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Joshua 11:6 Darby English Bible (DARBY)

6 And Jehovah said to Joshua, Be not afraid because of them; for to-morrow about this time will I give them all up slain before Israel: their horses shalt thou hough, and thou shalt burn their chariots with fire.

Cross Reference

2 Samuel 8:4 DARBY

And David took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen; and David houghed all the chariot [horses], but reserved of them [for] a hundred chariots.

Joshua 10:8 DARBY

And Jehovah said to Joshua, Fear them not; for into thy hand have I given them: not a man of them shall stand before thee.

Joshua 11:9 DARBY

And Joshua did to them as Jehovah had said to him: he houghed their horses, and burned their chariots with fire.

Psalms 46:11 DARBY

Jehovah of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our high fortress. Selah.

Hosea 14:3 DARBY

Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, [Thou art] our God; because in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

Isaiah 31:1 DARBY

Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and depend on horses, and confide in chariots because [they are] many, and in horsemen because they are very strong; and who look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Jehovah!

Isaiah 30:16 DARBY

And ye said, No, but we will flee upon horses, -- therefore shall ye flee; and, We will ride upon the swift, -- therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

Proverbs 20:7 DARBY

The righteous walketh in his integrity: blessed are his children after him!

Psalms 147:10-11 DARBY

He delighteth not in the strength of the horse, he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man; Jehovah taketh pleasure in those that fear him, in those that hope in his loving-kindness.

Deuteronomy 7:16 DARBY

And thou shalt consume all the peoples that Jehovah thy God will give up unto thee; thine eye shall not spare them, and thou shalt not serve their gods; for that would be a snare unto thee.

Psalms 46:9 DARBY

He hath made wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariots in the fire.

Psalms 27:1-2 DARBY

{[A Psalm] of David.} Jehovah is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Jehovah is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evil-doers, mine adversaries and mine enemies, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Psalms 20:7-8 DARBY

Some make mention of chariots, and some of horses, but we of the name of Jehovah our God. They are bowed down and fallen; but we are risen and stand upright.

2 Chronicles 20:16 DARBY

To-morrow go down against them: behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel.

1 Samuel 11:9 DARBY

And they said to the messengers that had come, Thus shall ye say to the men of Jabesh-Gilead: To-morrow ye shall have deliverance when the sun is hot. And the messengers came and informed the men of Jabesh-Gilead; and they were glad.

Judges 20:28 DARBY

and Phin'ehas the son of Elea'zar, son of Aaron, ministered before it in those days), saying, "Shall we yet again go out to battle against our brethren the Benjaminites, or shall we cease?" And the LORD said, "Go up; for tomorrow I will give them into your hand."

Joshua 3:5 DARBY

And Joshua said to the people, Hallow yourselves; for to-morrow Jehovah will do wonders in your midst.

Commentary on Joshua 11 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 11

Jos 11:1-9. Divers Kings Overcome at the Waters of Merom.

1-9. 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 (Jud 4:2), took the lead, from Hazor being the capital of the northern region (Jos 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 Cœlo-Syria.

4, 5. 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 (Jos 11:6), and thus encouraged, he, in the full confidence of faith, set out to face the enemy.

6-8. 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 Jos 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 Phœnician 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 (Jos 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].