Commentary on the Book of Joshua – Frank Marshall

Today’s free biblical commentary is The Book of Joshua by Frank Marshall. You can find more of Marshall’s commentaries here.

My thanks to Book Aid for making a copy of this public domain work available for digitisation.

Frank Marshall [1848-1906], The Book of Joshua with Maps, Notes, and Introduction. London: George Gill & Sons Ltd., n.d. Hbk. pp.138. [Click here to visit the download page for this title]

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Introduction
  • A Continuous Narrative
  • Title
  • Author and Date
  • Life and Character of Joshua
  • Joshua, a Type of Jesus
  • Scope of the Book
  • Chronology
  • The Conquest—How Far Completed
  • Government
  • The Ark
  • Heathenism
  • The Hand of God in the Conquest—The Miracles
  • The Moral Difficulty
  • Historical Notes
  • The Land
  • The Jordan
  • The Seven Nations of Palestine, and Other Nations
  • The Territories of the Different Tribes
  • Geographical Notes
  • Analysis of the Book
  • Typical Character of the Cities of Refuge

• Texts and Notes
  • Comments of the Revised Version
  • Words and Phrases Explained
  • Eastern Customs
  • Undesigned Coincidences
• Maps

I found the last section particularly interesting. Frank Marshall was obviously an advocate of J.J. Blunt’s Undesigned Coincidences, and references Blunt, Edersheim and A.H. Sayce here with approval. This is my favourite “coincidence” in his list:

8. The Babylonish Garment. The mention of Babylon in connection with the sin of Achan gives an indication of date and accuracy.

Babylon had for many centuries been famous for weaving and embroidery, and the merchants of Babylonia found a ready market for their goods in the cities of Canaan.

But at the time of the conquest of the land Babylon was about to fall into the hands of Assyria, and the old peaceful intercourse between Babylon and Canaan was coming to an end. Henceforth it was Assyria, and not Babylon, whose name was known or feared in Palestine, and the writer of a later day would have spoken of the goods of Assyria rather than those of the Babylonians—(Sayce)

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