Introduction
Joshua 10 and Joshua 11 belong together. They describe the battle against the kings of the south (Joshua 10) and of the north (Joshua 11). In two great wars Joshua broke the power of all those kings. A difference between the first and the second war is that in the second war, that against the kings of the north, no miracles happen.
After the conquests in the south, it is now the turn of the north. Joshua experiences again that the LORD is with him. He moves on victoriously and leaves nothing alive. On the LORD’s command everything must be destroyed. It even says that it is of the LORD to harden the hearts of the enemies (verse 20).
Does the LORD wish then the destruction of these peoples? It says: “God our Savior, … desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Tim 2:3b-4) and “not wishing for any to perish” (2Pet 3:9), doesn’t it? Yes, but the judgment only comes when the measure of sin is full and man has not wanted to repent. Then comes the judgment of the hardening and there is no more grace. This is why the following still applies to every human being today: “Today, if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Psa 95:7b-8a).
1 - 5 The Kings of the North
1 Then it came about, when Jabin king of Hazor heard [of it], that he sent to Jobab king of Madon and to the king of Shimron and to the king of Achshaph, 2 and to the kings who were of the north in the hill country, and in the Arabah—south of Chinneroth and in the lowland and on the heights of Dor on the west— 3 to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. 4 They came out, they and all their armies with them, [as] many people as the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. 5 So all of these kings having agreed to meet, came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
Jabin, that means ‘the wise’ or ‘the intelligent’, the king of Hazor, is not just any king. He rules over the head of all kingdoms (verse 10). He is the king of the most powerful empire. We can therefore see in him a picture of the head of all demons, of satan himself. Satan has many instruments, henchmen, who are subject to him and execute his will. These are the evil powers, the demons, in the heavenly places. With them we have to do, not so much directly with satan himself, but with his angels. In Hazor we meet the capital of all kings, the main stronghold of demons.
Our spiritual struggle is about not only overcoming the demons, but overcoming the head of the enemy, the evil one. John says in his first letter that the young men did so. He says that they “have overcome the evil one” (1Jn 2:14b).
The power of Hazor lies in his crowd. He comes up with a huge alliance. Here, too, peoples are gathering who are often in conflict with each other, but who are now going up together to fight against God’s people (cf. Lk 23:12). For God’s people it is an opportunity to fight this battle, and precisely because the enemy has gathered in this way to achieve a great victory. When we see the enemy coming to us in great power, it is an opportunity to reveal God’s power.
The hostile armies gather at the waters of Merom. Here too we see a picture of the great battle in the end times, where all the kings of the earth gather to fight against God. In reality it is God who gathers them there to destroy them in one fell: “For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”) And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon” (Rev 16:14-16). The battle in Har-Magedon will take place in the vicinity of Merom mentioned here.
6 - 9 The Kings and Their Armies Defeated
6 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.” 7 So Joshua and all the people of war with him came upon them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and attacked them. 8 The LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, so that they defeated them, and pursued them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim and the valley of Mizpeh to the east; and they struck them until no survivor was left to them. 9 Joshua did to them as the LORD had told him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
The LORD encourages Joshua and says to him that he should not be afraid (verse 6). Often we are afraid instead of seeing the privilege of facing a large crowd. But God always wants a great victory by a few. He wants us to rely on Him (Psa 20:8) and “striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by [the] opponents” (Phil 1:27b-28a). We have to learn this. That is why God allows us to gain such experiences.
The enemy’s means of combat must be disabled and destroyed. That makes reuse impossible, both for the enemy and for Israel. God does not want His people to use the means of the world to achieve victories through which the world can claim the honor of victory. Each victory may only be attributed to Him Who actually gives it.
10 - 14 Judgment on the Cities
10 Then Joshua turned back at that time, and captured Hazor and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor formerly was the head of all these kingdoms. 11 They struck every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying [them]; there was no one left who breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire. 12 Joshua captured all the cities of these kings, and all their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, [and] utterly destroyed them; just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. 13 However, Israel did not burn any cities that stood on their mounds, except Hazor alone, [which] Joshua burned. 14 All the spoil of these cities and the cattle, the sons of Israel took as their plunder; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left no one who breathed.
Hazor is taken. Because it is a mighty city, the human mind might reason that it could be a suitable capital for Israel. But God does not allow the seat of worldly power and influence to become the seat of His people, for His people depend solely on Him. Hazor will not become the new capital of Israel, but will be completely destroyed. God will not leave any trace of the power that has ruled before.
Unfortunately, by the unfaithfulness of God’s people this city is rebuilt. In the time of the judges it appears that this city even rules over God’s people for some time. This happens as a result of the discipline God has to impose on His people because of their unfaithfulness (Jdg 4:1-2a). When the people call to Him, He delivers them from this enemy by Barak and Deborah. Deborah sings with Barak of that deliverance in a song (Jdg 5:1). In that song she mentions the downfall of this enemy (Jdg 5:19-21). In Psalm 83 God is called up to do to the great northern collection of armies in the last days what He did with this king (Psa 83:9).
Not all cities are burned. God has promised His people that they will live in cities which they themselves have not built (Deu 6:10-11). Not everything should be destroyed. Things that are of use to them must be spared (Deu 20:19-20). But all inhabitants are killed, according to the commandment of the LORD (Deu 7:1-6; 20:16-18). This total extermination should not come as a surprise, as has happened so often, that a loving God commands it. Whoever accuses God of cruelty does not know Him, nor does he know himself.
The God of the Old Testament is no other God than the God of the New Testament, as if we had a God of love there and a God of revenge here. Of the New Testament God it says: “For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29), while the God of the Old Testament is also a God of love.
Is it unjust that God should have all these people killed? No. There are several reasons to give that make it clear that God is right to do so:
1. God never judges without warning and sufficient time to take the warning to heart. These Canaanites have had a testimony of God in their midst in Melchizedek (Gen 14:18). So they cannot say that they have never heard of God. They also know what He did for His people in Egypt and after.
2. The meekness of God waited four hundred years, until the iniquity of the Amorites was complete (Gen 15:16). He waits long, but not endlessly. He waited one hundred and twenty years before he let the flood come (Gen 6:3). He has been waiting in His meekness for almost two thousand years now (2Pet 3:8-9) since man has committed the greatest sin ever by killing His Son. But if the wickedness of the Canaanites goes beyond everything, God can only judge them. They do everything a person can think of and do in sinning. They deserve judgment.
3. They know that God is a Judge. They know what He has done in and with Egypt. But none of the cities behave kindly toward the Israelites (verse 19). That is the result of the hardening of their hearts. That does not undo their guilt. God hardens a heart only if someone has hardened his heart first. Hardening is a judgment from God, after man has refused to submit to God. There is a hardening of the Gentiles (Rom 1:24,26,28), the Jews (Rom 11:25) and the nominal Christians (2Thes 2:11-12).
The example of Rahab and the Gibeonites makes clear that God is unaltered in His desire to save people (Rom 10:13). Rahab and also the Gibeonites speak of the threat, of which all inhabitants of Canaan have heard (Jos 2:9-11; 9:9-10). Yet only they resort to the people of God to escape the judgment, albeit in different ways. There, they both find the salvation against judgment.
God does not destine anyone to hell. It is now still “the acceptable time”, ” behold, now is “the day of salvation”” (2Cor 6:2) to escape the judgment of hell. But God does determine the time of the end of that time and that day, while He still makes the call to repentance sound. “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all [people] everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).
15 Joshua Has Been Obedient in Everything
15 Just as the LORD had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.
At the end of the battle, the writer recalls that victory and blessing are the result of obedience. Joshua did everything as the LORD commanded him by Moses.
16 - 22 Overview of the Conquests
16 Thus Joshua took all that land: the hill country and all the Negev, all that land of Goshen, the lowland, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its lowland 17 from Mount Halak, that rises toward Seir, even as far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. And he captured all their kings and struck them down and put them to death. 18 Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings. 19 There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon; they took them all in battle. 20 For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. 21 Then Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab and from all the hill country of Judah and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. 22 There were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod some remained.
The “long time” of war (verse 18) is about six to seven years. This can be deducted from the times that Caleb mentions in the review of his life (Jos 14:7,10). With the “long time” that the conquest has taken, what the LORD has said about expelling the enemies has also been fulfilled: “I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land” (Exo 23:29-30; cf. Deu 7:22).
Also the Anakim, the giants of whom they were so afraid (Num 13:33), are exterminated (verse 21). Without God we are nothing and we lose to dwarves. With God we can do everything and giants are nothing. Yet there are still a few giants left (verse 22). One of their descendants will be Goliath. We should not see such individuals as little things. If we leave anything of the enemy behind, it will put us in the greatest trouble. The remaining giants find refuge in some cities of the Philistines, whose influence will soon be felt when the people become unfaithful.
23 The Land Rests From War
23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land had rest from war.
After a long time of war there is peace. The rest here is the result of faithfulness in battle. This mention of rest in the land appears three times in the book:
1. here in connection with Joshua,
2. in Joshua 14 in connection with Caleb (Jos 14:15) and
3. in Joshua 21 in connection with the inheritance of the Levites among the people of Israel (Jos 21:44).
You can only enjoy rest if you act faithfully according to what the LORD has said. If through the unfaithfulness of the people not all enemies are eradicated, the rest appears to be of limited duration.
The conquest of the land is complete. This means that there is no external strength left in a hostile power that can exist before them or form another kingdom. Yet there are still many enemies left. If they remain faithful, those enemies will not have to worry them. That is why rest is dangerous, it can so easily lead to laziness. Then it is forgotten that there are still enemies who keep land in their possession. There is always land to conquer.
Rest is good, but it should not lead to carelessness. It is important “having done everything, to stand firm” (Eph 6:13b). The biggest defeat is often suffered after the biggest victory. Rest is also dangerous for older brothers and sisters. The battle never ends as long as we are still in the body.
Verse 23 concludes the first part of the book, which describes the histories of Joshua’s victories. The next chapter, Joshua 12, is a postscript in which the balance of the previous chapters is, as it were, drawn up. The conquered kings and their territories are listed.