JOSHUA

Chapter 11

"Kings Assemble. [1 - 5]"
"God's Command. [6 - 9]"
"The Cities Taken, Slain, Burned and Spoiled. [10 - 15]"
"Conquest of other kings. [16 - 23]"

 

This Bible Study is is provided by http://www.theseason.org/ and shared with permission from it's author R. Christopherson

As we read through these next few chapters, we will see many peoples and nations that will be utterly destroyed. Each of these heathen nations have their gods, and heathen religious practices that God hates. As God moves before the children of Israel from town to town, from one end of the promise land to the other, in every battle we will read: "...But that He might destroy them as the Lord commanded Moses." The Lord God commanded that all the nations within the promise land be "smote with the edge of the sword", and utterly destroyed. As we see these different nations, we will see who these people are, and why God wanted them utterly destroyed. The land had to be cleared of all these people before the inheritance of Israel could be divided up, and the land portioned off for each of the tribes of Israel.

Remember that the land that is divided up, will have different boundaries here in Joshua's time than it will be divided in the Millennium, as recorded in Ezekiel, chapter 40 through 48. Each tribe will receive their just portion in both of these times.

Joshua 11:1 "And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor had heard those things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph,"

"Those things" that are spoken of here came in stages; first, the unresting or way that Israel played with the minds of the people of Jericho before the walls came tumbling down, and the city was destroyed. Secondly the method of ambush that Israel played on the men at Ai, tricking the armed men to leave the camp by deception, then the other part of Israel moving in and burning the city down, as its men stood by and watch. Third, they saw Israel tricked into the confederacy established at Gibeon, which set the stage of utter destruction taken out on the other towns. So Jabin, king of Hazor knew that he had to do something because there was no sign that Israel would stop until they had taken the entire land.

Jabin sent his messengers to all the nations around him to come to a meeting and join together with him to march against Israel.

Joshua 11:2 "And to the kings that were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west,"

In modern times, and even the New Testament time these names most of these names had changed, and are identified by other names. Such as Chinneroth, that became know as "Lake of Gennesareth", or the Sea of Galilee in the New Testament, and then "The sea of Tiberias" later as we read in Matthew 4:14 - 18. This was the lake that Jesus walked on, and sat on the shore line and taught. This allows us to know the geographic location where these battles took place.

Joshua 11:3 "And to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh."

These Canaanites are not the Kenites, for they are the ones that started up the heathen worship of Baal worship, while the Perizzites were a mixture of the offspring of the second influx of the fallen angels. Gibeon was a Hivite town that was intergrated with the Edomites, or sons of Esau. The Jebusites were the people that founded Jabus, the town that David captured later, and changed its name to Jerusalem. We are talking about the heart of the land of Judea, and the towns that were in control of it at this time. Remember that many of the fallen angel's offspring were part of these communities also. They were marrying and giving in marriage with the daughters of flesh men, the same as it happened, and is recorded in Genesis 6:1-9. This destruction of the genetic line of flesh man, the Adamic family that Christ would be born into, is what caused God to bring on the flood.

Genesis 6:5-7 "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." [5] "And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart." [6] "And the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, Both man, and beast..." [7]

As we read on in Genesis 6 we see that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord because of His faithfulness in separating himself and family genetically from the people that had intermarried with these fallen angels. In Genesis 6:9 we read; "Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." "Perfect" as used here is "tamim, without blemish as to breed or pedigree" in the Hebrew text, while "Generations" in the manuscripts is "dor"; not "toledoth" as used in the beginning of the verse. This is talking about Noah's bloodline, or pedigree as not having been polluted by the blood of those that had mixed with the fallen angels.

After the flood of Noah's day, there was a second influx of fallen angels, just as in the first of Genesis six, and the children of these marriages were just as it was prior to the flood, these Naphilim were giants at the time of Abraham, ten generations later, and this pollution was in the blood stream of most of these nations that were now being destroyed by God through Joshua, and the children of Israel. To understand more completely who these Naphilim were, there is a complete study in the Appendix of the Companion bible.

In Jude 6 we read; "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Those angels of Satan that left that heavenly dimension to enter into our dimension of flesh man, to pollute the lineage of Adamic man, God is holding until the time this earth age is at an end. Then Michael and his angels will kick Satan and his angels out onto the earth, in our dimension of flesh man, and it will be that time of great deception where Satan will present himself as the true Messiah.

In this action that Satan was using by sending these fallen angels to earth to breed with woman, was completely against the plan of God for this age of flesh man. So remember that what is happening here in Joshua's day; God is removing and destroying these nations that have allowed themselves to be so polluted that He doesn't want them near to Israel, the people that will ultimately give birth to the Son of God. We are talking about the protection of the "pedigree" of the Messiah; being protected in the actions that are taking place here in the book of Joshua.

However there are still many of the people mixed with the Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, and other nations that are offspring of that second influx. God wanted them all destroyed, because it went against His plan. There would be no shortcuts to God's plan. John 3 tells us that "we must be born again", "born from above", born into this earth age through the womb of woman, and not as the fallen angels came. There is no salvation to those fallen angels that entered the earth age of flesh man any way other than through the birthing process. Those people had to be destroyed before the innocence of not knowing those things could be reestablished. Friend, what is happening in these chapters of Joshua is the only way that our Lord could fulfil His perfect plan, to offer a plan of salvation to those that would by faith, believe and accept repentance through the blood of Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice.

So Father is continuing the cleansing the second influx of the Naphilim, the fallen angels that came to this earth age. It had to be done. So don't think of all this slaughtering of these many nations as being evil, for the evil is being purged from off the face of the earth. Each child born by the Naphilim had a soul put into that embryo, and God was trying to save souls from being forced into a polluted state of being. In the time of the Millennium things that were not right, will be made right because of this movement by Satan and his angels.

Joshua 11:4 "And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude with horses and chariots very many."

King Jabin of Hazor and all his allied army went out with all their horses and chariots to meet the Israelites. With all these people on their horses and chariots it could really be a scary sight. Remember that some day even Israel would become that many. Hosea 1:10 tells us; "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered..." but not at this time of Joshua.

Joshua 11:5 "And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel."

Joshua 11:6 "And the Lord said unto Joshua, "Be not afraid because of them: for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: Thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire." "

God is there to hear the plans that these heathen nations are planning, and He is instructing Joshua of the plan that Israel will use to destroy all these people coming against them. God is telling Joshua not to be afraid because of their army, "for tomorrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel..." However God has a little job for the Israelites that night. To "hough their horses", means "to cut the tendons [hamstrings] on the horses legs" so they can't walk and run. Sure God has plans, but people in their flesh bodies do the work. That is what God even expects of you and I, do the work of the Lord. God is saying you do what I tell you to do, and I will take care of the rest for you.

That is the same way that the gospel goes forth today. We do the work, plant the seeds of truth in the minds of men and women, and God through the Holy Spirit will finish the job. We have to learn to take God's counsel, instead of relying on men and their traditions.

Joshua 11:7 "So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly; and they fell upon them."

As all these heathen nations were having their meetings and laying their plan of war, Joshua and the children of Israel dropped down on them suddenly, and killed them.

Joshua 11:8 "And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them, and chased them unto Zidon, and unto Misrephothmaim, and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward; and they smote them, until they left them none remaining."

"Zidon" today is called "Sidon" and the coast of Lebanon near Tyre. Israel moved west to east, to the salt pits of Misrephothmaim, killing of these heathen nations. God set the stage for Joshua and gave him instructions to follow, and when they followed God's instruction, they had the victory.

Joshua 11:9 "And Joshua did unto them as the Lord bade him: he houghed their horses, and burnt their chariots with fire."

Joshua did exactly as God told him to do, he didn't change one thing from God's plan, he did it God's way.

Joshua 11:10 "And Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms."

Stop and think of it. King Jabin of Hazor was the head of all those kingdoms. Whe Jabin told them to jump or come, they had to come. God has just taken the control of the nations away from them, and left each town to defend itself.

Joshua 11:11 "And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword: utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire."

Hazor was utterly destroyed. Though Hazor had been destroyed there was still a strong influx of the offspring of the fallen angels scattered amongst the other nations that had to be destroyed. Later in the study we will have a look into some of their religious practices that had to be destroyed, but many of these practices are creeping back into man's religions today.

Joshua 11:12 "And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and he utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded."

Joshua did even change one word from what Moses told him to do. God gave Moses His plan, and that plan is being followed to the very end.

Joshua 11:13 "But as for the cities that stood still in their strength, Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only; that did Joshua burn."

Though Israel burned Hazor because it was the headquarters or capital of the other states, Israel did not burn the other cities that had no strength that could not defend themselves. The people were destroyed, but the property was left in tact.

Joshua 11:14 "And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe."

After the people had been destroyed [killed], their property and cattle became the property of the Israelites; the spoils of war. However we know that many of these people ran for their lives, and left the area. However what this is saying is that the land area was cleansed from the people that were living there before. We will see in Joshua 15 that some of these people that fled the area even returned after peace came to the land.

Joshua 11:15 "As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses."

The Words that God gave to Moses and were translated to Joshua, not one word of God's commands were changed. They were followed to the letter, and that is how our actions should be, following the letter that the Lord has given to us in His Word.

Joshua 11:16 "So Joshua took all that land, the hills and all the south country, and all the land of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain, and the mountain of Israel, and the valley of the same;"

In describing the land that Joshua had taken for Israel, the land of Goshen is in Egypt, by the Nile where the Israelites were under bondage for four hundred years; This is now part of the promise land, for Egypt was no longer the force that it was before.

Joshua 11:17 "Even from the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir, even unto Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon: and all their kings he took, and smote them, and slew them."

"Baal-gad" means "many Baal worshippers". Remember that the events that are going on here are examples of how it will be just prior to the seventh trump. These events and things that will mark the end of this earth age of flesh man, and move him on into the promise land of the Millennium age. These things are types of things that will happen. Joshua is Jesus in the English, and is a type of the Savior that will come at the close of our generation, at the second advent.

Joshua 11:18 "Joshua made war a long time with all those kings."

There were many kings as we will see in the eighteenth chapter.

Joshua 11:19 "There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle."

At the very beginning of the war with these evil peoples, the Gibeonites taught them a very serious lesson which Joshua and the elders of Israel learned will. Sure they were fooled once, but not again. They made a peace covenant with Gibeon, and they honored the covenant to the very end; but there would be no more peace covenants give again, nor talking or deals worked out with the enemy, as we see going on today amongst nations. That peace treaty was made without consulting God, but that mistake would not happen again. However remember that many of those in Gibeon were Edomites, the generations from Esau, the distant cousins to Israel through Esau.

Joshua 11:20 "For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that He might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses."

God set in the minds of these enemy nations that are made up of a mixture of the Naphilim that they had to come against Israel. Then when they went to war, God would destroy them utterly. These people came from one old giant named "Anak, or Anab". This is the same reason that the flood of Noah's time came to be, these long necked giants or offspring of the Naphilim had to be destroyed. These people were not as the scriptures say, "born again" or "born from above by the water, through the womb of woman, or birthing process", as required by God. These Naphilim came to earth other than through the womb of women, and took women to wed and multiply for their own gratification. God wanted to maintain innocence on earth, and because of this, this influx had to be destroyed.

Joshua 11:21 "And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims form the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the muntains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities."

It is very important to know what these "Anakims" were. "The Anakims were the descendants of the second incursion of evil angels (Genesis 6:4) through one called Anak." These Nephilim evil angels weren't the giants, but their children were the giants born into this earth age. The time of the fall of these evil angels was prior to the creation of this earth age of flesh man of Genesis 1:2, back in that first earth age.

The purpose of both of these irruption of evil and fallen angels into this earth age or dimension of flesh man, was Satan's first attempt to prevent the coming of the Seed of the woman, as foretold in Genesis 3:15.

Genesis 3:15 "And I [God] will put enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman [Eve], and between thy [Satan's] seed [the Kenites], and her Seed [Jesus Christ]; It [Jesus Christ] shall bruise thy [Satan's] head, and thou [these Kenites, the seed of Satan the serpent] shalt bruise His [Jesus] heel."

This prophecy was given way back in the garden of Eden, and it was fulfilled at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The seed of Satan are his children that came through Eve in that sin that took place in the garden of Eden. It would be Satan's children, the Kenites that would fulfill this prophecy when they were the Jewish religious leaders that plotted and took the life of Jesus on the cross. When the spikes were driven into the feet of Christ, through His heel; that act finished the requirement of God to carry out the sentence on Satan's head, that will be done in the lake of fire after judgment day.

So you see that the progeny of the Nephilim (fallen ones) were the monsters of iniquity, being superhuman (supernatural) in both size and character, and had to be destroyed. This was done through the flood of Noah, and at the second influx, God is doing is through Israel and Joshua, as these wicked nations are being destroyed. They were bringing the wisdom of the first earth age into the minds of the innocent flesh men and women, that God wanted protected. They were destroying the very plan of God with their evil acts and religious practices.

Your and my salvation comes by faith through our repentance under the blood of Jesus Christ. We take that gift that God has given to us by faith, sight unseen, but because He promised it to us through His Word. These Nephilim were bringing the knowledge of the first earth age with them, and destroying our innocence through the knowledge brought through their offspring, these giants. In the Hebrew text, these giants were "long necked"; they were not normal human beings. Genetically they were not put together and formed as God intended flesh man to exist.

As soon as this knowledge of the "Seed of woman was made known, and that it would be coming through the loins of Abraham", the second influx, or irruption of Nephilim took place, and they came in the place and land that God had promised to Abraham, in the land of Canaan, which is know as Palestine or Israel of today. This was Satan's attempt to invade into the lineage or blood line [Isaac and Israel] of the promised seed line that God would send His Son, Jesus Christ through.

Satan knew exact what he was doing when he sent his servants, these Nephilim to breed with woman, and it will happen again in our day. Jesus warned us of this in Matthew 24:37-39 "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." [37] "For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark," [38] "And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." [39] It is going to happen again before our Lord Jesus Christ returns. Satan and the fallen angels will come to earth at the sixth trump

Revelation 12:7 - 9 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels." [7] "And prevailed not, neither was there place found any more in heaven." [8] "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." [9]

Remember that this writing is John looking back from the day of the Lord, to this event that happened prior to the seventh trump; it happened at the sixth trump. this war in heaven is going on now, and when it is over we will see Satan and his hoards of Nephilim coming to earth in person; and just as Jesus warned us, they will be doing the same things that they were doing prior to the flood of Noah, and the evil religious practices that took place during the time of Joshua. Joshua was destroying those things that had crept in and messing up God's plan.

Joshua 11:22 "There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained."

At first before Joshua and the children of Israel went to war, these Anakims [giants or long necked peoples] had their capital at Hebron, with Debir being their main religious capital. They worshipped phallic symbols, and thats where Baal worship started with, and it deals with homosexual acts that God's Word condemns. These fallen angels had contaminated all of the towns in the mountains, and Anab and town on the plains. When the Word uses the phrase "cut off", it means that Joshua destroyed all the people that he caught, for some of the people escaped. Sure they go away, but they were out of the land completely.

However in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod they were fortified, but in time we will see their destruction will come also. There were still some of these people left. Goliath that fought David and died, came from this town of Gath. David picked up five smooth stone, some years later and killed the giant. Five is the number of grace. Goliath received a head wound, which is a type that we read of in Genesis 3:15, where Satan would be destroyed; "Christ shall bruise thy head" at the cross of Christ.

Remember that these hybrids of Nephilim were not born from above, they came from above and God will not allow that. In Jude 6 we are told why God has no regret for destroying the. "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Each soul must wait for its time to enter the embryo, and come through the birthing process; yet these fallen angels or souls would not stay in their habitation or place in the heavens to wait their turn. They entered into the dimension or realm of this earth age to fulfill that mission of Satan to destroy the plan of God for His children. They disobeyed God law, and mixed with mortal man [woman]. These creatures that were born to the Nephilim were not in the image of God or the angels, an exact replica, but they were hybrids of unnatural forms and minds. These long-necked giants were misfits to humanity, that were good for only one thing, and that was destruction. Friend, if this didn't happen, you would not have salvation offered to you today, had not these giants been purged from off the land, and the genetic line that Christ came through, been protected.

Joshua 11:23 "So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the Land rested from war."

The land rest for a short period of time before the next battle would take place. So now the next chapter of Joshua will be a review of the things that Joshua and the children had accomplished.

 

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