Object. God had not yet given it unto them. Answ.
1. The past tense is here put for the future, will give, after the manner of the prophets.
2. Things are oft said to be done when they are only resolved, or decreed, or attempted to be done, in which sense Reuben is said to deliver Joseph, Genesis 37:21; Balak to fight against Israel, Joshua 24:9; Abraham to have offered his son, Hebrews 11:17.
3. God may well be said to have given it, not only because he had purposed and promised to give it, but also because he was now about to give it, and had already given them some part of it, and that as an earnest of the whole.
4. This may be particularly understood of that part of Israel's possession which was beyond Jordan, which God had actually given to them, that is, to some of them, for even the land of Canaan on this side Jordan was not given to all of them, but only to some of the tribes. Of the Horims, see Genesis 14:6, Genesis 36:20.