John Calvin Commentary Joshua 11:6

"And Jehovah said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them; for to-morrow at this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hock their horses, and burn their chariots with fire." — Joshua 11:6 (ASV)

And the Lord said unto Joshua, The greater the labor and difficulty of destroying an army so numerous and so well equipped, the more necessary it was to inspire them with new confidence. The Lord, therefore, appears to His servant Joshua and promises the same success He had previously given him on several occasions.

It is to be carefully observed that as often as He reiterates His promises, men are reminded of their forgetfulness, their sloth, or their fickleness. For unless new nourishment is given to faith every now and then, they immediately faint and fall away. And yet, such is our perverse fastidiousness that to hear the same thing twice is usually felt to be irksome.

Therefore, let us learn, as often as we are called to engage in new contests, to recall the remembrance of the divine promises, which may correct our languor or rouse us from our sloth. And especially, let us apply what is said here in general to our daily practice, as the Lord now intimates that what He had declared concerning all nations would be especially sure and stable on the present occasion.

We infer from the account of the time employed that these kings had marched a considerable distance to attack Joshua and the people in Gilgal. For immediately after the divine intimation, mention is made of Joshua’s swiftness. He is promised the victory on the following day.

Hence, they were not far distant. And the lake of Merom, where they had pitched their camp, is adjacent to the Jordan and much nearer to Gilgal than Gennesaret, from which district some of the enemy had come. It is said that this lake diminishes or increases according to the freezing of the snow on the mountains or its melting.

Moreover, the command given to Joshua and the people to cut the legs or thighs of the horses and to burn the chariots was undoubtedly intended to prevent them from adopting those more studied modes of warfare that were in use among profane nations. It was indeed necessary that they should serve as soldiers and fight strenuously against the enemy, but still they were to depend only on the Lord, to consider themselves strong only in His might, and to rely on Him alone.

This could scarcely have been the case if they had been provided with cavalry and an array of chariots. For we know how such showy equipment dazzles the eye and intoxicates the mind with overweening confidence. Moreover, a law had been enacted (Deuteronomy 17:16) that their kings were not to provide themselves with horses and chariots, obviously because they would have been extremely apt to ascribe to their own military discipline what God claimed for Himself. Hence the common saying (Psalms 20:7)

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”

God wished to deprive them of all stimulants to audacity, so that they might live quietly contented with their own limits and not unjustly attack their neighbors. And experience showed that when a bad ambition had impelled their kings to buy horses, they engaged in wars not less rashly than unsuccessfully. It was necessary, therefore, to render the horses useless for war by cutting their sinews and to destroy the chariots, so that the Israelites might not become accustomed to the practices of the heathen.