Joshua 11:7-19 - They totally destroyed them

11:7-9

Joshua and his whole army made a sudden attack against the forces at the Waters of Merom. “And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel”. Joshua and Israel had to do stuff, but it was the Lord who gave them victory. They pursued the defeated armies relentlessly. Joshua followed the instructions of the Lord and hamstrung the horses, and burnt the chariots.

11:10-15

Hazor was the organising force behind the northern armies, and Joshua turned back and captured him, and then killed him. They put everyone to death, and burned the town of Hazor. The emphasis is on Joshua’s following of Moses’ commands. They carried off plunder. Jericho, Ai and Hazor are the only sites to have been burned by Israel. The Lord commanded Moses, Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua completed the task.

11:16-19

The rebellious battle had taken a short length of time, but in 11:18 we read that fighting against the kings mentioned in this section took a long time. Some battles are short, some are long. None of the cities, except for the Gibeonites (or Hivites,see 11:19), made a peace treaty with Israel. None of them wanted to, and none of them would have been allowed to. It was only because of their deception that the Gibeonites managed the feat.