Joshua 11:20

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.

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 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.

21 Now Joshua fought the Anakites who lived in the mountains of Hebron, Debir, Anab, Judah, and Israel, and he completely destroyed them and their towns.

22 There were no Anakites left living in the land of the Israelites and only a few were left in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.