Joshua 11:13

13 But Israel didn't burn any of the cities that still are standing on their mounds. Joshua burned only Hazor.

Joshua 11:13 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 11:13

But as for the cities that stood still in their strength
Whose walls were not demolished when taken, as Kimchi and Jarchi interpret it, or that "stood upon their heaps" ^F25; upon an eminence, being built on hills and mountains:

Israel burned none of them;
but reserved them for their own habitations, being well fortified, and having no need of new walls being built to them, or being in a very agreeable situation:

save Hazor only, [that] did Joshua burn;
because it was the chief city where the scheme was formed, and the combination against Israel was made, and was the rendezvous of the confederate forces against them: the Jews have a tradition ^F26, that God said to Moses, and Moses said to Joshua, that he should burn it, and that only.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (Mlt le) "super tumulum eorum", Montanus; "quae erant in collibus et in tamulis sitae", V. L.
F26 Bereshit Rabba, sect. 81. fol. 71. 1.

Joshua 11:13 In-Context

11 They struck down everyone there without mercy, wiping them out as something reserved for God. Nothing that breathed was left. Hazor itself he burned.

12 Joshua captured all these kings and their cities. He struck them down without mercy. He wiped them out as something reserved for God. This was exactly as Moses the LORD's servant had commanded.

13 But Israel didn't burn any of the cities that still are standing on their mounds. Joshua burned only Hazor.

14 The Israelites took all the valuable things from those cities and the cattle as plunder for themselves. But they struck down every person without mercy until they had wiped them out. They didn't let anything that breathed survive.

15 What the LORD had commanded Moses his servant, Moses had commanded Joshua, and Joshua did exactly that. He didn't deviate a bit from any command that the LORD had given Moses.