Joshua 11:1-23

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Joshua

Brian Rowlands

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Chapter 11

The *Israelites defeat the towns in the north of the country – Joshua 11:1-23

v1 Jabin, king of Hazor, heard what had happened. So, he sent *messengers to Jobab, king of Madon. He also sent *messengers to the kings of Shimron and Acshaph. v2 And he sent *messengers to other kings. Some lived in the northern mountains and some lived in the Arabah. The Arabah was south of Kinnereth. Other kings lived in the west. They lived in the little hills and in Naphoth Dor. v3 *Messengers also went to the *Canaanites who lived in both the east and the west. They went to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the hills. And Jabin sent *messengers to the Hivites. The Hivites lived near Hermon near Mizpah. v4 All these kings came with their soldiers and many horses and *chariots. It was a huge army. There were so many soldiers that nobody could count them. v5 The kings all joined together. Their army camped by the river Merom. They wanted to fight against *Israel.

v6 ‘Do not be afraid of them’, the *Lord said to Joshua. ‘I will give all of them to you. You will kill them all by this time tomorrow. You must make their horses *lame, and you must burn the *chariots.’

v7 So Joshua and all his army went to fight the kings by the river Merom. The *Israelites attacked their enemies suddenly. v8 The *Lord helped the *Israelites to win the fight. The *Israelites ran after the kings as far as Sidon, Misrephoth Maim and Mizpah valley. They went east until they had killed all their enemies. v9 Joshua did to them as the *Lord had said. Joshua made the horses *lame and he burned the *chariots.

v10 Then Joshua went back and he took Hazor. He killed its king. (Hazor had been the most important *kingdom over all the *kingdoms who were against *Israel.) v11 The *Israelites killed everyone who lived there. They killed everything that was alive in the city. They burned the city and they destroyed it.

v12 Joshua took all these cities and he killed all their kings. He destroyed them all, as God’s servant Moses had told him to do. v13 But *Israel did not burn all the cities that their enemies had built on small hills, except Hazor. Joshua did burn this one. v14 The *Israelites took all the animals and good things from the cities, but they killed all the people. They did not allow anyone to live. v15 The *Lord had told Moses what to do. Then Moses had told Joshua what the *Lord had said. Joshua did what Moses told him to do. Joshua did not forget anything. He did everything that the *Lord had told Moses to do.

Verses 1-5 Again, some kings in *Canaan became afraid of the *Israelites. These kings lived in the north of the country.

Verse 6 The *Lord made a promise to Joshua. The *Lord would defeat all those people.

Verses 7-10. Joshua did as God told him to do. God helped Joshua again to defeat his enemies.

v16 So Joshua took all these places. He took the hills, the dry country in the south, all Goshen and the little hills in the west. He took the Arabah and the mountains and hills in *Israel. v17 These places were between Halak mountain (which was near Seir) and Baal Gad. Baal Gad was in the valley of Lebanon, below Hermon mountain. He took all their kings and killed them all. v18 Joshua was fighting these kings for a long time. v19 No cities made a peace agreement with the *Israelites, except for the Hivites from Gibeon. So, Joshua took all the other cities in battle. v20 The *Lord himself made the people angry, so that they would fight *Israel. This was so that the *Lord could kill them all. He did not let them live. He did not show kindness to them. So, the *Israelites did those things that the *Lord had told Moses to do.

v21 Joshua went at that time to fight the Anakites from the hills. They came from Hebron, Debir and Anab and all the hills in Judah and *Israel. Joshua killed them all. And he destroyed all their towns. v22 He killed all the Anakites in *Israel, except for a few in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. v23 So Joshua took the whole country, as the *Lord had told Moses to do. The *Lord gave the country to *Israel to live in. And Joshua gave the land to the *tribes of *Israel. Each *tribe received the land that the *Lord had chosen. And the families in each *tribe would always continue to own this land.

Then the country was at peace.

Verses 16-23 This is an account of all that God had done for Joshua.

It is a good thing for us to make a list. The list should include all the good things that God has done for us. This will help us to thank God. It will help us to *worship God. We can thank God for all the good things that he has done for us. We can *worship him because he is so good to us.

Verse 18 ‘A long time’ was about 7 years.

Verse 20 ‘The *Lord himself made the people angry.’ God did this because he wanted to punish the *Canaanites. The *Canaanites were very evil. God used the *Israelites to punish the *Canaanites. See Exodus 11:10 and Exodus 14:8. In these passages in Exodus, God made the king of Egypt angry. God did this because he wanted to punish the people in Egypt.

Verse 23 God promised to give this land to the family of Abraham (Genesis 17:8). The *Israelites belonged to the family of Abraham. God always keeps his promises. God gave each *Israelite family its own land.

‘Then the country was at peace.’ God’s law told the *Israelites that they should not work every day. They would rest each Saturday (Exodus 20:8). Today, Christians rest on Sunday. And they *worship God on Sunday (Acts 20:7). God also told the *Israelites that they should not plant crops every year. On the 7^th year, the ground would rest (Leviticus 25:4). In the same way, the *Israelites had fought for 7 years. Now, God allowed them to rest. At last, there was peace.

Israelites ~ people from Israel. They are also called Hebrews and Jews.

Israel ~ all the people born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; the people that God chose; or, the land that the Israelites lived in.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for one of the Israelites.
messenger ~ a person that has something to tell other people; a person who brings messages.
messenger ~ a person that has something to tell other people; a person who brings messages.
Canaanites ~ the people who used to live in Canaan, the promised land.

Canaan ~ another name for the promised land.

promised land ~ the land that God promised to give to Abraham and his family.
chariot ~ a kind of vehicle that soldiers use to fight. Horses pull it.
Israel ~ all the people born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; the people that God chose; or, the land that the Israelites lived in.

Israelites ~ people from Israel. They are also called Hebrews and Jews.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for one of the Israelites.
Lord ~ a name for God in the Bible. The original language of the Old Testament is called Hebrew. In the Hebrew language, there are two words that we translate as ‘Lord’. The Hebrew word ‘ADONAI’ means that God rules. God is our master. The Hebrew word ‘YHWH’ means that God never changes. God is always God.

Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before the life of Jesus.
lame ~ cannot walk easily.
kingdom ~ a country that a king rules.
Canaan ~ another name for the promised land.

promised land ~ the land that God promised to give to Abraham and his family.
tribe ~ the whole family of one of Jacob’s 12 sons.
worship ~ to love and to praise God more than anyone else. But some people worship false gods, instead of the real God.