— KEN D. MILLER

1 As soon as Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured Ai and had devoted it to destruction, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, 2 he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were warriors. 3 So Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, 4 “Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon. For it has made peace with Joshua and with the people of Israel.” 5 Then the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered their forces and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon and made war against it.

6 And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, “Do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us.” 7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” 9 So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. 10 And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who[c] struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11 And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

12 At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.

15 So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. – Joshua 10:1-15ESV

The reputation of the Israelites was rapidly spreading throughout the land of Canaan. News of their destruction of the cities of Jericho and Ai gotten out, as well as the they had made with the people of Gibeon. And Joshua was about to find out that his decision to swear allegiance to the Gibeonites brought with it an added responsibility to protect them in the event they were attacked by hostile forces. It seems that the Jebusites assumed that the Gibeonites, a powerful nation, would had allied themselves with the Israelites, were now a potential threat to their national security. So, Adoni-zedek, the king of Jerusalem sent a message to the kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, saying, “Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon. For it has made peace with Joshua and with the people of Israel” (Joshua 10:4 ESV). This five-nation alliance joined forces and surrounded Gibeon, intent on destroying them. But the people of Gibeon sent word to Joshua, demanding that he honor his treaty with them and come to their aid. Due to his ill-advised decision to accept the Gibeonites deceptive offer of an alliance, Joshua had unwittingly committed the nation of Israel to their protection. He was now obligated, by an oath to God, to come to their aid. He had sworn by the name of God and could not go back on his commitment without violating his word to God.

Back in chapter nine, we were left with the impression that Joshua’s treaty with the Gibeonites was simply a commitment to let them live.

18 But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. 19 But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. 20 This we will do to them: let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.” – Joshua 9:18-20 ESV

But now, we discover that the Israelites had actually become the protectors of the people of Gibeon. Not only were they obligated to let them live, they were committed to keeping them alive. Their oath was going to be more costly than they had imagined.

And yet, God stood with Joshua and the people of Israel, promising to go before them and provide them with a victory over the five-nation alliance.

“Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” – Joshua 10:8 ESV

Joshua had sworn to the Gibeonites by the name of God and God was not about to let His name be denigrated or His honor be marred. His reputation was at stake. So, He acted and “threw them into a panic before Israel” (vs 10). Joshua and his troops chased their panic-stricken enemies as they fled for their lives. But this is when the story gets really interesting. Because Joshua had sworn an oath by God’s name, God was going to make sure that the Israelites, Gibeonites and the Amorites knew that this was His battle, not theirs. He got directly involved in the action, providing a miraculous display of His power to destroy the enemies of Israel.

…the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword. – Joshua 10:11 ESV

What makes this event even more significant is that Baal, the false god of the Canaanites, was worshiped as the god who controlled the weather. He was in charge of the rain, hail and floods. And yet, Yahweh, the God of Israel rained down hail on the worshipers of Baal, destroying them while sparing the Israelites. And as if that was not enough, God honored a request from Joshua to make the sun stand still, so that the Israelites could have more daylight to capture and destroy the remaining forces of the Amorites. The Canaanites, a term used to refer to all the people living in the land of Canaan, were also worshipers of the sun and moon, considering them to be deities. So, when God affected the sun, He was revealing His superior power over the false gods of the Canaanites.

But that begs the question: What exactly happened here? Did the earth really “stand still” as the text suggests? There has been much speculation and even more debate regarding this issue over the centuries. There are those who argue that God caused the earth to rotate on its axis or slowed the earth’s rotation in order to lengthen the day. This would have been a world-wide phenomena. There are others who believe it was a localized event, whereby God somehow altered atmospheric conditions in that region, creating a refraction of the sun’s light as it set in the sky. And then there are those who speculate that God simply provided a separate source of light that gave the appearance of sunlight. The bottom line is that we don’t know how God accomplished this miracle, we just know that he did. The text matter-of-factly states, “The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day” (Joshua 10:13 ESV) and then, as if to clarify that this was a God-ordained miracle, reads, “There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel” (Joshua 10:14 ESV).

While we can easily find ourselves debating and doubting the how surrounding the events in this passage, we must not lose sight of the who behind it all. While it is easy to find this story difficult to believe, it is intended to stress the supernatural power of God. The God of the Israelites is not like Baal or Molech. He is a living, all-powerful God who fights on behalf of His people. He is not some kind of distant deity who sits up in heaven, watching helplessly as His people struggle living their lives on this planet. He is intimately involved in their lives, interjecting Himself into their affairs in miraculous ways that defy explanation. The Amorites had good reason to fear the Israelites, but it had nothing to do with Joshua and his military forces. It was because the Israelites were the chosen people of God Almighty.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Ken Miller