Joshua 3:10

3:7-13 The waters of Jordan shall be cut off. This must be done in such a way as never was done, but in the dividing of the Red sea. That miracle is here repeated; God has the same power to finish the salvation of his people, as to begin it; the WORD of the Lord was as truly with Joshua as with Moses. God's appearances for his people ought to encourage faith and hope. God's work is perfect, he will keep his people. Jordan's flood cannot keep out Israel, Canaan's force cannot turn them out again.

10 . the living God ] Comp. Deuteronomy 5:26 , “For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God?” This title is applied to God to indicate that He is not dead , like the “lying vanities” of heathenism ( Leviticus 19:4 ; Deuteronomy 32:21 ; Jonah 2:8 ), but the source of all life. the Canaanites ] Seven nations are here enumerated, as also, though in varying order, in Deuteronomy 7:1 ; Joshua 9:1 ; Joshua 11:3 ; Joshua 24:11 . (i) The Canaanites ( Deuteronomy 1:7 ), or “Lowlanders” properly so called, occupied ( a ) the sea-coast as far north as Dan; ( b ) a considerable portion of the plain of Esdraelon; and ( c ) of the Valley of the Jordan ( Numbers 13:29 ). (ii) The Hittites , descended from Heth, the second son of Canaan, and settled in the time of Abraham in and round Hebron ( Genesis 23:19 ; Genesis 25:9 ), then called Kirjath-Arba . At that time the tribe was as yet but small and not important enough to be noticed beside the “Canaanite” and the “Perizzite.” Afterwards they acquired greater strength, and took their place as equal allies with the other nations. (iii) The Hivites are omitted ( a ) in the first enumeration of the nations, who, at the time of the call of Abraham, occupied the Promised Land ( Genesis 15:19-21 ); ( b ) in the report of the spies ( Numbers 13:29 ). We first hear of them when Jacob returned to Canaan ( Genesis 34:2 ).

A peaceful and commercial people ( Genesis 34:10 ; Genesis 34:23 ; Genesis 34:28-29 ), they were mainly located “under Hermon, in the land of Mizpeh” ( Joshua 11:3 ), in “mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath” ( Jdg 3:3 ; 2 Samuel 24:7 ). (iv) The Perizzites , which word is thought to denote “rustics,” “dwellers in the open, unwalled towns,” were located partly in the south ( Jdg 1:4-5 ), partly in the forest country “on the western flanks of mount Carmel.” (v) The Girgashites are conjectured to have been a large family of the Hivites, as they are omitted in nine out of the ten places in which the nations or families of Canaan are mentioned, while in the tenth they are mentioned and the Hivites omitted. They are supposed to have been settled in that part of the country which lay to the east of the Lake of Gennesareth. (vi) The Amorites , or “Mountaineers,” occupied ( Genesis 14:7 ) the barren heights west of the Dead Sea, and stretched west to Hebron ( Genesis 13:18 ; Genesis 14:13 ); thence, tempted probably by the high tablelands on the east, they crossed the Jordan, and occupied the country from the Arnon to the Jabbok ( Numbers 21:13 ; Numbers 21:26 ). In the genealogical table of Genesis 10 “the Amorite” is given as the fourth son of Canaan. (vii) The Jebusites are uniformly placed last in the formula, by which the Promised Land is often designated. They were a mountain tribe, and occupied the strong fortress of Jebus ( Jerusalem ).

Hereby ye shall know, to wit, by experience and sensible evidence. The living God; not a dull, dead, senseless, and unactive god, such as the gods of the nations are; but a God of life, and power, and activity, to watch over you, and work for you. Is among you; is present with you to strengthen and help you, as the phrase signifies, Exodus 17:7 Deu 31:17 Joshua 22:31 .

And Joshua said, {d} Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. (d) By this miracle in dividing the water.

Jos 3:9-13. Joshua Encourages the People. 9-13. Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord—It seems that the Israelites had no intimation how they were to cross the river till shortly before the event. The premonitory address of Joshua, taken in connection with the miraculous result exactly as he had described it, would tend to increase and confirm their faith in the God of their fathers as not a dull, senseless, inanimate thing like the idols of the nations, but a Being of life, power, and activity to defend them and work for them.

Verse 10. - That the living God. Rather, perhaps, that a living God, i.e. , that you have not with you some idol of wood or stone, or some deified hero, long since passed out of your reach, but a living, working, ever present God, who shows by His acts that your faith in Him is not vain. The phrase is a very common one as applied to God in the Old Testament. In the New, Christ is frequently referred to as the source of life. Is among you. The original is stronger, in the midst of you. The Canaanites. The descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham ( Genesis 9:18 ). The word which signifies "low" is by some supposed to signify the same as lowlanders, because the Canaanites inhabited the less mountainous portions of Palestine, by the sea ( Numbers 13:29 ; Joshua 5:1 ), and by the side of Jordan ( Numbers 13:29 ). According to Ewald, their territory extended along the west bank of the Jordan as far as the Mediterranean Sea. Canaan has also been held to signify bowed down, depressed (see Genesis 9:25 ). But St. Augustine, in his exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (sec. 13), says that the country folk of the neighbourhood of Carthage, a Phoenician colony, as the name Punic implies, called themselves Canani , which they would hardly have done were the name a badge of servitude. Whether we are to attach much importance to this statement or not , it is certainly a remarkable coincidence.

The story told by Procopius ('DeBello Vandalico, 2:10; see also Suidas, s.v. χάνααν ) of two pillars of white stone near Tangier, with the inscription in Phoenician, "We are those who fled from the face of the robber Joshua, the son of Nun," is obviously not to be depended upon. Even if the inscription existed it was not likely to be of ancient date And as Kenrick remarks ('Phoenicia,' p. 67), those who erected the pillars were not likely (1) to represent themselves as fugitives, and (2) to speak of Joshua as the "son of Nun." He further remarks that, while the oldest genuine Phoenician inscription is not more than four hundred years before Christ, this, if genuine, must have been erected nearly a thousand years earlier still; and he further observes on the impossibility of its having been deciphered by the scholars of Justinian's day. The stow, no doubt, had its origin in the Rabbinical tradition, mentioned by Jarchi in his Commentary, as well as by Kimchi, that Joshua grote three letters to the Canaanites before invading Palestine: the first inviting them to make peace; the second, on their refusal, proclaiming war; the third, to those who feared the wrath of Jehovah, warning them to depart to Africa - advice which, Jarchi adds, was actually taken by a great many. Concerning these seven nations more will be found in the Introduction (see also Genesis 10:15-18 ; Genesis 15:19-21 ; Exodus 3:8, 17 , dec.).