Yehoshua 11:5

5 And when all these melachim were met together, they came to encamp together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Yisroel.

Yehoshua 11:5 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 11:5

And when all those kings were met together
At some certain place, which Jabin had appointed:

they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom:
Josephus ^F1 says it was at Berotha; perhaps it should be Merotha, a city of upper Galilee, not far from Cedesa, the same he elsewhere calls ^F2 Meroth, These waters are the same with the lake Samachonitis, on which Hazor was situated; so that it was near Jabin where the rendezvous was. This lake is thought ^F3 to have its name from the Arabic word "Samacha", which signifies high, as Merom does in Hebrew. It was, as Josephus says

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 thirty furlongs broad, and sixty long, and its waters clayish. Jerom says ^F5, in his time there was here a village called Merrus, twelve miles from the city Sebaste by Dothaim: here the kings and their armies met

to fight against Israel;
so that they were the aggressors, which made the war still more lawful.

F1 Ibid. (Antiq. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 8.)
F2 De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 20. sect. 6.
F3 Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 1. p. 262.
F4 De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 1. sect. 1. & l. 3. c. 9. sect. 7.
F5 De loc. Heb. fol. 93. D.

Yehoshua 11:5 In-Context

3 And to the Kena’ani on the east and on the west, and to Emori, and the Chitti, and the Perizzi, and the Yevusi in the har, and to the Chivi at the base of Chermon in Eretz HaMitzpah.

4 And they went out, they and all their machanot with them, am rav, even as the sand that is upon the sea in multitude, with susim and chariots rav me’od.

5 And when all these melachim were met together, they came to encamp together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Yisroel.

6 And Hashem said unto Yehoshua, Be not afraid before them; for machar about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Yisroel; thou shalt lame their susim, and burn their merkevot with eish.

7 So Yehoshua, kol Am HaMilchamah with him, came against them by the waters of Merom pitom (suddenly); and they fell upon them.