Joshua 11:20

20 Their stubborn resistance came from the LORD and led them to wage war against Israel. Israel was then able to wipe them out as something reserved for God, without showing them any mercy. This was exactly what the LORD had commanded Moses.

Joshua 11:20 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 11:20

For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts
As he hardened the hearts of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, that his power might be displayed in their destruction:

that they should come against Israel battle;
and so fall in it:

that he might destroy them utterly;
for their abominable wickedness, idolatry, incest they had been guilty of:

[and] that they might have no favour;
which they would have had, had they made peace as the Gibeonites did; or that they might not pray and make supplication, the Lord not giving them a spirit of supplication, but an hard heart, as Gussetius ^F6 observes the words may be interpreted, though he seems to prefer the former, sense:

but that he might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses;
( Deuteronomy 7:1 Deuteronomy 7:2 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Comment. Ebr. p. 272.

Joshua 11:20 In-Context

18 Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time.

19 There wasn't one city that made peace with the Israelites, except the Hivites who lived in Gibeon. They captured every single one in battle.

20 Their stubborn resistance came from the LORD and led them to wage war against Israel. Israel was then able to wipe them out as something reserved for God, without showing them any mercy. This was exactly what the LORD had commanded Moses.

21 At that time, Joshua went and wiped out the Anakim from the highlands. He wiped them out from Hebron, from Debir, and from Anab, from the whole highlands of Judah, and the whole highlands of Israel. Joshua wiped them out along with their cities as something reserved for God.

22 The Anakim no longer remained in the land of the Israelites. They survived only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.