19 there hath not been a city which made peace with the sons of Israel save the Hivite, inhabitants of Gibeon; the whole they have taken in battle;
And the inhabitants of Gibeon have heard that which Joshua hath done to Jericho and to Ai, and they work, even they, with subtilty, and go, and feign to be ambassadors, and take old sacks for their asses, and wine-bottles, old, and rent, and bound up, and sandals, old and patched, on their feet, and old garments upon them, and all the bread of their provision is dry -- it was crumbs. And they go unto Joshua, unto the camp at Gilgal, and say unto him, and unto the men of Israel, `From a land far off we have come, and now, make with us a covenant;' and the men of Israel say unto the Hivite, `It may be in our midst ye are dwelling, and how do we make with thee a covenant?' and they say unto Joshua, `Thy servants we `are'.' And Joshua saith unto them, `Who `are' ye? and whence come ye?' And they say unto him, `From a land very far off have thy servants come, for the name of Jehovah thy God, for we have heard His fame, and all that He hath done in Egypt, and all that He hath done to the two kings of the Amorite who `are' beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who `is' in Ashtaroth. `And our elders, and all the inhabitants of our land speak unto us, saying, Take in your hand provision for the way, and go to meet them, and ye have said unto them, Your servants we `are', and now, make with us a covenant; this our bread -- hot we provided ourselves with it out of our houses, on the day of our coming out to go unto you, and now, lo, it is dry, and hath been crumbs; and these `are' the wine-bottles which we filled, new, and lo, they have rent; and these, our garments and our sandals, have become old, from the exceeding greatness of the way.' And the men take of their provision, and the mouth of Jehovah have not asked; and Joshua maketh with them peace, and maketh with them a covenant, to keep them alive; and swear to them do the princes of the company. And it cometh to pass, at the end of three days after that they have made with them a covenant, that they hear that they `are' their neighbours -- that in their midst they are dwelling. And the sons of Israel journey and come in unto their cities on the third day -- and their cities `are' Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-Jearim -- and the sons of Israel have not smitten them, for sworn to them have the princes of the company by Jehovah God of Israel, and all the company murmur against the princes. And all the princes say unto all the company, `We -- we have sworn to them by Jehovah, God of Israel; and now, we are not able to come against them; this we do to them, and have kept them alive, and wrath is not upon us, because of the oath which we have sworn to them.' And the princes say unto them, `They live, and are hewers of wood and drawers of water for all the company, as the princes spake to them.' And Joshua calleth for them, and speaketh unto them, saying, `Why have ye deceived us, saying, We are very far from you, and ye in our midst dwelling? and now, cursed are ye, and none of you is cut off `from being' a servant, even hewers of wood and drawers of water, for the house of my God.' And they answer Joshua and say, `Because it was certainly declared to thy servants, that Jehovah thy God commanded Moses His servant to give to you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; and we fear greatly for ourselves because of you, and we do this thing; and now, lo, we `are' in thy hand, as `it is' good, and as `it is' right in thine eyes to do to us -- do.' And he doth to them so, and delivereth them from the hand of the sons of Israel, and they have not slain them; and Joshua maketh them on that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the company, and for the altar of Jehovah, unto this day, at the place which He doth choose.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Joshua 11
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].