against Gibeon. The Lord fights for Israel and wonders such as a hail of stones falling
down upon the enemy, as well as the sun standing still at the request of Joshua, help
deliver Gibeon’s enemies into Israel’s hands. Just as Joshua is bound by covenant to fight
for Gibeon, so, too, the Lord is bound to fight for Israel.
Unlike the Gibeonites, who hear what God is doing through Israel and choose
covenant obedience to the Lord (Jos 9:1–7), the five kings and their peoples (the
Amorites, Hittites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites) choose rebellion and
attack Israel. This rebellion brings a humiliating end. The kings are discovered hiding in
a cave, where Joshua commands his military leaders to
walk upon their necks, illustrating
that Israel will tread upon their enemies. Perhaps there is an echo here of the promise that
the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent and its seed? (Gn 3:15).
The struggle, however, is not over. The five kings in the southern half of the Promised
Land have been defeated, but now the king of Hazor summons the
kings of the northern
hill country to attack Israel. Once again, his attack follows the report that he has “heard”
about Israel’s wonderful deeds; but rather than responding with faith to this report, the
kings respond with rebellious fear, which Scripture describes as hard-heartedness (Jos
11:20), echoing Pharaoh’s refusal to heed and obey the God of Israel. With Israel’s entry
into the land, the people have two choices, obey God and join Israel (Gibeon), or rebel
against the Lord and perish.
And the Land Had Rest
By the end of Joshua 11, Joshua has victoriously led Israel against the two major
coalitions of Canaanites, the kings of the north and of the south, with the result that
there is no serious leadership in the land that can oppose Israel. The narrative concludes
with the
observation, “And the land had rest from war” (Jos 11:23). Joshua foretold this
“rest” for Israel, if they would only fight and trust in God. This theme of “rest” echoes
God’s “rest” from the work of creation, in which
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he transformed the land that was
formless and void into a good and inhabitable land. Now the Promised Land has rest
from
the work of the conquest, whose arduous fighting brings order and makes the
Promised Land a place inhabitable for Israel to settle. Israel’s defeat of the pagan tribes is
akin to God’s defeat of chaos in creation. The conquest ushers in a new creation, with
Israel called to be the image bearers of God and to exercise his dominion over the land.
Joshua’s defeat of the pagan kings and the claim that the land is at rest make Joshua
13–22, a bit of a surprise because chapter 13 opens with God’s warning to
Joshua that
“there remains yet very much land to be possessed” (Jos 13:1) and the narrative contains
repeated complaints that Israel is not taking possession of the Promised Land. What is
going on?
If we read carefully, we discover that after their military victories in Joshua 1–12,
Israel usually returns to their camp at Gilgal. In Joshua 13–22, the complaint that the
tribes are not taking possession of their inheritance means that
Israel is failing to follow
up their military victories with a physical occupation of the land of their defeated
enemies. Of all the tribes, Judah is most successful in occupying the land allotted to them,
but no tribe completes the task. The problem is acute, as Joshua realizes, for if Israel does
not take possession of the land, a new generation of Canaanite
leaders will arise, and the
rest from fighting that has been granted to Israel will soon be squandered.
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