Yehoshua Chapter 11
When the King of Hazor heard of the military and territorial advances of the Children of Israel, he formed an alliance with the kings of the Northern provinces of Canaan in order to put a stop to the Jewish invaders once and for all. Hashem reassured Yehoshua that he had no reason to worry; once again, he will defeat the enemies that rise up against him. Hashem further instructed Yehoshua to burn the chariots of his enemies and to hamstring their horses. This may have been in order to discourage the Jewish people from usurping and adopting the warlike trappings of their opponents. Otherwise, they may have been tempted to hold onto the chariots and horses in imitation of the style of Egypt from whence they came or in order to adapt their military tactics to those of the neighboring gentiles.
Rather than waiting for the alliance of kings to make the first move, Yehoshua preempted them with a surprise attack and, in fulfillment of the divine directive, burned the chariots and maimed the horses. He then proceeded to Hazor, set it aflame and razed it to the ground. The soldiers eliminated all of the citizens of Hazor and kept only the spoils of war for themselves. Yehoshua subsequently laid siege to each of the home cities of the remaining kings who had mobilized against him and overtook them, slaying the inhabitants and taking possession of all of the land and material goods they found. Of all of the cities captured, however, only Hazor was burned to the ground. Since the King of Hazor initiated the resistance against the Jews, it may be that Hazor was treated in a harsher manner than the territories of the other kings who joined in his campaign.
Two points are worthy of note in this chapter. First, the Navi mentions that, unlike the conquest of Southern Israel, it took Yehoshua “many days” to defeat the kingdoms of the North. The Rabbis interpret this as a criticism of Yehoshua – he knew that once he completed his God-given task of conquering and dividing up the land of Israel, he would pass away, and he preferred to drag out the process as long as possible and extend his life. Little did Yehoshua know that, unfortunately, this initial lack of zeal to fully settle the Jewish community in the land of Israel had far reaching implications the impact of which would continue to be felt centuries later.
Second, the Navi mentions that none of the cities or nations in Canaan made peace with the Jews except for the people of Givon, and that, therefore, they were all decimated by Yehoshua’s army. This is important because we are often taken aback by the seemingly wanton violence in the Book of Yehoshua, especially the wholesale liquidation of entire populations of Canaanites in the course of each battle. These verses support the view of HaRambam and others, that Yehoshua was obligated to extend an offer of peace to each community before laying siege to it, allowing them the opportunity to accept the Seven Noachide Laws and remain in Israel or to vacate their land rather than face a military conflict (the Rambam says this is true even of the war against Amaleq!) No one accepted the offer, and the Givonim obviously didn’t realize this option would be on the table so they engaged in subterfuge to accomplish the same goal (although we can now understand why Yehoshua was permitted to uphold his covenant with them rather than destroy them – they would have been allowed to remain in the land anyway under the peace terms he would have offered them.)
It is critical that the Navi explain that for Jews, war is never the first choice of action, and that this series of battles was unique in Jewish history, never to be repeated. Only in a land purified from the enticing influences of idolatry could the nation of Hashem establish itself, thrive and sanctify God’s name in the world – regrettably, without the cooperation of the indigenous peoples, the Jews had no option but to create this sacred monotheistic zone by force.