A Warning


In the middle of recounting the conquest of Joshua and Israel's armies over the inhabitants of Canaan, we read a solemn verse that could confuse many but should serve as a solemn warning to all:

 Joshua 11:19–20 (ESV) There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle. 20 For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Consider the statement of the 19th verse. Not a single city in Canaan offered terms of peace with Israel outside of Gibeon. Then it states the Lord hardened their hearts that they should come against Israel. Left to that we may be tempted to think that God caused these nations to come out and war to destroy them. This is quite accurate except for the fact that God had given these nations 400 years to repent and turn to Him. He also sent Israel to their borders by mighty acts to show His greatness over their gods. 

 Remember that these nations clearly heard about the events of Israel coming out of Egypt:
Joshua 5:1 (ESV) As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.

This was testimony for God's glory. Yet the nations did not repent and turn. There were exceptions. Rahab and the Gibeonites turned to Israel for mercy because they saw what God did for them and how He proved Himself to be the God of all the living. 

 Yet outside of Rahab and the Gibeonites, no other nation turned and made peace. It is to that refusal God's hardening comes into the hearts of these nations. Remember well how scripture records both Pharoah and God hardening Pharoah's heart in refusing to let Israel go. There is both the human agent in rejecting the visible works of God and the divine agent in further cauterizing a heart turned against Him. 


This then is the warning. God will not be mocked. The human who rejects Him will find themselves eventually beyond healing. Such is the reality of mankind's station. He does not seek God because he will not seek God, and in willing NOT to seek God, God cuts him off from possibility to ever seek God. 

 What does this mean for people of faith? It means we are most blessed to be in the covenant of His grace. Our hearts have been changed through unmerited grace from the Father. We have been redeemed and returned to He who formed us and made us. When we come to passages about hardened hearts we must do two things. First, we must check ourselves to see if we are grateful for His grace and second, we must do all we can to spread the message of His grace. While at times it may seem the whole world is opposed to its maker, God is nevertheless working to seek and save out of this world many other yet to come. 

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