John Calvin Commentary Joshua 11:19

"There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: they took all in battle." — Joshua 11:19 (ASV)

There was not a city that made peace, etc. This sentence appears, at first sight, contradictory to what is everywhere said in the books of Moses: that the Israelites were not to enter into any league with those nations, or make any terms of peace with them, but, on the contrary, to destroy them utterly and wipe out their race and name (Exodus 23:32; Deuteronomy 7:2). Since the nations were thus excluded from the means of making any pact, and would have made any proposals for peace in vain, it seems absurd to attribute their destruction—which they had no means of averting—to their obstinacy.

For, let us suppose that they had sent ambassadors before them with olive branches in their hands and had been intent on peaceful measures; Joshua would have immediately answered that he could not lawfully enter into any negotiation, since the Lord had forbidden it. Therefore, even if they had made a hundred attempts to avoid war, they still would have perished. Why, then, are they blamed for not having sought peace, as if they had not been driven by necessity to fight, after they saw they were dealing with an implacable people? But if they were not free to act otherwise, it is unjust to lay any blame on them when they acted under compulsion in opposing the fury of their enemy.

To this objection, I answer that the Israelites, though forbidden to show them any mercy, were met in a hostile manner so that the war might be just. And it was wonderfully arranged by the secret providence of God that, being doomed to destruction, they should voluntarily offer themselves to it and, by provoking the Israelites, be the cause of their own ruin.

The Lord, therefore, besides ordering that pardon should be denied them, also incited them to blind fury, so that no room might be left for mercy. And it was necessary for the people not to be too wise or inquisitive in this matter. For while the Lord, on the one hand, prohibited them from entering into any covenant, and, on the other, was unwilling for them to take hostile measures without being provoked, a too anxious discussion of the procedure might have greatly unsettled their minds.

Hence, their only way of freeing themselves from perplexity was to lay their care on the bosom of God. And He, in His incomprehensible wisdom, provided that when the time for action arrived, His people should not be hindered in their course by any obstacle. Thus the kings beyond the Jordan, since they had been the first to take up arms, justly suffered the punishment for their recklessness.

For the Israelites did not attack them with hostile arms until they had been provoked. In the same way, the citizens of Jericho, by shutting their gates, were also the first to declare war. The case is the same with the others, who, by their obstinacy, gave the Israelites a reason for prosecuting the war.

It now appears how perfectly consistent these two things are. The Lord commanded Moses to destroy the nations whom He had doomed to destruction; and He accordingly opened a way for His own decree when He hardened the reprobate. In the first place, then, stands the will of God, which must be regarded as the principal cause.

For since their iniquity had reached its height, He determined to destroy them. This was the origin of the command given to Moses—a command, however, which would have failed to achieve its effect if the chosen people had not been armed to execute the divine judgment by the perverseness and obstinacy of those who were to be destroyed.

God hardens them for this very purpose, so that they may shut themselves out from mercy. Hence, that hardness is called His work, because it secures the accomplishment of His design.

If any attempt is made to obscure so clear a matter by those who imagine that God only looks down from heaven to see what men will be pleased to do, and who cannot bear to think that the hearts of men are controlled by His secret agency, what else do they display but their own presumption? They only allow God a permissive power, and in this way make His counsel dependent on the pleasure of men. But what does the Spirit say? That the hardening is from God, who thus hastens the downfall of those whom He means to destroy.