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Judges 4 · a question people ask

Didn't Joshua already deal with Jabin of Hazor?

In the text

Joshua 11 tells of "Jabin king of Hazor" (Joshua 11:1), who gathered the kings of the north. Joshua "took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword" (Joshua 11:10), and "He burned Hazor with fire" (Joshua 11:11). Here "The LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor" (4:2), and later the chapter calls him "Jabin the king of Hazor" (4:17). The text doesn't say whether this is the same man or another king of the same name, and it doesn't say how Hazor came to have a king again. It names him and goes on. Samuel, looking back, speaks of "Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor" (1 Samuel 12:9).

The verses

“When Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,”
Joshua 11:1 · World English Bible
“Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor used to be the head of all those kingdoms. They struck all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed. He burned Hazor with fire.”
Joshua 11:10-11 · World English Bible
“The LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles.”
Judges 4:2 · World English Bible
“However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.”
Judges 4:17 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Judges 4

Judges 4: Into a woman's hand

The LORD "sold" Israel into Jabin's hand (4:2), and Deborah said he would "sell" Sisera "into a woman’s hand" (4:9): the same verb. Sisera died in Jael's tent (4:21-22). And the book says Deborah "judged Israel" (4:4) but never says it of Barak; the chapter gives the day to the LORD: "God subdued Jabin" (4:23).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions