All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephothmaim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.
All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim (see the note at Joshua 11:8) - that is, 'all the Sidonians and Phoenicians.'
Them will I drive out. Biblical writers differ in opinion as to the exact limits of the Israelite possession on the northwest-whether the land of promise was to extend to the shores of the Mediterranean, or a narrow tract was to be reserved to the Sidonians. The former view is most generally preferred, for this reason, that the phrase "all the Sidonians" seems clearly to include the inhabitants of that district among the people who were to be driven out (cf. Joshua 19:28-29; Judges 1:31). The fulfillment of this promise was conditional. In the event of the Israelites proving unfaithful or disobedient, they would not subdue the districts now specified; and, in point of fact, the Israelites never possessed them, though the inhabitants were subjected to the power of David and Solomon.
Only divide thou it by lot. The parenthetic section being closed, the historian here resumes the main subject of this chapter-the order of God to Joshua to make an immediate allotment of the land. The method of distribution by lot was in all respects the best that could have been adopted, as it prevented all ground of discontent, as well as charges of arbitrary or partial conduct on the part of the leaders; and its being announced in the life of Moses (Numbers 33:54) as the system according to which the allocations to each tribe should be made, was intended to lead the people to the acknowledgment of God as the proprietor of the land, and having the entire right of its disposal.
Moreover, a solemn appeal to the lot showed it to be the dictate, not of human, but divine wisdom. It was used, however, only in determining the Dart of the country where a tribe was to be settled-the extent of the settlement was to be decided on a different principle (Numbers 26:54); and what proves the overruling control of God, each tribe received the possession predicted by Jacob, Genesis 49:1-33, and by Moses, Deuteronomy 33:1-29.