Joshua 1:4

4 Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great Euphrates River-all the land of the Hittites-and west to the Mediterranean Sea.[a][b]

Joshua 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 1:4

From the wilderness
The wilderness of Kadesh and Sin, on the border of Edom; in the southeast corner, as Jarchi says, see ( Numbers 34:3 ) ;

and this Lebanon;
which though on the other side Jordan, and at a considerable distance, being the northern border of the land towards Syria, might be seen afar off; or it is expressed, because it was a well known place, as Kimchi remarks:

even unto the great river, the river Euphrates;
which was the eastern border of the land, and to which it reached in the times of Solomon, whose dominion extended thither, ( 1 Kings 4:21 ) ; according to Jarchi, this was its breadth from south to north:

all the land of the Hittites:
who, though only one of the seven nations of Canaan, are put for the rest, and the rather mentioned, because, as their name signifies, they were very formidable and terrible; among them dwelt the Anakim, and they themselves were very warlike and populous; or they are taken notice of particularly here, because they dwelt in the western part of the land described by them, so Kimchi thinks; according to Jarchi, this was its length from east to west:

and unto the great sea:
the Mediterranean sea, which was the western border of the land of Canaan, called great, in comparison of the sea of Tiberias, and the salt sea, which were in it:

toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast;
the western coast, (See Gill on Deuteronomy 11:24); this will be more fully verified in Christ, when his kingdom is from sea to sea, ( Psalms 72:8 ) .

Joshua 1:4 In-Context

2 "Moses My servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites.
3 I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses.
4 Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great Euphrates River-all the land of the Hittites-and west to the Mediterranean Sea.
5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you.
6 "Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Lit and to the Great Sea, the going down of the sun
  • [b]. Dt 11:24
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