1And it will be when Jabin, king of Hazor, heard, and he will send to Jobab, king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, 2And to the kings that were from the north upon the mountain, and in the desert south of Cinneroth, and in the valley, and in the height of Dor from the sea, 3The Canaanite from the sun-rising and from the sea, and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountain, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. 4And they will come forth, they, and their camps with them, many people, as the sand upon the lip of the sea for multitude, and horse and chariot exceeding many. 5And all these kings will meet by appointment, and they will come and will encamp together at the water of Merom, to war with Israel. 6And Jehovah will say to Joshua, Thou shalt not be afraid of their face: for to-morrow about this time I gave them all wounded before Israel: thou shalt hamstring their horses and their chariots thou shalt burn in fire. 7And Joshua will come, and all the people of war with him, upon them by the water of Merom suddenly, and they will fall upon them. 8And Jehovah will give them into the hand of Israel, and they will smite them, and they will pursue them, even to great Zidon, and even to Misrephoth-Maim, and even to the valley of Mizpeh from the sunrising; and he will smite them till none was left to them escaping. 9And Joshua will do to them as Jehovah said to him: he hamstrung their horses, and burnt their chariots in fire. 10And Joshua will turn back in that time and he will take Hazor, and her king he smote with the sword: and Hazor before them it is the head of all these kingdoms. 11And they will smite every soul which is in it with the mouth of the sword, exterminating: and no breath was left: and he burnt Hazor in fire. 12And all the cities of these kings and all their kingdoms Joshua took, and he will smite them with the mouth of the sword, exterminating them, as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded. 13Only all the cities standing upon their heap, Israel burnt them not, except Hazor only Joshua burnt 14And all the spoil of these cities and the cattle, the sons of Israel plundered for themselves; only every man they smote with the mouth of the sword, till they destroyed them; not any breath was left 15As Jehovah commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did: he turned not aside a word from all which Jehovah commanded Moses. 16And Joshua will take all this land, the mountain and all the south, and all the land of Goshen, and the plain, and the desert region and the mountain of Israel, and its plain; 17From the smooth mountain going up to Seir, and even to the lord of Gad in the plains of Lebanon under mount Hermon: and all their kings he took, and he will smite them and kill them. 18Many days Joshua made war with all these kings. 19There was not a city that made peace to the sons of Israel, only the Hivites dwelling in Gibeon; they took all in war. 20For from Jehovah it was to strengthen their heart to meet Israel in war in order to destroy them; no favor to be to them, but to destroy them as Jehovah commanded Moses. 21And Joshua will go in that time and will cut off the Anakims from the mountain, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from every mountain of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel, with their cities Joshua exterminated them. 22An Anakim was not left in the land of the sons of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, they were left 23And Joshua will take all the land which Jehovah spake to Moses, and Joshua will give it for an inheritance to Israel according to their portion to their tribes. And the land rested from war.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 DIVERS KINGS OVERCOME AT THE WATERS OF MEROM. (
Josh 11:1-
Josh 11:9)
And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor had heard those things--The scene of the sacred narrative is here shifted to the north of Canaan, where a still more extensive confederacy was formed among the ruling powers to oppose the further progress of the Israelites. Jabin ("the Intelligent"), which seems to have been a hereditary title (
Judg 4:2), took the lead, from Hazor being the capital of the northern region (
Josh 11:10). It was situated on the borders of lake Merom. The other cities mentioned must have been in the vicinity though their exact position is unknown.
2 the kings that were on the north of the mountains--the Anti-libanus district.
the plains south of Chinneroth--the northern part of the Arabah, or valley of the Jordan.
the valley--the low and level country, including the plain of Sharon.
borders of Dor on the west--the highlands of Dor, reaching to the town of Dor on the Mediterranean coast, below mount Carmel.
3 the Canaanites on the east and on the west--a particular branch of the Canaanitish population who occupied the western bank of the Jordan as far northward as the Sea of Galilee, and also the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.
under Hermon--now Jebel-es-sheikh. It was the northern boundary of Canaan on the east of the Jordan.
land of Mizpeh--now Cślo-Syria.
4 they went out, . . . as the sand that is upon the sea-shore in multitude--The chiefs of these several tribes were summoned by Jabin, being all probably tributary to the kingdom of Hazor. Their combined forces, according to JOSEPHUS, amounted to three hundred thousand infantry, ten thousand cavalry, and twenty thousand war chariots.
with horses and chariots very many--The war chariots were probably like those of Egypt, made of wood, but nailed and tipped with iron. These appear for the first time in the Canaanite war, to aid this last determined struggle against the invaders; and "it was the use of these which seems to have fixed the place of rendezvous by the lake Merom (now Huleh), along whose level shores they could have full play for their force." A host so formidable in numbers, as well as in military equipments, was sure to alarm and dispirit the Israelites. Joshua, therefore, was favored with a renewal of the divine promise of victory (
Josh 11:6), and thus encouraged, he, in the full confidence of faith, set out to face the enemy.
6 to-morrow, about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel--As it was impossible to have marched from Gilgal to Merom in one day, we must suppose Joshua already moving northward and within a day's distance of the Canaanite camp, when the Lord gave him this assurance of success. With characteristic energy he made a sudden advance, probably during the night, and fell upon them like a thunderbolt, when scattered along the rising grounds (Septuagint), before they had time to rally on the plain. In the sudden panic "the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them, and chased them." The rout was complete; some went westward, over the mountains, above the gorge of the Leontes, to Sidon and Misrephothmaim ("glass-smelting houses"), in the neighborhood, and others eastward to the plain of Mizpeh.
8 they left none remaining--of those whom they overtook. All those who fell into their hands alive were slain.
9 Joshua did unto them as the Lord bade him--(See
Josh 11:6). Houghing the horses is done by cutting the sinews and arteries of their hinder legs, so that they not only become hopelessly lame, but bleed to death. The reasons for this special command were that the Lord designed to lead the Israelites to trust in Him, not in military resources (
Ps 20:7); to show that in the land of promise there was no use of horses; and, finally, to discourage their travelling as they were to be an agricultural, not a trading, people.
11 he burnt Hazor with fire--calmly and deliberately, doubtless, according to divine direction.
13 as for the cities that stood still in their strength--literally, "on their heaps." It was a Phśnician custom to build cities on heights, natural or artificial [HENGSTENBERG].
16 So Joshua took all that land--Here follows a general view of the conquest. The division of the country there into five parts; namely, the hills, the land of Goshen, that is, a pastoral land near Gibeon (
Josh 10:41); the valley, the plains and the mountains of Israel, i. e., Carmel, rests upon a diversity of geographical positions, which is characteristic of the region.
17 from the mount Halak--Hebrew, "the smooth mountain."
that goeth up to Seir--an irregular line of white naked hills, about eighty feet high, and seven or eight geographical miles in length that cross the whole Ghor, eight miles south of the Dead Sea, probably "the ascent of Akrabbim" [ROBINSON].
unto Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon--the city or temple of the god of destiny, in Baalbec.
23 Joshua took the whole land--The battle of the take of Merom was to the north what the battle of Beth-horon was to the south; more briefly told and less complete in its consequences; but still the decisive conflict by which the whole northern region of Canaan fell into the hands of Israel [STANLEY].