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. (Joshua 13:6)
All the heathen tribes dwelling south of the Lebanon as far as the promontory of Rās en-Naḳūrah, or Misrephoth-maim, Khirbet el-Musheirefeh.
Will I drive out.
The original is emphatic, “It is I that will drive them out.” This promise, however, like other similar declarations, is to be understood conditionally. If the Israelites would go forward by faith as Joshua had done, God would fight for them and give them victory. But Israel failed to press their conquests to completion. Some of the very people whom God had promised to drive out but did not, for lack of Israel’s cooperation, became the source of Israel’s greatest irritation and shame in later years (see Num. 33:55; Judges 2:1-5; 10:6-9; 13:1; 1 Sam. 4). Israel failed to carry out their part of the agreement, and the promise remained unfulfilled. An unfulfilled promise of God to us should cause us to inquire diligently into the cause. God does not intend that the word that has gone out of His mouth shall return unto Him void (Isa. 55:11).
Divide thou it by lot.
Literally, “cause thou it to fall for an inheritance.” The phraseology is evidently derived from the method of casting lots by which its distribution was governed. Though still only partially conquered, the great Proprietor would have His people consider the country even now as theirs. As a pledge of the sincerity of His purpose to give the entire land to them, He directs that without further delay it be divided among the tribes.