Joshua 10

Joshua 10:1-43

THE WAR AGAINST GIBEONJoshua 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 man’s 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 (Joshua 18:23; Joshua 21:17), and the tabernacle will rest here for many years under David and Solomon (1 Chronicles 16:39; 1 Chronicles 21:29; 2 Chronicles 1:3). This place will become conspicuous again when Abner’s challenge to Joab results in Abner’s defeat and Amasa’s death (2 Samuel 2:12-32; 2 Samuel 20:8-12).THE 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” (Joshua 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 that’s 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” (Joshua 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 defeat—terrible, bitter, ignoble defeat. “Put not your truest in princes” (Psalms 146:3). “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes” (Psalms 118:9).This alliance was in retaliation for Gibeon’s 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 England’s ally. When it ended, she was England’s 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 Gibeon’s 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” (Joshua 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.

That’s why God’s provision of grace is immediate. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 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” (Joshua 10:7; Joshua 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” (John 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.Joshua’s 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” (Joshua 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” (Matthew 28:19-20).THE OF THE LORDThis 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” (Joshua 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” (Joshua 10:11).Yesterday’s 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” (Psalms 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” (Joshua 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 Israel’s 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 heavens—the creation of His hand—is 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” (Judges 5:20). We cannot conceive of a Creator, whose work is conceded to be infinite, as incapable of its complete control.The chapter ends withTHE MARCH OF ISRAELThe destruction of the five kings, as recorded in Joshua 10:16-27 involves difficult questions—questions 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 Israel’s 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” (Joshua 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” (Joshua 10:28).From Makkedah he passed to Libnah (Joshua 10:29), and from Libnah to Lachish (Joshua 10:31), and from Lachish to Eglon (Joshua 10:34), and from Eglon to Hebron (Joshua 10:36), and from Hebron to Debir (Joshua 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” (Joshua 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 Joshua—Jesus, 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” (1 Corinthians 15:24-25; 1 Corinthians 15:28).