Additional Results of God’s Blessing

 God had used the treaty with Gibeon to unite the various groups in southern Canaan.  When they attacked Gibeon, God worked miraculously to break the power of the alliance, killing a large number of the troops, and executing the leaders, and weakening the defenses in all the cities.  With the leadership destroyed, Israel was able to pick off the cities one at a time, as we see in Joshua 10:28-32.  “And that day Joshua took Makkedah, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof he utterly destroyed, them, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain: and he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho.  Then Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libnah, and fought against Libnah:  And the LORD delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel; and he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain in it; but did unto the king thereof as he did unto the king of Jericho.  And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it: And the LORD delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein, according to all that he had done to Libnah.

 

There were efforts to unite and fight Israel but in their weakend state the those efforts failed, as Joshua 10:33-41.  “Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua smote him and his people, until he had left him none remaining.  And from Lachish Joshua passed unto Eglon, and all Israel with him; and they encamped against it, and fought against it: And they took it on that day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish.  And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron; and they fought against it:  And they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon; but destroyed it utterly, and all the souls that were therein.

 

And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir; and fought against it: And he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king thereof; as he had done also to Libnah, and to her king.  So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.  And Joshua smote them from Kadeshbarnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon.”

 

Thanks to God’s intervening in the battle at Gibeon, Israel was able to conquer the entire southern half of what would become Israel in a single campaign, as Joshua 10:42-43 describes.  “And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel.  And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.”  In just a few days or weeks, Israel was able to destroy all the fortified cities and organized resistance.  Once they completed the campaign, they returned to their families encamped at Gilgal. 

 

The death of Pharaoh and the Egyptian army destroyed Egypt’s power, and other groups of slaves united and revolted, taking control of northern Egypt.   This alliance of former slaves, known as the Hyksos, or “foreigners” would hold power for over a hundred years.  In this campaign against the southern tribes, Israel even captured Goshen, the area where they had been held as slaves, along the northeastern edge of Egypt.