vv.1-5 Jabin’s Confederacy. Israel’s victory in the south over the five kings and the aftermath of it provoked fear in the hearts of the kings of the north, who confederated in turn against Israel. Their leader was Jabin king of Hazor, which was a Canaanite state just to the north of the sea of Galilee, called the Lake of Chinneroth. Jabin called kings from the surrounding states and lands to join with him in battle against Israel at the waters of Merom. He raised an enormous army “as the sand that is upon the sea shore,” but what was this compared to Israel when Jehovah was fighting for them! A generation later, another king of Hazor named Jabin, oppressed Israel for twenty years; he was defeated by Deborah and Barak (Judges 4:2-24). Naphtali had the responsibility of finishing the work in this region, but failed (Judges 1:33). Jabin’s name means ‘intelligence’, and it speaks of that spiritual battleground for the believer which is the mind (Col. 3:1), wherein the Devil (Jabin a type) and his hosts would try to prevent the believer from possessing their spiritual inheritance.

Victory Over Hazor (11:6-15)

v.6 Divine Encouragement. It is beautiful to see how the Lord meets Joshua on the eve of battle to encourage him that Jehovah would give Israel’s enemies into their hands! The people would be slain, their horses incapacitated (to hough – pronounced ‘hok’ – a horse is to hamstring it), and their chariots would be burned with fire. Horses and chariots both represent natural strength. Horses represent raw human strength, and chariots represent military power. The subject of horses and chariots is quite interesting. Horses were used extensively in Egypt, and Israel’s kings were told not to multiply horses, as it would cause the people to return to Egypt. Here Israel was to disable that strength permanently. We are not to rely on this world’s strength, even to do God’s work. The chariots were more of a mechanical device that, when combined with horses was a tremendous military advantage. Houghing the horses and burning the chariots is to put no confidence in man, whether his strength or inventions, but to lean on the Lord without any reservation. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” (Psalm 20:7).

 

vv.7-14 The Victory. Israel won a tremendous victory. Joshua was faithful; “Joshua did to them as Jehovah had said to him”. Hazor, the former “head of all those kingdoms” was burned with fire, and the people from all the cities were killed with the sword. 

 

v.15 The Obedience of Joshua. It is a tremendous commendation of Joshua that he fulfilled all the commandment of Jehovah through Moses. The commandment is in Deuteronomy 20. If the nations were from afar there would have been a possibility to negotiate conditions of peace, but since these were of the seven nations of Canaan, none could be left alive. This might seem like a brutal measure, but it was according to the word of God, and it was part of God’s righteous government. 

 

vv.16-19 Continued and Total Victory. We find later that not all of these peoples were put to death at this time, but their power was broken by Joshua. Once the land was divided by the tribes, it was the tribes responsibility to finish the job of exterminating the inhabitants. This is where they broke down. Some, like Caleb and Othniel were faithful, and expelled the enemy, even giants! Others did not drive out the inhabitants, but made them tributaries. 

 

Long war. The expression “long war” refers to the initial conquest but includes the years that followed of putting down the Canaanites. The actual conquest took seven years. We can calculate the approximate time of the conquest of Canaan by using Caleb’s age as a reference. Here’s how:

v.20 God’s Sovereignty. We find that God’s sovereignty was involved in hardening the hearts of these Canaanite nations. Their hearts were hardened so they would meet Israel in battle and be utterly destroyed. Had they run away, he might have escaped the judgment. But this was God’s divine judgment on the deeply corrupt and idolatrous Canaanites, whose moral and spiritual depravity had reached its fulness. The destruction was also meant to teach Israel the consequences of sin and idolatry (Deut. 20:18). Their later downfall stemmed from failing to fully execute God’s command.

 

v.21 The Anakim. The Anakim were the descendants of Anak, and they were giants. There were three main sons: Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai (Josh. 15:14), although these giants had children. It was the Anakim that the ten spies saw in the south of Canaan and called themselves “grasshoppers” in comparison (Num. 13:22, 33). Hebron was the city that is especially mentioned as the city of the Anakim; “even the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron” (Josh. 15:3). It is interesting that Caleb, who was one of the spies, chose that place where he knew the giants lived (Joshua 14:6-15). What spiritual courage! However, some of the remnant escaped to the cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. These three cities where the giants lived are three keys to success in our spiritual life that the enemy does not want us to attain. First, he does not want us to take Hebron, or ‘communion’ with God, as that is the secret of strength. Second, he does not want us to take Debir, meaning ‘oracle’, which is the Word of God, the believer’s food and authority which the Devil Himself cannot resist. Third, he does not want us to reach from Anab, or ‘clusters of fruit’, which represents the fruitfulness of Christ’s character displayed in our lives. It takes spiritual courage to take these cities. It says here Joshua destroyed them, but later we find it was through Caleb. Some of the Anakim remained in the cities of the Philistines, which speaks of religious flesh; that which has a form of godliness, but is a cloak for evil. Later on, a giant from Gath arose to trouble Israel, but was defeated by David.