Canaanite capital and the most powerful city-state of northern Canaan
Also known as: Azor
The conquestCanaanite city-stateCoalition capitalFortified cityStrategic center?
Hazor was the dominant power center of northern Canaan and the largest Canaanite city-state, described as "the head of all these kingdoms" (Josh 11:10). During the Israelite conquest, King Jabin of Hazor assembled a broad coalition of northern kings against Joshua, but was decisively defeated at the waters of Merom. Joshua then captured and burned the city—the only one of the high cities to be reduced to ashes. In the period of the judges, Hazor reemerged as a power when a new King Jabin, with his commander Sisera, oppressed Israel for twenty years until Deborah and Barak, through the Lord's intervention, shattered his military dominance. The city later regained strategic importance when King Solomon fortified it along with Megiddo and Gezer as part of the kingdom's defensive line. Hazor's history illustrates how God repeatedly intervened to break Canaanite supremacy and fulfill the promise of the land.
Key events
Jabin of Hazor leads the coalition against Israel
King Jabin of Hazor, who was the head of the northern Canaanite kingdoms, gathered a large coalition of kings at the waters of Merom to fight against the Israelites under Joshua's leadership.
3to the Canaanites in the east and the west, to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and to the Hivites at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
Joshua defeats the coalition at the waters of Merom
Joshua launched a surprise attack on the Canaanite coalition at the Waters of Merom and defeated them with a great victory, just as the Lord had promised.
6The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give them all up, slain before Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire."
8The LORD gave them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them as far as Greater Sidon, as far as Misrephoth Maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down until no survivor was left.
Joshua captured Hazor, struck down its king with the sword, and burned the city. The text emphasizes that Hazor had been the capital of all these kingdoms and was the only royal city Joshua burned.
11They struck down every person in it with the sword, devoting them to destruction; nothing that breathed was left alive. And Hazor he burned with fire.
12Joshua captured all the cities of these kings, along with their kings, and put them to the sword. He devoted them to destruction, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded.
Jabin of Hazor Oppresses Israel During the Period of the Judges
A new King Jabin of Hazor oppressed the Israelites for twenty years under his powerful commander Sisera. Deborah and Barak were raised up by the Lord to confront this threat.
2So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.
Through God's intervention, Barak and Deborah defeated Sisera's army at the Kishon River, and Jabin's dominion over Israel was gradually broken completely.
14Then Deborah said to Barak, "Up! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone out before you?" So Barak charged down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men behind him.
15And the LORD routed Sisera and all the chariots and all the army by the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
17Meanwhile Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
15This is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.