Thursday, January 31, 2013

Reflections on Joshua 11


    Joshua 11 (Contemporary English Version)
  1. King Jabin of Hazor heard about Joshua's victories, so he sent messages to many nearby kings and asked them to join him in fighting Israel. He sent these messages to King Jobab of Madon, the kings of Shimron and Achshaph,
  2. the kings in the northern hill country and in the Jordan River valley south of Lake Galilee, and the kings in the foothills and in Naphath-Dor to the west.
  3. He sent messages to the Canaanite kings in the east and the west, to the Amorite, Hittite, Perizzite, and Jebusite kings in the hill country, and to the Hivite kings in the region of Mizpah, near the foot of Mount Hermon.
  4. The kings and their armies went to Merom Pond, where they set up camp, and got ready to fight Israel. It seemed as though there were more soldiers and horses and chariots than there are grains of sand on a beach.
  5. (SEE 11:4)
  6. The LORD told Joshua: Don't let them frighten you! I'll help you defeat them, and by this time tomorrow they will be dead. When you attack, the first thing you have to do is to cripple their horses. Then after the battle is over, burn their chariots.
  7. Joshua and his army made a surprise attack against the enemy camp at Merom Pond
  8. and crippled the enemies' horses. Joshua followed the LORD's instructions, and the LORD helped Israel defeat the enemy. The Israelite army even chased enemy soldiers as far as Misrephoth-Maim to the northwest, the city of Sidon to the north, and Mizpeh Valley to the northeast. None of the enemy soldiers escaped alive. The Israelites came back after the battle and burned the enemy's chariots.
  9. (SEE 11:8)
  10. Up to this time, the king of Hazor had controlled the kingdoms that had joined together to attack Israel, so Joshua led his army back and captured Hazor. They killed its king
  11. and everyone else, then they set the town on fire.
  12. Joshua captured all the towns where the enemy kings had ruled. These towns were built on small hills, and Joshua did not set fire to any of these towns, except Hazor. The Israelites kept the animals and everything of value from these towns, but they killed everyone who lived in them, including their kings. That's what the LORD had told his servant Moses to do, that's what Moses had told Joshua to do, and that's exactly what Joshua did.
  13. (SEE 11:12)
  14. (SEE 11:12)
  15. (SEE 11:12)
  16. Joshua and his army took control of the northern and southern hill country, the foothills to the west, the Southern Desert, the whole region of Goshen, and the Jordan River valley.
  17. They took control of the land from Mount Halak near the country of Edom in the south to Baal-Gad in Lebanon Valley at the foot of Mount Hermon in the north. Joshua and his army were at war with the kings in this region for a long time, but finally they captured and put to death the last king.
  18. (SEE 11:17)
  19. The LORD had told Moses that he wanted the towns in this region destroyed and their people killed without mercy. That's why the LORD made the people in the towns stubborn and determined to fight Israel. The only town that signed a peace treaty with Israel was the Hivite town of Gibeon. The Israelite army captured the rest of the towns in battle.
  20. (SEE 11:19)
  21. During this same time, Joshua and his army killed the Anakim from the northern and southern hill country. They also destroyed the towns where the Anakim had lived, including Hebron, Debir, and Anab.
  22. There were not any Anakim left in the regions where the Israelites lived, although there were still some in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
  23. That's how Joshua captured the land, just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and Joshua divided it up among the tribes. Finally, there was peace in the land.

    Joshua was able to break the backs of the kings in the south in one great battle due to the coalition formed by these kings. Rather than fighting them separately he was able to defeat them at once. Now, the account of chapter 11 reveals that the same thing occurred in the north. The major kings of the north formed a coalition to attack Israel only to be attacked and defeated by Israel. Considering the overwhelming forces of the northern coalition, Israel didn't stand a chance without the Lord's help. Again the Lord assured Joshua as he set out for the attack against this huge force, "Do not be afraid of them, for at this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over dead to Israel." (11:6) And so He did. Laming the horses and burning the chariots was no doubt aimed at keeping Israel from depending on these resources as a means of bolstering their military strength rather than depending on the Lord.

    In two huge battles Israel had destroyed the major forces of Canaan along with their cities. Even after these two huge victories over the major kings of the north and south there remained smaller forces to defeat which Joshua proceeded to do following this defeat of the northern coalition. Though the smaller cities didn't stand a chance against the Israelite army, none of them pursued peace because "it was the LORD's intention to harden their hearts, so that they would engage Israel in battle, be completely destroyed without mercy, and be annihilated, just as the LORD had commanded Moses." (11:20)

    After defeating the kings of these smaller cities Joshua then proceeded "to exterminate the Anakim from the hill country." (11:21) This he succeeded in doing as well. Now all that remained to be done was "clean up" of scattered forces throughout Canaan. This task was to be accomplished by each tribe as it claimed its inheritance of land.

    Joshua was a great military leader for Israel but it was due more to his faithfulness in listening to and obeying God's instruction than to his own prowess in military strategy. Though he was not without error in judgment, as with the peace treaty with the Gibeonites, he was a good and faithful servant of the Lord.

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