Joshua 11

This chapter concludes the account of the conquest of Canaan in the first half of the Book of Joshua. After defeating the southern Amorite coalition in Joshua 10, Israel faces a northern coalition in this chapter. The chapter then summarizes the conquest as a whole and leads into the list of defeated kings in Joshua 12.

Outline

• Verses 1–5: Jabin king of Hazor summons Jobab king of Madon and many other kings and peoples of the north. They bring an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore, with horses and chariots, and encamp at the waters of Merom.
• Verses 6–9: The LORD tells Joshua not to be afraid. Joshua attacks the coalition suddenly and pursues it as far as great Zidon, Misrephothmaim, and the valley of Mizpeh. As commanded, he hamstrings the horses and burns the chariots.
• Verses 10–15: Israel captures and burns Hazor, which had been the head of those kingdoms. The other cities that stood on their mounds are not burned; only their spoil and livestock are taken. Everything is done as Moses had commanded.
• Verses 16–20: The extent of the conquered land is summarized as stretching from Mount Halak to Baalgad. The war lasted a long time, and no city made peace with Israel except the Hivites of Gibeon.
• Verses 21–22: The Anakim are destroyed from the hill country. Only a few remain, in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
• Verse 23: The land is given as an inheritance according to the tribal divisions, and the land rests from war.

Key Verses

• Joshua 11:6 "Be not afraid because of them" – Shows that victory over a numerically superior enemy depends on God's promise.
• Joshua 11:15 "He left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses" – Portrays Joshua as a model of obedience who carried out Moses' commands exactly.
• Joshua 11:23 "And the land rested from war" – Brings the conquest narrative to a close and marks the transition to the account of the land's distribution.

People and Places

• Joshua: The leader of Israel's army.
• Jabin: The king of Hazor, who raises the northern coalition.
• Jobab: The king of Madon.
• Moses: Mentioned repeatedly as the one who gave the commands.
• Hazor: A major city north of Galilee, which the text calls "the head of all those kingdoms."
• Waters of Merom: The place where the northern coalition encamped.
• Anakim: A people of great stature, whom the spies feared in Numbers 13:33.
• Other places: Canaan, Hebron, and Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod in the land of the Philistines.

Points for Reflection

• The command to utterly destroy: The record that the inhabitants were destroyed without remainder raises ethical questions for modern readers. Interpretations vary:
• Some read it as God's judgment on the sins of the Canaanite peoples.
• Some read it as the hyperbolic language typical of ancient war accounts.
• Some read it as a theological message calling for idolatry to be cut off completely.
• The claim that the whole land was taken: Chapter 11 states that the whole land was taken, yet chapter 13 and Judges 1 describe land that remained unconquered. Scholars differ on how to reconcile these two accounts.
• The hardening of hearts (v. 20): This verse is discussed together with the case of Pharaoh and Romans 9:18–23.
• The Calvinist tradition emphasizes God's sovereignty.
• The Wesleyan and Arminian traditions tend to read it as God leaving the people to their own stubbornness.
• Two Jabins: A Jabin king of Hazor also appears in Judges 4. Some hold that the name was a title borne by kings of the same dynasty.
• "A long time" (v. 18): One tradition calculates the length of the conquest from the age of Caleb (Joshua 14). This, however, is not stated directly in the text.
• Connection to the New Testament: The words "the land rested from war" in verse 23 lead into the theme of rest. Hebrews 4 speaks of a fuller rest that surpasses the rest in the land that Joshua gave.