The northern coalition and Hazor
Conquest & Judges · Draft · BSB
Content revision: efb087eb34820bff · No editorial review date recorded
Date: Joshua’s campaigns · A long period of warfare
Jabin of Hazor gathers a northern coalition at the waters of Merom. Joshua defeats it and burns Hazor. The narrative then summarizes a long period of warfare and lists defeated kings on both sides of the Jordan.
The battle at Merom and the later capture of Hazor are distinct. Joshua 11:18 says the wars lasted a long time; the list of kings in chapter 12 is a summary, not another journey or a claim that every town was occupied.
Primary Scripture
11:1 Now when Jabin king of Hazor heard about these things, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon; to the kings of Shimron and Achshaph;
11:2 to the kings of the north in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Chinnereth, in the foothills, and in Naphoth-dor to the west;
11:3 to the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
11:4 So these kings came out with all their armies, a multitude as numerous as the sand on the seashore, along with a great number of horses and chariots.
11:5 All these kings joined forces and encamped at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.
11:6 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for by this time tomorrow I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn up their chariots.”
11:7 So by the waters of Merom, Joshua and his whole army came upon them suddenly and attacked them,
11:8 and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.
11:9 Joshua treated them as the LORD had told him; he hamstrung their horses and burned up their chariots.
11:10 At that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazor and put its king to the sword, because Hazor was formerly the head of all these kingdoms.
11:11 The Israelites put everyone in Hazor to the sword, devoting them to destruction. Nothing that breathed remained, and Joshua burned down Hazor itself.
11:12 Joshua captured all these kings and their cities and put them to the sword. He devoted them to destruction, as Moses the LORD’s servant had commanded.
11:13 Yet Israel did not burn any of the cities built on their mounds, except Hazor, which Joshua burned.
11:14 The Israelites took for themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities, but they put all the people to the sword until they had completely destroyed them, not sparing anyone who breathed.
11:15 As the LORD had commanded His servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua. That is what Joshua did, leaving nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.
11:16 So Joshua took this entire region: the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah, and the mountains of Israel and their foothills,
11:17 from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them down, putting them to death.
11:18 Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long period of time.
11:19 No city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites living in Gibeon; all others were taken in battle.
11:20 For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts to engage Israel in battle, so that they would be set apart for destruction and would receive no mercy, being annihilated as the LORD had commanded Moses.
11:21 At that time Joshua proceeded to eliminate the Anakim from the hill country of Hebron, Debir, and Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah and of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction, along with their cities.
11:22 No Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites; only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod did any survive.
11:23 So Joshua took the entire land, in keeping with all that the LORD had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to the allotments to their tribes. Then the land had rest from war.
12:1 Now these are the kings of the land whom the Israelites struck down and whose lands they took beyond the Jordan to the east, from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon, including all the Arabah eastward:
12:2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,
12:3 as well as the Arabah east of the Sea of Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), eastward through Beth-jeshimoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah.
12:4 And Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.
12:5 He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, all of Bashan up to the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.
12:6 Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the Israelites had struck them down and given their land as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
12:7 And these are the kings of the land that Joshua and the Israelites conquered beyond the Jordan to the west, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir (according to the allotments to the tribes of Israel, Joshua gave them as an inheritance
12:8 the hill country, the foothills, the Arabah, the slopes, the wilderness, and the Negev—the lands of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites):
12:9 the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is near Bethel, one;
12:10 the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;
12:11 the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;
12:12 the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;
12:13 the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;
12:14 the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;
12:15 the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;
12:16 the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;
12:17 the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;
12:18 the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one;
12:19 the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;
12:20 the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;
12:21 the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;
12:22 the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;
12:23 the king of Dor in Naphath-dor, one; the king of Goiim in Gilgal, one;
12:24 and the king of Tirzah, one. So there were thirty-one kings in all.
Related Scripture
Deuteronomy 7:22–24 · teaching
Moses anticipates the removal of the nations over time.
The allotment instructions expressly acknowledge land still to be taken.
Location evidence
Tel Hazor is an identified city site. The pin marks Hazor’s part in the account, not the uncertain waters of Merom or a dated destruction layer.
Event map marker: Identified site; [longitude, latitude] = [35.569167, 33.018333]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Hazor: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.569167, 33.018333]. Classification source: editorial.
For the class
What changes when we read the campaign summaries alongside the time and territory still left?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (content/authored/conquest-judges.json)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm