“And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor heard these things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings who were from the north, in the mountains, in the plain south of Chinneroth, in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor on the west, to the Canaanites in the east and in the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the mountains, and the Hivite below Hermon in the land of Mizpah. So they went out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots. And when all these kings had met together, they came and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.” (v1-5)
Understandably, when Jabin heard of the defeat of the southern kings, he contacted these kings of the north to join forces to fight against the Israelites. These armies were larger in number, in fact in number as the sand on the seashore with a large number of horses and chariots. Jericho had seemed to be impregnable, Ai, very small, now we have the largest army they have faced. No doubt the Israelites were petrified, but the LORD told Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.” (v6)
What encouragement this must have been! No time to waste for the LORD was going to deliver all of them, dead, and they were to hamstring their horses. God would take care of the enemy, but Joshua was to deal with the horses. So often we hear those words, “Do not be afraid”. We do fear and need those words. The disciples were often in fear and Jesus came to them and uttered those words, “Fear not”. It is natural to be afraid but Almighty God is always ready to reassure us and dispel our fear.
Joshua and all his army attacked them suddenly and the LORD delivered them into their hands. The enemy were defeated and chased to Greater Sidon, to the brook Misrephoth and the valley of Mizpah eastward. They were completely wiped out and Joshua did as the LORD commanded him and hamstrung the horses and burned the chariots. (v7-9)
Joshua fought with amazing courage and obeyed God completely.
Joshua fought and defeated Hazor which had been the head of all those nations. None was left alive, and they burned the city with fire (v10-15). Joshua took all that land, the mountain country, all the south, the land of Goshen, the lowland, the Jordan plain, the mountains of Israel and lowlands, from Mount Halak and the ascent of Sierra as far as Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon below Mt Hermon. (v16-20) All their kings were captured and killed. No cities made peace except the Hivites who inhabited Gibeon. The LORD had hardened their hearts which caused them to fight against Israel so that He might destroy them without mercy as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Joshua turns his attention to the Anakim who were a large and strong people (giants). They had prevented Israel from entering the Promised Land nearly forty years before, recorded for us in Numbers 13:27-33. The Anakim had been cut off by Joshua and been destroyed and their cities (v21,22). Therefore, there were none of them left in the land of the children of Israel, they were confined to Gath, Gaza and Ashdod. These were Philistine cities on the coast, and we would meet a famous one from Gath some time later in 1 Samuel 17, named Goliath. They were previously in fear of the Anakim, but they defeated them in obedience to God and that made the difference.
Joshua had generally conquered the whole land according to The LORD’s promise to Moses and Joshua proceeds to allocate the land as an inheritance to the tribes, and there was a period of rest from war (v23). However, there was much territory to be possessed, towns and villages to be conquered and occupied. There was still much work for the tribes to do to move into their allotted territory.
The LORD Jesus Christ has defeated the enemy for us but there are still individual battles to be fought, so we cannot sit back and do nothing.
