Joshua 14:8

8 My brethren that went up with me turned away the heart of the people, but I applied my self to follow the Lord my God.

Joshua 14:8 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 14:8

Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me
Meaning the rest of the spies, excepting Joshua, that went up with him into the land of Canaan to spy it, which they might be properly said to do, since they went up a hill or mountain, in order to go into it, ( Numbers 13:17 ) ;

made the heart of the people melt;
discouraged them, filled them with fears, sunk their spirits, that their hearts flowed, and became as weak as water, having no strength left in them, or hope of possessing the land; being told what stout and gigantic men the inhabitants of it were, and how strongly fortified were their cities:

but I wholly followed the Lord my God;
and did not join with them in an ill report of the good land; but having the fear of God before his eyes, walked after that, and delivered in his report faithfully, according to the dictates of his conscience, and the real sentiments of his mind; of this phrase, (See Gill on Numbers 14:24).

Joshua 14:8 In-Context

6 And the children of Juda came to Joshua in Galgal, and Chaleb the of Jephone the Kenezite said to him, Thou knowest the word that the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Cades Barne.

7 For I was forty years old when Moses the servant of God sent me out of Cades Barne to spy out the land; and I returned him an answer according to his mind.

8 My brethren that went up with me turned away the heart of the people, but I applied my self to follow the Lord my God.

9 And Moses sware on that day, saying, The land on which thou art gone up, it shall be thy inheritance and thy children's for ever, because thou hast applied thyself to follow the Lord our God.

10 And now the Lord has kept me alive as he said: this the forty-fifth year since the Lord spoke that word to Moses; and Israel journeyed in the wilderness; and now, behold, I this day eighty-five years old.

Footnotes

• [a]. according to the Heb. idiom, 'fully followed.'