Joshua 11:1-23 - Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

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Joshua 11:1. Hazor, then the metropolis of a powerful kingdom, Jeremiah 49:28, is situate on Lake Merom, forty miles north of the sea of Galilee. Jabin with all the allies, 300,000 infantry, and 20,000 horse, according to Josephus, came southward to meet the Israelites, and Joshua hasted to meet him. This second general battle as good as completed the conquest of Canaan. The ill directed hosts were soon thrown into disorder, and probably destroyed one another. The Israelites fought under the assurance of victory, and the allies in utter despair.

Joshua 11:6. Burn their chariots with fire. Evander, in Virgil, is made to say that under the very walls of Prænste, I mowed down the ranks, and set fire to heaps of shields.

Cùm primam aciem Præneste sub ipsâ Stravi, scutorumque incendi victor acervos. ÆN. 8:561.

Joshua 11:9. He houghed their horses; cut the hamstrings that they might not escape.

Joshua 11:21. Joshua cut off the Anakims; men from eight to more than nine feet in stature. See Genesis 6:4.

REFLECTIONS.

The first object which strikes us here is, that God sent on all the hardened kings a spirit of infatuation, for instead of seeking means, like Gibeon, to save their lives, or to humble themselves by fasting and prayer, they leagued for their own destruction. It is even now the same with men who have long resisted grace, and completely hardened their own hearts by a vast course of crimes. Their whole conversation and deportment afford sad indications of their being abandoned by grace.

God, before the general battle, encouraged and instructed Joshua how to fight with the iron chariots of the Canaanites, viz. by cutting the hamstrings of their horses on coming to close contact. So in the hard conflicts we have to sustain with the world, Christ has instructed us to be wise as serpents, and bold as lions: and by bidding us, as Joshua, not to be afraid, he gives us the pledge of victory. Encouraged by these promises, the true Hercules proceeded to conquer the whole country from Halak in the south, to the passes of mount Lebanon in the north.

Nor did he stop here; he proceeded, being guided by Caleb, chap. Joshua 15:14, to exterminate the lurking giants, who had occasioned the fears and the unbelief of the Israelites at Kadesh, when the Lord sentenced them to fall in the wilderness. Into all their caves and strongholds he pursued them; and with the arm of God's avenging power, cut them off. Christian, here, in the valiant Joshua, and the faithful Caleb, is a pattern for you to follow. Oh this unbelief, this fear of man, this distrust of the Lord's faithfulness and power! You can have no inward rest, no giving to God your whole heart, while these lurking giants are suffered to survive.

How encouraging is the remark, that Caleb's faith at Kadesh, when he said, “Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it,” was realized in actual victories. The tall sons of Anakim, who in the eve of unbelief, annihilated the ten spies to grasshoppers, fell beneath the swords of the valiant ones. Oh that we had faith (and we want not fine examples) simply to believe the promises of full salvation; for the Lord will surely take away the heart of stone, and give us a heart of flesh. Then we should quietly enjoy the promised rest. Our will would be lost in the will of God, and we should live in the glorious light of his countenance.

Related Commentaries of Joshua 11:1

Joshua 11:1-23

1 And 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,

2 And to the kings that were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west,

3 And 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.

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

5 And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

6 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.

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

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

9 And Joshua did unto them as the LORD bade him: he houghed their horses, and burnt their chariots with fire.

10 And 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.

11 And 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.

12 And 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.

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

14 And all the spoil of these cities, 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.

15 As the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he leftb nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses.

16 So 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;

17 Even from the mountc Halak, that goeth up to Seir, even unto Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon: and all their kings he took, and smote them, and slew them.

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

19 There 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.

20 For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses.

21 And 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.

22 There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained.

23 So 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.