And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.

And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.

And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:

Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware ° to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

6:4 giants. These “giants” were the monstrous progeny of the demon-possessed men and women whose illicit activities led to God’s warning of imminent judgment. The Hebrew word is nephilim (“fallen ones”), a term possibly relating to the nature of their spiritual “parents,” the fallen angels. That they were also physical giants is evident from the fact that the same word is later used in connection with the giants in Canaan at the time of Joshua (Numbers 13:33) and by the fact that the word here was translated in the Septuagint by the Greek word gigantes.

11:31 the land of Canaan. Evidently Terah, as well as Abram, had received God’s call to go to Canaan, but Terah went north to Haran instead, perhaps intending to go on to Canaan later, after settling his deceased son’s affairs in Haran. Abram also had received God’s call while still in Mesopotamia (Acts 7:2,3), and so he and his wife set out with Terah. However, Terah never left Haran, eventually even joining in its idolatrous practices (Joshua 24:2,14,15).

14:5 Rephaims. Some of these Canaanite tribes seem actually to have been demon-possessed, in the same manner as the demon-energized population before the Flood (see notes on Genesis 6:1-4). The Rephaim (“strong ones”) and the Zamzummim (“powerful ones,” probably the same as the Zuzim) along with the Emim, all seem to have been of “the sons of Anak” or the Anakim, and all seem to have been giants (note Deuteronomy 2:10,20; Joshua 15:13). In Numbers 13:33, these Anakim are actually said to have been “giants” (Hebrew nephilim, the same word as used in Genesis 6:4). Furthermore, the term rephaim is also used to refer to some of the spirits of the wicked dead in Hades (Job 26:5; Proverbs 2:18; 9:18; 21:16; Isaiah 14:9; 26:14). All of this suggests another irruption of demonic spirits after the Flood, possibly at the rebellion at Babel, with giant progeny again being produced through demon-possessed parents. Their descendants inhabited Canaan.

15:20 the Hittites. The Hittites were descended from Heth (Genesis 10:15), eventually becoming a great empire. See notes on Genesis 23:20 and Joshua 1:4. There are some forty references to them in the Bible.

23:17 Machpelah. There is a seeming discrepancy between this passage and the statement of Stephen (Acts 7:16) that Abraham’s purchased sepulcher was in Shechem. A possible explanation is that he bought the latter for his later family born of Keturah (Genesis 23:1; 25:1). These children then eventually lost it to the Hivites, from whom Jacob repurchased it for an altar eighty-five years after Abraham’s death (Genesis 33:20). It was later given to Joseph, and he and probably his brothers were eventually buried in it (Joshua 24:32; Acts 7:15,16).

49:10 not depart from Judah. This important prophecy has been strikingly fulfilled. Although Judah was neither Jacob’s firstborn son nor his favorite son nor the son who would produce the priestly tribe, he was the son through whom God would fulfill His promises to Israel and to the world. The leadership, according to Jacob, was to go to Judah, but this did not happen for over six hundred years. Moses came from Levi, Joshua from Ephraim, Gideon from Manasseh, Samson from Dan, Samuel from Ephraim and Saul from Benjamin. But when David finally became king, Judah held the sceptre and did not relinquish it until after Shiloh came. Shiloh, of course, is a name for the Messiah, probably related to the Hebrew word for “peace” (shalom) and meaning in effect “the one who brings peace.”

50:26 an hundred and ten years old. Joseph lived some fifty-four years after Jacob died, but his life-span was considerably shorter than Jacob’s 147 years. Longevity was still declining as a result of the traumatic changes in earth’s climatology and biology during the Flood. Although Joseph was buried in Egypt, the Israelites under Moses eventually reburied him in Canaan as he had requested (Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32).

6:17 sons of Gershon. In Exodus 6:16-19, the genealogy from Levi to Moses through Kohath and Amram is abbreviated to just four generations, although the stay in Egypt is said to be 430 years (Exodus 12:40-41). Note, however, that approximately this same period from Ephraim (a son of Joseph) to Joshua involved ten generations (I Chronicles 7:22-27). It is thus possible that the Levi-to-Moses genealogy gave only the four “major” ancestors of Moses, corresponding roughly to the 430-year stay of Israel in Egypt. However, see also the notes on Genesis 15:16.

28:3 spirit of wisdom. Joshua, like these craftsmen making the beautiful garments of the high priest, was “full of the spirit of wisdom” (Deuteronomy 34:9). Two very different types of occupation are detailed, yet both were carried out “heartily, as unto the Lord” (Colossians 3:23) in the wisdom of the Spirit of God.

27:28 devoted thing. A thing “devoted” could not be redeemed with money or anything else. It was considered “under the ban.” The same word is translated “accursed,” as in the case of the city of Jericho (Joshua 6:17). Everything “devoted” or “accursed” thenceforth belonged only to God, whether for destruction or for His use.