So
far Joshua had already captured the central and southern regions of Canaan. God
had granted them a resounding success. So, the attention of the nation of
Israel now was turned toward the north region. Here in the first fifteen verses
of Joshua 11, we are given an account of their campaign to conquer the northern
region of Canaan. Like the enemy forces in the south that combined in a
coalition against Joshua at Gibeon, the kings in the north also did the same to
encounter him and the people of Israel.
In verses 1-5, we read a
description of the kings and their forces of the north gathering at the waters
of Merom to fight Israel. Verses 6-9 describe the victory Israel had over the
coalition forces. And finally, in verses 10-15 we see the capture of Hazor and
other cities in that region. The victory was gained only because of Joshua’s
total obedience to the instruction of the Lord. Just as before, God
assured Joshua of victory and then went on to do according to all that He had
said. In verse 6 God’s word to Joshua was, “Do
not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them,
slain, to Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn
their chariots with fire.” Verse 7 describes their
confrontation with the forces at Merom. And in the following verse, we see
Israel handed the victory. Joshua obeyed the instruction of the Lord and struck
down the enemies till there was none left. In verse 9, Joshua did what the Lord
had specifically told them to do i.e. to hamstring the horses.
For such a decisive victory
many expect to have a greater detail of how they did it but we are offered
little. That’s because the intention of this narrative is not to describe the
battle but the victory God had granted to His people. It serves to show us the
faithfulness of God. We are assured that whatever God had promised, He will
fulfill it when obedience is seen. Hence, in this passage, we get to see the
importance of being obedient if we are to experience victory in any battle.
In this campaign, we see
the emphasis of the interplay of movement between Joshua and Israel. This
clearly shows God’s affirmation of Joshua’s leadership. Hazor is seen here as
the head of the coalition. Its destruction shows us that nothing can be a
threat to God’s people in their battle. Like Joshua and the people of Israel,
when we fight our battle with the help of the Lord, no enemy can withstand what
we can do with the Lord on our side. All we need is keep connecting with God,
keep seeking His direction and keep doing as we are instructed. This theme
of total obedience is accentuated by verse 15 that says, “Just as the Lord had commanded Moses his
servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left
nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.” Emulating
Joshua, we must also not leave undone anything that the Lord has instructed us
to do. Only as we obey God totally can we find total victory over the
circumstances that threaten our walk with Him. Absolute obedience is
paramount for victory!
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