Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Date and Writer
  The Book of Joshua evidently came into being several years after the events recorded in the book took place. A number of statements point to a time of composition beyond the conquest and perhaps beyond the lifetime of Joshua....
• Scope
  As I have explained previously, the date of the Exodus was about 1446 B.C. (cf. 1 Kings 6:1).7Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness (Exod. 16:35; Num. 14:33-34). Thus Israel crossed the Jordan River and entered the land abo...
• Outline
  I. The conquest of the land chs. 1-12A. Preparations for entering Canaan chs. 1-21. God's charge to Joshua 1:1-92. Joshua's charge to Israel 1:10-183. The spying out of Jericho ch. 2B. Entrance into the land 3:1-5:121. Passag...
• 1. God's charge to Joshua 1:1-9
  In one sense verses 1-9 are a preamble to the whole book. They contain the basic principles that were to guide Joshua and Israel so they could obtain all that God had promised their forefathers.1:1 The first word of the book ...
• The slaughter of the western kings 12:7-24
  The writer identified 31 kings in the order in which Joshua defeated them."Many of the same names appear in the Amarna letters, thus confirming the historicity of our text."158"The description was not complete. Shechem is not...
• II. THE DIVISION OF THE LAND chs. 13--21
  Chapters 13-24 describe how Joshua divided the land and the results of that division. Many if not all the Israelite tribes did not conquer or control all the land allotted to them (15:63; 16:10; 17:12-13). The record of the a...
• 2. Caleb's inheritance 14:6-15
  Before the casting of lots began Caleb came to Joshua with his fellow tribesmen from Judah to request the inheritance that Moses had promised him (v. 9; Deut. 1:36; cf. Num. 14:26-38). Moses had promised Caleb land in Canaan ...
• 4. Joseph's inheritance chs. 16-17
  The writer may have dealt with the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh together since Jacob had given Joseph the second largest blessing after Judah (Gen. 49). Moreover half the tribe of Manasseh had already received its inheritan...
• 5. Survey of the remaining land 18:1-10
  After the process of assigning land to the three tribes mentioned above, Israel's attention turned to relocating the tabernacle in a more central location (v. 1). God undoubtedly made the choice of Shiloh (lit. rest; cf. Deut...
• The inheritance of Joshua 19:49-50
  As Caleb, Joshua received a city, Timnath-serah (called Timnath-heres in Judg. 2:9), within his tribal allotment of Ephraim for being faithful to God."Caleb and Joshua were the two faithful spies who believed God was able to ...
• The conclusion of the allotment 19:51
  Israel's leaders completed this division of the land at Shiloh, the new location of the tabernacle."The gift of the land brought blessings not only to the nation as a whole and to the individual tribes. It also brought blessi...
• E. The faithfulness of God 21:43-45
  These verses conclude the account of the division of the land proper (chs. 13-21; cf. 1:2-6; 11:23). They bind the two parts of the second half of the book together. They form a theological conclusion to the entire book up to...
• A. The return of the two and one-half tribes to their inheritances ch. 22
  The main part of the second half of the Book of Joshua dealing with the division of the land ends with the appointment of the Levitical cities (chs. 13-21). The rest of the book deals with settlement in the land (chs. 22-24)....
• B. Boaz obtains the right to marry Ruth 4:7-12
  Probably the practice of standing on land one possessed led to the custom of using the sandal as a symbol of possession in land transactions (v. 7; cf. Gen. 13:17; Deut. 1:36; 11:24; Josh. 1:3; 14:9).80Most scholars believe t...
• Scope
  The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
• Solomon's petition for wisdom 3:4-15
  A tabernacle, evidently the Mosaic tabernacle, and the Mosaic tabernacle's bronze altar still stood at Gibeon (lit. little hill; 1 Chron. 16:39-40; 21:28-29; 2 Chron. 1:3, 5-6). Gibeon was one of the so-called high places whe...
• 6. Future invasion of the Promised Land chs. 38-39
  This is the sixth and last message that Ezekiel received from the Lord the night before the refugees reached the exiles with the message that Jerusalem had fallen (cf. 33:21-22). It too deals with God's plans for Israel in th...
• Tribal allotments in the north 48:1-7
  The tribe of Dan was to receive the northernmost section of the Promised Land. The order of tribes from north to south, north of the sacred district, was Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and Judah--seven tribal...