joshua 11-12

Read Joshua 11-12 at Bible Gateway.

After Joshua finished defeating the Canaanites in central and south Canaan, the kings of northern Canaan joined forces and came together, to drive Israel out of Canaan. Their army, besides their horses and chariots, were as the sand of the seashore. The number of the sand of the seashore is beyond counting, its number is so great. The number of Joshua’s army was less than 600,000, and they did not have horses or chariots.

Joshua, however, was strong and courageous, and did not let the natural advantages held by the Canaanites deter him, but he believed God, and utterly destroyed the northern alliance. When we take all of Joshua’s victories together, he emerges as a greater conqueror than Ramesses the Great or any of the other great kings from antiquity (Ramesses retreated when he fought the Canaanites at Megiddo).

Almost all ancient peoples have legends of giants, who were the offspring of the “gods.”  In Babylonian mythology, the demigods were the children of An (father heaven) and Ki (mother earth) and were called the Annunaki. In Egyptian mythology, the Ankh (An + Ki) is the symbol of life (a combined form of our symbols of male and female). The Anakim, or children of Anak, were likewise giants. I believe the giants have occult origins (Gen 6:4), and after the flood, they arose again from Babel or Babylon; that they were historical, not legendary only.

The giants appear in Old Testament history as opponents of the Messiah type: here they are utterly cut off by Joshua, the Messiah type; and those who remain in Gaza and Gath, are cut off by the next conquering Messiah type in Scripture, who is David. Goliath was a giant from Gath. This history prophesies!

Finding Messiah:

“For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them, as the LORD had commanded Moses.” Jos 11:20

Joshua is a type of Messiah, especially Messiah in His second coming, Messiah who conquers all His enemies. And this is the key to understand the passage in Jos 11:20. Rahab received mercy. She did not harden her heart, but aligned herself with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These kings hardened their hearts, and did not submit to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they did not receive mercy. This is prophetic – there is a window of opportunity mankind has to align itself with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the blood of Messiah Yeshua. We are living in that window of opportunity – the door to heaven is standing open, and Jesus is the Open Door. That Door has been standing open since the resurrection.

But the day is soon coming, when that window will be shut, when that door will be shut, and all who refuse to align themselves with God, who have hardened their hearts, will perish without mercy. Repent now, while the Door to heaven is standing open!