Joshua 10:1-28
We come now to our final narrative in our series through the book of Joshua. For the next half of the book, Joshua lays out the dividing lines of Canaan for the tribes of Israel. But before that can happen, they need to complete their conquest. In this morning’s passage, we see one of the most incredible miracles in all of Scripture. And while the miracle itself is beyond comprehension, the fact that the Lord listened to and heeded the words of a faithful man make it even more incredible.
Big Idea: When we pray boldly, God moves powerfully.
1. The Coalition Declares War (1-5) Read vs. 1-5
Humanly speaking, this would have been an impossible fight. 5 nations joining forces against 1. Even though we see that Gibeon was a large city, full of warriors, and well defended, it would not have been a fair fight. This is evidenced by the Gibeonites response. They look out over the countryside and see this huge amassing of soldiers, and send word to Joshua that they are in some serious trouble.
2. Joshua’s Integrity (6-9)
This is amazing to me. I mean think about it. Joshua has the perfect out. These Gibeonites deceived him into making a covenant with them. The terms stated that Israel would maintain peace with Gibeon, but it said nothing about protecting them against other nations. Joshua could have very well declined the request for help, allowing the Gibeonites to be destroyed, and essentially ending the covenant between them.
But no, not Joshua. Instead we see an almost immediate response. He gathers the troops and sets out for Gibeon. Perhaps he saw this as an opportunity for the nation of Israel to kill 5 birds with 1 stone. “Wait a minute, there are 5 kings and nations represented? You mean, we could destroy all of them in one fell swoop?” It’s interesting to note that Joshua was on the move to help the Gibeonites before the Lord assured him of victory. It appears that the Lord reminded Joshua not to fear while they were already on the way. Joshua extended grace to these foreigners, putting his military and in turn the people of Israel at risk. But to Joshua, it wasn’t a risk, because he knew that the Lord was with him, and had promised victory.
Notice also an easily overlooked detail. “They marched up all night from Gilgal.” The distance from Gilgal to Gibeon was about 25 miles. Not only that, but it would have been about a 4,000 foot elevation change. Add to that all of their gear and weapons, and this is no easy trek. Based on the distance and elevation, they would have had to leave early in the morning, march all day, and then all night. This is the best case scenario. It doesn’t really matter how long it took, what matters is what we see happen immediately upon arrival. They get to Gibeon after this long march, and completely surprise the enemy. Mass panic ensues, and the Israelites attack.
I signed up for a sprint Triathlon in May, and I think that’s like 18.5 miles. I’m pretty sure I’m going to sleep for like 8 hours after that. Now, fortunately for the Israelites, the battle they were entering into was not their battle. Remember, they are fighting the Lord’s battle.
3. The Battle Belongs to the Lord (10-15)
We have before us 2 incredible miracles:
A. Hailstones
The enemy armies are so terrified in the midst of the chaos that they begin to flee. There is a descent on the other side of Gibeon that would have led them back to the nearest cities. As they are running down this mountain, the Lord opens up the heavens and rains down hail upon them. And it says this happened to them all the way to Azekah, which was another 25 miles away from Gibeon.
And I love the clarification here. Remember, this is the Lord’s battle. So while the Israelites are fighting in Gibeon and pursuing down the mountain, the Lord is fighting as well. And more people died by the hand of the Lord than by the hand of the Israelite army. In case there was any question over who was leading the battle. It’s amazing as well that none of the Israelites were killed by these stones, and neither were any of the 5 kings of these nations.
B. Sun “Standing Still”
And then we get to perhaps one of the most difficult miracles, besides the resurrection, in all of Scripture. Before we get into the reality of the miracle, I think it’s important for us to note here that Joshua prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered his prayer. But it isn’t only that. Joshua asked something that was literally and physically impossible, but yet the Lord answered his prayer. We’ll address verse 14 in greater depth at the end of the message this morning, but let’s look at this miracle.
We don’t need to read too much into Joshua addressing the sun and the moon. We know that the Earth rotates on its axis as it’s rotating around the sun. It would be like us today saying that the sun rises and sets, even though it’s not moving at all. What we do need to read into, however, is the fact that the text tells us that the sun and the moon stood still. Not only that, but the sun did not set for a whole day.
We have a bit of an issue here, and that is that we don’t know exactly how the Lord accomplished this. We aren’t told precisely how He did it. And because of that, we have many different views of what actually happened that day:
A. The passage is meant to be poetic, with no literal meaning implied
B. The sun standing still actually refers to a solar eclipse
C. The earth completely stopped moving for a full 24 hour period
D. The earth’s rotation was slowed down, but not completely stopped, which lengthened the “day” to 24 hours
E. The sun and moon appeared out of place because of a supernaturally concocted mirage
There is also a view that Joshua was actually commanding the sun to stop producing heat. The Hebrew phrasing in our passage is not “sun stand still,” but more closely “sun, stop working.” Due to the exhaustion of the army, and the intensity of the sun’s heat, Joshua was asking for relief from the sun.
I share all this with you to show you that we cannot know for certain exactly what transpired that day. My personal belief is that God slowed the rotation of the Earth, and prolonged the day in a miraculous way. If that were to happen today, life as we know it would be destroyed. But, I also believe in a God who created all things, and holds all things together by the power of His hands.
Now, I don’t want us to get stuck here. I want to instead bring our attention to verse 14 (re-read vs. 14). This is absolutely incredible. The Hebrew word behind “heed” comes from the word “shama,” which means “to hear.” Joshua employs the same word found in that famous passage from Deuteronomy chapter 6. Never in the history of the world had there been a day when a man made a request to the Lord that defied the laws of nature and the Lord listened and responded in the way that He did.
Joshua and his army were in hot pursuit of the enemy forces, and he knew that if they got back to their cities and night fell, the retreat would be successful. He needed to end things definitively, and for that to happen, he needed the light of day to last longer. And we have a hint as to why: “for the Lord fought for Israel.”
Joshua prayed in line with the mission of the Lord, and so the Lord answered.
4. Victory (16-28) (Read vs. 16-28)
5. The “Completion” of the Southern Conquest (29-43)
After all of this happens, Israel continues their conquest in the Southern part of Canaan. They take the cities of Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir (show map). In chapter 11 we also read of the cities and kings conquered in the Northern part of the kingdom. We are going to take a break from Joshua and kick off our Christmas series next week, but for now, let’s circle back to the Big Idea.
Big Idea: When we pray boldly, God moves powerfully.
Application
One small caveat. Our bold prayers must align with the will of God. This is sometimes a difficult concept to grasp. We can pray and pray, and pray down heaven on our situation, but nothing seems to change. I heard a pastor the other day talking about Job, and relating his journey to ours. He was shifting the listener’s perspective from “God is not answering my prayers,” to “maybe the Lord is giving you an opportunity to be faithful in the midst of difficulty.” So I recognize that the difficulty comes in reconciling the will of God with our struggles.
We see this with Jesus in the garden on that fateful night. He prays to the Father, “Lord, take this cup from me! But, not my will but yours be done.” In other words, I accept the struggle if it aligns with your will.
While this is true, in our context today, the prayer of Joshua aligns with the will of God in terms of the mission of God. We need to believe that God can do the impossible! Who is it that we have been trying to reach with the gospel? Have we been praying BOLDLY for their salvation? Where has the enemy been attacking our families, our marriages, our children? We need to pray BOLDLY for the Lord to fight for us. Where has fear been gripping our minds? We need to pray BOLDLY for the Lord to release us from its bondage.
James 5:16 - “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
Let us be a people known for praying with boldness, begging the Holy Spirit to align our desires to the will of the Lord, and then let’s just watch the Lord work.
