In our study of Joshua chapter eleven, we look at the completion of the taking of the land of Canaan and the rest that is only available through the will of God.
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When Yavin king of Hatzor heard of it, he informed Yovav king of Madon; the king of Shimron; the king of Akhshaf; the kings to the north, in the hills, in the 'Aravah south of Kinn'rot, in the Sh'felah and in the regions of Dor on the west; the Kena'ani to east and west; the Emori, Hitti, P'rizi and Y'vusi in the hills; and the Hivi at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mitzpah. So they set out, they and all their armies, many people, in number like the sand at the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. All these kings met together, then came and pitched camp together at the Merom Spring, to fight Isra'el.
In the last chapter, we saw Israel defeat the kings from the southern part of Canaan primarily around Jerusalem. Now, the kings in the northern part of Canaan heard of those events and united to make war on Israel.
ADONAI said to Y'hoshua, "Don't be afraid on their account; because at this time tomorrow I will hand them over, all of them dead, before Isra'el. You are to hamstring their horses and burn up their chariots." So Y'hoshua came against them suddenly with all his fighting men and fell on them at the Merom Spring. ADONAI handed them over to Isra'el - they attacked and chased them to Greater Tzidon, Misrefot-Mayim and eastward to the Mitzpeh Valley; they attacked them until none of them was left. Y'hoshua did to them what ADONAI had ordered - he hamstrung their horses and burned up their chariots.
Even though there was a great force preparing to attack Israel, the Lord reassured Y'hoshua that He would provide the victory. We see that Y'hoshua believed the Lord and was obedient as Israel suddenly attacked the massed force and completely defeated them. This opposing force would have never dreamed that the relatively small Israelite army would attack them and this attack demonstrates the faith and obedience of Israel. We see the scope of the victory as Israel drove them out of Canaan and pursued them into Lebanon. We see the total obedience of Y'hoshua as he had their horses hamstrung and burned their chariots.
Then Y'hoshua turned back and captured Hatzor, striking its king dead with the sword; for in time past Hatzor had been the head of all those kingdoms. They put everyone there to death with the sword, completely destroying them; there was nothing left that breathed; and he burned Hatzor to the ground. Y'hoshua captured all the cities of those kings and the kings as well; he defeated them with the sword and completely destroyed them, as Moshe the servant of ADONAI had ordered.
We see that Israel turned back and captured the cities and kings beginning with Hatzor which was the leading city in Canaan. We see that all of them were utterly destroyed and the Hebrew word used is cherem which speaks of devoting to the Lord so nothing was taken or spared from those cities. We also see that Moshe had left a legacy of faithfullness by teaching the next generation (Y'hoshua) the word of God and demonstrating his obedience to that word.
But as for the cities built on their tels, Isra'el burned none of them except Hatzor; Y'hoshua did burn that one. All the spoil of these cities and the livestock the people of Isra'el took as booty for themselves; but every human being they put to death with the sword, until they had destroyed them - they left no one breathing.
We see a difference as cities that were built on a mound or heap of rubble were destroyed but not burnt. Those cities were plundered but all of the people were killed.
Moshe had given orders to Y'hoshua, just as ADONAI had given orders to Moshe his servant, and Y'hoshua acted accordingly - he did everything ADONAI had ordered Moshe. So Y'hoshua captured all that land, the hills, the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the Sh'felah, the 'Aravah and the Isra'el hills and Sh'felah, from the bare mountain that goes up to Se'ir to Ba'al-Gad in the L'vanon Valley under Mount Hermon; and he took all their kings, struck them and put them to death.
Once again, we see that Y'hoshua was faithful to do all that the Lord had shown Moshe.
Y'hoshua made war with all those kings for a long time. Not one city made peace with the people of Isra'el, except for the Hivi living in Giv'on; they took everything in battle. For it was ADONAI who caused them to harden their hearts and come against Isra'el in battle, so that they would be utterly destroyed, so that they would not find favor but be destroyed, in keeping with the orders ADONAI had given Moshe.
This passage shows us that Israel had victory after victory and all of the enemies were utterly destroyed except for the Gibeonites who had made the covenant with Israel (see chapter 9). We see that, even though the peoples had heard of what God had done, they did not try to make peace with Israel and God knew the pride that was in their hearts.
Y'hoshua at that time came and cut off the 'Anakim from the land - from Hevron, D'vir, 'Anav and from all the hill-country of Y'hudah and Isra'el; Y'hoshua utterly destroyed them and their cities. No 'Anakim were left in the land of the people of Isra'el - only in 'Azah, Gat and Ashdod did some remain. Y'hoshua took the whole land, in keeping with all that ADONAI had said to Moshe and to Isra'el according to their divisions into tribes. Then the land rested from war.
The Anakim speaks of giants and we see that Y'hoshua completely destroyed them as well to the point that only a small remnant remained that had escaped. We see that it was only after the will of God was fulfilled in giving them the land of Canaan that the land had rest. We are reminded buy these war stories that the future rest of the land will only come with the fulfillment of the promise of the return of Yeshua Messiah.
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