Conquests in Northern Canaan. Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow by this time I am going to hand over all of them slain [by the sword] to Israel; you shall hamstring (disable) their horses and set fire to their chariots.” Jos 11:6
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT
INTRODUCTION
Though there are evident traces of the hand of an editing scribe, probably Ezra, there are many indications that the substance of this book was written while the events were still recent. There is therefore no good reason for doubting that the book in its original form was written by Joshua, as Jewish tradition alleges.
This book is to the Old Testament what the Acts of the Apostles is to the New. The name “Joshua” is equivalent to Jesus, and means “he shall save,” Heb_4:8. The Jericho of the early Church was Jerusalem, which they compassed through ten days of prayer as Israel compassed Jericho in seven days of marching. At Pentecost the walls of prejudice fell flat. Ananias and Sapphira were the Achan of the first days. The victories of the Church at Samaria, Antioch and elsewhere recall the conquests of Joshua. And the failure of the Church to go forward to the conquest of the nations finds a bitter parallel in the story of Israel’s apathy toward driving out the Canaanites.
Possessing the Promised Land
II. THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN, Joshua 6-12
4. The Southern and Northern Campaigns, Jos_10:1-43; Jos_11:1-23
20. How did Joshua carry out Jehovah’s sentence against the kings of the North?
CONQUESTS IN NORTHERN CANAAN
Then when Jabin king of Hazor heard [of Israel’s other victories] he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph,
and to the kings who were in the north, in the hill country, and in the Arabah [the plain] south of Chinnereth (the Sea of Galilee) and in the lowland and on the hills of Dor on the west;
to the Canaanite in the east and in the west, and to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite at the foot of [Mount] Hermon in the land of Mizpeh.
They went out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.
So all these kings met and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow by this time I am going to hand over all of them slain [by the sword] to Israel; you shall hamstring (disable) their horses and set fire to their chariots.”
So Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and attacked them.
The LORD handed them over to Israel, who struck them and pursued them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh; they struck them down until no survivor was left.
Joshua did to them as the LORD had told him; he hamstrung (disabled) their horses and set fire to their chariots.
At that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazor and struck its king dead with the sword; for Hazor previously was the head of all these kingdoms.
They struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them; there was no one left who breathed. And he set fire to Hazor.
Joshua captured all the cities of these kings, and all their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. [Deu_20:16]
But Israel did not burn any of the cities that stood [walled and fortified] on their mounds, except Hazor alone, which Joshua burned.
The sons of Israel took as their plunder all the spoil of these cities and the cattle; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left no one alive.
Just as the LORD had commanded Moses His servant, so Moses had commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.
Comments by
F.B.Meyer
On
Joshua 11:1-15
JOSHUA’S OBEDIENCE TO THE LORD’S COMMANDS
The scene is removed to the waters of Merom, near the sources of the Jordan. Hazor was the capital of the region; Jabin, like Pharaoh, was an hereditary title, Jdg_4:2. All the northern nations combined. Joshua’s heart might well have failed, had it not been for the divine promise on the night before the battle, Jos_11:6.
His attack under cover of night was like the falling of a thunderbolt. The effect was immediate. The huge host dissolved. The hocking of the horses disabled them, so that Israel was not tempted to trust in chariots and horses, Deu_17:16; Isa_31:1. God’s will was literally carried out. But what a noble record is given of this simple-minded soldier! “He left nothing undone,” Jos_11:15. It is only as we literally obey that we can count on such success as his. See 2Ti_4:7.
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