CHAPTER 11

(1450 B.C.)

DAY OF VICTORY

¹And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor had heard those things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph (Hazor was about 90 miles due north of Gilgal; it was about 10 miles north of the Sea of Galilee),

²And to the kings who were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains south of Chinneroth (Sea of Galilee), and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west (located on the Mediterranean Sea),

³And to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh.

⁴And they went out, they and all their host with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many (all the heathen kings).

⁵And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel (about 10 miles northwest of the Sea of Galilee).

⁶And the LORD said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for tomorrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: you shall hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire (hamstring their horses, which made them unfit for war, but not for agriculture).

⁷So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly; and they fell upon them.

⁸And the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them, and chased them unto great Zidon, and unto Misrephoth-maim, and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward; and they smote them, until they left them none remaining.

⁹And Joshua did unto them as the LORD bade him: he houghed their horses, and burnt their chariots with fire (Israel had no horses or chariots, but yet they defeated these enemies, who were far superior to them, regarding military warfare; Israel defeated them, because the Lord was with Israel).

¹⁰And Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms. (Williams says, The frequent mention of Hazor [Vss. 1, 10-11, 13] introduces a great principle. Hazor was the center of power of that part of the world. Natural wisdom would propose to make it the seat of government, so that it should be that for God which before it had been for the world. But God will in no wise allow the worlds seat of power to become that of His People. His People were to depend exclusively on Him, and to dwell with Him at Gilgal. Accordingly, Hazor is totally destroyed. Not a vestige of its former power must remain to compete with Gilgal. The center and source of power must be all Divine.)

¹¹And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire (the fire of the Spirit will destroy every vestige of the world within our lives, if we will only look to Christ and the Cross [Mat. 3:11]).

SUMMARY

¹²And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and he utterly destroyed them, as Moses the Servant of the LORD commanded.

¹³But as for the cities that stood still in their strength, Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only; that did Joshua burn (should have been translated, But, as for the cities that still stood, in their strength, Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only).

¹⁴And all the spoil of these cities (the cities that were not burned), and the cattle, the Children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe.

¹⁵As the LORD commanded Moses His Servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses (the Holy Spirit says this often concerning Joshua, meaning that obedience to the Lord was the secret of his strength).

¹⁶So Joshua took all that land, the hills, and all the south country, and all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the mountain of Israel, and the valley of the same;

¹⁷Even from the Mount Halak, that goes up to Seir, even unto Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon: and all their kings he took, and smote them, and slew them.

¹⁸Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.

¹⁹There was not a city that made peace with the Children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle.

²⁰For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he (Joshua) might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses. (All of this is symbolic of the victories we must win in our Christian experience. But let the Reader understand, God does not give victory to sinful men, but only to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, which was paid for at the Cross. The Believer, properly in Christ, can have this victory, but only as we are properly in Christ [Jn. 14:20].)

²¹And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities.

²²There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the Children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained. (These were the giants, a product of the union of fallen angels and women [Gen. 6:4]. The offspring of those who remained in Gaza, etc., which would later be the country of the Philistines, would be destroyed by David. Goliath was one of them [I Sam., Chpt. 17]. Why the Lord didnt have Joshua to defeat these as well, we arent told; however, we do know that everything the Lord does is for purpose and reason. In other words, everything that pertains to His Children is a test. How will we act? How will we react?)

²³So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their Tribes. And the land rested from war (it is believed that this conquest took possibly from five to seven years).