11:13 the towns built on mounds: In the ancient Near East it was common practice to rebuild cities on the same sites after they had been destroyed. All the elements that made a city site advantageous remained after a city’s destruction. Many cities were rebuilt numerous times, slowly rising in height as more debris accumulated after each destruction. • Joshua burned only Hazor in the north, just as he had destroyed Jericho (6:24) and Ai (8:28) in the center of the land.

11:1-3 Hazor lay along the international trade route and was by far the largest and most important inland city of Canaan (see 11:10). • Virtually all of northern Canaan joined the coalition of King Jabin against Israel. This region stretched from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the desert in the east and from the borders of Phoenicia in the north to the hill country and the Jordan Valley in the south. • The term Jebusites typically refers to the people of Jerusalem and surrounding towns under its control. Perhaps men from Jebus were mercenaries to Jabin. • Mizpah means “watchtower” or “lookout.” Several places had this name; this one was the extensive region of the lower slopes of Mount Hermon, the highest peak of the Promised Land.