And Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountain of Judah, and from all the mountain of Israel Joshua destroyed them utterly, with their cities.
A generation earlier, the Anakim — the giants of the hill country — had frightened Israel out of the land. Here, at the very end of the conquest, Joshua hunts them down town by town, and the question worth asking is why this old enemy falls last.
Every other enemy has fallen, and one old fear is still standing in Israel's path. One writer asks what that fear can do to someone led by the word of God.
Satan is defeated, his last army destroyed, and his cities taken; what remains? Israel meet in their path the very people who, at the beginning, had struck terror into their hearts and made them fall. These were the Anakim, who had stopped them from going up boldly to take the land... But what impression could the children of Anak make on the mind of someone led by the word of God? Victory is his.
The verse fixes the moment: at that time. One writer turns those words into a lesson for Christian warfare.
Here Scripture adds a practical word about Christian warfare: "And Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country." Remember how the terror of the giants stood in the way of Israel gaining their possession. Now these terrible enemies were cut off from stronghold and from city, and utterly destroyed along with their strongholds. When God's soldiers grasp His strength, the giants fall before them. It is always good to be grasshoppers in our own eyes — to be less than the least, to be nothing, for when we are weak then we are strong. But it is always good to measure the enemy's might against the Almighty, and to go to war not only for the Lord but in His strength alone. When this is so, "at that time" the giants will fall.
Two towns in the list stand out, and both had already fallen earlier in the campaign. One writer gives the meaning of their names, and what the enemy wanted with them.
These were giants (Numbers 13:33), found in the area of Hebron and Debir. We have seen before that Hebron (meaning "communion") and Debir ("the speaker") were taken by Joshua, but there were Anakim still in the area, determined to have some possession at least of Hebron and Debir. This is because Satan wants to encroach on these things, which rightly belong to believers. The enemy would like to claim a place of communion with God so that he can "speak" his evil doctrine as though it were God's message.
Another writer stays with the same two towns — their older names, and who wins them next.
Scripture makes a point of recording the wiping out of the Anakim, and refers once more to the seats of their power, Hebron and Debir — a connection so important that we are reminded of it again and again. Communion and the living voice of God: the enemy will indeed use all his power to keep us from enjoying these. Both of these cities, while in the hands of the Anakim, had a very different meaning: they were Kirjath-arba and Kirjath-sepher, the city of man and the city of books. We are soon to be told how Caleb and Othniel captured them.
The sweep was not quite complete. One writer points to the cities where some of them lived on.
Still, the children of Anak are not wholly destroyed: some are left in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, cities still held by the Philistines; and there we find them at a later time.
One of those three cities kept a name for giants long afterwards.
The city of Gath was famous as the dwelling place of the last of the Anakim — a race of giants (Joshua 11:21-22; 1 Sam. 17:4). However, the might of man proves to be of no use against the power of God.
The fall of the giants points forward. One writer reads it as a picture of a day still coming.
So it will be in the day that is coming: there will be war and resistance then, but war for the sake of rest — the rest that remains for the people of God.
- Fear: The Anakim once struck terror into Israel and kept them from going up to take the land.
- Faith: They fall "at that time" — when God's soldiers stop measuring themselves and measure the enemy against the Almighty.
- Ground: Hebron means communion and Debir means "the speaker". The giants held that ground, and the enemy still wants it.
- Remnant: None were left inside Israel's borders, but Gaza, Gath and Ashdod kept survivors. A beaten enemy can still hold ground nearby.
- Rest: The giants fall last, and the war is for the sake of rest — the rest that remains for the people of God.
There were none of the Anakim left in the land of the children of Israel; only at Gazah, at Gath, and at Ashdod there remained.
This verse closes the record of Joshua's campaigns with careful bookkeeping. The giants who once frightened Israel away from the land are gone from Israel's territory, but not from the map. Three Philistine cities still shelter survivors, and those survivors cost Israel dearly later.
The name in the verse belongs to a family, not a nation. A Bible dictionary sums up their story and their end:
Anak was the son of Arba, and the Anakim are his descendants. They were men of great height, or giants. The Israelites who went to spy out the land called themselves grasshoppers next to them. They lived in southern Palestine. Hebron is named above all as their city, and it went to Caleb after Joshua destroyed the Anakim. But a remnant escaped and withdrew to the cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
The first half of the verse reverses Israel's old fear. One writer draws out the practical lesson:
Remember how the terror of the giants stopped Israel from taking their possession when they were at Eshcol. Now these dreaded enemies were cut off from fortress and from city, and destroyed along with their strongholds. When God's soldiers grasp His strength, the giants fall before them. It is always good to see ourselves as grasshoppers — yes, to be less than the least, to be nothing — for when we are weak, then we are strong. But it is always good to measure the enemy's might against the Almighty, and to go to war not only for the Lord but entirely in His strength. When that is so, "at that time" the giants will fall.
Hebron and Debir, the cities named in the verse before, carry meaning in their names. One writer reads them as the ground the enemy most wants to hold:
We saw earlier that Joshua took Hebron (meaning "communion") and Debir ("the speaker") (ch.10:36-39). But Anakim were still in that area, determined to hold at least part of Hebron and Debir. Satan wants to encroach on these things, which belong by right to believers. The enemy would like to claim a place of communion with God so that he can "speak" his evil doctrine as though it were God's message.
Gaza, Gath and Ashdod were Philistine cities. That fact decides what the exception means:
By this point in Joshua's history, though, the Anakim were cut off from the land of the people of Israel and left only in the Philistine cities of Gaza, Gath and Ashdod (vs.21-22). Philistines are "wallowers," a picture of merely formal religion, which really does wallow, as in mud — not free of the entanglements of the flesh that keep people from knowing the freedom of the Spirit of God in Christ. The Philistines stayed in their own area, but they were a constant source of trouble for Israel.
The trouble lasted because of where these enemies sat: inside the borders, not outside:
They appear to me to represent the power of the enemy acting within the circle of God's people. They were inside Israel's own territory — within the land, and even on this side of the Jordan. They were not enemies from outside, like the Egyptians or Assyrians. They were always hostile to Israel — to the people who, by God's appointment, should have held the promised land. That made them all the more dangerous, since they were always close at hand and claimed the country as their own.
Generations later a champion came out of Gath. One writer traces his ancestry back to the survivors named here:
A powerful champion now appears on the Philistine side. He was surely one of the old Anakite race, and we are plainly told that some of them survived at Gath — the place Goliath comes from. Understood spiritually, he is a giant indeed. To overcome him takes the power of God, not the might of man.
The chapter can leave the impression that the war was over. One writer warns against reading it that way:
In one sense the conquest of the land seemed complete: no outward strength was left that could stand against them or form a kingdom. But Israel still had many enemies in this land. These enemies did not trouble them while they stayed faithful, yet they taught the people many things that later helped to ruin them... When everything is finished, we may count up our victories, but not before. Until then we should be busy winning more.
- Cleared — the giants who once made Israel feel like grasshoppers lost every stronghold and city. Measure the enemy's might against the Almighty, and giants fall.
- Contested — they held Hebron and Debir, which picture communion with God and His speaking. The enemy fights hardest for that ground.
- Sheltered — the survivors did not die out. They found refuge in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod, cities of a people living inside the land's borders.
- Resurgent — an enemy left inside is the most dangerous kind. Gath later sent out Goliath, an enemy no human strength could beat.
- Unfinished — the conquest only seemed complete. Count your victories when everything is done, not while the enemy still holds three cities.