Commentary - Joshua 11:21-23

Bird's-eye view

This short passage serves as a crucial capstone to the main conquest narrative in the book of Joshua. Having detailed the victories in the south and the north, the historian now focuses on a particularly significant mopping-up operation: the destruction of the Anakim. These giants were the very ones who, a generation earlier, had struck such terror into the hearts of the ten faithless spies, causing a whole nation to shrink back from the promises of God. Their elimination here is not just a military detail; it is a profound statement about God's faithfulness and the triumph of faith over fear. The passage concludes with a summary statement that declares the mission accomplished, the promise fulfilled, and the land, at last, at rest. It is a picture of God's promised Sabbath rest, a theme that echoes all the way to the book of Hebrews.

In these three verses, we see the faithfulness of God in fulfilling His word to Moses, the faithfulness of Joshua in executing God's commands without reservation, and the thematic completion of the conquest. The giants of unbelief are toppled, the inheritance is secured, and a temporary, typological rest is granted to the people of God. This sets the stage for the next section of the book, which deals with the allotment of the land, and it points forward to the greater Joshua who would come to defeat our ultimate giants and lead His people into an eternal rest.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 21 Then Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab and from all the hill country of Judah and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities.

The timing noted here, "at that time," connects this action to the broader campaigns just described. This is not some disconnected event but a deliberate and climactic part of the conquest. And who is the target? The Anakim. We must remember the history here. When the spies returned from their initial reconnaissance of the land, it was the sight of the sons of Anak that melted their hearts. They saw giants and saw themselves as grasshoppers (Num. 13:33). That report of unbelief led to forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Now, Joshua, one of the two faithful spies, returns to face the very source of that old terror. Faith is now confronting the bugbear of yesterday's unbelief.

Joshua "cut off" the Anakim. This is the language of judgment and separation. They are being removed from the land God is giving to His people. Notice the thoroughness of the work, from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and throughout all the hill country. This is a systematic execution of God's command. And the verse concludes with the stark phrase that Joshua "devoted them to destruction," the Hebrew word being herem. This was not simple warfare; it was sanctified judgment. We must be clear: this was not ethnic cleansing. This was moral and theological cleansing. God had given the Amorites centuries to fill up the measure of their iniquity (Gen. 15:16). Their culture was a death cult, saturated with idolatry and child sacrifice. God, using Israel as His scalpel, was cutting a cancerous tumor out of the land. Joshua's obedience here is absolute. He does not flinch from the hard command of God, because he understands he is an instrument of divine justice, not personal animosity.

v. 22 There were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod some remained.

The statement is emphatic: "no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel." Within the boundaries of the inheritance being actively possessed, the giant problem was dealt with. The source of the previous generation's paralyzing fear was eradicated. This is a potent lesson for us. The fears we inherit, the giants that intimidated our fathers, must be confronted and dealt with decisively by faith in the promises of God. When God gives a command, He provides the strength to see it through.

But then we have the exception clause: "only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod some remained." These were Philistine cities, coastal territories that were not part of the initial, primary thrust of the conquest. Why did they remain? For the same reason God left other nations in the land, to test Israel, to teach them war, and to require them to continue to walk by faith and not by sight (Judg. 3:1-4). The work of sanctification is like this. God gives us decisive victory over the ruling power of sin, but He leaves remaining pockets of resistance that we must contend with for the rest of our lives. These remnants of the Anakim would later produce Goliath of Gath, who would once again terrorize a faithless generation of Israelites. And it would take a man of faith, a shepherd boy named David, to confront that giant and remind Israel that the battle is the Lord's. The lesson is that faith's battles are never entirely done in this life. There will always be a Gath or an Ashdod to deal with.

v. 23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land was quiet from war.

Here is the grand summary. "So Joshua took the whole land." Now, some look at the exceptions mentioned in the previous verse and throughout the book and call this a contradiction. But that is to misunderstand the nature of ancient conquest and biblical language. The back of the enemy was broken. The organized, national resistance was crushed. The land was secured as a whole, even though pockets of resistance remained for individual tribes to mop up. Joshua accomplished the mission God gave him. He did it "according to all that Yahweh had spoken to Moses." This is a statement of covenant faithfulness. God promised; Moses commanded; Joshua obeyed. God's word does not return to Him void.

Joshua then gives the land for an "inheritance." This is not a wage earned, but a gift received. Israel did not deserve this land; they were given it by grace, through faith. And that faith had to be an obedient faith. Finally, we have this beautiful concluding note: "Thus the land was quiet from war." This is the goal of all of God's holy warfare. It is not war for its own sake, but war for the sake of peace. It is the establishment of a realm of shalom under God's rule. This rest is a type, a foreshadowing. The author of Hebrews tells us that if this Joshua had given them the ultimate rest, God would not have later spoken of another day (Heb. 4:8). This quiet land points us forward to the true Joshua, Jesus, who defeated our ultimate giants, sin, death, and the devil. Through His finished work on the cross, He has secured our eternal inheritance and leads us into the final Sabbath rest of God. The conquest of Canaan was a type; the Great Commission is the antitype. Their warfare was to take the land; our warfare is to disciple the nations. And we fight in the strength of the one who has already won the decisive victory and promises us a rest that will never be disturbed by war again.

Application

First, we must see that God keeps His promises, even when the obstacles look like giants. The Anakim were real, formidable foes. But God's word was more real, and His power more formidable. We are often tempted to live by sight, to measure our problems against our own resources. This passage calls us to measure our problems against our God. The very thing that caused your fathers to stumble in unbelief is the very thing God calls you to conquer in faith.

Second, obedience must be thorough. Joshua did not leave any Anakim in the hill country of Israel. He was faithful to the herem command. We cannot make peace with sins that God has devoted to destruction. We cannot harbor a few "pet giants" in the high places of our hearts. The call to holiness is a call to a thorough, ruthless war against our own sin, carried out in the strength of the Spirit.

Finally, all of this Old Testament warfare points us to Christ. Joshua's name is the Hebrew form of the Greek name Jesus. The first Joshua was a faithful man who led God's people into a temporary rest. The true Jesus is the faithful Son who leads His people into an eternal rest. He is the one who crushed the head of the serpent, the ultimate giant. The rest that the land experienced from war is a foretaste of the peace that Christ gives to the soul that trusts in Him, and a promise of the ultimate peace of the new heavens and the new earth, where righteousness dwells and war will be no more.