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Joshua 11

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1 And when Jabin king of Asor had heard these things, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Semeron, and to the king of Achsaph:

2 And to the kings of the north, that dwelt in the mountains and in the plains over against the south side of Ceneroth, and in the levels and the countries of Dor by the sea side :

3 To the Chanaanites also on the ease and on the west, and the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Jebusite in the mountains: to the Hevite also who dwelt at the foot of Hermon in the land of Maspha.

4 And they all came out with their troops, a people exceeding numerous as the sand that is on the sea shore, their horses also and chariots a very great multitude,

5 And all these kings assembled together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

6 And the Lord said to Josue: Fear them not: for to morrow at this same hour I will deliver all these to be slain in the sight of Israel: thou shalt hamstring their horses, and thou shalt burn their chariots with fire.

7 And Josue came, and all the army with him, against them to the waters of Merom on a sudden, and fell upon them.

8 And the Lord delivered them into the hands of Israel. And they defeated them, and chased them as far as the great Sidon, and the waters of Maserophot, and the field of Masphe, which is on the east side thereof. He slew them all, so as to leave no remains of them:

9 And he did as the Lord had commanded him, he hamstringed their horses and burned their chariots.

10 And presently turning back he took Asor: and slew the king thereof with the sword. Now Asor of old was the head of all these kingdoms.

11 And he cut off all the souls that abode there: he left not in it any remains, but utterly destroyed all, and burned the city itself with fire.

12 And he took and put to the sword and destroyed all the cities round about, and their kings, as Moses the servant of God had commanded him.

13 Except the cities that were on hills and high places, the rest Israel burned: only Asor that was very strong he consumed with fire.

14 And the children of Israel divided among themselves all the spoil of these cities and the cattle, killing all the men.

15 As the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Josue, and he accomplished all: he left not one thing undone of all the commandments which the Lord had commanded Moses.

16 So Josue took all the country of the hills, and of the south, and the land of Gosen, and the plains and the west country, and the mountain of Israel, and the plains thereof:

17 And part of the mountain that goeth up to Seir as far as Baalgad, by the plain of Libanus under mount Hermon: all their kings he took, smote and slew.

18 Josue made war a long time against these kings.

19 There was hot a city that delivered itself to the children of Israel, except the Hevite, who dwelt in Gabaon: for he took all by fight.

20 For it was the sentence of the Lord, that their hearts should be hardened, and they should fight against Israel, and fall, and should not deserve any clemency, and should be destroyed as the Lord had commanded Moses.

21 At that time Josue came and cut off the Enacims from the mountains, from Hebron, and Dabir, and Anab, and from all the mountain of Juda and Israel, and destroyed their cities.

22 He left not any of the stock of the Enacims, in the land of the children of Israel: except the cities of Gaza, and Geth, and Azotus, in which alone they were left.

23 So Josue took all the land, as the Lord spoke to Moses, and delivered it in possession to the children of Israel, according to their divisions and tribes. And the land rested from wars.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Joshua 11

Napsal(a) New Christian Bible Study Staff, Julian Duckworth

Joshua 11: Joshua conquers the entire land.

In this chapter, the Canaanite kings of the north, east and west heard that Israel had conquered all of the southern Canaanite territories. Jabin, king of Hazor, called upon the other Canaanite kingdoms to join forces and attack Israel with a great army.

The Lord reassured Joshua, “Be not afraid because of them: for tomorrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel” (verse 6). So Joshua counterattacked, and Israel defeated the Canaanites just as the Lord had said.

The rest of the chapter is an account of Joshua’s victories, now here, now there. Israel destroyed each of the Canaanite cities and territories and not one of them was left undefeated (See Swedenborg’s work, The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 161-164). In all of Canaan, only the Gibeonites were spared because they had made a peace treaty with Israel. The chapter closes with these words: “So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had said to Moses, and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land had rest from war” (verse 23).

Now we turn to the spiritual meaning of all this, and its meaning for us. Because of our inherited, human nature, each of us has internal things we have to contend with in our natural life. These Canaanites - the faults we must overcome - are described by the compass points: north, south, east and west. Here are the spiritual meanings of the four cardinal directions (see Swedenborg’s work, Heaven and Hell 141-153):

West = less love

East = greater love

North = less light and wisdom

South = greater light and wisdom

Swedenborg tells us that heaven is organized by this principle. Angels with the clearest perception of love live in the eastern region of heaven, while those with a more hazy understanding live in the west. The same thing applies to the north/south axis; those in a “clear light of wisdom” live in the south, and those in a “dim light of wisdom” live in the north (Heaven and Hell 148). These poles represent angels’ states of love and wisdom, and their use. Just like people on earth, angels experience varying states of love and wisdom - sometimes more, sometimes less - but with angels this leads to them turning again to the Lord to acknowledge that he is their God.

The same pattern exists in hell, but instead of love and wisdom there is self-love (or even hatred) and false thinking from this distorted love. In hell, the degree of intensity in these states is between the rage to dominate and the exhaustion of failing.

In our life on earth, we experience states of both heaven and hell. As we are only partly regenerated, we rapidly switch between these states because of our emotions and the upheavals of life in this world. This chapter about the conflict between Israel and the Canaanites represents our own, personal decisions about what will be the ruling influence in our lives - heaven or hell (See Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 5982).

The end of this chapter offers two important statements describing the conflict between heaven and hell. The first one (in verse 20) says the Lord hardened the hearts of Israel’s enemies so that they came to attack, and consequently were destroyed. This tells us that we have to see our evils for what they are in order to turn away from them (See Swedenborg’s unpublished work, Charity 179-180).

The second statement (verses 21-22) says that Joshua completely destroyed the Anakim, except beyond the borders of the land. The Anakim were giants, and they stand for those enormous tensions and rages which evil spirits from hell bring us at times. This (reassuringly) helps us see that we are not like that ourselves, but we could be if we let those evil spirits make a home in our hearts and minds (Arcana Caelestia 2909[3]).

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine # 161

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161. To do the work of repentance, is to desist from sins after he has thus confessed them, and from a humble heart has made supplication for remission, and to live a new life according to the precepts of charity and faith.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.