Joshua, Chapter 11 - When Darkness Gathers | Prophets of Israel

[music] >> Shalom and welcome to Joshua chapter 11 brought to you by the Land of Israel Network, the landofisrael.com. Jeremy, shalom. It's good to see you here. I thought I'd start off talking about what you shared yesterday, Jeremy. You know, Israel faces the southern kings. Five armies united to destroy Gibeon and to stop Israel's march. And what followed was one of the most supernatural battles in all of Tanakh. It's poetic. It's beautiful. There's songs written about it. Hailstones from heaven, the sun is frozen in the sky. But chapter 11, everything really changes. Right now, the north rises in a massive coalition, the largest yet, gathers to stop Israel. See, up until now, the battles were intense, but they were really localized. There was Jericho, there was Ai. Yes, there was the southern kings, but that was that was an alliance, but it was it was limited. But now, well, this is next-level. This is a serious escalation. This is the moment where it becomes a full-scale regional war. This is the final northern alliance. Right? This is the last real stand against the Israelites. And honestly, in the minds of those who are living it, they may have been thinking to themselves that this is it. This is do or die. This is where things either collapse entirely or they become real. Um okay, so the chapter opens with the news spreading to the north. Right? Verse one. And it came to pass when Jabin, king of Hazor, heard these things, then he sent to Jobab, king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Ahshaph. Right? The king of Hazor, which is the strongest kingdom in all of northern Canaan at the time, he sent out word to unite everybody against Israel. These were probably armies that had been fighting each other. And now it's like, we got to put all that stuff aside, guys, and come together. And they armies gather. And and just to give us an idea of how overwhelmingly outnumbered the Israelites were, verse four. They went out, they and all their armies, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. Right? And this phrase, the sands on the seashore, what does that make you think of? Right? That should definitely grab our attention because sand on the seashore, that was supposed to be our blessing. Right? In Bereshit, Genesis 22, God promises Abram that his descendants would be like the stars in the sky and the sands on the seashore. And now those exact words are used to describe Israel's enemies. You know, for a moment, the the the enemy actually probably looked like they're the promise. Jeremy, what do you think about that? You know, that terminology really stands out for me also. When I saw sands of the seashore, it just jumps out. And it's like Israel was dreaming about its destiny. One day, we're going to be like the sands of the seashore. And they look ahead of them, and that dream turns into a nightmare. It's the first moment where Israel knows that this is not just another battle. They've never faced anything like this before. Jericho was a miracle. The Ai was a setback, and then they recovered. The war against the southern kings, it was dramatic, but it was still like located. It was a regional war. But this, this feels like a moment when the nation wakes up, looks at the Canaanites, and they have the numbers, they have the power, they have the technology, horses, chariots, military technology. Like, what do they do? It's like a superpower coalition, and Israel is outnumbered and out-equipped and out-matched. And so, I imagine the psychological shift must have hit the people when they realized that every major power on the map has mobilized against them all at once. And so, by all laws of nature, the Israelites really should not have won this war. And then the IDF, you know, they say, "Kashe b'emunim, kal b'krav." It's hard in the training so that it's easy in the battle. And in some ways, up until now, Joshua and Israel, they've been training hard for just this moment, for this full-scale war. But they are up against impossible odds. And without Hashem on their side, they really don't stand a chance. Yeah, you know, and right at that moment comes one of the most important leadership verses in the entire conquest. I feel like Joshua is a really a book of leadership. You know, but verse six, let's read it. But the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow, about this time, I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire." Right? Not only will you be victorious, Hashem tells us, but destroy the horses. Burn the chariots. You see all that cutting-edge, valuable military technology that would be falling into your hands, that would make you an even more imposing regional power that you so clearly want? Well, don't even think about it. Burn it. Hashem doesn't want us trusting military technology. It's one of our Achilles' heels throughout history. We've seen it even in our recent days. And you know what I'm talking about. You know, you know, it's one thing to have the technology. It's another thing to put your faith in it. And I think he saw at that point where we where we were all it would it would probably be spiritually detrimental for us to to have it. Uh then not to have it. I think that's the idea. That there would be something spiritually healthy about us following Hashem's commandment and destroying it with our own hands. And you know, maybe Hashem is telling them what to do after they win in order to give them much-needed confidence. Because think about it for a second. They're facing an overwhelming coalition uh as far as the eye could see, mobilized right across from them. It wasn't abstract, it wasn't theoretical. They're staring down this massive barbarian horde. I mean, the Tanakh doesn't exactly give us the precise numbers, but it had to be 100 to 1, 1,000 to 1, even more. You know, you and and you'd think that that Israel would pause. You think that they would regroup to prepare or strategize. Maybe hesitate for a second. But nope. Nope. Look at verse seven. So, Joshua and all the people of war that were with him came against them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and they attacked them. Right? They didn't even flinch. They attacked suddenly. Joshua chose speed. Well, well, I'm sure that the northern alliance, I'm sure that they would expect the Israelites to take a defensive posture, just based on the sheer numbers. But instead, the Israelites launch a surprise assault. I mean, just talking about this with you, Jeremy, it's like getting my juices flowing. I feel like we are just ready as a nation to have a bold leader like Joshua leading us. I mean, I'm not bashing our leaders today. I'm just saying they're definitely not Joshua. They're not King David. But b'ezrat Hashem, they will be soon. Anyways, Joshua, the he's the leader of one of the earliest preemptive strike strategies in recorded history. And the northern coalition collapses. You know, I just have to stop you here, Ari. This is just so important. The last war was really a mirror of the Independence Day War. But for me, this war mirrors a prophecy for the Six-Day War. When Israel reunited Jerusalem, liberated Judea and Samaria. In 1967, Israel fought a multi-front war against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria with additional Arab support from other countries. They all joined the conflict. I mean, we were outnumbered, under-equipped, and attacked on multiple fronts. The Arab forces had twice as many soldiers, three times as many tanks, three times as many fighter jets. And the secret to Israel's success was a preemptive strike that eliminated Egypt's air force and airfields on the first day. And we intercepted all of the Jordanian planes on the way because we were already up in the air. And in Joshua's time, the preemptive strike, that was the turning point to their victory. And I also love the fact that the biggest war by far in the book of Joshua, it had no overt miracles. The biggest of all wars, Hashem let Israel partner fully with him, with complete providence. And I think that's truly beautiful because what Israel was forced to do was to innovate, to be courageous, to be bold. And that preemptive strike was exactly that. It's like the fulfillment of God's original blessing in chapter one. "Be strong and courageous." And now, you see strength and courage were on full display. Totally. He just he just pounces and launches this surprise assault. And the enemy just collapses. Verse eight. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them to greater Sidon, to the Brook of Misrephoth, and to the Valley of Mizpah eastward. This wasn't a battle. This was Israel completely dominating the entire northern theater. And then comes a verse that honestly, you know, I just sort of read through without thinking much about it. But as I was sort of processing and digesting it, I circled back to really take it in, and I'm glad I did because this verse has profound consequences about everything that happened then and everything that's happening now. Right? Verse 20. For it was Hashem's doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, that they would be proscribed and without quarter, and utterly destroyed as Hashem has commanded Moses. Did you catch that? It was Hashem's doing to harden their hearts. Meaning that these kings definitely thought it was their idea to launch the war in this way, but it wasn't. Hashem put it in their hearts. The coalition itself was not random. History wasn't spiraling out of control. Maybe it felt that way at the time. You know, the kings believed they were gathering to stop Israel, but Tanakh tells us that they were walking straight into the moment that would secure Israel forever. Right? Because scattered enemies, they tend to regroup. And local resistance can reignite. We see that in Israel today. But when everyone comes at once, that's when the real question gets answered. Not can Israel win a battle, but can Israel survive the world? You know, and just think about that, you know, for a moment. If if Joshua had failed at that very time, there would be no Jewish people standing in this land today. And none of us would even be here to read this story, to be discussing this. Because Joshua wasn't fighting another battle. It It wasn't just another battle. It was the moment where history itself hung in the balance. This wasn't Jericho or Ai or the southern kings. This was the moment that the entire northern world said, "Enough." Israel stops here. Israel stops here. I mean, how many times in Jewish history and world history has that sentence been spoken? Babylon, Persia, Rome, Spain, Germany. I mean, right now Persia is saying it again. Today they're called Iran, but same story. Hamas, Hezbollah, they're all different, you know, parts of that octopus. You know, and and the EU, the UN. History is repeating Joshua at this very moment. This A massive coalition forms. The numbers look impossible. Technology against us looks overwhelming. The headlines are terrifying. And yet if you turn off the smartphones and you shut off the distractions, even just for a few minutes, you can hear Hashem whispering to us, "Don't be afraid. Do not be afraid." Listen, the fear it's real. It's normal. It's human. The armies surrounding us with murder in their eyes are real. The threat today is real, but the outcome has already been determined by Hashem. And faith is knowing that ultimately he is the commander leading us into battle. No different than the battles in the times of Joshua. And by the way, Jeremy, one more point. That's why the command about the horses and chariots mattered so much. Because the greatest danger to Israel was never the enemies' weapons. It was the temptation to become like the enemy, to believe survival comes only from power, that our technology will actually protect us. Yeah, we have to build an army. That's true. We have to defend ourselves. We have to amass weapons and do whatever we can in this normal rational realm to fight wars. But we can never forget where victory truly comes from. You know, King David will go on to say in the book of Psalms, chapter 20, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we remember the name of Hashem our God." trust in chariots and some in horses, but we remember the name of Hashem our God. Right? And chapter 11 is the living demonstration of that truth. And maybe that's why this chapter matters so much for us, you know, now today back in the land of Israel. We have to remember that we've been here before. And when the opposition gathers in its full force, which is happening every day even more, this is often that the moment of redemption is closest. Because sometimes Hashem allows the darkness to gather completely. Sometimes Hashem actually brings the darkness together completely. So that when the light breaks through, no one can mistake where it came from. We are We are never standing on the battlefield alone. Not then, not now, and not ever. And that is the most important thing for us to remember. So chazak ve'amatz, my friends. See you tomorrow as we move into chapter 12, where the Bible pauses for a moment in the narrative and does something fascinating. It lists every defeated king. Because in Tanakh, victories aren't just celebrated, they're recorded. And there's a reason for that. Anyways, if you're enjoying this journey, you're invited to join our global fellowship family at the landofisrael.com. It is like [music] nothing else on Earth. Shalom, my friends.