8
JOS 14:8
12
JOS 14:12
“ The mountain,” according to the context, is the mountainous region of Hebron, where the spies had seen the Anakites (Numbers 13:22, Numbers 13:28). The two clauses, in Joshua 14:12, beginning with כּי are not to be construed as subordinate to one another, but are co-ordinate clauses, and contain two distinct motives in support of his petition: viz., “ for thou heardest in that day,” sc., what Jehovah said to me then, and also “ for (because) the Anakites are ther e;” ... ” perhaps Jehovah is with me ( אתי for אתּי , see Ges. §103, 1, anm. 1, and Ewald, §264, b.), and I root them out ” (vid., Joshua 15:14). The word “perhaps” does not express a doubt, but a hope or desire, or else, as Masius says, “hope mixed with difficulty; and whilst the difficulty detracts from the value, the hope stimulates the desire for the gift.”
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13
JOS 14:13
Then Joshua blessed Caleb, i.e., implored the blessing of God upon his undertaking, and gave him Hebron for an inheritance. Hebron is mentioned as the chief city, to which the surrounding country belonged; for Caleb had asked for the mountains (Joshua 14:9), i.e., the mountainous country with and around Hebron, which included, for example, the fortified town of Debir also (Joshua 15:15).
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Whereas the other spies discouraged the people by exaggerated reports concerning the inhabitants of Canaan, he had followed the Lord with perfect fidelity (Numbers 13:31-33). He had not been made to waver in his faithfulness to the Lord and His promises either by the evil reports which the other spies had brought of the land, or by the murmuring and threats of the excited crowd (see Numbers 14:6-10). “ My brethren ” (Joshua 14:8) are the rest of the spies, of course with the exception of Joshua, to whom Caleb was speaking.
(Note: That Joshua was not included was evident from this circumstance alone, and consequently it is a complete perversion on the part of Knobel to argue, that because the expression is a general one, i.e., because Joshua is not expressly excepted by name, therefore he cannot have been one of the spies, not to mention the fact that the words “concerning me and thee,” in v. 6, are sufficient to show to any one acquainted with the account in Num 13-14, that Joshua was really one of them.)
המסין for המסוּ (see Ges. §75, anm. 17, and Ewald, §142, a.), from מסה = מסס (see Joshua 2:11).
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