_PREPARATION FOR THE LORD’S WAR_ CRITICAL NOTES.— Joshua 5:1. Amorites] Deriv. from _Amar_ = “high,” “lofty.” The people were “dwellers in the mountains” (cf. Numbers 13:29, and chap. Joshua 11:3). _Kurtz_ and _Fürst_ think that the word has an allusion to the large stature of the race: “lofty, hig... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.— Joshua 5:2. Sharp knives] Marg. “knives of flints” (cf. Exodus 4:25). The reason for using stone knives may have been more on account of legal than of physical considerations. The use of iron was certainly forbidden in some covenant rites (cf. Exodus 20:25; Deuteronomy 27:5; chap. J... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.— Joshua 5:10. Kept the passover] This was the third passover feast; the first was kept in Egypt, the second at Sinai (Numbers 9:5). The feast of the covenant could not be observed while the covenant itself was broken. _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Joshua 5:10_ THE FIRST PASS... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.— Joshua 5:13. By Jericho] Lit., _in_ Jericho. Ewald gives the meaning, “the immediate neighbourhood, the closest connection with another thing, and, as it were, the act of entering into it.” This should have prevented the remark, “The place may have been near Gilgal.… ‘Near Gilgal’... [ Continue Reading ]