Bible Talks

From: Messages of God's Love: 1953

Joshua 10:1-39¹Now 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; ²That 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. ³Wherefore 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 the children of Israel. ⁵Therefore 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. ⁶And 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. ⁷So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. ⁸And 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. ⁹Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night. ¹⁰And 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. ¹¹And 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. ¹²Then 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. ¹³And 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. ¹⁴And 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. ¹⁵And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal. ¹⁶But these five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah. ¹⁷And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings are found hid in a cave at Makkedah. ¹⁸And Joshua said, Roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave, and set men by it for to keep them: ¹⁹And stay ye not, but pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them; suffer them not to enter into their cities: for the Lord your God hath delivered them into your hand. ²⁰And it came to pass, when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they were consumed, that the rest which remained of them entered into fenced cities. ²¹And all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: none moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. ²²Then 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 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 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 unto them, 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. 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 cave's mouth, which remain until this very day. ²⁸And 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; he let none remain: and he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho. ²⁹Then Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libnah, and fought against Libnah: ³⁰And the Lord delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel; and he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain in it; but did unto the king thereof as he did unto the king of Jericho. ³¹And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it: ³²And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein, according to all that he had done to Libnah. ³³Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua smote him and his people, until he had left him none remaining. ³⁴And from Lachish Joshua passed unto Eglon, and all Israel with him; and they encamped against it, and fought against it: ³⁵And they took it on that day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish. ³⁶And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron; and they fought against it: ³⁷And they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon; but destroyed it utterly, and all the souls that were therein. ³⁸And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir; and fought against it: ³⁹And he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king thereof; as he had done also to Libnah, and to her king. (Joshua 10:1‑39)

When the people of the land found out that the Gibeonites had made peace with the children of Israel after their victories at Jericho and Ai, they feared greatly. They now seemed to realize that it was useless to attack the people of God, so they decided to unite and make an attack upon the Gibeonities and destroy them. This, Joshua could see, was but an attempt to weaken their hands, and so, when called upon by the Gibeonites to help, he went out from Gilgal, against this great force. This time, however, it was not without a word from the Lord, for the Lord said to him, “Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.” He went out with confidence, therefore, being assured of victory. How different this was to the uncertainty with which they spoke when they made the agreement with the Gibeonites. (Joshua 9:7⁷And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you? (Joshua 9:7).) There is always uncertainty when acting upon our own wisdom, but what joyful confidence when we can say, “Thus saith the Lord.”

How marvelously the Lord undertook in this battle. It was His battle and He rained hailstones from heaven upon the enemy, so that there were more killed by the hailstones than were slain by the Israelites. Usually the battles ended with the end of the day, but when God undertakes to deliver His people He manifests that all power is His. How often we forget this! The Lord Jesus told His disciples after His resurrection, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth,” Matthew 28:18¹⁸And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (Matthew 28:18), and yet, many times, we act as though everything depended upon us. May we never forget that we “trust in the living God.” 1 Timothy 4:10¹⁰For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. (1 Timothy 4:10). And so here, something that had never taken place before nor since, took place that day. Joshua called upon the sun and the moon to stand still, and the Lord heard his voice, so that the sun did not go down for almost a whole day, until their victory was complete. Surely we can say, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31³¹What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). Let us never look at the difficulties, but at God who is always above them. “He is able.”

While the children of Israel were chasing their enemies, the five kings who were leading them hid in a cave, and Joshua heard of it. He therefore told the people to roll great stones to the mouth of the cave, and continue the pursuit of the enemy until they were defeated.

It is a great thing to continue in conflict until there is victory. There is always a tendency to stop short in our efforts as soon as we begin to see some results, but let us not forget the exhortation, “Continue thou.” 2 Tim. 3:14¹⁴But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; (2 Timothy 3:14). As soon, therefore, as the children of Israel had put their enemies down, they came back and took the five kings out of the cave, and Joshua hanged them upon a tree. Then, at the going down of the sun, he took their bodies down and put them back in the cave where they had been hiding, again rolling the great stones over the mouth of it which are there until this day. The very devices of the enemy but turn against them when we, as the people of God, go forward in obedience to the Word.

No longer confident in themselves, but in the Lord, the people go forward, having one victory after another. They fulfilled the Word of God too, in utterly destroying their enemies, as they took each city. How good it is when we learn to “trust and obey” at all times.

ML 04/26/1953

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