Verse 18
Joshua made war a long time - The whole of these conquests were not effected in one campaign: they probably required six or seven years. There are some chronological notices in this book, and in Deuteronomy, by which the exact time may be nearly ascertained. Caleb was forty years old when he was sent from Kadesh-barnea by Moses to search out the land, about A.M. 2514; and at the end of this war he was eighty-five years old; (compare Joshua 14:10 ; with Numbers 13, and Deuteronomy 1); consequently the war ended in 2559, which had begun, by the passage of Jordan, on the tenth day of the first month of the year 2554. From this date to the end of 2559 we find exactly six years; the first of which Joshua seems to have employed in the conquest of the south part of the land of Canaan, and the other five in the conquest of all the territories situated on the north of that country. See Dodd. Calmet computes this differently, and allows the term of seven years for the conquest of the whole land. "Caleb was forty years old when sent from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land. At the conclusion of the war he was eighty-five years old, as himself says, Joshua 14:10 . From this sum of eighty-five subtract forty, his age when he went from Kadesh-barnea, and the thirty-eight years which he spent in the wilderness after his return, and there will remain the sum of seven years, which was the time spent in the conquest of the land."
- By protracting the war the Canaanites had time to repent, having sufficient opportunity to discern the hand of Jehovah.
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