Rashi
Jewish
1040–1105
“The river valleys. The place where the water of the hills rush down.”
From the early Church Fathers to now.
1 Jewish · 1 Reformed · 1 Methodist · 1 Catholic · 1 Lutheran
“So Josue conquered all the country of the hills and of the south and of the plain, and of Asedoth, with their kings: he left not any remains therein, but slew all that breathed, as the Lord the God of Israel had commanded him,”
“The river valleys. The place where the water of the hills rush down.”
“And Joshua smote them, from Kadeshbarnea,.... Which lay to the south of the land of Canaan, Num 13:17, even unto Gaza, which lay to the southwest, and was one of the five principalities of the Philistines; of which city See Gill on Amo 1:7; and See Gill on Act 8:26, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon; to which he returned back in his way to his camp at Gilgal, having conquered all the southern part of the country. This country of Goshen is not that in the land of Egypt, as Kimchi rightly remarks. Bishop Cumberland (m) is of opinion, that the Phoenician or Canaanitish pastors, who were driven out of Egypt before their expulsion, inhabited that part of Egypt called Goshen, which the Israelites some years after dwelt in; and when those shepherds were driven out, they came into this part of the land of Canaan, and called it after the name of the country they left in Egypt; and might perhaps the rather choose to give it this name, because of the goodness and fruitfulness of it, in which it resembled the country they had formerly dwelt in. (m) Remarks on the History of Sanchoniatho, p. 380, 381.”
“All the country of the hills - See the note on Deu 1:7. Destroyed all that breathed - Every person found in arms who continued to resist; these were all destroyed, - those who submitted were spared: but many no doubt made their escape, and afterwards reoccupied certain parts of the land. See Jos 10:36, Jos 10:37.”
“Hills of Judea. — South of the promised land. — Plain. Hebrew, Sephela, a flat country near Eleutheropolis. (St. Jerome in Abd. i. 19; 1 Machabees xii. 38.) — Asedoth, “of the springs.” — Remains. God ordered these people to be utterly destroyed, in punishment of their manifold abominations; and that they might not draw the Israelites into the like sins. (Challoner)”
“Summary of the Conquest of the Whole of Southern Canaan. - In the further prosecution of his victory over the five allied kings, Joshua smote the whole land, i.e., the whole of the south of Canaan from Gibeon onwards, in all its districts, namely the mountains (Jos 15:48), the Negeb (the south land, Jos 15:21), the lowlands (Jos 15:33), and the slopes, i.e., the hill region (Jos 12:8, and comm. on Num 21:15), and all the kings of these different districts, banning every living thing (כּל־נשׁמה = כּל־נפשׁ, Jos 10:28, Jos 10:30, i.e., all the men; vid., Deu 7:1-2; Deu 20:16. He smote them from Kadesh-barnea, on the southern boundary of Canaan (Jos 15:3; see at Num 12:16), to Gaza (see at Gen 10:9), and all the country of Goshen, a different place from the Goshen of Egypt, deriving its name in all probability from the town of Goshen on the southern portion of the mountains (Jos 15:51). As the line "from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza" defines the extent of the conquered country from south to north on the western side, so the parallel clause, "all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon," defines the extent from south to north on the eastern side. There is no tenable ground for the view expressed by Knobel, which rests upon very uncertain etymological combinations, that the land of Goshen signifies the hill country between the mountains and the plain, and is equivalent to אשׁדות.”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.