Israel defends the Gibeonites

Joshua Chapter 10 verses 1-15

Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured and completely destroyed Ai and Jericho and killed their kings. He also knew of the treaty the Gibeonites had made and were now allies with Israel. So he became very afraid because the Gibeonites were mighty warriors. King Adoni-zedek send messengers to several other kings and asked them to come help him destroy the people of Israel. Five Amorite kings combined their forces for an attack on Gibeon.

The men of Gibeon sent a message to Joshua asking for help in fighting the Amorite kings. Joshua and the entire army of Israel set out to rescue Gibeon. The Lord told Joshua to not be afraid for he would give victory over them and not one single one of them would be able to stand up to Joshua and his forces.

Joshua traveled at night and took the Amorite armies by surprise. The Lord threw the Amorites into a panic and the Israelites slaughtered them in great numbers at Gibeon. Then they chased the enemy along the road to Beth-horon and attacked them at Azekah and Makkedah, killing them along the way. As the Amorites retreated down the road, the Lord destroyed them with a terrible hailstorm that continued as they reached Azekah.

On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of his people: " Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon."
So the sun and moon stood still until the Israelites had defeated their enemies.

Is this event not recorded in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and it did not set as on a normal day. The Lord fought for Israel that day. Never before or since has there been a day like that one, when the Lord answered such a request from a human being. Then Joshua and the Israelite army returned to their camp at Gilgal.

BIBLE NOTES SHOW: the alliance of the enemy kings actually helped Joshua strategically because their uniting meant he didn't have to spend time and resources to wage separate campaigns against each fortified city in the coalition. He defeated them because he trusted the Lord to give him a victory.

Joshua's response shows his integrity. After being deceived into a treaty with the Gibeonites, he could have been slow to rescue them, but instead the Israelites responded quickly to their call for help.
How did the sun stand still? We should not be so quick to find a reason, but accept it as a miracle. God could have done this two ways: 1. he slowed the earth's rotation to give Joshua more time, or 2. some unusual refraction of the sun's rays gave additional hours of light. No matter, it was still a miracle.

The book of Jashar is also called the Book of the Upright(mentioned in 2 Samuel 1:18)and was probably a collection of historical events put to music.

How does this part of chapter 10 relate to us today? Just how willing would you be to run to someone's aid when they had just deceived you? Most of us would probably think twice. But Joshua did not hesitate to help the Gibeonites. The Lord told him what was the right thing to do. Can we say the same about ourselves? We need to learn to ask for God's help in making decisions that we don't always want to make. Life is full of hard decisions these days. Pray to our Lord to help us make the right choices.

Yours in Christ,
Mary

Prayer Requests are needed for:
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RESTORATION OF FAITH: Al, John
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