"At that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazor and put its king to the sword. (Hazor had been the head of all these kingdoms.) Everyone in it they put to the sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed, and he burned Hazor itself." (Joshua 11:10-11) Joshua is doing what the Lord instructed the Israelites to do once they reached the promised land. The Lord told them they must eradicate the nations and tribes of Canaan. He has given these nations and tribes hundreds of years to repent of their idolatry and its heinous rituals (which included child sacrifice, in some cases) and they have not repented. The thought of this ought to break our hearts, just as the thought of anyone rejecting the Lord ought to break our hearts.
Yesterday on a fall road trip I saw this on a church marquee: "Eternity is a long time to be wrong." I don't know whether the tribes of Canaan lived their lives with eternity in mind or whether they lived only for the pleasures of the moment. I don't know what type of afterlife they expected to have with their false gods but it's clear that they knew about the one true God. They knew about Him but did not accept Him as the one true God or even as a God among many to be worshiped. They made the wrong choices over and over, even while Israel (in the strength of the Lord) was conquering the promised land, and the only pagan people of Canaan we can feel confident ever entered the presence of the Lord were those who were not adults or who were not mentally capable of making spiritual decisions for themselves. Difficult as it is for us to think about all the men, women, and children of those cities being put to death, I do believe the souls of the innocent went to be with the Lord. Perhaps we can at least comfort ourselves with the thought that had those Canaanite children reached adulthood, they too would have sacrificed to false gods and would have forsaken the only Savior there is, but since they did not reach adulthood they passed out of this life straight into the presence of the Lord.
"Joshua took all these royal cities and their kings and put them to the sword. He totally destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. Yet Israel did not burn any of the cities built on their mounds---except Hazor, which Joshua burned. The Israelites carried off for themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities, but all the people they put to the sword until they completely destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed. As the Lord commanded His servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses." (Joshua 11:12-15) The Israelites are allowed to take valuable items and livestock from these cities, unlike when they conquered Jericho.
"So Joshua took this entire land: the hill country, all the Negev, the whole region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and put them to death. Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time." (Joshua 11:16-18) It's estimated that it took several years for the army of Israel to conquer all these cities and territories. Although the Bible lists these victories in just a few short verses, most Bible scholars calculate that it took six to seven years to accomplish what took place in verses 16-18. They base their opinion on some information given later in the book of Joshua regarding the age of Joshua's friend Caleb at the end of the wars described here in Joshua 11.
"Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle." (Joshua 11:19) As you'll recall, the men of Gibeon deceived the Israelites into making a treaty with them, and because of this treaty their lives were spared. The Israelites swore a solemn oath in the name of the Lord when they entered into this treaty and the oath could not be broken even though they found out they'd been tricked. The men of Gibeon contrived their ruse because of their fear of Israel and of Israel's God. Yet during the years it took the Israelites to conquer the promised land, no other nations or tribes came to fear the Lord enough to repent of their sins and turn to Him. No one else approached Israel to offer themselves as Israel's subjects and to submit themselves to Israel's God. Even while Israel was conquering the promised land, the Lord was still giving people time and opportunities to repent but they did not avail themselves of His mercy. If we needed any further proof that the Lord was correct in His judgment that no amount of time would ever be enough to persuade the heathens of Canaan to repent, this is it. Even while they saw the Lord's judgment falling on the cities around them, and even when it must have appeared inevitable that their own cities would be conquered, they still had no desire to make God the Lord of their lives.
Sadly, we see the same type of situation when we get to the book of Revelation. No matter how many signs and wonders and plagues take place in the last days, we will still find some of the earth's inhabitants cursing the name of God. They will continue to reject Him no matter what and will choose any fate that doesn't include ever bowing their knees to Him. I think that's the same attitude that was present in ancient Canaan and as I said earlier, this ought to break our hearts. This ought to compel us to want to testify about our Lord to as many people as possible, in both word and deed, so that as many people as possible will come to know Him as their Savior.
Because the people of Canaan have no heart for the Lord, the Lord allows them to remain in their rebellion. What happens when a person rebels against the Lord over and over? His heart grows harder and harder. In our next verse the Lord is simply allowing the people to do what they want to do. He is not forcing them to be rebellious; He's just letting them have their way. He stops dealing with their hearts because He knows they are not ever going to allow Him to get through. "For it was the Lord Himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that He might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses." (Joshua 11:20) The Lord did not harden anyone's heart against their will. Just as in Exodus when we were told the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, the Lord is just letting these people be who they want to be. You'll recall how much Pharaoh hated the Israelites and wanted to be cruel to them; the Lord allowed him to give vent to his natural inclinations so the Lord could deliver Israel while at the same time bringing judgment down on Egypt. The same thing is happening with the nations of Canaan. They want to be hard-hearted toward the Lord. They want to be hard-hearted toward Israel. The Lord is finished with imploring them to repent because He knows they never will repent. He always knew it but because He is holy and righteous He must provide opportunities for repentance anyway. But now He uses their hard hearts to bring about a judgment that has been a long time in coming. He's been patient for centuries. No one can ever accuse Him of not providing time and opportunities for repentance. But now He takes His hands off, so to speak, because He knows the hate in their hearts will cause them to want to exterminate Israel. But He allows Israel to exterminate them instead.
Not only did Joshua and the army of Israel defeat the mighty kings and armies of the northern territories but they also defeated the giants in the land. These are the giants the twelve spies saw back in the book of Numbers when Moses sent them to spy out the land. Joshua and Caleb did not lose heart when they saw these men of great stature but instead announced to all Israel that the Lord was able to do what He promised He would do. But the ten other spies lost heart when they saw the giants and the great fortified cities of Canaan. They enticed most of the congregation of Israel into doubt and fear, causing them to refuse to cross over into the promised land. But now, forty years later, we see that the faith of Joshua and Caleb was justified. The Lord can indeed do what He promises He will do. He enables Israel to defeat the giants. "At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites from the hill country: from Hebron, Debir and Anab, from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. No Anakites were left in Israelite territory; only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive." (Joshua 11:21-22) The only giants remaining in the land are those that inhabit the territories under Philistine control. The Israelites will encounter those later on.
"So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and He gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war." (Joshua 11:23) The Bible refers to some of the territories in our passage today as being "in Israel" or "in Judah" because the book of Joshua was written after these things had been completed---after Israel was occupying the land. These territories were not called by the name of Israel or by the name of any of Israel's tribes prior to the conquering of the promised land.
Several of the commentaries I consulted pointed out that the Lord left the giants for last. He trained Israel for war against ordinary-sized men long before Israel's soldiers ever found themselves face to face with men of extraordinary stature. That's how the Lord works in our lives too. He doesn't send us out to fight giants the day after we become believers in Him. He helps us build our strength in smaller battles first. He knows we need time to develop a relationship with Him. He knows we need time to hide His words in our hearts. The twelve spies in the book of Numbers saw the giants but only two of them realized they wouldn't be expected to face them down the minute they stepped foot into the promised land. That's why only two of those spies---Joshua and Caleb---are still alive to fight those giants. They understood they would fight small, faith building battles along the way. These small battles trained them for the big battles.
This is why we face small annoyances on a regular basis. This is why we have small and medium hurdles to jump over; they're preparing us for the bigger hurdles we'll encounter from time to time. I don't know about you, but this whole year has been a series of hurdles for me. I can't recall too many times in my life when it seemed like I barely clear one hurdle until I'm having to leap over another. But the Lord never puts us through obstacle courses without having a reason for it. He sends us to boot camp from time to time in order to hone our skills, in order to build bigger spiritual muscles, and to draw us closer to Him. If He allows us to get weak and lazy then we won't have the strength to win the bigger battles that come against us in this world. So even though I don't know why I'm currently going through a "boot camp year", so to speak, I trust that there's a very good reason for it. The Lord has my best interests at heart. I admit that I don't like this type of intense training but the Lord never sends us anything that isn't necessary for our wellbeing. Maybe there's a giant up ahead that I'll have to fight. Or maybe the Lord just wants to teach me something new about Himself.
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