Many people choose to reject God and the Bible because of the kind of slaughter described in this and other chapters.  Influenced, at least in the western world, by human rights, people think of this behavior as abhorrent and unacceptable.  They wonder how a supposed God of love would allow these things to happen. 

Unfortunately, they do not understand that the severity of God which will not tolerate idolatrous behavior.  All those who do not worship Yahweh in spirit and in truth will be destroyed.  The Lord Jesus will physically destroy all enemies when he returns.

Until that time God, in His love, will allow both good and bad people to live, thus giving all the opportunity to turn to Him (2Pet 3:9).

11:4    ‘sand which is upon the sea shore’ echoes what God had promised to Abraham Gen 22:17. Israel were going to grow and the Canaanites were going to diminish. The very success of Israel in taking the land was to be an evidence that God would keep His promise with Abraham – sadly Israel did not see the relevance of the promises and so failed.

V.6 Yahweh commanded Joshua to burn the captured chariots and hamstring (hock) the horses of the enemy. Hamstringing (houghing) meant severing the tendons at the back of the knee or hock (middle joint of the hind leg). The horse would live but be useless as an instrument of war.  David did the same thing when he defeated Hadadezer (although he kept a few for himself) (2Sam 8:4). 

Yahweh wanted Israel to rely upon Him and not upon the implements of war (Psa 33:17).  Later, the lesson of the futility of trust in one's own power would be more clearly shown by the destruction of the Egyptians (Exo 14:23,28). It is for this reason that the kings of Israel were commanded not to amass horses (Deut 17:16).  

11:1    Now word is spreading fast amongst the ‘kings’. As Israel are successful in each battle the fear amongst the independent city states in the land grows.

NONE LEFT

Joshua was commissioned to clear the land of Canaan of it's occupants so that the Children of Israel could inherit the land. What that meant was that Joshua and the Children of Israel mounted a millitary campaign against the inhabitants of the land. Because the Canaanites were so wicked, God's instruction was to kill them all and leave no survivors. One group of people made peace with Joshua and so were spared, but the rest were totally destroyed.

God has not commanded us to go out and destroy all the unbelievers in the world. I'm glad we don't have to conquer the world for Christ in this way. But what we have been told to do is to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

Time and again we read of Joshua, "They totally destroyed them, not sparing anything that breathed," (Josh 11:11) And, "He totally destroyed them as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded," (v.12) and so on. (See also v.14,15,17,20,21). Joshua was very successful in conquering the land. His example should be ours as we spread the gospel. We must not go around killing people but we can be just as thorough as we preach, making sure everyone has heard the message of hope in Jesus.

Don't spare anyone that breathes but totally saturate our world with the hope of the gospel. Make sure there are none left who have not heard the word of God.

V.16 Goshen described here should not be confused with the Goshen of Egypt.  This Goshen was a district which lay between Gaza and Gibeon, possibly in the area of Gath.

V.20 Yahweh made humans with a free will, and He reacts to choices people make.  For example, if people turn to Yahweh, He will turn to them; but if they turn away from Him, He will turn away from them (2Chron 15:2; James 4:8). 

And so, when people determine to be enemies of Israel, Yahweh promotes their choice.  Hence the term: For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts.  There is no fatalism involved as Yahweh was just reacting to the decisions already made by the enemies of Israel.  Later, Pharaoh would become a classic example of this as he opposed Moses (Exo 7:3 etc.).

Josh 11:23 - When Christ returns the promised land will ultimately have rest from war also (Isa 2:4).

V.5 Raising their voices "like a heifer" (also Jer 48:34). the phrase "three years old" implies one at its full vigor (Gen 15:9), as yet not brought under the yoke. As Moab here unsubdued, but now about to be broken.

15:4  Even though Moab has ‘armed soldiers’ she is unable to deliver herself – teaching that the fate of the nations is in the hand of God.

The division between Chapters 15 and 16 are unfortunate.  They are one and the same prophecy against Moab.  No time for the fulfilment of this prophecy is given in scripture, nor is there any confirmation by secular history.  However, conjecture would have the fulfilment of part of this prophecy in the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign.  At that time, Shalmaneser was on his way to invade Israel.  In order to do that, he would have passed through Moab.  It was not the Assyrian way to come up empty-handed while in a foreign land.  Therefore, he probably bagged some Moabite cities.

15:9 This is the only place in Scripture where ‘Dimon’ is mentioned. A closely related word is translated ‘Dibon’ (Num 21:30) which is possibly the place that Isaiah is speaking of. That is a water course by the city of Dimon.

v.4 'thy tears ...' Why do we think that Timothy was weeping? The evidence of the letter is that the ecclesia had terrible problems of apostasy. The ecclesia at Ephesus had moved from the lively group of brethren and sisters of Acts 19 - 19. They had fallen foul of the circumstances Paul said would happen Acts 20:30. Indeed it appears that the ecclesia was in a state of decline towards the state that Jesus describes in Revelation 2:1 - 7.

Paul, when writing to Timothy, draws on the language of the sea shore and the elders from Ephesus.

1:1  Even though he is writing to his ;son’ Paul emphasises that his position as an apostle is not self appointed – it is of God. Important because there were brethren all over the Roman world who sought to undermine Paul’s position. It served as a reminder to Timothy.

1:8,12,18 Timothy had been given a difficult task when he stayed in Ephesus to sort out the problems there – 1Tim 1:3-4 – consequently Paul encourages him by drawing attention to himself and Onesiphorus who had not ‘feared’ despite the difficult situations they had found themselves in.

1:3      Timothy, Paul’s son in the faith – 1Tim 1:2 – must have been a great encouragement to Paul when he was in prison. Timothy, upholding the faith and working hard in the ecclesia. Can anyone think so highly of us in our ecclesial activities?

V.5 Lois was the mother of Eunice who was the mother of Timothy. It is from these two Jewish women that Timothy undoubtedly learned the scriptures (2Tim 3:15).

V.15 Asia is not the continent but the western part of Asia Minor (mainly present-day Turkey).  Ephesus was the capital city of this region.

1:13 In telling Timothy to hold to the form of sound word he is reminding Timothy of what he had previously told him – 11Tim 1:16 – where Paul states that suffering is a consequence of faithful keeping of Christ’s law. This point Paul is making is an extension of the previous verse.