Ver. 4. From the wilderness and this Lebanon—shall be your coast— That is, from all that desart which lies south of the place where you now are, to mount Lebanon, fronting you on the north; and from the Euphrates on the east, to the Mediterranean sea on the west. See Genesis 25:18. Deuteronomy 1:7. The Hittites, part of whom were of the race of the giants, inhabited, with the Amorites, the mountainous country to the south of the land of Canaan, and were famous for their valour. To promise Joshua the conquest of their country, was to declare to him the utter defeat of the Canaanites; and this, doubtless, is the reason why they were here named in preference. Joshua drove them out of their country, but did not destroy them utterly; for mention is made of their kings a long time afterwards. See 2 Kings 7:6. The great sea, toward the going down of the sun, i.e. the Mediterranean sea to the west.
Related Commentaries of Joshua 1:4
Joshua 1:4
4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.