Joshua 11:5

5 All these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Yisra'el.

Joshua 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.

Joshua 11:5 In-Context

3 to the Kana`ani on the east and on the west, and the Amori, and the Hittite, and the Perizzi, and the Yevusi in the hill-country, and the Hivvi under Hermon in the land of Mitzpah.

4 They went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many.

5 All these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Yisra'el.

6 The LORD said to Yehoshua, Don't be afraid because of them; for tomorrow at this time will I deliver them up all slain before Yisra'el: you shall hamstring their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.

7 So Yehoshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly, and fell on them.