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Home at Last
This chapter is based on Joshua 10:40-43; 11; 14 to 22.
The victory at Beth Horon was quickly followed by the conquest
of southern Canaan. “Joshua conquered all the land—the mountain
country and the South and the lowland. ... All these kings and their
land Joshua took at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought
for Israel.”
Terrified at the success of Israel’s armies, the tribes of northern
Palestine now entered into a alliance against them. “So they went
out, they and all their armies with them.” This army was much larger
than any that the Israelites had come up against before in Canaan—
“as many people as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with
very many horses and chariots. And when all these kings had met
together, they came and camped together at the waters of Merom to
fight against Israel.”
Again Joshua received a message of encouragement: “Do not be
afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time will I deliver
all of them slain before Israel.”
Near Lake Merom he attacked the camp of the allies, and “the
Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them
and chased them ... until they left none of them remaining.” At the
command of God the chariots were burned and the horses lamed,
making them unfit for battle. The Israelites were not to put their
trust in chariots or horses, but “in the name of the Lord their God.”
One by one the cities were taken, and Hazor, the stronghold of
the enemy alliance, was burned. The war continued for several years,
but at its close Joshua was master of Canaan. “Then the land rested
from war.”
The power of the Canaanites had been broken, but they had not
been fully driven out. However, Joshua was not to continue the war.
The whole land, both the parts already conquered and what was still
not defeated, was to be divided among the tribes. Each tribe then
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