Joshua Chapter 11
Upon hearing the defeat of the various Canaanite nations by the Israelites, all of the remaining Canaanite kings felt threatened. Being the head of all those kingdoms (v10), Jabin king of Hazor rallied the others to fight as a united front against Israel. But God delivered all of them into Israel’s hand.
The word “Hazor” means enclosed/protected/fortified, so being an inhabitant of Hazor should have meant being safe and victorious. However, knowing Joshua’s previous victories, Jabin might have worried about whether Hazor would continue to exist.
He perhaps thought that fighting one last fight was the only thing they could do. Or maybe he actually thought that the safe and victorious nation stood a real chance of defeating Israel and getting rid of these intruders for his nation.
No matter what his reasoning was, though, the Bible says that the heart of the king of Hazor, among others, was hardened by God that He might destroy them (v20) – even a “protected” city like Hazor, ironically.
No matter what Jabin tried, he would not have changed the end result at all, because it had been decided by God Himself. But on top of the judgement that He had already intended because of their wickedness (Deut 9:5), the author specifically mentioned that none of the cities were burnt except Hazor.
It seemed that God was pronouncing judgement upon them for the role its king played in initiating a fight against Israel. This additional punishment was for challenging the sovereignty of God to destroy.
There are a few lessons that we can learn from the destruction of the Canaanites in this chapter.
Let us believe that God is our true protection, not objects made by human hands.
Let us also repent while there is the time and the opportunity, before God decides to harden our hearts to condemn us for our sins.
Finally, let us respect God’s sovereignty in all things.