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To this point Israel's victories had taken place in central Canaan. God's strategy was to give His people a base of operation in the middle part of the land first. From there they could then advance to the South and then to the North. The writer summarized the southern campaign in this section of verses.
10:28-39 Seven other victories followed the battle at Gibeon. In the record of these encounters the writer highlighted two important facts. Israel was obedient to God's command to exterminate the Canaanites in these cities. Second, it was Yahweh who gave Israel's enemies into her hands (vv. 30, 32).
". . . Yahweh has shown himself to be a God who accepts a people who follow him despite their past mistakes."140
The purpose of Joshua's raids was to destroy the military capability of these city-states and to instill fear and confusion in the remaining Canaanites. Archaeology has confirmed that many of these cities did not suffer violent destruction at this time.
"Joshua, at this stage of the campaign, did not seem to be interested in completely destroying each one of the sites, or in occupying them."141
"But beyond inflicting immediate loss, this campaign achieved little else by itself--it was a sweep, not an occupation: Joshua returnedand all Israel with him, to the camp, to Gilgal' (Joshua 10:15, 43). Occupationof the land, to live in it, keep livestock and cultivate crops in it, etc., was a far slower process, visible in part later in Joshua and in Judges."142
According to Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831), a philosopher of war, there are three principle military objectives in any war. First, the aggressor must destroy the military power of the enemy so he cannot continue or resume war. Second, he must conqueror the land of the enemy so a new military force cannot arise from it. Third, he must subdue the will of the enemy.143Joshua accomplished all three of these basic objectives.144
10:40-43 These verses summarize the conquest of the whole southern portion of Canaan. As we shall see later, Israel did not defeat every town or kill every Canaanite without exception. However, Joshua effectively removed the military threat to Israel that the cities in the south posed. "All"(v. 40) has a limited meaning. In this context it means all parts of the land, all the kings of the cities that Joshua destroyed, and all who lived in those cities (cf. 13:1).
Goshen (v. 41) was a town on the southern frontier of Israel (15:51). The reference is not to the section of Egypt that bore this name.
The writer emphasized God's fighting for Israel again (v. 42).
God's people do not have to engage every enemy that exists immediately any more than the Israelites had to kill every individual Canaanite or attack every city immediately. At this stage in their national life God's will was that they attack only certain selected targets. Sometimes we can experience discouragement when we look at the host of wicked people that surrounds us or the many sins that plague us. We may think, "What can one individual do to stem the tide of lawlessness?"We may even think it is useless to do anything in view of the huge task we face (Matt. 28:19-20). In those situations we need to do what God puts before us to do day by day rather than taking on more responsibility than God wants us to assume immediately (cf. Matt. 6:25-34).
