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Synopsis
The ultimate battle was being hatched by King Jabin of Hazor, who sought the support of a dozen of the northern kings. Together, they formed what seemed to be a formidable army with overwhelming strength compared with Israel's. As before, the Lord assured Joshua and the nation that it was His battle. "The LORD said to Joshua, 'Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to Israel, slain. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.'" (v6).
God commanded Israel, through Moses and Joshua, to destroy the sinful people. Especially so for Hazor, which symbolised the wicked culture that was anti-God. In the ensuing battle, other cities were spared but Hazor was razed to the ground. And little did Jabin know that while he planned the ultimate battle against Israel, God provided the complete victory for Joshua and the nation, culminating in the completion of the possession of the Promised Land. This was to be the last major battle for them all, after which, the land rested from war.
Major verses
V6-9 - The Lord assured Joshua of victory and that He would deliver the enemies to them, slain! The Lord also gave Joshua an instruction to "hamstring the horses and burn their chariots." Both God and Joshua kept their words.
What I learnt
God desires to give us victory always, He will deliver the enemies into our hand, already slain. This is an assurance that we must always remember. He also demands our obedience to Him, as shown in His instruction to Joshua. Hamstringing the horses and burning the chariots were to be the epilogue in that victory story - it tells me that we get to do the easy part while He does the difficult one for us. Praise the Lord!
V12-15 - Joshua carried out God's command to the tee. God's plan was that, while giving them the Promised Land, He also punished the sinful inhabitants.
What I learnt
We may not see the big picture exactly when God tells us to do certain things in His way. But we can be assured that as long as we obey Him, His plan will be fulfilled and accomplished.
Summary
God desires to deliver victory to our hands. He will do the difficult part and we need only to do the easy one. This is a good deal! While the enemy (or obstacle ahead) may look formidable, we must remember that God is on our side (Rom 8:28-32). In response, we must obey His commands.
Next up ......
After 7 years of war, Israel took the Promised Land. Joshua 12 is a report card of the victory. Is there anything that we can learn from the report card? You bet ... catch it on 12 Feb.
(Request - Please leave your comments after reading this blog. Bless others with your own sharing too. Click "Comments" right at the end of this page. Thanks.)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSome great photos of Hazor from the 2003 excavation I thought I would share with you. I excavated there in 2003. A GREAT experience, I highly recommend it! Tel Hazor Photos
ReplyDeleteDear KingSolomonGate (I believe that it is Mr Dan Pride, right?),
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link to your pictures. The Hazor that is being referred to in Joshua was way before Solomon's time. It was destroyed (completed razed, the bible says), by Joshua and his army.
Thank you for your interest.
God bless,
Steven
p/s. Your comment at 10.25am was removed because it was a duplicate of the first one.
Hi Steven,
ReplyDeleteIn your lessons learnt from v12-15, you wrote about obeying what God tells us to do. The problem for me is determining what He is telling me vs. what i like to hear. I read previously about checking against His Word, any other guidance?
robert
Dear Robert
ReplyDeleteThanks for your sharing. In my own experience, for many of us, the problem is not with not hearing from God. Instead, it is not trusting what we hear from Him, and more dangerously, doubting what He says to us.
Checking against His word is one good way. To be effective, we need to constantly "chew" on His word as He had promised to put His laws in our mind and write them in our heart" (Heb 8:10). The Holy Spirit will give us guidance as well, quite clearly.
I also practise asking counsel of another brother, Pro 19:20 says "Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise."
In this case, I learnt that when God gives us clear instructions (there are many of such), we must obey.
The Book of Joshua has many examples about the need to inquire of Him before making decision. I shared in Chapter 8 that "no decision is a wrong decision if it is made with reverance to Him."
Hope this helps.
God bless,
Steven