Bible Talks - Family Church (9:45am)
Series: The Promised Land - 6 Sermons From Joshua
Command and Conquest
Sunday, 11 May 2003
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Today we return to the book of Joshua. This morning's reading from Joshua is a summary section given after the Israelite's conquest of the southern and northern sections of the land of Canaan is essentially complete. It has a distinctive literary form in the Hebrew that distinguishes it from the narrative of the previous chapters. It could be given the title:
By Divine Command:
A Summary Of The Conquest Of Canaan
And divided up into 4 distinct sections:
It would probably be helpful if you could stick a digit in your Bibles at Joshua 11:12 so you can follow on as necessary.
Section 1 which consists of verse 12 tells us that Joshua did all that God told him. The actions of Joshua: he took, he put to the sword, he totally destroyed follow in a rapid succession. This gives the impression of the speed and effectiveness with which everything was conquered. The reference to Moses recalls the opening chapters of the book and the concern there to establish Joshua as legitimate successor to Moses. All of Joshua's successes contributed to this recognition. The secret of Joshua's victories was his obedience to God. He did just as God had commanded.
Section 2 is found in verses 13 to 17a and tells us about the Towns or cities that Joshua conquered. This section divides into a discussion of how Israel treated the conquered towns and a list of the regions represented. In between these two lies the focus of the section, the repeated emphasis upon Joshua's obedience in v. 15 we read, "As the Lord commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses."
In this list of towns conquered only Hazor was set ablaze by Joshua. So the only towns totally destroyed by fire were Jericho, Ai and Hazor. As with Jericho and Ai, all the citizens of all the towns were killed and the fact that the destruction was complete is emphasized. But instead of the total destruction of these towns and everything in them, the plunder and the livestock were carried off by the Israelites.
Why were the towns destroyed? Moses faithfully passed on to Joshua God's command to take the land. In Deuteronomy 31:7‑8, we read, "7Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.".”
So Joshua, as the divinely appointed successor to Moses shows his complete obedience to God. The Israelites not only inherit the land, they inherit what the land contains.
In vs 16 and the first half of 17 we see the completeness of Joshua's obedience in the totality of the regions conquered in the south and north. Joshua then turns to the boundaries, from Mount Halak in the south to Baal Gad in the north. The regions are described and then the boundaries. This anticipates the allocation of the regions to the tribes of Israel that come later in chapters 13 to 19; for many tribes specific places (towns rather than regions) within the tribal territory will be described as well as the boundaries of that tribe.
The third section starting at the second half of verse 17 is a summary of the Kings conquered (11:17b‑22). This section, has three parts: the kings' fate, God's will and its transformation into battle, and a geographical outline of regions and boundaries. The emphasis in this section is on the fact that Joshua put the Kings to the sword. The stress is upon the leadership, the kings, and not the towns. The ruling elite were opposed to Joshua. Nothing is said of the citizenry of these towns and their attitude.
Only the Gibeonite leadership made a treaty of peace; as we heard a couple of weeks and a few chapters ago. The emphasis in this section is on the comprehensive nature of the struggle that Israel and Joshua experienced in their attempt to gain control of the land that was given to them by God.
Verse 20 tells us that the LORD himself hardened the hearts of the Canaanite kings. This is an exact parallel with the description in Exodus 4 ‑ 14 to describe how Pharaoh's heart was hardened, both by God and by Pharaoh himself, during the Egyptian plagues under Moses. Again this serves to demonstrate that Joshua is the legitimate successor to Moses.
The hearts of the Canaanites sank before the Israelites and their victories as reported to the spies by Rahab. So the their hearts needed to be hardened so that their inclination became a firm resolve to fight the Israelites. This is the cause of the destruction of the Canaanites, a destruction that did not require mercy since there was no submission on the part of the enemy. For Israel, this was all a process of obedience to the word of God given by Moses. Thus the obedience of Israel is contrasted with the rebellion and disobedience of the Canaanites. So the destruction of the Canaanites by the Israelites under Joshua's leadership was not only for their past wickedness and their cursed origins, but for their rebellion against the will of God for Israel, a rebellion that led to armed resistance.
This matter of the curse against the Canaanites goes back to Genesis 9 when Ham, the father of Canaan saw his father, Noah, drunk and naked. The Canaanites carried the curse from their ancestry but it also showed in their actual behaviour at the time of the Israelite occupation of the land under Joshua. I see in this a parallel with the doctrine of original sin. We are all born with the tendency to sin because of our descent from Adam. But this also shows in our actual behaviour, so when Paul says that we are all sinners and there is none righteous, no not one, we realize the truth of his statements. As far as the innocence of little children is concerned, I ask the parents here, "Did you have to give your children naughty lessons?" The answer of course is a resounding NO ! We spend all our time as parents trying to teach our children how to be good. Naughty comes natural.
In verses 21‑22 we have a statement about the big guys, the Anakites. The promise of Deuteronomy 9:1‑3, which specifically predicted the defeat of the fearsome Anakites, was fulfilled, leaving only a few Anakites in some of the coastal towns of southern Palestine such as Gaza and Ashdod. A few hundred years later, one of their descendants turns up as Goliath of Gath who was defeated by David. I won't sing you the song.
This section emphasizes the completeness of Israelites conquest of the Canaanites and of their obedience to God's word through Moses and subsequently Joshua. However, there is also a note of incompleteness. What is missing in the descriptions of the towns, regions and kings defeated is the coast and the Jezreel Valley. On the one hand, Israelite territory became free of Anakites; on the other hand, they remained in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. These three towns later would become Philistine. The section concludes with a statement anticipating the description of the incompleteness of the conquest in Joshua 13:1‑7 and Judges 1. It is clear therefore, that the term Israelite territory does not imply the unconquered land. The book of Joshua does not portray a conquest of every square metre of land west of the Jordan, and of course this comes back to haunt the Israelites in their later history.
The final section is a Summary found in verse 23. It repeats the opening verse and frames the section with the twin themes: the completeness of the conquest and the obedience to God's word given through Moses. In the context of verse 22, the entire land cannot imply that every region west of the Jordan was conquered. Verse 23 moves on to describe the allotment that would occur in the following chapters. The transition is effected by the same subject, Joshua, and two different verbs.' At first, Joshua took the entire land and then he gave the land to Israel. The first phrase occurs in Joshua 11: 16, where the text describes which parts of the entire land were conquered. The second phrase echoes Joshua 10:8 and I1.8, where the LORD promises and gives the coalition armies into Israel's hand. Here, however, it is the land itself that is a gift.
The effect of this is to anticipate the distribution of the land. Along with the word for an inheritance it provides a transition to the following chapters. Inheritance is first used here in Joshua, but it will recur forty‑two times. It describes that which has been divinely given to the families of Israel for their possession. This could not become an inheritance until God gave it to Israel in the conquest. Now that the conquest has occurred, it will form the concrete expression of the promised blessings of God's covenant with Abram and his descendants. Which is where we started this series.
The rest from war that the land enjoyed suggests that the conquest part of Israel's work was finished for the moment. Land remained to be possessed, but there were to be no more wars from this point. This phrase recurs in Joshua 14:15, where it concludes Caleb's campaign to conquer Hebron. There too it signals that the wars are ended. The prophetic promise of a land at peace is here realized, however briefly, while the Israelites receive their allotments and reaffirm their covenant.
For us Christians, the 'battle' against the powers of darkness has been won by Christ on the cross. At best the 'rest' for the Israelites of Joshua was temporary (Heb. 4:8). But in Christ, eternal rest is promised. This rest comes through justification (Heb. 4:10). It is described in Heb. 4:9 as the Sabbath rest of God's people, who will enjoy their inheritance for ever (1 Pet. 1:4‑5).
So as we study the book of Joshua we not only see the historical working out of God's promises to Abraham, but we also see a historical model of the ultimate fulfilment of those promises in heaven.
Let us pray.
