ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Falaite ‘Okatopa 1, 2021

Ko ia na‘e ma‘u ‘e Siosiua ‘a e fonua kotoa

So Joshua took the whole land 

Siosiua 11 (Joshua 11)

(v. 23) Ko ia na‘e ma‘u ‘e Siosiua ‘a e fonua kotoa, ‘o hangē tofu pē ‘a e folofola ‘a Sihova kia Mōsese; pea na‘e tuku ia ‘e Siosiua ki ha‘a ‘Isileli mo‘onau tofi‘a, ‘o fakatatau ki honau ngaahi vahevahe fakamatakali. Pea na‘e mālōlō ‘a e fonua mei he tau.

(V. 23) So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.

 

G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

A new confederacy had now to be faced and fought. Conscious of their peril, the northern kings now joined in an attempt to break the power of those conquering hosts. Turning north, Joshua led an attack upon these kings and utterly routed them. He then turned back to Hazor with like results.

All this did not happen immediately. Indeed, we are told in the text that it had occupied "a long time." In all probability five years had elapsed from the death of Moses to this period.

Thus ended the unity of the action of the hosts of God. "The land had rest from war." Of course, there was still much to be done in the wav of conquest, but the power of the enemy was broken and the moment had arrived for the settlement of the land by the tribes of Israel. Afterward there was to be much fighting as occasion demanded, but the great preliminary war of conquest was practically over.

Great capital has often been made of this war of destruction and extermination, but it is manifestly unfair to criticize the action of the Hebrews without remembering what the Scriptures distinctly affirm its reason. Israel was the scourge of God on a corrupt people whose hearts God had hardened, that is, had made strong in order that they might be exterminated (verse Joshua 11:20) . The reason and method of this hardening process we saw in the case of Pharaoh in the study of Exodus. The hardening of the heart, as then, resulted from long-continued rebellion and was the natural outcome thereof Punishment fell only when in the highest interests of posterity the destruction of a people was necessary.

David Guzik :: Study Guide for Joshua 11

So Joshua took the whole land: This brings us to another section of the book of Joshua.  The power of the Canaanite kings within the land has been crushed, and in this sense, Joshua took the whole land.  Yet, not every small town and village had been conquered and occupied.  That was up to each individual tribe to do in the land that was apportioned to them.

The end of this phase of conquest was a greater invitation to the cooperation of the tribes with God.

"Much territory was yet to be possessed, but it was left to each tribe to possess what potentially it had received through the conquest of the whole people in which it had taken part. Each tribe was to apply individually the lessons it had learned in united war if it was to possess its inheritance.  That the tribes failed to do so was not a reflection on the power of God, but on the failure to take for themselves what Joshua had given and allotted to each one of them." (Redpath)

In the same sense, Jesus has already defeated the enemy and conquered the land, but He also calls us into battle to gain what is ours.