Kadesh-barnea by Moses to search out the land, about A.M. 2514; and at the end of this war he was eighty-five years old; (compare Jos 14:10 with Numbers 13, and Deuteronomy 1); consequently the war ended in 2559, which had begun, by the passage of Jordan, on the tenth day of the first month of the year 2554. From this date to the end of 2559 we find exactly six years; the first of which Jos…
And there was no city that was not given to the children of Israel. We wonder how this can be true, when neither after the time of the Judges nor in the time of the Kings could the Hebrews conquer all the cities of those seven nations. That is why, or we must understand this in the sense that Joshua did not approach any city in a war that did not conquer it, or at least none of those located in the regions mentioned before was no longer conquered. Because it lists the regions in which were the cities about which this affirmation was made: all the conquered in the war.
"And Jesus took all in the war," it says, "because it was done by the Lord that their heart was strengthened and they should meet in battle against Israel." He did not say that Jesus "took some in the war" and did not take some, but "he took all," that is, seized, and slew all. For the Lord Jesus purged all species of sin and destroyed them all. For we were all "senseless, unbelieving, wandering, serving various desires, acting in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another," and every kind of sin whatsoever it is that is found in men, before they believe. Well, therefore, does it say that "Jesus slew all who went out to war." For no species of sin is so great that Jesus is not superior to it, he who is the Word and "the wisdom of God." For he surpasses and conquers all things. Or do we not so believe, that every kind of sin, when we come to the saving laver, is taken away? For this too the Apostle Paul designates, who, when he had enumerated all the kinds of sins, adds after all and says, "and these things indeed you were; but you have been washed, but you have been sanctified, but you have been justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." In this manner, therefore, he is said to have "taken all in the battle" and to have "slain all," "because it was done by the Lord that their heart grew strong and they should meet in battle against Israel, that they might be exterminated." For while the enemy powers do not come, which work sins in us, nor provoke us to sinning nor challenge us to fight, they cannot be slain nor exterminated. Therefore for this reason God is said to permit, nay even almost to incite, the adverse powers to go out against us into battle, so that we too may take the victory and they may meet with destruction. Whence there seems to me to be a certain infinite number of the contrary powers, for the reason that through almost every single man there are some spirits, contriving in them the diverse kinds of sins. For example, there is a certain spirit of fornication, and there is one of anger; another spirit is of avarice, and another indeed of pride. And if it happens that there is some man who is agitated by all these evils or even by more, he is to be thought to have all these or even more enemies within himself as spirits. Whence also through individuals there are to be believed to be several, because individual men do not have single…
Dictionary and topics
Amorites — Highlanders, or hillmen, the name given to the descendants of one of the sons of Canaan (Gen. 14:7), called Amurra or Amurri in the Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions. On the early Babylonian…
Gibeon — Hill-city, “one of the royal cities, greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty” (Josh. 10:2). Its inhabitants were Hivites (11:19). It lay within the territory of Benjamin, and became a…
Hivites — One of the original tribes scattered over Palestine, from Hermon to Gibeon in the south. The name is interpreted as “midlanders” or “villagers” (Gen. 10:17; 1 Chr. 1:15). They were probably a branch…
Joshua — Jehovah is his help, or Jehovah the Saviour. The son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, the successor of Moses as the leader of Israel. He is called Jehoshua in Num. 13:16 (A.V.), and Jesus in Acts…
Salmon — Garment, the son of Nashon (Ruth 4:20; Matt. 1:4, 5), possibly the same as Salma in 1 Chr. 2:51.
Hivites · Shechemites and Gibeonites were families of — Shechemites and Gibeonites were families of
War · Of extermination — Of extermination
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel,.... Though, according to the Jews, Joshua, upon his first landing in Canaan, sent letters and messages to all the inhabitants of the land, offering them peace on certain terms; particularly that he sent three messages, or proposed three things to them; that those who had a mind to flee might flee; that those who were desirous of making peace might make it; and they that were for war, let them fight; all were for the last, and so perished (e):
save the Hivites and the inhabitants of Gibeon; these, some have thought, did not hear of the offers of peace, others think they did, and at first rejected them, but repenting were oblig…
Joshua 11:16-23
16. So Joshua took all that land, the hills, and all the south country, and all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the mountain of Israel, and the valley of the same;
16. Et cepit Josue omnem terram istam montanam, et omnem australem, omnemque Gosen et planitiem atque campestria, montem quoque Israel et planitiem ejus.
17. Even from the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir, even unto Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon: and all their kings he took, and smote them, and slew them.
17. A monte Laevi qui assurgit versus Seir usque ad Baalgad in campo Libani sub monte Hermon: omnes quoque reges eorum cepit, et percussit eos et interfecit.
18.…
Joshua made war with the kings of Canaan a long time; judging from Jos 14:7, Jos 14:10, as much as seven years, though Josephus (Ant. v. 1, 19) speaks of five (see at Jos 14:10). No town submitted peaceably to the Israelites, with the exception of Gibeon: they took the whole in war. "For it was of the Lord" (Jos 11:20), i.e., God ordered it so that they (the Canaanites) hardened their heart to make war upon Israel, that they might fall under the ban, and be destroyed without mercy. On the hardening of the heart as a work of God, see the remarks upon the hardening of Pharaoh (Exo 4:21). It cannot be inferred from this, that if the Canaanites had received the Israelites amicably, God would hav…
The judgment on Canaan was God’s, not Israel’s. God had extended mercy to the Canaanites for several generations. However, God determined that “the sins of the Amorites” now “warrant their destruction” (Gen 15:16), and he hardened their hearts. God used Israel as the instrument and agent of his judgment, just as in later centuries God used other nations to execute judgment upon Israel and Judah for their sins.
Rashi on Joshua 11:18
For many days did Yehoshua. This verse was said to criticize Yehoshua, who intended to delay the conquest of the land, in order to lengthen his days, for it is said, “And you will apportion it to them.”6It took seven years for Yehoshua to conquer the whole land. Our Sages say that he could have conquered the land more quickly. It did not have to take seven years. Yehoshua was reluctant to complete the conquest of the land and divide it between the tribes. He was afraid that once he completed it, he would die. He knew his mission in life was to bring Bnei Yisroel into Eretz Yisroel and settle them there. Once his mission was completed, his life would have no further purpose. See Devorim 31:7…
