Jos 11:4 | KingComments | STEP | Joshua 10 and Joshua 11 belong together. They describe the battle against the kings of the south (Joshua 10) and of the north (Joshua 11). In two great wars Joshua broke the power of all those kings. A difference between the first and the second war is that in the second war, that against the kings of the north, no miracles happen. After the conquests in the south, it is now the turn of the north. Joshua experiences again that the LORD is with him. He moves on victoriously and leaves nothing alive. On the LORD’s command everything must be destroyed. It even says that it is of the LORD to harden the hearts of the enemies ( ). Does the LORD wish then the destruction of these peoples? It says: “God our Savior, … desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” ( ) and “not wishing for any to perish” ( ), doesn’t it? Yes, but the judgment only comes when the measure of sin is full and man has not wanted to repent. Then comes the judgment of the hardening and there is no more grace. This is why the following still applies to every human being today: “Today, if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” ( ). Jabin, that means ‘the wise’ or ‘the intelligent’, the king of Hazor, is not just any king. He rules over the head of all kingdoms ( ). He is the king of the most powerful empire. We can therefore see in him a picture of the head of all demons, of satan himself. Satan has many instruments, henchmen, who are subject to him and execute his will. These are the evil powers, the demons, in the heavenly places. With them we have to do, not so much directly with satan himself, but with his angels. In Hazor we meet the capital of all kings, the main stronghold of demons. Our spiritual struggle is about not only overcoming the demons, but overcoming the head of the enemy, the evil one. John says in his first letter that the young men did so. He says that they “have overcome the evil one” ( ). The power of Hazor lies in his crowd. He comes up with a huge alliance. Here, too, peoples are gathering who are often in conflict with each other, but who are now going up together to fight against God’s people (cf. ). For God’s people it is an opportunity to fight this battle, and precisely because the enemy has gathered in this way to achieve a great victory. When we see the enemy coming to us in great power, it is an opportunity to reveal God’s power. The hostile armies gather at the waters of Merom. Here too we see a picture of the great battle in the end times, where all the kings of the earth gather to fight against God. In reality it is God who gathers them there to destroy them in one fell: “For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”) And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon” ( ). The battle in Har-Magedon will take place in the vicinity of Merom mentioned here.