Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Joshua-Chapter 11 and 12

Josh 11.1-23 deals with the conquest of the northern parts of Canaan, and Joshua will take the whole land. He will give it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes.

v 1…Then it came about, when Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, that he sent to Jobab (he will cause crying) king of Madon (strife) and to the king of Shimron (guardian) and to the king of Achshaph (I will be bewitched),

v2…and to the kings who were of the north in the hill country (mountains), and in the Arabah-south of Chinneroth (sea of Galilee; from “kinnor” because the lake was shaped like a harp) and in the lowland and on the heights of Dor (generation) on the west-

v 3…to the Canaanite on the east and on the west; and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite at the foot of Hermon (devoted to destruction) in the land of Mizpeh (watchtower).

v 4…Then they came out *watched by God and devoted to destruction), they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.

v 5…So all of these kings having agreed to meet, came and encamped together at the waters of Merom (the lifting up) to fight against Israel (the world is always lifted up to fight God and his people).

v 6…Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire (couldn’t use them again).

v 7…So Joshua and all the people of war with him came upon them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and attacked them (Israel attacks first).

v 8…And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, so that they defeated them, and pursued them as far as great Sidon (fishing) and Misrephoth-maim (burnings of waters- the washing of the word judges unbelievers) and the valley of Mizpeh to the east; and they struck them until no survivor was left to them.

v 9…And Joshua did to them as the Lord had told him; he hamstrung their horses, and burned their chariots with fire (rely on God, not the world’s weapons).

v 10…Then Joshua turned back (returned) at that time, and captured Hazor (fortified, enclosed) and struck its king with the sword, for Hazor formerly was the head of all these kingdoms (Yeshua will return and destroy the world’s kingdoms).

v 11…And they struck every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them; there was no one left who breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire.

v 12…And Joshua captured all the cities of these kings, and all their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed them; just as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded (obeying the word will give us victory over the world).

v 13…However, Israel did not burn any of the cities that stood on their mounds (hills or mountains; they were reserved for their own housing), except Hazor alone, which Joshua burned.

v 14…And all the spoil of these cities and the cattle, the sons of Israel took as their plunder, but they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left no one who breathed.

v 15…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.

v 16…Thus Joshua took all that land; the hill country and all the Negev; all the land of Goshen (Josh 10.41); the lowland and the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its lowland

v 17…from Mount Halak (smooth) that rises toward Seir (shaggy goat; in the south), even as far as Baal-gad (lord of a troop) in the valley of Lebanon (white) at the foot of Mount Hermon (devoted, banned; in the north). And he captured all their kings and struck them down and put them to death (Our life is between reason, north, and faith, south, and in our control. Ha Satan rules over the “troops” who are self-righteous, Lebanon. But they are devoted to judgment).

v 18…Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings.

v 19…There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the HIvites living in Gibeon; they took them all in battle.

v 20…For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts (chazak ha lev-strengthened their desire to be stubborn) to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

v 21…Then Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim (long neck; neck chain, giants or mighty men; symbolic of pride) from the hill country, from Hebron (where the spies first saw them), from debir, from Anab (grapish fruit bearing; pride and joy cannot exist) and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country in Israel (north). Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities (pride has no place in the life of one who obeys the word).

v 22…There were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel (those that escaped went other places), only in Gaza (strong), in Gath (winepress), and in Ashdod ( will spoil; these are three of the five main Philistine cities and were never conquered by Israel).

v 23…So Joshua took the whole land (of Canaan) according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land had rest from war ( no insurrections by assorted bands of Canaanites or from the Philistines; alludes the Messiah’s victory and the rest in the Messianic Kingdom).

Josh 12.1-24 gives us the account of all the victories made by Israel in the time of Moses and Joshua. This conquest took seven years and this definitely alludes to the seven year birth-pains. We know from these verses that the Lord will fight for those who are his people and that the kingdoms of this world will be given into the hand of another Joshua, Yeshua the Messiah, during the birth-pains (Rev 11.15).

v 1…Now these are the kings of the land whom the sons of Israel defeated, and whose land they possessed beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise (east side), from the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah (plain) to the east.

v 2…Sihon, king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon (which he took from the Moabites) and ruled from Aroer (a city in Moab), which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, both the middle of the valley and half of Gilead (“heap of witness”-the other half belonged to Og), even as far as the brook Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon,

v 3…and the Arabah (plain) as far as the Sea of Chinneroth (sea of Galilee-Matt 14.34) toward the east, and as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea eastward toward Beth-jeshimoth (house of desolation) and on the south, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah “(height”-Moses saw the land from there),

v 4…and the territory of Og (oven cake) king of Bashan, one of the remnant of Rephaim (terrible ones), who lived in Ashtaroth (mind readers and at Edrai (good pasture),

v 5…and ruled over Mount Hermon and Salecah (walk) and all Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites (stronghold) and the Maacathites (pressed), and half of Gilead, as far as the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.

v 6…Moses the servant of the Lord and the sons of Israel defeated them; and Moses the servant of the Lord gave it to the Reubenites and the gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh (see Num 32.33 notes) aas a possession.

v 7…Now these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the sons of Israel defeated beyond the Jordan toward the west, from Baal-gad (lord of the troop) in the valley of Lebanon (white) even as far as Mount Halak (smooth) which rises toward Seir (shaggy goat); and Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their divisions,

v 8…in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Arabah, on the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the Negev, the Hittite, the Amorite and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite (who lived there and taken from them);

v 9…the king of Jericho (city of the moon), one; the king of Ai (ruins), one; which is beside Bethel house of God), one;

v 10…the king of Jerusalem (he sees peace), one; the king of Lachish (obstinate), one;

v 12…the king of Eglon (bull), one; the king of Gezer (isolated area), one;

v 13…the king of Debir (word), one; the king of Geder (surrounded), one;

v 14…the king of Hormath (devoted to destruction), one; the king of Arad (to flee or bee free), one;

v 15…the king of Libnah (white), one; the king of Adullam (a hiding place), one;

v 16…the king of Makkedah (a place of shepherds), one; the king of Bethel (house of God), one;

v 17…the king of Tappuah (fountain of love), one; the king of Hepher (dig), one;

v 18…the king of Aphek (control), one; the king of Lasharon (to Sharon), one;

v 19…the king of Madon (place or judging), one; the king of Hazor (village), one;

v 20…the king of Shimron-meron (watch place of rebellion), one; the king of Achshaph (sorcery), one;

v 21…the king of Taanach (who answers you), one; the king of Megiddo (place of crowds), one;

v 22..the king of Kedesh (set apart), one; the king of Jokneam (let the people possess) in Carmel, one;

v 23…the king of Dor (generations) in the heights of Dor, one; the king of Goiim (nations) in Gilgal (roll away),

v 24…the king of Tirzah (pleasant), one; in all thirty-one kings.

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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