Joshua 11:6-14: a reflection

6The LORD said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid because of them; for tomorrow at this time, I will deliver them up all slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.” 7So Joshua came suddenly, with all the warriors, against them by the waters of Merom, and attacked them. 8The LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, and they struck them, and chased them to great Sidon, and to Misrephoth Maim, and to the valley of Mizpah eastward. They struck them until they left them no one remaining. 9Joshua did to them as the LORD told him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire. 10Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor used to be the head of all those kingdoms. 11They struck all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed. He burned Hazor with fire. 12Joshua captured all the cities of those kings, with their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. 13But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only. Joshua burned that. 14The children of Israel took all the plunder of these cities, with the livestock, as plunder for themselves; but every man they struck with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They didn’t leave any who breathed.

As Joshua faces a coalition of northern kings with horses and chariots, formidable military technology, God gives him a striking command along with the promise of victory: You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire. God gave Israel the victory, but he had them destroy the captured horses and chariots rather than keep them. The very tools of military might that might have become a source of trust were to be destroyed, so that Israel would rely on God, not on horses and chariots.

Notice what God had them do with the captured military strength: destroy it. They could have kept the horses and chariots, building up their own force; but God had them hamstring the horses and burn the chariots. Why? Because horses and chariots were the ancient symbol of trusting in military might, and God did not want Israel to trust in such things, but in him. As a later psalm says, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

That is a principle worth pondering. We are prone to build up our own sources of strength and security, our own horses and chariots, whether wealth, connections, achievements, or other worldly means, and then to trust in them. But God calls his people to trust in him, not in these. Sometimes he even removes or withholds our worldly sources of strength, so that we will rely on him alone. Do not put your trust in your own horses and chariots, the worldly sources of strength and security you accumulate. Trust in God. He may even strip away what you would lean on, so that you learn to rely on him. Some trust in chariots and horses; trust in the name of the LORD your God.

Lord, when you gave Israel victory, you had them destroy the captured horses and chariots, the symbols of military might, so that they would trust in you and not in such things. Search where my own trust lies. I am prone to build up my own sources of strength and security, my own horses and chariots, whether wealth, connections, achievements, or other worldly means, and to trust in them. But you call me to trust in you, not in these. Sometimes you even remove or withhold what I would lean on, so that I learn to rely on you alone. Keep me from putting my trust in my own sources of strength. Help me trust in you above all. Some trust in chariots and horses, but help me trust in the name of the LORD my God.