Joshua 10
Joshua • Sermon • Submitted
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The Israelites up to this point have been staying at a place called Gilgal
this is where they had built the altar, and where they came from for the battles of the last chapter
was essentially their base of operations during this time period
1 Now 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;
2 That 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.
The Israelites reputation was growing and growing, the news of what God had done for them is reaching more and more people
people can see when God does something powerful in your life
the saying “the bigger they are, the harder the fall” also works the other way around
when you have someone who God has saved from the gutter, from a very bad place, people take note
it’s just as big of a miracle that God saves any of us
but the former can really get people’s attention who may not otherwise notice
for instance, saul/paul, He was a big-time Pharisee, educated under rabbi Gamaliel, who later went on to become extremely influential on what would become modern Judaism
he persecuted Christians
was a bystander for the first martyrdom
imagine how that would have looked to people at the time
so not only do people see what God has done in our lives, but at that point, we have a responsibility to stay true to God
first of all, it’s to keep our testimony clean, because our testimony itself is a form of evangelism
if we go around talking about how God changes people, and then we have some massive fall, it’s just not a good look at all
televangelists
not only our testimony, but we owe it to God to serve Him
He saved us, changed us, Christ died for us, He promises us eternal life, He helps us through our hard times even when we don’t deserve it
He does so much for us, it’s only right that we try to do things for Him and use give our lives over to His purposes
3 Wherefore 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,
4 Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.
5 Therefore 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.
6 And 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.
The book of Joshua contains so much, we have Joshua and the conquest, which is a foreshadowing of Jesus coming to overcome the world and conquer sin
it contains the history of the Israelites and some of the foundational moments of Biblical history
another way it’s valuable is that we can read the book of Joshua, see what it says, and then find evidence of the stories like with the altar, the evidence of the destruction at Jericho, etc
taking a moment to talk about some of the history going on here
Jerusalem was an important center in the time of Joshua
all of the other cities mentioned in this passage have been located and they are mentioned in other writings from neighboring nations
the reason something like this is important is because if youre ever talking to someone who is doubting or doesn’t believe you can say “hey, this isn’t just the Bible coming up with something out of the blue here”
the message that the king of Jerusalem sends to the other kings was written in a style that was common for kings of that time period
So these verses contain something we haven’t seen so much in Joshua
usually, the Israelites would go to the other people and take over their cities
this time though, the alliance of these kings came to them
these kings were all amorites, and all these cities were from the same general area near Jerusalem
7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.
8 And 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.
9 Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.
10 And 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.
11 And 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.
we see a familiar thing happen here, we have God telling Joshua that He will deliver them into their hand
we’ve seen this since all the way back in chapter 1, and not once has God failed His promise, and the only times the Israelites goofed and lost is when they did not ask God for help or get His approval
this shows us the power of keeping God first of all our first priority, and second of all, just having Him involved in our life
God can pull off incredible things in our life when we keep Him involved, and He wants to be involved in our life and help us to be what He wants us to be
we should want to be what God wants us to be, not what we want to be
bearing our cross DAILY
a bit about the early part of the battle
we’ve talked about how God can weave disasters into something great
verse 10 says THE LORD discomfited them before Israel, not Joshua, not the Israelites, but THE LORD
this large alliance came to fight israel unexpectedly, bad news
God proceeds to turn this bad news around in an incredible way
not to get too much into the weeds, but the early part of the battle was fought very strategically
maneuver warfare/using troop enemy movements and geography against them
essentially, verses 10 and 11 show us how God and the Israelites used the terrain and troop movement against the amorites
so we not only have this, but we have God sending the hailstones down upon them, peppering them
God often works His miracles in ways that utilize nature, His creation
many of the plauges of Egypt, for instance, the frogs and locusts
parting of the red sea and many other instances
the hailstones not only worked effectively as a weapon of war, but imagine what that would do to their morale
so God really shows off His genius here, via the maneuver warfare and the effect of the hailstones, but the best is yet to come
12 Then 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.
13 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 hasted not to go down about a whole day.
14 And 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.
What great faith and confidence in God Joshua had!
this is the kind of faith and confidence that we should strive for
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
this miracle really demonstrates the level of God’s authority and power, could you imagine just sitting at home one day and the sun just doesn’t go down for a whole other day? it’s almost unthinkable to us
So Joshua needed extra time for the battle, and God gave it to HIm, great was Joshua’s faith indeed
we see in this story that God helps His people, this generation has been very faithful to God, and we know God recognizes that, and we see how much God’s helped them
Verse 13 talks about the Book of Jasher, was probably a collection of Israelite songs that we no longer have, but of course it isn’t a part of the actual Bible, it was just a supplementary writing which probably contained songs
we have other examples of these types of songs like the song of Moses, the Song of Miriam, the song of Deborah, etc
there are a couple more examples of these supplementary writings that we no longer have, like the book of the prophet nathan
maybe one day we’ll find them
15 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.
16 But these five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah.
so the Israelites returned to their camp after this incredible victory
on the other hand, we see the 5 amorite kings reduced to hiding in caves
oh how the mighty have fallen
remember, Joshua is not only taking the promised land because God gave it to them, but because the canaanites are receiving judgement from God
17 And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings are found hid in a cave at Makkedah.
18 And Joshua said, Roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave, and set men by it for to keep them:
19 And 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.
again, we see the Lord saying He’s giving them into their hand
we also see the incredible victories that God is giving over these people, they came out to attack Joshua at the beginning
but God certainly has a way of turning the tables
so the Israelites went on to pursue the rest of the armies and there was a very great slaughter
some stragglers made it into various surrounding cities
afterward the Israelites went back to their camp which was at a place called Makkedah, a temporary camp for this battle
and the Bible says none dared to move his tongue against any of the children of Israel
22 Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings unto me out of the cave.
23 And 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.
24 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.
25 And 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.
the captains putting their feet on the necks of the 5 kings, we talked before about how God told the Israelites that wherever they set their foot in the land, God gives them
we also see verses in the Bible about God making enemies “footstools”
1 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
we see it pretty clearly in this Messianic (a Psalm about Jesus), the theme of making enemies a footstool
this whole “enemies under your foot” theme was present in other cultures of the area as well
9/11 guy throwing a shoe at george bush in iraq (used to be “mesopotamia”
SHOW VIDEO
to sum it up, Joshua’s captains putting their feet on the necks of the kings was Joshua sending a message that he had conquered them and their land
39 And 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.
so Joshua had went to each of the cities of the 5 amorite kings and proceeded to sweep up all that was left of the people in the cities
5 cities = Libnah, Lachish, Gezer, Eglon, and Debir
Libnah
Gezer
Debir
This is generally called the “Negev” region, or sometimes the “hill country”
42 And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.
43 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.
verse 42 ties in the defeat of all the towns in the south with the miraculous work of God, demonstrated by the wonders in the heavens as well as by the aid given in capturing each town.
“For Christians, this text and the following story of the northern battle symbolize the life of the disciple. Faced with daily pressures and struggles, the decision whether to follow Christ in humility and love forms part of the spiritual warfare described in Ephesians 6. The warrior cannot succeed without divine help, and this is available through constant walking in the will of God as illuminated by a knowledge of God’s Word and as strengthened by prayerful communion with him.”
Ephesians 6 - armor of God
We fight spiritual warfare around us every day, there is a whole spiritual war going on in the background every day
this stuff is just as real as the pew you’re sitting on
it would do us all good to try to be aware, we go around every day so focused on the physical
but it would do us all very good to focus a bit more on the spiritual that’s all around us, that’s IN us
we should store up our treasures in heaven, this is not our home we’re just passing through
and we should all try to bear our cross daily, to do what’s right even when it’s not easy
when we do these things that aren’t easy, that might be really hard, that we might suffer with we can rejoice, because we can identify and relate with Jesus, we know He suffered first, and know He knows what we’re dealing with
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
We fight our own war with our flesh and with the spiritual forces around us every day
but if we put on the full armor of God and stay close to Him, we will make it, and we will come out on top in the end
like God helped Joshua and his generation fight their wars, God will also help us fight our own wars