Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro-

Background

In order to appreciate , we need to understand what took place prior to this chapter.

Joshua is now in charge, Moses is Gone and Joshua is going throughout the land on a military conquest.

He had just defeated AI and prior to that, Jericho.

There was great fear spreading throughout the land based on what they had heard about Israel and the God of Israel.

In chapter 9, We read that some men from Gibeon wanted to make peace with Israel.

V.4 begins to describe their trickery.

They told Israel that they were from a far off place and that they wanted to make peace.

They then found out that they had been deceived.

That these people were not from afar off, However… they had to keep their oath

We typically think in our society that if an agreement is made on false pretenses, that that agreement should be void.

But that is not the case.

We read of Jacob deceiving his father Isaac and claiming to be Esau… It could not be undone.

They had to keep their oath because they swore by God that they would not touch them.

They were in a really tricky spot now.

On one hand, they had to stand in judgement of God if they broke their oath.

On the other hand, They did not know If God was still with them since they made this oath without seeking His council.

Chapter 10:

The king of Jerusalem Heard about all that Israel had done.

That they had destroyed AI and Jericho and now he learns that Gibeon has joined forces with Israel and He panics.

He forms an alliance with other kings

King of hebron

Jarmuth

Lachish

and Eglon

They decide to go and attack Gibeon.

Gibeon while under attack, calls for Joshua to honor his covenant to them, and to protect them.

Now God breaks His silence.

At this point, we don’t know and Joshua doesn’t know if God is still with him due to this ill-advised covenant with Gibeon.

He reassures Joshua that He was still with him.

The past tense of what God says here is significant.

The battle has not yet been fought, but God speaks of this in the past tense.

“Have given” - it has already been decided.

God is faithful to His word.

God was winning the battle.

It wasn’t the Israelites being better soldiers, It was God showing his power and might.

Did the Sun actually stand still?

It is a fascinating portion of History and an interesting Battle to read about, But the part that is scrutinized the most is what we are going to look at now.

Did the sun actually stand still?

Or is there another explanation?

Some have suggested a variety of interpretations

The sun stood still (literally the earth stopped spinning) preserving sunlight and prolonging the day

Some say it was a solar eclipse - Problematic because the sun and the moon are described in opposition rather than conjunction

Some say it is simply poetic in the sense that the day seemed longer than others.

Some suggest that Joshua was asking God to frighten the Amorites by exploiting their fear of a bad omen in relation to the position of the sun and the moon.

Its my belief that the earth literally stopped rotating and the day was prolonged.

There have been plenty of days with solar eclipses, and odd positioning, and feelings of a day being longer than usual.

There was something different that happened here.

It was recorded in a Hebrew book of History “Book of Jashar” (There are many references in the Bible to other literature)

Josephus wrote about this:

But the king of Jerusalem took it to heart that the Gibeonites had gone over to Joshua; so he called upon the kings of the neighboring nations to join together, and make war against them.

Now when the Gibeonites saw these kings, which were four, besides the king of Jerusalem, and perceived that they had pitched their camp at a certain fountain not far from their city, and were getting ready for the siege of it, they called upon Joshua to assist them; (59) for such was their case, as to expect to be destroyed by these Canaanites, but to suppose they should be saved by those that came for the destruction of the Canaanites, because of the league of friendship that was between them.

(60) Accordingly, Joshua made haste with his whole army to assist them, and marching day and night, in the morning he fell upon the enemies as they were going up to the siege; and when he had discomfited them he followed them, and pursued them down the descent of the hills.

The place is called Beth-horon; where he also understood that God assisted him, which he declared by thunder and thunderbolts, as also by the falling of hail larger than usual.

(61) Moreover, it happened that the day was lengthened, that the night might not come on too soon, and be an obstruction to the zeal of the Hebrews in pursuing their enemies; insomuch, that Joshua took the kings, who were hidden in a certain cave at Makkedah, and put them to death.

Now, that the day was lengthened at this time, and was longer than ordinary, is expressed in the books laid up in the temple.

Bridging the contextual gap

The finality of God’s Judgement

What can we learn from this?

Other than God is awesome?

God honored the covenant that Israel made with Gibeon

The past tense of this phrase is significant.

The outcome had been decided, but Israel still had to do their part

Out of everything that God had commanded, Joshua left nothing undone.

Joshua’s covenant with Gibeon wasn’t in contradiction to any command of God’s (Although unwise for not seeking prior council)

This is part of a fulfilled promise

It is important to look at what motivated Gibeon to come and seek a treaty.

Why did they Gibeonites want a treaty?

Why did they want alliance?

They wanted to come because of what they heard about God.

An often overlooked point in OT history is that God is faithful to those who seek Him.

It wasn’t just a select chosen group of people and everyone else had to die.

People had the option of following God, or rejecting Him.

We are modern day Gibeonites

Through Jesus, we are allowed to be joined together with spiritual Israel and be fellow citizens, because of our acceptance of and obedience to the Christ who died for us

We today are much like the Gibeonites in .

Sinners, deceitful, and in need of God.

If we submit to Him and His authority, Just as the Gibeonites did, He will remain faithful to us.