“So Y’hoshua captured all that land, the hills, the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the Sh’felah, the ‘Aravah and the Isra’el hills and Sh’felah, from the bare mountain that goes up to Se‘ir to Ba‘al-Gad in the L’vanon Valley under Mount Hermon; and he took all their kings, struck them and put them to death.”-Joshua 11:16-17
From verse 16, we’re given a kind of panoramic sweeping view of how Joshua conquered the whole Land of Canaan.
First, we’re told he conquered the main southern parts of the land (detailed in Joshua Chapter 10).
Then, we’re told he conquered the Aravah.
In case you forgot, the Aravah is that long and winding valley that follows the Jordan River from its starting point at the Sea of Galilee all the way down to the Dead Sea.
Onward, we’re also told Joshua took the mountain and foothills (the low-lying parts of the country) that stretch towards the shores of the Mediterranean Coast.
Finally, Joshua’s conquest in the northern region of the Promised Land stretched all the way up to Mount Hermon.
Why does the Bible go out of its way to give us these details?
Because it wants to communicate to us that Joshua’s battle for the Holy Land was not always smooth sailing.
There wasn’t some specific timetable that was obeyed or clearly spelled-out outcomes.
Like all wars, things were messy and dirty and more often than not, unexpected ugliness would arise.
Usually, history only records the big battles and believe it or not, it were usually the big battles that lasted the shortest, NOT the longest.
The battles that normally took the longest time to finish were usually those petty clashes against kings ruling over smaller pieces of land.
These types of so-called “minor conflicts” could literally go on for years on end.
This shouldn’t surprise us because this is actually how the Lord said things would play out.
Check out the following verses from Exodus stating this very fact:
“I will not drive them out from before you in one year, which would cause the land to become desolate and the wild animals too many for you. I will drive them out from before you gradually, until you have grown in number and can take possession of the land.”-Exodus 23:29-30
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