Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 10:1
Now it came to pass, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them;
Ch. Jos 10:1-6. Confederacy of the Five Kings against Gibeon
1. Now it came to pass ] The surrender of such a place as Gibeon would naturally fill the kings of southern Canaan with alarm. “It was, so to speak, treason within their own camp.” The invaders had obtained a strong position in the very heart of the country, while the possession of the passes from Gibeon would expose the whole south of Canaan to their incursions. The retaking and punishment of Gibeon was the first object of the chieftains of the south.
Adoni-zedek ] i.e. “ Lord of righteousness ” It is no longer Melchizedek, “My king righteousness.” The alteration of the name marks a change of dynasties.
king of Jerusalem ] “the habitation of peace,” or “the possession of peace.”
(i) This world-famous city was ( a) sometimes called after its original inhabitants “ Jebus ” (Jdg 19:10-11; 1Ch 11:4); ( b) sometimes “ the city of the Jebusites ” (Jdg 19:11), or “ Jebusi ” (Jos 18:16; Jos 18:28; 1Sa 5:8); ( c) sometimes “Salem” = “peace” (Gen 14:18; Psa 76:2); ( d) once “ the city of Judah ” (2Ch 25:28); ( e) finally “ Jerusalem ” (Jos 10:1; Jos 12:10; Jdg 1:7, &c.).
(ii) It stands in latitude 31 46 39 North, and longitude 35 14 42 East of Greenwich, and Isaiah 32 miles distant from the sea, and 18 from the Jordan; 20 from Hebron, and 36 from Samaria.
(iii) Its situation is in several respects singular. Its elevation is remarkable, but is occasioned not from its being on the summit of one of the numerous hills of Juda, but on the edge of one of the highest table-lands of the country. From every side, except the south, the ascent to it is perpetual, and it must always have presented the appearance, beyond any important city that has ever existed on the earth, of a “ mountain city, enthroned on a mountain fortress.”
(iv) But besides being thus elevated more than 2500 feet above the level of the sea, it was separated by deep and precipitous ravines from the rocky plateau of which it formed a part. These slopes surround it on the southern, south-eastern, and western sides, and out of them the city rose “like the walls of a fortress out of its ditches.” Hence its early strength and subsequent greatness. See Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine, p. 172; Ritter’s Geography of Palestine, iii. 1 33, iv. 3; Robinson’s Bibl. Res. 1:258 260.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Adoni-zedec – i. e Lord of righteousness (compare Melchizedek, King of righteousness); probably an official title of the Jebusite kings.
Jerusalem – i. e. foundation of peace, compare Gen 14:18. The city belonged to the inheritance of Benjamin Jos 18:28, but was on the very edge of the territory of Judah Jos 15:8. Hence, it was the strong and war-like tribe of Judah which eventually captured the lower part of the city, most likely in the days of Joshuas later conquests Jdg 1:8, and after the warlike strength of the Jebusites had been weakened by the defeat in the open field, recorded in this chapter. The upper town, more especially the fortified hill of Zion, remained in the hands of the Jebusites, who accordingly kept a footing in the place, along with the men of Judah and Benjamin, even after the conquest Jos 15:63; Jdg 1:21; and would seem, indeed, to have so far, and no doubt gradually, regained possession of the whole, that Jerusalem was spoken of in the days of the Judges as a Jebusite city. David finally stormed the stronghold of Zion, and called it the City of David 2Sa 5:6-9. It was, probably, only after this conquest and the adoption by David of the city as the religious and political metropolis of the whole nation, that the name Jerusalem came into use 2Sa 5:5 in substitution for Jehus.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jos 10:1-5
Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua.
To arms! To arms!
The greatest poet of Greece has sung in stately numbers the deeds of heroes whom his race adored. We listen to their counsels, we hear their battle shouts, we see their awful blows. Yet after all this plain, unvarnished tale depicts with more fidelity and power the progress and results of a conflict, the most sublime in its accompaniments that this earth has ever seen. In this chapter we have recorded not only one of Joshuas most brilliant victories, but one of the worlds greatest battles: a struggle surpassing in importance and interest Issus or Arbela, Marathon or Cannae, and affecting to an incalculable extent the religious and political, the moral and the material, welfare of mankind. First of all we listen to the summons–Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon, &c. Notice from whom the summons comes. From Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem. This is a strange thing. From this mans name, Lord of Righteousness, and from his heritage, Jerusalem, we would have expected something very different. He is certainly the successor, probably the descendant, of Melchizedek. Here is a man who bears the best of titles, but is, alas! unworthy of it. Nothing could be better than his name; few things are worse than his fame. Learn from this sad lesson that piety is not hereditary. The descendants of the righteous may be a wicked seed. This is a sad thing. A noble ancestry is not a thing to be despised. It is unwise and ungrateful to ignore the records and the glories of the past. This is also a dangerous thing. The opposition of those who have thus fallen is always most dangerous. None are so bitter and remorseless, so vehement and virulent, so venomous and subtle, as renegades. Notice to whom Adoni-zedeks message was sent. It was not sent to all the members of the great national league. That was impossible, because the submission of the Gibeonites had split the confederacy into two unequal parts. Instead of one vast army marching to crush the invader there must now be two: one in the south, the other in the north. That of the south is smaller, therefore more easily set in motion; and it is also placed nearer the centre of attack. Thus we see how God has restrained the wrath of the enemy and deprived him of half his might. Even so all coalition against Him must fall to pieces. Transgressors are always lacking in cohesion. It was to Gibeon that Adoni-zedek summoned his confederates. Thus his enmity was manifested against their defection. Still this summons of Adoni-zedek betokens fear. It is to some extent the blustering of a bully who is at heart a craven. We know this, for we are told that When Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it . . . that they feared greatly. Therefore because they fear they do not come alone. They keep their courage up by company. How many are like them. They do fear when spiritual truths are brought before them, when Gods judgment stares them in the face; yet they try to find comfort in the thought, Well, if I am lost a great many will be badly off. Nay! nay! It is a vain thing to banish fear by such thoughts. Such a fear as that works destruction; because being accompanied, by a rebellious heart and a darkened mind it led to union against God. Hatred against the Gibeonites is a very distinct characteristic of Adoni-zedeks message. Yet, after all, what right had they to be thus angry with their old friends? Had not the Gibeonites a right to have a mind of their own, especially in a matter that concerned their very existence? But the human heart remains the same. When the sinner turns from his rebellion and humbles himself before God, then is the time for the wrath of man to be revealed. This hatred is most unreasonable, for, like these Gibeonites, the penitents in throwing down the weapons of their rebellion set an example which it is the highest wisdom to follow. The cunning and the impiety of these Canaanites are also revealed by this confederation. They will prevent further defection; they will gain one of the most important strongholds in the land; they will make the old league possible. Thus they displayed their craft. And in doing so they proved their impiety. (A. B. Mackay.)
Rage of the world against deserters from its ranks
It is thus in the spiritual life. Upon no outer enemy does the world turn with such rage and resentment as upon those who desert their ranks to join the Lords host. All the legions of hell are marshalled forth against the young believer who has newly signed the terms of treaty with the Joshua of the better covenant. As Bishop Hall says, If a convert come home, the angels welcome him with song, the devils follow him with uproar and fury, his old partners with scorn and obloquy. In spite of all this, let not those who have become allied to the Israel of God quail; but let the sequel here before us reassure them. (G. W. Butler, M. A.)
Combinations against the Church
What combinations have been formed, what artifices practised against the Church!–one wile to allure, another to frighten, and sometimes to destroy. As against the Lord Himself, so against His people, the great and the mighty of the earth have consulted their ruin, and for a season availed to harass and distress the saints; nor can this be matter of surprise to those who know their own character, and remember what themselves were till converted by the grace of God. The Churchs gain is the worlds grief, as it is the worlds loss. Oh, what oppositions in families, what combinations out of old connections and associates, have been raised against those who, no longer of the world, have been chosen out of it, and through grace enabled to turn their backs upon its vanities and pursuits! No sooner is it known that any have made peace with our spiritual Joshua than the world is up in arms, and war declared, lasting as the irreconcilable enmity of fallen nature. Not one who openly declares himself on the Lords side, and is inwardly devoted to His glory, but, according to the station he occupies, and the influence of those around him, will experience a full measure. (W. Seaton.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER X
Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem, hearing of the capture of Ai,
and that the Gibeonites had made peace with Israel, calls to
his assistance four other kings to fight against Gibeon, 1-4.
They join forces, and encamp against Gibeon, 5.
The Gibeonites send to Joshua for succour, 6,
who immediately marches to their relief, receives encouragement
from God, and falls suddenly on the confederate forces, 7-9,
and defeats them; they fly, and multitudes of them are slain by
a miraculous shower of hail-stones, 10, 11.
Joshua, finding that the day began to fail, prayed that the sun
and moon might stand still, that they might have time to pursue
and utterly destroy these confederate forces, 12.
The sun and moon stand still, and make that day as long as two,
13, 14.
Joshua and the people return to their camp at Gilgal, 15.
The five kings having taken shelter in a cave at Makkedah,
Joshua commanded the people to roll great stones against the
mouth of the cave, and set a watch to keep it, while Israel
were pursuing their enemies, 16-19.
The Israelites return to Makkedah, bring forth the five kings,
then slay and hang them on five trees, 20-27.
The Israelites take and destroy Makkedah, 28,
and Libnah, 29, 30,
and Lachish, 31, 32,
and defeat Horam king of Gezer, 33,
and take Eglon, 34, 35,
and Hebron, 36, 37,
and Debir, 38, 39,
and all the country of the hills, south, vale, and springs, and
the whole country from Kadesh-Barnea to Gibeon, 40-42.
They return to Gilgal, 43.
NOTES ON CHAP. X
Verse 1. Adoni-zedec] This name signifies the Lord of justice or righteousness; and it has been conjectured that the Canaanitish kings assumed this name in imitation of that of the ancient patriarchal king of this city, Melchizedek, whose name signifies king of righteousness, or my righteous king: a supposition that is not improbable, when the celebrity of Melchizedek is considered.
Jerusalem] Yerushalam. This word has been variously explained; if it be compounded of shalam, peace, perfection, &c., and raah, he saw, it may signify the vision of peace-or, he shall see peace or perfection.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. Were conversant with them, had yielded themselves to their disposal, submitted themselves to their laws, had mingled interests with them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Adoni-zedek“lord ofrighteousness”nearly synonymous with Melchizedek, “kingof righteousness.” These names were common titles of theJebusite kings.
JerusalemThe originalname, “Salem” (Gen 14:18;Psa 76:2), was superseded by thathere given, which signifies “a peaceful possession,” or “avision of peace,” in allusion, as some think, to the strikinglysymbolic scene (Ge 22:14)represented on the mount whereon that city was afterwards built.
inhabitants of Gibeon hadmade peace with Israel, and were among themthat is, theIsraelites; had made an alliance with that people, and acknowledgingtheir supremacy, were living on terms of friendly intercourse withthem.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now it came to pass, when Adonizedek king of Jerusalem,…. So called, perhaps by anticipation, Jerusalem, since it seems to have had this name given it by the Israelites, when they had got possession of it: and Jerusalem signifies “the possession of Salem” w, and in memory of this its ancient name, the Jews say x, they do not put “jod” in Jerusalem between “lamed” and “mem”; though some make the signification of it, “they shall see peace” y; and others, nearer to its old name, and with respect to it, “fear Salem”, O ye enemies. Now the king of this place
had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; which, being nearer to him than Jericho, the more alarmed him:
as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; burnt the one, and slew the other; and this terrified him, lest he and his city should undergo the same fate:
and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them; which as it weakened the interest of the kings of Canaan, might set an example to other places to do the like. Abarbinel suggests, that the Gibeonites making peace with Israel secretly, without the knowledge of their king, as he supposes, made Adonizedek fearful, lest his subjects should do the like; the Jewish chronologers say z, that these three acts respecting Jericho, Ai, and Gibeon, were all finished within three months.
w Reland, p. 833. x Gloss. in T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 16. 1. y Vid. Stockium, p. 480. z Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 31.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The report that Joshua had taken Ai, and put it, like Jericho, under the ban, and that the Gibeonites had concluded a treaty with Israel, filled Adonizedek the king of Jerusalem with alarm, as Gibeon was a large town, like one of the king’s towns, even larger than Ai, and its inhabitants were brave men. He therefore joined with the kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, to make a common attack upon Gibeon, and punish it for its alliance with the Israelites, and at the same time to put a check upon the further conquests of Israel. Adonizedek, i.e., lord of righteousness, is synonymous with Melchizedek (king of righteousness), and was a title of the Jebusite kings, as Pharaoh was of the Egyptian. Jerusalem, i.e., the founding or possession of peace, called Salem in the time of Abraham (Gen 14:18), was the proper name of the town, which was also frequently called by the name of its Canaanitish inhabitants Jebus (Jdg 19:10-11; 1Ch 11:4), or “city of the Jebusite” ( Ir-Jebusi, Jdg 19:11), sometimes also in a contracted form, Jebusi ( , Jos 18:16, Jos 18:28; Jos 15:8; 2Sa 5:8).
(Note: In our English version, we have the Hebrew word itself simply transposed in Jos 18:16, Jos 18:28; whilst it is rendered “the Jebusite” in Jos 15:8, and “the Jebusites” in 2Sa 5:8. – Tr.)
On the division of the land it was allotted to the tribe of Benjamin (Jos 18:28); but being situated upon the border of Judah (Jos 15:8), it was conquered, and burned by the sons of Judah after the death of Joshua (Jdg 1:8). It was very soon taken again and rebuilt by the Jebusites, whom the sons of Judah were unable to destroy (Jos 15:63; Jdg 19:10-12), so that both Benjaminites and Judahites lived there along with the Jebusites (Jdg 1:21; Jos 15:63); and the upper town especially, upon the summit of Mount Zion, remained as a fortification in the possession of the Jebusites, until David conquered it (2Sa 5:6.), made it the capital of his kingdom, and called it by his own name, “the city of David,” after which the old name of Jebus fell into disuse. Hebron, the town of Arba the Anakite (Jos 14:15, etc.; see at Gen 23:2), was twenty-two Roman miles south of Jerusalem, in a deep and narrow valley upon the mountains of Judah, a town of the greatest antiquity (Num 13:22), now called el Khalil, i.e., the friend (of God), with reference to Abraham’s sojourn there. The ruins of an ancient heathen temple are still to be seen there, as well as the Haram, built of colossal blocks, which contains, according to Mohammedan tradition, the burial-place of the patriarchs (see at Gen 23:17). Jarmuth, in the lowlands of Judah (Jos 15:35; Neh 11:29), according to the Onom. ( s. v. Jermus) a hamlet, Jermucha ( ), ten Roman miles from Eleutheropolis, on the road to Jerusalem, is the modern Jarmuk, a village on a lofty hill, with the remains of walls and cisterns of a very ancient date, the name of which, according to Van de Velde (Mem. pp. 115-6), is pronounced Tell ‘Armuth by the Arabs (see Rob. Pal. ii. p. 344). Lachish, in the lowlands of Judah (Jos 15:39), was fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:9), and besieged by Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki 18:14; 2Ki 19:8; Jer 34:7), and was still inhabited by Jews after the return from the captivity (Neh 11:30). It is probably to be found in Um Lakis, an old place upon a low round hill, covered with heaps of small round stones thrown together in great confusion, containing relics of marble columns; it is about an hour and a quarter to the west of Ajlun, and seven hours to the west of Eleutheropolis.
(Note: It is true that Robinson dispute the identity of Um Lakis with the ancient Lachish (Pal. ii. p. 388), but “not on any reasonable ground” ( Van de Velde, Mem. p. 320). The statement in the Onom. ( s. v. Lochis), that it was seven Roman miles to the south of Eleutheropolis, cannot prove much, as it may easily contain an error in the number, and Robinson does not admit its authority even in the case of Eglon (Pal. ii. p. 392). Still less can Knobel’s conjecture be correct, that it is to be found in the old place called Sukkarijeh, two hours and a half to the south-west of Beit Jibrin (Eleutheropolis), as Sukkarijeh is on the east of Ajlun, whereas, according to Jos 10:31-36, Lachish is to be sought for on the west of Eglon.)
Eglon: also in the lowlands of Judah (Jos 15:39). The present name is Ajln, a heap of ruins, about three-quarters of an hour to the east of Um Lakis (see Rob. Pal. ii. p. 392, and Van de Velde, Mem. p. 308). In the Onom. ( s. v. Eglon) it is erroneously identified with Odollam; whereas the situation of Agla, “at the tenth stone, as you go from Eleutheropolis to Gaza” ( Onom. s. v. , Bethagla), suits Eglon exactly.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Combination Against Gibeon. | B. C. 1450. |
1 Now it came to pass, when Adoni-zedec king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them; 2 That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty. 3 Wherefore Adoni-zedec king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying, 4 Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. 5 Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it. 6 And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.
Joshua and the hosts of Israel had now been a good while in the land of Canaan, and no great matters were effected; they were made masters of Jericho by a miracle, of Ai by stratagem, and of Gibeon by surrender, and that was all; hitherto the progress of their victories had not seemed proportionable to the magnificence of their entry and the glory of their beginnings. Those among them that were impatient of delays, it is probable, complained of Joshua’s slowness, and asked why they did not immediately penetrate into the heart of the country, before the enemy could rally their forces to make head against them, why they stood trifling, while they were so confident both of their title and of their success. Thus Joshua’s prudence, perhaps, was censured as slothfulness, cowardice, and want of spirit. But, 1. Canaan was not to be conquered in a day. God had said that by little and little he would drive out the Canaanites, Exod. xxiii. 30. He that believeth will not make haste, or conclude that the promise will never be performed because it is not performed so soon as he expected. 2. Joshua waited for the Canaanites to be the aggressors; let them first make an onset upon Israel, or the allies of Israel, and then their destruction will be, or at least will appear to be, the more just and more justifiable. Joshua had warrant sufficient to set upon them, yet he stays till they strike the first stroke, that he might provide for honest things in the sight, not only of God, but of men; and they would be the more inexcusable in their resistance, now that they had seen what favour the Gibeonites found with Israel. 3. It was for the advantage of Israel to sit still awhile, that the forces of these little kings might unite in one body, and so might the more easily be cut off at one blow. This God had in his eye when he put it into their hearts to combine against Israel; though they designed thereby to strengthen one another, that which he intended was to gather them as sheaves into the floor, to fall together under the flail, Mic. iv. 12. Thus oftentimes that seeming paradox proves wholesome counsel, Stay awhile, and we shall have done the sooner.
After Israel had waited awhile for an occasion to make war upon the Canaanites, a fair one offers itself. 1. Five kings combine against the Gibeonites. Adoni-zedec king of Jerusalem was the first mover and ring-leader of this confederacy. He had a good name (it signifies lord of righteousness), being a descendant perhaps from Melchizedek, king of righteousness; but, notwithstanding the goodness of his name and family, it seems he was a bad man, and an implacable enemy to the posterity of that Abraham to whom his predecessor, Melchizedek, was such a faithful friend. He called upon his neighbours to join against Israel either because he was the most honourable prince, and had the precedency among these kings (perhaps they had some dependence upon him, at least they paid a deference to him, as the most public, powerful, and active man they had among them), or because he was first or most apprehensive of the danger his country was in, not only by the conquest of Jericho and Ai, but the surrender of Gibeon, which, it seems, was the chief thing that alarmed him, it being one of the most considerable frontier towns they had. Against Gibeon therefore all the force he would raise must be leveled. Come, says he, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon. This he resolves to do, either, (1.) In policy, that he might retake the city, because it was a strong city, and of great consequence to this country in whose hands it was; or, (2.) In passion, that he might chastise the citizens for making peace with Joshua, pretending that they had perfidiously betrayed their country and strengthened the common enemy, whereas they had really done the greatest kindness imaginable to their country, by setting them a good example, if they would have followed it. Thus Satan and his instruments make war upon those that make peace with God. Marvel not if the world hate you, and treat those as deserters who are converts to Christ. 2. The Gibeonites send notice to Joshua of the distress and danger they are in, v. 6. Now they expect benefit from the league they had made with Israel, because, though it was obtained by deceit, it was afterwards confirmed when the truth came out. They think Joshua obliged to help them, (1.) In conscience, because they were his servants; not in compliment, as they had said in their first address (ch. ix. 8), We are thy servants, but in reality made servants to the congregation; and it is the duty of masters to take care of the poorest and meanest of their servants, and not to see them wronged when it is in the power of their hand to right them. Those that pay allegiance may reasonably expect protection. Thus David pleads with God (Ps. cxix. 94), I am thine, save me; and so may we, if indeed we be his. (2.) In honour, because the ground of their enemies’ quarrel with them was the respect they had shown to Israel, and the confidence they had in a covenant with them. Joshua cannot refuse to help them when it is for their affection to him, and to the name of his God, that they are attacked. David thinks it a good plea with God (Ps. lxix. 7), For thy sake I have borne reproach. When our spiritual enemies set themselves in array against us, and threaten to swallow us up, let us, by faith and prayer, apply to Christ, our Joshua, for strength and succour, as Paul did, and we shall receive the same answer of peace, My grace is sufficient for thee,2Co 12:8; 2Co 12:9.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Joshua – Chapter 10
Gibson Threatened, vs. 1-7
The league of the Canaanite cities against Israel must have begun to take form immediately after the fall of Jericho. To the alarm of that incident, among the pagan inhabitants, came the news of the utter extermination of Ai, by which these people knew they could expect no mercy from Israel.
Now Gibeon, one of the royal cities and one of the strongest of the land, has made peace with Israel.
Their help against the common enemy, Israel, they no longer had, and as punishment the king of Jerusalem, leader of league, proposes to destroy Gibeon. All of these cities were in southern Canaan, Hebron being south of Jerusalem and Lachish and Eglon west.
Gibeon was farthest north of the six royal cities. The other five now gathered a very formidable army and came up and encamped against Gibeon to destroy it.
In great alarm the elder of Gibeon sent to Joshua to come quickly to save them, and because of his league with them Joshua was constrained to come to their relief.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. Now it came to pass, etc He had formerly briefly glanced at, but now more fully details the conspiracy of the kings, who dwelt both in the mountains and in the plain. For after mentioning that they were struck with fear, and leagued together to make common war, he had broken off abruptly, and proceeded to speak of the Gibeonites. But what he had previously said of the kings in general, he now applies only to one individual; not because Adoni-zedek alone was afraid, but because he stirred up all the others, and was the principal originator and leader in carrying on the war against the Israelites. This is sufficiently expressed by the plural number of the verb; for it is said, When Adoni-zedek had heard — they feared greatly. From this it appears that they were all of the same mind, but that while some of them held back from fear, he who possessed greater authority, and was nearer the danger, invited the four others to arms. (90)
In the beginning of the chapter it is again told, how the five kings formed an alliance to meet the Israelites, and ward off the overthrow with which they were all threatened. But as the Gibeonites had meanwhile surrendered, they first turned their arms against them, both that by inflicting punishment upon them, as the betrayers of their country, they might make them an example to all their neighbors, and that by striking terror into those vanquished enemies, they might also inspire their own soldiers with confidence. They resolve, therefore, to attack the Gibeonites who, by their embassy, had made a disruption and opened a passage to the Israelites. They had, indeed, a fair pretext for war, in resolving to punish the effeminacy of those who had chosen to give their sanction to strangers, about to lay the whole country waste, rather than faithfully defend their neighbors. And the Gibeonites experienced how useless their crafty counsel must have been, had they not been saved in pity by the Israelites. Meanwhile the Lord allowed them to be involved in danger, in order that, being twice freed, they might more willingly and meekly submit to the yoke.
(90) French, “ Appela et suscita les autres a prendre les armes;” “Called upon, and stirred up the others to take up arms.” Jerusalem was only about five miles S.S.E. from Gibeon, while the other towns, situated S.S.W., were at distances varying from twenty to thirty miles. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE WAR AGAINST GIBEON
Joshua 10.
THE occupation of Canaan is no light task. The glorious beginning at Jericho was not to be accepted as a prophecy of easy conquest. Subjugating a country and conquering a people is not the matter of a day, nor an after-dinner entertainment, even though it be the white mans discovery and occupation of America. Many battles must be fought, much suffering must be endured, privation, hardship, agony, even! These are the price of conquest !
The principle of four thousand years ago was not essentially different from that of two hundred years since, or even that of today. This is the history of a long, drawn-out war, and it wears every feature of a faithful record.
The ninth chapter records a league with the Gibeonites; the tenth chapter a war against Gibeon. Gibeon was a great city. The jurisdiction of its ruler reached Beeroth, Chephirah, and Kirjath-jearim. Later, this place will fall to the lot of Benjamin, and become a Levitical city (Jos 18:23; Jos 21:17), and the tabernacle will rest here for many years under David and Solomon (1Ch 16:39; 1Ch 21:29; 2Ch 1:3). This place will become conspicuous again when Abners challenge to Joab results in Abners defeat and Amasas death (2Sa 2:12-32; 2Sa 20:8-12).
THE ALLIANCE AGAINST GIBEON
Now it came to pass, when Adoni-sedec king of Jerusalem, had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them;
That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.
Wherefore Adoni-sedec, king of Jerusalem, sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying,
Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the Children of Israel.
Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it (Jos 10:1-5).
This war was led! by Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem. The word Adonizedec means lord of righteousness, and is almost a synonym for Melchizedek, king of righteousness. Names are sometimes significant, but not always so. We are told that a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches; but thats a name made good by the character wearing it, and not merely a name good in its own significance. You can call a man by the best of names and make him no better whatever. Among the Scandinavians, Christ and Christian are common. They are bestowed upon children just as any other names are bestowed, and they have no meaning unless the character wearing them gives them significance by high conduct. It makes little difference, therefore, what name a baby receives, for the name does not make the man. Man, rather, makes the name, and it is only after he has made the name an honor, that others adopt it and call their children after the same.
You can almost trace history by names. If you find a man named Dewey, you know about when he was born. It was during the time of the war with Spain. If you find a man named Theodore, and called Teddy, you know that he was born when Mr. Roosevelt was the President of the United States. A few years hence, the country will be filled with Charles Lindberghs. But naming a boy Dewey will not necessarily make of him a great naval commander; the name Teddy will not give promise of presidency, and naming him Lindbergh will not assure his conquest of the heavens. Melchizedek will forever remain an honored name because of Melchizedek, the character. Adoni-zedec will forever remain an indifferent name, because we know little good of the man.
This alliance involved five kings and their kingdoms.
Wherefore Adoni-zedec king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jar-muth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debit king of Eglon (Jos 10:3).
It is a strong league. It gives promise of a mighty force. One might imagine that such a combination could not be conquered, but history is replete with illustrations of the fact that no combination can be effected that assures certain and permanent victory. Never since the world had an existence was there so formidable an alliance as the German, Austrian, Turkish, Italian alliance of the World War, 1914-18. In fighting men, in favorable conditions, in reasonable expectations of certain success, the world never saw its like, and yet, it went down to defeatterrible, bitter, ignoble defeat. Put not your truest in princes (Psa 146:3). It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes (Psa 118:9).
This alliance was in retaliation for Gibeons betrayal. We can easily understand the feelings of these five monarchs and their subjects. It is never easy to forgive a friend who betrays you, or an ally who deserts you. When the world war began, Russia was Englands ally. When it ended, she was Englands enemy. The relations, therefore, between Russia and England are more strained today than those between England and Germany. An open enemy can never wound you as can a professed friend, and of all the wounds conceivable, desertion in the hour of need is regarded as among the greatest.
You will note that this alliance is not as much against Joshua and Israel as it is against Gibeon. If you behave dishonorably toward a stranger, he may pardon it and forget; but if you deal faithlessly with a relative, expect little mercy in the day of judgment. Such is life, and Gibeons experience is an illustration of it. Its great central city is set for slaughter at the hands of her sisters.
People change but little. The feelings that animated these people four thousand years since are the very same that obtain today. A spy is supposed to meet the direst fate, but be it understood that a traitor is uniformly subjected to still more fearful judgment.
THE APPEAL TO JOSHUA
It was immediate and most urgent.
And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for alt the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us (Jos 10:6).
This Scripture has in it the note of wild alarm, and there was occasion. The enemy was at hand. If help was to be had, it must be had at once. The deepest fear cries for instant assistance. It is not looking for help in some far-off day. It must have help now. Thats why Gods provision of grace is immediate. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2Co 6:2).
The response was instant and most adequate.
So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour * * Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night (Jos 10:7; Jos 10:9).
What a splendid type of our Joshua. He comes in the hour of need; He is never too late. Mary and Martha once feared that His delay had destroyed all hope, and even said, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, our brother had not died. And yet, Jesus immediately demonstrated that He had come in time, for He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth (Joh 11:43-44). The sentence here is significant, Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night. It was a forced march of some twenty-six miles, which, according to the ordinary movement of an eastern army, would require about three days. Hence the surprise by which the enemy was taken, and the comparatively easy defeat of its disorganized forces.
It will be remembered that this strategy of General Joshua plays conspicuous part in later war history. Perhaps the greatest marvel of the ages was the Battle of Marathon. Ten thousand Grecians defeated more than ten times their number on the plains, and that battle lost, the Persians proposed to recover by sailing with their fleet around the cape of Lunium, to strike Athens before Miltiades could march his soldiers back to the defense of the city. But, imagine their utter amazement when they reached the city, to find that Miltiades had made a distance of more than one hundred miles in three days, and his forces, in battle array, stood ready to receive the Persian fleet on its landing. At the sight of those same forces, hope perished in the Persian breast, and the Greeks were conquerors forever.
Joshuas courage was inspired by the promise of God.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee (Jos 10:8).
The courage of every believer rests on the same oasis. He hopes not in himself; he trusts not to favorable circumstances; he rests in the Word of the Almighty. This confidence is justified. When did the Lord ever forget or break His Word, and when did any man ever lose a battle, the Lord being with him? And when was any army ever discomfited while engaged in the execution of His commands? Herein is the confidence of the Church. Its marching orders are clear,
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world (Mat 28:19-20).
THE INTERVENTION OF THE LORD
This is not a battle between great generals, to be determined eventually by the personal wisdom and strategic movements of the one as against the other. There is another influence here, another power that must be regarded in order to interpret this history at all. Rationalists attempt to explain everything on natural grounds, but believers know that the supernatural is to be recognized, and that its weight often determines the scale. This chapter makes clear the leadership of the Lord, the fact that the forces of nature are at His command, and that even the supernatural is subject to His control.
The Lord led the forces of Israel. The text reads,
The Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah (Jos 10:10).
You can tell who is certainly in command, on this side or on that, when armies stand in battle-array. In connection with the war of 1914-18, a beautiful booklet was written entitled, The Comrade in White, and more than one victory was assigned to this strange person who was candidly believed by some to have been seen on the fields of Flanders. At times he rode at the head of armies and commanded them, and other times he bent over the wounded boy, and either seemed to breathe new life into the bleeding body, or picking him up, carried him to a place of rest and safety, or gathering him in. his arms, ascended out of the sight of comrades. To be sure, suffering, dying men have strange, and sometimes beautiful, visions; but who will say that they are the less real on that account, or that such a comrade was not on Flanders fields commanding, comforting, healing, saving?
The Lord engaged the forces of nature.
And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the Children of Israel slew with the sword (Jos 10:11).
Yesterdays newspaper reports hailstones falling sixty miles out of Minneapolis that slew much stock and hundreds of fowl. The statement is, The stones were as big as golf balls. History records instances in which hailstones have been bigger than hen eggs, at times even approaching the size of a goose egg. Many a life has been lost in such storms. The record, then, is another illustration of how the forces of nature are at Divine command. It was the wind that destroyed the Spanish Armada, and saved England to a Christian civilization. It was the wind that drove back black cannibals who were crossing Lake Nyanza to destroy the Christian missionary and kill the native Christians. It was the wind that turned the deadly German gasses into the faces of those who had released them, and slew as many Germans as were slain in English and French armies. It was the wind that pulled Columbus sails to the South so that he discovered the West Indies, and thereby saved America to Protestantism.
Who controls the wind? The Bible says, God made a wind to pass over. The Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, Who walketh upon the wings of the wind. In the case of Jonah, God prepared a vehement east wind. The same Bible says, He bringeth the wind out of His treasuries. It was with the wind that He defeated Lee at Gettysburg. It was by the rain that the Austrians and Germans were thwarted in their drive down the Piave, and when that great, roaring, mad river swept the enemy to the ocean, General Diaz said, Deus facit God did it.
The Bible teaches that God controls the rain. I will cause it to rain upon the earth. Again, The Lord sent thunder and rain. The same Book will teach you, if you follow it, that the snows are His, the hail, the clouds, the sea; and that He uses them all at His pleasure, history is replete with illustrations. It was the snow in the day of Napoleon that determined the fate of centuries. Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling His word (Psa 148:8).
The Lord also employed the supernatural.
Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the Children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood stilt in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel (Jos 10:12-14).
Scientists will continue to rave against this record and declare it impossible, and yet, learned men, who have given careful research to the subject, insist that such a day is known to history, and at the exact time required by this record. Some of us are not deeply concerned with the question as to exactly how God accomplished this result; whether, as some believers say, this is to be accepted as poetical language and interpreted as meaning that the day was long enough for Israels victory to be complete, or, as others insist, that by a refraction of light the sun can be made to appear above the horizon long after it has actually gone down; or, as yet others, who insist that the record is to be taken literally, and that there was a time when, for twenty-four hours, no night appeared, just exactly as in America, little more than one hundred years ago, there was a period for twenty-four hours when no sun appeared.
To us, the inspired record is sufficient to confirm the fact, and we have no difficulty whatever in believing that the sun in the heavensthe creation of His handis at the command of His will, any more than we have in believing that the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera (Jdg 5:20). We cannot conceive of a Creator, whose work is conceded to be infinite, as incapable of its complete control.
The chapter ends with
THE TRIUMPHAL MARCH OF ISRAEL
The destruction of the five kings, as recorded in Jos 10:16-27 involves difficult questionsquestions of humanity for the most part, and yet, will any one undertake to conduct a war on a humane basis, or is it reasonable to demand that battles to the death shall illustrate only principles of mercy and compassion? There is absolutely no hint in these Old Testament records that every step taken and every deed done was Divinely approved. We are assured that the Lord was with Joshua, and the results seem to put that fact past dispute. But we are not required to identify God with every incident of war, and every method meted out to Israels enemies. Concerning this, we simply have a faithful record of what transpired, and no reference whatever to whether the method of killing the five kings was divinely approved, or wholly displeasing. Joshua said unto Israel, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight (Jos 10:25). But God did not say to Joshua, Thus shall ye do to the kings who have fought against you. History would seem to indicate that God is in the issues of battle in spite of the fact that many of its incidents must pain His Father heart.
The war became truly aggressive. Having conquered at Gibeon, Joshua carried the battle to other cities. What sort of a general would he be who did less? There are people who, when they have conquered once, seem to think that is sufficient for a lifetime, and sit down content with the same. Such people are destined to eventual defeat. If we are to have war with our enemies, we must carry that war into Africa, and destroy the last one of them, else the ones left will gather comrades to themselves and conquer us.
The last opposing city he completely conquered.
And that day Joshua took Makkedah, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof he utterly destroyed, them, and all the souls that were therein; tie let none remain: and he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho (Jos 10:28).
From Makkedah he passed to Libnah (Jos 10:29), and from Libnah to Lachish (Jos 10:31), and from Lachish to Eglon (Jos 10:34), and from Eglon to Hebron (Jos 10:36), and from Hebron to Debir (Jos 10:38).
So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and alt their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.
And Joshua smote them from Kadesh-bamea even unto Gasa, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon.
And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel (Jos 10:40-42).
This is also a type. The individual is never to be content while one known enemy of life lifts his head against him. His goal is a complete conquest. And the church is never to be content until it has pushed its gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.
The chapter concludes with The war over, and Joshua and all Israel quietly in the camp. This, also, is a symbol. It points to and prophesies the final rest of our JoshuaJesus, who must continue His warfare till He hath put down all rule and all authority and power. * * * He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet * * * And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all (1Co 15:24-25; 1Co 15:28).
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
THE OVERTHROW OF THE CITIES OF THE SOUTH
CRITICAL NOTES.
Jos. 10:1. Adoni-zedek] = lord of righteousness. Melchi-zedek was apparently king of the same place in the time of Abram. The Jebusite kings may have borne this title, as the rulers of Egypt and Rome did that of Pharaoh and Csar. The appellation Jabin was, perhaps, similarly given to the Canaanitish kings of Hazor (cf. chap. Jos. 11:1, and Jdg. 4:2), Jerusalem] = possession of peace, or seat of peace. This is the first time that the name occurs in the Scriptures. There is no ground for questioning the identity of Salem (Gen. 14:18) and the city which was afterwards called Jeru-shalem. The supposition that the name Jerusalem dates from the time of David is altogether without support from history, and overthrown by the fact that the city of the Jebusites was called the city of David (2Sa. 5:9) after David had taken it; whilst the name Jerusalem bears no relation whatever to the circumstances of Davids time. It does not follow that because Jerusalem was also called Jebus before the time of David, so long as it was in possession of the Jebusites (Jos. 18:28; Jdg. 19:10; 1Ch. 11:4), therefore it had no name besides Jebus. All that can be inferred is, that in addition to its proper name Jerusalem, contracted Salem, it was also called Jebus, from its inhabitants; just as Hebron was also called Kirjath-Arba, from the family of Arba (comp. chap. Jos. 14:15). [Keil.]
Jos. 10:2. As one of the royal cities] Marg. = cities of the kingdom. Although the leading city of only a small republic which was governed by elders, Gibeon probably surpassed in dignity and power many of the cities in which a king dwelt.
Jos. 10:3. Hebron] One of the most ancient and important cities of the land. Antiquity referred to in Num. 13:22. Nearly twenty miles south of Jerusalem. Celebrated in connection with Abraham, David, and Absalom. The Cave of Machpelah was close by. The city was given to Caleb at the distribution of the land. Jarmuth] About fifteen miles south-west of Jerusalem. There was another city of the same name in the lot which went to the tribe of Issachar (chap. Jos. 21:29). Lachish] It was afterwards fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch. 11:9). Amaziah was slain here by conspirators from Jerusalem. The city became famous by the siege which it suffered during the reign of Hezekiah, allusions to which are made in the historical and prophetical books of Scripture. The siege of the city by Sennacherib is said to be further commemorated by a remarkable bas-relief found at Nineveh. Lachish is thought to be the modern Um Lkis, but this is opposed by Robinson. Eglon] Probably identified in Ajlan, about thirty-four miles south-west of Jerusalem, in the low country of Judah.
Jos. 10:4. Come up unto me, and help me] It does not seem clear, as several have supposed, that these words are a command, and that Adoni-zedek, as a superior monarch, had some general authority over the rest of the southern kings. It is more natural to suppose that he feared Jerusalem might be the next place attacked by Joshua and the Gibeonites. It was the nearest important city to the now common foes of Canaan, and was thus most in danger. Hence the words are probably to be taken as an entreaty, not as a command: Come up unto me, and help me.
Jos. 10:7. So Joshua ascended] He drew near; not, he went up, as De Wette has wrongly translated it. [Keil.] So the phrases come up and went up, in Jos. 10:4-5, are probably used in the military sense given by Rosenmllercome up with forces. From Gilgal] Probably Gilgal beside the plains of Moreh (cf. Deu. 11:29), to which the camp seems to have been removed previous to the service at Ebal. If the reading of the Hebrew text (2Ki. 2:2; 2Ki. 2:4), they went down, is right, then the Gilgal spoken of in Jos. 2:1 cannot be that near Jericho; and another Gilgal must be sought in the mountains north-west of Bethel; where some such place is indicated by the ancient Canaanite kingdom of the nations of Gilgal, between Dor and Tirzah (Jos. 12:23), and where a modern village exists, called Jiljleh. But the LXX. read , they came. [A. P. Stanley.]
Jos. 10:10. Jehovah discomfited them] Discomfited them by the Israelites. In the same manner it is said that Jehovah slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, before the storm of hail came. Azekah] Near to Shochoh (1Sa. 17:1), and probably on the road to Gaza. It was fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch. 11:9), was fought against by the king of Babylon (Jer. 34:7), and was still standing when the Jews returned from the captivity (Neh. 11:30). Makkedah] Groser supposes that it has been identified by Lieut. Conder with El Mughar (the cave), between seven and eight miles from Ramleh.
Jos. 10:11. Great stones hailstones] Intimations of their destructive effects are given in Exo. 9:19; Exo. 9:25; Job. 38:22-23; Eze. 13:11-14, etc. Records of several storms in the East are preserved, in which it is stated that the hailstones, or stones of ice, were found to weigh from half to three-quarters of a pound. (But cf. Rev. 16:21.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jos. 10:1-11
THE DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS
This chapter is full of movement and energy. It is a rapidly shifting drama, in which we see passing before us scenes of surprising vigour, ending in results of colossal magnitude. It is a kind of heroic song of the wonderful wars of the Lord, in which the poetry is made to depend on the energy of facts, rather than on the rhythm of language. The key-words of this historic canto are speed, force, revolution. Nothing could well be sufficiently sudden to be out of time with its quick movement, nothing mighty enough to be out of character with its overwhelming energy, nothing huge enough to be disproportionate to its gigantic results. The simple and inartistic record of Joshua fairly leaves behind it, as a thing of comparative languor and weakness, the otherwise stately historic fiction of Homer. In response to the swift messengers of the generally brave but then trembling Jebusites, five armies are rapidly concentrated on Gibeon. Ere they arrive before the city, the Gibeonite elders promptly despatch a post by way of Bethel to Joshua at Gilgal, begging him in the most fervent words to come up and save them from their enemies. The selected portion of the troops immediately strike their tents, and marching all night from near Shiloh to Gibeon, a distance of from fifteen to eighteen miles, as the sun rises they burst like a living torrent on the assembled armies of the kings. Then comes the flight down the western pass, and the fearful accompaniment of slaughter by the pursuing Israelites. After a long ascent, Upper Beth-horon is reached, and the instrument is changed, but not the slaughter. The heavens, which had rained down fire on the fathers at Sodom and Gomorrah, now pour forth upon the children destroying hail. The Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. Meanwhile the day seems to have waned towards closing. The sun was already in the bisection of the heavenspossibly nearing the horizon. Then, taking the record as it stands before us, come Joshuas sudden appeal to Jehovah, and the marvellous prolongation of the day, till the people have fully avenged themselves upon their enemies. Nor does the record of wonders cease, even with this. The chapter which opens with such an exhibition of activity and might, ends with a rapid procession of fresh battles and new victories. Besides Makkedah, which Joshua takes on that same day, ere the going down of the sun, five important cities are utterly destroyed by the Israelites; Horam, king of Gezer, and his people, are also slain; and then the historian, no longer descending to details, sums up the account in a few words of general description, intended, no doubt, to indicate the fall of several minor cities and villages: Joshua smote them from Kadesh barnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen even unto Gibeon. So imposing, even in these brief and simple chronicles, are the mighty works of the Lord; and so easily victorious are the people whom He leads on from place to place in the train of His triumph!
This opening paragraph of the chapter sets before us four principal topics for consideration:
I. The earnest request of the Jebusites. Through their king they sent to these four cities of the south, saying, Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon. In taking this course, they may have had several motives.
1. They were partly moved by fear (Jos. 10:2). The fear of the wicked has several defects. (a) It generally comes too late. Fear of God, attended to in time, is the beginning of wisdom. Such fear, when too long neglected, is the dark shadow of approaching ruin. (b) When it does come, it is resisted. The fear of the Lord never comes too late for pardon, when it brings men in penitence to His feet; but it does often come too late to lead them there. (c) This fear of the Lord is resisted because both it and He are misunderstood. To fear, in some instances, is no sign of wanting courage. To fear a shadow is the fear of folly; to fear the rock-bound coast in a storm, and to seek because of that fear to give it as wide a berth as safety requires, is a seamans wisdom. It is wise, in a sanitary point of view, to fear to live in a filthy street, to drink polluted water, or to suffer an accumulation of any of the conditions which certainly bring disease. In a social and moral point of view, he is wise who fears to sin. There are multitudes of things which no man and no number of men can resist. To resist the fear of God is to misinterpret a warning voice that speaks kindly; it is to fail to understand God.
2. They were possibly actuated by a desire for revenge. To smite the Gibeonites would, from their point of view, be to smite traitors. But those who go over to the side of God are, in reality, merely returning in true allegiance to their rightful sovereign. Those who put themselves under divine protection take no vain measures for safety. He can keep them, and loves to keep them.
3. They may have been impelled to attack the Gibeonites by policy. It would be dealing with their enemies in detail. Hence the suddenness of the movement. The policy is always bad, however promising it may appear, which opposes God. As Bishop Hall says: If they had sat still, their destruction had not been so sudden. The malice of the wicked hastens the pace of their own judgment. No rod is so fit for a mischievous man as his own.
4. Thus do fear, and revenge, and mere policy work together for destruction. All things work together for good to them that love God; all things work in the opposite way to them who do not.
II. The urgent prayer of the Gibeonites (Jos. 10:6).
1. The Gibeonites, also, were influenced by fear. Freedom from fear does not come by merely getting on the side for which God fights, but by getting to know God, and by getting into His mind and will. The Gibeonites, as yet, were a long way from this.
2. Their trust, in this emergency, was honourable rather than presumptuous. They had deceived Joshua, but seeing that he had ratified the covenant with them, they did well to conclude that he would afford his protection. The forgiven sins of our past should not hinder our trust in the present. We honour God more by our trust than by our fears lest we should presume. Great fear of our own sufficiency may go with great faith in the Lord, and with confidence in the fidelity of those who are really under His teaching and guidance.
III. The prompt fidelity of the Israelites (Jos. 10:7-9). Joshua, and all Israel with him, immediately responded to this appeal of the Gibeonites.
1. The obligation felt by a true man to defend all belonging to him. The Gibeonites were weak, compared with the host gathered against them. They were the mere servants of the Levites, and their position was the humblest in all Israel. The danger of the weak does but inspire a true man. The meanest part of the body calls, no less than the head itself, for the full strength of the defending arm.
2. The responsibility felt by a true man to honour, not merely the letter, but the very spirit of his words. Joshua had only promised to let them live (chap. Jos. 9:15), and not to risk the lives of his army to save theirs. Thus ran the letter of the league. But to have no occasion against them, and to have recognised them as servants of the tabernacle, was for Joshua to feel bound to defend them. He knew little difference betwixt killing them with his own sword and the sword of an Amorite: whosoever should give the blow, the murder would be his. Some men kill as much by looking on as others by smiting. We are guilty of all the evil we might have hindered. [Bishop Hall.]
3. The energy with which a true man is inspired when he feels himself in the way of right. Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night. He gives twice, who gives quickly, says the old Latin proverb. For Joshua not to have aided Gibeon at once, would have been to lose the opportunity altogether. We may well go promptly where righteousness bids us go at all.
4. The comfort given by God to a true man who readily undertakes what is difficult because it is right (Jos. 10:8). He who conscientiously and promptly follows the way of truth when it is dangerous, and when he might readily find excuses for being elsewhere, may always hear the Fear not of the Lord, if he will only listen.
IV. The gracious co-operation of Jehovah (Jos. 10:10-11).
1. The comforting words of the Lord are not merely words. The words of His encouragement are but the forerunner of Himself. They are the earnest of the future possession. The mighty hand of God is ever at the back of the gracious utterances of His lips.
2. The works of the Lord ever exceed those of His people, and sometimes visibly. It was He who discomfited the Canaanites before Israel. They were but the instrument through which He worked, even in the first part of the battle; and ere the battle closed, His hand, without theirs, slew more than all Israel together.
3. The promise of the Lord knows no limit by reason of His peoples insufficiency. Weary with the nights march and the mornings conflicts, many of their enemies would have fled to the walled cities, and have made good their escape, but for Divine interposition. But God had said, I have delivered them into thine hand; and where the hand of Joshua would have failed to smite these idolaters, the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died. Where our hands fail through weakness to overtake the complete measure of the promises, there may we look for help from the outstretched hand of God till all be fulfilled.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos. 10:1. NAMES.
This verse contains a curious conjunction of significant names, which, while worthy of passing remark, should not be pressed into fanciful extremes. Whats in a name? In some of the names that follow, we cannot but trace the Divine Hand and purpose, as we are so often compelled to do in the early nomenclature of Jewish history.
I. A bad man with a good name. Adoni-zedec, Lord of Righteousness. A pious name is no guarantee of a holy heart.
II. A good man with a good name. Joshua, the salvation of Jehovah, or, he shall save. This is a name which we cannot but feel that Providence directed to be given to the leader of Israel. A good name may well be felt by its possessor to be an incentive to a good life. A little superstition in this direction might be rather useful to some men, and lead them to accomplish a destiny which at least might have the merit of doing less harm to other people than that which, for want of some ideal, they finally do accomplish.
III. A great city with its greatness foreshadowed in its name. Jerusalem, possession of peace, or, vision of peace. Thus the metropolis in the Kingdom of Peace anticipates, from the first, the glory and honour which should come to it. Even the names of its early kings seemed to herald Him under whose reign its glory should be consummated.
Jos. 10:2. THE INFLUENCE OF THE GREAT.
I. The example of the wisest and bravest men in a community porvoking fear. When this free state, with its mighty men, gave up resistance as hopeless, who else might think to fight successfully?
II. The numerous instruments which God has for accomplishing His purposes and fulfilling His word. God had repeatedly said, I will send my fear before thee (cf. Exo. 15:14-16; Exo. 23:27; Deu. 11:25). The Lord here fulfils this word
(1) by means of some of the Canaanites themselves, and
(2) by those of them esteemed to be most eminent.
Jos. 10:6-7. THE DELIVERANCE OF THE GIBEONITES.
Joshuas rescue of the Gibeonites was:
I. The deliverance of a people who a little while before were under sentence of death. The sentence against them had in no way differed from that against the rest of the Canaanites. But for their repentance, that sentence would have been as certainly carried out against them as against the rest.
II. The deliverance of men who had sought protection in a mean and unworthy manner.
1. They had sought pardon at the eleventh hour.
2. They had sought it by subterfuge and lying. Yet God forgave their sin even in view of so imperfect a trust and so poor a repentance.
III. The deliverance of men who in the hour of their need appealed to the covenant. On their side, that covenant was all imperfection. Touching their part of it, in it there was no good thing whatever. Yet these Gibeonites did well to believe that Gods people, and through them God Himself, would hold the other side of that covenant to be sacred. The Psalmist said, I am Thine: save me; so these Gibeonites dared to plead that they were servants of Israel, and though they became so unworthily, the league was recognised as binding.
The greatest obligation, to a good mind, is anothers trust, which to disappoint were mercilessly perfidious. If Joshuas very Israelites had been in danger, he could have done no more. How much less shall our true JOSHUA fail the confidence of our faith! O my Saviour, if we send the messengers of our prayers unto Thee into Thy Gilgal, Thy mercy binds Thee to relieve. Never any soul miscarried that trusted Thee. We may be wanting in our trust; our trust can never want success.Bp. Hall.
Jos. 10:8. THE LORDS ENCOURAGEMENT OF HIS SERVANTS.
I. Divine encouragement given when unsolicited. It was needed, but apparently not asked. The right heart, from its very rectitude, is praying always.
II. Divine encouragement given in the way of duty. God spoke to His servant when he was respecting an oath the keeping of which had been opposed by the people.
III. Divine encouragement given when in the act of succouring the weak. He who loves our compassion for others, will not withhold His compassion from us. We are but on the errand of His own heart. Pro. 24:11-12; Mat. 12:20.
IV. Divine encouragement pointing to absolute and complete victory. There shall not a man of them stand before thee. We too are told of the last enemy as one that shall be destroyed.
V. Divine encouragement the forerunner of omnipotent help (Jos. 10:10-11). The Lord loves to establish His words unto His servants, upon which He has caused them to hope.
Jos. 10:6 to Jos. 11:1. Gibeons need.
2. Joshuas faithfulness.
3. Gods help.
If men come to us for help in time of need, God gives the courage to render aid. True courage comes alone from God.
If a man has once gained a real victory over his spiritual foes, he must boldly follow it up without indolent delay, and faithfully reap the fruits of the success given him.Lange.
THE MIRACULOUS PROLONGATION OF THE DAY.Jos. 10:12-15
Whatever may have been the view adopted by expositors in the exegesis of the text of this remarkable passage, and in the explanation of the phenomena to which it refers, only one thing of a positive character seems as yet to have been fully and satisfactorily proved; and that is, the inexpediency of urging any particular view in the spirit of an over-confident dogmatism. Theories have been advocated, which, perhaps, may very confidently, and yet fairly, be pronounced erroneous; but that is a different matter. It is one thing to know that a given explanation cannot possibly be right, and another thing to know with equal certainty what is the right explanation. With so much obscurity pertaining to the character of the text, and with so much difficulty attaching to any probable explanation of the miracle itself, it is a comparatively easy course to set out with a given theory, treat very lightly all which is urged against it, render as emphatic as possible everything which can be said for it, and then consider the case proved. Such a method, however, is not ultimately helpful in the settlement of any involved question, and is certainly unworthy of the dignity of Biblical truth. Those who have read most closely, and thought most conscientiously, on this alleged miracle at Beth-horon, will probably be least inclined to dogmatise in any attempts which they may make to construct a positive theory of explanation.
It is not within the scope of a work like this to discuss the question of these verses at any considerable length. It is only proposed to examine one or two recent theories of exposition in which attempts have been made to do away, more or less fully, with the miraculous element; and then to endeavour to ascertain whether the older belief in an actual prolongation of the day by miraculous interposition, in some way or other, be not the most feasible view which can be taken of the matter.
The principal exposition on which modern opponents of the miracle have relied, may be described as
The theory of interpolation. Rejecting the unity of authorship in the book of Joshua, some commentators have held that it is a compilation from several other documents. This view, which is by no means a modern one in its leading idea, has been advocated and expanded by, among others, Tuch, Sthelin, Bleek, and notably by Ewald and Knobel. The Dutch theologian, C. H. van Herwerden, thought he found in the style of the book ten different monumenta, from which it is compiled. Taking the theory at the stage at which it has more recently been left by Knobel, it may be briefly summarised as follows. The book of Joshua is asserted to have been compiled by a Jehovist, from three sets of documents. The principal of these are termed Elohistic records, and are supposed to form the ground-text for the work. The supplementary documents are said to be two: first, the Law Book, which was supposed to contain laws, historical reports, and poems; the remaining documents being named the War Book, which is said to be alluded to in Num. 21:14, and to have been composed of a great number of warlike narratives. Finally we are told that the Jehovist, or the compiler of the book of Joshua, cannot have lived before the Assyrian period, because he has the Law Book and the War Book before him. Since, moreover, the Law Book especially comes down to Hezekiah, the last years of this king are about the earliest date to which the Jehovist can be assigned.
All this being granted, by any who choose to grant it, the theory of Knobel as to these four verses then is, that they are a fragment from the first document of the Jehovist; that is, that they were inserted by the compiler of the book of Joshua, as late as the last years of Hezekiah, from the documents termed the Law Book. While differing from Knobel in details, this is substantially the view adopted by the leading advocates of the theory of interpolation.
Let us see to what this rationalising amounts, and whether it has sufficient of sweet reasonableness to make it rational. First, let it be remembered that each of the three sets of documents are imaginary. The Elohistic ground text is nothing else. The Law Book, by a very free application of the phrase Sepher Hayyashar, here rendered the book of Jasher, or of the upright, is also imaginatively identified with a hypothetical book containing laws, historical reports, and poems. Thus, in this second case, fancy has a wheel within a wheel. The War Book also succeeds in getting a kind of Scripture name, though little more can be said in its behalf. This book of the wars of Jehovah, we are told, contained a great number of warlike narrativesmore, in fact, than all the others together, and appears to have originated in the southern country, as it agrees very nearly in matter and style with the ground-text. The author, from his interest in religious legislation, was probably a Levite, and wrote in the time of Jehoshaphat. Then we find this book, so comfortably imagined and so fully described, just as easily identified with the records mentioned in Num. 21:14. What is even more remarkable, certain passages in the book of Joshua, after having been imagined off into the separateness of belonging to a War Book, are just as jauntily distinguished from the Elohistic documents, notwithstanding that the said War Book agrees very nearly in matter and style with the ground-text. Thus the case comes to this: the ground-text in Joshua agrees very nearly in matter and style with itself; but so far from this being an argument in the direction of unity of authorship, a new set of documents is imagined out of a difference which is acknowledged to be hardly a difference; and then an author called a Jehovist, a country for him in which to form his style, and a suitable time in which he can write, are created with equal facility.
With very much respect for the learning and labour which have been expended in support of this theory, and in no way depreciating many valuable collateral results which the researches of those who have upheld it have produced, the theory itself is manifestly too vapid to convince many persons besides its authors. To most people, the statement of it will probably be a sufficient refutation. As has been remarked by Dr. Bliss, the English translator of Fays Commentary, in the Lange Series: The fancifulness and subjectivity of such elaborate and minute specifications, and the tenuity of many of the reasons assigned, provoke laughter rather than argumentative confutation. That one should gravely split a verse into numerous passages, so as to refer the various fragments to their respective authors, and should be obliged to do it to save his theory, is, to most minds, slaughtering the theory at its birth. Our curiosity is naturally raised by such attempts to imagine what the next speculator in Biblical criticism will propose for our wonderment; nay, we inquire what even the same mind, after having dropped for a time and forgotten the particulars of his previous fabrication, would invent, if he were to take up the whole subject anew.
Taking, then, the unity of the authorship of the book of Joshua as in no measure disproved or even shaken by this giddy theory, the date at which the book was written has an important bearing on the question of the interpolation of this passage from the book Jasher. Is the passage an interpolation made several centuries after the book was written, or is it merely a quotation made by the author himself? Not condescending to notice the sublime claim of Scripture to inspiration, Fay has adopted so much of Knobels theory as to enable him to proceed as follows (the italics being his own): According to the view of the author of 13 b15, Jehovah has performed an objective astronomical miracle, of which the poet from whom the quotation is made, had no thought, and of which we, following him (the poet), have no thought. This sentiment has been very recently repeated by the author of the Notes on Joshua in the Speakers Commentary, who says, in loco: We claim liberty to think with the poet who wrote in the book of Jasher the ode, of which a few words have come down to us, who did not dream of a literal standing still of the heavenly bodies, and to side with him rather than with the later writer who quotes him.
This argument of Fays assumes that the author of the book of Joshua did not himself insert the quotation from the book Jasher. It further assumes that the person who inserted these verses in the text did not live sufficiently near to the time of the battle of Beth-horon to enable him to see, even so well as Fay sees in the nineteenth century, that the poetry had no historical basis of truth, but was merely poetry, and that of the most mythical kind, its air of fact to the contrary notwithstanding. In a word, for Fays argument to be worth anything whatever, even outside the doctrine of inspiration, the Jehovist who inserted the verses must have lived at least two or three centuries after the battle, when all trustworthy traditions and accounts had so far faded into obscurity, that no one could contradict or correct his revised edition of the Elohistic records. Looking at the tenacity with which the Jews preserved the accounts of their history, and at the exceedingly important character of this history, lying as it did at the foundation of both the national existence and the national theology, it is almost incredible to suppose that even the seven centuries which intervened before the death of Hezekiah would have been sufficient to so completely blot out the accounts of such a battle as to allow, by the misinterpretation of an ancient poets words, of the foisting into the sacred record of the most gigantic of all Old Testament miracles, when it was a miracle that never happened.
How then stands this other important question, touching the date of the book? Has Fay even a single century in which the battle could be so forgotten as to allow this account of a miracle, which it is said never took place, to have been written down by the author of the book of Joshua? Nothing has been advanced sufficient to prove it even probable that the book of Joshua had more than one author: did that one author of the book of Joshua live so far away from the time of the battle as to render it possible for him, irrespective of inspiration, to make so enormous an error? Till something substantial be advanced against his arguments, Keil must be held to have demonstrated that the book of Joshua was certainly written before the time of David, and probably by some member of the host which crossed the Jordan, the writer having seen at least some of the important events which he narrated (cf. chap. Jos. 5:1). It is impossible even to summarise these arguments here; those who are interested in the question should read them in full, and will probably find it no easy matter to answer them. (Cf. Keils Introduction, pp. 3047.)
Taking it for granted, then, that the book of Joshua was written certainly as early as the days of Saul, and probably by one of the Israelites who had himself crossed the Jordan with Joshua, this interpolation theory is absolutely untenable. No writer in the time of Joshua, or even of the Judges, would have dared to foist into a history, of which the meanest Jew of the time would be sternly jealous, a story, poetical or otherwise, which gave serious impressions of a victory won mainly by means of an amazing miracle which everybody knew never took place. Thus, apart from what some still feel to be the very important considerations arising from the doctrine of Divine inspiration, this passage cannot reasonably be held to have been inserted by a more recent compiler of the book.
The only remaining view opposing the actual miracle, to which any weight seems to be attached by critics of the present time, is
The theory which regards the passage as merely a poetical quotation made by the author of the book of Joshua. This view has recently found a hearty advocate in Samuel Cox, the editor of the Expositor, who holds that the entire passage (Jos. 10:12-15) is a poetical quotation, and who pronounces with an apparently untroubled confidence on the whole question: No; there is no miracle recorded here. It is asserted by those who regard the entire passage as poetry that we must read it as poetry; and that in this light there is no more necessity for thinking of an actual prolongation of the day; because a poet has written of the sun standing still, than there is of interpreting the tropes literally when the Hebrew poets write of the hills and the mountains as skipping, of the waters as fleeing, of the trees of the field as clapping their hands, or of the stars in their courses fighting against Sisera.
The following remarks may be placed against this entire theory:
1. Even if the whole of the verses were admitted to be a poetical quotation, they must still have a foundation in truth, so real as to require the miracle just as much as prosaic history would require it. Given that the book of Joshua was written by one living near to the time of these events, and there is still an amount of quietly told fact in the record, of which, with ever so liberal a margin for the figurative language of poetry, no account whatever is given. Unless we irreverently impugn the truth of the history, several things will still be left as a residuum in the crucible, which this process of poetical evaporation does not in any way touch; what is more, this residuum of insoluble fact is so important, that it will require as much miracle to account for its presence as would be required if the whole record were prosaic history. Given that the account as it stands was written, say within two or three centuries of the event, and it will still have to be felt that Joshua offered a prayer for something (Jos. 10:12; Jos. 10:14); that Joshua offered this prayer in the presence of the army; that the words, he said in the sight of all Israel, shew that many of the people knew of the prayer at the time when it was offered; that Joshuas prayer was answered by God as the army might have desired; and that the Israelites had never known a day which had so witnessed to the power of prayer. These are so many facts for which the theory of poetical hyperbole in no way accounts. It does not even begin to depreciate their historical value. Indeed, this poetical theory has altogether overlooked the fact that, to the author of the book of Joshua, the most conspicuous feature of the day was, not the wonderful miracle, but the miracle as a wonderful answer to prayer. Certifying us, unconsciously to himself, of the depth of his pious perception, and thus giving us an incidental guarantee of godliness and truth, the author finds the wonder of the day even more in the graciousness of God than in the power of God. Never before in the history of Israel, not even at the Red Sea, had there been such a day for answering prayer as this day. The important fourteenth verse is in no way affected by the plea about hyperbole.
2. The claim to discount the historical value of the passage on the ground of figurative language is in itself exceedingly weak. As has been noticed above, the passage has been compared to the figures used by other Hebrew poets; and then it has been argued that as figures elsewhere are merely figurative, this is only figurative language,which is simply a petitio principii. The difficulty, moreover, still remains, that in reading the phrases, He bowed the heavens and came down, the mountains skipped, the stars in their courses fought against Sisera, etc., the reader never thinks of interpreting literally, while here, till he has calculated the difficulty of the miracle, it does not so much as occur to him to explain figuratively. With far too much candour to serve his argument, Mr. Cox says successively, after his somewhat threadbare instances of comparison: We are in no danger of insisting, or of hearing sceptical men of science insist, that these figures must be taken in a literal sense; We do not even pause to ask in what sense we are to understand Davids words (Psa. 18:9; Psa. 18:16); No such miracle (Jdg. 5:20) has ever been imagined. Exactly so. But a miracle has been almost universally imagined in this matter at Beth-horon. The conclusion is unavoidable: the cases are not parallel.
3. It is very unlikely that all four of these verses are quotation. They may be all poetical, although critics are not agreed on this; it would not follow, if all were poetical, that they were necessarily from the book Jasher. The great difficulty in believing that the whole of the verses are from the book Jasher is that the formula of citation stands right in the middle of the supposed quotation. The author of the book of Joshua is thus made to awkwardly break off in the midst of a short extract to tell us from whence the extract was obtained. This is done in no other instance of a similar kind throughout the Scriptures. In 2Sa. 1:17-27, containing the only other extract from the book Jasher, the order stands thus: a poetical stanza by David, then the formula of citation, and finally the song itself. May not this be the true order of these four verses in Joshua? If so, it would stand as follows: (a) the rhythmical introduction by the author of the book of Joshua, telling us of the prayer offered; (b) Joshuas apostrophe to the sun, which might naturally, as an apostrophe, have been spoken in a poetic form, but if not so spoken, might have been so rendered by the author of our book, who cannot be held bound to have given the ipsissima verba of Joshua; (c) the formula of citation; (d) the poetical (or prose) quotation from the book Jasher, including Jos. 10:15, which the historian repeats exactly at Jos. 10:43. It is generally supposed that the quotation from the book Jasher is that which is given before the formula of citation, and that the historians comment follows; but this makes the difficulty of accounting for the fifteenth verse, and its position, almost insuperable. In view of this, the order as given above has been suggested, although this in no way affects the conclusion that the theory which regards all of the four verses as from the book of Jasher cannot be maintained. One thing seems pretty clear: that the very jubilant tone in which scientific sceptics have been bidden to hold their peace about this enormous and exorbitant miracle, on the ground that the Bible records no such miracle, is somewhat misplaced, and is altogether unworthy of the excellent writer who has long rendered such valuable service in Scripture exposition. Had he considered the matter with his usual care, he would probably have found reason to suspect that several of the German writers had fallen back on a theory of interpolation so late as the days of Hezekiah, because the theory of entire poetry, inserted by any one living near to the time of Joshua, was altogether too weak to be seriously argued. Probably it is, on the whole, the least satisfastory explanation of the passage which has ever been offered.
It only remains to take into consideration, as briefly as possible,
The theory of an actual prolongation of the day by the miraculous interposition of Jehovah. Did the miracle of an extension of the day actually take place? These verses seem to say so. This is the first impression we all have on reading them. If the daylight were not miraculously prolonged, there is much in the passage which is utterly inexplicable. Keils viewthat the prayer was for a satisfactory termination of the battle before sunset, and that instead of the day being lengthened the victory was hastenedis not at all in accordance with the natural impressions arising from the narrative. Besides this, it makes the fourteenth verse not only meaningless, but false. If the only answer to prayer was an expediting of the battle, then there had been days of answering prayer obviously greater than this day. Who would hesitate to call greater the day of Abrahams prayer for Sodom, or that of Moses prayer at Pi-hahiroth? The fourteenth verse plainly alludes not only to a marvellous, but also to a manifest answer to prayer. If Joshua prayed after the storm began to smite the Canaanites, and this is the order of the narrative, there was too little of manifest answer to prayer to account for the fourteenth verse.
The reality of the miracle is further thrown into prominence by a feature which seems to have escaped notice. Comparing these four verses with the immediately preceding miracle, recorded in the eleventh verse, we are driven to ask, If the day were not miraculously prolonged, how is it that the incident of Jos. 10:12-15 has so taken precedence of the incident of Jos. 10:11? There was a miracle also in the hailstorm; it was miraculously timed, and miraculously made to follow and smite down Canaanites, while it did no harm to the immediately pursuing Israelites. If the day were not prolonged, how is it that some lesser miracle, if any, has so utterly absorbed attention from what would then be this greater miracle of the hailstorm? The interest gathers round, not this marvellously guided hail, but about what was so wonderful that the lesser wonder of the hail was lost in some greater wonder. What could that greater theme for praise have been, if it were not this miraculously extended day?
Scripture elsewhere seems to give some testimony to this miraculous extension of the day. Isa. 28:21 may or may not refer to the lengthening of the day. The reference may be to Davids victory at Gibeon (2Sa. 5:25; 1Ch. 14:16); or it may be to this triumph through Joshua. But if the reference were certainly to the victory won by Joshua, the allusion to the rising up of Jehovah in wrath might be accounted for by the storm of hailstones. This passage therefore, while it harmonises well with the greater miracle, proves nothing. Very different is the force of the allusion in Hab. 3:11. Notwithstanding Keils criticism, that the historical reference is disproved by the grammatically incorrect and really trivial arguments advanced in support of itan opinion since substantially adopted by Fay, Thornley Smith, and othersit is by no means proved that Habakkuk does not celebrate this wonderful work of Jehovah. The words used by Habakkuk are, Shmsh y rch md zvlh. Keil says of them: The literal meaning is, Sun and moon have entered into their habitation. He adds, by way of comment, and hence the expression denotes not even their actual setting, but a darkening of the sun and moon, resembling their setting. But Habakkuk says nothing whatever of this darkening; that is simply the judgment of Keil. Accepting his translation, but not his comment, the idea of a prolongation of the day is rather established than overthrown. Gesenius renders zvl, habitation, residence. The Jews, so far as they defined the matter at all, believed in the old phenomenal view, afterwards systematised by Ptolemy, that the sun travelled round the earth. Quite in accordance with the bold hyperbole of Hebrew poetry, Habakkuk vigorously describes both sun and moon as having entered into temporary residence; i.e., they tabernacled in the heavens; they took up their abode, or habitation, in the firmament. Contrary to their supposed continual motion round the earth, they entered into habitation till the victory was won. Thus Keils translation simply emphasises and beautifies the poetry, and gives no room whatever for the notion that Habakkuk alludes to some darkening of the sun resembling an eclipse. Apart from the translation, the nature and order of the passage in Habakkuk strongly tend to the assurance that he alludes to the phenomenon at Beth-horon. The verses from 3 to 10 graphically depict the wonders at Sinai, at the Red Sea, in the wilderness, and at the passage of the Jordan; the Jos. 10:11-13, depict in natural order, as a continuance of the record, the overthrow of the Canaanites under Joshua. The very allusion to the sun and moon in such a connection would be strong enough to establish the reference to the battle of Beth-horon, even if the language of Habakkuk were farless clear.
In addition to the passage in Habakkuk, it should not be forgotten that direct reference is made to this miracle, as an historical event, in the Apocrypha. Thus we read in Sir. 46:4, of Joshua, Did not the sun go back by his means? and was not one day as long as two? Homer, Ovid, and other classical writers of antiquity, unless credit is to be given to them for a larger amount of imagination, not to say wilder fancy, than seems necessary or fair, must be held to have had some acquaintance, in a traditional form, with the event recorded in Joshua. Part of Dr. Kittos reference may be quoted. After speaking of a Chinese tradition, he remarks: Herodotus also says that he learned from the Egyptian priests, that within the period of 341 generations the sun had four times deviated from his common course, setting twice where he usually rises, and rising twice where he usually sets. It is useless to expect minute accuracy in these old traditions; but to what else can they refer than to some derangement in the apparent course of the sun, that is, in the actual motion of the earth? The story of Phaeton, and some other classical fables, seems to have reference to the same event. In the poets, also, there are allusions of a similar character, which would probably never have been imagined but from some general tradition that such a circumstance had at one time occurred. In Homer there are not less than three passages to this purport. In one Agamemnon prays:
Almighty Father! glorious above all!
Cloud-girt, who dwellst in heaven, Thy throne sublime!
Let not the sun go down, and night approach,
Till Priams roof fall flat into the flames, etc.
Again, Jupiter having promised the Trojans that they should prevail until the sun went down, Juno, who was favourable to their adversaries, made the sun go down before its time:
Majestic Juno sent the sun,
Unwearied minister of light, although
Reluctant, down into the ocean stream.
And, finally, Minerva retarded the rising of the sun, in order to prolong that great night in which Ulysses slew the suitors, and discovered himself to Penelope:
Minerva checked
Nights almost finished course, and held, meantime,
The golden dawn close prisner in the deep;
Forbidding her to lead her coursers forth,
Lampas and Phathon, that furnish light
For all mankind.
[Illust. Fam. Bib., in loc.]
If references like these do not of themselves suggest a common tradition from which they must have originated, we who are familiar with the history in the book of Joshua can hardly avoid feeling that they are contributive towards establishing as a fact that extension of the day which the history seems to record.
Not nearly sufficient stress has been laid on the object for which the miracle was apparently wrought. Most writers on the subject have hastily concluded that the only object for this phenomenal staying of the sun and moon was to give Joshua time for a completer victory. That was part of the Divine purpose, no doubt; but did that embrace all? Did it make up even half of that which Jehovah had in view? Was not the main purpose of the miracle to dishonour the sun and moon as objects of the idolatrous worship of the Canaanites? (Cf. the closing remarks in the following outline on The Victory of Faith.) It is only on some such ground as this that any reason whatever can be found for Joshuas command concerning the moon. It was certainly not essential that the moon should stay above the horizon for the purpose of giving light. The ordinary light of the sun would be sufficient without that, and would receive no perceptible addition by having the moon for an auxiliary. But if the sun-god Baal was to be degraded by being shewn to be subservient to the command of Joshua, it naturally followed that the moon-goddess Ashtoreth should be similarly degraded also.
We therefore conclude that the teaching of the Scripture is that the day was actually prolonged, and that it was prolonged in response to the prayer of Joshua, offered in an outburst of strong and simple trust, in the heat and emergency of the battle.
The question yet remains, In what manner was the miracle performed? With this feature of the case we confess we have little concern. The inquiry may be both natural and interesting, but it is not important. The day may have been extended by means of refraction, as was long since suggested by Grotius. In view of the Divine principle of economising power, this method of performing the miracle seems the most reasonable and probable. But if we grant omnipotence, and if our faith in that be real, and not the mere article of a creed, the process of staying the rotation of the earth, and of preventing all the harmful consequences which would otherwise naturally ensue, would be as easy to God as anything else. Omnipotence, if it be that at all, can know no effort. Finally, for those who are interested by this part of the question, May not the direction of the earths axis have been shifted? The battle probably took place in the summer, when, even in the middle of the natural night, Gibeon, as situated at nearly 32 north latitude, would not be depressed very far below the horizon. If the north pole were gradually shifted towards the sun, and made to move slightly in a circle of elevation and depression, a very small displacement would keep Gibeon above the horizon all night, and in the morning, at the time for ordinary sunrise at Gibeon, the earth would have assumed its usual position of 23 inclination in the ecliptic. This, of course, would have the effect of dropping one night at Gibeon altogether, and of allowing the ordinary rotation of the earth to go on as usual, the only difference being the gradual shifting and return of the inclination of the earths axis. As to any influence which this movement might have upon the waters of the earth, that part of the question is answered by omnipotence. The suggestion is simply made in view of the feeling which must impress all careful students of Scripture, that Gods way in the working of miracles is to economise force rather than to display it; and that the entire cessation of the earths revolution would shew an interposition of Divine power which seems, to even believing men, so gigantic as to contradict in some measure that reservation of force usually shewn in the miraculous working of God, as set before us in other parts of the Scriptures.
It should not be forgotten that, not simply in this miracle, but in all miracles, the questions of how they are wrought, and which of any two requires most power, are utterly beyond our capacity to answer. How was life brought back into the body of dead Lazarus? How was the bread multiplied in the hands of the disciples? How was the water changed into wine? What laws had, for the time, to be suspended; what new forces set in motion? Which of these miracles was most miraculous? Even if the revolution of the earth on its axis actually ceased in response to Joshuas prayer, which miracle was the greater, the standing still of the sun and moon, or the feeding of the five thousand by Christ? Which of us knows? If we are not prepared to let go our faith in the miracles altogether, we shall do well to guard against the naturally strong temptation which too readily besets most of us, to explain them away, or tone them down, as we become oppressed by what seems to us their unusual magnitude. Unfortunately this, too, is one of the temptations that are continuous; and when, driven on by sceptical laughter, we have ever so conscientiously explained away the miracles which are enormous and exorbitant, and have secured as the heritage left to our faith the lesser miracles, which we deem becoming to the Scriptures; then others will probably be tempted to take up the case where we have left it, and proceed to demonstrate that the giving of sight to the man born blind, of elasticity to the ligaments of her who was bowed with an infirmity for eighteen years, or the withering up of the barren fig tree, were even greater miracles than this phenomenal staying of the sun and moon. None of us should dare to believe, as the teaching of Scripture, what Scripture does not say; most of us have need to guard our expositions of Divine truth from the unconscious yet none the less injurious influence of our too easily weakened faith.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
The Southern Coalition Jos. 10:1-14
Now it came to pass, when Adonizedek king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them;
2 That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.
3 Wherefore Adonizedek king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying,
4 Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel,
5 Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it.
6 And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.
7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor.
8 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee,
9 Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.
10 And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.
11 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
12 Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon;
and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed,
until the people had avenged themselves
upon their enemies.
Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.
1.
Who was Adoni-zedek? Jos. 10:1
The name means lord of righteousness. It is almost synonymous with Melchizedek which means king of righteousness. This may have been a title of the Jebusite kings, as Pharaoh was the Egyptian rulers and Caesar was later of the Roman. Adoni-zedek does not appear to have any of the righteous inclinations which belong to Melchizedek, the high priest to whom Abraham paid the tithe. Instead of being a friend of Gods people and the descendants of Abraham, he was an enemy with a burning desire to resist the wrath of God.
2.
Where was Jerusalem? Jos. 10:1 b
This word means the foundling or possession of peace. It was called Salem in the time of Abraham (Gen. 14:18). It was the proper name of the town which was also frequently called Jebus (Jdg. 19:10-11; 1Ch. 11:4), or city of the Jebusites (Jdg. 19:11). During the division of the land it was allotted to the tribe of Benjamin (Jos. 18:28); but being situated upon the border of Judah (Jos. 15:8), it was conquered and burned by the sons of Judah after the death of Joshua (Jdg. 1:8). It was very soon taken again by the Jebusites whom the sons of Judah were not able to destroy (Jos. 15:63, Jdg. 19:12); so both Benjaminites and Judahites lived there along with the Jebusites (Jdg. 1:21; Jos. 15:63). The upper town, especially upon the summit of Mt. Zion, remained a fortification in the possession of the Jebusites until David conquered it (2Sa. 5:6 ff.). He made it the capital of his kingdom and called it by his own name, the city of David, after which the old name of Jebus fell into disuse.
3.
Why were the Jebusites afraid? Jos. 10:2
The Jebusites were afraid not only because they had heard what the Israelites had done at Jericho and Ai but also because one of their cities had made a league with them. They might have believed the Gibeonites would assist the Israelites and make war against the rest of the Canaanites. Indeed the Hivites who lived in Gibeon would be bound by their treaty to assist the Israelites in whatever way they were directed. In addition, the other Canaanites must have felt a sense of reproach and shame that one of their own cities had signed a treaty with the enemy. This revealed internal weakness, and they decided to attack immediately.
4.
Where was Hebron? Jos. 10:3 a
Hebron, the town of Arba the Anakite (Jos. 15:13; cf. Gen. 23:2), was about twenty miles south of Jerusalem. It lay in a deep and narrow valley upon the mountains of Judah and was a town of the greatest antiquity (Num. 13:22). It is now called el Khalil, i.e., the field (of God), with reference to Abrahams sojourn there. The ruins include an ancient colossal mosque which contains, according to the Mohammedan tradition, the burial-place of the patriarchs (See Gen. 23:17).
5.
Where was Jarmuth? Jos. 10:3 b
Jarmuth was in the lowlands of Judah (Jos. 15:35; Neh. 11:29). A hamlet, Jermucha, is on the road to Jerusalem, and is identified as the modern Jarmuk. This village is on a lofty hill and has remains of walls and cisterns of a very ancient date. The name is called Tell Armuth by the Arabs.
6.
Where was Lachish? Jos. 10:3 c
Lachish was in the lowlands of Judah (Jos. 15:39) and was fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch. 11:9). It was besieged by Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki. 18:17; 2Ki. 19:8; Jer. 34:7) but was still inhabited by Jews after the return from captivity (Neh. 11:30). It is probably to be found in Um Lakis, an old place upon a low round hill. The site is covered with heaps of small round stones thrown together in great confusion containing relics of marble columns.
7.
Where was Eglon? Jos. 10:3 d
Eglon was in the lowlands of Judah (Jos. 15:39). The present name is Ajlan, a heap of ruins. It lies to the east of Um Lakis. Eglon was very closely associated with the affairs of the Philistines and was the city most remote from the center of the land. The king must have been able to contribute something to the campaign led by Adonizedek, and these people joined with their fellow Canaanites in waging a campaign against the Hivites who had made peace with Israel.
8.
Why did the Gibeonites appeal to ?Jos. 10:6
When the men of Gibeon saw that the other Canaanites were attacking them, they sent to Joshua for help. Since the two peoples had entered into a league with each other, the Israelites were honor bound to assist the Gibeonites. Consequently, Joshua left his camp at Gilgal and took with him his full complement of soldiers led by his mighty men of valor.
9.
What was the ascent of Beth-horon? Jos. 10:10
This was the ascent to Upper Beth-horon (Beit Ur, el Foka), which was nearest to Gibeon, only a short way distant on the northwest. It lay on a lofty promontory between two valleys, one on the north, the other on the south, and was separated from Lower Beth-horon, which lay further west, by a long steep pass. The ascent to Upper Beth-horon is very steep and rocky, though the rock has been cut away in many places and a path made by means of steps. This pass between the two places leads downwards from Gibeon towards the western plain and was called sometimes the ascent, or going up to Beth-horon, and sometimes the descent, or going down from it (Jos. 10:11) Frequent references to this passageway are found both in Biblical and extra-Biblical sources.
10.
Where was Makkedah? Jos. 10:10 b
This site is believed to be found in Summeil, a considerable village on an eminence in the plain. It has a large public well 110 deep and 11 in diameter, with strongly built walls of hewn stones. There is also part of an old wall which to all appearances must have belonged to a large square castle built of uncemented stones.
11.
Where was Azekah? Jos. 10:11
Both Azekah and Makkedah are in the lowland on the west of Canaan. Azekah is in the hill-country between the mountains and the plain (Jos. 15:35); Makkedah, in the plain itself (Jos. 15:41). Azekah was fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch. 11:9) and was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 34:7) but still inhabited after the captivity (Neh. 11:30). It was not far from Socoh, according to Jos. 15:35.
12.
What were the hailstones? Jos. 10:11
The large stones which the Lord threw upon the flying foe at the slope of Beth-horon were hailstones (see Isa. 30:30). It was not stone-hail or a shower of stones, but a terrible hailstorm, in which hail fell upon the foe in pieces as large as stones. There was no evidence that Israel was equipped well enough with slingers in order to hail stones upon the army. The author is not trying to express this, but is rather telling the reader that God interfered in the affairs of men. From the heavens which are controlled by the Creator of the heavens poured forth those hailstones which would normally come in less quantity and with less severity. On this occasion, God interfered with what we call the laws of nature and caused such a storm to come upon the Canaanites that they were routed by Israel.
13.
Are there valid objections to the miracle of the sun standing still? Jos. 10:13
Several objections are raised. First, it is said, No annals of other nations contain such an account. For that matter, annals of many nations do not go back to this period. Second, it is urged that the motion of the stars is unchangeable. These so-called laws, however, are nothing more than phenomena, or forms of manifestation, of those divine creative powers, the true character of which no mortal has ever fathomed. Third, it is objected that such a sudden stoppage of the revolution of the earth upon its axis would have dashed to pieces all the works of human hands which were to be found upon its surface and hurled the earth itself with its satellite, the moon, out of their orbits, This leaves out of sight the fact that the omnipotent hand of God, which not only created the stars but gave them the power to revolve with regularity in their orbits as long as this universe endures, is not too short to guard against such disastrous consequences, There can be no valid objections to the view that this was a miracle worked by God Himself.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
X.
CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY OF THE NATIONS OF CANAAN.
(1) Adoni-zedec king of Jerusalem.We may compare this name (Lord of Righteousness) with Melchizedek (King of Righteousness). (See Gen. 14:18 and Heb. 7:1.) The similarity of the names makes it probable that the Salem of Gen. 14:18 is Jerusalem (see Notes). The title Lord or King of Righteousness may have belonged to the king of Jerusalem, not only as a local title, but also in relation to the surrounding tribes, over whom he may have been a suzerain. But we know nothing of the matter beyond what we find in the sacred text.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
FIVE KINGS WAR AGAINST GIBEON, Jos 10:1-5.
1. Adoni-zedek The name means lord of justice. Compare the kindred word Melchizedek, king of justice. Gen 14:18. All that is known of this Amorite king and his four confederates is recorded in this chapter. Alarmed at the victories of Joshua and the defection of Gibeon, his nearest neighbour on the north, he aroused the kings in the south, and combined them against the seceding state. This drew Joshua to the aid of his ally, and to the discomfiture of his confederated foes, and the execution of Adonizedek and his four royal associates.
Jerusalem This is the first time that undisputed mention is made in the Bible of this celebrated city. Probably the Salem in Gen 14:18, is Jerusalem, although Jerome contends that Salem was in the southern part of Galilee, near Scythopolis. Jerusalem is called “Jebus” and the “city of the Jebusites” in Judges and some later books. It became the metropolis of the Hebrews under David at a comparatively late date, after the nation had gone through the period of the Judges and entered on the Monarchy. Bethel, Hebron, and Shechem were ancient holy places when the Jebusite was still possessing Jerusalem.
It is a little south of the centre of Palestine, thirty-two miles from the coast and eighteen from the Jordan, and is two thousand six hundred feet above the level of the sea. It is surrounded on three sides by hills still higher, from which it is separated by precipitous ravines, which rendered it, before the invention of gunpowder, almost impregnable. “It is on the ridge, the broadest and most strongly marked ridge, of the backbone of the complicated hills which extend through the whole country, from the plain of Esdraelon to the desert. Every wanderer, every conqueror, every traveller, who has trod the central route of Palestine from north to south, must have passed through the table-land of Jerusalem. It was the water-shed between the streams, or, rather, the torrent beds, which find their way eastward to the Jordan and westward to the Mediterranean.” Stanley. See note, Mat 2:1.
And were among them That is, were having amicable intercourse with the Israelites.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Chapter 10. Defeat of the Canaanite Confederacy – The Invasion of the South.
In this chapter we read of an alliance of five Canaanite kings against the Gibeonites, who then appeal to Joshua for assistance, in virtue of their treaty rights, something which has to Joshua grant. This is followed by the slaughter of the Canaanite armies by the forces of Israel, chiefly as a result of hailstones from heaven, and of the standing still or ‘silence’ of the sun and of the moon while vengeance was being taken on them. The five kings then hide in a cave, and we learn of what was done to them when they were taken. This is followed by the taking of Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir, which indicated the initial conquest of the southern part of the hill country and lowlands.
Jos 10:1
‘ Now it happened that, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it, for as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them.’
News soon reached surrounding city states about what had happened. One of these was Jerusalem, whose king was made aware of the full situation. Israel had captured both Jericho and Ai and had totally destroyed them and annihilated their inhabitants, and had now entered into a treaty-covenant with the Gibeonite confederacy. There is total silence about the treaty-covenant with Shechem. That is because the writer was concentrating on conveying the picture of the capture of the land by Joshua, and did not want the picture to be affected by such an idea. He was writing a record of the triumph of YHWH, not the history of the conquest. The Gibeonite treaty was a different matter as it was obtained by subterfuge and resulted in the total submission of Gibeon to slavery. However, the total picture is clear. The way into Canaan over the Jordan and the central hill country was now mainly in the hands of the Israelites, while the way had been laid open for the settling of the southern hill country and lowlands..
“Adoni-zedek”. The name means ‘my lord is righteous’ or ‘Zedek is my lord’. We can compare the former king of Jerusalem ‘Melchizedek – my king is righteous’ or ‘Zedek is my king’. There is not sufficient evidence for a god Zedek in Canaan so that the other meanings may well be the right ones. At the time of the Amarna letters the king of Jerusalem was Abdi-heba. The letters also referred to Uru-salim as the name of the city.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Southern Campaign Jos 10:1-43 records Israel’s southern campaign of the Promised Land, which contains the famous story of the sun standing still. In this country of quarrelling city-states, five kings from the southern region decided to lay aside their differences long enough to join together for a common cause. This battle would be more intense for Joshua than those of Jericho and Ai. Israel’s faith had been tested through smaller trials as God prepared them for greater battles.
Jos 10:11 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
Jos 10:11
Eze 38:22, “And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.”
Job 38:22-23, “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?”
Jos 10:13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
Jos 10:13
Jos 10:26 And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening.
Jos 10:26
Deu 21:22-23, “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Defeat of the Five Kings on a Day of Miraculous Length
v. 1. Now, it came to pass, when Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem, had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it, (as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king, v. 2. that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, v. 3. Wherefore Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem, sent unto Hoham, king of Hebron, v. 4. Come up unto me and help me that we may smite Gibeon; for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. v. 5. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, v. 6. And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua, to the camp, to Gilgal, v. 7. So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, v. 8. And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not, for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee. v. 9. Joshua, therefore, came unto them suddenly, v. 10. And the Lord discomfited them, v. 11. And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, v. 12. Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, v. 13. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, v. 14. and there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THE BATTLE OF BETH–HORON, AND THE SUBJUGATION OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE.
Jos 10:1
Adoni-zedec (cf. Melchizedek in Gen 14:18). The name given to the king of Jerusalem was good enough, and no doubt was a survival of earlier and purer times. In the days of Melchizedek the name corresponded to the character. Jerusalem. Hebrew, Jerushalaim, with the usual dual termination. It has been generally supposed to be the same with Salem, or rather Shalem, the city of which Melehizedek was king, and this is supported by the fact that the name of Salem is given to Jerusalem in Psa 76:2. But it is by no means certain that this is the case. The first to dispute the identity of the two places was St. Jerome, who declares that the Salem of Melchizedek was eight miles from Scythopolis, and that the ruins of the palace of Melchizedek could still be seen there (see also Gen 33:18). The term Salem, as indicative of the security and strength of Jerusalem, might not unnaturally be applied to it by the Psalmist; while; on the other hand, the dual form of Jerusalem seems difficult to account for on the theory of the identity of Jerusalem and Salem. This dual form has been a difficulty to critics; and Mr. Grove, in the ‘Dictionary of the Bible,’ conjectures that it may have arisen from an attempt to twist the archaic Phoenician form into agreement with the more modern Hebrew idiom, just as the Greeks afterwards twisted the name into Hierosolyma, or the holy Solyma. But a simpler explanation may be found in the fact that Jerusalem, like many other cities, consisted of two parts, the upper and the lower town (cf. Jdg 1:8 with Jdg 1:1, Jdg 1:7 and Jdg 1:21, and 2Sa 5:6-8), while in earlier times the upper or lower town alone existed. Plural names of cities were not uncommon in later ages, as Athenae and Thebae. The name has been variously derived. Some have thought that as it is also called Jebus (Jos 18:28; Jdg 19:10), from its being the chief city of the Jebusites, it was originally Jebus-salem, and hence by a corruption Jerusalem. But this derivation has now been abandoned, and opinions differ as to whether it is derived from and signifying “peaceful inheritance” (Ewald, Keil), or from and “peaceful settlement” (Gesenius, Lee). Gesenius objects to the former derivation that it would require dagesh in the . The fathers and mediaeval divines, misled by Origen, translate it “vision of peace.” This translation is alluded to in the well-known hymns Urbs beata Sion and O quanta qualia. Origen supposed it to come from . Another difficult question is when the name was given, for there can be little doubt that the Book of Joshua was written before the time of David. It is possible that the name may have been given by the Jebusites themselves in consequence of their secure possession of it, notwithstanding the subjugation of the surrounding country by the Israelites. And when David had seized upon it and made it his capital, he would not be likely to change so suitable a name. For the Jebusites, evidently by their invariable position last among the nations of Canaan, the most insignificant among them, were enabled to defy the Israelite power long after their more powerful neighbours had succumbed. and David no doubt chose the situation of Jerusalem for his capital not only because, unlike Hebron, it enabled him to dwell among his own people without cutting himself off from intercourse with the other tribes of Israel; but because, as a mountain fastness remote from the plains of Esdraelon and the Orontes, which were the great highways of the Egyptian and Assyrian kings on their military expeditions, it would enable him to consolidate his power, and to secure that empire which became his from the force of his genius and the favour of God. We may remark upon the antecedent probability of the fact that the king of a place situated as Jerusalem is should stand at the head of this league.
Jos 10:2
That they feared greatly. Joshua had certainly obtained an excellent strategic position in the heart of the country; but it was not this which apparently most alarmed the kings who constituted the confederacy, though they did not fail to observe that, as the words “and were among them” show. It was the weight and importance of Gibeon itself, and the fact that its inhabitants were now enlisted, not on the side of the Canaanites, but against them. As one of the royal cities. Observe the minute accuracy of the historian. No king is mentioned in the narrative in Jos 9:1-27. We now earn indirectly that they had none. The Vulgate misses the point of the historian by leaving out “as” altogether.
Jos 10:3
Hoham king of Hebron. It was a powerful confederacy which the Phoenician tribes in their desperation formed against Joshua. At its head stood the king of Jerusalem, which, from its central situation and its almost impregnable position (see notes on Jos 15:63), might naturally stand at the head of such a league. Next came Hebron, which, from its importance from an early period (Gen 23:2; Gen 35:27), and the gigantic stature of its inhabitants (Num 13:33; Deu 1:28; Deu 2:10, Deu 2:11; Deu 9:2), as well as its daughter cities (verse 37), would prove a formidable addition to the strength of the confederates. Colossal blocks of stone, testifying to the presence there of the primeval races of Palestine, are still to be found in the neighbourhood. Hebron stands in “the hill country of Judaea.” Its situation has been much admired, standing as it does nearly 3,000 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, and commanding the most extensive views of the Holy Land. This is one of the most interesting in its reminiscences of all the cities in Palestine. Here Abraham pitched his tent, near the “oak of Mature.” Here was the burying place of Abraham and Sarah, which has been kept in memory by an unwavering tradition even to this very day; and, sacred ground though it be to the Mohammedans, was opened to the Prince of Wales and his companions in 1862. This was the inheritance of Caleb, and here, where the affections of every Israelite would most closely centre, David fixed his capital until compelled to change it by reasons to which we have already referred. Hebron seems to have been successively occupied by various members of the Phoenician confederation. It was first founded, we learn, seven years before Zoan in Egypt (Num 13:22). When we first hear of it, it is in the possession of Mature the Amorite (Gen 13:18; Gen 14:13). In Gen 28:1-22, it has clearly passed into the possession of the Hittites, and the mention of the children of Heth is too express for us to suppose that the term Hittite is used generally for the inhabitants of the land. At a much later period the Canaanites, or lowlanders, had, strangely enough, obtained possession (Jdg 1:10), and here again the accurate acquaintance of the historian with the names of the tribes (see Jdg 1:4, Jdg 1:21, Jdg 1:26, Jdg 1:35) forbids us to suppose that he is speaking loosely. Piram king of Jarmuth. Jarmuth is mentioned in Jos 15:35, and in Neh 11:29. It has been identified with Yarmuk (see Robinson, II. sec. 11, with whom Vandevelde and Conder agree), where there are the remains of very ancient walls and cisterns. Of its size and importance in the time of Joshua we know nothing. Japhia king of Lachish. Like Jarmuth, Lachish was in the Shephe-lah, or lowlands, of Judah, and we frequently hear of it in the later history of the Jews, as in 2Ki 14:19; 2Ki 18:14, 2Ki 18:17; 2Ki 19:8; also 2Ch 11:9. It has been identified by Von Raumer and Vandevelde, whom Keil follows, with Um Lakis, though Robinson denies this on the authority of Eusebius and Jerome; “but not on any reasonable grounds” (Vandevelde). This is the more clear in that Robinson rejects the authority of the Onomasticon in the case of Eglon. Um Lakis is only an hour and a quarter’s journey from Ajlann or Eglon, and this narrative (verses 31-36) shows that Eglon was on the way from Lachish to Hebron. Conder, in his ‘Handbook’ and in ‘Pal. Exploration Fund Quart. Paper,’ Jan; 1878, p. 20, suggests Tell el Hesy, a name which he thinks may “be a corruption of Lachlsh.” This is a great mound on the main road from Eleutheropolis to Gaza. It is a strong argument for Um Lakis that there are an immense number of instances where the places retain their ancient names. The strongest argument for Tell el Hesy is that Laehish was evidently a place of some strength. Joshua, we read (verse 32), “encamped against it” (this is said only of La-chish and Eglon), and “took it on the second day,” and it successfully resisted the king of Assyria. Now Tell el Hesy was a “great mound” (Conder); but Um Lakis is described by Vandevelde as situated on “a low mound.” Debir king of Eglon. This, the modern Ajlan, according to the best authorities, was on the road from Eleutheropolis to Gaza, not far from Lachish. Ruins are to be found there; but we have no means of ascertaining the size and importance of the town in the time of Joshua. The LXX; here and elsewhere in this chapter, render by . In Jos 12:11 they read . There is considerable similarity between Gimel and Daleth, Mem and Nun in the ancient Hebrew character. From this a various reading no doubt resulted.
Jos 10:4
Come up unto me. Most of these kings were in the lowlands. Hence the expression “Come up” is accurate in the mouth of the king of Jerusalem, and strengthens the claim of the narrative to be regarded as authentic. That we may smite Gibeon. Or, and we will smite Gibeon. The conjunction . often, but not always, signifies the purpose with which a thing is done. Here there is nothing to guide us in the decision whether the passage indicates the purpose or the result. It is in keeping with the whole history, and is one of the life-like touches with which it abounds, that the king of Jerusalem does not dare to suggest an attack upon Joshua. He can only venture upon assailing Gibeon, standing in less fear of it than of the divinely protected invaders, and hoping at least by this measure to deprive Joshua of formidable allies. “Cure anima humana Verbo Dei se sociaverit, dubitare non debet, statim se inimicos habituram, et eos, quos ante habuerit amicos, in adversa-rios vertendos” (Orig; Hom. 2 on Joshua. See also Ecc 2:1; 2Ti 3:12). “As Satan, so wicked men, cannot abide to lose any of their communitie. If a convert come home, the angels welcome him with songs, the Devils follow him with uprore and furie, his old Partners with seorne and obloquie” (Bp. Hall).
Jos 10:6
To Gilgal. See note on Jos 9:6. That dwell in the mountains. Another life like touch. The details of the confederacy were not fully known to the Gibeonites. There had not been time for that. It was only known that the storm was to break on them from the mountain region, Jerusalem (Jos 9:4) being the head quarters of the expedition. As a matter of fact, the kings who formed the confederacy principally inhabited the lowlands, as we have seen. No one could have hit upon this apparent contradiction yet real agreement but one whose narrative was compiled from authentic sources.
Jos 10:7
Joshua ascended. Keil insists upon the military sense here, as against the literal one, “went up.” He believes in the second Gilgal, which was on higher ground than the first (see Jos 9:6), where, however, we learn that the second Gilgal was not so elevated as Gibeon. And all the mighty men of valour. A selection of the bravest troops seems to be implied here, by the copulative particle. Cf. Gen 3:16, “Thy pain and (especially in the time of) thy pregnancy.”
Jos 10:8
Fear not. The key-note of Joshua’s career, as of the career of every soldier of God (see Jos 1:9; Jos 11:6).
Jos 10:9
Suddenly. By a night march, so that he might surprise the confederates at the dawn of day. One of Joshua’s chief characteristics as a general was celerity (see Jos 11:7). Masius praises Joshua for his prudence and diligence, and adds, “Qua arte Julium Caesarem tot victoriis clarum fuisse ne ipse quidem dissimulavit.” And went up. There is no “and” in the original. It runs thus: “All the night he went (or had gone) up from Gilgal.”
Jos 10:10
Discomfited. The original meaning of the word is to disturb, put in motion. Hence, as here, to throw into confusion, put to rout. Going up to Beth-horon. Beth-horon, or the house of the hollow, consisted of two towns. The one is now called Belt Ur el Foka, or Upper Belt Ur, the other Belt Ur el Tachta, or Lower Beit Ur. To the former led a difficult pass from Gibeon, called the ascent ) to Beth-horon. From the former to the latter ran a path so rocky and rugged that steps have been made in the rock to facilitate the descent. This is the “going down” () to Beth-horon, mentioned in the next verse. So 1 Maccabees 3:16-24. (Cf. Robinson, vol. 3. see. 9). Speaking of the view from Beth-horon, he says, The prospect included the hill country and the plain as far as the eye could reach Upon the side of the long hill that skirts the valley on the south, we could perceive a small village on the W.S.W. called Yalo.” To Azekah. See Jos 15:35; cf. 1Sa 17:1. This place is known to after Jewish history, having been fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:9), besieged by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 34:7), which shows it to have been a place of some importance. It continued to be inhabited after the captivity (Neh 11:30), and has been identified by Vandevelde with Ahbek, a place standing upon a mountain. He supposes it to have been identical with the Aphek in Judah (1Sa 4:1). But this would be better identified with Aphekah (Jos 15:53). Lieut. Conder identifies it with a place called Deir el Aashek, eight miles north of Shochoh. But apparently in the ‘Handbook’ he has abandoned this idea, though he makes no reference to this passage. And unto Makkedah. One of the lowland cities of Judah (see Jos 15:41). Vandevelde identifies it with Summeil, a place where there are the ruins of a very ancient city (see 1Sa 17:28), built of large uncemented stones, a sign of great antiquity, and a large cave, such as that described in 1Sa 17:16. See Robinson, vol. 2. p. 368, who gives not a hint, however, that it is to be identified with Makkedah, nor does he mention a cave. Lieut. Conder identifies it with the present E1 Moghar (The Caves), twenty-five miles from Gibeon along the valley of Ajalon, where several caves are found, the only ones, apparently, in the district. Summeil is a very long distance from Gibeon, and if we are to identify this with Makkedah, which there appears no ground for doing, supernatural assistance would have been required in more than one way for so protracted a pursuit during the same day.
Jos 10:11
Great stones from heaven. Calmet has taken great trouble to collect evidence for showers of actual stones from heaven upon the enemies of Israel. But the next sentence of the verse states that they were hailstones, . And even if there were not sufficient evidence of the fall of hailstones large enough to do great destruction to man and beast, we might fall back upon the theory that this was a miraculous hailstorm, since the whole history teems with miraculous intervention. But in point of fact this is unnecessary. We need not go further back than the famous storm of August 2nd, 1879, for an account of hailstones of enormous size falling within fifty miles of London. And in tropical climates still more destructive storms are of no infrequent occurrence. Every treatise on physical geography teems with instances. Masius refers to the well known story of the relief afforded by a sudden shower to Marcus Aurelius and his army, which he follows Eusebius in thinking attributable to Christian prayers, but which the emperor, in a medal struck on the occasion, attributed to Jupiter Pluvius (see Neander, ‘Hist. of Christian Church,’ vol. 1). He also fcites the verses of Claudian on a similar victory of Theodosius:
“O nimium dilecte Deo, tibi militat aether
Et conjurati veniunt ad praelia venti.”
They were more which died with hailstones. A conclusive proof, both to the Israelites and their antagonists, that the victory was owing rather to the favour of God than to the power of man, and suggesting the exclamation of the Psalmist, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Thy Name give glory” (Psa 115:1). See also Deu 9:4, Deu 9:5. It is, perhaps, worth while to remark that the printers have modernized this passage. For more the original edition has moe; cf. Shakspeare’s ‘ Lover’s Complaint,’ line 47″Found yet mo letters sadly penned in blood.” “Faith and troth they would no mo” (Greene, ‘Shepherd’s Ode ‘).
Jos 10:12
Then, . See Jos 8:30. The period is here more strictly defined by the addition of the words, “on the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel.” Spake Joshua to the Lord. The preposition (literally, “to “) used here, has a variety of meanings in Hebrew. It is employed in such a phrase as “a Psalm of David” (literally, “to David “), but the sense requires “by.” So in Ps 3:9 (8 in our version); Isa 22:5, etc. It has the sense “on account of” in Gen 4:23 (where it is rendered “to” in our version); but the sense requires “in return for,” “on account of.” So also in Jos 9:9, where our version renders “because of.” In the latter part of this verse it signifies “before” (sec note there). In a passage so much disputed as this it is necessary to remember the indefiniteness of the original. Though the rendering, “to the Lord,” is the natural and obvious one, the other meanings cannot be excluded. The more probable rendering is that in the text. Yet, as no address to God is afterwards recorded, the meaning may be “by,” i.e; by the inspiration of, or “because of,” i.e; on account of the great success God had vouchsafed to him, and which he earnestly desired to complete; or “before,” as though Joshua spoke with a consciousness of God’s immediate presence and help. For a full discussion of this remarkable passage the reader is referred to the Introduction. In the sight of Israel. , “before the eyes of.” This brings the scene vividly before our eyes: the storm rolling away over the mountains, the enemy in full retreat and wild confusion, the sun bursting forth from behind the clouds, and the leader of the Israelites, in the sight of all his troops, perhaps on the crest of the eminence on which Gibeon stands, or perhaps at Upper Beth-heron (see note on verse 10), uttering his sublime apostrophe to the “two great lights” which God had given to mankind, not to withdraw their presence until the Lord had “avenged him of his adversaries.” The battle had been short, but decisive. The Israelites had no doubt (verse 9) fallen upon the enemy unawares at the dawn of day as they were preparing for the attack on Gibeon. A few hours had sufficed to put them to the rout, but the utmost expedition would be necessary to complete their destruction before the darkness set in. Hence the ejaculation of the Jewish commander as the difficulty of the task he had imposed upon himself, namely, of utterly annihilating that vast host before light failed, flashed upon him. Sun, stand thou still. The poetic form of this passage is clear to every one who has the smallest acquaintance with the laws of Hebrew poetry. For the Book of Jasher, from which it is apparently a quotation (see Introduction, Sec. 2). Stand thou still. This is not the literal rendering of the original. In no other passage has the verb this sense. The sense “stand still” here would seem to be an inference from verse 14. The literal rendering is, “be dumb.” Hence in Exo 15:16, and in Lam 2:10, it signifies to be dumb with amazement or terror. In 1Sa 14:9 it seems to mean, “stay your advance” (“tarry,” Authorised Version), and the word rendered “stand still” in the last part of the verse is . See also Psa 4:5 (Heb.), where it is rendered “be still,” i.e; “be silent;” and Job 30:27, and Lam 2:18. The word must not therefore be pressed to mean that the sun’s course was completely arrested in the heavens. All that can be assumed is that it did not set until the people were avenged of their enemies. The passage is evidently part of a triumphal song, like that recorded in Jdg 5:1-31; where in Jdg 5:20 there is a very similar thought, which no one ever thinks of interpreting literally. Upon Gibeon. Beth-heron was northwest of Gibeon. The meaning of the phrase would perhaps be, “Sun, rest thou (i.e; cease not to shine) in (or upon) Gibeon.” In the valley of Ajalon. The valley of the deer, according to the Hebrew. The word for valley is Emek here (LXX. ). See note on Jos 8:13. alert became afterwards a Levitical city (see Jos 21:24), and was in the inheritance of Dan (Jos 19:42). See also 1Sa 14:31. It has been identified with the modern Yale (so Robinson, Vandevelde, and Conder), and was therefore four hours’ journey westward from Gibeon. It was possibly near the time of full moon, and Joshua called for the light of the moon to help him when the sun had set. The very fact of his having called upon the moon to come to his assistance is an argument against the literal interpretation of the passage. The moon could have been no help to him as long as the sun was in the heavens. It is thought by some that the moon must have been already in the heavens, or why should Joshua have addressed her? This may have been the ease, and he might thus have adjured the moon to give him her help after the sun had gone down, by which time he would have arrived at Ajalon, a supposition which is quite consistent with probability.
Jos 10:13
The moon stayed. The word , which does mean to stand still, is used here. See also Hab 3:11. But if we are to apply it to the moon and not to the light of the moon, where would be the use of the moon’s standing still in the valley of Ajalon, when she would be low down in the sky westward, and incapable of rendering Joshua any help? If we regard the light of the moon as meant, there is no phrase more common in poetry and poetic prose than to speak of moonbeams “resting” upon an object. The people. The word here is . See note on Jos 5:6. The Book of Jasher. See Introduction, Note 6. And the sun stood still. Here the word is used of the sun. But, as before, it refers naturally enough to the sun’s light. The declining sun continued to shine upon Gibeon, and in the neighbourhood, upon the descent from Beth-heron the Upper, and on the whole region throughout which the fugitive Canaanites were scattered. We need not suppose that all the discomfited host fled in one direction, and possibly in the neighbourhood of Gibeon itself there remained quite enough of the scattered portions of the host to need urgently the sun’s light to complete their destruction. The midst. The Hebrew here is not the usual word for midst. It signifies literally, the half. About a whole day. Literally, as a perfect day. The LXX. renders , and the Vulgate, “Non festinavit occumbere spatio unius dict.” What is the precise meaning of this passage it is difficult to say. The language is very obscure. It has been usually interpreted to mean that the sun remained in the heavens twelve hours longer than usual. But this, though the most natural, is by no means the only interpretation of the passage. The words, “did not hasten to go down as a perfect day,” cannot be proved to have this meaning. In fact, it is difficult to fix a precise meaning on them. They belong rather to the domain of poetry than history, and their language is that of hyperbole rather than of exact narration of facts. Consequently, we are not entitled to build conclusions upon them, or draw arguments from them. It seems tolerably clear that twelve additional hours could hardly have been required by the Israelites for the complete extermination of their enemies.
Jos 10:14
There was no day like that before it or after it. Cf. for this expression 2Ki 18:5; 2Ki 23:22, 2Ki 23:25.
Jos 10:15
And Joshua returned. The historian had at first intended to complete his narrative of these transactions here. But he seems to have altered his intention, and added the execution of the five kings and the subjugation of the remaining cities of southern Palestine which had adhered to the league, as well as their immediate neighbours. He then (verse 43) repeats what he had subjoined here. It is not contended (see Introduction) that the Book of Joshua could not have been compiled from accounts previously existing, though a different view has been taken in this commentary. But what is denied is
(1) that this was an unintelligent or perfunctory compilation, and
(2) that we can at this distance of time, by the simple evidence of style, disintegrate and separate into contradictory fragments the various portions of earlier histories, which we find here digested into a whole. Some copies of the LXX. leave the verse out altogether.
Jos 10:16
In a cave. “In the cave” according to the Masoretic pointing. So the LXX; . Dr. Maclear remarks on the number of caves in Palestine (see Gen 19:30; Jdg 20:47), as well as the well-known caves of Adullam and Engedi (1Sa 22:1, 1Sa 24:3), and the cave in which a hundred prophets were concealed by Obadiah (1Ki 18:4). Also see note on Jos 2:22. But Lieut. Conder believes that in this particular neighbourhood there were few caves. See note on Makkedah above, Jos 2:10. For “these five kings” the original has simply “five kings.” The order of the narrative is somewhat interrupted by the introduction of Joshua’s adjuration, and the account of the flight of the five kings. Compare verse 11 with verse 20.
Jos 10:19
And stay ye not. The original is stronger, and as for you, stand not still. The active general was not to be diverted from his purpose of annihilating the enemy by the important news that the heads of the confederacy were in his hands. He takes immediate measures to secure their persons, but for the present throws his whole strength, as well as that of his army, into the task of following up the advantage he has gained. And smite the hindmost of them. Literally, “and tail them,” a verb denominative from tail. The LXX. renders . The word is of rare occurrence in the Hebrew, but its obvious meaning is as the text. Comp. also the Vulgate, extremos quosque fugientium coedite.
Jos 10:20
Until they were consumed. An expression not necessarily involving the destruction of every individual, but the entire annihilation of them as an army. A few scattered fugitives only remained, who sought the protection of the fortified towns. “Si ca quae per Moysen de tabernaculo vel sacrificiis, et omni illo cultu adumbrabantur, typus ct umbra dicuntur esse ccelestium, sine dubio et bella quae per Jesum geruntur, et regmn et hostium strages, ecelestium rerum umbra et typus esse dicenda aunt, eorum auntaxat bellorum quae Dominus noster Jesus cure suo exercitu et magistratibus id est credentium populis atquo eorum ducibus contra diabolum et ejus angelos praeliatur“. Fenced cities. These were
(1) walled,
(2) crowned with battlements (), and
(3) defended by towers. See for further information the article in Smith’s ‘Dictionary of the Bible.’
Jos 10:21
Makkedah. Because Joshua, in his resolute pursuit of the enemy, had not forgotten the important intelligence reported to him concerning the kings. Most likely the pursuit lasted one or two days. After the return to Makkedah the execution of the kings was carried out with much ceremony (verse 24), and their bodies hung up before all Israel, not so much as a memorial of the victory, as to impress upon the Israelites the duty of exterminating their enemies, a duty which the after history of the twelve tribes shows them to have been very prone to forget. None moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. Literally, He did not sharpen against the children of Israel, against a man, his tongue. The Hebrew construction here is somewhat unusual. Houbigant and Maurer suppose that is a mistake of the copyist and that is the subject of the sentence. They would translate as the LXX; “no man muttered with his tongue against the children of Israel.” But Keil and Rosenmuller prefer a rendering agreeing with that of the Authorised Version, node moved (or sharpened) his tongue against the children of Israel, not against a single man of them. And this is a far more forcible way of expressing the awe in which they were held. A still stronger expression is to be found in Exo 11:7; cf. Judith 11:19.
Jos 10:23
The king of Jerusalem. The names of the kings are mentioned to emphasise the significance of the action recorded in the next Terse. The LXX. has again here,
Jos 10:24
Which went with him. There is a very unusual Hebrew phrase here. Not only is the article used instead of the relative pronoun which occasionally occurs, as in 1Ch 29:17, but the form of the verb is Arabic. None of the commentators give a satisfactory explanation of this fact, and perhaps the suggestion of Houbigant is to be adopted, that the which follows has been accidentally doubled by the transcriber. Kennicott thinks that some Arabic transcriber has inadvertently given the verb an Arabic form, which is very improbable. Keil thinks that it is a sort of intermediate step between the more ancient termination n and the more modern one in . But if so, it is strange that we should only meet with it twice in Holy Scripture. Haverniek regards it as an archaic form. Put your feet on the necks of these kings. This was a most common Oriental practice, as the Assyrian and Egyptian monuments prove. Calvin explains the otherwise “boundless arrogance” of the act by the Divine command. But, as Keil remarks, it was a “symbolical act, intended to inspirit the people.” See also Psa 110:1; 1Co 15:25. The fact that this was done, not by Joshua, but by the captains (; from to cut off), i.e; the inferior officers of the Israelitish army, makes a wide distinction between this and the usual arrogance of Oriental conquerors, and marks the very great moral superiority of Joshua over any other leader known to history either in his own time or in subsequent ages. For whereas the act was usually an act of arrogant triumph on the part of the leader himself, here the leader modestly disclaims any such superiority, and calls upon his subordinates to assume it, as a sign that the Israelitish people, whose representatives they were, should triumph over all their enemies. The next verse explains the reason of the injunction. To the kings themselves no insolence was displayed, for it was but the well known and perfectly understood symbol of their undeniable condition of subjection at that moment. But, of course, we are not to look for that gentleness and humanity in so far distant an age, which would at the present day be shown by a Christian general, or even for the moderation and clemency displayed in the hour of victory by an Alexander, a Scipio, a Caesar, trained under the maxims of Latin and Greek philosophy. See a fuller discussion of the subject in the Introduction. Origen remarks here, “Atque utinam Dominus meus Jesus filius Dei mihi istud concedat, et jubeat me pedibus meis conculcare spiritum fornicationis, et caleare super cervices spiritus iracundise et furoris, calcare avaritise daemonem, caicare jactantiam, conterere pedibus superbiae spiritum.”
Jos 10:25
Fear not, nor be dismayed. As Keil remarks, these arc the very words which God used to Joshua when He bade him enter upon his great task. See Jos 1:9. So now may the experience of one Christian in the warfare against the powers of evil be imparted as encouragement to another. Ye fight. The word “ye” is emphatic. Perhaps Joshua would convey the idea that the Israelites were not to attribute their success to their leader, or to any Divine favor resting upon him as an individual, but to believe that, as long as they served God faithfully, His presence would be as much with them as it was at that particular time and under that particular leader.
Jos 10:26
And hanged them. This was also a symbolical act, intended to encourage Israel in their warfare. All that day, until its close, were the bodies of the five kings visible to the whole host, to remind them of the signal victory God had vouchsafed them. The same thing had been done at Ai. See Jos 8:29.
Jos 10:27
At the time of the going down of the sun. See Deu 21:23. Joshua set the example to the Israelites of a strict observance of the law. And we may observe that this law is only to be found in Deuteronomy. On the “Deuteronomist” theory we have to suppose that the Deuteronomist, with a lynx eye to the chance of recommending the provisions which he had invented, and to the importance of representing Joshua as a strict observer of them, inserted this piece of detail with an obvious purpose. It is a wonder that this should be almost the only “Deuteronomist” precept thus emphasised. We find it noticed above (Jos 8:29), and in both cases the obvious explanation is that this sign of triumph made a great impression on those who witnessed it, and that it was carried out in strict fulfilment of enactments already existing. On the other hand, as we have seen, there is no attempt in Jos 8:30-35 to emphasise thus the obedience to the command in Deu 27:2-8. It is from minute details of this kind, which escape the superficial observer, that the authenticity of the Book of Deuteronomy is established. Until this very day. The form of the expression here is singularly different from the expression found elsewhere when the meaning suggested by the Authorized Version is to be conveyed. But for the word we should translate “on the self-same day,” as in Gen 7:13, etc. may be a slip of the pen for which is seldom, if ever, used of time (only, if at all, in Ps 48:15, and Pro 25:11), though the idiom is found in Arabic, in Greek (as in ), in German (as in auf den Tag) and in English, “on that day;” or we may, with Keil, refer back to Gen 7:18, and trans. late “they cast them into the cave where they had been hid, and where they had placed great stones unto that very day.” For there may have been an interval of several days between the confinement of the kings in the cave and their death at the hands of Joshua. See note on verse 21.
Jos 10:28
And that day, i.e; the day of the battle of Beth-horon. Not only did Joshua smite his enemies “unto Makkedah,” but the incarceration of the kings in a cave at Makkedah showed that in the headlong flight of the enemy, Makkedah, which though not mentioned by name among the cities of the confederation, was no doubt, to a certain extent, implicated in it. It is worthy of remark that while Libnah, Debir, and Makkedah are mentioned among the cities destroyed in this campaign, though they are not named among the cities of the league, Jarmuth, on the contrary, though it is one of the cities named, does not appear to have been taken with the rest. With the edge of the sword. Literally, “to the mouth of the sword,” from its devouring character. All the souls. All the human beings. The ban under which everything in Jericho was laid did not apply to the other cities, though (see note on Jos 8:26) all the inhabitants, without distinction, were to be exterminated.
Jos 10:29
All Israel. The expression is not to be pressed in a literal sense. “All Israel” is simply equivalent to “all his disposable troops.” Libnah. This belonged to the lowlands of Palestine. See note on Jos 9:1; also Jos 15:42. It became a Levitical city. It revolted from Judah in the reign of Joram (2Ki 8:22). It seems to have returned to its allegiance, since we find it not included in the conquest of Israel by Shalmaneser, while, on the other hand, it undergoes a siege among the fenced cities of Judah (2Ki 18:13; 2Ki 19:8). The cause (see Blunt ‘Undesigned Coincidences,’ part 2:27) of this return is not far to seek. The Levites cast off the authority of Joram “because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers” (2Ch 21:10, 2Ch 21:11). It probably remained independentfor it was not likely to have joined itself to Israel, either from geographical position or religious principlesuntil the accession of Joash terminated the connection between the royal house of Judah and the descendants of the wicked Ahab. Libnah, or the white city, has been identified with Tell es Safieh, the Blanche Garde of the Crusaders. See Stanley, ‘Sinai and Palestine,’ pp. 207, 258. Lieut. Conder, however, supposes it to have been Eleutheropolis, now Beit Jibrin, and Capt. Warren believes he has found it at Ibna. Vanclevelde suggests yet another site. But Lieut. Conder’s description of the hill on which Tell es Safieh stands as “a white precipice of many hundred feet”, would account for the name Libnah.
Jos 10:31
And Joshua passed. No indication of time is given in the rest of this chapter. The campaign was probably an affair of some weeks, though none of the cities could have made a prolonged resistance.
Jos 10:33
Then Horam king of Gezer. It is remarkable that, as Gezer lay somewhat out of the line of march, Joshua did not capture it. Accordingly, in spite of the alleged carelessness of our compiler, who is credited with having put together shreds of the various narratives in the most perfunctory manner, he takes care to add (Jos 16:10) that the inhabitants of Gezer were not driven out. In like manner, with the single exception of Hebron, the people of which must have at once chosen another king, he carefully omits the mention of the king in the cities which had lost their kings in the battle before Gibeon. See also note on verse 32. Thus a careful examination of the narrative puts the care and accuracy of the history very carefully before us. With regard to the situation of Gezer, it has been accurately determined by the Palestine Exploration Society. The Levitical boundaries, with Greek and Hebrew inscriptions, signifying the boundary of Gezer, have been discovered by M. Ganneau. Tell el Jezer was first identified by M. Ganneau with Gezer. Continuing his researches, he found on a slab of rock nearly horizontal and very nearly two inches in length a bilingual inscription, in Greek and Hebrew, signifying the limit of Gezer ( ). Since the inscription is Greek and Talmudical in its character (the word has not the signification of “limit” in the Hebrew Scriptures) it must, in spite of the early form of the letters, belong to a period long subsequent to the Babylonish captivity. M. Ganneau suggests the Maccabean period. (See below) But it is, no doubt, the result of a remeasurement in accordance with the rules laid down in Num 35:5. Some have supposed the above to have been designed to fix the limit of the sabbath day’s journey. But it is more probable that it served as a boundary between the Levitical and the tribal territory, the more especially as the words are so placed as to be read by one entering the town. It was a Levitical city (Jos 21:21; 1Ch 6:67), or at least assigned to the Levites; but Jdg 1:29 shows that the Canaanitish population lived on with the Levites. It may have been the nondescript character of the population that caused it to fall an easy prey to Pharaoh (1Ki 9:16, where note that the Canaanites had never been driven out); but when Solomon espoused his daughter he restored Gezer to Israel. Under the same name Gazara it plays a conspicuous part in the wars of the Maccabees (1Mal Jdg 9:52; 2Mal 10:32). From the latter passage we learn that it was “a very strong hold.” It retains its old name, being now known as Tell el Jezer.
Jos 10:36
Went up. The accuracy of the geographical details must here be noticed. Joshua “passes” from one city to another in the plain. He “goes up” to Hebron, which is situated among the hills. See note on verse 3; cf. also Jos 11:21; Jos 14:12. Hebron. Commentators of the school of Maurer and De Wette regard the taking of Hebron and Debir as irreconcilable with Jos 11:21, Jos 14:12, Jos 15:13-17. But this is by no means certain. The operations of Joshua were sudden, and, so far as they went, decisive, But it is never pretended that his conquest of southern Palestine was complete. It is impossible to assert this in the face of such passages as Jos 16:10, Jos 17:12, Jos 17:13, and especially in the face of such a fact as the continued existence of the Philistine power. Joshua extirpated the inhabitants of the cities he took, but there were many otherssome of at least equal importancewhich he did not take. We may instance Gaza, Garb, and Ashdod. See Jos 11:22. Their inhabitants came and occupied again the cities which Joshua had destroyed, first when he was engaged in operations in the north and west, and again when the Israelites had begun to repose upon their laurels, and to neglect the task God had set them, namely, the complete extermination of the Canaanite race from Palestine. Thus Joshua returned from the north and found a large part of the country he had subdued reoccupied by the giant tribes of the south. He “cut them off from Hebron and Debir,” i.e; he compelled them to evacuate those cities, but there was no necessity for a second of either. Yet at a later period they still lurked in the neighborhood (Jos 14:12), perhaps in the mountain fastnessess (a very common thing in the history of nations, as the history of our own country, of the Basques in the Pyrenees, and of Swiss freedom shows), and were strong enough to regain Debir (Jos 15:17). Jerusalem itself (see note on verse 1) had a similar fate. After the capture of Jerusalem the Israelites were unable to hold it permanently (Jos 15:63; cf. Jdg 1:8, Jdg 1:21). And such expressions as “all the cities thereof” show that the south of Palestine was thickly populated. Each city was, like Gibeon, the head of a small confederacy. And as the chief cities smitten by Joshua would have been but a tithe of the confederations existing in the south, the task of reoccupying must have been an easy one. It seems to be implied in Jdg 1:1-36. that Caleb took Hebron and Debir after Joshua’s death.
Jos 10:38
And Joshua returned. Rather, Joshua turned. Debir was not on the way back from Hebron to Eglon, but in a different direction. His march was now southward instead of eastward. Debir. A city of importance, since only Hebron and it are mentioned in the history of the campaign as having cities dependent on them. It is also called Kirjath-Sepher (Jos 15:15; Jdg 1:11), and Kirjath-Sannah (Jos 15:49). The first name signifies “the city of the hook,” from whence it has been argued that it was the seat of what we should now call an university. Recent discoveries have rendered this supposition by no means improbable. The Hittite remains have proved that people to have been a more influential and intellectual people in early times than had ever been supposed until lately. Others have suggested that it was the abode of an oracle, which is rendered probable if Debir be connected with word. The meaning of Kirjath-Sannah is by no means clear. Some have derived it from the Arabic “sunna,” law, or doctrine (whence the Sunnite sect among the Mohammedans), and some from or , a palm branch, or more probably a thornbush. Ritter thinks that both Kirjath-Sepher and Kirjath-Sannah imply the place where the public records were kept. Perhaps what is meant is that, like Mona or Anglesea to the Druids, Debir was the home of the Canaanitish religious traditions. Debir appears as Dapur in the list of fortified cities in Canaan captured by Seti I. and Rameses II. of Egypt. They are depicted on the monumental records. See Tomkins, ‘Studies of the Time of Abraham,’ p. 84. Debir has lately been identified by the Palestine Survey. Lieut. Conder fixes it at El Dho-heriyeh or Dhaheriyeh. The identification depends upon the passages Jos 15:19, and Jdg 1:15. See note on the former. The grounds of the identification are as follows:
1. Debir (see last note) was southward of Hebron.
2. The circumstances require an arid locality, but within a moderate distance two sets of springs, or pools of water.
3. There must be signs of ancient dwellings, and, as Debir was a royal city, it must be the converging point of the various roads.
All these conditions are fulfilled by El Dhaheriyeh. The rock excavations, the sign of the most ancient dwellings, are plentiful there; ancient roads are found converging in all directions. And six miles and a half north of the village fourteen springs, or pools, are found, some at the head of the valley, some lower down, and some at a lower level still. The distance of these from Debit is in exact accordance with the narrative. They are too far off to be included as a matter of course within the boundaries of Debit, and would naturally enough become the object of such a petition as Achsah is said to have preferred in the passage above cited. Wilson’s ‘Lands of the Bible,’ 1.351, speaks of the excavations here, but does not appear to have been aware of their antiquity. He describes the inhabitants as living in them. But he remarksand it is a singular confirmation of Lieut. Conder’s subsequent discoverythat the sites of five out of the ten cities mentioned in conjunction with Debir in Jos 15:48-51, are to be found in the immediate neighbourhood of Dhaheriyeh. From this passage and some others, however, Knobel has anticipated Lieut. Conder’s suggestion. He describes Thaharijeh, as he calls it, as on the high road from Gaza, with ruins of great antiquity, situated in the midst of a country which, though barren in appearance and destitute of trees and arable land, is yet rich in pasture. But he says nothing of the springs, the only thing wanting to make the evidence complete. Ritter’s description of the place as the “first place of importance” on arriving in Palestine from the south, and as the meeting place of the roads from Beersheba, from Gaza and Egypt, and from Petra and Sinai, confirm Lieut. Conder’s view, but Bitter does not seem to have identified it with Debir, though he regards it as “one of a series of fortresses designed to protect the southern frontier of Judaea”. It became a Levitical city (Jos 21:15; 1Ch 6:58).
Jos 10:40
So Joshua smote. We have now before us the defined locale of Joshua’s operations. He smote “the hills,” or rather the “hill country,” a tract of country extending from Jerusalem southward. This limestone range formed the watershed between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. The south, now often spoken of by travellers by its Hebrew name of Negeb, was, as the name signifies, an almost waste district of limestone hills (cf. the Mount Halak, or smooth mountain, of Jos 11:19). It was once more fertile than it is at present, but could never have been a very fruitful region. As Knobel says, it is midway between waste and fertile land. It possesses grass and herbs and flowers, especially in the rainy season, and is thus suitable for pasture. But there are many tracts of sand and heath, and it is not watered by brooks, characteristics it has in common with the wilderness. It was also hilly, though not so precipitous as the mountain district. Tristram describes some of the mountains as rising gradually to a height of 3,200 feet. Bartlett, however, who devoted more time to the south country, describes it as treeless, but fertile as a corn producing country, and as very distinct in its physical features from the desert, or what is known as the “Wilderness of Judaea” (‘From Egypt to Palestine,’ ch. 17; 18). The best description of this region is found, however, in ‘Scripture Lands,’ by the late Rev. G. S. Drew. He says, “For a few weeks late in spring time a smiling aspect is thrown over the broad downs, when the ground is reddened by the anemone in contrast with the soft white of the daisy and the deep yellow of the tulip and marigold. But this flush of beauty soon passes, and the permanent aspect of the country is not wild indeed, or hideous, or frightfully desolate, but, as we may say, austerely plain; a tame, unpleasing aspect, not causing absolute discomfort while one is in it, but left without one lingering reminiscence of anything lovely, awful, or sublime.” The rocks are occasionally rendered fertile by the system of terrace cultivation, more common, as almost every traveller since Maundrell has remarked, in former times than now. That keen observer remarks, that if any one were to object that Palestine could not have maintained the vast population stated in Scripture to have inhabited it, he would be confuted by the fact that the most cursory observation shows that “the very rocks were made fruitful,” perhaps even to a greater extent than plains could be, “by this method.” The “vale,” or Shephelah (see note on Jos 9:1), was a low strip of coast extending from the foot of Carmel to near Gaza. The , or “springs, as it is translated in our version (better, “watercourses,” or “slopes,” as Knobel),was a fertile country, intersected by ravines and brooks, situated between the mountains and the sea. The word only occurs in the Pentateuch and Joshua (a fact to be noted in forming an opinion on the genuineness of these books). See Num 21:15 says that the Apostles gave order that the Scriptures of the Old Testament were to be read in church, which, he adds, “they would not have done had not these carnal wars prefigured the spiritual warfare which we have to carry on against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.'” Gaza. Hebrew Azzah (or strong), as in 1Ki 4:24. Joshua’s conquests extended to, but did not comprise, Gaza (Jos 11:22; Jos 13:2, Jos 13:3). It was to have been the uttermost limit of the Israelitish territory (see Gen 10:19). It actually was so in the days of Solomon (1Ki 4:24). But until then the Israelites had not been able to subdue it, though (Jos 15:45-47) the whole land of the Philistines was assigned to Judah. What results this failure produced upon the after history of Israel we read in the Books of Judges and Samuel. Not till the reign of David was the Philistine power entirely broken. And Gaza played a very important part in the Philistine confederation. See Jdg 16:1-4, Jdg 16:21 -23; 1Sa 6:16, 1Sa 6:17. Gaza has retained its importance even to the present day. Its situation near the sea, and, still more, its position upon the high road from Palestine to Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to Arabia Petraea, have secured it this permanence. When Robinson visited it its population was between fifteen and sixteen thousandlarger even than that of Jerusalem. And it seems to have largely increased in population since the beginning of the century. Goshen. LXX. Not, of course, identical with the land of Goshen in Egypt, but inasmuch as it lay to the southeast of Palestine, in the direction of their former habitation, it may possibly have been so named in memory of that sojourn. A city of that name is mentioned in the mountains of Judah, together with Debir (Jos 15:51). It clearly (Jos 11:16) refers to a large district in the southeast, but its precise locality is not known. Even unto Gibeon. The conquests of Israel did not extend further in the northwest than Gibeon, from whence Joshua had set out on his triumphant campaign.
Jos 10:42
At one time, i.e; in one campaign, carried on without a respite. Because the Lord God fought for Israel. It is the peculiar feature of Old Testament history that it draws the veil from the unseen. Other historians are content to note the secondary causes. The Scriptures trace all to their original sourcethe will of God. And it is His will, as the page of history shows, with exceptions that do but prove the rule, that a just cause, assisted by bravery; purity, and devotion combined, will not fail, in the long run, to overcome force and fraud. Wars of independence, wars undertaken to chastise wickedness and oppression, seldom fail in their object. And when they do fail, it is generally from the presence of similar crimes among those who undertake the righteous cause, and sully it by their own vices and crimes. History furnishes us with abundant instances of this. The leaders of the struggle for the Protestant Reformation in Europe were often almost as crafty, as ambitious, as self seeking, as immoral, as those against whom they contended. Struggles patriotic in their origin have been marred by the selfish aims of those who carried them on. Selfishness inspires distrust, and distrust produces disunion. But where “the Lord God fights for Israel,” where noble objects are pursued by worthy means, there is a moral strength which triumphs over the greatest obstacles. Such an instance we have in modern history in the career of a man like William the Silent. Nearly ruined by the cowardice, obstinacy, and selfishness of his associates, his faith, courage, and perseverance carried a struggle hopeless at the outset to a triumphant conclusion. Men may cry that “Providence is on the side of the big battalions,” but “the Lord’s hand is not waxen short.”
Jos 10:43
Unto the camp at Gilgal. See note, Jos 9:6; Jos 10:15 confirms the view taken in Jos 9:6.
HOMILETICS
Jos 10:1-43
The great victory and its results.
Many of the considerations which this passage suggests have been already anticipated. Thus the celerity of Joshua’s march (verse 9) suggests the same set of ideas as Jos 4:10. The destruction of the cities teaches the same lessons as the destruction of Jericho; while the miraculous interposition in the battle of Beth-horon is hardly to be distinguished, as a source of spiritual instruction, from the destruction of Jericho. Again, the confederacy of the kings (Jos 4:1-5) has been already treated under Jos 9:1, Jos 9:2. Yet some few points remain to be noticed.
I. DIVINE HELP DOES NOT EXCLUDE HUMAN EXERTION, Joshua went forth to battle relying upon a special promise of God. Yet he went up “suddenly,” we are told. Thus, so far from the certainty of success diminishing energy, it should rather increase it. The apostles went forth relying on a Divine promise that God’s truth should permeate the world. But though this promise relieved them. from the restless anxiety which too often oppresses their successors in the work, it did not relieve them from the necessity of exertion. And accordingly we find them untiring in their exertions to spread the gospel, and also to lay firmly the foundations of the Christian Church. The same untiring spirit of exertion should animate us now. Success is assured in the end, and for that very reason we should not slacken, but rather the contrary, in our efforts to propagate truth. The two opposite rotors which retard the success of God’s cause are
(1) a needless anxiety for immediate results, which cause us to take measures which betray a want of faith, and which therefore, relying on the arm of flesh, are predestined to fail; and
(2) a blind fatalism which leaves all to God, forgetting that the forces of His kingdom require to be set in motion by man before they can take effect.
What is wanted is
(1) a sublime carelessness about results, when the means God has directed to be employed have been employed; and
(2) a continual effort to put those means in operation. Untiring in preaching the gospel, in using the means of grace, and in “good works and alms deeds,” we are yet to be content with doing what is ordained, and leaving God to prosper, as He pleases, what we have done.
II. THE ANSWER TO PRAYER IS MORE EFFECTIVE THAN OUR WORK. Had Joshua not done his best, the hailstones would not have fallen. But inasmuch as he was doing his work, God helped him, and more execution was done by God from heaven than by Joshua’s troops on earth. So he who works and prays not will be rewarded with less success than he who works and prays. If we are not as successful as we could wish, we may ask whether we have asked God to work with us. It is a touching story which has been told of Sir D. Brewster’s father, that he was so well known as a man of prayer that when any unexpected and almost marvellous conversion occurred in his parish, it was attributed by his people to his prayers. Perhaps one of the reasons why the Roman Catholic Church still maintains so strong a hold upon the world is because of the fervent belief still retained among her people of the power of prayer. Such prayer is often sadly misdirected, and yet, as a recognition of a power above that hears and answers prayer, it must be more acceptable in God’s sight than the philosophical Protestantism which denies the existence of a Father in heaven, ridicules prayer to God, especially for temporal blessings, on the ground of the invariability of law, and thus practically abolishes the God of the Old Testament and of the New, and makes void the gospel of Jesus Christ. Surely superstition itself is better than this denial of the loving Fatherhood of God. The lesson here concerns spiritual rather than temporal blessings, but it none the less contains a protest against the sceptical spirit which would lead us to think it unnecessary to maintain by prayer an attitude of continual dependence on God.
III. HEAVENLY LIGHT SHALL NEVER FAIL HIM WHO IS FIGHTING IN GOD‘S CAUSE. Joshua asked for light, that he might destroy God’s enemies. So must the Christian ask for light, that he may distinguish friends from foestruth from falsehood. He has the light of God’s Word, which, coming direct from God, is symbolised by the sun; and the light of man’s preaching of that Word, which, inasmuch as it only reflects the Word itself, is not inaptly typified by the moon. We need not fear that that light will ever fail us; and yet we do well to pray that it may continue to be afforded us. We may, in the strength of faith, pray that the sun may for us stand still upon Gibeon and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, until God be avenged on His enemies, sin and falsehood and their allies, through our means.
IV. WE SHALL “SPEAK OF HIS TESTIMONIES EVEN BEFORE KINGS, AND SHALL NOT BE ASHAMED.” Joshua makes a great point of the subjugation of the kings to the people of Israel. He makes his captains set their feet upon their necks to show that none can resist the armies of the Lord.
(1) So our Joshua tells us that we shall stand “before governors and kings for his sake.” And so it has been in the history of His Church. “The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers took counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed.” First, in the case of those who first preached the gospel. It was preached for three centuries in direct defiance of the highest human authority, among Jews and Gentiles alike. Next, the defenders of true against false doctrine, of justice and mercy as against violence and cruelty, had to stand before kings and rebuke them in the name of the Lord. When the great revival of zeal and reverence for God’s Word took place in the fifteenth century, the influence of the mighty was frequently exerted to crush it. And so it will ever be. “Not many mighty, not many noble,” are to be found in revivals of faith and zeal. Authority frowns on them, prescription is against them, force is invoked to put them down, yet they thrive. The hand of man is powerless against the truth. The battle is long and fierce, but it is won at last. And the principles but lately despised are triumphant. Their holders put “their feet on the necks of kings,” for the rulers who resisted to the utmost are forced to own the power of the truth against which they contended as long as they were able. Thus we learn the lesson of confidence taught by Joshua, “Fear not, neither be dismayed, be strong and of a good courage, for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.” Again
(2) we learn the same confidence against tyrant lusts, “which war against the soul.” Long and obstinate is the conflict; but if it be waged in faith and prayer, the Lord fights for us out of heaven; light is shed upon our onward path, the light of a right judgment and a Christian prudence, until at last we put our feet upon the necks of those “kings” that would have enslaved us, and then our Joshua slays them, that they trouble us no more.
HOMILIES BY R. GLOVER
Jos 10:1
Adoni-zedek, a lesson for nations and individuals.
These Jebusltes had two or three ideas at least which are worth remarking. They had a true idea of the essential condition of a nation’s prosperityfor the people of Jebus had called their city “Salem”that is, “peace.” And the title of their king was Melchizedek, or Adoni-zedekKing or Lord of Righteousness. These names are amongst the earliest contributions to the science of political economy. The one name, “Salem,” contains as much valuable suggestion as is found in many books on “the wealth of nations.” The second condenses all principles of sovereignty into a single word. No one is a good rafter unless the title Adoni-zedek would suit him. King or Parliament, the Father in his family, the Prime Minister in his Cabinet, all should remember that the ruler of men is really an usurper unless the title, Lord of Righteousness, suit him. Let us look at this name, and observe
I. We have here A GRAND TITLE FOR A RULER. Perhaps the people had degenerated since the days of Abraham. Then this ruler was that Melchi-zedek, who was a “Priest of the Most High God.” However degenerate, they cling to this title, and as the kings of Egypt were Pharaohs; and those of Gath, Abimelechs; and those of Damascus, Benhadads; so those of Jerusalem were Adoni-zedeks. There is an instinct in all people that desires the throne to be filled with righteousness. Just as in our days, the Khan of Merv has carried the same titlesKing of Righteousness and King of Peaceso in the absence of constitutional checks on regal power, they gave their kings the title which was meant to be at once impulse and restraint. The lesson of this title should be learned by all of us. In a ruler of men there are many qualities requisite. Wisdom to perceive the true necessities of those under his care; strength and energy enough to carry out the dictates of wisdom; courage to face and provide calmly against every, danger. But when the utmost value has been allowed to these supreme qualities, an accurate judgment will still allow a higher value to one otherthat of EQUITY. In outside relations, equity will enable a king to maintain peace with neighboring peoples better than any diplomacy or strength could do. In ancient days, the king was the judge of all causes, from those of our County Courts to those of the Court of Chancery. What a boon to a people when the judge was an embodiment of justice inaccessible to bribes, ready patiently to unravel the entangled case, never misled by partiality or by antipathy, but to those liked or disliked meting out even-handed justice. This old people saw all these things, anti when a Magna Charts was an impossibilty, they tried to compass its ends by giving their king this stimulative and restraining title. Righteousness is still the most essential quality of a statesman. Fairness of mind that holds the balance evenly between all conflicting claimsthis has been the distinguishing quality of all the English statesmen of this century who have earned the nation’s gratitude. It is the quality needed in our Legislature today. It is the quality needed by every employer of labour. The serving classes want no favour, nor mere amiability in a master. Fairness will ever secure their deepest attachment. A father in a family should be a “Lord of Righteousness.” In short, this equity is the supreme want everywhere. People would be more charitable if they were more just. And peace in homes, in churches, in nations would be much less frequently imperilled, if only fairness of mind moderated the claims we make, and permitted us to see whatever element of right lay in the claims made upon us. If we have here a good title, observe secondly
II. We have A GREAT TITLE BORNE BY ONE OF A POOR NATURE. Name and nature do not always correspond. And here “The Lord of Righteousness “is found acting unrighteously. Gibeon with its sister cities was probably disliked for its republican institutions by all those neighbouring states that maintained a monarchy. Now to the fault of liberty it adds the sin of wisdom. A maxim, unfortunately not obsolete today, was accepted thenthat the making of any alliance containing a possibility of danger to us is a sufficient casus belli against the state that makes it. His title had not sufficiently instructed this ruler to make him see the wrong of this position. He is perhaps the more easily led to make war against Gibeon because, guarding as it did one of the great passes into the heart of the kingdom, to seize it seemed the best way of securing the safety of the country from Israelitish attack. And so unrighteously the “King of Righteousness” attacks his neighbours; and, like so many, shows that the grandeur of a title is not always matched by greatness in him who bears it. A long way from us in time, locality, and circumstances, how near us in nature does this characteristic bring him. Sometimes we inherit great names, and forget the lesson of the poet
“They who on the deeds of ancestors enlarge,
Do but produce the debt, not the discharge.”
Sometimes God gives us names, which it is our duty to illustrate and justify. “Children of Light, “Sons of God, “Heirs of God, “Chosen Generation,” “Royal Priesthood.” Is there never any discrepancy between the titles we bear and the lives we lead? We cannot help having these great names applied to us. They belong to all who have been born again by the birth which is from above. And God gives us them that they may “marshal us the way that we are going.” Let us try and act up to our name, and not have the melancholy fate of being condemned by the very title that we bear. Lastly observe
III. PROFESSION CANNOT SAVE FROM PERDITION. This man with the grand name perishes miserablydishonoured, hanged, involving in his own ruin that of his people and that of all those confederated with him. The providence and the judgment of God are no respecters of persons. As we sow we reap. The obedience of faith is salvation. The unrighteousness of self will is destruction. Let us see that we have more than the “name to live,” lest the greater name only condemn us to the greater destruction.G.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
Jos 10:4
Connection with the Church a source of worldly trouble.
The trouble which came upon Gibeon through her connection with Israel affords an illustration of the experience of all who associate themselves with the career and destinies of the Church.
I. THE EXISTENCE OF THIS TROUBLE. Though the true Church is an ark of safety, she is an ark upon stormy waters. He who joins the Church on earth joins the Church militant, and shares her dangers (Joh 15:18).
(1) So long as the world is at enmity with God, they who stand on the side of the people of God will be subject to the assaults of the world in
(a) persecution,
(b) social ostracism,
(c) calumny,
(d) ridicule, etc.
(2) While the Church is fulfilling her mission to conquer the world for Christ, she will bring the hatred of the world upon all who are identified with her (2Co 11:23-27).
(3) It is vain to expect to receive the advantages of religion and to escape from the cost of them (Luk 14:28). He who would win heaven must lose something on earth (Mat 6:24).
II. THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS TROUBLE. All trouble permitted by Providence is blessing in disguise. So is this:
(1) It serves as a test of genuineness. We may join the Church
(a) from motives of selfish pride and profit,
(b) under the influence of superficial sentiment.
Worldly trouble directly arising out of our Church relations proves the genuineness of our attachment to Christ by showing whether we are willing to risk danger and suffer loss for Him (Mat 3:12; Mat 13:21).
(2) It promotes union among Christians. The Gibeonites were drawn closer to the Israelites by the threatened danger. Selfish isolation, mutual jealousy, divisions, and ecclesiastical quarrels spring up in times of peace. Sympathy and charity are developed in seasons of adversity.
(3) It cultivates unworldliness. The friendship of the world is a dangerous snare. The favour of the world brings with it the spirit of the world. In worldly prosperity the Church tends to worldly habits. The enmity of the world drives us to the sympathy of God and refuges of unworldly living.
III. THE REMEDIES FOR THIS TROUBLE. Gibeon was threatened with destruction, but on her appeal to Israel her allies fought for her, and God secured them the victory.
(1) The remedy for worldly trouble arising from our religious associations will be found in mutual help. The Christian Church is a brotherhood. We are called to bear one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2). The rich should help the poor, the strong the weak, the prosperous at home the persecuted abroad.
(2) The remedy will also be found in the Divine aid. God fought with Israel in the defence of Gibeon (Jos 10:13). They who are brought into danger for the cause of God will find that God is on their side and will secure their deliverance. The real danger is to those who are fighting against God. It is safer to be in trouble with the people of God than in prosperity with their enemies, for God must and will triumph in the end, and then His people will share His victory (Joh 16:33).W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY R. GLOVER
Jos 10:8-11
The battle of Beth-horon and its lessons.
It may seem as if there was too much carnage about this account for Scripture purposes. Yet it is well to dwell on it. Dean Stanley treats this battle as the Marathon of the religious history of the world. It was the crisis in which the hosts who were, unconsciously to some extent, fighting for truth, righteousness, progress, and liberty, met with those fighting, to some extent unconsciously, for a depraved religion, licentious morals, for retrogression and decay. Like the siege of Leyden, or the defeat of the Armada, such a battle means far more than is obvious on the surface. The sacred cause of man is involved in it. And it is worth our while, to linger over some of its lessons. Mark at least these.
I. GOD USES OUR EFFORT TO FULFIL HIS PROMISES, Israel was apt, perhaps, to expect the possession of the land to come too easily. Jericho was got by a miracle, Ai by stratagem, Gibeon by submission; and perhaps the ease of these successes led them to dream dreams of gaining the whole land without an effort. But all the steps of progress are not to be so easy. Miracles come only where weakness needs them. In the degree in which they develop vigour and self reliance, the miraculous element in their experience will grow less. Always sufficientthere will never be more help of God than is needed. And so with the confidence and vigour developed by their successes, comes greater strain upon their powers. The nations of southern Canaan gather together to oppose their progress: to gain possession of that Gibeon which commands the entrance by the pass of Beth-horon to the land. And at once “foemen worthy of their steel” confront them. God will fulfil His promise to give them the land of Canaan; but He will employ their effort and their prowess to realise the fulfilment of His promise. And to some extent by their efforts is His promise fulfilled. Such is all life. It is the heir of promises which, however, require our effort for their fulfilment.
(a) For instance: Truth is a land of promise. Only when God gives can we get it. “The Spirit of truth” alone can impart it. It is a land flowing with milk and honeythe home of God’s elect. But though thus a land of God’s promises, and in a special sense His gift, it comes not to the inert or the supineto the critics that are at ease in Zion. It comes to the fighters only. When we face bravely all lies, strive fearlessly to see and grasp and own the truth, get lodgment for it in the heart by obeying it, strive against doubts that rise within us, and fears disabling us, then do we gain “the promised possession.”
(b) Salvation is God’s promise, and a Divine gift in all its elements. Obviously it is beyond our power to compass it. Only the God that made us can mend us. And atonement, grace, repentance, faith, perseverance to the end, are all God’s gift. But there is the battle of Beth-horon at the outset of every Christian life, and many a conflict afterwards, a strait gate to begin with, and a narrow way to follow. And if we do not make the effort and fight for the attainment of what we desire, we shall not find it.
(c) Character is another Canaan. A thing of promise, but only reached by effort. Daily deeds of self denial lead to it; and daffy conflicts with doubts and disinclinations.
(d) Usefulness is, perhaps, the grandest of all God’s promises. It is that in which we most resemble God. Its joys are the likest of any to those of the everlasting home. It comes not to the dreamer, but to the fighter. The abolition of slavery was a fight. Mary Carpenter’s triumph in getting a place for Ragged Schools, Industrial Schools, and Reformatories in English legislation, required thirty years of effort. When the Church faces the abounding drunkenness of the land, she will find God will help her to destroy it, but that His help will be conditioned on a tremendous effort. Do not believe in salvation made easy. It is always simple, it is never easy. The possession of every Canaan is a Divine promise, and needs Divine power; but one of the conditions of its fulfilment is the forth putting of human effort. Take a second lesson.
II. THE HEARTIER THE EFFORT IS, THE MORE SURELY AND EASILY SUCCESS WILL COME. Joshua saw the need for action, had God’s guidance in it, and then with an energy which had something Napoleonic in it, threw himself into his task. Was Gibeon threatened? within a few hours of his knowing it, Israel is on the march. Doubtless there were counsellors advising caution, consideration, and delay. Joshua had gathered the wisdom, but not the weakness, of old age, and knew the value of energy. That night the host is marshalled for its uphill, moonlit march over the fifteen or eighteen miles of valley intervening between them and Gilgal. And before the five kings have any thought of his approach, he rushes “like a torrent” on the foe. And such is the energy, the surprise of that charge, that, martial as are the habits of the enemy, they are obliged to yield. Apparently a long fight takes place, the enemy disputing every inch of ground so long as the gradual rising to the Upper Beth-horon gives them the advantage. But the sun stands still over Gibeon to let them finish the fight; and then a headlong flight down to Lower Beth-boron, and then to the valley of Ajalon and the plains that skirt the Mediterranean, subjects them to terrible destruction. A great hailstorm breaks on the fugitive masses, not extending far enough eastward to affect Israel. And the moon stands over the valley of Ajalon after the sun has set, to let them finish their pursuit and complete their victory. It is as fine an instance of the value of decision, of energy, of heartiness in our work as the whole Bible gives. “What thy hand finds to do, do it with thy might.” The impact of any projectile is in the ratio of its mass, multiplied by its velocity. And a thing of slight mass, but of high velocity, will be more effective than one of much greater mass, whose velocity is sluggish. So is it in the world of morals. Weight multiplied by momentum measures the power. Most of us are inefficient, because, while weighty enough, we have little or no momentum. We languidly pursue the good, and half-heartedly oppose the evil. Unlike St. Paul, it is not one thing, but twenty-one, that we do. In everything decision and heartiness is needed, but in religion it is indispensable. Be cold or hot, not lukewarm. If the gospel be true, it is tremendously true; if a dream, ignore it altogether. Half-hearted fighting prolongs the contest, invites defeat, loses the benefits of victory. In march, attack, pursuit, we have an example of the supreme advantage of doing heartily whatever has to be done by us. Take a third lesson.
III. THE GOOD FIGHT, WHEN WELL FOUGHT, ALWAYS ENDS IN VICTORY. It might have seemed a very dubious affair, this war with the nations of Canaan. The Canaanites were the English of that period: the nation leading the world in maritime enterprise and daring, and wealthy and strong in their successful commerce. Israel had been for generations in slavery, debased and weakened by servitude. But against these odds on the side of Canaan there were some things to be set.
1. Immorality is destructive of courage. Paganism, with its debasements, destroyed self respect and that interest in life, home, and liberty which is the soul of patriotism. For heroism religion is an essential element. Cromwell’s Ironsides, Nelson’s Methodists, Havelock’s regiment of Teetotallers, the rower of resistance to oppression developed by religion in Holland and in Scotland, show how immediate and direct is the influence of godliness in vitalising all the manlier virtues. Corruption of character followed corruption of creed, and was followed by deterioration of courage.
2. The enemy of the good has never Divine guidance. These nations were badly advised. Their true policy was a defensive one. Within their ramparts the labour of conquering them would have been terrific and inevitably slow. All uniting, in the open they lose the advantage of their cities “walled up to heaven,” and a single disaster is a fatal one. “A good understanding have they that love God’s law;” and all others unwatchful in presumption, or feverish in solicitude, lack wisdom which they Deed.
3. And God fights on behalf of those who fight for Him. The long day, the moonlight night, the destructive hail, are all Divine, however we may abate the miraculous significance of the poetic history. And they who aim at any form of good find a secret providence furthering their enterprise: many influences cooperating with them, strange providential openings, a Divine backing which, all uniting, make it that, however weak they may be, they are more than conquerors through Christ that loved them. “Wherefore take to yourselves the whole armour of God,” and FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH.G.
HOMILIES BY E. DE PRESSENSE
Jos 10:8-11
The victory over the five kings.
The battle against the five kings is the most remarkable episode in the conquest of the Canaanites. Israel might well have had cause to tremble in presence of such allied enemies. But Divine aid gives it a signal victory. That aid comes under two forms:
1. It consists, first, in a miraculous intervention of the Divine power, which sends down a fierce storm of hailstones upon the Canaanitish armies, and so lengthens out the day as to make the conflict decisive. No one believes now that the sun stood still. Holy Scripture speaks the popular language of the day, and makes no pretension to being scientific in its records. God reveals only that which man has no power to discover, and it was not the calling of Joshua to be a Galileo or Copernicus. Do we not still speak in common parlance of the rising and setting of the sun? All that is essential is, that we hold fast our faith in the miracle itself. Let us not marvel that such a prodigy was wrought for so small a nation; for that nation was the depository of the promise that in it should all nations of the earth be blessed. The God of nature may surely show Himself the King and Master of nature, and it is most fitting that the heavens which declare His glory should do His commandments. The supreme law of the universe is not the physical law, but the dependence of that law upon the sovereign will of the Almighty.
2. This Divine aid was manifested, in the second place, by the heroic confidence and courage infused into the hearts of his people. “Fear them not,” was the message to Joshua, who might well nave been dismayed at so powerful a league of enemies, “for I have delivered them into thine hands.” “Therefore,” as we read in the following verse, “Joshua came unto them suddenly.” The Divine word alone gave him courage to go forward, and courage is in itself an irresistible power, even more formidable than the storm of hailstones from heaven. With more than redoubled force, Israel rushes on to certain victory. Thus the noble words of the Psa 21:1-13. are anticipated and fulfilled: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psa 21:8). Did not Elisha describe Elijah as the chariot and the horsemen of Israel? Let us place unwavering trust in all our conflicts in this Divine aid, and that confidence will be the first condition of victory.E. DE P.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
Jos 10:12-14
The sun and moon stayed.
Whatever opinions we may entertain relative to the exact nature of the incident celebrated in the poem of the Book of Jasher, there are certain general principles and religious truths which that poem brings distinctly before us.
I. GOD IS ACTIVELY CONCERNED WITH THE EVENTS OF HUMAN HISTORY. Divine powers aided Joshua in resisting the onslaught of the Canaanites. God is present, when He is not clearly so recognised, in all crises of life.
(1) His overruling power so disposes of the order of creation that even without miracle the outward world works His will.
(2) His providential control of the minds of men and the course of their lives determines ultimate events. Therefore note: God has not left the world to go its own course only to be judged and rectified at a future judgment day. lie judges now, and intervenes now, and works on the side of right, for the protection of those who submit to His rule, and to the loss of such as fight against His will (Psa 68:1, Psa 68:7, Psa 68:24).
II. NATURE IS SUBSERVIENT TO THE WILL OF GOD. Miracles are not rare and occasional instances of the way in which God makes His will felt in nature. They are rather abnormal manifestations of the Divine power which is equally present in the regular course of nature. God is as much working in the natural as in the miraculous event, though the miraculous serves to impress us with the consciousness of His power. If we believe in God at all, it is unreasonable to suppose that He would create the universe in some age of dim antiquity, and then leave it to itself like a self-acting machine, which being once wound up only needs adjusting by miracle now and again to suit special emergencies. It is much more reasonable to regard the universe as an organism of which God is at once the creating, the inspiring, the energising, and the controlling spirit. Thus the sun and moon and stars and the earth always move by His power, and at every moment express His will (Psa 104:2-4, Psa 104:16, Psa 104:21, etc.; Rom 1:20).
III. NATURAL EVENTS ARE LINKED WITH HUMAN DESTINIES. Like all great delusions which have exercised wide influence over men, astrology was the perversion of a deep truth. Our lives are connected with the stars. All nature is one, and wein our earthly lifeare part of nature. The processes of nature affect us; e.g; possibly sun spots acting through atmospheric phenomena have some influence over human calamities, and even over moral relations. Therefore note:
(1) God touches us through nature, and we must regard nature as an instrument in His hands for our discipline.
(2) Nature should be studied in its bearings upon human life for our practical instruction.
IV. NATURE FIGHTS AGAINST THOSE WHO RESIST THE WILL OF GOD. The Canaanites were resisting God’s will concerning the settlement of the land, and thus they made themselves enemies to God’s servant, nature. So the stars out of their courses fought against Sisera (Jdg 5:20). It is objected that it is unworthy of the character of God to suppose that He would intervene by means of natural agencies to assist in a work of destruction. But it should be remembered that God is always employing destructive agencies in nature, as earthquakes, storms, etc; and that physical destruction is a less evil than moral corruption.W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE
Jos 10:14
A day of wonders.
The Canaanite kings were slow in gathering their forces together to repel the advance of Joshua, but they were ready enough to come down in vengeance upon the Gibeonites for having made peace with him. The men of Gibeon found the advantage of having a strong and generous protector, one who would be true to his pledges, even though they had been extorted from him by fraud. Joshua responds at once to the cry that comes to him from the beleaguered city, and God makes its deliverance the occasion for a signal display of His power and the furtherance of His purpose in the overthrow of the kings. The blending of the natural and supernatural in the events of this day is very remarkable. The two elements are so interlaced and interwoven that it is not for us to say where the one ends and the other begins. We only feel, in following the course of the narrative, that we are in the presence of a marvellous Divine power that carries all resistance before it. Such records as this, however, have their true effect upon us when they lead us the more clearly to recognise the supernatural force in the natural, to discern behind the common, familiar order of things the mystery and majesty of the Divine. With the vexed question as to the historic truth of the declaration that “the sun stood still in the midst of heaven,” we have not now to do (see Exposition). We simply note that, if the use the historian makes of the poetic quotation from the Book of Jasher compels us to regard it as having some basis of fact, there is no need on that account to believe in any actual arrest of the order of the universe. May not natural agents and natural laws be used miraculously by Him who is the Author of them? Just as He who created the hailstones could, without injury to the Israelites, turn them as engines of destruction against their foes, so surely He who at the beginning “commanded the light to shine out of darkness” could, in ways to us unknown, prolong the day in answer to Joshua’s prayer. Two broad lessons grow out of this:
I. THAT GOD‘S SOVEREIGNTY OVER NATURE IS SUBSERVIENT TO THE HIGHER PURPOSES OF HIS SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. We look through these outward incidents to the Divine end which they were all helping to work out. God was “forming a people for his praise.” Giving them a local habitation, that they might the better conserve His truth and show forth His glory. He drove out the heathen before them, and planted them there that they might bear rich fruits of blessing to the world, that in them and in their seed all the earth might be blessed. Everything is to be looked at in the light of that moral purpose.
(1) The whole visible universe exists for spiritual ends the revelation of the invisible Divine beauty and order; the magnifying of the law of eternal righteousness. Its activity and its rest, its discords and its harmonies, its terror and its loveliness, all have a moral meaning and intent.
(2) The forces and laws of the universe are against those who are against God. You must be morally one with Him if you would have them befriend you. “The stars in their courses fight against Sisera.” How terrible to think of some of the forms in which the Creator might, if He pleased, array the powers of nature against sinful men! His long-suffering beneficence is their only safeguard. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed” (Lam 3:22).
(3) The created universe attains its consummation only in the final spiritual triumph of the Redeemer. The groaning creation waits for the “manifestation of the sons of God.” The glorious presence of the Lord will be “the restitution of all things.” There will be “nothing to hurt or to destroy” in the “new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
II. THAT MAN IS AN EFFICIENT INSTRUMENT IN SERVING THE CAUSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS JUST SO FAR AS HE HAS FAITH TO LAY HOLD ON THE SOVEREIGN POWER OF GOD. “There was no day like that before it or after it,” not because there was anything singular, unparalleled, in God’s “hearkening to the voice of a man.” This was simply a conspicuous and noteworthy example of a universal law. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man “has always” availed much.” The resources of heaven wait upon it. Such prayer is
“A breath that fleets beyond this iron world,
And touches Him that made it.”
(1) Let the Church “stir itself up to lay hold on God.” Its strength lies in faith and prayer. The Lord will never fail to “fight for Israel” when she is true to her high calling. The weapons of her warfare are mighty through Him. “God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early” (Psa 46:5). This pledge of Divine protection and deliverance is given, not to ecclesiastical systems, which may have much that is of man rather than of God in their constitution, but to that Church which Christ has redeemed and chosen out of every land and nation to represent His own cause of truth and righteousness. When the Church goes forth in the energy of faith and prayer, its enemies flee before it.
(2) Let the individual Christian recognise the true source of moral power. No emergency of life need be overwhelming to one who casts himself unreservedly on God. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Move on steadily in the path of duty and fear not. In all conceivable times of difficulty and danger, of temptation and sorrow, Christ’s answer to the cry of His faithful ones is the same”My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness.”W.
Jos 10:24, Jos 10:25
The conquered kings.
The fate of those kings has its moral analogies. We may regard them as typical of the principles and powers of spiritual evil, and their end as suggestive of the certain issue of God’s conflict with those evil powers. Observe
I. THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN. It deludes the transgressor, and leads him blindfold to ruin. It moves men to seek false refuges, inspires them with a vain hope. They think to hide themselves, but God’s laws and retributions always find them out. Jonah would fain “flee from the presence of the Lord,” but God’s “strong wind” was swifter than his flight, and the sea, by which he thought to escape, only brought him face to face with his Judge. The subterfuges to which men resort in any guilty way often become the very means of their detection and punishment. The kings dream of safety in their cave; it turns out to be the very thing that shuts them up hopelessly to Joshua’s vengeance. As Matthew Henry puts it: “That which they thought would have been their shelter, was made their prison first, and then their grave.” So do sinful purposes often defeat themselves. “The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands” (Psa 9:16).
II. THE HUMILIATION THAT, SOONER OR LATER, BEFALLS A PROUD DEFIANCE OF DIVINE AUTHORITY. See here an illustration of high handed rebellion against God. Its overthrow in the end is sure. “The wheel of fortune turns and lowers the proud.” Kings are as helplessly subject to the Divine power by which that wheel revolves as other men (Psa 76:12; Isa 41:25). Into what abject misery have they sometimes fallen, under the mighty hand of God, who once, in the career of their ambition, set all Divine and human law at defiance, and made the earth to tremble! Let not the wicked exalt themselves; there is a power that can easily lay them low.
III. THE VICTORY THAT REWARDS FAITHFUL AND PATIENT MORAL CONFLICT. The captains are called, in the presence of all the men of Israel, to “put their feet upon the necks” of these doomed kings. So shall it be the honour and joy of all earnest warrior souls to see their enemies at last subdued under them. “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom 16:20). ‘Tis hard work to be continually fighting against some form of evil in the world without or the world within; to have continually to confront some new foe, or “old foes with new faces;” to be compelled often to drag forth some lurking iniquity from its hiding place in our own hearts that it may be slain. But let us be resolute and patient and we shall “come off more than conquerors through him who hath loved us,” and at last plant our feet proudly on the necks of all our adversaries.
IV. THE FINAL GLORIOUS VICTORY OF CHRIST. It is the eternal purpose of God that every stronghold of evil should fall before Him and all His enemies be put beneath His feet, and the events of time are all helping in some way or other to bring about that issue (Psa 110:1; 1Co 15:25; Php 2:9-11).W.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
Jos 10:25
Courage and strength.
I. THE DUTY TO BE BRAVE AND STRONG. This is often insisted on in the Book of Joshua (e.g; Jos 1:6). Christianity gives prominence to gentler graces of humility, mildness, and the forgiving spirit. But it does not therefore exonerate us from the more masculine duties (1Co 16:13; Eph 6:10).
(1) It is our duty to be brave. Cowardice is a sin in a Christian even more than in a pagan, because the Christian has higher motives for courage. The exhortation, “Fear not,” is not only an encouragement to comfort; it is an incitement to duty, because cowardice leads us to shrink from
(a) danger,
(b) responsibility,
(c) pain and loss,
(d) ridicule; and yet all of these may come in the way of our life’s work.
(2) It is our duty to be strong. We should not simply bewail weakness as a calamity; we should repent of it as a failing. Moral weakness comes from moral corruption. It makes us fail in our work of resisting sin and doing good. It is therefore needful that we should overcome it if we are to fulfil our mission.
II. THE CALL FOR THE EXERCISE OF THIS DUTY.
(1) We are surrounded by alarming dangers;
(a) in our own sinful hearts;
(b) in the evil of the world, and the troubles and temptations which arise from this;
(c) in the mystery of life.
He who is not brave with God’s courage will sink before these terrors when once he realises their full proportions.
(2) We are called to difficult tasks;
(a) like the Israelites, we are invited to take possession of an inheritance. The kingdom of heaven is not won without fighting (1Co 9:26);
(b) like the Israelites, we have foes to resist in sin within and temptation without (1Pe 5:8, 1Pe 5:9);
(c) like the Israelites, we have territory to conquer for God. We have not to fight for our own inheritance and safety only or chiefly, but that we may win the world for Christ (1Ti 6:12; 2Ti 2:3).
III. THE SECRET OF COURAGE AND STRENGTH.
(1) They are derived from God. We are not to fear, because God is with us (Isa 43:1, Isa 43:2). We are to be strong in His strength (Psa 29:11; Php 4:13). Therefore those naturally most timid and weak can be strong and brave in God (Isa 40:31; 2Co 12:10).
(2) They are encouraged by experience. To us it appears a brutal source of couragethose Hebrew captains planting their feet on the necks of the conquered kings in triumph. But rejoicing in the victory, it was well that they should see God’s hand in it, and gain strength from it. We may seek strength and courage in the contemplation of the way in which God has helped us in the past (Psa 34:6).
(3) They are increased by practice. The text is an exhortation. Though strength and courage come from God, they come through our own efforts to be brave and energetic. We must exercise Divine grace in order to realise its efficiency (Php 2:12).
(4) They are mutually helpful. Courage and strength are associated. Courage without strength is rash. Strength without courage is futile. We must be strong to justify our courage and brave to use our strength. Thus the various Christian graces are linked together in arming a soul with the whole armour of God (Eph 6:11).W.F.A.
Jos 10:40
The extermination of the Canaanites.
The apparent cruelty of the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan arouses moral and religious questions of great interest, especially those which are suggested by the conduct of Joshua, the relation of God to the slaughter of the Canaanites, and the contrast between the earlier and the later religious dispensations.
I. THE CONDUCT OF JOSHUA. This appears cruel and murderous. But note:
(1) It was in accordance with the customs of the times. Christian lenity was unknown. A man must be judged in the light of his age. It is wrong to “follow a multitude to do evil” (Exo 23:2), when we know it is doing evil, because the number of guilty persons does not mitigate the guilt of each individual. But our own judgment of what is right and wrong is largely determined by the prevalent ideas and unblamed conduct of our contemporaries; and if, when we have used the best light at our command, “our hearts condemn us not” (1Jn 3:21), we cannot be accounted guilty.
(2) It was in obedience to the understood command of God. A supposed command from heaven is no justification for an act which a man sincerely believes to be wrong, because in no case is he justified in violating conscience, and because he has more reason for doubting the Divine origin of the voice without than that of the voice within. But when the certainty of the Divine command is so strong that it carries conviction to the conscience, it becomes right for a man to obey.
(2) It was in execution of what was believed to be a Divine decree of judgment. Joshua did not consider that he was destroying the Canaanites simply to make way for the Israelites. He believed that he was a “scourge of God,” sent to bring doom to the guilty, to rid the land of men who lived only to dishonour it, and to introduce a better race in their stead.
II. THE RELATION OF GOD TO THE SLAUGHTER OF THE CANAANITES. Did God really command it? and if so, how can we reconcile this with His character of goodness?
(1) If God commanded this slaughter, He was ordering no more than He does directly in natural eventsin tempests, earthquakes, famines, plagues, and visitations of death generally.
(2) If men deserve destruction for their sins, it is really no more harsh for this to be sent by human agency than for it to come from physical causes, as with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
(3) If the punishment of sin generally is reconcilable with the goodness of God, this particular instance may be so.
(4) The extermination of the Canaanites was a blessing to the world.
(5) It was no real evil to the Canaanites. If men are living in sin and will not repent, the judgment which shortens their lives and prevents further evil is rather a blessing than a curse; for any loss or suffering is better for us than that we should be permitted to live on in sin (Luk 17:1, Luk 17:2). It is better for us that we should be punished for sin than that we should continue in sin unpunished.
III. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE EARLIER AND THE LATER DISPENSATIONS.
(1) Joshua brought punishment and destruction to sinners. Christ brings forgiveness and life.
(2) Joshua could only find room for his people after exterminating their predecessors. Christ has room for all who will come to His kingdom (Luk 14:22).
(3) Joshua proved himself fit for the inheritance of his nation by the exercise of destructive warfare. Christians arc made meet for their inheritance by the practice of Christlike deeds of charity (Mat 25:34-36).W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY S.R. ALDRIDGE
Jos 10:40
The extermination of the Canaanites.
“So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.” The attributes of God are the foundation of religion. From the relation in which we stand to Him as His creatures some regards are due to Him; but this relationship of inferiority could not of itself suffice to demand that entire devotedness to His services, that complete surrender of our affection which we denominate religion. God’s requirement (as stated in Deu 10:12) can only be justified by reference to the perfections of His character. If there be the least flaw, implicit trust cannot be expected of us. Herein all heathen systems of religion are defective, presenting to us a deity whom we cannot worship, a creature maimed, liable to the same passions as ourselves. The Christian religion bears traces of its Divine origin in the grandeur of its conceptions concerning the character of God. There is a height that dwarfs into littleness the puny gods invented by man; there is a many sidedness of view which could not have been the product of imagination. Just and holy, merciful and gracious, all knowing and Almighty, the Creator and Sustainer, a Friend and Judge, our Father and King, such He is declared to be. Hence it is that those objections are felt to be most serious which are urged, with any show of reason, against the reality of God’s perfections. Especially when His benevolence is challenged do we fear lest the dark shadow becloud the skies and chill our hearts. Now, in the text there is an account of a sweeping destruction executed on the south of Canaan by command of God. No quarter was given. So dreadful the desolation that some have called it cruelty. And though it is not incumbent on us to justify all the ways of God, yet as some are led from passages like the present to entertain hard thoughts of God, it may be well for once to look the implied objection calmly in the face.
A command from God may render that action lawful and right, which done with.. out His authority would be deserving of reprobation. He is the Lord and owner of life. He gave, and it is His to take away. He commits no more injustice than when a parent redemands from his children the goods of which they are making an improper use. The text is therefore no excuse for the unauthorized seizure of the land of one nation by another, or for those violent acts for which no direct behest of God can be alleged.
These were single detached commands against particular foes. There was no injunction “to cultivate the principles of treachery or cruelty;” “none of these precepts are contrary to immutable morality “(Bp. Butler). When an army was led blindly into Samaria the king said, “Shall I smite them?” “No,” answered the prophet Elisha in effect (2Ki 6:21, 2Ki 6:22). On another occasion the prophet Elijah had rebuked King Ahab because he had allowed a king to escape, whom “the Lord had appointed to utter destruction.” The reason of the case alters the nature of the action.
The extermination of the Canaanites was a punishment for wickedness. See Lev 18:1-30. “The land is defiled vomiteth out her inhabitants.” The very earth stank with their practices, and yearned to be rid of its unhallowed burden. “Ye shall not walk in the manners for they committed all these things, therefore I abhorred him.” Again, in Deu 18:1-22; “Because of their abominations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee.” So also Deu 9:5. It is to be remembered that the things censured were not merely occasional acts, but abominable customs. Indeed, the odious practices were a part of their religion, incorporated into their most solemn services. So degraded had they become.
A considerable period of respite had been granted, but without avail. God had said to Abraham, “The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” When the cup of iniquity was filled to overflowing, then did the righteous fiat issue. During that period warnings of the severest character were given. Sodom and Gomorrah perished in a terrible manner, and later the kings of Og and Sihon had fallen. Still no repentance. It is useless to say that the warnings were not sufficiently distinct. We see the same indifference today. Men destroy their health by sinful habits, grow worse and worse. Do they need a Divine hand on their shoulder or an actual voice in their ear to warn them? The warning is plain, if only they will attend to it. But no I and the fearful end arrives.
The method of punishment adopted was one of which the nations of Palestine would not complain, since it was in keeping with their own conduct. They would find no injustice done them. They would defeat other nations and dispossess them of life and territory if they could. They believed in the tenure or lease of the strong arm. Granted, therefore, that God was executing righteous judgment, the prevailing code removes all charge of cruelty. The judgments as well as the favours of God must be conditioned as to form by men’s surroundings. In legislating for the Israelites, whilst we expect and find such purity and such an anticipation of the opinions of modern times as justly entitles the “the law of Moses” to be considered a revelation from God, yet would it have been Quixotic to take no account of prevalent opinions and tendencies, to demand of the Israelites exactly what Christianity now demands after so many centuries of civilisation. There is no change, therefore, in the character of God, no advance in wisdom or love supposed, only such a difference of reputation as is necessitated by a due regard for the condition of those to whom Divine commands are given. We must not, therefore, talk of a contradiction between the spirit of the gospel maxim, “love your enemies,” and the precept followed in the text as seeming to say, “act with barbarity.” As a rule, God’s judgments here do not distinguish degrees of guilt. Famines and pestilences of old times scourged a whole neighbourhood. So in the present instance the sword visited all with punishment. Let us not forget, however, that these judgments are not final. Nothing is determined respecting the ultimate state of those involved in the general destruction. Minute discrimination is for the other world.
Is not God’s love exemplified even in the stern precept of the text?
1. Love to surrounding nations. This terrible example might prove beneficial The only proof to them of superior power was prowess in war. This alone could bring them to acknowledge that the God of Israel, “he was Lord.”
2. To His own people. The danger was lest the Israelites should be contaminated, and after events showed the wisdom of God’s command. The people were so easily seduced from their allegiance to Jehovah, And God was impartial. He threatened that if the Israelites did evil, their fate should be similar.
3. To the whole world. Since if the chosen people had utterly lost the truth, the light would have been universally extinguished. Through Israel the promised Messiah was to Come. Woe to the world if the way were blocked up, and no Saviour appeared dawning as the Sun of Righteousness on this benighted earth.
Many lessons may be drawn. We learn the authority of God, and His hatred of sin. Ours is no emasculated religion. If God were a being of kindness only, then kindness with sin would mean total misery. “Except we repent, we shall all likewise perish.” When we look at His anxiety for the welfare of His people, and the preparation made for the gift of His Son, we are taught “the goodness and severity of God” (Rom 11:22),A.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 1. Nowwhen Adoni-zedec, &c. Adoni-zedec, signifies lord of righteousness, which is nearly the same as Melchizedec. As these kings were both kings of Salem, or Jerusalem, some suppose, that the successors of Melchi-zedec affected a name like his to give themselves more dignity, by resembling in some measure that famous monarch. But while he assumed a name which called forth so many virtues, Adoni-zedec was not careful to imitate them. Contented to adorn himself with an amiable appellation, he limited his wishes to the being called just, without any endeavour to merit so excellent a sirname by just actions. It is very evident, that Jerusalem retained its ancient name of Salem till the Israelites took possession of it, and called it Jeru-salem. But the Benjamites, to whose lot it fell, being unable entirely to dislodge the Jebusites who occupied it, Jdg 1:21 and the latter having at length driven off the former, the Jebusites continued to call it Jebus, (Jdg 19:10.) while the Israelites on their part called it
Jerusalem, says Bishop Patrick. It must, however, be acknowledged, that all this is but conjecture. It is neither proved, that Jerusalem is precisely the same city as the ancient Salem, nor that the Israelites gave it the name of Jerusalem when they made the conquest of it. This latter name did not begin to supplant those of Jebus, Sion, and city of David, till the time of Solomon. Whatever is urged to account for this change is dubious; nor are authors agreed respecting the true signification of the name Jerusalem. The Massoretes pronounce it Jerushalaim; but, according to the method in which the Chaldees pronounce the Hebrew, it should be read Jeroushelem, which come nearer to the Jerousalem of the Greeks, and our Jerusalem. This name is probably composed of Shalum, or Shalem, i.e. peace, and, as many persons think, of jarab, which signifies to fear, or from jarash, to inherit, to possess, (see Reland. Palaest. lib. 3: p. 834.) or from jerus, the same word as jebus, with the change only of a single letter.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
3. The great Victory at Gibeon over the five allied Canaanite Kings
Jos 10:1-27
a. Investment of Gibeon by the five allied Kings
Jos 10:1-5
1Now [And] it came to pass, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem had [omit: had] heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed [devoted] it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so had he done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them; 2that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities [prop. one of the cities of the kingdom], and because it was greater than Ai, and all the 3men thereof were mighty. Wherefore [And] Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying, 4Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with 5the children of Israel. Therefore, [And] the [omit: the] five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together and went up, they and all their hosts [camps], and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it.
b. Slaughter at Gibeon
Jos 10:6-15
6And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand [hands] from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together 7against us. So [And] Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour [strong heroes]. 8And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered [given] them into thine 9hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee. Joshua therefore [And Joshua] came upon them suddenly, [:] and went [he went up] from Gilgal all night. 10And the Lord [Jehovah] discomfited [Bunsen: brought into confusion; Knobel: scattered; Fay, De Wette, Zunz: confused] them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter [De Wette: effected a great overthrow among them; Fay, literally: smote them with a great stroke] at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to [the way of the ascent of] Beth-horon,1 and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah. 11And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to [on the descent from] Beth-horon, that the Lord [Jehovah] cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with [the] hail-stones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
12Then spake Joshua to the Lord [Jehovah] in the day when the Lord [Jehovah] delivered up the Amorites before the children [sons] of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel:
Sun, stand thou [omit: thou] still on Gibeon,
And thou [omit: thou], Moon, in the valley of Ajalon!
13And the sun stood still,
And the moon stayed,
Until the people [nation] had avenged themselves upon their enemies.
Is not this written in the book of Jasher [Fay: the upright (Rechtschaffenen) Luther: pious; De Wette: just [Redlichen]? So [And] the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. 14And there was no day like that before it or [and] after it, that the Lord [Jehovah] hearkened unto the voice of a man; for the Lord [Jehovah] fought for Israel. 15And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.
c. Flight and Destruction of the five Kings
Jos 10:16-27
16But [And] these five kings fled and hid themselves in a [the] cave at Makkedah. 17And it was told Joshua, saying: The five kings are found hid in a [the] cave at Makkedah. 18And Joshua said, Roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave, and set men by it for [omit: for] to keep them: 19And stay ye not, but [omit: but] pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them; suffer them not to enter into their cities; for the Lord [Jehovah] your God hath delivered [given] them into your hand.
20And it came to pass, when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying [smiting] them with a very great slaughter [stroke], till they were consumed, that the rest which remained of them entered [Fay: but those that remained 21of them escaped and came] into [the] fenced [fortified] cities. [,] And [that2] all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: none moved 22[Fay, properly: pointed] his tongue against any of the children of Israel. Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings unto me out of the cave. 23And they did so, and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and [omit: and] the king of Eglon. 24And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains [, leaders] of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near and put their feet upon the necks of them. 25And Joshua said to them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong, and of good courage [firm, Jos 1:6], for thus shall the Lord [Jehovah] do to all your enemies against whom ye fight. 26And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening. 27And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the caves mouth, which remain [omit: which remain] until this very day.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The abandonment by Gibeon of the common cause leads Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, beyond doubt the most powerful of the Canaanite kings in Southern Palestine, to call upon the kings of Hebron, Lachish, Jarmuth, and Eglon, to chastise the apostate city. With this demand the princes named yielded compliance (Jos 10:1-5). But Joshua, being summoned by the Gibeonites to their assistance, hastens to aid his threatened allies, defeats the Canaanite kings in the famous battle at Gibeon, ever memorable on account of the much disputed standing still of the sun (Jos 10:6-15), and pursues and slays the confederates (Jos 10:16-27).
a. Investment of Gibeon by the five allied Kings (Jos 10:1-5),
Jos 10:1. = Lord of righteousness. Better known than this Adoni-zedek is = King of righteousness (Gen 14:18; Psa 110:4; Heb 5:6-10; Heb 6:20; Heb 7:1; Heb 7:10 and often), who was likewise king of Salem (Jerusalem). also (the latter form here and there in Chronicles, e.g.,1Ch 3:5, also on the coins of the Maccaban age, while others have also the defective form, Gesen.), abbreviated, (Gen 14:18; Psa 76:3), from which it is evident that the proper pointing is , as further, the Aram. , Ezr 4:20; Ezr 4:24; Ezr 5:1, and Ezr 5:14; Ezr 6:9, go to show. The Keri perpetuum , which is a dual form, is explained (Frst) as having arisen with reference to the double city (upper and lower), or, without respect to that, from the fact that the later Hebrews understood to be an old dual form (still appearing in , and the nom. prop ,, and had substituted for it the customary
The etymology is doubtful. Gesenius maintains the interpretation, supported by the translation of Saadjas: dwelling of peace. On this view, would be from = dwelling or foundation, and = , which is favored by the Greek mode of writing (Josephus, Ant. i. 10, 12; Paus. 8, 16, 3) and the Latin, Solyma (Mart. 10, 65, 5). Ewald holds the first part of the word to be an abbreviation of = possession, and explains, possession of Shalem. Hitzig (on Is. p. 1, ff.) goes back to = possession, district, district or possession of Salem. More recently he holds, on Psa 76:3, that should properly have been written which he translates (History of the People of Israel, i. 140) by: Fear ye God undividedly. Here it is to be further observed that according to Hitzigs views , in the southern Arabic = a stone, was, with the Amorite , the old Canaanite name of the city [Jebusalem], which David changed into Jerusalem, while Hitzig adds that the city was earlier called Salem (?).
Frst decides for the old etymology, appealing also to Saadjas on Isa 44:28; Isa 51:17; Isa 60:1; Isa 62:1; Isa 62:6, taking , however, = , as an epithet of the most high God, as in . Thus would be equal to , 2Ch 20:16, meaning foundation (or place, dwelling) of El, and that as the Peaceful. It is striking that Frst interprets , Gen 14:18; Psa 76:3, where it stands alone, without by hilly place, summit, from a supposed stem , to be high. But it would be more obvious to explain it, in accordance with the meaning given to in , as place of the Peaceful, that is, of God.
The later Arabic name of Jerusalem, el-Kuds or Beit el-Mukaddas, is only a circumlocution like in the Hebrew (Neh 11:18). Frst. On the topography of Jerusalem and its neighborhood, comp. Dr. E. G. Schultz, Jerusalem; W. Krafft, The Topography of Jerusalem; Tobler, Memoranda of Jerusalem, and, Topography of Jerusalem and its Vicinity, as also Menkes Bible Atlas, map v., where on very carefully drawn side-maps the views of Tobler, Kiepert, Ferguson, Robinson, Krafft, and Sepp, concerning the plan of the city, are delineated.3
Jos 10:2. It is emphatically mentioned concerning Gibeon that it was a great city, like one of the cities of the kingdom, that is, perhaps, like a city in which a king dwelt, like a royal city.
Jos 10:3. Hebron, chaps, Jos 10:36; Jos 15:54, Jarmuth, Jos 15:35, Lachish and Eglon, Jos 15:39, lie in southern Canaan.
Jos 10:4. The enterprise is not directly against Joshua, but against Gibeon, because Gibeon has made peace with Joshua and the children of Israel.
Jos 10:5. The four kings hear the summons, and encamp around Gibeon. The names of the kings are not given here a second time, but the names of the cities over which they ruled, and in the same order as in Jos 10:3. The former names, however, are significant throughout, for Hoham is probably whom Jehovah drives, Piram the wild ass (similar designations among the aborigines of N A.), Japhia splendid, Debir the writer, on which the Lexicons may be consulted.
b. Battle of Gibeon, Jos 10:6-15.
Jos 10:6. The Gibeonites send to Joshua at Gilgal and implore help, and indeed, as the form of their expression indicates, immediate help. Observe the climax; slacken not thy hands (2Sa 24:16)come up to us quicklyand save usand help us. A very similar tone is adopted by the persecuted Christian congregation, Act 4:24-30, especially Jos 10:27-29.
Kings of the Amoritesa common designation of the five princes.
Jos 10:7. Joshua responds to the appeal and hastens marching all night long to reach them (Jos 10:9), and that with a select portion of the army , Jos 1:14. The is to be taken as explicative, as Gen 3:16; comp. also Jos 14:6.
Jos 10:8. An encouraging address from Jehovah.
Jos 10:9. A more particular statement of what has been told (Jos 10:7).Suddenly comes he upon them because he has marched the whole night. In the morning he stands before them, when they believe him to be yet at his head-quarters on the Jordan. These rapid marches illustrate the true energy and efficiency of great military commanders. This is perceived also in modern and even the most recent history.4
Jos 10:10. Jehovah scattered () the enemy before Israel. The latter smote them in a great defeat at Gibeon and pursued them northwestward on the way to the ascent ( ) of Beth-horon. So likewise he followed them in a southwesterly direction and smote them even unto Azekah and Makkedah. So Knobel. According to his view, therefore, the whole pursuit occurred simultaneously, towards the northwest and the southwest. But that is not the sense of Jos 10:10-11. Rather all Israel pursued the enemy in a northwesterly direction towards the pass of Beth-horon, and from thence through the pass down into the plain, where probably Azekah and Makkedah lay. By what means Jehovah discomfited the enemy, or scattered them, as Knobel translates, is not told; for the hail comes later. So Jehovah once discomfited the Egyptians, also, Exo 14:24; and Exo 23:27 the promise is given that God will always do so with the foes of Israel. In 1Sa 7:10 we are told of a tempest which Jehovah brought up when, at Samuels prayer, he caused it to thunder against the Philistines, and then it is said: the same word which is used here. Probably also the storm came on during the battle. It thundered and lightened. Jehovah fought for his people out of the clouds. The enemy trembled and lost heart. They fled. During their flight the storm broke upon them in full fury; hailstones fell on them and of such size that more died from these than were slain by the sword (Jos 10:11). By a very similar mischance the Austrians were overtaken in 1859 at the battle of Solferino.We have translated in Jos 10:10 ascent and in Jos 10:11, descent.5 It means both alike, as in 1Ma 3:16; 1Ma 3:24, both stand together in reference to this place: . If pass were not so modern it would best express the meaning of this word. This Pass of Beth-horon is still very rocky and rough (Robinson, iii. 5963), and leads from the mountain down into the western plain, whither Joshua pursued the enemy even to the places lying there, Azekah (Jos 15:35) and Makkedah (Jos 15:41).
Jos 10:11. That by the great stones, not stones literally as rained down (Grotius, Calmet, Ilgen), but hail-stones are to be understood, appears from the second half of the verse, A hail-storm is meant, in relation to which occurs also Isa 30:30; comp. Eze 13:11; Eze 13:13. Jehovah in contending with his enemies employs the hail also (Job 38:23; Isa 32:19) as he did e.g. in Egypt, Exo 9:19; Exo 9:25 (Knobel).
The verses which now follow, 1215, deserve a particularly careful examination, and that (1) in reference to the criticism of the text; (2) as regards their contents. As to the former it is obvious that the whole passage, Jos 10:12-15, might be removed from the context entirely, without in the least mutilating the narrative; rather, Jos 10:16 connects itself with Jos 10:11 as its proper continuation. It is further manifest that Jos 10:13 itself refers to another writing as its source, and that the same author cannot possibly have written Jos 10:15 and Jos 10:43. For, according to Jos 10:15 Joshua had returned immediately after the battle at Gibeon into the camp at Gilgal, while in Jos 10:43 this return takes place only after the completed conquest of southern Canaan.
We have therefore to consider here an inserted passage. Knobel calls it a fragment from the first document of the Jehovist. This first document of the Jehovist is, as may have been already perceived from the Introd. ( 2), according to Knobels view, the here citedthe Law-book as he calls it,composed in the Northern kingdom. From this first document the whole episode here is taken, as he supposes, except the words, is it not written in the Sepher Jaschar? which he explains as an addition of the Jehovist, who in a thing so unheard of and incredible thought himself bound to quote his authority expressly. As we have not been able to assent to this view, but are rather obliged, with the whole body of critics, to regard this , mentioned only here and 2Sa 1:18, as a poetical book, we cannot by any means refer the whole passage to the Book of the Upright, but only a part as is afterwards shown. In this assumption that the whole passage, with the exception of the formula of quotations, is taken from the Book of the Upright, there agree with Knobel: Hengsten berg in the Evang. Kirchen-Zeitung, 1832, No. 88, ibid. 1868, No. 48; Hvernick, Einl. ii. 1, p. 50, Keil, Comm. p. 255 ff. [Bibl. Comm. ii. 1, 76 ff.]. The latter remarks, at the end of his exposition: The only plausible consideration which can be brought against this view, and which has been adduced with great emphasis by two anonymous writers in the Evang. Kirchen-Zeitung, 1833, No. 17, p. 135 f., and No. 25 f. p. 197 f. and 211 f., consists in this, that the formula of citation, Is not this written in the Book of the Upright? stands in the middle of the passage quoted, while elsewhere this and similar formulas stand either at the beginning of the quotation, as Deu 21:14-23, or at the end of it, as generally in the books of Kings and Chronicles. But from both cases it does not follow that this is a rule without exceptions. Keil labors to prove this, quite fruitlessly, in our opinion; Hengstenberg also, in his second essay, seeks to obviate the striking fact that the citation occurs in the midst of the passage, by assuming that the author has communicated, out of the Book of the Upright, two lyrical fragments, which he separates from each other by the intervening phrase of quotation (ubi sup. p. 580). But, granting that Jos 10:13 b15, together with the very prosaic conclusion, and Joshua returned and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal, must be a lyrical fragment, would it not then have been more natural for the writer to repeat the formula somewhat in this manner: Is not this also written in the Book of the Upright?Bleek has left the question unsettled, saying, How far the quotation here extends, and where the historian resumes, is not quite clear (Introd. to the O. T. p. 349). Kamphausen on the contrary (Stud. und Kritiken, 1863, p. 866), assumes that the author of Jos 10:12-15 was a historian who names expressly the source from which he draws, and plainly distinguishes, the lines which he extracts therefrom from his own prosaic narrative. To the same result must we also come, and for the following reasons: (1.) The fact that the formula of citation here occurs in the midst of the passage, constitutes for us an insuperable objection to referring the whole to the Book of the Upright, since everywhere else, such formula comes in either at the beginning or end of the words cited. (2.) The exclamation which is put in the mouth of Joshua, breathes in every aspect the spirit of Hebrew poetry. It is sublime in its import, rythmical, and strictly observing the parallelism in its form, in its choice of words also poetical (notice ,6); while afterwards the discretion of the historian manifestly comes into play, since he mentions only the sun; lets it stand in the midst of heaven, then continues with the observation that it hasted not to go down almost a whole day; in Jos 10:14 expounds verbally the poetical language, and concludes, finally, with a wholly prosaic notice.
Verses 13 b15, accordingly, do not belong to the Book of the Upright.7 But how with verse 12 a? It is possible that these words may have formed the historical introduction in that Book of Heroes, to Joshuas exclamation, as Exo 15:1, Then sang Moses, etc., but it is also possible that they belong to the same author as Jos 10:13 b15, from whom other sections likewise wrought into the body of the history may have been derived. On this see the Introduction.
Having dealt with the criticism of the text, we proceed (2) to a consideration of the meaning of the passage, which especially needs to be exegetically settled. Jos 10:12, , pointedly at that time, as Gen 12:6, Jos 14:11, in contrast with ; LXX. , Vulg. tunc. This is more closely defined by , in the day when Jehovah delivered up, etc. The battle at Gibeon is intended. The promise, Deu 1:7-8, is to be remembered. On this day, Joshua spake to Jehovah, . and he said in the sight of Israel. We should have expected rather, in the ears of Israel. The same kind of expression is used in Num 20:8, in a passage which probably has the same author as ours, and in Deu 31:7. Quite correctly is used, Gen 23:11; Gen 23:18; Exo 4:30. Here it is to be taken = coram, as the Vulgate translates, correctly as to the sense. Then follows what Joshua said. , as also , is without the article, according to the usage of poetry, as Job 16:18, (O earth), while in prose the article in this case is more common to distinguish the noun in some manner (Ewald, Lehrg. 327). , Imp. Kal from , prop., to be dumb with astonishment, then to be silent, then to rest, to be quiet, to keep still, as one who is silent does. So Psa 4:5; 1Sa 14:9; Job 31:34; Lam 2:18; Job 30:27. Knobel remarks also that , Gen 34:5; Exo 14:14, is used in the same way of rest, inactivity. Sun, stand still on Gibeon, is accordingly, = keep thyself quiet and inactive, stand still. Keil indeed will not grant this, but translates here and 1Sa 14:9, by wait. But both here and there stands immediately parallel to , and means unquestionably to stand, stand still, remain standing, for which 1Sa 20:38 may be superfluously compared. Besides, how can the sun wait, without standing still. It is better, therefore, to translate poetically, with force and boldness, stand still, than tamely Sun, wait at Gibeon and moon in the Valley of Ajalon. So also the LXX., , ; and the Vulgate: Sol contra Gabaon ne movearis et luna contra vallem Ajalon! Quite erroneous is the attempt of Dr. Barzilai in the brochure, Un Errore di Trente Secoli (Trieste, 1868), to translate the by Sun, be silent, cease to shine! by which an eclipse of the sun would be made out of his standing still. Zckler, in a treatise (Beweis des Glaubens, iv. p. 250), remarks on this: The untenableness of this explanation appears not only from the fact that , to be silent (as well as its synonym , in Gen 34:5; Exo 14:14), according to 1Sa 14:9, may very well signify in general, the holding in, or ceasing from any activity, and particularly resting from any movement, the holding still or standing of a moving body (comp. also Psa 4:5; Job 31:34; Lam 2:18), while its application to the self-concealment of a luminous body, can be supported by no example,but furthermore also from the connection with what follows. This, as definitely as is possible, presents the actual standing still of the sun, as the result of the mighty injunction of Joshua, the believing warrior.
The Valley of Ajalon lies to the west of Gibeon. Knobel says on this, at Jos 19:42 : Ajalon, in whose vale Joshua bade the moon stand still (Jos 10:12), allotted to the Levites (Jos 21:24; 1Ch 6:54), often mentioned in the wars with the Philistines (1Sa 14:31; 1Ch 8:13), fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:10), taken from Ahaz by the Philistines (2Ch 28:18), lying, according to the Onom., s. v. Ajalon, two miles east of Nicopolis; at the present day, a village Jalu, Jalo, in a fertile region on the north side of a mountain ridge, from which one overlooks the beautiful and wide basin Merdj Ibn Omeir stretching away to the north. Rob. iii. 63, 64; Later Bibl Res. 145, Tobler, Dritte Wanderung, p. 188 f. To this position of Ajalon, westward from Gibeon, where Joshua joined battle with the Amorites, the place of the moon suits well. It stood in the west, near its setting, over Ajalon, and was still visible although the sun was shining. Let the two heavenly bodies stand where they stood and there would continue to be day; and if there continued to be day there would still be a possibility of completely destroying the foe. And that was precisely Joshuas wish, that they might stand where they stood in order that he might annihilate the enemy. Hengstenberg (ubi sup. p. 558) will not allow this, but explains that the simultaneous appearance of the sun and moon was something entirely unusual, which ought not to be so readily taken for natural. This joint apparition, however, is not very unusual; on the contrary it may be witnessed in a clear sky at any time, during the moons first quarter, in the afternoon, and during the last quarter, in the forenoon: and indeed, from what is kindly communicated to me by the astronomer Mdler, it may be seen, in the much clearer southern heavens, early in the afternoon, during the moons first quarter, and until late in the forenoon during her third.
Knobel, for his part, supposes that the separate mention of the sun and moon on Gibeon and Ajalon has, in the poetical parallelism, as e.g. in Hos 5:8; Amo 1:5; Mic 3:12; Zec 9:10; Zec 9:17, no significance. That, however, is questionable, in view of the fact that the assignment of the two heavenly bodies to their respective positions suits so perfectly to the place of Joshua, and the more so because it is to us very doubtful whether the names in Hos 5:8, Amo 1:5, Zec 9:10, are connected merely for the sake of the parallelism, which we admit only as to Mic 3:12. But if the sun and moon simultaneously stood still in the heavens, and so that the sun rested over Gibeon east of the field of battle, and the moon over Ajalon in the west, the battle must have been going on in the morning, and Joshua have uttered his invocation at this time, perhaps toward midday. So it is understood also by Keil, Knobel, and Zckler, who writes (ubi sup.): The mention of the moon with the sun in Jos 10:13 is to be explained simply from the circumstance that it also was yet visible in the sky, and that the prayer, directed toward a prolongation of the day, could only be fully expressed, positively as well as negatively, if it at the same time called for the delay of the night, or, which is the same thing, a standing still of the planet which governed the night (Gen 1:16).
Gibeon and Ajalon are named as stations of the sun and moon, because Joshua when he engaged in the battle was probably west of Gibeon, in a place from which he saw the sun shining in the east over that city, and the moon in the far west over Ajalon.
As the probable hour of the conflict we may infer, partly from this situation and partly from the sun standing still in the midst of the heaven (Jos 10:13), that it was in the middle part of the day, and probably still in the forenoon, hardly the late afternoon as Corn. a Lapide, Clericus, J. D. Mich. et al. have supposed. Hitzig also decides in favor of the forenoon: As Saul upon the king of Ammon, Joshua fell on the Amorites early in the morning. When, soon after, the battle took a favorable turn, the sun had already risen and stood over Gibeon behind the combatants, while in the far west, the moon had not yet gone down (ubi sup. p. 102). Most recently of all A. Hengstenberg in Bochum has also published a contribution (Beweis des Glaubens, vol. v. pp. 287, 288) toward the explanation of our passage, in which he agrees with Zckler in regard to the question at what time of day the battle was fought and Joshua uttered his call to the sun. Ewald, on the contrary (Gesch. d. v. Israel, 2, p. 325, 326), thinks of the afternoon. In regard, further, to the relation between the hail-storm mentioned Jos 10:11 and Joshuas exclamation, we must remember that the author of the Book of the Upright, knew nothing of this hail-storm,8 but the writer who gave the Book of Joshua its present form, inserted not only the supposed citation (Jos 10:12-13 a.) but the whole passage (Jos 10:12-15) into the midst of the history of the pursuit, so that he appears certainly to have conceived of the hailstorm as a preceding event.
Jos 10:13. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed until the nation had avenged themselves on their enemies. Joshuas wish is fulfilled. The heavenly bodies pause in their course and stand still. When once we remember that the poet says this, the same poet who has previously put in Joshuas mouth this grand, poetical exclamation, reminding us of Agamemnons wish (Il. 2, 413 ff.), we have found the key to Jos 10:13, the most striking parallel to which is Jdg 6:20. When it is there said that the stars out of their courses () fought against Sisera, no one, so far as we know, has ever supposed that this poetical trope was to be literally understood. Rather it is there, as here, the heavenly powers, nay Jehovah himself (Jos 10:14) who fights for Israel. It is not an unheard of, astronomico-mechanical miracle with which we here have to do, but the most glorious typical occurrence, which illustrates how all nature, heaven and earth, is in league with the people of God, and helps them to victory in their battles of the kingdom (Lange, Com. on Gen. pp. 86, 87).
The standing still of the sun and moon is no more to be understood literally than that fighting of the stars down out of their courses, or the melting down of the mountains (Isa 34:3 : Amo 9:13; Mic 1:3), the rending of the heavens (Psa 18:10), or the skipping of Lebanon (Psa 29:6), the clapping of hands by the trees in the field (Isa 55:12), the leaping of the mountains and hills (Psa 114:46), the bowing of the heavens (Psa 18:10). It is the language of poetry which we have here to interpret, and poetry, too, of the most figurative, vehement kind, which honors and celebrates Joshuas confidence in God in the midst of the strife; that unique assurance of victory on the part of Joshua (Lange, ubi sup.) which the Lord would not suffer to be put to shame. In this the most positive interpreters (Keil, Kurtz, both Hengstenbergs), however they may differ as to the particulars, and to textual criticism, are perfectly at one, against a literal apprehension of the passage. Nor can Hab 3:11, be adduced in favor of a literal interpretation of the passage. For if it is said, Hab 3:11, Sun, moon, , this is not to be translated as Hengstenberg (ubi sup.) and Keil, on the one side, and Hitzig (Kl. Propheten), on the other have shown, The sun, and moon remain in their habitation, but rather: The sun, the moon enter into a habitation, i.e as we should say: into the shade, namely, behind the stratum of clouds or, they are darkened. The friendly lights grow pale, while on the other hand, there shines for the enemies of God and his people, another, an ungenial light, which brings destruction, the lightning, Gods spears and arrows (Hengstenberg). This passage has therefore nothing at all to do with the one before us. And when Jesus Sirach in his enumeration of the exploits of Joshua, asks (Josh 46:4), ; he makes out of the standing still of the sun, a going back, something like Isa 38:8, and speaks at the same time of lengthening one day into two. He is not therefore correct in his representation of the occurrence. The same is true of Josephus (Ant. v. 1, 17), when he speaks only of an increase, i.e. lengthening in general of the day.
Is not this written in the Book of the Upright?i.e. Lo, this stands written in that book and may there be read expressly. On for comp. Num 22:37; Deu 11:30. So very often in citations; 1Ki 11:41; 1Ki 14:29; 1Ki 15:7; 1Ki 15:23; 1Ki 15:31; 1Ki 16:3; 1Ki 16:20; 1Ki 16:27 and often (Knobel).
And the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. here used of place, in Jdg 16:3 of time; in the middle, a more precise designation of the suns standing, which is omitted in the poetical part of this episode.
And hastened not to go down. The verb is used once besides in our book (Jos 17:15), and in the sense to be narrow, and again in Exo 5:13, where the Egyptian task-masters are spoken of, in the sense of to oppress. It is not employed in poetry alone, as Zckler (ubi sup.) maintains, in order to support his view that these verses also, at least to the close of Jos 10:14, breathe a poetically exalted strain. Or should Exo 5:13 also be regarded as a poetical passage? A certain elevation is, indeed, not to be denied to the narrative here, but that we find also in places, like Joshua 8, which yet is unquestionably prose.
About a whole day., elsewhere commonly of moral integrity, is used in the original sense, complete, entire, in Lev 3:9; Lev 25:30, in the latter passage of time, namely, of the year , as here of the day Plainly, the author of this verse understands the poetical citation from the Book of the Upright, literally, which does not hinder us from going back to the original sense, as we have done above. That he, like all the Scripture writers, thought of an anti-Copernican system, as Zckler expresses it, or as we might more correctly say, that he spoke of what was immediately perceptible, is evident without discussion. We think with Zckler (p. 250) it is lost labor to put upon the expressions of holy Scripture concerning the magnitudes and movements of the heavenly bodies, a heliocentric sense, by allegorical artifices, since the childishly simple view of the universe, which perceives in the earth the fixed centre, must necessarily have possessed the Biblical writers also as children of their time.
Jos 10:14. And there was no day like that before it and after it ( ,) that Jehovah hearkened () unto the voice of a man; for Jehovah fought for Israel. The war was not merely a war of men, Jehovah himself rather was its leader, as was promised the Israelites, Exo 14:14, by Moses. Comp. Deu 1:29-30; Deu 3:22; Deu 20:1; Deu 20:3-4; Deu 31:6. Hence Jehovah is called precisely , man of war (Luther: der rechte Kriegsmann), Exo 15:3. He has heard the call of Joshua and held the sun still in his course (of the moon nothing more is said), and so, according to the view of the author of13 b15, has performed an objective astronomical miracle, of which the poet from whom the quotation is made, had no thought, and of which we, following him (the poet) have no thought.9
Jos 10:15 b. Hengstenberg would refer this prosaic statement still entirely to the poetry (which Zckler does not do), and quotes in support of this (Exo 15:19) the close of Moses song of triumph, which is also found Exo 14:22. It is not found, however, in precisely the same words (in the latter passage , in the former the more graphic ), nor with the same arrangement of the words, which in Exo 15:19 has the rythmical cadence. We cannot, therefore, allow force to this example, but believe, rather, that to this, certainly if to any of the vers. (13 b15) the words of Maurer apply: Qu ante formulam citandi leguntur, sunt poesis; qu post pura puta prosa.
Keils View of Jos 10:12-15, added by the Translator.
[As representing a somewhat different theological position, the following comments of Keil on this passage, may, as well as from their character in other respects, be profitably cited here.
This wonderful victory was celebrated by Israel in a war-song which was preserved in the Book of the Pious. Out of this book the author of the Book of Joshua inserted here the passage which commemorated the wonderful work of Jehovah toward Israel and toward his enemies, the Amorites, for the glorification of his own name. For, that we have in Jos 10:12-15 a poetical extract from the is universally acknowledged. This insertion and the reference to this writing is analogous to the quotation from the Book of the Wars of the Lord (Num 21:14), and the lyrical strophes woven into the historical narrative. The object is not to confirm the historical report by reference to an older authority, but only to render more vivid to future generations, the striking impression which those wonders of the Lord had made upon the congregation.
Keils account of the Book of the Pious is the same as that of Fay and most others. He distinctly assumes, however, what doubtless should be understood by all, that this progressively accumulated anthology of pious hymns in praise of the covenant God was interspersed with explanatory historical notices. Thus there is no difficulty in supposing Jos 10:15 also to have been copied from this poetical book. Keil then proceeds: The citation from it proves itself at once to have been taken from a song, by the poetical form of the language and by the parallelism of the members. The quotation begins, however, not with , Jos 10:12 b, but with , Jos 10:12 a, and to it belong also Jos 10:13-14, so that the reference to the source of the quotation is inserted in the middle of it. Such formulas are generally met with, indeed, elsewhere either at the beginning of the passage adduced, as Num 21:14; Num 21:27; 2Sa 1:18, or at the close of it, as generally in the books of Kings and Chronicles. But it does not follow that such position was a rule without exceptions, especially since the reference to sources in the books of Kings has a quite different sense, the citations being not documentary proofs of the occurrences before reported, but references to writings in which more complete accounts might be found concerning fragmentarily communicated facts. In Jos 10:13 also the poetical form of the discourse leaves no doubt that Jos 10:13-14 still contain words of the ancient poet, not a prosaic comment of the historian on the poetic expressions which he had quoted. Only Jos 10:15 presents a pure historical statement which is repeated (Jos 10:43) at the end of the narrative of this victory and war. And this literal repetition of Jos 10:15 in Jos 10:43, and still more the fact that the statement that Joshua returned with all the people into the camp to Gilgal anticipates the historical order of events, and that in a very striking manner, renders it highly probable, if not altogether certain, that Jos 10:15 also is taken from the Book of the Pious..
Keils conception of the circumstances and progress of the battle, and of the position of the parties in reference to the standing still of the sun and moon, agrees in every important point with that of Fay.
How then shall we make real to ourselves this wonderful occurrence? An actual standing still of the sun at some place in the heavens, about the zenith, is not clearly expressed. If one were disposed to insist on the , the sun stood (held his position) in the midst of the heavens, which is added as if in explanation of in such a way that it must express a miraculous obstruction of the course of the sun, this would hardly be consistent with the phrase , it hastened not to go down, for this strictly taken, means only, as several of the Rabbins long ago remarked, a more tardy progress of the sun. Plainly intimated in Jos 10:12-13 is so much only, that at Joshuas word the sun remained standing almost a day longer in the heavens. To this is added (Jos 10:14), That there was no such day before and afterward, that Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a man; for Jehovah fought for Israel. This expression, again, should not be too hardly pressed, as the analogous utterances, there was none like him, etc. 2Ki 18:5; 2Ki 23:25, show. They convey only the thought, a day like this which God so marvelously lengthened has not been before nor since. So much therefore lies unambiguously in the words, that the singer of the ancient song, and after him also the author of our Book of Joshua, who inserted these words into his narrative, was convinced10 of a wonderful prolongation of that day. Here, however, it is carefully to be observed that it is not said, that God did at Joshuas request increase the length of that day by about a whole day, or cause the sun to stand still for nearly a whole day, but only that God hearkened to the voice of Joshua, i.e. did not let the sun go down until Israel had avenged themselves upon their enemies. The difference is not unimportant. For a marvelous prolongation of that day took place not only if, through the exertion of Gods Almighty power, the course of the sun or his going down was delayed for many hours, or the day lengthened from say twelve to eighteen or twenty hours, but also on the supposition that the day appeared to Joshua and to Israel wonderfully lengthened, the work accomplished on that day being so great that it would without supernatural help have required two days.
To decide between these two views is not easy, nay, if we go to the bottom of the matter, is impossible. [And no more necessary, it might be added, viewing the account as poetry, than to try to discover the exact proportion between Davids glorious hyperboles in Psalms 18 and the actual events of the deliverance which he there celebrates.Tr.] When we cannot measure the length of the day by the clock, we may, especially in the crowd of business or work, with extraordinary facility be deceived in regard to its length. But the Israelites had neither sun-dials nor any clocks, and amid the tumult of the conflict hardly would Joshua, or any other one engaged in the strife, have repeatedly noticed the shadow of the sun, and inquired after its changes in reference to a tree, for example, or other such object, so as to perceive from its possibly remaining stationary and unaltered, for some hours, that the sun had actually stood still. Under these circumstances it was quite impossible for the Israelites to decide whether that day was really, or only in their conception, longer than other days.
Besides this we must take into account the poetical character of our passage. When David praises the wondrous deliverance which he had experienced at the hand of the Lord, in the words: In my distress I called upon the Lord . and he heard my voice out of his heaven, . and he bowed the heaven and came down, he stretched his hand out of the height, took me and drew me out of many waters (Psa 18:7-17), who imagines that these words are to be understood literally, of an actual descent of God out of heaven and stretching out of. his hand to draw David out of the water? Or who will take the words of Deborah: Out of heaven was the battle waged, the stars out of their courses fought against Sisera, in a literal sense? The truth of such expressions lies in the subjective field of the religious intuition, not in the rigorous interpretation of the words. In a similar way may the verses before us be understood without prejudice thereby to their real import, if that day had been merely subjectively prolonged to the religious apprehension of Israel.
But if the words had expressed even an objectively real and miraculous extension of that day, we should still have had no valid ground for doubting the truth of this statement of facts. All objections which have been raised against the fact or the possibility of such a miracle, appear, on a closer examination of the matter, nugatory. Thus, that the annals of the other peoples of the earth give no report at all of a miracle which must have extended over the whole earth, loses all importance when we perceive that no annals at all of other nations of that period are extant, and that it is extremely doubtful whether the miracle would have extended far beyond the bounds of Palestine [!] 11 Again, the appeal to the unchangeableness of the movement of the heavenly bodies fixed by eternally unalterable laws, is not suited to show the impossibility of such a miracle. The eternal laws of nature are nothing more than modes of manifestation, or phenomena, of Gods creative power, the proper nature of which no mortal has yet found out. May not then the Almighty Creator and Preserver of nature and all her powers, be able also so to direct and control the powers of nature according to his own will that they should contribute to the realization of his ends in salvation? Finally, the objection also that the sudden arrest of the revolution of the earth upon its axis, must have demolished all the work of human hands upon its surface, and hurled from its orbit the earth itself and her attendant the moon, proves nothing, since it is forgotten in all this, that the almighty hand of God which not only created the stars but also lent to them and to all worlds the power to run their course with regularity, so long as this world stands, that that hand which bears, upholds, controls all things in heaven and on earth, is not too short, to guard against such ruinous consequences.
To this may still be added that even the most rigorous apprehension of the words does not compel us, with the fathers and older theologians, to suppose a miraculous obstruction of the sun in his course, but only an optical pause of the sun, i.e. a miraculous arrest of the revolution of the earth on its axis, which would have appeared to the observer as a standing still of the sun. Knobel is entirely wrong when he pronounces this view of the fact contrary to the text. For the Scriptures speak of things of the visible world according to their appearance, as we also still speak of the rising and setting of the sun, although we have no doubt of the revolution of the earth about the sun. Such an optical stand-still of the sun, however, or rather merely a longer standing and visibility of the sun in the horizon, might be effected through Gods omnipotence in an astronomical phenomenon unknown to us and wholly incomprehensible by natural philosophy, without interfering with the general laws of the rotation of the heavenly bodies. Only we must not, surely, reduce this exertion of the divine power to a mere unusual refraction of the light, or a storm of lightning lasting through the whole night, as has been variously attempted. Bibl. Com. ii. 1, p. 7681.]
Having thus treated of this difficult passage in reference to the criticism of the text, and also to the purport of it, it remains for us still to glance at the history of its interpretation.
Although Jesus Sirach and Josephus had, even in their day, betrayed a disposition in the passages above cited, to change the phraseology of our verse, in the sense of a not entirely literal conception of it, still the overwhelming majority of ancient Jewish and Christian interpreters understand here an objective, astronomical miracle, an actual standing still of the sun. So Justin Martyr in Dial. cum Tryph.; Ephraem Syr.; Tertullian, De Jejunio, i. 10; Jerome c. Jovin. i. 11; Chrysost. Hom. 27 in Epist. ad Hebr.; Augustine, De Civit. Dei, xvi. 8 ; Theodoret, the Rabbins, Serarius, Masius, C. a Lapide, Calvin, Osiander, et mult. al. Exceptions are (the Ev. Kirchen-Zeitung, ubi sup. p. 555), Maimonides and Rabbi Levi ben Gersom, who advocate the non-literal view. The wish of Joshua, explains the latter, aims only at this, that that one day and night might be long enough for the overthrow of the so numerous forces of the enemy. It was the same as if he had said: Grant, Almighty Father, that before sun and moon go down, thy people may take vengeance on this multitude of thy foes. The miracle of that day was, that at the prayer of a man God effected so great a defeat in so short a time. How tenaciously the Roman curia, on the contrary, in their Jesuitically inspired proceedings against Galileo (1633), held fast to the opposite view, is well known.
As however the Copernican system nevertheless found adherents, and indeed, even among orthodox Protestant theologians out of opposition to Rome, these thought to help themselves by the assumption of an optical pause of the sun (statio optica), that is, they assumed that the earth was hindered by God in its revolution on its axis, by which a lengthening of the day was produced. So Lilienthal, Gute Sache, v. p. 167 ff.; Mosheim apud Calmet, p. 45 ff.; Bastholm, Jdische Geschichte, ii. p. 31 ff.; Zimmermann, Scriptura Copernizans, i. 1, p. 228. In recent times this view is maintained by Baumgarten (Herzogs Realencyk. vii. 40) According to this writer, Joshua, in the full confidence of being the dispenser of divine vengeance against the corrupt Canaanites, called, as nigh threatened to overtake them, to the heavenly luminaries, and the day was by nearly its full length, prolonged through the apparent pause of the heavenly bodies which govern day and night, but through the actual pause of the globe in its diurnal revolution. Such an exorbitant miracle came to pass because the destination of Israel was something infinitely transcending, in its dignity and significance, the entire natural order of things. This relation between Israel and the system of the universe Joshua apprehended in a moment of daring faith, assumed the immediate realization of the same, and Jehovah sealed this venture of faith by his work and word; and it is for us simply to believe, that this was done.
The editor of the Encyklopdie has made on this representation the very apposite remark, That, however, theologians of a strictly positive tendency are of a different view in this respect is well known.
Grotius and Clericus are to be regarded as precursors of the rationalizing interpretation. They imagined extraordinary refractions of the light of the sun already set; for, as Grotius supposes, it was not impossible for God solis cursum morari, aut etiam post solis occasum ejus speciem in nube supra horizontem extanti per repercussum ostendere. Spinoza, also (Tract. Theol. Polit. ii. pp. 22 and 6, p. 78 ed. Hamb. 1670), adopted substantially this opinion. J. D. Michaelis and Schultz resort to the supposition of lightning that lasted through the whole night; Hess combined lightning with the light of the sun and moon, so that there was no night, so to speak, between this and the following day (F. F. Hess, Geschichte Josua, i. p. 140 f.). Others otherwise; but truly laughable is the attempt of Ritter (in Henkes Magazin, vi. 1), to make the expression sun and moon represent the signals or standards which Joshua had ordered to remain there where they chanced to stand in Gibeon and Ajalon. This insipidity reminds one, as Zckler has rightly observed, of the famous Tavern for the Whale, and similar absurdities of a spiritless, jejune exegesis.12
In recent times the more advanced study of textual criticism has led to the poetical understanding of the passagein our view the only correct one, which is favored not only in general by Maurer, Ewald (Gesch. ii. p. 326), Hitzig and von Lengerke, but also as has been shown above by theologians of quite positive principles, the two Hengstenbergs, Keil, Kurtz, and others. Not less decidedly have Lange and Zckler adopted this view. How far we differ from one and another of these, specially in regard to the criticism of the text, will appear from the foregoing explanation. But that men like Knak, Frantz, and Straube have again brought prominently forward as a matter of faith, the assumption of an actual standing still of the sun, which, under the universal prevalence of the Ptolemaic astronomy was a quite natural view, although by no means required by the text in Jos 10:12-13; that they believe themselves called to defend this against the pseudodoxy of the natural sciences, we regard as indicating a lamentable confusion of ideas, resting on a total want of scientific sense, and under the injurious influence of which the true matter of faith is likely to suffer much.
As a curiosity we may refer in conclusion to the notion of Jean d Espagne, a French theologian, mentioned by Starke, who makes out that this miracle took place in the year 2555 from the creation of the world. But that is the year 7365. Now a year has 365 days, and the number seven has in Gods Word much mystery. Thus the number of the year 2555 makes 365 week-years, [Wochenjahre, years each of which contains a week of years]. So also year-weeks [Yahrwochen, weeks whose days are years] are to be understood (Dan 9:24). Thus the sun after completing 365 year-weeks in his course here kept miraculously a day of rest. This time of 365 days when it has passed 365 times gives us a year of years etc.
c. Flight and Destruction of the Five Kings. (Jos 10:16-27). Jos 10:16 ff. contain the continuation of Jos 10:1-11. The hail-storm had inflicted terrible injury on the Amorites. Many died from the hail, more than were slain by the sword of the Israelites. But the five kings sought to secure their own persons, and hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. When Joshua heard of this, he caused a stone to be rolled before the mouth of the cave and set a guard over it, but he himself drives forward to effect a complete discomfiture of the enemy, and in this succeeds. Not until this is done does he have the five kings brought forward, and, after a ceremony expressive of their total subjection, hung on trees, and their corpses thrown into the cave.
Jos 10:16. Hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. Many such caves were found in the lime and chalk rocks of Palestine. In Davids history the cave of Adullam is often mentioned (1Sa 22:1 ff.; 2Sa 23:13; 1Ch 11:15). In the history of the crusades also (W. Tyrius, De Bello Sacro, 15, 6; 18, 19; 11, et sp.), caves are mentioned. Jdg 20:47, the cave at Rimmon is spoken of, which could contain 600 men in its spacious recess. These caves are large and dry, and branch out also into chambers (Robinson ii. 175, 352 ff., 395398. Von Schubert, iii. 30). They were thus admirably fitted for places of refuge, in times of danger, as in the case before us. [See Dict. of the Bible, art. Caves].
Jos 10:17. for from a sing. after the manner of verbs . Gesen. 75, Rem. 21, (a) (Knobel).
Jos 10:19. Smite the hindmost of them (their rear). from (Kal ), prop. to hurt the tail, figuratively, to disturb the rearguard of the enemy (Deu 25:18). In Greek also , is = rear-guard.
Jos 10:20-21. Most of the enemy were left on the field; only a few escaped into the fortified towns, where they were concealed only for a short time, as we learn from Jos 10:27-43. Those that remained , elsewhere Jos 8:22; Gen 14:13; Jer 44:28; Eze 6:8. The apodosis begins not with , but with Jos 10:21, as Maurer correctly shows. How Keil could imagine that it begins not until Jos 10:23, it is difficult to perceive. For the rest cf. Jos 3:15-16, where the construction is altogether the same, and Jos 2:5 where it is similar., LXX. , Vulg.: Sani et integro numero, in good condition.
None pointed against the children of Israel, against one of them his tongue. The whole proverbial expression we read Exo 11:7 : against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move (point) his tongue, against man or beast, where dog is given as the subject. Here the subject is wanting unless we suppose with Maurer that the in is an error in copying, from the preceding , and to be rejected, which would then leave as the subject. We think it more simple to supply the subject in an indefinite, euphemistic sense, and take as a more precise limitation of , which is favored by the specification in Exo 11:7, . Wholly false is the LXX. I. (!) , while the Vulg. rightly hits the sense: nullusque contra filios Israel mutire ausus est. The meaning is, no one ventured to do any harm to any of the children of Israel, comp. Jdt 11:13.
Jos 10:22-23. At Joshuas command the cave is now opened, and the kings brought before him.
Jos 10:24. Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings. This demand for a contemptuous humiliation of the conquered leaders of the enemy is addressed by Joshua to the leaders of the men of war, to his field officers, who also respond thereto. The ceremony indicates entire subjugation, and was practiced, according to Knobel, by the Greek emperors also. Constant. Porphyrog. De Ceremoniis Aul Byzant. 2, 19; Bynus, De Calceis Hebr. p. 318). We may compare Psa 60:10. for , comp. Isa 28:12 on the form of the verb; Ges. 109; Ewald, 331 b. on the use of the art. for pron. rel.
Jos 10:25. Here Joshua says the same to his warriors which the Lord had said to him (Jos 1:7; Jos 1:9).
Jos 10:26. Joshua kills the kings, doubtless with the sword, and then hangs up their bodies in contempt on five trees, cf. Deu 21:22; Num 25:4; 2Sa 4:12. The one suspended, was as is known, considered accursed, and might not remain hanging over night, Deu 21:23; Gal 3:13; Joh 19:31. In like manner Joshua had done to the king of Ai, Jos 8:29. The hanging of a living man is a Persian punishment (Ezr 6:11). Under the Herods this mode of execution occurs among the Jews also, Josephus, Ant. xvi. 11, 6 (unless strangling is here intended), as well as in Egypt during the Roman age, Philo ii. 529. See Winer, ii. 11 s. v. Lebensstrafen.
DOGMATICAL AND ETHICAL
1. The Biblical view of the universe is like that of all antiquity, the geocentric; the earth stands still, the sun moves. So it appears according to natural, unaided observation, and we have only come to a different apprehension as the result of modern scientific researches. This result we cheerfully accept without forfeiture of our faith, for the only dogmatical question is whether God made the world or not (Heb 11:3), but not at all whether the earth revolves about the sun or the sun about the earth. In that question, whether God made the world, and in particular, whether He created it out of nothing, a religious interest is involved, that the origin of the cosmos should not be referred to blind chance but to an intelligent Creator of heaven and earth (Gen 1:1). But how, on the supposition that God has created all things, the universe is constituted, whether so that the earth moves about the sun or the sun about the earth, this question is of no religious moment to us, but is relegated rather to the science of astronomy, which has finally answered it in the sense of Copernicus and Galileo. Comp. on this the instructive article of Dr. F. Pfaff on the Copernican system and its opponents, Beweis d. Glaube, vol. v. pp. 278287). [Whewells History of the Inductive Sciences, book v. Joshua 3, sect. Joshua 4 : The Copernican System opposed on Theological grounds.Tr.].
2. With this foundation principle clear in mind, it is self-evident that those render poor service to the cause of faith who feel themselves obliged to uphold as a matter of faith what has nothing to do with faith, but is a matter of science. Conversely, however, it needs to be said also that the Bible as a book of religion, cannot reasonably be thought less of because it favors the geocentric scheme. So does Homer also, e.g. whom, nevertheless, in his poetic worth no one has ever thought of disparaging on that account, while it has always belonged to the tactics of those who opposed the Bible to assail it first on the side of the natural sciences, that they might next impugn its religious authority.
3. On the very recent strife in the Berlin Church, in the course of which our passage Jos 10:12-15 has been much ventilated, it belongs not to our design to speak.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Joshuas fidelity to his covenant with the oppressed Gibeonites crowned with a glorious victory: (1) Picture of the oppression of Gibeon by the five Canaanite kings. (2) How Joshua goes up at the call of the Gibeonites and smites the enemy. (3) How he pursues them and holds judgment upon them.Gibeons need, Joshuas faithfulness, Gods help.If men come to us for help in time of need God gives the courage to render aid.True courage comes alone from God.As God once fought for Israel so He still fights for his own. Sun, stand still on Gibeon, and moon in the valley of Ajalon! A believing word of Joshua, Gods contending hero: (1) Spoken under what circumstances? (2) How intended? (3) How answered?The Lord hears when we call upon Him in faith.The great day at Gibeon.It was great, (1) through the mighty strife of the combatants; (2) through the courageous faith of the general; (3) through the victory which God gave.How the memory of Joshua lived still in song, and through song was glorified.The cowardice of the Canaanite kings contrasted with the boldness of Joshua.He that has no good conscience hides himself.The judgment of Joshua upon the five kings (1) destructive to them; (2) encouraging to Israel.
Starke: Whoever, in spiritual conflicts, will have the true Joshua for a helper, must not trust to his own powers but to the power of Christ, and freely come before him, Php 4:13.He who would do his neighbor a favor, should not delay it long, but act quickly, for the speediness of a gift doubles its value [bis dat qui cito dat], while a benefit delayed loses its thanks and becomes useless, 2Co 9:7.On the successful progress of a cause, one ought not to give glory to himself but to God, for He is the workman, we only the tools.From Gods power no man can either climb too high or creep too low; He knows easily how to find us, Amo 9:2, Psa 139:7.Pious Christian, God will one day for thee also lay thy enemies at thy feet; therefore, up, contend, conquer! Rev 2:26-27; Rev 3:9; Rev 3:12; Rom 16:20.
Cramer: It is strange to the world that we will not keep with them: therefore those who turn to God must be attacked and suffer persecution. 1Pe 4:4; Mat 10:36; 2Ti 3:12.God has various artillery with which He contends for his people against their enemies, Jdg 5:20. Let no one faint, therefore, with Gods help. The tyrants who were so wild, fierce, and unrestrainable, God can presently tame.
Hedinger: The iniquity of the ungodly of itself hastens to its punishment, and there is no rod so good for a wicked man as his own.It is well to be concerned lest one make God angry, but when one has made Him angry it is useless care to try to escape his judgment. Even if we should run out of the world we should only find his wrath so much the greater.
Lange: If a man has once gained a real victory over his spiritual foes he must boldly follow it up without indolent delay, and faithfully reap the fruits of the success given him.
Gerlach: Holy Scripture speaks, in regard to things of the visible world, and which concern not the affairs of Gods kingdom, according to natural appearances, precisely as we speak of the sun rising and setting, although we have no doubt of the revolution of the earth.
Footnotes:
[1][Jos 10:11.This sentence is properly parenthetical: As they fled before Israel (they were on the descent from Beth-horon) that Jehovah, etc.Tr.]
[2][Verses 20 and 21 might well be translated and connected thus: And it came to pass when . till they were consumed, and those that had escaped of them had fled, and were come into the fortified cities, that all the people returned, etc.Tr.]
[3][A particularly valuable article on Jerusalem will be found in Smiths Dictionary of the Bible. On the topography the additions to the Am. ed. are indispensable. The Recovery of Jerusalem (see Intr. p 37) is now reprinted in N. Y.Tr.]
[4][If Sadowa and the other events of the Austrian campaign were so commemorated by the author, what would he have said of the progress from Weissenberg to Sedan, and Paris, andin 1870.Tr.]
[5][The remark which follows is true and appropriate concerning , which, however, is not repeated in Jos 10:11. is used there.Tr.]
[6][Might we not add also Jos 10:13, which is unusual for in reference to the Hebrews?Tr.]
[7] [The unhesitating confidence of our author in this conclusion seems hardly borne out by his reasons. The cautious judgment of Bleek, above quoted, seems more consistent with all the facts. We think the poetic spirit resounds through the whole of Jos 10:13-14, to say nothing of the more satisfactory dogmatic bearing of Hengstenbergs view, to be noticed hereafter.
Stanley, in his very interesting presentation of the great battle of Gibeon (Jewish Church, 1st series, lect. xi.), gives this whole section poetically arranged, as follows. It will be seen that here again he blends the LXX. and the Hebrew text too much as if they were of like authority:
Then spake Joshua unto Jehovah,
In the day that God gave up the Amorite
Into the hand of Israel, (LXX.)
When he discomfited them in Gibeon,
And they were discomfited before the face of Israel, (LXX.)
And Joshua said:
Be thou still, O sun, upon Gibeon,
And thou moon upon the Valley of Ajalon.
And the sun was still,
And the moon stood,
Until the nation (or, LXX., until God) had avenged them upon their enemies.
And the sun stood in the very midst of the heavens,
And hasted not to go down for a whole day,
And there was no day like that before it or after it,
That Jehovah heard the voice of a man,
For Jehovah fought for Israel.
And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp in Gilgal.Tr.]
[8][That is, strictly, gives no indication of such knowledge in this passage.Tr.]
[9][Without dwelling on the palpable difficulty, not to say impossibility, of reconciling such a judgment with any satisfactory conception of the inspiration of the writer of our book, is not that judgment inconsistent with the natural probabilities concerning the authorship? That is, would not the reviser or compiler of the Book of Joshua know, as well as we, that he was introducing in verses 12, 13, a highly impassioned and hyperbolical passage of poetry? If so how could he, more than we, go on to interpret it as prosaic history? We think this indicates at once that the interpretation is not his, is nobodys cool interpretation, but only a continuation of the lyrical strain. Not all the grammatical objections of our author to this view combined can stand against this one consideration.Tr.]
[10][Considering what is afterward truly said of the fervid poetical character of this whole passage, this statement appears quite unwarranted. Unless David and Deborah and Habakkuk were convinced of the actual reality of what they assert in the form of fact, there seems no reason at all for assuming that either the original composer of the song or he who inserted it in the Book of the Upright or he who copied it into the Book of Joshua, believed there had been un actual extension of that day.Tr.]
[11] [Compare Matt. Henrys (from this point of view) more national representation:
And he (Joshua) believed Gods particular favor to Israel above all people under the sun; else he could not have expected, that, to favor them upon an emergency with a double day, he should (which must follow of course) amuse and terrify so great a part of the terrestrial globe with a double night at the same time; it is true he causeth the sun to shine upon the just and upon the unjust, but this once the unjust shall wait for it beyond the usual time, while, in favor to righteous Israel, it stands still.Tr.]
[12][The note of the learned Whiston, translator of Josephus, is curiously accommodating: Whether this lengthening of the day, by the standing still of the sun and moon, were physical and real, by the miraculous stoppage of the diurnal motion of the earth for about half a revolution, or whether only apparent, by aerial phosphori imitating the sun and moon as stationary so long, while clouds and the night hid the real ones, and this parhelion, or mock sun, affording sufficient light for Joshuas pursuit and complete victory (which aerial phosphori in other shapes have been unusually common of late years), cannot now be determined; philosophers and astronomers will naturally incline to this latter hypothesis, etc. Ad. Ant. v. 1, 16.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This chapter contains the relation of wonderful events: five kings wage war against Joshua, in the south of Canaan. Gibeon is made the seat of war, in the first instance, because of their league with Israel. Joshua hasteneth to the rescue of Gibeon, and carrieth on his victories, in taking and destroying six royal cities: the sun and moon at the voice of Joshua stand still: hailstones are sent from heaven, to aid Joshua in the destruction of the kingdoms: after his victories Joshua returneth unto Gilgal.
Jos 10:1
I have often pondered over the name of this king, and been led to wonder whence he derived it. Adoni signifies Lord, and hence our Jesus is called Adonai, Psa 110:1 , where it is said, Jehovah the Lord said unto my Adonai, Lord. And again by the prophet, I saw also the Adonai, meaning Christ, sitting upon a throne, etc. Isa 6:1 , And his other name, Zedak signifies righteousness. But what reference had his name to his character? Alas! so far from being righteous, he joins in league with the enemies of God. Reader! what a pity is it in the present day, to discover so many precious names of scripture, given to men who have nothing precious in them!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jos 10
Dr. W. G. Blaikie remarks that some commentators look on these words as akin to the prayer of Agamemnon (Iliad II, 412 sq.) that the sun must not go down till he had sacked Troy. He goes on: ‘But whatever allowance we may make for poetical licence of speech, it is hardly possible not to perceive that the words as they stand imply a miracle of extraordinary sublimity; nor do we see any sufficient ground for resisting the common belief that in whatsoever way it was effected, there was a supernatural extension of the period of light to allow Joshua to finish his work.
References. X. 6. R. E. Hutton, The Crown of Christ, vol. i. p. 39. X. 12. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Deuteronomy, Joshua, etc., p. 153. W. Walsham How, Plain Preaching for a Year, vol. i. p. 339. X. 12, 13. E. C. S. Gibson, Messages from the Old Testament, p. 55. X. 12-14. W. Ewen, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xli. 1892, p. 294. X. 22-26. R. E. Hutton, The Crown of Christ, vol. i. p. 239. XI. 18. C. Jerdan, Pastures of Tender Grass, p. 17. XI. 23. W. Alexander, The Conquest of the Earth, Sermons, 1872-73.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
The Lord’s Artillery
Jos 10:11
WE have seen how Gibeon made peace with Joshua. Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem, was exceedingly displeased with the men of Gibeon for making peace with the enemy. He sent, therefore, unto the mountain kings of the Amorites, inviting them to smite Gibeon, saying, “It hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.” So the five kings of the Amorites went up; and the Lord said unto Joshua, “Fear them not…. there shall not a man of them stand before thee.” “So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.” And Joshua smote the enemy “with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah;” and when Joshua had done all that lay in his power, the Lord took up the case, and he hailed out of heaven upon the enemy, and “they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.” The Lord never loses a battle. The picture of that fight is most vivid. It gleams with many colours, and as it stands in the gallery of ancient history, it seems to say, This is how it always is; study me, and see the providence of the Lord. We accept the invitation.
The divine cause has enemies. The miracle is upon our side. Why complain or utter wonders equal to complaints about miracles divine? The miracle is on the human side, and is expressed in the incredible fact that the divine cause has human enemies. Reason seems to be offended by the statement. A voice within us protests against the possibility of an anomaly so glaring and so violent. We should listen to the protest if we could shut our eyes to the facts. Show us something divine, and we will worship it. Men would say in certain moods, Show us the truly beautiful, and we will fall down before it in an attitude of adoration. Thus we exclaim. The common doctrine would seem to be: we have only to see the good, and we will accept it; to behold the beautiful, and we will worship it; to know the right, and we will do it. It would be pleasant to believe this. We want to believe it for our own creed’s sake. But facts are dead against us. We are witnesses against ourselves. We see the right, and yet the wrong pursue. We say openly, with frankness that will be turned against us some day, This is the right road. But we are going in an opposite direction, that is the miracle! When you have settled and determined that anomaly, then you may begin to challenge the possibility of miracles upon the upper or divine side. “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.” What do you make of facts? We sentimentalise, or dream, or speculate, what is your answer to the awful mystery that a man, not only can say, but does say, This is right, but I decline to do it? If this were matter of speculation, you would put the speculation from your mind as unworthy of the dignity of human reason. If this were a charge laid against a distant nation, we should make some trifling remark upon the incident, describing it as romantic, if not impossible; but it is the great line of our own life, the broad line which marks our whole experience, action, and attitude; and we are continually face to face with the solemn charge, that we know the Lord’s way and the Lord’s cause, and we set ourselves in distinct disobedience to his law and claim.
But the enemies of the divine cause have both earth and heaven against them: the sword of Israel, and the hail of God. The living God has two great forces; if you escape one, you fall under the power of the other. Men cannot do with the earth as they please. They think they can, but that is a deadly mistake. What can they do with the earth? Consider the case, and learn how little is human power in relation to those very things which seem to come easily within its sway. What can men do with the earth, which is under their feet, as if in sign of humiliation and unworthiness? Can they stop it? Can they reverse its motion? Can they illuminate it? What can these masters do with their nominal slave? They can smite it with iron, and make it grow what they please. No, they cannot! The dull earth, hoed into grooves, will not obey the iron pick, will not turn to the pluck of the bit and bridle given by violent hands. What, then, can we do with the earth? We are obliged to study it, to find out all its moods and whims and tempers. We are compelled to humour the old earth. We have to treat it very delicately and very kindly. At first we think we have only to smite it with iron, and it will be only too glad to respond in harvests: but the earth is a mystery; the earth will not do what we want it to do. It openly says, I will not grow this crop; this year you must change my food; I am tired of this monotony, and I will not move again. We form associations to consider the earth, to report upon it, to take measurements and temperatures, and to arrange means to ends; and there the old earth swings on in the darkness, now night, now day, and must be humoured like a living thing. How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. The stones of the field seem to have a mind, and the winds and the stars to be under a purpose, and to be expressing a design. Then the upper earth if I may so call the atmosphere for what is it but an upper and enlarged earth? We may be able to do some little thing with spade and mattock, with plough and harrow, but what can we do up in the clouds? There is a minister of wrath called the weather. We have never been able to bribe him, propitiate him, bring him within the circle of our influence. The weather has come down upon our navies, and broken them into wet chips. The weather has stopped our great steam-horses, and said, No further on this road just now! It an earthquake had done it, there would have been some harmony between the process and the result; but little flakes of snow have done it white little wings, things that look like beautiful insects, down they have come, and down, until that which in detail weighed nothing accumulated itself into millions of tons, and great steam-horses, challenging and thundering and roaring, have had to stand still before the white opponent, unable to move one inch. Why, our power is quite a nominal thing after all. We thought we were so great, and yet the earth beats us, or if we win a little success in the soil and report it, we can do nothing in the clouds; we have no ladder a hundred feet long, or two hundred feet long, or five hundred feet long, and if we had, there is nothing to set it against. After all, our pride is shaken down, our vanity is cut in two; and men who have discovered a new variety of crop for the soil have to say parenthetically, almost religiously, “weather permitting”! When Christian men charge reformers and empirics with inability to touch the heart’s deadly sore, they can illustrate their position and vindicate their fear by the littleness of the limit which binds in the power of all men even in matters terrestrial and confessedly material. Mend the weather before you mend human manners. Stop the rain before you attempt by merely human means to stop the torrent of human iniquity. When you have won triumphs in your own world, we will accept them as proofs that you may be able to do some mightier thing on broader lines.
All things fight for God. The hailstones are his friends and allies; the stars in their courses beat and throb according to his purpose and express his intent. The bad cause has no friends; it comes to an ignominious end; it is overwhelmed by hailstones. It is so humbling! If men could have shown on the forehead a great scar made by a gleaming sword swung by the arms of a Hercules a very giant in stature and strength we should have said, Well, you had a foeman worthy of your steel; it is equal to a victory to have been felled by that man. You come in under stress of weather. Hailstones! you beaten back by hailstones? Yes! Why then there is no glory in it, not a whit. Come back because of the weather? Yes. Well, that is very crushing. Exceedingly so. But you are a man; why didn’t you “stand up like a man”? I did, but the hailstones knocked me down! Why is it so? All the world over. You cannot lock the hail up. You cannot find a shutter that will certainly keep the lightning on the outside: God takes the hasp off after we have shut up the front-door. Consider the ignominy of the end! To be slain with a sword is to meet a soldier’s fate; to be killed with hailstones is to be treated as an inferior creature is to feel the contempt of an invisible and infinite enemy.
These are the strongholds and grounds of the Christian attack. We are not speaking to men, you see, who can walk as if with the wings of the wind, and make the clouds the dust of their feet, and bring in the spring when they please, and detain the summer as long as they have a mind to detain that shining guest; we are speaking to men, however great or little, to men who have to make careful parentheses and reservations in their boldest talk; to men whose triumphant essays are wetted through and drenched by God’s snow, so that they cannot read their own writing. “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.” There is only one safe motion, only one astronomic rhythm, and if you get out of beat and harmony with that, you are at war with God. A short fight is his who encounters gravitation. Foist moment he may leap, but he will soon lie down; for a little while he may seem as if master of the situation, but the great serene law moves on and flattens whatever opposes its tranquil operation. “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.”
The bad cause perishes in contempt. The five kings ran away and hid themselves in a cave, and Joshua said, Bring them out! and to the men of Israel, Put your feet upon their necks; and the men of Israel put their feet upon the necks of the kings; and he said, Now hang them upon trees; and the men of Israel hanged the five kings upon five trees, and at the evening hour cut them down and threw them into the very cave in which they had hidden themselves, and laid great stones against the mouth of the cave, and there they are until this day. The great life-lesson running out of all this ancient history is: it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.” No hailstone ever ranked itself on the bad side. No rain ever offered itself to help the bad man. Though it may appear to have done so incidentally, it never did so finally; and the stones will be faithful unto the last. There shall come a day when men shall say to the rocks and to the mountains, “Fall on us,” and rock and mountain will stand without a sign. “Hide us from the wrath of the Lamb!” and the rock and the mountain will stand upon their foundations without a quiver or a spasm. “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.” This is science: we are invited into the astronomic movement. It is the call of gravitation, not of speculative theology. It is the music of the spheres, not some hymn of despicable sentiment. What say you? To be with Christ, with God, is to be in the laws of gravitation. Have you any objection to that? It is to be marching step for step. Have you any complaint to make against that appeal? Why try to go the other way when all the gates are locked and the keys are not to be found? Why not have on our side God, and all that God implies and involves the whole mystery of power and grace, righteousness and wisdom? Then we shall know what it is to triumph. We shall hear a voice behind us and within us say, “It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again.” Who shall lay anything to the charge of those who are in rhythm with God? The appeal seems to me so based on all that is true in science, in nature, in the reality and necessity of things, that but for the miracle which we indicated at the outset, it would seem impossible but that every man should rise and say, I will be on the Lord’s side, I will live by the divine movement, I will find peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is what Jesus Christ came to do. He found we were opposing the law of spiritual gravitation; trying to create a universe of our own, and only making a hell; trying to silence music by discord, and being lost in the tumult which we made. He is our peace. In him we are safe evermore. When the hail pours down, it will be upon the enemy, not upon the friend; and when the lightning gleams and blazes and burns, it shall not come nigh the heart that rests in the Cross in the infinite mystery of the infinite atonement. Bad man, you can go on a while if you like, but not for long: the hail is against you. You can make yourself so trusted as to be allowed to go and change the securities and rob the strong-box, but not for long: nature has her eye upon you, the constables of the universe are on your track. You can succeed for a while, you can do wonders for a while, but only for a while; you will be hanged, cut down, ruthlessly and contemptuously flung into a cave, and be forgotten. Do not imagine that your course is quite run yet: you may have twenty-four hours more; but the hand from which there is no release is already groping for you. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. The ungodly are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. The triumphing of the wicked is short. Only righteousness is eternal; only honesty goes through the weather without getting wet; only the truth can put out to sea in any weather, plunging into the troughs, mounting up on the billows, swinging on the crest, down again, up again, but all the time steering straight for the green summer shore. Oh, go not to sea in some paper boat of your own making! The vessel of God’s righteousness and love is open to us all. Let us enter. It cannot be wrecked.
Prayer
Almighty God, we are alive this day to praise thee. Thou canst call upon living men to bear witness to thy rule and thy care. Thou art not the God of the dead, but the God of the living; thou dost not refer to the ancient time beyond our memory, thou dost appeal unto ourselves, thou dost ask us to read the record of our own life and to consider all the way along which thou hast conducted us. This we will gladly do. Herein is our joy, secret and public. We love to commune with our own hearts, and to take note of all the care thou hast shown unto us day by day from the first; and we love in the open sanctuary to make public mention of thy goodness, and to sing a loud song unto God, and to make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation. We have seen thy goodness, handled it, felt it, known it in the core of the heart; therefore we will not be silent, but will magnify thy name day by day, at the entering in of the city, in the place of public concourse, quietly at home, all but silently in the chamber of sickness: but we will not forget thy benefits, nor cease to remember the mercies of God. Thou hast led us by a way that we have not known. We have come upon strange names in the outworking of our history; unfamiliar places we have trodden; unfriendly tribes have accosted us and encountered us with stubborn resistance; we have looked round for water where there were no wells, and have gone out to pluck fruit where there were no trees; and, behold, thou hast not sent us back unrefreshed or empty-handed: thou hast created fountains in the wilderness, and trees thou hast planted on the rocks. Thou art a God of miracles, working wonders in light and in darkness. Thou dost send unto us messages in all the blowing winds, yea, in the cold and mighty tempest, and in the gentle summer breeze; and all the year long thou dost never forget us: we are graven upon the palms of thy hands. We will magnify thy name, and praise it. New mercies shall create new songs; new visions of truth shall touch the soul into nobler praise. Thus will we spend the few days of our life, a handful at the most, praying that the last may be brighter than the first, yea, that the last on earth may be the first in heaven. We pray that our own life may continue to be the object of thy care. We can only live in God. We can only live in God as we bear the fruit which is consistent with thy purpose in our creation. Every branch that beareth not fruit is cut down, and cast away, and burned in the fire. We would bear fruit unto thy glory: we would have living minds, clean hearts, responsive spirits, industrious hands, souls that live in prayer; the Lord grant unto us our heart’s desire! For thy Book we daily bless thee: it is brighter than the morning; it is fuller of truth than the night is full of stars. Help us to read it patiently, sympathetically, devoutly; whilst we read, may the Writer himself be present, the inspiring Holy Spirit, that so the inspired reader may peruse the inspired writing, and in thy light see light, and behold and wonder at the ever-expanding revelation of God. Be with us wherever we are in the twelve hours of the day and the twelve hours of the night. Make our bread pleasant to our eating; grant a blessing upon the water we drink from the streams which descend from heaven; give us the apt mind in business, the clear head, the eye that sees afar, the sensitiveness which men knowing not God cannot explain; be with us in all family darkness, trouble, bereavement: when sickness comes, or loss, or bare poverty, may we find room for them, because they may be angels in disguise. Direct us in all our path; give us the right word when a sudden answer is demanded; save us from mental perplexity when besieged by an unrighteous ability; the Lord give us steadfastness and love of truth in the soul, and the incorruptible sincerity which burns all evil and finds its way to God through storm and cloud, through rock and desert and difficulty. Send a plentiful rain upon thine inheritance; bless thy people with peace; crown their lives with forgiveness. Above all, make us like thy Son Jesus Christ, brightness of thy glory, express image of thy person; may we in our degree be beautiful as he: pure and noble and self-surrendering; may we know somewhat of the mystery of his Cross, the pathos of his suffering, the atonement which he wrought out in the mystery and passion of love. For his sake, hear us; for his sake, bless us; for his sake, withhold not any good thing from us. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXI
THE FALL OF JERICHO, AI, EBAL, AND GERIZIM
Jos 6:1-10:43
This section commences with Jos 6:1 and the first item of the discussion is the capture of Jericho. The method of the capture of Jericho was intensely spectacular. The dramatic feature of it was cumulative; it got more intense every day. We have only to read two or three verses to see just what was done, and such a thing as was never done before or since, but done in the taking of the city. No sword was unsheathed, no man struck a blow in the capture of that place. The priests with the jubilee trumpets, not the ordinary trumpets, led the procession, seven priests, seven trumpets, seven days round that city. They would blow and the people were silent, not a word in the ranks. Once a day for six days they marched all around the high walls of Jericho and on the seventh day they went round it seven times, and at the close of the seventh time the trumpets sounded and the people shouted and the walls of Jericho fell, and each one in his position in their circuit, marched over the fallen walls and captured the city. It was God’s work throughout. You will notice that this capture was discriminative; that place in the wall where the house of Rahab stood did not fall; every other place fell.
The next thought in the capture of this city is that it was devoted. Learn the meaning of that word “devoted.” That means, when it applies to man, that death occurs; when it applies to materials as spoils, that it belongs to Jehovah. The Israelites had nothing to do with the capture of the city. It was entirely God’s. And the strongest prohibition was issued, that no man must rob God by appropriating to himself any part of the spoils which had been set apart for Jehovah’s own use.
Now, we come to another feature of the capture, and that is a curse was pronounced on any man that ever attempted to rebuild the walls of Jericho, not Jericho the city, for that still existed, but the fortified part of the city, where the arms were kept. It must never be rebuilt. Turn to 1Ki 16:34 , and read that verse: “In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho; he laid the foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram, his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of Jehovah which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.” That is many hundred years after Joshua spoke that word, and there you come to a great text and a very appropriate one, if you are going to make a prohibition address. One of the great arguments for the continuance of the sale of ardent spirits in a city is that it promotes the interests of the city; that the grass would grow in the streets of a city if you did not allow it. The statement is erroneous, but if it were true, men ought not to lay the foundation of the city in the souls of men.
You will notice that the next says that Joshua, whom they had supported as leader in this, acquired great fame by the fall of Jericho throughout all the Promised Land; among the enemies the fame and dread of Joshua spread.
It is in connection with the capture of this city that we come across the sin of Achan, and that is the second thought for us to discuss. The text says, “Israel’s sin,” and the context shows that on Israel fell the punishment The real sinner was one person, Achan. Now, the question comes up, With what propriety can the action of a man with which the others had nothing to do, be called the sin of Israel and the Israelites be punished for the sin? You recall a passage in Corinthians, recently studied, where Paul accuses the church of sin in that it had retained one man and covered up the sin of that man that took his father’s wife, and he went on to say that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. So when you look at the solidarity of the people, their unity, or the solidarity of the church, a sin committed by one member that passes unrebuked will become the sin of the entire organization, and the whole body must suffer the penalty for what one does, because they being many constitute one body.
That is why this is called Israel’s sin.
I ask you to notice again the cause of this sin; it was covetousness. He knew about the prohibition; that he didn’t capture Jericho but God captured it, and that its spoils were devoted by the word of God, but he saw some gold and a goodly Babylonish garment and he took them and hid them in his tent. The people knew nothing about this sin. So far as they were concerned, it was a covered sin, and it doesn’t keep a ship from sinking when a leak is there, be it unknown to the captain of the crew. So that a covered sin is even more dangerous than a sin that is in the open. A fire that is merely smouldering, sending forth no blaze and no smoke, is more dangerous than a fire that advertises itself with its illumination and its roar, because in that case you can hedge against its spreading, but if it is unseen it spreads beyond control.
We now come to the nature of his offence. It was not ordinary stealing. It was not ordinary dishonesty. It was that blasphemy which robs God. You will recall in the New Testament that when the church had just started on its progress and donations were being given, people would sell their land and come and say, “It is all the price of the land,” Ananias and his wife conspired together to keep back a portion of the price and thus lied not to man, but unto God, and if that sin had not at the beginning been punished by instant death, the church never would have retained its power. Just as in this new nation coming among enemies with a world of conquest just ahead of them, their sole dependence was keeping in favor with God. Whoever then lost them the favor of God practically would bring about their destruction; therefore, it was not a case for mercy. Now, we find Israel paying the penalty of that sin. A detachment of men was sent out to Ai, their next stronghold, and to their own surprise they became panic stricken and fled and a number of them lost their lives. You can see the significance of their defeat. The enemy had been panic stricken and the only way to succeed was to keep up their prestige. This defeat took away from the enemy their fear of Israel, and unless that sin had been discovered and speedily punished, Israel would have been beaten back across the Jordan or enslaved in a very short time. But one of the most remarkable things in connection with the sin of Achan is God’s omniscient method of ascertaining and exposing it. Dr. Burleson preached all over Texas from this text. “Be sure your sin will find you out.”. And a great sermon of Jonathan Edwards that spread over a quarter of the nation and resulted in the conversion of 250,000 people was from this text, “Their feet shall slide in due time.” “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”; there is no escape from the omniscient eye of God. There is no getting away from his presence, there is no evasion of his omnipotence. A man who has committed a sin is like a horse staked out on the prairie; the stake rope may be long but yet it is not long enough to enable him to be free. He can go only to the end of his tether, and every time the horse walks around the stake pin, shortens his tether, and after a time it brings his nose right up to the stake pin. So is any sinner in the hands of God.
When God maketh an inquisition for sin, he remembers, he doesn’t forget, he knows where to go to look for it. It has chanced that three times I have preached from the text, “Be sure your sin will find you out,” at ten years’ interval, and each time I preached some one came and made me a confession that I never told, but the confessions of the strangest and most awful sin, and one of them was a young preacher. I have never been so puzzled as I have been puzzled by these three confessions. In two of these cases I was able not only to suggest a remedy, but to put the remedy into effect. The third case was not in any power of mine. Now, God’s plan was this: The whole camp, 3,000,000 of them, were drawn up and they were ordered to march by Jehovah, that is, where his presence was, at the tabernacle, and God would say which tribe, and he took one of the twelve tribes, Judah, and they were required to march by again and God designated which clan of Judah (the Zarhites) held the criminal, and that clan was required to pass by and God designated the head of the family, and the family was required to pass by and God designated the man. It is a remarkable exhibition of sin by divine Providence. When exposed, Achan confessed his sin and the Israelites, by purging themselves, regained the power over their enemies which they had lost. Following this detection and punishment of Achan’s sin, Ai easily falls before Joshua, as our chapter tells us and I need not repeat.
Now, with the conquest of Ai the children of Israel were established in an exceedingly strong strategical position. They struck a country sideways, about the center; they camped in the mountainous part that held the open ways to the south, and the open ways to the north, and the open ways to the west. Therefore we have an account of the first league. The nations around saw that no one nation could stand before Israel, and that as Israel was coming against all of them, it behooved them to make a defensive league. All the Amorites who held mountain country entered into that league except one nation, the Gibeonites, who held four cities in the mountains and controlled certain mountain passes. These Gibeonites came before Joshua disguised in apparel and in every way, and they told Joshua that they had heard of him and of Israel and that they came in peace. Now, Israel was allowed to make a league with other nations than the Canaanites, the enemies that inhabited the territory of Israel, therefore it was necessary to make treaty with these people. The only error of which they were guilty was in not asking God before they made it. It was found out that the Gibeonites’ territory lay in that path just ahead of them, but the covenant had been made and it was agreed that their lives should be spared, but they should become hewers of wood and drawers of water for the Israelites. This gave Joshua control of the crest of the land.
This brings us to consider the binding power of a nation’s obligation to God. It is just as important as that of individuals. If the United States makes a treaty with another nation, the national honor is involved in due observance of that treaty. Therefore this treaty with the Gibeonites, having been made, had to stand. Later we will see that Saul violated that covenant and his sons were hanged to pay for the violation of the covenant that was made with the Gibeonites. There are some people who say that one generation cannot bind another generation. Mr. Jefferson, in his works, goes dangerously near if not altogether right up to the thought that involves the very destruction of the idea of national responsibility, viz.: that every generation should be bound only by the obligations that that generation assumed. That would not have worked and did not work in the Achan case, and no statesman ought to stand in office who advises the people to disregard a national obligation. We have to meet it; we have to pay it. Suppose England should repudiate its national debt because this generation did not contract that debt, she would destroy all modern civilization. If the British debt was repudiated, the foundation of both continents would be destroyed.
Now, having obtained this strategical position, we come to Ebal and Gerizim. They are the two mountains that face each other. In Deuteronomy Moses commanded that when they got over into the land they must place half of the people on Mount Ebal and half on Mount Gerizirn and the priests with the ark in between, and the law should be read. When you come to the curses, the six tribes on Mount Ebal shall cry out “Amen”; and when you come to the blessings the six tribes on Mount Gerizirn shall cry out “Amen”; and when you come to the end of the law, all of the twelve tribes shall cry out “Amen.” It was a scene earth never witnessed before, mountaintop speaking to mountaintop. The voice of the people aligning themselves with the decrees of God and pronouncing themselves to be cursed if they disobeyed and to be blessed if they obeyed.
The next item in our history is that five mountain kings, Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, and Hoham, king of Hebron, Piram, king of Jarmuth, and Japhia, king of Lachish, and Debir, king of Eglon, were to make war on the Gibeonites (Jebus means City of Judah, finally called Jerusalem), because they had practically surrendered to Joshua and it behooved these nations to stand together and to punish the traitor. This is what they thought. Notice that Adonizedek is king of Jerusalem, that her king is no longer Melchidedek. You will find in your Hurlbut’s Atlas many maps that show Jerusalem, and you will have to study about Jerusalem all through the Bible, and when you get up to heaven to the New Jerusalem, you will still study about it. This is the first time you come to it.
This brings us to the great decisive battle of Beth-horon. When the Gibeonites found themselves invaded by these five allied kings, they sent a rapid messenger to Joshua at Gilgal, after he had gotten through the Ebal and Gerizirn matter. It is a very urgent appeal, “Come quick!” And Joshua marches all night and makes a certain attack and that brings about the decisive battle of Beth-horon. There are three stages: The first stage, Joshua attacks and discomfits them; they begin to retreat and seem to be about to get away. That brings us to the second stage, when God intervenes with an electric storm, an awful storm of hailstones, and more of that allied army perish by hailstones than by the sword of Joshua’s people. Hailstones are very large sometimes. If you take your encyclopaedia, you will find that a hailstone once fell that passed through a battleship and sank it, and another hailstone fell on land that buried itself, that weighed several tons, being as big as a house. You remember the remarkable account of the plague in Egypt and its awful destructive power, and if you ever have a chance to go to see the moving picture show of the life of Moses, you will see that hailstorm just as vividly as if you were standing looking on it, and you will see it kill cattle and people. In the third stage of the battle, the allies had been defeated, then they had been discomfited by the hailstorm. Joshua saw that a great deal depended on keeping the ranks together and so with sublime audacity he said, “Stand still,” to the sun, and “Thou moon,” that is, let the day be prolonged, and the record says that the sun did stand still and the moon, and that the day was so prolonged that there was no day like it before in the history of the world and none after it An infidel once said to me, “Do you know what Joshua ought to have done? He ought to have said, ‘Stand still, O earth.’ ” I said, “You are very smart in your knowledge of science. You could not stop the earth if you don’t stop the sun.” The earth is a satellite and the moon is a satellite, and the earth’s motion is of two kinds, centripetal and centrifugal, those forces combined make a circular motion that carries the earth around the sun. Just like a mechanic with a complicated piece of machinery in order to stop the outlying wheels, all he has to do is to stop the main wheel. If you want to talk about the language of science Joshua said exactly the right thing.
Now comes up the question about that miracle. It is perfectly foolish for people to waste time in the discussion of the credibility of miracles, the supernatural. All you have to do is just admit one thing God. Now, if there be a God, he can just as well control that which is above nature as nature itself. According to Horace in his Art of Poetry, “Never introduce a god unless there is a necessity for a god.” Well, it certainly was necessary. Upon that battle hinged all the southern part of the Promised Land. That battle would have been no more than a skirmish if these nations had gotten away and gotten into their walled cities. What was necessary was to have time, daylight enough to prosecute the work So the God that intervened at the passage of the Red Sea and at the Jordan, and in shaking down the walls of Jericho, intervened here. Now, it is the object of the miracle to accredit, to attest. Joshua needed to be accredited; there must be the most overwhelming evidence that he stood for God. If he stood in heat of battle and commanded the sun to stand still and the sun stood still, and the moon, and God heard him, then he stood accredited before the people, before the nations of the earth.
This brings us to the book called Jasher. What is the book of Jasher? “Is not this written in the book of Jasher?” Now notice the full quotation: “Is not this written in the book of Jasher? so the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel. And Joshua returned and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.” That last sentence is a part of the quotation, for Joshua had not returned yet, but after the event, it was written in the book of Jasher. That was the poem that was said to have been written in that book of Jasher. It was a book of poems that selected the great events in Jewish history. Twice it is referred to in the Old Testament. David’s song was written in it and this poem on the battle of Beth-horon was put in it.
Still going back to the battle, they pursued the enemy until the five kings took refuge in a cave and Joshua sealed the mouth of the cave with a stone and still pursued until the destruction of the enemy was complete, and the result of the battle was that while there were few enemies left in the city, he kept marching on, taking one town after another until we come to this description, that his conquest extended from Goshen to Gath; from Goshen to Kadesh, Negeb, Hebron, to the Dead Sea. Here comes up a question about Joshua, and some of these people that can believe half things, but are utterly at a loss to believe all things. Some believe that Goshen was not a border of Israel. We will take the definition of the Bible. Don’t look at your commentaries, look at the Bible. It shows that by this one battle Joshua captured all the country upon the Mediterranean coast to Gath and from Gath to Jerusalem, and from there to Hebron, and from there to the lower edge of the Dead Sea, and extending up on a line with Goshen. One battle practically gave him the whole of the south country. I will add this, that the five kings were executed and then hanged on a tree, for “cursed is every man that is hanged on a tree.”
I have one other remark to make. Later on in the book and even in the book of Judges you will find references to the conquest of certain places in this southern country that only Joshua took, but when you look at the details it mentions the junior officers that took it. From instance, Kirby Smith attacked the Federal outposts on the Mississippi River near Vicksburg and all on one day, and yet it was General McCullough, one of his subordinate officers, that attacked one point, and General Young that attacked another point. Now, if I should see in the life of Kirby Smith that he accomplished all that, and later if I take up the life of General McCullough and find that he took certain points, I would know which one was there. I do know, for I was there in it. Now, just so with these later accounts that some people use to indicate that the book of Joshua was not written until after the book of Judges. There is no evidence to show that any of these events occurred after the book of Judges, but they are generally stated here, and later, in putting the events of Joshua’s life, they will be specifically considered as when we come to the tribe of Dan.
QUESTIONS
1. Describe the capture of Jericho.
2. What discrimination in this capture?
3. What is the meaning of “devoted,” & what prohibition was issued?
4. What curse was pronounced on the rebuilder of Jericho, its fulfilment and a present day application of the text?
5. What exaltation of Joshua as the result, & the effect on his enemies?
6. Why called Israel’s sin and why Israel’s punishment? Give New Testament explanation.
7. What its cause?
8. Its nature?
9. Its effect?
10. Effect of social sin?
11. Its result?
12. Significance of defeat of Ai?
13. What its method of exposure?
14. Its confession and punishment? Give New Testament example.
15. What was the first league?
16. Give the case of the Gibeonites.
17. What of the covenant made with them and who violated it and the result?
18. What the application to modern nations?
19. What command did Moses give concerning this transaction?
20. Describe its fulfilment.
21. Describe the confederacy against the Gibeonites, and why its necessity?
22. Describe the great decisive battle that followed, giving 1Th 3 stages.
23. What the book of Jasher? What other reference to it?
24. What the result of the campaign? Outline the South Country.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Jos 10:1 Now it came to pass, when Adonizedek king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them;
Ver. 1. When Adonizedec king of Jerusalem. ] A glorious name, fitter for Messiah the Prince, – for it signifieth the same in effect with Melchizedek, “which is by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is King of peace,” – than Heb 7:2 for such a tyrant. Jdg 1:7 But it is nothing new for that kind of men to affect glorious titles, as did Antiochus Soter, Ptolomeus Euergetes, &c. The great Turk styleth himself at this day, Awlem Penawh, that is, the world’s refuge. a
Had heard that Joshua had taken Ai, &c.
“ Iam tun res agitur, paries cure proximus ardet. ”
This they hardly, and not till needs must, take notice of: sin and Satan having cast them into a dead lethargy, out of which they are hardly roused.
And were among them.
a Grand Sign. Serag., 148.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED TEXT): Jos 10:1-5
1Now it came about when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai, and had utterly destroyed it (just as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king), and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were within their land, 2that 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 mighty. 3Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron and to Piram king of Jarmuth and to Japhia king of Lachish and to Debir king of Eglan, saying, 4Come up to me and help me, and let us attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel. 5So 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 together and went up, they with all their armies, and camped by Gibeon and fought against it.
Jos 10:1; Jos 10:3 Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem This name means my Lord is just or righteous (BDB 11) and is related etymologically to the title Melchizedek (king is/of righteous, BDB 575) who was the priest/king of the city of Salem.
This is the first use of the term Jerusalem in the Bible. The Septuagint has Adoni-bezek (a place name). The city was originally called Salem (cf. Gen 14:18). Later, it is called Jebus (cf. Jdg 19:10-11; 1Ch 11:4). It was given to Benjamin but it is right on the border with Judah. The lower city was captured in Joshua’s day but the upper city (fortress) was not captured until David’s day (cf. 2Sa 5:6 ff). We learn from the archaeological discovery of the Amarna tablets, around 1400 B.C., that they called the city Urusalem.
utterly destroy This refers to the Hebrew concept of holy war called the herem (BDB 355, KB 353, Hiphil IMPERFECT). This meant that a city (i.e., Ai) was dedicated to God; it became so holy that everything that breathed, including men and animals, must be killed. We see this same kind of situation at the battle of Jericho (Joshua 6).
had made peace This VERB (BDB 1023, KB 1532, Hiphil PERFECT) means to finish or to bring to completion (e.g., 2Sa 10:19; 2 Kgs. 22:44), therefore, it denotes the results of their covenant with Joshua (cf. Jos 10:4; Jos 9:15).
Jos 10:2 feared This VERB (BDB 431, KB 432, Qal IMPERFECT) is used several times in Joshua
1. revere – Jos 4:14, Moses
2. revere – Jos 4:24; Jos 22:25; Jos 24:14, YHWH
3. fear – Jos 8:1; Jos 10:8; Jos 11:6, YHWH tells Joshua to not fear
4. fear – Jos 9:24; Jos 10:2, the Gibeonites and Jerusalemites fear Israel
5. fear – Jos 10:25, Joshua tells Israel to not fear
Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities Although it was large and well fortified like one of the royal cities, it was not one because it apparently had no king and was in a league with several other cities (cf. Jos 9:17).
all its men were mighty This is a word play between (1) Gibeon (BDB 149); (2) great (BDB 152); and (3) mighty (gibborim, BDB 150).
Jos 10:3 Hebron. . .Jarmuth. . .Lachish. . .Eglon These sites are all located in the southern hill country of Judah and Benjamin. They were all of Amorite descent. We also learn from the Amarna tablets that all of them appear in this ancient document except for the city of Hebron which was also called Kiriath-arba (cf. Jos 20:7). This, again, shows the historicity of this account.
Jos 10:4 Notice the verbal commands.
1. Come up with me, BDB 748, KB 828, Qal IMPERATIVE
2. Help me, BDB 740, KB 810, Qal IMPERATIVE
3. Let us attack, BDB 645, KB 679, Hiphil IMPERFECT used in a COHORTATIVE sense
Jos 10:5 camped by This refers to a siege.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Jerusalem = vision of peace. First occ, is connected with war, and next mention is siege and fire (Jdg 1:8); called Jebus (Jdg 19:10-11). Assigned by Joshua to Benjamin (Jos 18:28).
taken Ai. Compare Jos 8:23-29.
as = according as.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 10
In verse six of chapter ten,
The men of Gibeon sent an urgent message to Joshua that they were being attacked. They said, “Now we have this mutual defense pact with you, so come to our aid.” And Joshua honoring the pact that he had made, took his men of war, in a forced march all night long, and they came to the area of Gibeon where the Gibeonites were being attacked by these kings with all their chariots, and horses and all. The Lord spoke unto Joshua before going into battle, and promised Joshua that He would be with him.
Verse eight, chapter ten.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into your hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee. And Joshua came upon them suddenly, and he went up from Gilgal all night long. [This forced march] The Lord discomfited them before Israel, He slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the way to Bethhoron, and to Azekah, and to Makkedah. And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, they were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: and there were more that died with the hailstones than those whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. And then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said, Sun, stand still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. There was no day like that before it or after it that the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel ( Jos 10:8-14 ).
Now a very unusual event indeed, and whenever you get to miraculous events in the Bible, that’s all it takes to trigger some people. Especially those who do not believe in God or those who have an anthropomorphic concept of God, think of God in terms of a man, and limited as a man. The miracles always create doubts and problems in the minds of people, and of course they then begin to exaggerate the problems that they see.
For instance, one of the things that they make fun of with this particular passage, and find it quite incredible, that if the earth should suddenly stand still, and here you are standing on the earth and it is rotating at almost a thousand miles an hour, that if it would suddenly stand still, your body would still be going a thousand miles an hour. So all the people would just be sort of wiped out. You’d all go flying off the earth if it was suddenly standing still. So they envisioned the impracticability of the earth standing still.
In other words, He said, “Sun stand still”, but we know that the earth is actually rotating on its axis, which makes the sun appear to rise and set, and so forth. So obviously it was, they say, the earth stopping on its axis. But then they saw all of these men flying off the earth because of it stopping so rapidly. However, there is nothing that indicated that it was a sudden stop, like hitting a brick wall.
Now if it, say, it took six hours for it to stop, that would be equivalent to stopping your car going sixty miles an hour, and stopping your car to zero in twenty minutes, as far as the force that would be exerted against you. Now I would like to suggest if you were going sixty miles an hour in your car and you brought it to a twenty minute stop, that you would hardly notice any inertia against your body at all.
Now if it should stop in eight minutes, it would be equivalent to stopping your car at sixty miles an hour in thirty seconds. You wouldn’t even need your seat belts for that. So there’s nothing that indicated that it came to a sudden, jerky halt. God could’ve just put on the brakes, and brought it to a stop in say eight or ten minutes. Again, the only way that you feel motion is by the jerks. You really don’t discern motion except for the jerks in motion. You, on a train, a lot of times you don’t even know the train is moving until you look out the window, and then you see the station gradually going by. Or on the airplane so many times, you don’t know that the airplane has actually started moving until you look out and you see the motion outside. But you don’t feel motion unless there are jerks. So God could’ve brought the earth to a halt in an eight to ten minute period, and no one would’ve gone flying out in space, and no one would’ve really noticed a sudden, jerky stop at all.
A few years ago there were some articles in various magazines, there were some tracks written that some NASA scientists with a computer were trying to predict the trajectory of a particular rocket. And in going back in time in the computer the computer came to a place where it found a missing day. That is not factual. That didn’t happen. It’s one of those stories that got wide spread publicity but there’s no truth to it.
However, if there was a long day, Joshua saw that it was, you know, they needed more time to wipe out the enemy. And so he said, “Sun stand still.” That would be sort of a-quite a thing to say in the sight of all the people. I mean, you’re gonna look like a fool, or a real powerful guy, one of the two. And in the sight of all the people he said, “Sun stand still.” Now whether or not he was expecting it to do it or not, nevertheless it did for about the space of a day, giving them time to totally obliterate the enemy. Now notice that along with this, there was a tremendous hailstorm, that more people were killed by the hailstones than they were killed with the sword.
There’s a very interesting book entitled, “Worlds in Collision”, by Immanuel Velikovsky. Now his theory is that the planet Venus entered into our solar system during the period of man’s history upon the earth. That planet Venus has actually come within our solar system within the last six thousand years. That it actually made two-or it made two orbits. And on the second orbit it got fixed in its own orbit and in alignment as the planets are around the sun, it got locked into an orbit around the sun. The first time it orbited in, and now, according to his theory, it was about the time that the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt. He ties many of the plagues in Egypt to a close pass of the planet Venus to the earth. The second close pass he times at this long day of Joshua. In fact, he accounts for the long day of Joshua as to have resulted from this near miss of the planet Venus to the earth. He believes that the earth used to rotate the opposite direction on its axis until this near pass.
Now he theorized that if there was a long day there at Joshua’s time, that other periods, or other places in the world, there would be recorded a long night. For instance, here in America the Indians would’ve recorded a long night. If there was a long day there, there would have to be a long night here. That in different places in the world it would be recorded as either a long afternoon, or long morning or whatever, as it related to the time there in Joshua.
So he carefully traced through the history of the Inca Indians. Sure enough he found in their records the story of a long night over here when the sun didn’t come up for the space of a whole night. Also of cataclysmic things that took place at that time, earthquakes, tremendous storms, violent storms, and tidal waves and all, because of course the earth’s stopping would create tremendous tidal waves by the movement of the water, would keep rolling faster than the earth and would create tremendous tidal waves. He has gone through this approximate period of history, and followed in the records of people around the world the stories of either long mornings, long afternoons, long nights or whatever, and the cataclysmic things that took place at the same time.
Now Immanuel Velikovsky, he is not a Christian, neither is he necessarily a believer in God. He is a scientist who has a theory that the planet Venus came into our solar system during the time of recorded history, and he uses the Bible as one of the proofs, this particular long day of Joshua as one of the proofs. But in order to use the Bible as a proof, he also follows it and proves historically that that event took place, showing it in the records, ancient records of peoples around the world.
So I like his book, not that I necessarily agree with the theory of the introduction of the planet Venus into our solar system at that particular time, yet I’m sure open and I found it very fascinating to think about. But the thing that I really enjoyed is his laying out such conclusive proof for the skeptics who scoff at the idea of the sun standing still, or the earth stopping on its rotation. That those who scoff at that idea as totally impossible at all, and how he proves that it was an actual historic event. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been recorded around the world in the ancient records of history such as it was. He does a very masterful job in proving that such an event did take place, in case you happen to be skeptical and need proof.
But if you have a right concept of God, you don’t need any proof; you can just believe it because God’s Word declared it. But some people have a problem believing just because God’s Word declares something and they need some kind of proof. Especially when you get into stories which seem to be a little incredible, at least on the surface. If the guy could say, “Sun stand still”, and it would stand still in the heavens for a whole day.
So such a thing is recorded in history outside of the Bible. It is interesting that it did happen at that psychic moment when they were chasing these kings, and Joshua felt he needed more daylight in order to wipe them out utterly, and so he commanded, and the sun stood still in the heavens. So this story of Joshua which has brought a lot of skepticism and criticism against the Bible as all of the miracles do, has pretty well been scientifically proven as much as you can prove anything with science and historic records. So you might find that book “Worlds in Collision” very fascinating. I did, I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Now there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened to the voice of man: for the Lord fought for Israel ( Jos 10:14 ).
It is of course his theory also that at this time the earth became tilted on its axis. There was a shift of the polar axis. Now to our twenty-three and a third degree kind of an angle that the polar axis had in its relationship to the sun, which gives us actually now the ice caps in the north and in the south, he has quite a bit to say about that too.
So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp of Gilgal. But the five kings hid themselves in a cave. And so they came and told Joshua these five kings were hiding in the caves. So Joshua said, Throw a bunch of stones over the cave, seal it up, and stand outside and guard the thing ( Jos 10:15-18 ).
And so they went ahead then, and inasmuch as these men had come out of all of the cities to fight, so the cities were left pretty well defenseless at this point. So Joshua and the children of Israel started going around and they took all of the cities, and the areas where these people had come from in this big battle against Gibeon. They went and they took all of these cities, with the exception of Jerusalem, a city that they did not take. But it lists the cities that they took, Lachish and Hebron and so forth.
So then he ordered them to bring the-to take the rocks down and bring these kings out. Then he tells some of these guys,
Put your feet on the necks of these kings… God is gonna let you put your foot down on the necks of your enemies to defeat them ( Jos 10:24-25 ).
They then-Joshua killed these kings, and threw their bodies back into the cave. Hung them actually on five trees, until evening, and then they threw their carcasses into the caves and they threw the rocks over the caves, which remained there until the day that this particular book was written. So he went ahead and took all of these cities that had sent their armies out against them.
Verse forty-two of chapter ten,
And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel ( Jos 10:42 ).
Now in verse fourteen, and verse forty-two a declaration is that “the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.”
And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp of Gilgal ( Jos 10:43 ).
Now there is a song later in the book of Judges that speaks of God using the stars and so forth in fighting for His people.
There are those who call themselves theistic evolutionists. They acknowledge God in the origins, God in an ambiguous kind of a terminology. “A force of power”, there was something that started the whole thing going. But once God started the whole process, once He created the universe, then He more or less stepped back. He may have created the first cell, but He stepped back and let all things sort of develop and evolve, as far as life forms and all. It’s known as theistic evolution. It was an attempt to harmonize evolutionary thought with the Bible, though it surely doesn’t bring any harmony with the Bible. It creates more problems than it answers.
Those who teach theistic evolution are more or less those who believe in the uniformitarianism concept of our universe and of the planet earth. Their theory is pretty well described by Peter who said, “In the last days, scoffers would arise saying, Where is the promise of His coming, for since our fathers have fallen asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning”( 2Pe 3:3-4 ). The doctrine or the idea of Unitarianism is pretty well expressed in “all things continue as they were from the beginning”. In other words, there aren’t any real changes, no real catastrophic kind of changes. You can explain everything in the geological column and everything as far as life processes are concerned, by observable phenomena today. So the idea of uniformitarianism really is in direct contrast to the Bible. You cannot be a true believer in the Bible and be a Uniformitarian. They are sort of mutually exclusive.
Now this same fellow Immanuel Velikovsky has in the last few years written another book, “Earth’s in Upheaval”, in which he totally, thoroughly destroys the idea of uniformitarianism, absolutely wipes it out with incontrovertible evidence. He has twice now set the scientists on their ears. His first book “Worlds in Collision” created quite a furor in the scientific community, because of course it also challenged the idea of uniformitarianism. But his second book he attacks it directly, and does a devastating job in piling up evidence that shows that things cannot be explained by a uniform pattern. That there had to be cataclysmic changes on the earth’s surface, and so forth, catastrophic changes that you cannot really explain all of the phenomena by the idea of uniformitarianism.
In the book “Earth’s in Upheaval”, he gives some very solid evidence for the universal flood of Noah. Though he isn’t really trying to prove the flood, he talks about the deposits of the bones of various animals that have been found in the caves in England. The bones severely fractured, all of them seemed to be deposited at the same time by some violent thrust. But sabertooth tigers along with rabbits and all kinds of animals that are really antagonistic towards each other, and yet all heaved in there and crushed and broken at the same time, and planted there. He gives some powerful evidence of violent upheavals, which of course the scriptures do testify have taken place upon the earth in various periods of history, but God intervening.
Now you see we are prone to subconsciously think of God as far off and unrelated to the affairs of our lives. We so often think of God in a remote sense, not of One Who is actively interested in me at this moment in what I am doing. I think of God as just being out there remote of me, sort of governing over the whole universe, but certainly He has no interest in me or in my daily problems.
Now one of the most important things that all of us need to develop is that consciousness of God’s presence with us at all times, in all places, and the realization that God is vitally interested even with those just piddling little things about your life. God is concerned with you. He’s concerned with those things that are worrying you. The Bible speaks about God’s ear being open to the righteous. When you call unto the Lord, and God talks about not oppressing the poor, “because when they cry unto Me”, the Lord said, “I will hear, and I will surely avenge their cause.”
Because when you’re needing money, and you’re there saying, “Oh God, I don’t know what I can do about these bills. This guy’s really pressing me Lord. I don’t know what to do. He’s really pushing me to the wall.” The Lord hears your cries, though you don’t think that He does. Yet the Lord is vitally concerned in your life.
Here’s a guy just like you and me who is fighting a battle. They’ve got the enemy on the run but it’s getting towards evening, “Oh if the sun goes down, we won’t be able to finish wiping them out. Sun stand still.” Suddenly the sun stands still in the heavens and stays in that spot all day long. Now you may believe that God can heal your sore toe, or an earache, but we don’t think of God as really intervening in a dramatic, powerful way within our lives.
When I was starting a church out in Corona, in order to meet the needs of the family, I was building a hotel up in Idlywild. I had a daily radio program on KREL, fifteen-minute Bible study every morning. I used to like to listen to my program when I would drive up to Idlywild, because it would just help pass the time of day, and I could also critique myself. The driving oh, hundreds of miles each week, commuting back and forth to Idlywild, because I had several Bible studies going at night. I’d have to drive down at night, have my Bible studies, drive back up to Idlywild the next morning, my car was really getting some real wear and tear.
The front speaker had gone out in my radio, and I could only play the thing on the rear speaker. I was headed up to Idlywild, and I went to turn on my radio broadcast so I could listen and pass the time and critique it. I was out about the area of March Field, going out towards San Jacinto from 395, and there was so much static on that radio that I couldn’t hear my program.
So I sort of started complaining to the Lord. I said, “Lord, I came down last night so I could teach the Bible study. I’m running the wheels off of my car, and off of me trying to serve You. I need to feed the family. That’s why I’m building the motel up in Idlywild. Lord, I don’t like this drive, it gets monotonous and the radio really does help, Lord. I really wish I could hear my program and listen to the radio, because it just helps the drive not be so long. I don’t want to complain Lord, but it sure would be nice to have my radio.” I was really just talking to the Lord like that as I was driving along, about the area where they were building the dam for Perris Lake.
While I was sort of just laying this trip on the Lord, I had a vision in my mind. I saw the rear speaker, and I saw a little two-pronged connection going into wires that came out of the rear speaker, and I saw that connection loose and jiggling. I saw this vividly in my mind, so vividly that just as you’re going up the hill and making that turn around where you, you come down into the valley towards San Jacinto. I pulled off the side of the road right there. I popped my trunk lid open and I climbed underneath to see what kind of connection they had to that rear speaker on my radio. Sure enough, just as I saw in my mind a loose connection dangling and jiggling, so this connection was loose. I pushed the thing in tight, closed the lid, ran around quickly and turned on the radio, clear as a bell. I said, “Wow, Lord that’s unreal. You mean You’re interested in me and my listening to my radio? That’s all right, Lord. I love it.” To realize that God is so close and desires to be deeply involved in your life. You just don’t give Him the chance. You say, “Well God’s never spoken to me.” Have you ever asked Him to? Have you ever asked Him a direct question and then waited to get a direct answer?
Now I have to admit, I wasn’t really expecting an answer. I was just sort of complaining. But then I began to discover that if I would ask God direct questions, I would often get direct answers and I realized that so many times, that I just had not, because I had asked not. God was there, God is interested, God wants to work. He’s not remote off somewhere in the universe.
That’s what Elijah was taunting those priests of Baal concerning their god. “Maybe he’s off someplace on a vacation. Maybe he’s playing golf. Cry a little louder.” But God is not remote and far off. He is vitally interested in you and in your life. Even in those little things that are troubling you. You’re His child. He doesn’t like to see you distressed. He doesn’t like to see you worried or fretting. He wants to reach out and help you. Don’t think of God as way off, untouchable, unreachable, unapproachable. As Paul said to the Athenian philosophers, the Epicureans, “For in Him we live, we move, we have our being.” God is interested in us. God want’s to demonstrate His presence, His love, His love to you. “You have not because you ask not”( Jas 4:2 ). Become aware of the presence of God. Begin to realize, “Hey God is here, God is with me.”
So God demonstrated here in a very powerful way, His interest, His presence, to Joshua and to the people.
Now having conquered these kings, they really at this point conquered the major enemies within the land. The major conquests were made all at this one shot when these kings came out against them. So from there on, it was almost like going out and mopping up. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
This action of the Gibeonites in securing their own safety aroused the anger of the confederate kings and they proceeded to act against Gibeon in order to punish it. In their peril the men of Gibeon appealed to Joshua He instantly responded, for the gathering together of these kings created his opportunity. By forced marches he reached the scene of action. The rout of the kings was complete and was made more terrible by the storm of hail which swept upon them as they fled, killing more than were slain by the Israelitish hosts.
It was in connection with this defeat of the five kings that the day was lengthened for Joshua in answer to his prayer, sun and moon alike standing still at his command. To make this story a merely poetic description of a day not longer but fuller than usual is to declare it untrue, for the method of its telling leaves no doubt that the chronicler intended to record it as supernatural.
This decisive victory broke the ground for fresh triumphs. With the skill of a true general, Joshua followed up his advantage immediately. How long a period is covered by the events recorded, we have no means of knowing. That which is revealed is the determined and victorious movement ever onward until the whole of southern Canaan was in the possession of Israel.
Swiftly and surely the divine judgment was falling on the corrupt peoples, and the possibility of a new era in the history of humanity was being created by the coming of the chosen people into possession of the land.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
The Lord Fought for Israel
Jos 10:1-14
The honor of Israel was implicated in this attack on their confederates, and Joshua went to their assistance. The deception which had been practiced on him did not alienate his help. Before he started he was assured of victory, but this did not make him slothful. See Jos 10:7. But it was by his faith, courage and obedience that this and other victories were won. What may not one man do when God is with him! Paganini once broke all his strings but one; then, holding up his violin, he said, One string and Paganini.
A terrific storm burst on the fugitives as they crossed the high ridge of Beth-horon and descended in full flight to the plain. We are not called upon to explain the miracle of the sun and moon. The prolongation of daylight was probably due to some cause like that which yields the after-glow of sunset and the optical refractions seen in high latitudes.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
The evil effects of the unhappy alliance with the men of Gibeon soon began to be manifested. When the nations of the contiguous territories learned what had taken place, they formed a confederation, headed by Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, and set out to attack Gibeon, as a warning to the people of other districts, not to make peace with Israel. This at once led the Gibeonites to call for help from their new allies, and in order to redeem their pledges it became necessary for Joshua to lead the host of the Lord up from Gilgal to attack the confederated armies. Had it not been for the blunder into which they had been betrayed by failing to consult the Lord, they would not have had to meet so vast an army at one time, but the conquest of Canaan would have proceeded in a more orderly way as city after city should have fallen before them, even as Jericho and Ai had done.
We have seen that the seven nations of Canaan, who were determined to contest Israels right to take possession of the land, picture for us the spiritual foes who ever seek to hinder our entering into the enjoyment of the inheritance which is ours by title from the moment we are saved. We wrestle not with flesh and blood but with wicked spirits in the heavenlies, the world-rulers of this darkness, or, the rulers of this dark world. Of these Satan is the chief, even as Adonizedek headed up the coalition against Israel.
We know that a former king of Jerusalem, Melchizedek, was priest of the Most High God and was a type of our resurrected Lord, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, a name that means King of Righteousness. Adonizedek means lord of righteousness. He was not a priest of the Most High, but was the avowed enemy of the people of God. In this he pictures Satan, the accuser of the brethren, who accuses them before our God day and night. Pretending to be concerned about the maintaining of righteousness on the part of those who profess faith in Christ, he both seeks to lead them into sin and then accuses them of unrighteousness when or if they yield to the temptations he sets before them. Thus he seems to be the lord of righteousness, and his ministers, we are told, pass for ministers of righteousness (2Co 11:13-15). In meeting such, we need to remember that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
It is of this conflict in the heavenlies that the opening verses of our chapter speak if we look at them in their typical aspect.
Now it came to pass, when Adonizedek king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them; That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty. Wherefore Adonizedek king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying, Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it.
In their terror and alarm, the Gibeonites appealed to Joshua for help.
And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp of Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us. So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.
Although this conflict was precipitated by their own failure, yet God in His grace gave assurance to His servants that He would destroy their foes as they went up against them in dependence on His might:
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.
Acting in accordance with the Word of the Lord, Joshua came upon the allied Canaanite armies suddenly, going up from Gilgal all night. He attacked the detachments besieging Gibeon first, and defeated them utterly. As they fled with Israel pursuing, panic overtook the other Canaanites and they did not even attempt a united stand against the host of the Lord.
The battle raged all day long, and as twilight was falling the event occurred at which skeptics have sneered for all the centuries since.
Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.
Just what did take place we may not know; whether an actual day was lost in astronomical reck- oning, as some reputable scientists have insisted, or whether by the phrase, the sun stood still, we are to understand a miracle of refraction, we cannot say, but we do know from the inspired record that the light continued for nearly another whole day, until all the battered hosts of the allies were destroyed and their kings taken captive. Scripture uses the language to which men are accustomed. We speak of the sun rising and setting, even though we understand that this is not literally true. So with the expression the sun stood still. To human sight this was a fact. How it came to pass we can leave with God.
Following this great victory, Joshua returned to Gilgal, the place of self-judgment. There the five confederate kings were brought out from the caves in which they had been imprisoned while the battle went on and we are told that:
When they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them.
How this reminds us of Rom 16:20: The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
This great victory was followed by attacks upon city after city and the discomfiture and utter destruction of their defenders. After each new victory the triumphant Israelites returned to Gilgal, there to give thanks to God, who had thus given deliverance, as He had promised.
The series of victories is summed up for us in verses 40-43:
So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded. And Joshua smote them from Kadesh-barnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon. And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.
Thus had God fulfilled His Word, for He is faithful that promised. The judgment of the Canaanites long deferred until the patience of God came to an end was the manifestation of His holy detestation of the abominable idolatrous rites and the vile immoral habits that characterized these nations. The description of the heathen world given in Romans 1 will give the reader some idea of the filthy behavior of these people. They had defiled the land by their lasciviousness and God commanded their destruction accordingly.
Thus the way was opened for Israel to take full possession of the inheritance which God had given them although there were yet other enemies to be destroyed.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Jos 10:40-42
I. The Book of Joshua is part of the history of the Christian Church. However strange it may seem, the work of Joshua in the Old Testament did lead to the work of the second Joshua in the New; He who declared that God is love was the Descendant of him who slew the five kings of the Amorites; the one was the forerunner of the other, and each in his own day was acting, as he fully believed, under the influence and inspiration of the same God.
II. The burden of the whole book, the lesson which it would teach an Israelite, the lesson which it ought to teach us, is this: that God was the real Disposer of events, and that the Israelites triumphed because God had determined that they should triumph.
III. As for the heathen people whom the Israelites destroyed, is it not well that we should know that God is offended when His world is polluted by abominable crime and wickedness? We know that these people did pollute the earth, and the Israelites were appointed to sweep them from it. It was a great act of Divine vengeance. The Israelites could not mistake it for anything else: they saw sin punished, and they were told as plainly as possible that as the heathen sinners had suffered, so should they also suffer if they forsook God’s law. The Book of Joshua teaches us that God does indeed govern the world; that He takes the land from one and gives it to another; that He causes the wickedness and folly of man to work out His great designs.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 5th series, p. 93.
Reference: Jos 10:42.-Parker, vol. v., p. 278.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
10. The Victorious Conquest
CHAPTER 10
1. Adoni-zedec and his confederacy (Jos 10:1-6)
2. The war (Jos 10:7-11)
3. The miracle (Jos 10:12-15)
4. The victory won (Jos 10:16-21)
5. The five kings slain (Jos 10:22-27)
6. Further conquests (Jos 10:28-43)
The name Jerusalem is mentioned here for the first time in the Bible. (Salem in Gen 14:18, is generally taken to be Jerusalem. See Psa 76:2. The ancient tablets give the name as Ur-Salim. But the name Jerusalem is found the first time in Jos 10:1.) It is in connection with war, and the next time we find Jerusalem on fire (Jdg 1:8). This may be taken as a prophecy of the history of that city. Yet something better is in store for Jerusalem. Adoni-zedec is here the King of Jerusalem. His name means lord of righteousness. He represents the counterfeit king in opposition to Him who is Jerusalems true King, the true Melchizedec, King of righteousness and King of peace. He is a type of Anti-christ. On account of Gibeon having gone over to Israel, Adoni-zedec forms an alliance, which he heads as leader. His confederates are given by name. We give the meaning of their names in parenthesis, which will be helpful in a deeper study of these types. Horam (the noise of a multitude), King of Hebron; Piram (the wild ass), King of Jarmuth; Japhia (causing brightness); King of Lachish; Debir (an oracle), King of Eglon. This satanic alliance was aimed at Gibeon and at Israel as well. And Gibeon appealed to Joshua for help.
Notice that they sent to Gilgal, the first camp of Israel. Joshua and the people were at Gilgal and from Gilgal they ascended. At Gilgal they saw the memorials of Gods power, and encouraged by a direct message from Jehovah they went forth to war. Blessed are we, if in our spiritual warfare we go forth from Gilgal (the place of self-judgment and of power).
The great miracle of the standing still of the sun and the moon occurred then. The way this miracle has been held up to ridicule is known to everybody. Infidels of all generations have sneered at it. Critics have followed, as they always do, close in their footsteps. But even good men have found difficulties here and tried to explain it with their human wisdom. One explanation given is that the Hebrew word _dum, to stand, means rather that the sun was to cease to give its light. Upon this the statement is made, that Joshuas command was that the sun and moon should cease giving their light, and not that they should cease continuing their apparent motion. Herder in his Hebraische Poesie says:
It is astonishing that this fine passage has been so long misunderstood. Joshua attacked the Amorites in the early morning, and the battle continued till night; that is, for a long day, which seemed to protract itself into night, to complete the victory. The sun and moon were witnesses of Joshuas great deeds, and held their course in the midst of heaven till the triumph was perfect. Who does not recognize this as poetry, even if it had not been quoted from the Book of Poems on Heroes. In the usual language of the Hebrews such expressions were neither bold nor unusual.
These are the attempts of man, by which he tries to explain the supernatural by the natural. The occurrence is a miracle. It says the sun stood still. But how is that when science tells us the sun does not move? We give the answer from Kurtz in his Sacred History, because it is the most concise statement we have ever seen:
A voucher from the Old Testament for the promise in Mar 11:23-24, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, etc.. is furnished by Joshuas bold word of faith with its fulfilment. It was his prayer that the light of day might be prolonged, and the darkness of night be retarded, until he had secured the object for which he pursued the enemy: he obtained the answer which he sought by the miraculous power of his faith. No investigation respecting the natural means which produced this supernatural effect can furnish valuable results. The command of faith is pronounced in the sense which Joshua assigns to the words; the divine answer is given in the sense in which God understands them. No arguments that are either favorable or unfavorable to any particular system of astronomy are furnished by the occurrence.
The miracle must have stricken with terror the fighting nations, for they worshipped the sun and the moon.
Signs in heaven are frequently mentioned in the Word.
Read and study carefully the following passages: 2Ki 20:11; Isa 38:8; Amo 8:9; Isa 13:10; Isa 60:20; Eze 32:7; Joe 2:10; Joe 2:31; Joe 3:15; Mat 24:29; Rev 6:12; Rev 8:12; Rev 9:2; Rev 16:8. When the age ends with the battle of Armageddon and the Lord Jesus Christ appears the second time in great power and glory, these signs as predicted in some of these passages will be fulfilled. The sun and moon will be darkened. What terror will take hold upon the great masses of Christendom, who reject the miracle and Christ! Read Rev 6:12-17.
What is the book of Jasher, mentioned in verse 13?
The Book of Jasher (or, of the Upright, that is, Israel) was a collection of sacred war-songs, and may have, possibly, formed a continuation, in a certain sense, of the Book of the Wars of the Lord (Num 21:14; 2Sa 1:18). The collection was probably commenced in the wilderness, and, at different periods, received additions.
The fact that it is no longer in existence proves its non-inspiration.
Great are the victories described in this chapter. See verse 41 as to the territory which was covered. From Kadesh-barnea unto Gaza, all the country of Goshen unto Gibeon. And why? Because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel (verse 42). If God is for us, who can be against us! And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp of Gilgal. How wonderful it is to return after our victories to Gilgal, the place of self-judgment and confessed weakness. How often our victories and blessings are more dangerous than our failures and defeats!
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Adoni-zedec, Gen 14:18, Heb 7:1
as he had: Jos 6:21, Jos 8:2, Jos 8:22-29
how the: Jos 9:15-27, Jos 11:19, Jos 11:20
Reciprocal: Jos 10:3 – king of Jerusalem Jos 10:4 – we may Jos 10:23 – General Jos 24:11 – the men Psa 135:11 – and all the Jer 21:2 – according Act 9:23 – the Jews
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The Kings Gather Against God
Jos 10:1-21
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
Is the world approaching another world war? Is that war leading toward the final great war of wars? These and similar questions are upon many tongues at this very hour.
We have chosen to consider the things which have to do with “wars and rumours of wars,” because our Scripture lesson opens with a confederacy of kings setting themselves against Joshua and the Children of Israel.
1. Is this age the age of the Prince of Peace? Some say it is. What says the more sure Word of Prophecy? Christ will be enthroned Prince of Peace only when He is enthroned as King upon the throne of David. Yes, the time must come and come it will, when the nations will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no more war against nation. However, that day is not now.
2. In this age, wars are determined. Did not Christ say, relative to the end of this age, and to the signs of His Coming, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom”?
In the Second Psalm is written an end-time scene. Here are the words: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” What then? He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.”
3. The whole world as we write (January, 1937) is trembling over a great volcano, as it were, dreading the moment when an erruption may break forth. Feverishly each great world power is trying to outdo other world powers in inventing impregnable protections against an enemy assault, on the one hand, while they stretch every nerve in creating and perfecting instruments of destruction, on the other hand, that will sweep every foe from off the face of the earth.
Many are preaching peace; all are outwardly, at least, striving for peace; while all are preparing for war. The nations of this day know that supremacy on land and sea and air means their only hope of safety.
4. The great war cataclysm may be delayed, but it cannot be stayed for long. God’s prophetic Scriptures will be fulfilled to the letter. This age will soon see the red horse of war (Rev 6:1-17) coming forth to take peace from off the earth. He will be followed by the black horse of famine and the pale horse of pestilence and death.
After all of that, there will be another horse rider. He comes forth at the close of the tribulation, comes riding on a white horse. His Name is King of kings, and Lord of lords. He has another Name, The Word of God. He goes forth to war in righteousness. With the breath of his lips he will destroy the antichrist.
Arise, O Lord, the night is far o’erspent,
The harvest of the earth is ripe in sin;
The wicked hold the reins; the woes begin;
The world on evil sets its heart intent.
The nations gather, and the night grows on:
They set themselves together, Christ to rout;
They cast His cords away, break loose and shout
Against the Lord, and His Anointed One:
The Jews now languish, as they plead for Thee,
Their hearts grow weary; hark, how deep their sigh:
“Come down, O Lord, our foes against us cry;
Come set Thine own, Thy captive people free:
Burst forth and shine, O Sun of Righteousness,
Come down Thy chosen people to redress.”
I. THE SUBMISSION OP GIBEON (Jos 10:1-2)
1. The story of Gibeon’s Strategy. The 9th chapter of Joshua tells us the full story of how the subtle Gibeonites came down to Joshua and the princes of Israel, attired as wanderers and pilgrims from a far country, suing for peace.
What prompted the Gibeonites to make peace? They had heard of the destruction of Jericho and Ai, and were filled with fear, lest they also should be destroyed. There is a rightful place for fear.
When the unsaved see the ravages of sin around them, and contemplate the wrath of a holy God, should they not fear? He who is under the Blood of Christ, under a true token, need not fear. He is saved, and, being saved, he is safe from wrath.
He who believeth not shall be damned. Surely such an one, with the wrath of God sweeping down upon him, may well fear.
2. The humble, and contrite heart, God does not despise. So it was, that when the Gibeonites came to Joshua prostrating themselves before God, and seeking for peace, they found it. He that humbleth himself and seeks the face of the Lord always finds mercy.
We remember how the poor suppliant, though a great sinner, who would not so much as lift his head, but beat upon his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” went down to his house justified, The woman with seven demons who fell down at Jesus’ feet, found forgiveness.
The big, little man, who climbed the sycamore tree, that he might see Jesus, although he was a great sinner was accepted of the Lord.
3. God overlooked the Gibeonites’ subtlety, and accepted their inner longings for peace and safety. Back of the deception of the men of Gibeon, as they falsely presented themselves as far-traveled pilgrims, was an earnest desire for deliverance that prompted their deception.
The Gibeonites were willing to become hewers of wood, and burden bearers, if only they might be safely sheltered under the shadow of the Almighty.
II. SOME BELIEVE AND SOME BELIEVE NOT (Jos 10:1)
1. “Some believed * * and some believed not.” Herein is a marvelous thing. The people of Jericho and Ai hardened their hearts in unbelief; another people, the Gibeonites, humble their hearts in suing for peace.
All of this was true in Joshua’s day, it was true in Paul’s day, it is true in our day.
We cannot philosophically discover why one man will not repent and believe; while another man, equally a sinner, and equally sinful, will repent and believe and go on his way rejoicing.
In the same town, or even in the same home, one is saved and the other is lost. To human eyes there seems to be no difference. Both had the same opportunities, walked in the same light, heard the same sermons, and lived under the same environments: yet, one fell down and cried out his lost estate, while the other refused to believe.
2. Is the reason to be found in the Divine call? If so, there was nothing in God’s attitude toward Gibeon which was distinct to His attitude toward Ai, or Jericho. We know that God does hold elective and foreordaining powers.
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth. The Divine call is whosoever will may come-with emphasis on the whosoever and the may.
Over salvation’s door is written, “By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” Nevertheless, one believes and another believes not.
Of one thing we are sure, God is not responsible for the rejections of men. There is something in each individual which must bear the blame of his rejection.
Urge upon every man the universal call of God to be saved.
III. THE REBELLION OF THE HUMAN HEART AGAINST GOD (Jos 10:3-4)
1. This rebellion, is in spite of God’s glory and grace. The kings who gathered together against God in this study, had abundant proof of the greatness of God. They had heard of His mighty works; of how he had delivered the Children of Israel from Pharaoh, dividing the Red Sea; they had heard of the crossing of the Jordan as by dry land; they had heard of the fall of Jericho and of Ai; yet, withal, they set themselves against God.
The unbeliever, in our time, has known of God’s greatness and glory. He is not blinded to the saving grace of the Lord. The Cross, the resurrection, the ascension, the Holy Spirit of God is all known unto men.
The unregenerate are simply against God. They refuse to hear His words, and to obey His voice. They will not come unto Christ that they may have life. They love Him not; they have not His Word abiding in them; they receive Him not.
2. This rebellion against God is manifested in warring against those who know God. The king of Jerusalem said unto the other kings, “Come * * that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the Children of Israel.” He who is against God will manifest his anger against the people who love God.
Did not Christ say, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me”? We who are of the Lord’s Household may expect the same persecutions and hatred that the Master of the house receives.
3. It always costs to follow Christ. Should Gibeon have been despised for no other reason than for making peace with God? Should sinners seek to force others to go with them to the same excess of riot against the Almighty? Divine peace in the heart may break peace with the world. What we gain in the riches of grace, we may lose, so far as the riches of this life are concerned.
IV. A CALL FOR HELP (Jos 10:6)
1. A help in the time of need. How much better it was for Gibeon to be fought against by the varied kings, than to have fought with them and against the Lord.
To Gibeon it seemed that they who were against her, were so many more than they who were with her. They could do nothing but cry for help, asking Joshua who had spared them, to come and fight for them. And this Joshua did, and the Lord fought with Gibeon, and with Joshua.
We also may find help in the time of need. Our God will not leave us alone. He will not suffer us to be overthrown. He will commandeer all the forces of Heaven in our behalf, before He will allow the enemy to consume us.
When David was pursued by Absalom and his hosts, he sought the Lord. With exultant voice he echoed the pulsings of his inner soul, when he said: “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.”
Few men of our own dispensation have been beset by foes, as was Paul the great missionary of the first century. Here, however, is what Paul wrote, “Having * * obtained help of God, I continue unto this day.”
2. The spirit of comradeship and fellowship. To us it is a delightful picture to see Joshua and Israel fighting side by side with Gibeon, It is a picture of the conquerors helping the conquered; of the strong supporting the weak; of the masters succoring the servants and the slaves.
Should it not be so? It is God’s command, “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.” It is written, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the Law of Christ.”
Shall the leaders hold themselves aloof from the ones who must be led? Shall the priest be isolated from his people? Shall the great, and the noble, and the highly honored, refuse to fellowship the people’ of low estate? Not so did the Lord conduct Himself.
V. THE VOICE OF VICTORY (Jos 10:8)
1. Fighting under the banner of the Lord. How blessed it is to know that God is with us in our battles for truth and right. Where is he who can fight against God and stand? Our God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth is a God of omnipotent strength.
2. Fighting under the promise of victory. Here were the words of the Lord to Joshua, “Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand.”
When we know that our work is to be crowned with success it is so much easier to work. To fight a losing battle is disheartening; to fight a winning battle is invigorating.
3. Fighting with a conquering arm. The Lord said to Joshua, “There shall not a man of them stand before thee.” It is thus that he fights, it is thus that he serves, to whom is revealed the power of the arm of the Lord.
God puts His power upon us. He makes us a Samson in strength, a David in courage, and a Gideon in perseverance. We wear not the armor of Saul, but the armor of God. We go forth clothed in the whole armor.
4. Fighting the harder because of assured victory. Because Joshua had been promised the conquest, he did not, therefore, become a do-nothing. He did not say, “If victory is mine, we will lie on our lees.”
(1) He and his army ascended the rugged way from Gilgal toward Gibeon. It was not on paved roads and in autos that they went to war. They went afoot, they went an upward climb. We who are sure of conquest must also be ready to climb.
(2) He and his army went by night. Joshua’s men loved sleep, yet they pressed their upward way. They went by night, shrouded by darkness, with the terrors of the uncertain steppings upon them.
True love to Christ never waits for full-orbed day. That love which brought the women to the sepulcher while it was yet dark, is the love that stirs the Christian’s heart even unto this hour.
VI. THE LORD WHO GIVETH VICTORY (Jos 10:10)
1. Our victories are the Lord’s. Our key verse says, “And the Lord discomfited them before Israel.” Some may demur, and claim that it was Israel’s own arm that was victorious. We grant that Israel had a part; however, it was not Israel apart from God, but the rather, Israel with God; or, the Lord through Israel.
It was true that day, and it is true now. “Power belongeth unto God.” The pastor, teacher, or missionary goes forth in another Name and in another power than his own. If we labor alone we labor in vain.
2. The Lord’s victories are ours. Here is a blessed fact-He works for us. His conquests are ours. We benefit by all He does; in other words, what He does, is done for us.
Has the Lord not said, “All things are yours”? We cannot see with our eyes, nor hear with our ears of any good thing that is not for us. Yes, all things work together for our good, if we are the called according to His purpose.
3. It is each for the other. The Book of Acts is called the Acts of the Apostles; it faithfully recounts their toils. It may be called the Acts of the Holy Ghost; it does record His acts. The Book, in reality, is the Acts of “the Holy Ghost and us.”
We may not say of the Holy Ghost, “He did it all,” even though we acknowledge that He is the great One in this Divine and human partnership. Nor dare we say of ourselves, we did it all-because if there had been no Holy Ghost, we had accomplished nothing.
So, placing the Holy Ghost forever first, and recognizing His eternal preeminence, we yet humbly say, “The Holy Ghost and us.” Happy are we that we are called into the fellowship of the One so glorious and so mighty.
VII. THE SUN STOOD STILL (Jos 10:12-15)
1. At Ajalon we come to a place where infidelity and atheism runs riot. When William Jennings Bryan was on the witness stand at Dayton, at the Scopes trial, and Mr. Darrow the noted criminal lawyer and atheist was questioning him, Mr. Darrow said: “The Bible says Joshua commanded the sun to stand still for the purpose of lengthening the day, doesn’t it? And you believe it?”
Mr. Bryan said, “Yes,” and “I do.” All of Mr. Darrow’s cross firing could not change Mr. Bryan in his solemn faith in the Word of God.
The Christian may not understand or be able to explain the wonders of God, but he believes it. Some day we will understand how the sun stood still in the valley of Ajalon. Some day we will understand all of the wonderful works of God. Now we see through a glass darkly, then, face to face; now we know in part, then shall we fully know. Now we walk by faith, then faith will be a blessed reality based upon positive knowledge.
2. We have come to a place where we find a counterpart to the sun standing still at Ajalon. It occurred when Christ was passing out of Jericho for the last time. Passing out of Jericho and to Jerusalem, where He was about to die on the Cross, He went along the way. As He went, a poor, blind beggar cried out, “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” And this is what happened, “Jesus stood still.” It was less of a marvel for the sun in the heavens to stand still, while Joshua and Israel finished their conquest of old; than it was for Jesus, en route to die, to stand still at the call of a poor blind man. In either case Deity shines forth in a marvelous light.
3. To deny the miracles is to deny God. It is impossible for anyone to accept the Lord and decry His Word, His work, or His will. The whole Bible stands or falls together. If it is not dependable in one place, what assurance have we that it is true in another? The truth is that we are cognizant of inexplicable wonders in nature as well as in grace, every day that passes. Let us have faith in God.
AN ILLUSTRATION
Men fighting against God, fight against themselves, “So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai” (Est 7:10).
A baker living in a village not far from Quebec bought his butter from a neighboring farmer. One day he became suspicious that the batter was not of the same weight, and therefore decided to satisfy himself about it. For several days he weighed the butter, and found that the rolls of butter which the farmer brought were gradually diminishing in weight. This angered him so that he had the farmer arrested. “I presume you have weights,” said the judge. “No, sir,” replied the farmer. “How then do you manage to weigh the butter that you sell?” “That’s easily explained, your honor,” said the farmer. “When the baker commenced buying his butter of me, I thought I’d get my bread of him, and it’s the one pound loaf I’ve been using as a weight for the butter I sell. If the weight of the butter is wrong, he has himself to blame.” (Sunday School Times.)
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
When the king of Jerusalem learned that Ai had fallen and the even more powerful city of Gibeon had made a treaty with Israel, he called upon four other kings to join with him in an attack on Gibeon. Gibeon called for Joshua to defend them, as may have been required by the treaty made with them. Joshua commanded the army to march all night and was reassured by God of the victory. God is given full credit for the victory over the five kings ( Jos 10:1-10 ). As they descended the almost 800 feet from upper to lower Beth-horan, God caused large hailstones to fall on and kill more of the enemy than Israel killed with the sword ( Jos 10:11 ).
When Joshua asked God to cause the sun to stand still, it must have still been morning since the sun was in the east over Gibeon and the moon had not quite set to the west over Aijalon. The people took advantage of the Lord’s answer to the prayer and routed their enemies. The five kings were caught and kept in a cave until they got back from pursuing those fleeing. At which time, they were killed, hung on trees and then thrown into a cave and covered with stones. On the day they returned to camp and the days following, Joshua led Israel against many of the surrounding cities in the southern region and conquered them all because God fought for them ( Jos 10:12-43 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Jos 10:1. Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem Who seems to have been the most powerful prince in Canaan, and carried in his name, which signifies The Lord of righteousness, an honourable title, such as had been anciently given to the kings of this place, who had been famous for doing justice. So Melchizedek undoubtedly was, of whom we have such honourable mention, Gen 14:18. King of Jerusalem It is thought by many, that this city retained the name of Salem, which they suppose it had in Abrahams time, till the Israelites came into the land of Canaan, and took possession of it, when they called it Jerusalem, from , Jarash, and , Shalum, to possess peace: or from Jerus, the same as Jebus, with the change of one letter only, and Shalem, the place having belonged to the Jebusites. How the inhabitants of Gibeon were among them Among the Israelites, that is, were conversant with them, had submitted to their laws, and mingled interests with them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jos 10:1. Adonizedek, lord of righteousness. Zedek was common in the names of the kings of Jerusalem, as Melchizedek.
Jos 10:11. Great stoneshail stones, as in many versions. So is Psa 68:14. When the Almighty scattered kings, it was white as snow in Salmon. The hail in Egypt destroyed men and cattle. Diodorus Siculus says, that as the Persians were on their march to plunder the temple of Delphos, a violent storm of thunder and lightning fell on their camp, which killed a great number of the men. Mr. Harmer mentions a Saracen army almost cut to pieces with sheets of hail.
Calmet contends, but without proof, that these were real stones which fell from heaven. It is a fact fully demonstrated, that rolites or air-stones have fallen from the clouds, and in countless showers, in different ages. Some of those stones weigh a few ounces; others of various weights, from one to three hundred pounds. On the 13th of Dec. 1795, one fell in Major Tophams park, at Wold Cottage, near Scarborough, which weighed fifty six pounds.
Those large rolites have been analyzed by the ablest chemists, and found to contain in 100 parts, 50 silica (flint) and from 30 to 36 iron, about the same proportion as in the great rock of primitive iron ore at Taberg in Sweden. The other parts are one tenth magnesia, with small proportions of nickel and sulphur.
Therefore those rolites are, without a doubt, real iron ores. Those I have inspected are radiated, and somewhat in appearance like the radiated pyrites found in the chalk. They must have been formed in the matrices of subterranean strata.If so, how could they fall from the air?
It is recorded in our books of science, and in our encyclopedias, that in the year 1660, a mountain of South America burst with so terrible an explosion as to cover the whole country to the distance of sixty miles, with the detritus eight inches deep, and some fragments were propelled to the distance of ninety, and others of a hundred and thirty miles.
Now, as we cannot propel a cannon ball more than three miles, those fragments having attained a high elevation, must have met with little or no obstruction from the levity of the air in the higher regions. Why then might not those rolites, and perhaps much aided by the electric fluid, have taken their flights to unaccountable distances? Their fall has often been accompanied with a hissing noise, and brilliant flashes of lightning; hence the name thunder-bolt stones.
Jos 10:12. Sun, stand thou still. Consequently it was noon at Gibeon for the space of ten or twelve hours. The moon, as seen from the valley of Ajalon, about to set in the western sky, lingered to shroud herself below the horizon. The whole heavens delayed their course to see the victories of the Lord; or rather, the earth stopped her diurnal motion, to prolong the day for the Lords servant to avenge his quarrel. Kimchi gives us a Hebrew tradition, that the sun and moon stood still for thirty six hours. The battle being fought on the eve of the sabbath, Joshua, fearing lest the Hebrews might profane the sabbath, spread his hands abroad that the sun might stop his course on the sixth day, according to the measure of the sabbath.
Agamemnon seems to have known all this, when he rose in the council of the Grecian kings, and prayed, Oh Jove, first in glory, Being supreme, high ruler of storms! Oh dweller of heaven, Jove, let not the sun go down, nor darkness shroud the silent world, till I shall throw down the proud towers of aged Priam, till with hostile fire I consume the gates of the devoted Troy. Edit. Macpherson.
Astronomy being one of the earliest studies of humankind, the double length of this day must very much have struck and alarmed the world. And as it happened but a few ages before the commencement of Grecian literature, tradition must have conveyed it to their poets and historians, who, in conformity to the taste of the age, dressed up all the traditions of antiquity in curious fables. Hence we find that Statius had heard of it, and supposed it to have happened about the time of the Theban war, when Atreus made an inhuman banquet of Thyestes children. Other writers imagined it to have been in the days of Phaeton, and Ovid has beautified the fable told of him, that he occasioned it, by having obtained leave to guide the chariot of the sun that day, which he was in nowise able to manage. Thus the heathen poets and mythologists dressed up and disfigured the hints which they found in ancient records. Atreus was father of Agamemnon, and lived but a generation before the Trojan war, and therefore the suns standing still in the days of Joshua could not have happened in his time; so that Statius, or any other writer from whom he took the hint, was not true in their chronology; but Phaeton lived much earlier. The sun stood still in the days of Joshua, in the year of the world 2554. Phaeton was then about twenty four years old; and thus the time of Phaetons life may synchronize with the year of the suns standing still in the days of Joshua. The fable told of him might have its first rise from a fact recorded to have happened in his youth, dressed up and diversified with the various fictions of succeeding mythologists, until it was brought up to what Ovid left it.
On recurring to the history of China, we there find historical facts relating to the subject before us. The very ancient records of the Chinese report, that in the reign of their emperor Yao, the sun did not set for the space of ten days, and they feared the world would be involved in a conflagration. Yao, according to Martin, was the seventh emperor of China, Fohi being the first: and as he computes, from the first year of Gohis reign to Yaos, are three hundred and eighty seven years. Fohi reigned one hundred and fifteen years; after him Xin-num, one hundred and forty; Hoang-ti one hundred, Xaohaon eighty four, Chuen-hio seventy eight, Cou seventy, and next to him succeeded Yao. The first year of Fohis reign in China was in the year of the world 1891: count down from hence 587 years, and the first year of Yao will be the year of the world 2479. Yao reigned ninety years, in the year of the world 2560. The year in which the sun stood still in the days of Joshua, was in the year of the world 2554, in about the seventy fifth year of Yaos reign. And thus what is recorded in the Chinese annals synchronizes to the fact related by Joshua. The Chinese records are said to report, that the sun did not set for ten days: but we suspect our European writers have not here exactly hit the meaning of the Chinese annals, and that the word they have translated days, may perhaps rather signify a space of time little more than one of our hours. If so, the sacred historian, and the Chinese annals agree minutely in their time of the duration of this miracle. In Herodotus we have a clear and undisputed testimony to the same effect. The priests of Egypt shewed him a record of a long day. See Isaiah 38.
Jos 10:13. The book of Jasher. See on Num 21:14. 2Sa 1:18.
Jos 10:40. So Joshualeft none remaining, for reasons assigned in the law. Lev 18:24-25.
REFLECTIONS.
How glorious is the accession of so many heathen testimonies in this astonishing interposition of heaven, to avenge itself of the seven nations, whose iniquities were full. How glorious is the triumph of Israel over all their foes. And God still fights for his people: they also shall triumph, and put their feet on death the last enemy, as the Hebrew warriors trampled on the allied kings.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jos 10:1-27. Defeat and Death of the Five Kings.Here we have the account of the famous battle of Bethhoron. Five kings band themselves together against Gibeon; the Gibeonites send for help to Joshua, who comes upon the enemy suddenly and completely routs them. It is hardly necessary to say that the adjuration to the sun to stand still is purely poetical, and is to be compared with the words of Deborahs song, The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The compiler of this book, however, took it as an actual prayer that was really granted, as is seen from the words, So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven. Mr. Stanley Cook would omit the third line and make the fourth line part of the appeal, which would then run, Sun, stand thou still at Gibeon, and thou, moon, on the valley of Aijalon, till Yahweh (not the people) hath avenged himself on his enemies. He also gives the interesting information that Syrian peasants still cry in song to the sun to hasten his going down that they may rest (EBi, article Jashar). For the book of Jashar, see p. 45.
Jos 10:12. Valley of Aijalon: p. 31.
Jos 10:15 must be omitted; it is not in the LXX and is suspicious for other reasons.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
ISRAEL DEFEATS FIVE KINGS
(vs.1-10)
The news of Gibeon’s treaty with Israel greatly alarmed other nations in the land, for Gibeon was considered prominent and important, so that the king of Jerusalem took the lead in enlisting four other kings to attack Gibeon (vs.4:1-4).
These enemies have vital spiritual significance. Jerusalem means “the foundation of peace,” and is the center God had purposed for Israel to place His name there. But it was held by Adoni-zedec (v.3) which means “lord of righteousness,” just as satanic deceit puts on a show of righteousness to deceive people. “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers transform themselves into ministers of righteousness” (2Co 11:14-15). Satan is determined, if he can, to prevent our laying hold of the truth of the Center of gathering, that is, the understanding that the Lord Jesus Himself is the one Center around whom His people are to gather, not a denominational name, not to a certain physical location or building, but to Him personally, as He says, “Where two or three are gathered together in, My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Mat 18:20). How good it is if faith can displace Satan’s deception, just as Israel displaced Adoni-zedec and took possession of Jerusalem.
Hebron means “communion” or ” fellowship” and its king, Hoham, means “corrupt confusion of sound,” for the world’s fellowship has no calm, quiet peace such as does true communion with God, for the world thinks of fellowship as every voice raised in confused discord. Peter sat with soldiers at the world’s fire and their so-called fellowship proved to be only confusion to him (Luk 22:55-62). True communion is seen in Eph 3:17-19. Faith may take this city and deliver it from the confusion that Satan has introduced.
The third city armed against Gibeon was Jarmuth, meaning “elevation,” and its king, Piram is defined as “the wild donkey.” False religion likes to elevate itself, but is it becoming that a wild donkey be put in a place of elevation? The wild donkey pictures man in his rebellious, independent state, yet Piram had control of the elevated place. Such pride must be taken down. Israel must displace Piram by means of humbling themselves, depending on God to exalt them in due time, as He does for every true believer, giving them a heavenly inheritance in Christ (Eph 2:6).
The fourth city, Lachish, means “walk as men,” and the meaning of its king, Japhia, is “shining — resplendent.” Others will judge a person by the way he walks and one’s walk is an important matter. But again, false religion puts on a show that is dazzling so as to deceive. The Lord Jesus did not do this, but He walked as a true Man amongst men, with no ostentation, no pretense, but in perfect moral dignity. Thus, believers are to displace a mere fleshly display by a walk of humble consistency, a walk of faith. “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind” (Eph 4:17). In fact, Ephesians, the epistle of heavenly places, puts much emphasis on walk, for if we truly appreciate our position in heavenly places, this will have a very real effect on our earthly walk.
The last of these five cities is Eglon, meaning “round, as a wheel.” Its king was Debir, meaning “speaker” or “an oracle.” Eglon pictures God’s government, which grinds slowly but surely, telling us that God will always have the last word, for Christ is “the Amen.” People may feel they will get their own way, and exert every effort in this direction, but God’s wheel turns in a complete circle to bring back the past and face people with all they hoped was forgotten. Eglon therefore pictures the field of prophecy. How badly this has been corrupted by false “speakers” claiming to be God’s “oracle.” A sad example of this is seen in 1Ki 22:6,where Ahab’s prophets told Ahab that the Lord would deliver Ramoth Gilead into Ahab’s hand, — a totally false prophecy. Today, in the professing church there are many false interpretations of the prophecies of scripture, and Debir, “the speaker” should be fully displaced by the faith of God’s people in faithfully declaring the truth of God’s Word as to the future. Well might Eph 6:14 tell us, “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.”
When these five kings united together in proceeding to attack Gibeon, Gibeon sent a message to Joshua urging him to come to deliver them from these kings (v.8). It was certainly God who was behind all this, for in this way Joshua could accomplish the defeat of five kings at once. Let us observe that they ascended from Gilgal, the place of self-judgment (v.7). and the Lord gave His word to Joshua that He had delivered the enemies into Israel’s hand, so that none could stand before them (v.8).
They marched all night from Gilgal and suddenly, unexpectedly, attacked the five kings and their armies. The enemy fled in confusion, for it was the Lord who fought for Israel and great numbers were slaughtered.
UNUSUAL SUPERNATURAL INTERVENTION
(vs.11-15)
It was not left only to Israel to kill the enemy The Lord sent a storm of large hailstones on them, so that more were killed by the hail than by Israel’s army (v.11). Rev 16:21 speaks of great hail, each stone being about a talent in weight, which is 129 pounds! Hailstones have been reported to weigh as much as 75 pounds when they fell in Arabia some years ago. But also, God answered the word of Joshua to him by an amazing miracle. It was the Lord who moved Joshua to speak as he did in verse 12 in the sight of all Israel, “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.” This was done, so that the sun remained in the sky for about a whole day more than is normal. What an experience for Israel’s enemies, who would be expecting darkness to hide them from further devastation. But the slaughter continued all that time, the power of the enemy being completely destroyed.
It is reported that a scientist at Yale University told another that he had discovered by scientific calculations that the earth had lost 24 hours in its course at some time in history. The other scientist knew his Bible and told the first to begin reading the Bible and he – would eventually find the answer to this. He did so and came to Jos 10:1-43. But he returned to the second man and told him that now he knew the Bible was not true because he had calculated that at the time of Joshua the earth had lost only 23 hours and 20 minutes. He thought Joshua had known something of this and had resorted to deception in reporting his experience. However, he was instructed to notice that at this time in Joshua the sun and moon hasted not to go down for about a whole day. Told to resume his reading, he finally came to 2Ki 20:9-11 and was astonished to find that Isaiah had given a sign to Hezekiah that the shadow on the sundial would return 10 degrees. This accounted for the 40 minutes that was short of a whole day. Thus the Word of God was proven true and the scientist was converted to Christ.
After the great victory over the five kings, Joshua returned with Israel to Gilgal. How important it is that we do the same thing when the Lord has enabled us to gain a victory. We deeply need the place of self-judgment then, to keep us from the pride that likes to glory in our accomplishments.
THE FIVE KINGS EXECUTED
(vs.16-27)
The kings of the five cities were evidently not in the forefront of the battle, but directing operations from a distance. They escaped together to a cave where they expected to be hidden (v.16). But they had been observed and the news was given to Joshua, who ordered his men to roll large stones to the mouth of the cave, with men kept on guard (vs.17-18).
These few were left while Israel continued to pursue their enemies and destroy them before they could enter their cities. Thus, the extra long day served to enable a sweeping victory, with only few escaping to seek refuge in fortified cities (v.20). Five of these cities were left without any king, however. The camp of Israel is now seen to be at Makkedah, farther west and south than Gibeon. Israel’s army returned there, where the five kings were imprisoned in the cave.
When the stones were rolled away the kings were still there. Though they were alive they were not able to release themselves. In contrast to this, the Lord Jesus had died and His body put in a cave with a stone rolled over its mouth and soldiers guarding it. But when the stone was rolled away, His body was not there!
When the five kings were brought out Joshua told the captains of Israel’s army to put their feet on the necks of these kings (v.24). For the stiff-necked, proud kings of the world must have their stubborn pride reduced to humiliation before the God of heaven and earth. Joshua told his men therefore not to fear, but be strong and courageous, for the Lord would in the same manner reduce all the pride of their enemies before them (v.25). The kings were then put to death and hanged on five trees until evening. Let us remember these were leaders in satanic worship, and when the day of God’s judgment comes there will be no sparing those who have sold themselves to Satan. The sun finally went down on that long day, and the bodies were taken from the trees and returned to the cave with large stones again covering it permanently (v.27).
Verse 28 now adds that “on that day” (the long day of which we have read) Joshua took the city of Makkedah, completely destroying its king and its people. The meaning of Makkedah is “bowing the head.” The five proud kings had been compelled to bow their heads there, but from Israel’s viewpoint, when she took the city, is this not significant of learning the truth of willingly bowing our heads to the great God of creation?
FURTHER CONQUESTS OF CITIES
(vs.29-43)
These ensuing victories of Joshua evidently began the day following the long day. The second city that he conquers is Libnah, meaning “whiteness.” False religion boasts in the claim of purity, but it is all on the surface, like whitewashed graves (Mat 23:27), with the corruption of death underneath. But true purity involves separation from evil, no contamination being allowed. Thus, in picture, we conquer the city of Libnah by learning well the truth of sanctification
to God and therefore from all this contrary to Him. Libnah’s inhabitants were also destroyed (v.30). Yet, let us observe that none of these cities were destroyed, as Jericho was, but captured.
From Libnah they passed to Lachish, which name we have noted as meaning “walk as men.” Its army had already been defeated, now the inhabitants are killed and Israel captures the city (v.32). A true walk as men who honor God can only be the possession of those who are born again.
Another king, Horam, of Gezer, comes to the help of Lachish (v.33), Gezer means “isolated” or “cut off,” and Horam “tumid or “swollen.” Horam therefore speaks of the swollen pride that glories in its independence (isolation). The city itself is not spoken of as being taken by Joshua, for God is not seeking a place of isolation for any of His saints, but Joshua did destroy Horam and his people. However, we read in 1Ki 9:16 that Pharaoh king of Egypt had taken Gezer, burned it with fire, had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, then gave, the city to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. Thus, it appears to be one of the cities that were not taken over by Israel, but indicates that there were still cases of independent isolationism in Israel after they had subdued their enemies. The same has been sadly true of the Church of God in her history.
Next, Joshua fought against Eglon (v.34) and took the city, destroying its inhabitants. We have seen that Eglon, meaning “round, as a wheel,” signifies God’s government, involving the field of prophecy. Israel therefore took possession of this, for prophecy can only be rightly possessed, understood and valued by faith in the Lord Jesus. Faith therefore overcomes the enmity of Debir, the king of Eglon and possesses his city.
Hebron was next attacked and taken by Israel (vs.36-37) on the day following the extended day. Evidently there were satelite cities connected with Hebron, and all the inhabitants were killed. Hebron means “communion” and only those who are of faith have any right to possess the place of true communion or fellowship. Satan expends every effort to keep us from this, but faith in the Son of God overcomes.
From Hebron Joshua and his army went to Debir, the name of this city being the same as the king of Eglon (v.3), meaning “speaker” or “oracle.” This city too was captured and its king and inhabitants killed (vs.38-39). Those whom Satan uses effectively as speakers in his cause must be totally expelled and replaced by speakers for God. How good it is if we know how to silence the claims of false doctrine by means of the true doctrine of Christ. The establishing of Christianity in the world in the book of Acts answers to these great victories of Joshua, who is a type of “Christ in you.”
In this great campaign of chapter 10 Joshua completely conquered all the Southland, the mountain country and the lowland, from Kadesh Barnea as far as Gaza and all the country of Goshen (vs.40-41). All of this he took at one time, but nothing could account for this except that the Lord God fought for Israel. This is likely the most amazing and decisive military engagement that history has ever seen.
At the end of this, which took so short a time, Joshua and all Israel returned to the camp at Gilgal (v.43). Military wisdom certainly did not decide this for him, but God’s leading. The backbone of all Canaan’s resistance had been broken, but instead of exploiting his advantage, Joshua sought the presence of God in the place of self -judgment. Here he would find renewed strength for future warfare.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
6. Victory over the Amorite alliance at Gibeon 10:1-27
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Israel’s continuing success led her enemies to exert increasing opposition against the people of God. This chapter records the Canaanites’ first aggressive action against the Israelites.
The Jebusites lived in and around Jebus, ancient Salem (Gen 14:18). The writer called this town Jerusalem here for the first time in Scripture. "Jerusalem" means "the founding (or possession) of peace." Adonizedek (lit. lord of righteousness) and Melchizedek (king of righteousness, Gen 14:18) were titles of the Jebusite kings, as Pharaoh was a title of the Egyptian kings. Jerusalem lay closer to Gibeon than any of the other towns that allied with Jerusalem against Gibeon. Probably for this reason Adonizedek took the initiative in this alliance.
"The Amarna letters indicate that Jerusalem was the center of political activity in the fourteenth century B.C. and was always conscious of its own security." [Note: Davis and Whitcomb, p. 63.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER XIX.
THE BATTLE OF BETHHORON.
Jos 10:1-43.
OUT of the larger confederacy of the whole Canaanite chiefs against Joshua and his people recorded in the beginning of chap 9, a smaller number, headed by Adonizedec, undertook the special task of chastising the Gibeonites, who had not only refused to join the confederacy, but, as it was thought, basely and treacherously surrendered to Joshua. It is interesting to find the King of Jerusalem, Adonizedec, bearing a name so similar to that of Melchizedek, King of Salem, in the days of Abraham. No doubt, since the days of Jerome, there have been some who have denied that the Salem of Melchizedek was Jerusalem. But the great mass of opinion is in favour of the identity of the two places. Melchizedek means King of Righteousness; Adonizedec, Lord of Righteousness; in substance the same. It was a striking name for a ruler, and it was remarkable that it should have been kept up so long, although in the time of Adonizedec its significance had probably been forgotten. Jerusalem was but five miles south of Gibeon; the other four capitals, whose chiefs joined in the expedition, were farther off. Hebron, eighteen miles south of Jerusalem, was memorable in patriarchal history as the dwelling-place of Abraham and the burial-place of his family; Jarmuth, hardly mentioned in the subsequent history, is now represented by Yarmuk, six miles from Jerusalem; Lachish, of which we have frequent mention in Scripture, is probably represented by Um Lakis, about fifteen miles south-west of Jerusalem; and Eglon by Ajlan, a little farther west. The five little kingdoms embraced most of the territory afterwards known as the tribe of Judah, and they must have been far more than a match for Gibeon. Their chiefs are called ”the five Amorite kings,” but this does not imply that they were exclusively of the Amorite race, for “Amorite,” like “Canaanite,” is often used generically to denote the whole inhabitants (as in Gen 15:16). The five chiefs were so near Gibeon that it was quite natural for them to undertake this expedition. No doubt they reckoned that, by making a treaty with Joshua, the Gibeonites had strengthened his hands and weakened those of his opponents; they had made resistance to Joshua more difficult for the confederacy, and therefore they deserved to be chastised. To turn their arms against Gibeon, when they had Joshua to deal with, was probably an unwise proceeding; but to their resources it would seem a very easy task. Gibeon enjoyed nothing of that aid from a great unseen Power that made Joshua so formidable; little could they have dreamt that Joshua would come to the assistance of his new allies, and with God’s help inflict on them a crushing defeat. “The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought, He maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations.”
The case was very serious for the Gibeonites. As Gibeon lay so near Jerusalem and the cities of the other confederates, it is likely that the appearance of the enemy before its walls was the first, or nearly the first, intimation of the coming attack. In their extremity they sent to Joshua imploring help, and the terms in which they besought him not to lose a moment, but come to them at his utmost speed, show the urgency of their danger. To appeal to Joshua at all after their shameful fraud was a piece of presumption, unless – and this is very unlikely – the treaty between them had promised protection from enemies. Had Joshua been of a mean nature he would have chuckled over their distress, and congratulated himself that now he would get rid of these Gibeonites without trouble on his part. But the same generosity that had refused to take advantage of their fraud when it was detected showed itself in this their time of need. Joshua was encamped at Gilgal on the banks of the Jordan; for the arguments that suppose him to have been at another Gilgal are not consistent with the terms used in the narrative (e.g. Jos 10:9, “went up from Gilgal all night”). From Gilgal to Gibeon the distance is upwards of twenty miles, and a great part of the way is steep and difficult.
Encouraged by the assurance of Divine protection and favoured by the moonlight, Joshua, by a marvellous act of pluck and energy, went up by night, reached Gibeon in the morning, fell upon the army of the assembled kings, possibly while it was yet dark, and utterly discomfited them. It would have been natural for the routed armies to make for Jerusalem, only five miles off, by the south road, but either Joshua had occupied that road, or it was too difficult for a retreat. The way by which they did retreat, running west from Gibeon, is carefully described. First they took the way “that goeth up to Bethhoron.” As soon as they had traversed the plain of Gibeon, they ascended a gentle slope leading towards Bethhoron the upper, then fled down the well-known pass, through the two Bethhorons, upper and nether, making for Jarmuth, Lachish, and other towns at the bottom of the hills. In the course of their descent a hailstorm overtook them, one of those terrific storms which seem hardly credible to us, but are abundantly authenticated both in ancient and modern times, and “they which died with hailstones were more than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.” The Israelites, exhausted, no doubt, with their night march and morning exertions, seem to have been outstripped by the flying army, and in this way to have escaped the shower of hail. By the time the five kings, who had had to fly on foot, reached Makkedah at the foot of the mountains, they were unable to go farther and hid themselves in a cave. As Joshua passed he was informed of this, but, unwilling to stop the pursuit of the fugitives, he ordered large stones to be rolled to the door of the cave, locking the kings up as it were in a prison, and no doubt leaving a guard in charge. Then, when the pursuit had been carried to the very gates of the walled cities, he returned to the cave. The five kings were brought out, and the chiefs of the Israelite army put their feet upon their necks. The kings were slain, and their bodies hanged on trees till the evening. Thereafter Joshua attacked the chief cities of the confederates, and took in succession Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir. Nothing is said of his taking Jerusalem; indeed it appears from the after history that the stronghold of Jerusalem on Mount Zion remained in Jebusite hands up to the time of David. Many of the inhabitants were able to escape destruction, but substantially Joshua was now in possession of the whole southern division of the land, from the Jordan on the east to the borders of the Philistines on the west, and from Gibeon on the north to the wilderness on the south. It does not appear, however, that he retained full possession; while he was occupied in other parts of the country the people returned and occupied their cities. The clemency of Joshua in not destroying the inhabitants proved the source of much future trouble.
In all the subsequent history of the country, the victory of Gibeon was looked back on, and justly, as one of the most memorable that had ever been known. For promptitude, dash, and daring it was never eclipsed by any event of the kind; while the strength of the confederate army, the completeness of its defeat, and the picturesqueness of the whole situation constantly supplied materials for wonder and delight. Moreover, the hand of God had been conspicuous shown in more ways than one. The hailstorm that wrought such havoc was ascribed to His friendly hand, but a far more memorable token of His interest and support lay in the miracle that arrested the movements of the sun and the moon, in order that victorious Israel might have time to finish his work. And after the victory the capture of the fortified towns became comparatively easy. The remnant that had escaped could have no heart to defend them, Joshua must have smiled at the fate of the ”cities walled up to heaven” that had so greatly distressed his brother spies when they came up to examine the land. And as he found them one by one yield to his army, as though their defence had really departed from them, he must have felt with fresh gratitude the faithfulness and loving-kindness of the Lord, and earnestly breathed the prayer that neither his faith nor that of his people might ever fail until the whole campaign was brought to an end.
In some respects this victory had a special significance. In the first place, it had a most important bearing on the success of the whole enterprise; its suddenness, its completeness, its manifold grandeur being admirably fitted to paralyse the enemy in other parts of the country, and open the whole region to Joshua. By some it has been compared to the battle of Marathon, not only on account of the suddenness with which the decisive blow was struck, but also on account of the importance of the interests involved. It was a battle for freedom, for purity, for true religion, in opposition to tyranny, idolatry, and abominable sensuality; for all that is wholesome in human life, in opposition to all that is corrupt; for all that makes for peaceful progress, in opposition to all that entails degradation and misery. The prospects of the whole world were brighter after that victory of Bethhoron. The relation of heaven to earth was more auspicious, and more full of promise for the days to come. Had any hitch occurred in the arrangements; had Israel halted half-way up the eastern slopes, and the troops of Adonizedec driven them back; had the tug of war in the plain of Gibeon proved too much for them after their toilsome night march; had no hailstorm broken out on the retreating enemy; had he been able to form again at the western foot of the hills and arrest the progress of Joshua in pursuit, the whole enterprise would have had a different complexion. No doubt the Divine arm might have been stretched out for Israel in some other way; but the remarkable thing was, that no such supplementary mode of achieving the desired result was required. At every point the success of Israel was complete, and every obstacle opposed to him by the enemy was swept away for the time being as smoke before the wind.
In the next place, the tokens of Divine aid were very impressive. After the experience which Joshua had had of the consequences of failing to ask God for direction when first the Gibeonites came to him, we may be very sure that on the present occasion he would be peculiarly careful to seek Divine counsel. And he was well rewarded. For “the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.” It does not need to be said that this miraculous incident has from first to last given birth to an immensity of perplexity and discussion. It will be observed that the record of it does not come in as part of the narrative, but as a quotation from a pre-existing book. Concerning that book we know very little. From its name, Jashar, ”The upright,” we may believe it to have been a record of memorable deeds of righteous men. In form it was poetical, the extract in the present case being of that rhythmical structure which was the mark of Hebrew poetry. The only other occasion on which it is mentioned is in connection with the song composed by David, after the death of Saul and Jonathan (2Sa 1:18). ”David ” (as the Revised Version puts it) ”bade them teach the children of Israel the song of the bow; behold, it is written in the book of Jashar.” As to the origin and nature of this book we can only conjecture. It may have been a public record, contributed to from time to time by various writers, under conditions and arrangements which at this distance of time, and under the obscurity of the whole subject, we cannot ascertain.
Then as to the miracle of the sun and the moon standing still. It is well known that this was one of the passages brought forward by the Church of Rome to condemn Galileo, when he affirmed that the earth and the moon revolved round the sun, and that it was not the motion of the sun round the earth, but the rotation of the earth on her own axis that produced the change of day and night. No one would dream now of making use of this passage for any such purpose. Whatever theory of inspiration men may hold, it is admitted universally that the inspired writers used the popular language of the day in matters of science, and did not anticipate discoveries which were not made till many centuries later. That expressions occur in Scripture which are not in accord with the best established conclusions of modern science would never be regarded by any intelligent person as an argument against the Scriptures as the inspired records of God’s will, designed especially to reveal to us the way of life and salvation through Jesus Christ, and to be an infallible guide to us on all that ”man is to believe concerning God, and the duty that God requires of man.”
A far more serious question has been raised as to whether this miracle ever occurred, or could have occurred. To those who believe in the possibility of miracles, it can be no conclusive argument that it could not have occurred without producing injurious consequences the end of which can hardly be conceived. For if the rotation of the earth on its axis was suddenly arrested, all human beings on its surface, and all loose objects whatever must have been flung forward with prodigious violence; just as, on a small scale, on the sudden stoppage of a carriage, we find ourselves thrown forward, the motion of the carriage having been communicated to our bodies. But really this is a paltry objection; for surely the Divine power that can control the rotation of the earth is abundantly able to obviate such effects as these. We can understand the objection that God, having adjusted all the forces of nature, leaves them to operate by themselves in a uniform way without disturbance or interference; but we can hardly comprehend the reasonableness of the position that if it is His pleasure miraculously to modify one arrangement, he is unable to adjust all relative arrangements, and make all conspire harmoniously to the end desired.
But was it a miracle? The narrative, as we have it, implies not only that it was, but that there was something in it stupendous and unprecedented. It comes in as a part of that supernatural process in which God had been engaged ever since the deliverance of His people from Egypt, and which was to go on till they should be finally settled in the land. It naturally joins on to the miraculous division of the Jordan, and the miraculous fall of the walls of Jericho. We must remember that the work in which God was now engaged was one of peculiar spiritual importance and significance. He was not merely finding a home for His covenant people; He was making arrangements for advancing the highest interests of humanity; He was guarding against the extinction on earth of the Divine light which alone could guide man in safety through the life that now is, and in preparation for that which is to come. He was taking steps to prevent a final and fatal severance of the relation between God and man, and He was even preparing the way for a far more complete and glorious development of that relation – to be seen in the person of His Incarnate Son, the spiritual Joshua, and made possible for men through that great work of propitiation which He was to accomplish on the cross. Who will take upon him to say that at an important crisis in the progress of the events which were to prepare the way for this grand consummation, it was not fitting for the Almighty to suspend for a time even the ordinances of heaven, in order that a day’s work, carrying such vast consequences, might not be interrupted before its triumphant close?
There are commentators worthy of high respect who have thought that the fact of this incident being noticed in the form of a quotation from the Book of Jashar somewhat diminishes the credit due to it. It looks as if it had not formed part of the original narrative, but had been inserted by a subsequent editor from a book of poetry, expressed with poetic licence, and perhaps of later date. They are disposed to regard the words of Joshua, “Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou Moon, in the valley of Ajalon,” as a mere expression of his desire that the light would last long enough to allow the decisive work of the day to be brought to a thorough conclusion. They look on it as akin to the prayer of Agamemnon (”Iliad,” 2:412 sq.) that the sun might not go down till he had sacked Troy; and the form of words they consider to be suited to poetical composition, like some of the expressions in the eighteenth psalm – “There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and did come down: He rode upon a cherub, and did fly.”
But whatever allowance we may make for poetical licence of speech, it is hardly possible not to perceive that the words as they stand imply a miracle of extraordinary sublimity; nor do we see any sufficient ground for resisting the common belief that in whatsoever way it was effected, there was a supernatural extension of the period of light, to allow Joshua to finish his work.*
*It seems hardly necessary to notice an explanation of the phenomenon that has been made lately – to the effect that it was in the morning, not the evening of the day, that Joshua expressed his wish. It was to prevent the allied kings about Gibeon knowing of his approach that he desired the sun to delay his rising in the east, a desire which was virtually fulfilled by that dark, cloudy condition of the sky which precedes a thunderstorm. The natural sense of the narrative admits neither of this explanation of the time nor of the miracle itself.
One other notable feature in the transaction of this day was the completeness of the defeat inflicted by Joshua on the enemy. This defeat went on in successive stages from early morning till late at night. First, there was the slaughter in the plain of Gibeon. Then the havoc produced by the hail and by Joshua on the retreating army. Then the destruction caused as Joshua followed the enemy to their cities. And the work of the day was wound up by the execution of the five kings. Moreover, there followed a succession of similar scenes at the taking and sacking of their cities. When we try to realize all this in detail, we are confronted with a terrible scene of blood and death, and possibly we may find ourselves asking, Was there a particle of humanity in Joshua, that he was capable of such a series of transactions? Certainly Joshua was a great soldier, and a great religious soldier, but he was in many ways like his time. He had many of the qualities of Oriental commanders, and one of these qualities has ever been to carry slaughter to the utmost limit that the occasion allows. His treatment of the conquered kings, too, was marked by characteristic Oriental barbarity, for he caused his captains to put their feet upon their necks, needlessly embittering their dying moments, and he exposed their dead bodies to the needless humiliation of being hanged on a tree. But it must be said, and said firmly for Joshua, that there is no evidence of his acting on this or on other such occasions in order to gratify personal feelings; it was not done either to gratify a thirst for blood, or to gratify the pride of a conqueror. Joshua all through gives us the impression of a man carrying out the will of another; inflicting a judicial sentence, and inflicting it thoroughly at the first so that there might be no need for a constant series of petty executions afterwards. This certainly was his aim; but the enemy showed themselves more vital than he had supposed.
And when we turn to ourselves and think what we may learn from this transaction, we see a valuable application of his method to the spiritual warfare. God has enemies still, within and without, with whom we are called to contend. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” When we are fighting with the enemy within our own hearts leniency is our great temptation, but at the same time our greatest snare. What we need here is, courage to slay. We content ourselves with confessions and regrets, but the enemy lives, returns to the attack, and keeps us in perpetual discomfort. Oh that in this battle we resembled Joshua, aiming at killing the enemy outright, and leaving nothing belonging to him that breathes!
And in reference to the outside world, want of thoroughness in warfare is still our besetting sin. We play at missions; we trifle with the awful drunkenness and sensuality around us; we look on, and we see rural districts gradually depopulated; and we wring our hands at the mass of poverty, vice, and misery in our great crowded cities. How rare is it for any one to arise among us like General Booth, to face prevailing evils in all their magnitude, and even attempt to do battle with them along the whole line! Why should not such a spirit be universal in the Christian Church? Who can tell the evil done by want of faith, by languor, by unwillingness to be disturbed in our quiet, self-indulged life, by our fear of rousing against us the scorn and rage of the world? If only the Church had more faith, and, as the fruit of faith, more courage and more enterprise, what help from heaven might not come to her! True, she would not see the enemy crushed by hailstones, nor the sun standing in Gibeon, nor the moon in the valley of Ajalon; but she would see grander sights; she would see men of spiritual might raised up in her ranks; she would see tides of strong spiritual influence overwhelming her enemies. Jerichos dismantled, Ai captured, and the champions of evil falling like Lucifer from heaven to make way for the King of kings and Lord of lords. Let us go to the cross of Jesus to revive our faith and recruit our energies. The Captain of our salvation has not only achieved salvation for us, but He has set us a blessed example of the spirit and life of true Christian warriors.
“At the Name of Jesus, Satan’s legions flee; On then, Christian soldiers, On to victory. Hell’s foundations quiver At the shout of praise; Brothers, lift our voices, Loud your anthems raise!”