7.30.26 – The Book of Joshua, Chapter 10

If I was going to summarize this entire chapter, it would be "carpe diem." Carpe diem means "seize the day." That's exactly what Joshua does. 

Could you imagine moving into a neighborhood and you're unpacking your boxes, and a neighbor comes to the door and says, "Hey, welcome to the neighborhood. Get your sword. We've got five nations that are seeking to attack us." And you go, "Don't I even get a chance to take a time to breathe?" The children of Israel, as they are moving into the Promised Land, they've conquered Jericho, they've conquered Ai, and there's no rest. You know, it's amazing because in our lives, sometimes we just wish that we could have the world just stop. "Let me get off and let me do the things that I need to do because I need a rest." But God says, "Nope, there's other things to do."

Within chapter 10, it's an amazing story because this is the story where the sun stands still. But it's more than the sun standing still. It's actually something greater than that. It's Joshua recognizing that because victory is at hand, I need to pray to God for a miracle.

You know, we always pray to God whenever things are tough. We ask God to pull something through whenever things are difficult. But here, for the very first time in the Torah, and now in the Prophets with Joshua, we see a wonderful, wonderful truth. And the truth is, we don't have to wait for something negative to happen to pray for a miracle. We can pray for a miracle to be able to accomplish the task that God's calling us to do. That's a very important thing.

So the chapter opens up: "Now it came to pass when Adoni-Zedek the king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and that 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." So here's the king, Adoni-Zedek, King of Jerusalem, going, "Oh my stars, I can't believe Joshua made a treaty with our enemies, the Gibeonites. He got tricked. He made a treaty with them. He said, 'You guys can come and join us. You guys can be at peace with us. We're not going to attack you.'" So what does Adoni-Zedek do, King of Jerusalem? He says, "Oh, I'm afraid that the Gibeonites are going to attack us because it's a city that's greater than Ai, and all the men in that city are mighty." So Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, says to five other kings, five other nations, "Hey, would you guys join us to fight against these people that Joshua has made a covenant with?" And Joshua's thinking to himself, "Oh my stars, what is the king in Jerusalem doing?" So the Lord says, "Don't worry about it. I'll take care of you. You'll be able to protect the people from Gibeon, and I will make sure that you have victory over these five kings."

In verse 5: "Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the kings of Jerusalem, the kings of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together and went up, they and all their hosts, and camped before Gibeon and made war against it." And so Joshua's going, "Oh my stars, what are we going to end up doing?"

I love verse 11. After the Lord has discomfited them before Israel and he slew them, it says: "And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel and were going down to Beth Horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died. And there were many more that died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword." Wow, look at how God intervened. He took the covenant promise that Joshua had made to the Gibeonites, and though he was fooled and deceived by it, he stuck with his word. A king of Jerusalem is saying, "Oh man, no way. I gotta go call the infantry. I gotta go call our enemies to join us to be able to defeat the Gibeonites because they're bigger than the city of Ai." And God says, "Not so fast."

So as the battle is going on and the hailstones are falling from heaven, then Joshua does something incredible. Verse 12: "Then spoke 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 still upon Gibeon, and moon, in the valley of Aijalon.' 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 hastened not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like it before or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man. For the Lord fought for Israel."

How amazing. How amazing that Joshua, just a man, would ask and command the sun to stand still. Why would he do that? Because he sensed victory. He wasn't sensing panic, defeat, needing a miracle—"Oh, I'm whining, I'm complaining." He was saying, "I need more light to be able to finish the task." Now that itself would preach on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night: "I need more light to finish the task." Carpe diem. And you know, there was no day like that at all in the history of Israel when God stepped forward for a man.

So Joshua returns, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. But these five kings, they fled, and they hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah. And it was told Joshua, saying, "Hey, these five kings are hiding in the cave at Makkedah." And Joshua said, "Good, we got them. Let's go ahead and roll gigantic stones over the mouth of that cave and set men by it to keep them." Wow.

And so, verse 19: "But pursue after your enemies, smite the hindmost of them, suffer them not to enter into their cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand." And it came to pass, when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them with very great slaughter, till they were consumed, that the rest which remained of them entered into fenced cities. And all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace. None moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.

Then said Joshua, "Open the mouth of the cave and bring out those five kings to me out of the cave." And they did so, and brought forth five kings unto him out of the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon. And 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. And Joshua said unto them, "Fear not, don't be dismayed, be strong and of good courage, and thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom you fight." And afterwards Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees, and they were hanged upon the trees until the evening. And 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, cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave's mouth, which remain unto this very day.

You know, when Israel became a nation in 1948, it's amazing because five nations came against Israel. Anytime Israel tries to do anything that has to do with possessing the land of their inheritance that was promised to Abraham, the nations—the UN specifically—they fight like big dogs against them.

One of the things that we know for sure is as you continue to keep moving forward in your journey to be conformed more and more to the image of the Messiah, to walk in His ways, there's going to be battles. And you're going to think, "Don't I get a break? Don't I get an opportunity to just rest from all the weariness that's going on? I mean, I just moved into the town, and already I'm in a battle." The answer is yes, because there are so many things that have to be done. So God is saying, "I've got your back. Just keep your word, keep your covenant, keep your promise, keep your allegiance to Me, and watch what I end up doing." And God will fight for you. In fact, you won't have to worry about all of the negative stuff of the enemy. You just do the things that you need to do and watch how the Lord orchestrates all the details of your life.

I wish you a great day.

Alan