Joshua 5:1

1 And it came to pass when the kings of the Amorites who were beyond Jordan heard, and the kings of Phoenicia by the sea, that the Lord God had dried up the river Jordan from before the children of Israel when they passed over, that their hearts failed, and they were terror-stricken, and there was no sense in them because of the children of Israel.

Joshua 5:1 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 5:1

And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which
[were] on the side of Jordan westward
On the side the Israelites were now on; and this is observed, to distinguish them from the other kings of the Amorites beyond Jordan, on the eastern side, who were already conquered by the Israelites, Sihon and Og, who seem to be a colony that went over from the Amorites in Canaan, and possessed themselves of that part of the land of Moab. These seem to be put for several others of the nations of the land not mentioned, who doubtless were as much dispirited as they; and they are the rather mentioned, because they were a principal nation, and a very powerful and warlike one, see ( Amos 2:9 ) .

and all the kings of the Canaanites which [were] by the sea;
the Mediterranean sea; the Septuagint version calls them the kings of Phoenicia; and that which was strictly and property so lay on that coast, in which were the cities of Tyre and Sidon, though the whole land of Canaan was sometimes so called; unless this is to be understood, either of the dead sea, or of the sea of Galilee; of which Canaanites, see ( Numbers 13:29 ) ; however, be they the one or the other, or both, as most likely, when they

heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the
children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted,
neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of
Israel;
they lost all their courage, and never recovered it any more; concluding it was all over with them, since such wonderful things were done for them by the Lord: the word "we" shows that the writer of this history was one that passed over Jordan, and who can be supposed but Joshua himself? this circumstance, I think, strongly corroborates that opinion.

Joshua 5:1 In-Context

1 And it came to pass when the kings of the Amorites who were beyond Jordan heard, and the kings of Phoenicia by the sea, that the Lord God had dried up the river Jordan from before the children of Israel when they passed over, that their hearts failed, and they were terror-stricken, and there was no sense in them because of the children of Israel.

2 And about this time the Lord said to Joshua, Make thee stone knives of sharp stone, and sit down and circumcise the children of Israel the second time.

3 And Joshua made sharp knives of stone, and circumcised the children of Israel at the place called the “Hill of Foreskins.”

4 And the way in which Joshua purified the children of Israel; as many as were born in the way, and as many as were uncircumcised of them that came out of Egypt,

5 all these Joshua circumcised; for forty and two years Israel wondered in the wilderness of Mabdaris—

Footnotes

• [a]. their minds or thoughts melted.
• [b]. from the face of.