Yeşu 18:9

Ki̇tap (Turkish Bible)

9 Adamlar yola çıkıp ülkeyi dolaştılar; kent kent, yedi bölge halinde kayda geçirdikten sonra Şiloda, ordugahta bulunan Yeşunun yanına döndüler.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

described: The surveyors seem to have formed some kind of map of the country, as well as a description of it in writing. The Egyptians, from the situation of their fields, as annually overflowed by the Nile, acquired great skill in mensuration and land surveying; and some of the Israelites had, no doubt, learned these from them, without a knowledge of which they could not properly have divided the land. This is probably the first act of surveying on record.

into seven: Acts 13:19

Reciprocal: Joshua 18:4 - describe 1 Samuel 17:31 - sent for him Jeremiah 32:10 - subscribed the evidence

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the men went and passed through the land,.... Undisturbed by the inhabitants that remained; the fear of the Israelites being still upon them, and the providence of God restraining them, so that the men passed through the whole country, and took a survey of it without any molestation:

and described it by cities, into seven parts, in a book; or map, or rather made seven maps of it, and set down the several cities in each division, with the places adjacent, hills and vales, and marked out a plain and exact chorography of the whole, by which it appears they must be men well skilled in geometry. Josephus b says, that Joshua added to them some that understood geometry; but doubtless the persons each tribe chose and sent were such whom they knew were well versed in that art, and so fit for the business; and which they had, no doubt, learned in Egypt, this being one part of the wisdom and learning of the Egyptians; who boasted of it as an invention of theirs, as Diodorus Siculus c relates; and indeed they were obliged to study it, their country being divided into several homes, and these into lesser districts, and which also were subdivided, and according thereunto were the king's taxes levied upon them; and what with the confusion frequently made by the overflowings of the Nile, they were frequently obliged to measure their land over again; and hence they became expert in this science, which is commonly believed took its rise from them, and passed into Greece, as Herodotus d, and Strabo e, and other authors relate; however, it is certain from this instance in the time of Joshua, that geometry was not the invention of Anaximander, about five hundred years before Christ, as some have asserted f:

and came [again] to Joshua to the host at Shiloh; where the camp, as well as the people in common, and the tabernacle, were; they returned, as Josephus g says, at the end of seven months; and to measure so much land, and make such divisions of it, and give the plans and maps of each division, must take up a considerable time.

b Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 21. c Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 63. d Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 109. e Geograph. l. 17. p. 541, 542. Vid. Suidam in voce γεωμετρια. f Vid. Strabo. Geograph. l. 1. p. 5. Lar. l. 2. Vit. Anaximan I. g Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 21.)

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 18:9. And described it in a book — This as far as I can recollect, is the first act of surveying on record. These men and their work differed widely from those who had searched the land in the time of Moses; they went only to discover the nature of the country, and the state of its inhabitants; but these went to take an actual geographical survey of it, in order to divide it among the tribes which had not yet received their portions. We may suppose that the country was exactly described in a book, that is, a map, pointing out the face of the country, accompanied with descriptions of each part.