_THE BATTLE OF MEROM._
JOSHUA xi., xii.
There is some appearance of confusion in the terms in which the great
confederacy of native princes against Israel is brought in. In the
beginning of the ninth chapter, a combination that embraced the whole
country, north and south, east and west, is described as gathered
together to fight with Joshua and with Israel. Nothing more is said
till after the treaty with the Gibeonites, when five of these
confederate kings residing in the south not far from Gibeon muster
their forces to besiege that city. Of the utter rout and ruin of these
five kings and of some of their neighbours we have just been reading.
And now we read that, after these things, Jabin, King of Hazor, sent
to his neighbours, and to all the princes in the northern part of the
country, and organized a combined movement against Israel, for which
the appointed rendezvous was at the waters of Merom, in the extreme
north of the country. The statement at the beginning of the ninth
chapter that the confederates "gathered themselves together," seems to
be made proleptically; the actual gathering together not having taken
place till the occasions specified in the tenth and eleventh chapters
respectively. The plan of the confederacy was no doubt formed soon
after the fall of Jericho and Ai, and the arrangements for a vast
united movement began to be made then. But it would necessarily
consume a considerable time to bring so vast a host together.
Meanwhile, another event had taken place. The Gibeonites had refused
to join the confederacy and had made peace with Joshua. Their
neighbours were intensely provoked, especially Adonizedec of
Jerusalem, and without waiting for the general movement proceeded at
once to chastise their treachery. As we have said already, they
doubtless thought it would be an easy task. To the surprise of them
all, Joshua, with an activity which they could not have looked for,
hastened to the relief of Gibeon, and inflicted a defeat on the
confederates which amounted to absolute ruin.
It has not been generally noticed how remarkably the Gibeonite fraud,
and the honourable action of Joshua in connection with it, tended in
the end to the good of Israel. Had Joshua, after the discovery of the
fraud, repudiated his treaty and attacked and exterminated the
Gibeonites, or had he disregarded their appeal to him for help and
suffered them to be crushed by Adonizedec, there would have been
nothing to hinder the southern kings from uniting with the northern,
and thus presenting to Joshua the most formidable opposition that was
ever mustered in defence of a country. The magnificent exploit of
Joshua in the plain of Gibeon, down the pass of Bethhoron, and in the
valley of Ajalon entirely frustrated any such arrangement. The armies
of the southern kings were destroyed or demoralized. And though the
united forces in the north, with their vast resources of war, still
formed a most formidable opponent, the case would have been very
different if the two had combined, or if one of them had hung on
Joshua's rear while he was engaged in front with the other. Nothing
could have fallen out more for the advantage of Israel than the
procedure of the Gibeonites, which drew off so large and powerful a
section of the confederates, and exposed them thus separate to the
sword of Joshua.
Joshua was not allowed a long rest at Gilgal after his dealings with
Adonizedec and his brethren. No doubt the news of that tremendous
disaster would quicken the energies of the northern kings. The head of
the new conspiracy was Jabin, King of Hazor. Jabin was evidently an
official name borne by the chief ruler of Hazor, like Pharaoh in
Egypt, for when, at a subsequent period, the place has recovered
somewhat of its importance, and comes again into view as a Canaanite
capital, Jabin is again the name of its chief ruler (Judg. iv. 2).
The situation of Hazor has been disputed by geographers, and Robinson,
who is usually so accurate, differs from other authorities. He assigns
it to a ruinous city on a hill called Tell Khuraibeh, overhanging the
Lake Merom, for little other reason than that it seems to answer the
conditions of the various narratives where Hazor is introduced. On the
other hand, the author of "The Land and the Book" assigns it to a
place still called Hazere, a little west of Merom, the remains of
which lie in a large natural basin, and spread far up the hill, toward
the south. "Heaps of hewn stone, old and rotten; open pits, deep
wells, and vast cisterns cut in the solid rock--these are the
unequivocal indications of an important city.... I inquired of an old
sheikh what saint was honoured there. In a voice loud and bold, as if
to make a doubtful point certain, he replied, Neby Hazûr, who fought
with Yeshua Ibn Nun." The matter is of no great moment; all that it is
important to know is that Hazor was situated near Lake Merom, and was
the capital of a powerful kingdom.
The cities of some of the other confederates are named, but it is not
easy to identify them all. The sites of Madon, Shimron, and Achshaph,
are unknown, but they were apparently not far from Hazor. "The Arabah
south of Chinneroth" (ver. 2, R.V.) denotes the plain of Jordan south
of the lake of Galilee; the valley, or "lowland" (R.V.), denotes the
maritime plain from the Philistines northward; "the heights of Dor on
the west" (R.V.), or Highlands of Dor ("Speaker's Commentary"), the
hills about a city on the sea coast, near the foot of Carmel,
prominent in after history, but now reduced to a village with a few
poor houses. The sacred historian, however, does not attempt to
enumerate all the places from which the confederacy was drawn, and
falls back on the old comprehensive formula--"Canaanites on the east
and on the west, Amorites, Hittites, the Jebusites in the hill
country, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh." "The
Canaanites on the west" embraced the people of Zidon, for Joshua is
expressly stated to have followed a band of the fugitives to that city
(ver. 8). The muster must have been an extraordinary one, as numerous
"as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude." Josephus gives
the numbers as 300,000 footmen, 10,000 horsemen, and 20,000 chariots;
but we can hardly attach much value to his figures. "Horses and
chariots" was an arm unknown to the Israelites, with which hitherto
they had never contended. This vast host came together and pitched at
the waters of Merom. Merom, now called Huleh, is the little lake
where, as already stated, the three streamlets that form the Jordan
unite. It varies in size in summer and winter. To the north, a large
plain spreads itself out, sufficient for the encampment of a great
army. It was at or near this plain that Abraham overtook the five
kings of Mesopotamia and defeated them, rescuing Lot, and all that had
been taken from Sodom (Gen. xiv. 14, 15). Now again it is crowded with
a mighty host: far as the eye can reach, the plain is darkened by the
countless squadrons of the enemy. Probably, after mustering here,
their intention was to bear down the Jordan valley, till they came on
Joshua at Gilgal, or such other place as he might choose to meet them.
But if this was their intention they were outwitted by the activity
and, intrepidity of Joshua, who resolved, in spite of their
overwhelming numbers, to take the aggressive; and, marching, as
before, with extraordinary rapidity, to fall on them by surprise and
throw them at once into confusion so that they should be unable to
bring their chariots and horses into the action.
It was a very serious undertaking for Joshua, and before attempting it
he stood much in need of the encouragement of Jehovah--"Be not afraid
because of them: for to-morrow about this time will I deliver them up
all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn all
their chariots with fire." Not on the number nor on the bravery of his
own people, though they had stood by him most nobly, was he to place
his reliance, but on the power of God. "Rule thou in the midst of
thine enemies" was his _mot d'ordre_, as it was afterwards of that
other Joshua, whose battles were not with confused noise nor with
garments rolled in blood, but were triumphs of truth and love. Where
else should the true warrior be found but in the midst of his enemies?
Joshua knew it, and with the promised help of God, did not flinch from
the position, though his opponents were like the sand of the seaside,
with a corresponding multitude of chariots and horses. Jesus, too,
knew it, and resting on the same promise did not shrink from the
conflict in His own person; nor did He hesitate to send His apostles
into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature, and look
forward to a victory not less complete than that of Joshua, when the
hordes of the Canaanites were scattered before him.
"To-morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before
Israel." When he got that assurance, Joshua must already have left
Gilgal some days before, and was now within a moderate distance of
Merom. There was to be no delay in the completing of the enterprise.
"To-morrow about this time." Though, as a rule, the mills of God grind
slowly, there are times when their velocity is wonderfully
accelerated. He has sometimes wonderful to-morrows. When Hezekiah was
gazing appalled on the hosts of Sennacherib as they lay coiled round
Jerusalem, God had a "to-morrow about this time" when the terror would
be exchanged for a glorious relief. When the apostles met in the upper
chamber, and were wondering how they were ever to conquer the world
for their Master, there was a "to-morrow" at hand, when the Spirit was
to "come down like rain on the mown grass, and like showers that water
the earth." When, at the end of the world, iniquity abounds and faith
is low, and scoffers are asking, "Where is the promise of His coming?"
there will come a "to-morrow about this time" when the heavens will
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and all that is therein shall be
destroyed. Hold on, brave Joshua, for a little longer; hold on too, ye
soldiers of the Lord Jesus, though all the powers of darkness are
leagued against you; hold on, ye suffering saints, whose days of pain
and nights of waking are such a weariness to your flesh; the glorious
"to-morrow" may be at hand which is to end your troubles and bring you
the victory!
"We expect a bright to-morrow,
All will be well."
And all was well with Joshua. Arriving suddenly at the waters of
Merom, he fell on the mighty host of the enemy, who, taken by
surprise, seem not to have struck one blow, but to have been seized at
once with that panic which so thoroughly demoralizes Eastern hordes,
and to have fled in consternation. In three great streams the
fugitives sought their homes. One portion made for Misrephothmaim in
the south-west, now, it is thought, represented by Musheirifeh on the
north border of the plain of Acre; another struck in a north-easterly
direction through the valley of the upper Jordan, or east of Hermon to
the valley of Mizpeh; a third, passing through the gorge of the
Litany, made for great Zidon, in the distant north. Joshua himself
would seem to have pursued this column of fugitives, and, passing over
a rough path of more than forty miles, not to have abandoned them till
they took refuge within the walls of Zidon. If he had attacked and
destroyed that stronghold, it might have changed for the better much
of the future history of his country; for the Jezebels and Athaliahs
of after days were among the worst enemies of Israel. But he did not
deem himself called to that duty. It seemed more urgent that he
should demolish Hazor, the capital of the confederacy that he had just
scattered. So "he turned back and took Hazor, and smote the king
thereof with the sword; for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those
kingdoms." For this reason Hazor was treated like Jericho, utterly
destroyed, as were also the other cities of the confederate kings. One
class of cities was spared, called in our version "the cities that
stood still in their strength," but better in the Revised--"the cities
that stood on their mounds." The custom referred to is that of
building cities on mounds or hills for the sake of protection. With
the exception of Hazor, none of these were destroyed. The reason
probably was, that it would have cost too much time. But it was in
such places that the old inhabitants rallied and entrenched
themselves, and from them they were able in after years to inflict
much loss and give great trouble to Israel. Joshua, however, had not
received instructions to destroy them; they were left to serve a
purpose in God's plan of discipline (Judg. ii. 3), and while Israel
was often humbled under them their attacks proved occasions of
rallying, bringing them back to God, whose worship they were so ready
to neglect.
The conquest of Western Palestine was thus virtually completed. First,
by taking Jericho, Joshua had possessed himself of the Jordan valley,
and established a clear communication with Bashan and Gilead, which
the two and a half tribes had received for their inheritance. By the
conquest of Ai and Bethel, he had made a way to the great plateau of
Western Palestine, and by his treaty with the Gibeonites he had
extended his hold a considerable way farther to the south and the
west. Then, by the great victory of Bethhoron, he had crushed the
southern chiefs and possessed himself, for the time at least, of all
that quarter. As to the inhabitants of the central part, we know not
(as we have already said) how they were dealt with, but most probably
they were too frightened to resist him. (See p. 202).
The northern section had been subdued at Merom, and much crippled
through the pursuit of Joshua after the battle there. The only
important parts of the country of which he did not gain possession
were the land of the Philistines, the strip of sea coast held by Tyre
and Zidon, and some small kingdoms on the north-east. It would seem
that in the instructions received by him from Moses, these were not
included, for it is expressly said of him that "he left nothing undone
of all that the Lord commanded Moses." Emphasis is laid on the fact
that his conquests were not confined to one section or denomination of
territory, but embraced the whole. "Joshua took all that land, the
hill country, and all the South, and all the land of Goshen, and the
lowland, and the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel, and the
lowland of the same; from Mount Halak (or, the bare mountain) [on the
south], that goeth up to Seir [the land of Edom], even unto Baalgad in
the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon [in the north]: and all their
kings he took, and smote them, and put them to death" (R.V.). The
"Goshen" here spoken of cannot, of course, be the Egyptian Goshen, for
this city was in the neighbourhood of Gibeon (chap. x. 41); but its
site has not been identified.
We are told that the wars of Joshua occupied a long time. Probably
from five to seven years were consumed by them, for though the pitched
battles of Bethhoron and Merom virtually decided the mastership of
the country, there must have been a large amount of guerilla warfare,
and the sieges of the various cities must have required much time. The
list of kings subdued, as given in chap. xii., is a remarkable
document. Granting that though called kings they were mostly but
little chieftains, still they were formidable enough to a pastoral
people unused to the pursuits of war; and it was very striking that
not one of them by himself, nor all of them combined, were equal to
Joshua. If Joshua was not divinely aided, the conquest of all these
chieftains and the capture of their cities is the most inexplicable
event in history.
Two additional statements are made towards the close of the eleventh
chapter. One is, that with the single exception of Gibeon, no attempt
was made by any of the chiefs or cities to make peace with Joshua.
"For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come
against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that
they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the Lord
commanded Moses." It would have been very embarrassing to Joshua if
they had submitted spontaneously, and cast themselves on his
generosity, for his orders were to destroy them. But this difficulty
did not arise. None of the cities seem to have shared the conviction
of the Gibeonites that opposition was needless, that Israel was sure
to prevail, and get possession of the country. When men's backs are
up, to use a common phrase, they will do wonders in the way of facing
danger and enduring suffering. Even the resistance of the martyrs
cannot be wholly ascribed to holy faith and loyalty to God; in many
cases, no doubt, something was due to that dogged spirit that won't
submit, that won't be beat, that will endure incredible privation
rather than give in. The effect of this resistance by the Canaanites
was, that while Joshua's task was increased in one way, it was
simplified in another. Ages before, God had given the country to the
fathers of the Hebrew nation. That people now came and demanded in
God's name possession of the land which He had given them. Had the
nations submitted voluntarily they must have left the country to seek
new settlements elsewhere. By resisting, they compelled Joshua to meet
them with the sword; and having resisted Israel with all their might,
nothing remained but that they should encounter the doom which they
had so fiercely provoked.
That some of the Canaanites did leave the country seems very probable,
although little importance is to be attached to the statement of
Procopius that after trying Egypt they settled in Libya, and
overspread Africa as far as the Pillars of Hercules. At a fortress in
Numidia called Tigisis or Tingis he says that so late as the sixth
century after Christ there were discovered near a great wall two
pillars of white stone bearing, in Phœnician, the inscription, "We
are those who fled before the robber Jeshus, son of Nane." Ewald and
others by whom this tradition is noticed are not disposed, owing to
its late date, to attach to it any weight.
The other statement relates to the Anakim. Sometime, not precisely
defined, while engaged in his conflicts Joshua "cut off the Anakims
from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all
the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel," leaving
none of them except in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod (xi. 21).
Afterwards it is said (xv. 14) that it was Caleb that drove from
Hebron the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai; but this
cannot be counted a contradiction inasmuch as "Joshua," being the
leader of the army, must be held to represent and include all who
fought in connection with his enterprise. These Anakim were the men
that had so terrified the ten spies. "And there we saw the giants, the
sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight
as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" (Num. xiii. 33). To
men of little faith, giants, whether physical or moral, are always
formidable. Kings, with the resources of an empire at their back;
generals, at the head of mighty battalions; intellectual chiefs, with
all their talent and brilliancy, their wit, their irony, their power
to make the worse appear the better reason, are more than a match for
the obscure handfuls to whom the battles of the faith are often left.
But if the obscure handfuls are allied with the Lord of hosts, their
victory is sure; the triumphant experience of the forty-sixth psalm
awaits them: "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God
shall help her, and that right early."
We are weary of the din of arms, and come at last to the refreshing
statement: "And the land rested from war." The annals of peace are
always more brief than the records of war; and when we reach this
short but welcome clause we might wish that it were so expanded as to
fill our eyes and our hearts with the blessings which peace scatters
with her kindly hand. For that impression we need only to turn to
another page of our Bible, and read of the campaigns of another
Joshua. "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all
manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people." The
contrast is very glorious. In His Galilee journeys, Jesus traversed
the very region where Joshua had drawn his sword against the
confederate kings. Joshua had pursued them as far as Zidon, leaving
marks of bloodshed along the whole way; Jesus, when "He departed to
the coasts of Tyre and Sidon," went to reward faith, to dispossess
devils, and to kindle in a desolate heart thanksgiving and joy.
Everywhere, throughout all Galilee and the regions beyond, His advent
was accompanied with benedictions, and blessings were scattered by Him
in His path.
But let us not indulge in too complete a contrast between the two
conquerors. Joshua's rough ploughshare prepared the way for Jesus'
words of mercy and deeds of love. God's message to man is not all in
honeyed words. Even Jesus, as He went through Galilee, proclaimed,
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And it was those only
who gave heed to the call to repent that became possessors of the
kingdom.