Joshua 13:5

Giblites. Heb. gibli, translated “stone-squarers” in 1 Kings 5:18. These people inhabited Gebal, an important Phoenician seaport. This city, called Byblos by the Greeks, was 17 1/2 mi. (28.2 km.) north by east from Beirut. From this it is evident that God intended Israel to occupy territory much farther to the north than they actually later conquered. In fact, He had declared that the Euphrates was to be their boundary (Gen. 15:18; Deut. 11:24).

Lebanon, toward the sunrising. The eastern range, that is, the Anti-Lebanon.

Baal-gad. Literally, “lord of fortune.” All the kings south of Baal-gad had been conquered (see on eh. 11:17 and 12:7). Now the reference is to the unconquered territory north from Baal-gad.

The entering into Hamath. Investigation has shown that when the Hebrew word lebo’, “entering,” is used with the name Hamath it refers to an ancient city known today as Lebweh, 70 mi. (113 km.) south-southwest of Hama, the Biblical Hamath. Ancient Egyptian texts frequently mention the city, which was at that time a dependency of Hamath.

The northern border of Israel is described as extending to the “entering in of Hamath” (Judges 3:3; 1 Kings 8:65; see Num. 34:8; 2 Kings 14:25). There were times when the border of Israel actually extended that far, as in the reign of Solomon and also in the reign of Jeroboam II.