Joshua 11:23

[ 23. Joshua took the whole land This verse and Joshua 21:43-45, seem at first sight not to agree with Joshua 13:1, and Joshua 18:3, and there have not been wanting critics to urge that these passages are irreconcilably discrepant. But the discrepancy is only apparent. The key to a proper interpretation is furnished in Joshua 23:1-5, where in one and the same passage it is assumed that all the Canaanitish enemies are subdued, and yet some nations are to be expelled and their land possessed by Israel. Plainly the author never meant to say that every Canaanite and every city and hamlet in all Palestine was destroyed by the sword of Joshua. The land was thoroughly subdued, and the Canaanitish power and dominion were utterly broken; but the Lord had expressly declared that he would not utterly expel the Canaanites at once, but gradually, lest the beasts of the field multiply against them. The possession by the enemy of a number of isolated cities and districts was not therefore inconsistent with the broad statement of this passage. Compare also notes on Joshua 21:43-45.

The land rested from war A concluding statement of the historical portion of the book, repeated at Joshua 14:15, and used for the same purpose as here, namely, to form a transition from the history of the wars of the conquest to the more peaceful work of distributing the subjugated land among the several tribes.]