The Makings of a Superhero - Joshua 11:1-23

Sermon Series: Great Leader, Exceptional Follower

Who was your favorite superhero when you were a kid?  Was it Superman?  Batman?  Spiderman?  Mine was always Batman.  I'm not exactly sure why - it probably had something to do with the reruns of the Batman TV series that came on while I was a kid.  When you think back on those superheroes they all had their own unique character traits and unique powers.  But when you really get down to their purpose, they all had basically the same job description - they were there to take out the bad guys that the police were incapable of bringing to justice. 

In the passage we are going to examine this week we are going to see Joshua described in almost a superhero-type fashion.  Why?  Is it because the author of our text wants us to esteem Joshua that highly - as if he was more than an actual man?  No.  It has everything to do with the coming individual whose life Joshua's was foreshadowing. 

After Joshua and the Israelites defeated the five kings and their armies in the first part of chapter 10, chapter 10 concludes with Joshua and the Israelites conquering the cities in the southern part of Canaan, including three of the five cities from which the five kings in the first part of chapter 10 had come from.  So with the conclusion of chapter 10 we see that the initiative of one king, the king of Jerusalem, led to the defeat of not only his own city and army, but of the entire southern region.  As chapter 11 begins the author of our text turns our attention to another king, this time from the northern region of Canaan, who sets off on a very similar course as the king of Jerusalem.  This time the name of the king is Jabin, the king of a very important city in the northern part of Canaan called Hazor.  Jabin, having heard of Israel’s victories throughout the southern part of Canaan devises a plan to put together an even bigger coalition of armies than the king of Jerusalem had put together in the south.  Jabin establishes a force of armies that verse 4 describes as “a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.”  It seems that as Joshua and the Israelites continue to advance in their conquest of the land that they continue to face bigger and more intimidating forces.  But just as God has been faithful to provide the assurance of victory in each of their other battles, God once again provides Joshua with the assurance that He will grant Joshua and the Israelites victory against this great army.  Verse 6 says, “And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel.  You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.’”  And as we have seen in the past all that Joshua needs is God’s word and he is faithful to act in obedience.  In verse 6 God provides the assurance and gives the instructions and in verse 7 Joshua immediately follows through.  “So Joshua and all his warriors came suddenly against them by the waters of Merom and fell upon them” (verse 7). 

The battle that ensued is recounted with very few details.  In fact all that we, the reader, learn about the battle is recounted in verses 8 and 9.  And though we don’t see any supernatural acts of God like we saw in chapter 10 with the large hailstones and the sun, chapter 11 makes it clear that it was once again God who was fighting on Israel’s behalf.  “And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them . . . and they struck them until He left none remaining.”  Once Joshua and the Israelites defeated the great coalition of armies near the waters of Merom verses 10 through 14 tell us that Joshua and the Israelites turned to the cities represented by these kings and their armies (just as they did at the end of chapter 10).  Joshua began by completely destroying Hazor, which verse 10 says “formerly was the head of all those kingdoms.”  Then after striking dead everything in the kingdom that breathed and completely destroying the city by fire, Joshua and the Israelites went on to destroy the peoples of the other cities, but took possession of the spoils, the livestock, and the cities themselves. 

Joshua 11:15 brings us to a very significant point in history.  Throughout the first five books of the Bible God had been promising to deliver His people into the promise land, but as the fifth book concludes we find the Israelites still outside the promise land looking in.  Once the OT book of Joshua begins we discover God telling Joshua that he will be the one who is responsible for causing the Israelites to take possession of their inheritance.  As the first few chapters of Joshua play out we find Joshua preparing the people to go into the land and leading them to cross over the Jordan so that they are able to physically enter the land.  However, being in the land was not the same as having possession of the land - they still needed to take possession of it by removing the current inhabitants.  Then beginning with Jericho the Israelites began the task of disinheriting and destroying the current inhabitants of the land until we finally arrive at Joshua 11:15.  When we arrive at Joshua 11:15 not only do we find the Israelites residing in the promise land physically, but they have essentially taken out all those who had inhabited the land and were alone possessing the land which God had promised them as an inheritance.  Although the land had not yet been divided amongst the tribes to determine which tribes would reside in which parts, the land had been conquered and God’s people were possessing that which He had for generations been promising them.  And the author of our text seems to suggest that it was Joshua’s obedience that made it all possible.  He writes in Joshua 11:15, “Just as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did.  He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.”  The fact that the Israelites had physically taken possession of their promised inheritance is directly tied to the fact that Joshua was obedient to all that God had instructed him to do through Moses. 

The significance of Joshua’s obedience and leadership continues to be emphasized throughout the remainder of chapter 11.  Joshua 11:16-23 provides a kind of summary of the Israelites’ campaign to take possession of the land and within that summary we see the way that God has orchestrated the dispossession of the land from the pagan nations.  Verse 20 states, “For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.”  So we cannot miss the hand of God and the significant role that He has played in causing the events in chapters 6 through 11 to be carried out.  But be sure to pay particular attention to who it is that is credited with many of these great accomplishments.  “So Joshua took all the land (vs. 16) . . . And he captured all the kings and struck them and put them to death (vs. 17).  Joshua made war a long time with all those kings (vs. 18). . . And Joshua came . . . and cut off the Anakim . . . Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities (vs. 21) . . . So Joshua took the whole land . . . And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. (vs. 23).”  Over and over again in these last eight verses of chapter 11 the attention of the reader is directed towards Joshua and what he is given credit for.  He’s given credit for taking possession of all the land, for capturing all the kings and putting them to death.  Then in verse 21 he’s given credit for a very impressive, but often overlooked, accomplishment.  In verse 21 Joshua is given credit for cutting off the Anakim and devoting them to destruction with their cities.  Why is this significant?  Because the Anakim were warriors of great renown and their presence in the promise land was the primary reason the previous generation of Israelites had rebelled in the wilderness.  Numbers 13:22, 28, and 32-33 say, “They [the 12 Israelite spies] went up into the Negeb . . .the descendants of Anak, were there . . .However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large.  And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there . . . So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, ‘The land through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height.  And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’”  As chapter 11 concludes, not only is Joshua given credit for taking possession of all the land and capturing and killing all the kings, but he is also credited with destroying the inhabitants of the promise land that the Israelites feared the most!     

Verse 23 closes chapter 11 as a kind of ‘hinge’ verse.  The first part of verse 23 summarizes once again Joshua’s obedience and labor in taking possession of the promise land that we see in the first 11 chapters of Joshua.  Then we see a statement which sets the stage for what transpires throughout the second part of the book of Joshua, “And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotment.  And the land had rest from war.”  In the chapters that follow the author of the text provides a description of the portion of the land that each tribe receives as their allotment.  And unlike chapters 6 through 11 which are almost entirely filled with content about war and conflict, the remainder of the book of Joshua is marked by an absence of this kind of content.

As we have noted over and over again while studying the previous chapters of the book of Joshua, the text is written in a very purposeful way, which clearly foreshadows the life of Jesus and the plan of salvation that God was working out.  We all know that Joshua wasn’t the only one who was fighting these battles – but as chapter 11 concludes in verses 16 through 23 the author of the text is being very intentional to highlight two things: (1) God orchestrated all of these things, and (2) Joshua alone carried them out.  Why does the author choose to recount these battles in this way and paint a picture of Joshua that seems so much like a superhero?  Because under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit he was leading his readers to look for another shepherd like Joshua who would alone faithfully and obediently carry out God’s orchestrated plan which would ultimately lead God’s people to take possession of their inheritance.

Let’s briefly look back at how this has transpired throughout the course of book of Joshua.  Look back at Joshua 1:6 where God says to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.”  Then in Joshua 1:7 God instructed Joshua what was going to be required of him if he was indeed going to be successful in delivering the inheritance to the people, “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.  Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.”  In order for Joshua to give the people their inheritance he was going to have to be strong and courageous in carrying out God’s plan and he was going to have to be perfect – not turning at all from what Moses had commanded him.  In chapter 3 Joshua was given the responsibility of consecrating the people and helping them to follow after the presence of God.  In chapter 5 Joshua was given the responsibility of leading the people to put their faith in God alone.  In chapter 7 Joshua was given the responsibility of dealing with the sin of the Israelites and turning the burning anger of God away from them.  In chapter 8 Joshua was responsible for leading God’s people up on a mountain where he would help them make atonement for their sin and re-establish fellowship with God.  The plan had been God’s all along, but in each of these chapters it was Joshua who was given the responsibility and Joshua who carried the plan out.  And this becomes for the reader a picture of what we ought to look for in the coming Messiah – and which is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.

When Adam and Eve first sinned in the Garden of Eden by trying to become equal with God and eating the fruit of the tree which God had forbidden, their sin caused them to be eternally separated from a holy God.  But it was also at that time that God established a plan for their rescue – a plan which included saving them from their sin and its consequences, but more importantly a plan which would re-connect them with God for all of eternity.  But Adam and Eve and you and I are incapable of doing all that needed to be accomplished.  So God looked to His Son, Jesus and said, “It’s up to You.  You shall cause this people to take possession of their inheritance (which is ultimately God, Himself).”  But in order for Jesus to have success He was going to have to be strong and very courageous and He was going to have to be perfect.  Then throughout the four gospel accounts in the NT we see Jesus instructing the people to follow after God.  We see Jesus leading the people to put their faith in Him.  We see Jesus ascending Mount Calvary where there He deals with the sin of humanity by making atonement for our sin and re-establishing our fellowship with God, Himself.  And on the cross Jesus did battle with our greatest, most powerful, and most intimidating enemy – Satan.  So that just like the author of Joshua was able to look back on what had transpired in the first 11 chapters of his book and say it was Joshua who took the land, Joshua who captured the kings, Joshua who battled the greatest enemies, and Joshua who gives the inheritance, we can look back on the what has taken place throughout history from a biblical perspective and say “it was Jesus!”  It was Jesus who God ordained to carry out salvation.  It was Jesus who alone lived a perfect life.  It was Jesus who acted strongly and courageously in going to the cross to face God’s wrath for humanity without ever even flinching.  It was Jesus who instructed us to follow after God.  It was Jesus alone who came and dealt with our sin.  It was Jesus who ascended Mount Calvary.  It was Jesus who had his blood shed to make atonement for our sins.  It was Jesus who makes a way for us to once again be connected with our God.  It is Jesus who alone destroyed Satan and his power over us.  It is Jesus who gave us our inheritance!  1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God.”  Friends that is the purpose of all that Jesus came to do – to give us the Father!  And we can’t accomplish this on our own – we need Jesus! 

Small Group Questions for Discussion: