Sermon Tone Analysis

Joshua 9

The Gibeonite Deception

The enemies united against Israel

The frightened kings are grouped according to three geographical areas: those from the hill country of central Palestine, the western foothills (valleys or lowlands), and the coastal plain stretching north to Lebanon.

That they were not able to unite as planned into one fighting force is a tribute to the success of Joshua’s strategy in driving a wedge through the backbone of Canaan.

But powerful confederations did form in both the north and the south.

Truces were declared in tribal wars and deadly enemies were ready to make common cause against the invasion force of God’s people.

The Gibeonites deceived the Israelites in order to live

Not all Israel’s enemies wanted to fight.

The Gibeonites were convinced they could never defeat Israel in war so they pursued peace.

Located in the hill country only six miles northwest of Jerusalem and about the same distance southwest of Ai, Gibeon was known as “an important city” (10:2) and was head of a small confederation including three neighboring towns (cf.

9:17).

They pretended that they came from afar

But why the emphasis on being from a far country and the deceptive performance to “prove” it?

Apparently the Gibeonites had become aware of the provisions in the Mosaic Law permitting Israel to make peace with cities that were at a considerable distance, but requiring them to wipe out completely the cities of the seven nearby Canaanite nations (Deut.

20:10–18; 7:1–2).

Travelers from Gibeon were called Hivites who were descendants of Canaan, a son of Ham (Gen.

10:17)

It’s important to always test the spirits.

The men never asked the Lord

Caught off guard by the cunning strategy of the Gibeonites, the leaders of the Israelites concluded a formal treaty with them.

But Joshua and the Israelites made at least two mistakes.

First, in sampling their provisions they accepted as evidence things that were highly questionable.

If the visitors were true ambassadors with power to conclude a treaty with another nation they should have had more substantial credentials.

It was foolish of Joshua not to demand them.

The second and primary reason for Israel’s failure is stated in verse 14: the leaders did not seek direction from God. Did Joshua think the evidence to be so beyond question that they needed no advice from Yahweh?

Did he think the matter too routine or unimportant to “bother” God with it?

Whatever the cause it was a mistake to trust their own judgment and make their own plans.

This holds true for believers in all ages (James 4:13–15).

Of course the Israelites found out 3 days later that they were lying

Because they made an oath in the name of the LORD, they could not break the treaty

Because of the deception, Joshua cursed them to always be slaves to the Israelites

This slavery would take the form of their being woodcutters and water carriers for the Israelites.

In order to keep the Gibeonites’ idolatry from defiling the religion of Israel their work would be carried out in connection with the tabernacle where they would be exposed to the worship of the one true God.

So the very thing the Gibeonites hoped to attain they lost.

They desperately wanted to remain free men; in the end they became slaves.

But the curse became a blessing.

It was on behalf of the Gibeonites that God worked a great miracle (cf.

10:10–14).

Later the tabernacle was pitched at Gibeon (2 Chron.

1:3); still later some Gibeonites helped Nehemiah rebuild Jerusalem’s wall (Neh.

3:7).

Such is the grace of God.

He is still able to turn a curse into a blessing.

Though it is usually true that the natural consequences of sin must run their course, the grace of God can not only forgive but also overrule mistakes and often bring blessings out of sins and failures.

Joshua 10

The Sun Stands Still

King Adoni-zedek became fearful that Israel was becoming too great so he wanted to combine forces with other kings to attack Gibeon

So the king of Jerusalem sent an urgent message to four other kings of southern Canaan stressing the fact that Gibeon had made peace with Israel, a traitorous and punishable act.

This might pave the way for other cities to surrender in like manner.

It was a signal for war.

Immediate action had to be taken against Gibeon.

The 5 kings of the Amorites were: Joshua 10:3 “So Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon,...”

The Israelites ended up having to engage in a fight that wasn’t there’s if they had never made the treaty, but the Lord still blessed them

The Lord also sent hailstones on them

The Amorites however were not able to escape.

Using the forces of nature to fight for Israel the LORD caused large hailstones to fall on the enemy with deadly precision so that more were killed in this way than by swords.

This entire passage provides a striking illustration of the interplay between the human and divine factors in achieving victory.

Verses 7–11 alternate between Joshua (and Israel) and the Lord.

They all played important parts in the conflict.

The soldiers had to fight but God gave the victory.

Did the sun really stop moving?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sivu2kpZQJs

The Common View

The “long day” of Joshua 10, however, must be explained.

What did actually happen on that strange day?

The answers are numerous (an eclipse, clouds over the sun, refraction of the sun’s rays, etc.).

But the best explanation seems to be the view that in answer to Joshua’s prayer God caused the rotation of the earth to slow down so that it made one full rotation in 48 hours rather than in 24.

It seems apparent that this view is supported both by the poem in verses 12b–13a and the prose in verse 13b.

(The Book of Jashar is a Heb.

literary collection of songs written in poetic style to honor the accomplishments of Israel’s leaders; [cf.

David’s “lament of the bow” in 2 Sam.

1:17–27].)

God stopped the cataclysmic effects that would have naturally occurred, such as monstrous tidal waves and objects flying around.

Evidence that the earth’s rotation simply slowed down is found in the closing words of Joshua 10:13: The sun … delayed going down about a full day.

The sun was thus abnormally slow or tardy in getting to sunset, that is, its progression from noon to dusk was markedly lethargic, giving Joshua and his soldiers sufficient time to complete their victorious battle.

An important fact that should not be overlooked is that the sun and moon were principal deities among the Canaanites.

At the prayer of Israel’s leader Canaan’s gods were compelled to obey.

This disturbance to their gods must have been terribly upsetting and frightening to the Canaanites.

The secret of Israel’s triumph over the coalition of Canaanites is found in the words, Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!

In answer to prayer Israel experienced the dramatic intervention of God on their behalf and victory was assured.

Another view

terminology in the celestial omens.

The Mesopotamian celestial omens use verbs like wait, stand and stop to record the relative movements and positions of the celestial bodies.

When the moon or sun do not wait, the moon sinks over the horizon before the sun rises and no opposition occurs.

When the moon and sun wait or stand, it indicates that the opposition does occur for the determination of the full moon day.

The omens in the series known as Enuma Anu Enlil often speak of changing velocities of the moon in its course to effect or avoid opposition with the sun.

Likewise in verse 13 the text here reports that the sun did not hurry but instead stood in its section of the sky.

It should be noted that the text does not suggest the astronomical phenomena were unique, but instead, verse 14 says plainly that what was unique was the Lord accepting a battle strategy from a man (“the Lord listened to a man”).

A Mesopotamian lamentation (first millennium) shows this same type of terminology for divine judgment when it speaks of the heavens rumbling, the earth shaking, the sun lying at the horizon, the moon stopping in the sky and evil storms sweeping through the land.

Joshua’s knowledge of the Amorites’ dependence on omens may have led him to ask the Lord for one that he knew would deflate their morale—for the opposition to occur on an unpropitious day.

The Execution of 5 Amorite Kings

The kings fled, but Joshua did not stop until the kings were killed.

The enemy will eventually come back if you don’t take care of the issue fully

By placing their feet on the king’s next it showed and demonstrated

Joshua instructed his field commanders to put their feet on the kings’ necks.

This was a symbol of the complete subjugation of the defeated enemy.

foot on the neck symbolism.

The Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I (thirteenth century) “puts his foot on the neck of” individual conquered kings as well as (symbolically) on that of conquered lands, clarifying that they have thus become his footstool.

As a result the symbolism of making one’s enemies their footstool (Ps 110:1) can be related to the action here.

Other verses: Heb 1:13, Heb 10:13, Luke 20:43, Mark 12:36.

After their execution Joshua instructed them to be hanged

exposure of the corpses.

The kings were executed first, then hung, suggesting that this was not a manner of execution but a treatment of the corpse (see 2 Sam 21:12 compared with 1 Sam 31:10).

Many believe it refers to impalement on a gibbet as was known to be practiced later by the Assyrians and Persians.

Exposing the corpse was also occasionally practiced by the Egyptians.