Joshua 11:1-12:24 - The Northern Conquest & A God Who Saves
Introduction: A Season of Change
It is so good to be with you here this week. It has been a very emotional and exhausting week, to be honest. We’ve been moving out of our North Campus, carrying things out literally one desk at a time, one box at a time, and occasionally asking, “What the heck is that?” as we clear out the corners. But we finally received the certificate of occupancy for our new property, and we are just so excited to celebrate life change here at The Well.
Looking back, we’ve had twenty-one years over at our Fig Garden campus and sixteen years at our North Campus. There is a lot of emotion and a lot of gratitude for what God has done. Whether you are a guest here with us for the first time or you’ve been around for years, you know that our goal at The Well is to proclaim Christ. We want to teach everyone and admonish everyone until we are all complete in Christ. There is no other message we can give, and there is nothing else we can do other than handle the Word of God and point people to the living Christ who transforms lives.
Today, we are continuing our journey through the book of Joshua, specifically chapters eleven and twelve. If we haven’t had the privilege of meeting yet, my name is Brad, and I want to say a special welcome to our guests joining us live or via video. We are on the heels of last week’s message where Joshua took the Southern Kingdoms. If you recall, the king of Jerusalem rallied five other kings to try to stop the people of God. We saw Joshua’s faithfulness after failure, and we saw God’s incredible mercy toward the Gibeonites—former enemies who became family. We saw God’s power and His availability to us.
The Northern Campaign
This week, we see a similar pattern. Joshua took the southern cities last week, and now in chapters eleven and twelve, he moves to the North. He is going to battle the king of a city called Hazor. Now, Hazor was to the North what Jericho was to the South—it was one of the most fortified cities in the region. It sits north of the Sea of Galilee in what is today called the Hula Valley. Years later, Solomon would turn it into a gateway city and fortify it further. The point is, this was a major power center.
The king of Hazor rallies all the kings in the North against Joshua. They come out with their armies, and the Bible describes them as being as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
Joshua 11:1-5 (NASB)
Then it came about, when Jabin king of Hazor heard [of it], that he sent to Jobab king of Madon and to the king of Shimron and to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings who were of the north in the hill country, and in the Arabah– south of Chinneroth and in the lowland and on the heights of Dor on the west– to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. They came out, they and all their armies with them, [as] many people as the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. So all of these kings having agreed to meet, came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
This isn’t just four guys and their neighbor. The first-century historian Josephus suggests there were about 300,000 footmen, 10,000 horsemen, and 20,000 chariots. This is the first time since fleeing Egypt that the people of God have dealt with formidable weaponry like cavalry and chariots. Joshua looks at this “sand on the seashore” army and must have paused to seek the Lord, because the Lord gives him a very encouraging message.
Joshua 11:6 (NASB)
Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.’
God tells him, “Don’t worry about the odds. Don’t worry if it’s two-to-one or four-to-one. I am going before you.” So, in verse seven, Joshua leads the people by faith. They attack suddenly at the waters of Merom, and the Lord delivers the enemy into their hands. Joshua pursues them all the way to the Mediterranean Sea and as far north as modern-day Lebanon. He does exactly what the Lord commanded: he hamstrings the horses and burns the chariots with fire.
Joshua 11:7-9 (NASB)
So Joshua and all the people of war with him came upon them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and attacked them. The LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, so that they defeated them, and pursued them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim and the valley of Mizpeh to the east; and they struck them until no survivor was left to them. Joshua did to them as the LORD had told him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
Joshua then turns back and captures Hazor, the “head” of all those kingdoms, and burns it. This is symbolic; just as Jericho in the South was burned, Hazor in the North is burned. Joshua takes the spoils of war for his army and fulfills the plan God originally gave to Moses.
Obedience Over Knowledge
There is a very interesting connection made in the text between God, Moses, and Joshua. It says that just as the Lord commanded Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it.
Joshua 11:15 (NASB)
Just as the LORD had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.
That is a bold statement: “He left nothing undone.” Everything God told Moses to do—even though Moses himself couldn’t enter the land because of his sin—Joshua executed perfectly. Joshua waged war for a long time. We don’t know if it was months or years, but we know he was faithful through the grind.
This stands out to me because Joshua was a guy who learned from his failures. He wasn’t a perfect leader, but he was an obedient one. He heard the Word of God and simply did what it said. This is a challenge for us because we often misconstrue spiritual maturity as the accumulation of knowledge. We have more Bible studies, more podcasts, and more teaching than any generation in history. But knowledge alone doesn’t make you godly; in fact, the Bible warns that knowledge can make you arrogant.
1 Corinthians 8:1 (NASB)
Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.
It’s not the knowledge of the Word that transforms; it’s the Spirit of God working through our obedience. James tells us that if we hear the Word but don’t do it, we are like someone who looks in a mirror and immediately forgets what they look like.
James 1:22-25 (NASB)
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for [once] he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the [law] of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
Joshua was given a command at the very beginning of his journey: to meditate on the law day and night so that he would be careful to do according to all that was written in it.
Joshua 1:8 (NASB)
’This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
Success didn’t come from his military genius; it came because when the Bible said “do it,” he did it.
The Tension of a Sovereign God
As we read through this campaign, you might wonder: why didn’t anyone surrender? They saw Joshua rolling through the South; why didn’t they just wave the white flag? The answer might surprise you, and to be candid, it might even bother you.
Joshua 11:19-20 (NASB)
There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon; they took them all in battle. For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
The text says the Lord hardened their hearts so that they would receive no mercy and be destroyed. This highlights a side of God we often want to ignore—His wrath and judgment. We love the “bear hug” God, and God is love, but His holiness and justice are just as real. We see this pattern with Pharaoh in Egypt as well.
Exodus 4:21 (NASB)
The LORD said to Moses, ’When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
God sometimes hardens hearts to demonstrate His power and His name throughout the earth. Paul wrestles with this in Romans, asking if there is injustice with God. His conclusion? God has mercy on whom He desires and hardens whom He desires.
Romans 9:14-21 (NASB)
What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, ‘I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.’ So then it [does] not [depend] on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’ So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’ On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
As the potter, God has the right over the clay. This brings us to a deep theological reality: we are all born dead in our sins, unable to respond to God on our own. If you are a follower of Jesus today, it isn’t because you were smarter or better than anyone else. I remember the day I chose God—March 23, 1993. In that moment, I made a choice. But looking back, I see rings of God’s sovereignty bringing me to that choice because a dead person cannot choose life unless God acts first.
The Mystery of the Gospel
People have argued for centuries: Did God choose us, or did we choose God? The biblical answer is “Yes.” The Bible doesn’t apologize for the tension. It says that God chose us before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 1:4-5 (NASB)
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
Yet, it also says that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life, and that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, we will be saved.
John 3:16 (NASB)
’For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 1:12 (NASB)
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name,
God makes the first move. If you are here today and you feel a spiritual curiosity, that didn’t come from you. That is a sovereign God warming your heart. Don’t fight it; embrace the ride. The beauty of this is that the pressure is off. I share the gospel as if it depends on me, but I sleep well at night knowing it depends on Him.
Our Assignment: Making Disciples
Because God is the one who establishes His purposes, we get to participate with Him through making disciples. This is our Great Commission.
Matthew 28:19-20 (NASB)
‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’
We take the gospel that changed us and tell others. And for those of you with families, please hear me: your primary mission field is your home. We outsource our mechanics and our plumbers, but we cannot outsource the spiritual life of our children. You are the number one discipler in the life of your kids and grandkids.
3 John 1:4 (NASB)
I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.
Proverbs 22:6 (NASB)
Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Facing the Giants in the Closet
Finally, I want to look at verses twenty-one and twenty-two. Joshua goes after the Anakim—the giants. These were the people who terrified the original spies forty years earlier. The spies had claimed the Nephilim were in the land, which was a bit of an exaggeration—the Nephilim died in the flood—but the Anakim were indeed very tall and very intimidating.
Numbers 13:33 (NASB)
‘There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.’
To the Israelites, these were the “boogeymen.” But Joshua and Caleb, the only two left from that generation, went right after them. They knew that no giant is too big for God.
You probably have some “boogeymen” in your past—fears, traumas, or sins that you’ve locked away in the closet. You’ve sworn you’ll take them to the grave. But I’m telling you, you’re probably going to have to face your giants. You’re going to have to say the quiet part out loud in a safe, biblical community. If God can defeat the Anakim, He can help you defeat the giants in your life.
Conclusion and Prayer
Our God hasn’t changed. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. As He was with Moses and Joshua, He is with us. Together, with Christ at the center, we can face any enemy.
God, I’m so grateful for Your Word. Thank You that You invite us into a rich life with You, despite our failures. Help us to be faithful like Joshua, resting in the fact that You go first. Give us the courage to face our giants and to walk in the light as You are in the light. Thank You for the privilege of being part of Your story. In Jesus’ name, Amen.