Joshua 11:1-23.  More war.  This time the war is for the northern part of the land.  What is kind of interesting is that these northern kings started it.  From past readings we know that these city-kingdoms were aware of what was going on around them.  It also seems that at least some of them knew some details about the Israelites.  Remember Rahab knew about Yahweh, and that was God’s personal name that He told Moses so that the Israelites would know that Moses was really representing the right God (Exodus 3:14-15.  When God said, “I AM THAT I AM” that phrase is the one word Yahweh in Hebrew).  Also the Gibeonites seemed to know about the rules in Deuteronomy 20:10-20 about only making peace with the people outside of the land.  Maybe they read the rocks set up at Mount Ebal with the whole law written on it.  If the whole book of Deuteronomy was written there, including the “history” parts and not just the rules part, then they would have known that God was promising the “land of the Canaan” to the Israelites (Deuteronomy 32:49).

But why did they make war?  If they knew the rules they would have known that peace was not an option but they could have fled.  That would be hard of course.  And I suppose when you have an army “as many people as the sand on the seashore” it’s probably impossible to convince your people to move.  Sure Israel beat Jericho, sure they beat Ai (the second time), sure they beat the five kings in the southern part of the territory, but the kings of the northern area had an army “as many people as the sand on the seashore.”  In 1 Kings 20:23 there is the story of a king that attacked Israel many years after the time of Joshua.  The king lost the battle but his servant convinced him it was because they had fought the Israelites in the hills.  The servant figured that the Israelite’s “gods were gods of the mountains” and that if they fought again down on the flat land that the “gods” of Israel would be weak.  Pretty risky reasoning but that is what that king did and he lost again.  I don’t know if it was pride, desperation, bad reasoning, or a combination of all of the above but the results were a disaster.  I suppose the same sort of think happened in our reading today.  Certainly normal thinking would lead you to believe you could beat the Israelites with an army “as many people as the sand on the seashore”.  Oh and remember they had a lot of horses and chariots too.

When we last saw the Israelites they had returned to their camp at Gilgal down by Jericho.  This part of the war starts out at a place called the “waters of Merom”.  For many years scholars believed that it was the smaller lake on the Jordan River north of the Sea of Galilee, now called Lake Huleh.  Today many scholars think it is some other place between Galilee and the coast.  Lake Huleh seems more likely since the terrain between the Sea of Galilee and the coast is very hilly.  Lake Huleh is surrounded by flatter land and is near Hazor.  Remember that it was the king of Hazor that arranged this battle.  Either location though is far to the north of Gilgal between 80 and 90 miles.  Interestingly while the Canaanites were gearing up for war against Israel (see v. 5) Joshua is being told again not to be afraid (see v. 6).  The reason Joshua did not need to fear was because God was fighting for him.  While the Canaanites were overestimating themselves Joshua had to be reminded not to underestimate God.

Proverbs 16:8 tells us that pride leads to destruction.  That is just what happened to the Canaanites.  So far in the book of Joshua nobody from the Canaanite tribes has survived Israel’s advance (Canaanite can be used for the specific tribe or the whole group of tribes living in the land before the Israelites invaded (except the Philistines which always seem to be separate)), nobody except Rahab and her family and the Gibeonites.  In both of those cases we see the survivors showing humility.  Rahab showed humility by asking to be spared.  Also she recognized the great power of God.  The Gibeonites too were humble accepting the role of servants forever.  But there were rules about not making treaties and by now the Canaanites were probably aware of that.  They had two choices fight or run (I guess there was a third choice, just sit there and be killed, but that wasn’t going to happen).  Given all the evidence they should have tucked tail and run.  But they decided to fight instead and were destroyed.  The fighting didn’t end that day on the battlefield though.  The Israelites were told to destroy all of the people in the land and that is what they did, all except Rahab’s family and the Gibeonites.  According to verse 18 it took a long time.  In Joshua 14:10 Caleb tells us that it had been 45 years since he spied out the land.  Caleb was one of several spies that Moses sent into the promised land to spy it out.  Only he and Joshua recommended taking the land.  The disobedience of the Israelites at that time resulted in that generation wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.  It appears from this reference that Joshua the long time in Joshua 11:18 was five years.

A special group mentioned at the end of this history is the Anakim.  According to Deuteronomy 1 the Israelites were afraid of the Canaanites who were “bigger and taller” than them with “fortified cities”.  And what was worse was that the “Anakim were there”.  The Anakim were so impressive to the Israelites that they rebelled against God and would not take the promised land.  It is fitting that this group of supermen is listed last on the conquest.  This does not mean that they were defeated after all the other Canaanites.  Verse 21 says they were killed “at that time”.  Tis is probably talking about during the five years of war.  A few Anakim were left in three cities belonging to the Philistines.  On of these cities, Gath, plays an important role in later history of Israel.  About 400 year in the future a little boy will fight a giant from Gath and will become the hero and king of Israel.  Perhaps that giant, Goliath, was a descendant of these Anakim.  And so Joshua took the whole land, even those intimidating Anakim.

One last note, it’s about the fact that God “hardened the hearts” of the Canaanites.  You might think that God caused the Canaanites to fight knowing that they would lose and be destroyed.  In other words you might think God set them up.  In the post on 2/8/12 I dealt with this subject and you can read more there.  God is not responsible for the choice that the Canaanite kings made.  They chose not to see and submit.

I think the lesson for me today is not to be proud.  I need to see life the way it really is, the way God says it is and submit to that.  Humility saved Rahab and the Gibeonites and pride destroyed the Canaanites.  Our will is our problem.  James tells us that fights and quarrels among us are caused by our selfish desires (James 4:1-2).  Our will.  That is where the problems started in the Garden of Eden too (Genesis 3:1-6).  Our will separates us from God.  God does not change and so we either bend or get hard and break.  The flip side of this is what God told Joshua.  We don’t need to be afraid, God is with us, God is for us.  Yes we have to given in, obey, trust, but God loves us and he is for us.  Nothing can separate us from God’s love (Romans 8:31-35).  Lord help me be flexible.  Let me bend to your will.  Help me see you for who you really are.  Let me never underestimate you, especially your love.  Help me trust.  Help me obey.  Let me not fear the life, the real beautiful everlasting  life, that you have for me.