Joshua 11 and 12
As we come to a close of the first section of Joshua, I want to thank you all for spending time in fellowship with myself and more importantly with God in this study. I pray that you have been experiencing God as we work through Joshua, both during our time together and after our time ends. I pray that the Word of God is traveling alongside you, being on the forefront of your mind and tip of your tongue. I pray that the battles of Joshua have been inspiring you for the battles in your own life. May we turn to God first. May we be excited to see how God is moving. May we get out of bed early because we don’t want to oversleep God’s presence, and may we be restless with the anticipation of his movement. May we be filled with the hope that comes from expecting God’s power to be poured out. May we be strong and courageous for the Lord is not only on our side but goes before us, fighting our battles and defeating our enemies before we even make it to the battlefield. I pray that this study has drawn our hearts into a place of deeper belonging and in turn obedience, with a desire for righteousness that we may be close to the Lord.
Joshua is often separated into three sections: chapters 1-12 are the entrance into the Promised Land and Israel’s conquest; 13-22 is the settling of the Land; and 23-24 are considered Joshua’s final charges to the people. Chapters 11 and 12 are going to be the conquest of the Northern part of the Promised Land by Joshua and the Israelites and will give us a sense that there can be rest. Chapter 12 will list for us the defeated kings and nations by Moses and Joshua. As we read these chapters, I want you to think about how far Israel had come in just 12 chapters. We ended Exodus in the wilderness, a wandering nation with no nation. It was a disobedient generation that was freed from slavery by the hand of God, yet full of fear and lacked confidence in God. So God raised up a new generation to come into the fulfillment of the Promise of God. This generation was to be strong, courageous, and obedient. Under the leadership of Joshua, this generation of people who knew nothing but food from heaven and wilderness, crossed the flooded Jordan and claimed the Land that was promised long ago to Abraham. We will see here the war machine cooling off and the work of Joshua and Moses coming to an end. So let us look at these two chapters:
11:1-5 The story picks up fresh off Israel’s defeating of the Canaanites to the south. The northern kings, under the direction of Jabin of Hazor, gather together a military force that was much more formidable. The soldiers were so numerous they were like grains of sand on a seashore. They made sure to pull out all the stops. They were not underestimating the Israelites. They brought everything possible to throw at the Israelites.
6-9 The Lord said “do not be afraid”. How could you not? The intensity of that moment, faced with a military as far as the eye could see. Horses and chariots ready to roll out. Israel surely had to have been outnumbered and outgunned. Yet the author doesn’t even waste his time describing the battle. God makes quick work of this enemy and Israel overtakes them, chasing the armies of the northern kings away.
10-15 Hazor was the head of the northern kings and the one who brought the kingdoms together to try and root our Israel. Joshua takes Hazor with special destruction, but also destroys and burns every city, except those on mounds. We see Joshua had done everything that was commanded of him by Moses. He does not want to lose the Lord’s favor.
16-20 Israel no longer made alliances with any city or king, instead took all to their destruction. It was God’s will that they be destroyed. This was according to his righteousness that they may be judged for idolatry and immortality, but also that Israel may not fall to the wayside and share in the Canaanite’s sin.
21-23 Joshua took the whole land, gave the people their inheritance, and “the land had rest from war”.
12:1-6 This is a list of people Moses defeated.
7-24 This is a list if the kings Joshua defeated.
Here are some concluding thoughts that connect not only to Joshua, but to our day today:
Do Not Fear: Is it not amazing that God tells us not to fear? Joshua is facing his largest test yet. An army has come against him that is as numerous as the sand on a beach. Yet, God leads the people into battle and grants them victory with little to say about it. This battle is one where you are supposed to get some sort of Braveheartor 300speech from your leader. Something to re-channel your fear of death. But Joshua gives only this message: do not fear, the Lord is with us. It may seem like less than inspiring, but what could give us more confidence? No movie speech could prepare us for battle more than our God declaring his presence and favor with us. Mel Gibson cannot inspire such courage with mere words. We as believers know that our God is for us. For Christians, Jesus has already won the battle and those trials we face he has gone before us. Sadly, we have been told this so often that it no longer inspires us. Let this word come to you afresh! God is for you and is granting you victory in your battles as he has already triumphed over sin and the grave! So do not fear. Though you may be outnumbered, the enemy may be large, our God is going before us.
Rest in the Land: Oh, to have rest. The blessing it is to find rest. After years of slavery, of wandering, and now war, it must have been so beautiful to rest in the Promised Land. For God to give us the inheritance he had promised. We live in an interesting duality in Christianity today where we both are looking for the coming finality of all things and also the experience of living knowing the ending. We both are to look forward to an inheritance given to us by being ushered into the presence of the Father while also recognizing that I can have that experience of the Kingdom of God now as I live among the brokenness of the world. So, the challenge becomes do we live only looking forward to the promise to come, or in the reality that rest has already been granted to those who believe? We can live our lives as believers just looking forward to this “heaven” or we can recognize that heaven is simply being in the presence of God. We can experience this now by the filling of the Holy Spirit. So yes, there is more to come but don’t live simply desiring tomorrow, but live expecting God’s peace and rest today. He has granted you your inheritance through the work on the cross and resurrection from the grave, so live like people who take up residency in the Kingdom of God. Know him so you can know rest.
Kings defeated: Though it is a boring chapter to read, chapter 12 ought to stick out to us. One after another we read of the victories given to Moses and Joshua by the hand of God. Are we remembering the battles won on our behalf? We are so spoiled by God’s grace and so accustomed to him blessing us that we have become spiritually obese. We do not take enough time to point out specific victories and specific battles. Nor do we make specific prayer because we say “Eh, God will take care of it”. It is a good practice to call out God’s victories as it draws our eyes to what he is doing around us. We become sensitive to the Spirit.