Pray Thru the Bible

God Speaks

11 When King Jabin of Hazor heard what had happened, he sent messages to the following kings: King Jobab of Madon; the king of Shimron; the king of Acshaph; ² all the kings of the northern hill country; the kings in the Jordan Valley south of Galilee; the kings in the Galilean foothills; the kings of Naphoth-dor on the west; ³ the kings of Canaan, both east and west; the kings of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites in the towns on the slopes of Mount Hermon in the land of Mizpah.

⁴ All these kings came out to fight. Their combined armies formed a vast horde. And with all their horses and chariots, they covered the landscape like the sand on the seashore. ⁵ The kings joined forces and established their camp around the water near Merom to fight against Israel.

⁶ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them. By this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to Israel as dead men. Then you must cripple their horses and burn their chariots.”

⁷ So Joshua and all his fighting men traveled to the water near Merom and attacked suddenly. ⁸ And the Lord gave them victory over their enemies. The Israelites chased them as far as Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward into the valley of Mizpah, until not one enemy warrior was left alive. ⁹ Then Joshua crippled the horses and burned all the chariots, as the Lord had instructed.

¹⁰ Joshua then turned back and captured Hazor and killed its king. (Hazor had at one time been the capital of all these kingdoms.) ¹¹ The Israelites completely destroyed every living thing in the city, leaving no survivors. Not a single person was spared. And then Joshua burned the city.

¹² Joshua slaughtered all the other kings and their people, completely destroying them, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. ¹³ But the Israelites did not burn any of the towns built on mounds except Hazor, which Joshua burned. ¹⁴ And the Israelites took all the plunder and livestock of the ravaged towns for themselves. But they killed all the people, leaving no survivors. ¹⁵ As the Lord had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua. And Joshua did as he was told, carefully obeying all the commands that the Lord had given to Moses.

¹⁶ So Joshua conquered the entire region—the hill country, the entire Negev, the whole area around the town of Goshen, the western foothills, the Jordan Valley, the mountains of Israel, and the Galilean foothills. ¹⁷ The Israelite territory now extended all the way from Mount Halak, which leads up to Seir in the south, as far north as Baal-gad at the foot of Mount Hermon in the valley of Lebanon. Joshua killed all the kings of those territories, ¹⁸ waging war for a long time to accomplish this. ¹⁹ No one in this region made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites of Gibeon. All the others were defeated. ²⁰ For the Lord hardened their hearts and caused them to fight the Israelites. So they were completely destroyed without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²¹ During this period Joshua destroyed all the descendants of Anak, who lived in the hill country of Hebron, Debir, Anab, and the entire hill country of Judah and Israel. He killed them all and completely destroyed their towns. ²² None of the descendants of Anak were left in all the land of Israel, though some still remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.

²³ So Joshua took control of the entire land, just as the Lord had instructed Moses. He gave it to the people of Israel as their special possession, dividing the land among the tribes. So the land finally had rest from war.

12 These are the kings east of the Jordan River who had been killed by the Israelites and whose land was taken. Their territory extended from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon and included all the land east of the Jordan Valley.

² King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, was defeated. His kingdom included Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon Gorge, and extended from the middle of the Arnon Gorge to the Jabbok River, which serves as a border for the Ammonites. This territory included the southern half of the territory of Gilead. ³ Sihon also controlled the Jordan Valley and regions to the east—from as far north as the Sea of Galilee to as far south as the Dead Sea, including the road to Beth-jeshimoth and southward to the slopes of Pisgah.

⁴ King Og of Bashan, the last of the Rephaites, lived at Ashtaroth and Edrei. ⁵ He ruled a territory stretching from Mount Hermon to Salecah in the north and to all of Bashan in the east, and westward to the borders of the kingdoms of Geshur and Maacah. This territory included the northern half of Gilead, as far as the boundary of King Sihon of Heshbon.

⁶ Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the Israelites had destroyed the people of King Sihon and King Og. And Moses gave their land as a possession to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁷ The following is a list of the kings that Joshua and the Israelite armies defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which leads up to Seir. (Joshua gave this land to the tribes of Israel as their possession, ⁸ including the hill country, the western foothills, the Jordan Valley, the mountain slopes, the Judean wilderness, and the Negev. The people who lived in this region were the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.) These are the kings Israel defeated:

⁹ The king of Jericho
The king of Ai, near Bethel
¹⁰ The king of Jerusalem
The king of Hebron
¹¹ The king of Jarmuth
The king of Lachish
¹² The king of Eglon
The king of Gezer
¹³ The king of Debir
The king of Geder
¹⁴ The king of Hormah
The king of Arad
¹⁵ The king of Libnah
The king of Adullam
¹⁶ The king of Makkedah
The king of Bethel
¹⁷ The king of Tappuah
The king of Hepher
¹⁸ The king of Aphek
The king of Lasharon
¹⁹ The king of Madon
The king of Hazor
²⁰ The king of Shimron-meron
The king of Acshaph
²¹ The king of Taanach
The king of Megiddo
²² The king of Kedesh
The king of Jokneam in Carmel
²³ The king of Dor in the town of Naphoth-dor
The king of Goyim in Gilgal
²⁴ The king of Tirzah.

In all, thirty-one kings were defeated.

Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com

We Respond

Reflection: Consider the following questions regarding Joshua 11-12: 

1. What does this chapter tell me about God?

2. What does this chapter tell me about the human beings He created?    

Here is one possible answer to each of these questions. Ask the Holy Spirit if there are any others for you personally to ponder.  

[These two chapters are a summary of the history and geography of the people groups the Israelites conquered under Joshua’s leadership.]

1. God is the one who caused the people of Canaan to harden their hearts and fight the Israelites because He knew their wicked hearts. 

2. Joshua led the Israelites to accomplish all that God had instructed them to do under Moses. 

Prayer

3. How might I pray regarding Joshua 11-12?  

Thank You, O Sovereign LORD, that You are just, righteous, and all powerful. You are not capricious or uncaring, but You know people’s hearts and inner motives and deal with them accordingly. Please give me a clean heart, pure motives, and proper actions toward You and other people. Please calm my fears so that I can stand courageously against the evil I see around me. Help me to join with others in standing up against it. Help us to be faithful to carry out Your commands: may we do just as You have said. When You give us a victory, may we keep going until everything You have planned has been accomplished. Keep us resolute to do everything You have commanded. May we leave nothing undone. May we not compromise but show mercy only as You direct. May no evil survive to hinder Your work and the inheritance of Your people. Then may those You choose to bless have rest from both physical conflict and spiritual warfare. All for Your glory and our ultimate good, gracious LORD. AMEN  

Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)

4. What action does the LORD want me to take in response to Joshua 11-12? With the help of God’s Holy Spirit:

• I will seek the LORD’s counsel in prayer before leading others.
• I will work to see that, like Joshua, I leave nothing undone of all that the LORD commands. 
• I will, like Moses, pass on to upcoming generations the commands the LORD has forgiven me.
• I will keep a journal of all the ways the LORD has instructed and guided me.

Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.