Joshua 13:1-6

10. By what name was this northern area known?

God's Instructions to Joshua 13:1-6

Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.
2 This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri,
3 From Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites:
4 From the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders of the Amorites:
5 And the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon unto the entering into Hamath,
6 All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.

1.

How old was ?Joshua 13:1

The statement is made that Joshua was old and stricken in years. His exact age is not given, but we know that he died at the age of one hundred and ten years (Joshua 24:29). He would of necessity have been at least sixty years old when he came into the Promised Land, since he was among those numbered at Sinai and also among those numbered in the steppes of Moab forty years later. Only Joshua and Caleb were among those counted in the first census and among those who were allowed to go into the Promised Land. If he were sixty when he came into the land and died when he was one hundred and ten, he would be allowed some fifty years for conquering the land and settling the tribes in it. It seems reasonable to suppose that he made this division of the land some years before he died. Nevertheless, he must have been approaching the last years of his life when God gave him these instructions.

2.

How much land remained unconquered? Joshua 13:2-6

Part of the unconquered land lay towards the South, part toward the North. The cities still occupied by the Canaanites were left for capture by the tribes into whose allotment they might fall; but the land especially mentioned falls into the following districts: (1) The Shephelah and the Maritime Plain, being described as ... the borders of the Philistines; (2) Geshuri, the land of an ancient tribe, which lived in the desert between Arabia and Philistia (cf. 1 Samuel 27:8); (3) Pentapolis, the region of the five citiesGaza, Ashdod, Eshkalon, Gath, and Ekron; (4) Hamath, the extreme northern boundary point of Palestine; (5) and the land stretching from the Lebanon Mountains to Misrephoth-maim, probably the place later known as Zarephath.