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.
Tomorrow, about this time. Since it was impossible to have marched from Gilgal to Merom in one day (Josephus says, 'it was a five days' march'), we must suppose Joshua already moving northward, and within a day's distance of the Canaanite camp, when the Lord gave him this assurance of success. With characteristic energy he made a sudden advance, probably during the night, and 'on the morrow fell' [yapªluw; Septuagint, exepesan ep' autous,] upon them like a thunderbolt, when scattered [Septuagint, en tee horeinee] along the rising grounds, before they had time to rally on the plain. In the sudden panic "the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them, and chased them." The place of attack is said to have been (Joshua 11:7) by "the waters of Merom." Josephus says, 'by Kedesh.' The rout was complete: some went westward, over the mountains above the gorge of the Leontes, to Zidon the great, the metropolis of Zidonia - "great Zidon" (a city supposed to have been founded soon after the flood. It was large and prosperous in the time of Joshua, and flourished during many ages as one of the most extensive cities of ancient times) - and Misrephoth-maim (glass-smelting houses; according to some, 'lime-kilns;' to others, 'burnings by the waters'; to Kimchi, 'warm baths;'-the first is the most probable sense), in its neighhourhood, and others eastward to the plain of Mizpeh [Septuagint, Massooch].