Joshua 11:18

18 He fought against them for many years.

Joshua 11:18 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 11:18

Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.
] For, though the account of the conquest of them is put together, and lies in a small compass, yet those victories were not obtained at once, or in a few days, as were those of the five kings, and others, related in the preceding chapter, ( Joshua 10:10-14 ) ; but were the work of some years; Josephus F2 says five years, but the common notion of the Jews is, that Joshua was seven years in subduing the land of Canaan F3; our Bishop Usher F4 thinks it was done in six years; and it may be concluded that it was about six or seven years ere this work was completely finished.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 19.
F3 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 31.
F4 Annal. Vet. Test. p. 39, 40.

Joshua 11:18 In-Context

16 So Joshua defeated all the people in the land. He had control of the mountains and the area of southern Canaan, all the areas of Goshen, the western hills, and the Jordan Valley. He controlled the mountains of Israel and all the hills near them.
17 Joshua controlled all the land from Mount Halak near Edom to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon, below Mount Hermon. Joshua also captured all the kings in the land and killed them.
18 He fought against them for many years.
19 The people of only one city in all the land had made a peace agreement with Israel -- the Hivites living in Gibeon. All the other cities were defeated in war.
20 The Lord made those people stubborn so they would fight against Israel and he could completely destroy them without mercy. This is what the Lord had commanded Moses to do.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.