The Expositor's Bible: The Book of JoshuaBlaikie, William Garden
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Joshua
Blaikie, William Garden
Bible. Joshua -- Commentaries
Only six cities are enumerated as "in the wilderness" (vv. 61, 62), so
that its population must have been very small. And of those mentioned
some are wholly unknown. The most interesting of the six is Engedi,
which derived its name from a celebrated fountain, meaning "fountain
of the kid." It is noted as one of the hiding-places of David; Saul
pursued him to it, and it was there that David spared his life when he
found him in a cave (1 Sam. xxiv.). Solomon extols its vineyards and
its camphire (Song of Solomon i. 14) [henna-flowers, R.V.], Josephus
its balsam (Ant., ix. 1, § 2), and Pliny its palms (v. 17). In ancient
times it was the site of a town, and in the fourth century, in
Jerome's time, there was still a considerable village; now, however,
there is no trace of anything of the kind. Sir Walter Scott, in the
"Talisman," makes it the abode of a Christian hermit--Theodoric of
Engaddi. It is situated near the middle of the western shore of the
Dead Sea. A rich plain, half a mile square, slopes gently from the
base of the mountains to the sea; and about a mile up the western
acclivity, four hundred feet above the plain, is the fountain of Ain
Jiddy, from which the place gets its name.
Such, then, was the distribution of the cities of Judah over the four
sections of the territory, the south, the Shephelah, the highlands,
and the wilderness. It was an ample and varied domain, and after Caleb
expelled the Anakim, there seems to have been little or no opposition
to the occupation of the whole by the tribe. But "the crook in the
lot" was not wanting. The great Jebusite fortress, Jerusalem, was on
the very edge of the northern boundary of Judah. Nominally, as we have
said, Jerusalem was in the territory of Benjamin, but really it was a
city of Judah. For it is said (ver. 63), "As for the Jebusites, the
children of Judah could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell
with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day."[24] For some
reason Joshua had omitted to take possession of this stronghold after
the battle of Bethhoron. The stream of pursuit had gone westward, and
the opportunity of taking Jerusalem when the king had been slain and
his army cut to pieces, was lost. And just as in modern history, when
the opportunity of taking Sebastopol was lost after the battle of the
Alma, and a long, harassing and most disastrous siege had to be
resorted to, so it was with Jerusalem; the Jebusites, recovering their
spirits after the defeat, were able to hold it, and to defy the tribe
of Judah, and all the tribes, for many a long year. While the fortress
was held by the Jebusites, Jew and Jebusite dwelt together in the
city, leading no doubt a comfortless life, neither the one nor the
other feeling truly at home.
[24] A proof that Joshua was written before the time of David.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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