Joshua 13:1

1 Now when Joshua was old and advanced in years, the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed.

Joshua 13:1 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 13:1

Now Joshua was old, [and] stricken in years
How old he was cannot be said precisely, but it is very probable he was now about an hundred years of age, for he lived to be an hundred ten; and the land of Canaan was seven years in dividing, as the Jews generally say, and it seems as if he did not live long after that:

and the Lord said unto him:
either spoke to him out of the tabernacle, or appeared to him in a dream or vision:

thou art old, [and] stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very
much land to be possessed:
that is, very much of the land of Canaan, which God had promised to Abraham, yet remained unconquered by Joshua, and unpossessed by the children of Israel; and the old age of Joshua is observed, to intimate to him that through it, and the infirmities of it, he was unable to go out to war, and to finish this work, which must be left to be done by others hereafter; and that he should with all expedition set about another work he was capable of doing, before he died, which was the division of the land among the tribes of Israel.

Joshua 13:1 In-Context

1 Now when Joshua was old and advanced in years, the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed.

2 This is the land that yet remains: all the borders of the Philistines and all Geshuri

3 from the Nile, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted among the Canaanites; five cardinals of the Philistines; the Gazathites and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites, also the Avites;

4 towards the Negev all the land of the Canaanites and Mearah that is beside those of Sidon unto Aphek to the border of the Amorite;

5 and the land of the Giblites and all Lebanon toward the sunrising, from Baalgad at the root of Mount Hermon unto the entering into Hamath.