Joshua 10:1-15

Introduction

In Joshua 9, Israel is tricked into signing a covenant with the Gibeonites. Israel is culpable for this, since they did not seek the counsel of God. The people are rightfully upset with Joshua and the elders for making a hasty decision. But the leadership is careful to keep the Israelites from breaking their covenant. They instruct the people that even though they were tricked, they are still bound to their word and must protect the Gibeonites. The Israelites make the Gibeonites work for them, but they spare their lives.

In some ways, the covenant was still theory. They could send the Gibeonites back to their land and continue on their conquest mission. It's not like they would be living in the Israelites way just yet. Of course, God desired to use the covenant to ordain His purposes and calls the Israelites to honor it almost immediately.

Commentary

verses 1-2
Report gets back to Adoni-zedek and he is not pleased. This king of Jerusalem has received word that Jericho has fallen and that Ai was also destroyed. Of course, Israel has already wiped out Sihon and Og on the east side of the Jordan and now their success continues to the west.

News about the Gibeonites only adds to the problem. We are told that Gibeon was a great city, a royal city even. It was a greater city than Ai and all its men were mighty warriors. Not only does Adoni-zedek lose the Gibeonite army as a potential ally, he may now have to fight against them.

It is important to see that his response to the information is fear. It is not hard to picture the inhabitants of Jericho shutting themselves within the walls from fear. However, this text also tells us that some respond to fear by fighting. Adoni-zedek is not gathering an army to fight against the Israelites because he is confident of victory. To the contrary, he is terrified, but his fear motivates him to fight.

verses 3-5
Adoni-zedek sends word to the four other larger cities. He calls for their leadership to form an alliance with him to fight against the Gibeonites. Though their alliance with Israel is certainly his reason for wanting to fight, we are not told if he knew the fight would then extend to the Israelites. It appears that his action is aimed soley at the Gibeonites, for he is willing to gather, camp out and fight against them before the Israelites arrive. It is also noteworthy that none of the kings refused his request. They all aligned themselves in opposition to Israel.

verse 6
The Gibeonites immediately get word to Joshua. Their tone is desperate yet they do not ask for Israel's protection. "Do not abandon (literally, do not let your hands drop)," "come up quickly," "save us," and "help us" are all in the imperative form. The Gibeonites understand that they do not need to request Israel's aid, for their treaty obligates that Israel come to their defense.

verses 7-9
We are not sure of the exact timing of Adoni-zedek's attack, but once Joshua receives word, he is able to gather troops, march 15-20 miles with those troops and be ready to fight the next morning. During this time, the Lord again tells Joshua not to fear and encourages him that He will give the enemy into his hands. Joshua may have wondered if this battle was a judgement for entering a treaty with the Gibeonites, but God reassures him that this battle is an opportunity for God to show his provision to the Israelites. Because of Joshua's quick action and the encouragement of God's words, the Israelites are able to advance to Gibeon overnight. Even if Adoni-zedek had considered Israel's participation, certainly he did not expect it to happen so soon.

verses 10-11
God immediately begins to fulfill His promise to Joshua. Verse 10 lists four verbs that are all in the singular tense. God confounded the army. God slew them with a great slaughter. God pursued them as they fled. God struck them down. None of these verbs are attributed to Joshua or the Israelites. God alone gets the credit.

But God is not interested in simply protecting the Israelites in the battle. He is executing judgment upon these rebellious nations. Therefore, as the attacking army scatters, God pursues and strikes them with hailstones. Some of the deserters have fled up to 20 miles away, and yet the Lord finds them and eliminates them. In fact, so great is the Lord's work that more enemy men died as a result of hailstones than died at the edge of an Israeli sword.

verses 12-13
While these verses encapsulate one of the more famous works in the book of Joshua, there are some difficult details. There are textual questions as well as the overall question, "What happened that day?" Starting with the textual issues:

1. Who is quoted in verse 12?--At first glance, it appears that Joshua calls out "O sun, stand still..." However, the text says "Joshua spoke to the Lord" and later says "and he said." Could this "he" possibly be referring to God and not to Joshua? I believe it could for the following reasons:
a. Again, the construction is odd for the "he" to be referring to Joshua. It is just as possible that "he" is referring to God, to Whom Joshua was speaking. Of course, this is not enough evidence on its own, but coupled with...
b. Joshua speaks to the Lord, yet the quote is directed to the sun and moon. No portion of the quote is actually directed at God. Furthermore, Joshua would have no authority to command the sun and the moon.
It appears likely then, that Joshua called out to God for aid, and God commanded the sun and moon to stand still.

2. Just what is Jashar quoting?--"Is it not written in the book of Jashar?" could either refer to the portion of the verse preceding this statement or following it, but it is unlikely that it would be both. Either Jashar gives the detailed account or the summation of the events. However, the statements compliment one another, therefore it is not a critical issue to discern.

The other question that is asked, "What happened with the sun and moon?" There are a few options:

1. The sun and moon literally sat still.--Science tells us that the sun does not move in the sky but instead that the earth rotates. That the text says, "the sun stood still" should not trouble us, for even today we use such figurative language as sunset and sunrise. To make the sun and moon stop in their place, it would seem this would require the earth to stop spinning. Is this possible? I have no idea, but believe God is certainly capable of the impossible.

[Some have tried to verify that this did take place. There are urban legends in circulation about NASA using computers to calculate future positions for the earth. According to this legend, it is only after the data regarding Joshua and Hezekiah are entered into the computer that the computer program finally worked. Of course, there is not concrete evidence for the story. Also, the believer puts himself in a precarious position if he places too much stock in these stories. Honestly, if we believe the Lord caused the earth to stop, we should not depend on NASA to prove it correct or not.]

2. God made it look like the sun and moon stood still--God may have allowed the earth to continue rotating but could have allowed the sun and moons light to appear coming from a constant source. Whether refracted light or an additional light source fixed in the apparent location of the sun and moon (I'm not a scientist, so I'm done speculating), God causes it to look like the sun and moon hung in the sky.

3. God produces light--Perhaps the language allows for some poetic license. Joshua and Jashar may simply be stating that light continued even though it should have been dark. Certainly, the critical element for Joshua was the continuation of light to allow the armies to fight. God can certainly produce light with His word or even just by His own radiance.

4. It was just a long day--While others speculate the entire account is poetic. They claim that the moon stood still represents the hike to Gibeon and the sun standing still represents the long day of fighting. They do not require anything to have literally happen, other than that Israel saw a tremendous victory that day. The sun still set and the moon still faded, but Israel was very efficient during that day.

Personally, I find number 4 to be the least compelling. The burdern of proof is on saying the text does not mean what it says, and I find the evidence for complete poetry to be slim. This also leads to my assumption that option 3 is a bit weak. The reference to the sun and moon, rather than to just light, seems to suggest something was happening (or appearing to happen) with these celestial bodies. As for choosing between option 1 and 2, I find myself completely overwhelmed to try to discern which is the most probable solution.

verse 14
The author states that this day was a unique day. Immediately following the account about the sun and moon, one might expect this response. However, the author says that is not what truly made the day amazing. The amazing feature is that "the Lord listened to the voice of a man." This is the only time "listened" (shama) is attributed to the Lord. Throughout Joshua, "listened" is attibuted to individuals (or Israel corporately) with an obedient inflection. It is not just that they audibly heard something, they heeded it and obeyed. In essense, the author is saying the day was unique because the Lord obeyed Joshua. (More within "Exposition.")

verse 15
Though the text says the Israelites returned to Gilgal, it is unlikely that they did this before the following (10:16-42) verses take place. To literally fall in this way chronologically, Joshua and Israel would have pursued their enemy, then returned to Gilgal (about 20 miles away) to again depart to deal with the kings and their neighboring cities. There are two possible explanations:

Scribal Error--Since verse 14 ends "for the Lord fought for Israel" and verse 42 ends "the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel" some assume a scribal error took place. Somewhere along the line, a scribe's eye traveled down the page and inserted verse 43 and the position of verse 15. This does not devestate the inerrancy of Scripture, for that doctrine holds that the original autographs were without error. Furthermore, if verse 15 should not be in the text, this does not change anything about the perspective of the text and no doctrine is questionable from this.

Literary Device--Just as Genesis 1 tells of the creation and Genesis 2 presents it again from a slightly different perspective, the author of Joshua may have been presenting the battle from two perspectives. First, he gives a broad sweeping overview of Israel's conquest. Next, he takes us through detail of defeating the kings and their cities. This may be done to draw a distinction with Joshua 11:18, when Israel's conquest took a considerable amount of time. The author may be employing a literary device to help the reader see the speed of their conquest. Basically, he would be saying, "Once the initial battle was over, the whole conquest of southern Palestine was over."

Either way, it is doubtful that the army marched 20 miles to Gilgal, then marched back to attack the cities and deal with the kings.

Exposition

Many people are familiar with the sun standing still for Joshua. This is truly a startling concept as we try to wrap our minds around what happened. The believer should not be troubled if he cannot offer the perfect scientific explanation. If he is challenged that the language is in error (for the sun does not travel in the sky, rather the earth rotates around a fixed sun), he should simply remind the challenger that we still use this language today (sunset, sunrise). We do not need to run to science for the explanation. God created light with His command, therefore, He could have done any number of things to give the appearance of a sun and moon fixed in the sky.

But so often, as we try to wrap our minds around the sun standing still, we miss the truly mind-boggling event...

The Lord obeyed Joshua.

Unfortunately, this is not a mind-boggling concept today. Many people on television or radio claim to know promises of God that obligate Him to respond. The see God as a marionette and they are pulling the strings. Pray this prayer. Give this amount of money. Claim this verse for yourself. Then God must respond to you as you desire. We live in a world that is very slow to obey God, but very quick to tell Him what He must do.

No way has this perspective grown more than in prayer. Prayer has become the believers opportunity to tell God what we think He ought to do. Men stand up and preach that we must command God to act. We have to stand up to Him and call upon our rights. If He does not answer, you are to contend with Him, wearing Him down until you get what you want. But this is not the way Jesus tells us to pray:

Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, "In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. "There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, `Give me legal protection from my opponent.' "For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, `Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.' "And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? "I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"--Luke 18:1-8

A few things to note:

Jesus tells the parable to encourage persistence in prayer. He tells us to keep it up and not lose heart.

The widow had rights. She came to the judge demanding that he do his job. Should we assume Jesus is telling us we have rights and we should demand them?

Contrast, Contrast, Contrast. We understand that this parable contrasts a widow/judge with believer/God. Points of note are:
Judge did not fear God. Jesus later describes this as being unrighteous.
Judge did not respect man. He has not respect for objects made in the image of God.
Judge is unwilling to act. God is not lazy or slack in accomplishing His purposes.
Judge speaks to self. Due to the Trinity, God may not be speaking to His creation, but He is speaking within community of Father, Son, Spirit.
The widow's annoyance finally got results. God does not act because He finds His children annoying.
Judge can be worn out. God cannot be worn out.

Jesus is telling us to come to the father and lay our requests continually before Him, not because we can wear Him down, but because he loves righteousness and His elect. Therefore, the believer comes before Him with a God pleasing confidence that God will work to His best for us (Hebrews 11:6).

We cannot call God into a place of obedience to us, but we can pray with assurance that He cares about justice and His children. He listens and is delighted to respond, not because He is at the end of our string, but because He delights in His own nature. Even in salvation, He responds because He is delighted to see righteousness and loves His elect. His character is revealed and He is glorified. After all, a God who is at the whim of man could never have commanded the sun and moon and delievered His people!

Neither could He deliver us from our sin.

Joshua 10:16-43

Introduction

Victory! Many claim that victory is available to the Christian today. This we should not dispute. However, many times victory takes a shape unheard of in Scripture. A person is promised a larger house, better job, better behaving children and more income simply by claiming the victory before them. But is this the kind of victory the Bible promises?

In this passage of Joshua, we see Israel is victorious, is promised more victories and those victories are recorded in detail. There also appears to be a greater victory that has not yet been realized.

Commentary

verses 16-19
After the Gibeonite treaty (Joahua 9), Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, gathered up four other kings and armies to fight against Israel. Undoubtedly, these kings were perched up on a hilltop, watching the battle unfold. As it becomes obvious that the Lord is fighting for Israel, these kings flee to a nearby cave. Their men are left without command, abandoned to fight until their death. Meanwhile, the kings hope to find refuge in a cave. However, Joshua gets word of their retreat (undoubtedly from his army). Joshua commands members of the army to trap the kings in the cave, by sealing it with large stones. Then he tells his army to pursue the enemy quickly; before they can flee into protected cities. Joshua does not want to waste time dealing with the kings when there is a host of enemy soldiers to conquer, but he's not about to let the kings free either.

verses 20-21
Joshua and the Israelites are successful in their campaign. They are able to capture and kill most of the fleeing enemy, though some made it back to fortified cities. However, those who escaped were no longer violently oppossing Israel, for the text says no one even spoke a word against the sons of Israel.

verses 22-24
Once they had returned to Makkedah in peace, Joshua is ready to deal with the rebellious kings. Joshua calls for the cave to be opened and for the kings to be brought out. The author lists each king individually, making sure we realize that no one escaped. Each govenor responsible for this rebellion will be dealt with. Then Joshua calls for commanders of the army to come forward. They are to place their feet on the necks of the kings. Is this showmanship? Are the Israelites getting arrogant? Is Joshua trying to humiliate these kings? (More below in the Exposition.)

verses 25-27
The people encouraged Joshua to be strong and courageous several times (Joshua 1), but this is the first recorded incident of Joshua directing the exhortation at the people. As in chapter one, the strength is due to the promise that the Lord will grant future victories. After exhorting the people, Joshua then strikes the opposing kings dead. These men were hung, but the text indicates they were striken dead before the hanging. Therefore, their hanging does not appear to be their form of execution, but a display for others. Joshua commands them to take the kings down before sunset. All of their actions are in obedience to Deuteronomy 21:22-23. These kings had commited a trespass worthy of death, therefore they were hung, to symbolize they were accursed, but were taken down before sunset to prevent the land from suffering a curse.

Of course, since each of us have sinned, we too are accursed and deserve to be hung. However, Galatians 3:13-14 tells us that curse does not have to befall us. Christ, Who knew no sin, took our sin curse upon Himself. He hung there, to show that He became cursed. This was done so that we might receive the blessing of Abraham, who was called God's friend. We do not continue to picture Christ on the cross (as Catholics do), for He know longer is accursed of God.

The kings were thrust back into the cave and the rocks were again returned to the opening. This served as a reminder to the Israelites that God had indeed been faithful to grant victory.

verses 29-39
Joshua then continued his campaign through influential cities. Several times, the Israelites' victories are compared to the conquest of Jericho (Joshua 6:20-27). This is probably just a statement in regard to the people, that they killed all who drew breath in the city. It is unlikely that they burned the cities, since there is no mention, as their was with Ai (8:28) and will be with Hazor (11:13). Jericho was also unique in that spies first entered the land and that Rahab was spared. Therefore, the author seems to be illustrating the complete destruction (king and commoner) of these cities. The author lays out an interesting pattern:

As with Jericho, so with Makkedah
As with Jericho, so with Libnah
As with Libnah (which was like Jericho), so with Lachish
Horam, king of Gezer is listed without comparrison
As with Lachish (which is like Libnah, which is like Jericho), so with Eglon
As with Eglon (like Lachish, like Libnah, like Jericho), so with Hebron
As with Libnah (which was like Jericho), so with Debir

When it is understood that Joshua and the troops returned to Makkedah to deal with the rebellious kings, they then dealt with the people in the city. Libnah appears to be the beginning of their aggressive campaign. As the campaign wraps up in Debir, the author seems to tie it together by comparing once again to the city of Libnah.

verses 40-42
Of course, the Isrelites did not only conquer peoples, but they also assumed control of the land as they took the victories as well.

verse 41
With the kings of the central territories taken, Joshua and the people return again to Gilgal.

Exposition--Getting "Mop-up" Time on Earth

By the time we reach verse 16, the battle is already primarily over. Joshua and the Israelites are left to chase after the deserters and the kings. The fact that Israel must chase the enemy is proof that the main resistance is over. However, there are a couple of interesting dynamics in the victory.

Stepping on necks--As Joshua defeats the kings, he calls for the chiefs of the men of war to place their foot on the necks of the kings. For one who has so struggled with courage (Joshua 1), is Joshua finally acting with confidence. Could this be a display of over-confidence? Worse yet, could this be arrogance?

Though today we may not see people place their foot on a person's neck, the implications are strong enough to transcend culture. The king would be laying on the ground without any power. He would be submitted to the lowest portion of the ordinary Israeli citizen. Joshua's actions are clearly intended for Israel. There is no reason to convince the enemy kings of Israel's superiority. They've conquered their armies, captured the kings and are prepared for their execution. Likewise, Joshua offers no words to the kings, but directs all of his statements to the Israelites. But this display of power is not merely the creative genius of Joshua, it appears to be divinely ordained action when we consider other passages.

Consider 1 Corinthians 15:20-28. Paul exposes the lie of some who claim the believer cannot count on the resurrection. If there is no resurrection, then Christ is still dead. If Christ is still dead, you have no hope! In verse 20, he procedes with his arguement. It is not merely Christ's death that is important, but His resurrection is critical as well. For through His resurrection, life can be offered to all who believe. His resurrection is the first-fruits for the resurrection of the church.

Paul states that He is reigning even as His enemies are in the process of being placed under His feet. He then quotes Psalm 8:6, joining David in painting the same imagery as Joshua. The sign of supreme authority is that an emeny is placed at the victor's feet. Of course, Paul does not mean that God Himself is subjected to Christ, for the authority to place all things under Christ's feet shows His supreme authority. However, verse 26 lays out that the last enemy to be defeated is death.

We see this in vivid detail in Revelation 20:11-15. Known as the Great White Throne Judgment, all of the unrepentant from all of history will stand before Jesus Christ. Two books are used in the judgment. One unidentified book lays the person's life before them. Through this book, a person's sin becomes undeniably apparent. Then, the Book of Life is opened, revealing they never trusted Christ to remove their sin. They are judged for their deeds, for their sinful deeds are not applied to the cross of Christ.

Upon this final judgment of all the unregenerate of history, Christ then casts the condemned into the Lake of Fire. However, victory is not complete until death and Hades are thrown into the Lake as well. The victory over death has been secured, but like the Israelites standing on the necks of kings, it is not yet complete.

So, who's fighting?--As stated above, in verses 28-39 the author lays out a pattern. After working from Makkedah--the city they were already in--he next moves to Libnah. The conquest with Libnah is compared to the conquest of Jericho. Next, he moves through six more cities, ending by comparing Debir to Libnah. He seems to be drawing a complete picture for the reader. However, there is another pattern which is a little harder to draw out.

At times, the author fully credits the Lord with the battle (30, 32). Other times, Joshua and the Israelites are credited for exploits (33, 35, 37). But the author does not always present the subject clearly. Consider verse 35. The verse begins with a plural subject (they captured it), but then moves to a singular pronoun (he). To whom is the author directing? Joshua? God? Looking closer only blurs the line more, for we see the "they" is clearly Israel, but the victory is compared to Lachish. When one reads about Lachish (32), the verse begins by crediting the Lord. One can almost picture the author--smiling wryly--as the reader asks, "To whom is "he" directed?"

While the syntax may be difficult, the concept is not unique to Christian understanding. We know that God has done all the work in producing our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). We also know that He is the One at work within us to produce sanctification (Philippians 1:6). However, we are not to sit idly back, lazily watching God work. Ephesians 2:10 tells us we were created to do good works for Him, works He established beforehand. God has won the victory, and only God can grant the victory. Yet, God desires that we work in accomplishing His victory.

Conclusion
I remember once sitting on the losing side of a basketball game. The score was so out of hand (78-7) that it was obvious we were not going to win. I don't remember at what point it became obvious that we would not win (though it couldn't have been too long after the jump ball), but I do remember the entire game provided an awful feeling. I've often wondered what it must have felt like on the other bench. As the clock wound down to a clearly impossible figure for us to make up a 71 point deficit, victory had been sealed, but the game was not quite over.

Christ's victory is infinitely superior to that. The victory is completely won and there is nothing the enemy can do to reverse that fortune. However, the clock is still ticking. Why is it that God has not sounded the "final buzzer?" It is important that the believer understands that it is not because He is incapible. Neither the Church, nor the world are capable of delaying the schedule of God. However, God is patiently delaying the inevitable so that people still have time to repent (2 Peter 3:9). In God's grand mercy, He offers to the enemy reconcilliation (Romans 5:10). When we are again reminded that our victory was not self-won, we are all the more motivated to call others to allow God to grant them victory as well.

And our victory is not for cars, houses or careers. It isn't even just for the promised land. The victory is much greater, for our Savior has His foot placed squarely on the neck of death!