Joshua 11:4

4 And (they) all went out with their companies, a full much people, as the gravel which is in the brink of the sea (like the gravel, or the sand, which is at the seashore), and horses, and chariots, of great multitude.

Joshua 11:4 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 11:4

And they went out
The several kings and people sent to; these went out from the places they inhabited:

they and all their hosts with them;
the kings of those several places, with their armies:

much people, even as the sand that [is] upon the seashore in multitude;
a proverbial expression, to denote an exceeding great number:

with horses and chariots very many;
being supplied with horses from Egypt, and their chariots were chariots of iron; see ( Judges 4:3 ) ; Josephus ^F26 gives us the number of this great army, and says it consisted of three hundred thousand footmen, ten thousand horse, and thirty thousand chariots; some copies read only twenty thousand; and these chariots were armed with iron hooks or scythes, to cut down men as they drove along, and so were very terrible.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 18.

Joshua 11:4 In-Context

2 forsooth to the kings of the north, that dwelled in the hilly places, and in the plain against the south of Chinneroth, and in the field places, and (in the) countries of Dor, beside the sea, (and to the kings of the north, who lived in the hill country, and those on the plain to the south of the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Galilee, and in the valley, and in the countryside of Dor, on the west,)

3 and to (the) Canaanite from the east and (the) west, and to (the) Amorite, and Hittite, and Perizzite, and (the) Jebusite in the mountains, and to (the) Hivite, that dwelled at the roots of the hill of Hermon (who lived at the foot of Mount Hermon), in the land of Mizpeh.

4 And (they) all went out with their companies, a full much people, as the gravel which is in the brink of the sea (like the gravel, or the sand, which is at the seashore), and horses, and chariots, of great multitude.

5 And all these kings came together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

6 And the Lord said to Joshua, Dread thou not them, for tomorrow, in this same hour, I shall betake all these men to be wounded in the sight of Israel; thou shalt hock the horses of them, and thou shalt burn the chariots by fire. (And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not thou fear them, for tomorrow, at this same hour, I shall make all these men to be killed before the army of Israel; and thou shalt hock their horses, and thou shalt burn up their chariots with fire.)