You would think that the title of this episode: Rest from War, would mean that the Israelites have finally conquered the land of Canaan and dispossessed all their enemies. But in Joshua 11:10-23, it doesn't take long to see that the battle was far from over. There was rest, but only in the sense that God had given them a physical and moral victory over their enemies. They had conquered and captured a great many of the Canaanite cities, but they were far from finished with their job. The reputation of the Israelites had spread and their enemies lived in fear of them. They saw the Israelite God as a force with which to be reckoned. And there was a sense in which the Canaanites who still occupied the land were as good as defeated, because they knew they were no match for the Israelites and their God. The major battles were over, but there was still work that needed to be done in order to ensure that the land, in its entirety, became of the sole possession of God's chosen people.
