Joshua 1:4

“From the wilderness, etc.] The wilderness of Kadesh and Sin, on the border of Edom; in the southeast corner, as Jarchi says, (see <043403> Numbers 34:3); and this Lebanon; which though on the other side Jordan, and at a considerable distance, being the northern border of the land towards Syria, might be seen afar off; or it is expressed, because it was a well known place, as Kimchi remarks: even unto the great river, the river Euphrates; which was the eastern border of the land, and to which it reached in the times of Solomon, whose dominion extended thither, (<110421>1 Kings 4:21); according to Jarchi, this was its breadth from south to north: all the land of the Hittites: who, though only…”

“all the land of the Hittites--These occupied the southern extremities and were the dominant tribe of Canaan. Their superior power and the extent of their dominions are attested by the mention of them under the name of Khita, on the Assyrian inscriptions, and still more frequently on the Egyptian inscriptions of the eighteenth and nineteenth Dynasties. What life and encouragement must have been imparted to Joshua by the assurance that his people, who had been overwhelmed with fear of that gigantic race, were to possess "all the land of the Hittites"!”

“Lebanon is spoken of as “this Lebanon,” because visible from the neighborhood in which Israel was encamped. (Compare Deuteronomy 3:8-9.) “The wilderness” of the text is the Desert of Arabia, which forms the southern, as Lebanon does the northern, limit of the promised land. The boundaries on the east and west are likewise indicated; and the intervening territory is described generally as “all the land of the Hittites.” The Hittites are properly the inhabitants of northern Canaan and Phoenicia (see Exodus 3:8 note), but the name appears to be used here for the Canaanites in general, as in 1 Kings 10:29. On the boundaries of the promised land compare Deuteronomy 11:24; Genesis 15:18. return to…”

“This Lebanon - Emphatically, as being the most eminent mountain in Syria, and the northern border of the land: or this which is within thy view. Hittites - Of the Canaanites, who elsewhere are all called Amorites; ( Gen 15:16) and here Hittites, the Hittites being the most considerable and formidable of all. The greater - The midland sea, great in itself, and especially compared with those lesser collections of waters, which the Jews called seas. "But the Israelites never possessed all this land." I answer: That was from their own sloth and cowardice, and disobedience to God, and breach of those conditions upon which this promise was suspended: Though their possessions extended not to…”

“1:4 Ancient Israel’s southernmost settlement was in the Negev, in the vicinity of Beersheba (15:28). Israel’s northernmost tribes settled in portions of the Lebanon mountains, which made them neighbors of the Sidonians. • The Hittites were one of the subgroups that made up Canaan’s population (see study note on 3:10).”

“From the wilderness: That is, their utmost limits should be from the Desert of Arabia Petrea on the south, to Lebanon on the north; and from the Euphrates on the east, to the Great Sea, or the Mediterranean, on the west. The Israelites did not possess the full extent of this grant till the time of David. Gen 15:18-21; Exo 23:31; Num. 34:2-18; Deu 1:7, Deu 3:25, Deu 11:24; Ch1 5:9; Ch1 18:3 Joshua 1:5”

“The boundaries of the land are given as in Deu 11:24, with the simple difference in form, that the boundary line from the desert (of Arabia) and Lebanon, i.e., from the southern and northern extremity, is drawn first of all towards the east to the great river, the Euphrates, and then towards the west to "the great sea, toward the going down of the sun," i.e., the Mediterranean; and then between these two termini ad quem the more precise definition is inserted, "all the land of the Hittites;" whereas in Deuteronomy the southern, northern, and eastern boundaries are placed in antithesis to the western boundary, and the more precise definition of the country to be taken is given by an…”