Text: Joshua 11:20
OT Text Referred to: Deuteronomy 7:2
Subject: divine hardening and herem warfare
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Joshua 11:20 reveals that it was the LORD who hardened (חִזֵּק, chizzeq, "strengthened/hardened") the Canaanites' hearts to engage Israel in battle, providing the theological rationale for the חֵרֶם (cherem, "total destruction") command of Deuteronomy 7:2. Moses had commanded Israel to devote the nations to destruction and show no mercy; Joshua 11:20 explains that God himself ensured the conditions for this command's fulfillment by removing the possibility of peace treaties. The narrator thus presents the conquest not as Israel's initiative but as God's sovereign orchestration, closing off diplomatic alternatives so that the Deuteronomic command would be carried out completely.