Outline of Chapter 10:

       vv.   1–5      A five-king alliance attacks Gibeon

       vv.   6–11    Joshua defends Gibeon

vv.12–15Possible insertion of verses: the famous long day of Joshua

       vv.  16–28    Joshua executes the five kings who escaped his initial attack and defeats Makkedah as well

       vv.  29–43    Joshua’s southern Palestine military campaign

Charts:

       v.    14          The Long Day—J. Vernon McGee’s Point of View

       v.    14          The Long Day of Joshua

       v.    43          The Gibeon Map

       v.    43          The Map of Joshua’s Southern Conquests

I ntroduction: The short version: a five-king coalition is formed and they attack Gibeon. Because of their treaty, Gibeon calls upon Joshua to defend them. Joshua defends them and defeats the alliance, partially because Joshua prays for more day light during which to do battle. From here, Joshua moves south across the land, defeating and subduing the armies of a half dozen city-strongholds.

When I first began to read Alfred Edersheim, I wasn’t certain if I liked him. However, as I progress further and further through the book of Joshua, I have really come to enjoy his summaries and rephrasing of a particular chapter or passage. He writes: The surrender of Gibeon would fill the kings of southern Canaan with dismay. It was, so to speak, treason within their own camp; it gave Israel a strong position in the heart of the country and within easy reach of Jerusalem; while the possession of the passes leading from Gibeon would throw the whole south of Canaan open to their incursion. In the circumstances it was natural that the chieftains of the south would combine, in the first place, for the retaking of Gibeon.

Joshua 10 vindicates the treaty between Israel and Gibeon. As mentioned before, some expositors speak harshly of Joshua’s decision to honor his treaty with the Gibeonites—or at least harshly concerning the treaty in the first place. However, there will be nothing in Israel’s subsequent history which will negate Joshua’s decision in that chapter or his decisions in this. Although the population of the land of Canaan had agreed upon an alliance against Israel, there is evidence only here that they acted upon this alliance. And they did not attack Israel, but they attacked Gibeon and the other three cities. Gibeon sent messengers to Israel pleading for their assistance, based upon the treaty from the previous chapter. At this point, Joshua could have backed away from the treaty, saying that he would not personally attack Gibeon, but that he was not responsible for the acts of aggression of other nations. God could have instructed Joshua not to heed the cry of the Gibeonites, but to sit back and allow them to be destroyed by the degenerate Amorites and Canaanites. However, not only did Joshua go to defend Gibeon, but God promised him the victory over the attacking alliance. During the battled which ensued between Joshua and the allied forces of Canaan, we have the incredible miracle of the sun standing still in the sky, one of the better known acts of God from the book of Joshua (the other two most memorable being the crossing of the Jordan and the falling of the walls of Jericho).

One of the things which I will do when examining this book verse-by-verse, is to give careful attention to the miracle of the long day. I will give you several viewpoints on its authenticity and its verification or lack thereof in Scripture. Furthermore, there will be a summary of same in v. 14. Another important feature of this verse-by-verse is that I will include a map so that you have a feel for the attack of Joshua on the five-king allied forces and the subsequent events. Unfortunately, most Bibles place these maps at the end of the Bible and many commentaries, due to a cost factor more than anything else, do not carry these maps. The route that Joshua followed and the fleeing of the allied troops are key in understanding the true location of Gilgal. It is often when we compare Scripture with Scripture that we come to verifiable conclusions.

The five king alliance was made by five men who were cowards. When they saw that all was lost, they deserted their men and hid in a cave in Makkedah. Joshua sent his men to that cave, which then served as a prison. Once he had captured and destroyed Makkedah and executed these kings, he continued to conquer the remaining cities in southern Palestine, a land which principally went to the tribe of Judah. The end of this chapter will be fairly repetitive, where the cities that Joshua invades and conquers are named and Joshua’s invasion and destruction of said cities is affirmed.

A Five-King Alliance Attacks Gibeon

You may recognize the name Adoni-zedek; it means lord of righteousness. My thinking here is that this is not a reference to God but to the person who had the title. He saw himself as the lord of righteousness. This is very likely a title of a Jebusite king rather than the proper name of the king. What he had heard was that Joshua had—and here we have the Qal perfect of lâkad (ד ַכ ָל) [pronounced law-KAHD], which means to capture, to seize, to take. Strong’s #3920 BDB #539. The second thing that Joshua did to Ai was the Hiphil imperfect of châram (ם ַר ָח) [pronounced khaw-RAM], which means completely devoted to, devoted to, or completely destroyed. The connection between the meanings is that whatever is devoted to God is completely removed, either from man's use or from the planet earth. Strong's #2763 BDB #355 (& #356). A thousand years previous, there was a king of Jerusalem named Melchizedek, which means king of righteousness or my king is righteousness. Melchizedek’s name pointed to Another; Adoni-zedek’s name (or title) pointed to himself. Thieme referred to Adoni-zedek as Satan’s counterfeit. The change in names indicated a change in dynasties and a change in the relationship of Jerusalem to God.

Jerusalem means city of the Jebusites, according to the NIV Study Bible, and foundation of peace, according to Barnes. It could mean possession of Salem or possession of peace as well. It is the noun y^erûshâlayim (ם  ̣י ַל ָשר  ׃י) [pronounced y’roo-shaw-LAH-im], which could very well mean founded upon peace. However, Jerusalem is not necessarily an Hebrew word, originally. Strong’s #3389 BDB #436. Joshua clearly ties Jerusalem to the Jebusites in Joshua 15:8, 63 18:28. This is its first appearance of the name Jerusalem in Scripture. This same city is also called Jebus (Judges 19:10, 11 I Chron. 11:4) or Ir-Jebusi (which means, city of the Jebusite—Judges 19:11). It is likely that the Salem of Gen. 14 is the same city. Jerusalem will be given to the tribe of Benjamin, although it is on the border between Judah and Benjamin, which is why many people, including myself, associate it with the tribe of Judah. Jerusalem was not captured in this chapter, nor in the next. It was not until Judges 1:8 that lower Jerusalem is captured, and this done by the tribe of Judah, not Benjamin. In this chapter, the army from Jerusalem will be routed and destroyed, but Jerusalem will not be touched. Furthermore, the Jebusites of upper Jerusalem, those in the better-fortified hill of Zion, were not captured until the days of David (Joshua 15:63 Judges 1:21 19:12 Ii Sam. 5:6–9 II Chron. 11:5–8). Jerusalem—or, at least, Upper Jerusalem—was also called Jebus. In the Hebrew, this is y^ebvûç (סב  ׃י) [pronounced ye^bVOOS], which probably means [place of the] Jebusites. Strong’s #2982 BDB #101. Although it is suggested that its original name is Jebus, my thinking is that, because of the occupation by the Jebusites, the Israelites called it Jebus—much like we might call an area Chinatown or Little Italy.

In the parenthetical portion of this verse, we have that adverb kên (ן ֵ) [pronounced kane] is generally rendered so. This particle is built upon the participle to stand, to be upright, to be erect; a very free translation might be so this is how the matter stands. A good short rendering would be so or thus. Strong's #3651 BDB #485.

Chapter 9 and 10 occurred pretty close together in the realm of time. We have an alliance formed against Israel at pretty much the same time the Gibeonites decided to take their chances placing themselves at the mercy of Israel. In Joshua 9:1–2, we read: Now it came to pass when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the lowland and on the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, heard of it, that they gathered themselves together with one accord to fight with Joshua and with Israel. Most of the peoples of the land had heard of Israel’s move toward the land, of her crossing over the Jordan, of their annihilation of Jericho (Joshua 6:21) and of Ai (Joshua 8:21–28), and they began to get nervous. They were also concerned about act made between Israel and Gibeon (Joshua 9:15). These verses in Joshua 10:1 speak of the general pact which was made—and this could have occurred over a period of time. That is, there is no reason to think that there was just one meeting of the heads of the city-strongholds in the Land of Promise. There could have been several, during which several sets of alliances against Israel were established. In this chapter we will see their first act of aggression from the first alliance against Israel.

This might be more smoothly rendered: And so they intensely feared Gibeon because it was a great city, like the reigning cities; and because it was greater than Ai; and all of her men [were] mighty. The primary difference is the word placement. That the people of the land would fear Israel was recorded in the first Song of Moses, back in Ex. 15:14–16: The peoples have heard and they tremble; anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; the leaders of Moab, trembling grips them. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread falls upon them. By the greatness of Your arm, they are as motionless as stone, until Your people pass over, O Jehovah; until the people pass over whom You have purchased. The Israelites, in their conquering of Ai and Jericho, and by virtue of their alliance with Gibeon, have virtually cut Canaan in half, making an alliance between those in the north and those in the south virtually impossible. The city of Jerusalem appeared to be the next on the list and therefore, they were the most concerned.

Gibeon is first called a city, where we have the feminine singular of ׳îyr (רי ̣ע) [pronounced eer or geer]  and this is used in the very widest sense of a group of people, from an encampment, to a village, to a city. Strong's #5892 BDB #746. Then we have the feminine singular adjective gâdôwl (לד ָ) [pronounced gaw-DOLE] means great in quantity, great in magnitude and extent, mighty, vast, unyielding, immutable. Strong’s #1419 (& 1431) BDB #147 (& 152, 153, 175).

The we have the feminine plural construct of ׳âr (ר ָע) [pronounced ģawr] again, and what follows is the definite article and the feminine singular of mam^elâkâh (ה ָכ ָל  ׃מ ַמ) [pronounced mahm^e-law-kaw], which means kingdom, sovereignty, dominion, reign; it is used to refer to both the royal dignity and to the country of a king. Strong’s #4467 BDB #575.

Then we have the phrase and because she [was] and again we have the adjective gâdôwl, meaning great. What follows the adjective is the preposition min (ן  ̣מ) [pronounced min], a preposition which denotes separation (away from, out from, out of from). In this context, it is used in its comparative sense: above, beyond, more than. Strong's #4480 BDB #577. It’s greatness is beyond that of Ai. Furthermore, the occupants of Gideon were not pansies. We may have gotten that impression because of the previous information, but quite to the contrary, they were some of the fiercest warriors. The men of Ai are described by the adjective gibbôwr (ר  ̣) [pronounced gib-BOAR], which means strong, mighty, valiant. Strong’s #1368 BDB #150.

There is a double concern here. The people of the land are worried about the Jews in the first place. They are overrunning and destroying every city that they invade. However, one of the greatest cities of the land has made peace with them. No doubt the people of the land were thinking that perhaps the Israelites can destroy Jericho and Ai, but wait until they attack Gibeon. However, on the contrary, Gibeon fell in slavery prior to any attack. This particularly worried the people of the land. If this city falls without a shot being fired, what hope is there. The plan was simple: a five-king alliance would attack and take Gibeon. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, we do not know what exactly transpired up until this time. Did the Gibeonites meet with their neighbors several times? Did they pledge their support to their neighbors and then change their minds? Did they go directly to the Israelites and never consult their neighbors? We can only speculate. In any case, Gibeon was recognized as a great city and the men of the city were well-respected in the realm of war.

We all know that Jerusalem eventually became the holy city, the city with the ark and the tabernacle; and later the temple of Solomon. This city was then presided over by the lord of righteousness. Hoham is mentioned only by name here. According to Thieme, his name means noise of the multitude; furthermore, also according to Thieme, Hoham was probably a democrat. Hebron, a city which is occupied today, is located 25 miles south-southwest from Jerusalem at 2800 ft, located in a narrow valley between two ridges. It is a city of great antiquity, having been built seven years before the city of Zoan in Egypt (Num. 13:22). Excavation of this city seem to indicate that it has been occupied since 3300 b.c., although it has been built and rebuilt once or twice since then. According to ZPEB, it has been more or less continuously occupied since the beginning. When Abram and Lot split up, Abram first moved to Hebron (Gen. 13:18), and Mamre was known as part of Hebron. Moses built the first altar to Jehovah there and Mamre came from the name of Mamre the Amorite (Gen. 14:13), who was allied with Abram. When Abram was 99 years of age, two angels met with him at Mamre (Gen. 18:1). Hebron was also known by the name Kiriath-arba, having been named after Arba, who was famous among the Anakim (Gen. 23:2 Joshua 14:15). This is where Sarah finally died (Gen. 23:2). Today, this city is known as el-Khalil, which means friend of God, and is so named in honor the Abraham’s stay there. The ruins of an ancient heathen temple are still to be seen there, as well as the Haram, built of colossal blocks, which contains, according to Mohammedan tradition, the burial -place of the patriarchs.

Piram is also mentioned only here. His name means wild ass (Thieme). Edersheim suggested wild and free. Jarmuth, according to Douglas, had a population of 1500–2000 at the time of the confrontation and occupied about 6–8 acres of area 18 miles from Jerusalem in the lowlands of Judah. I don’t know from whence Douglas got this information. Jarmuth will be one of the cities belonging to Judah and Barnes and Keil and Delitzsch identify it with modern-day Yarmuk (or, Jarmuk, or Tell’armuth), which sits upon a hill with the remains of walls and cisterns built long ago.

The name Japhia means dazzling to the eye. The meanings which I am giving you are all Hebrew meanings and the names given these men by the Israelites may not have been the names with which they were born. In any case, these were the names by which they were probably known to the Israelites. Similarly, the names given these cities are names which are likely the ones known to the Israelites. 15 miles west of Hebron, also in the lowlands of Judah, is Lachish, a city mentioned twenty times in the Bible and found in other ancient sources. This is its first mention in the Bible. This city will be given over the tribe of Judah and it will be mentioned a dozen times or more in the future in relationship to various kings of Judah, during the divided kingdom period. Since it’s Biblical significance is more prominent later in Scripture, we will examine it then.

Debir, as you might recall, means word, oracle. His city, Eglon, is mentioned only a half-dozen times in the Bible, primarily in this chapter. The Septuagint uses the name Adullam instead, but we find a several spellings of Eglon as well in the Septuagint manuscripts. Modern archeology has discovered eight distinct levels of the city of Eglon, which date back as far as the Early Bronze III era. An Egyptian mention of this city even predates this Biblical reference. There was a letter which was discovered which indicates that treason was brewing in Lachish and Jarmuth against the pharaoh of Egypt. Barnes and Keil and Delitzsch identify it as the modern Ajlân. There apparently is a modern city called Odollam (Adullam?), which is not the correct location of the ancient Eglon.

What might be moderately confusing is that there is also a city Debir and a city Lidebir. These two cities will be mentioned with regards to Joshua’s move into southern Canaan. This city Debir will be mentioned in this chapter, v. 38, as well as in Joshua 11:21 12:13 15:7, 49 (where we find out it is also called Kiriath-sanah) 21:15 Judges 1:11 (where it is also called Kiriath-sepher) I Chron. 6:58; Lidebir will be mentioned in Joshua 13:26. What might also be confusing is that there is a king of the Moabites named Eglon, who will be mentioned in Judges 3.

The peace treaty between Joshua and the city of Gibeon is covered in Joshua 9 and 10:1. One of the closest cities to Gibeon was Jerusalem, so the king of Jerusalem knew that something had to done immediately, insofar as he was concerned. It is interesting in this coalition of kings that they choose to attack Gibeon first. They were unsure about the company of Israel and chose to hone their skills on Gibeon. Although Gibeon was an impressive fortress with brave and valiant soldiers, it would be no match for a five-king alliance.

Keil and Delitzsch summarize these verses: The report that Joshua had taken Ai, and put it, like Jericho, under the ban, and that the Gibeonites had concluded a treaty with Israel, filled Adonizedek the king of Jerusalem with alarm, as Gibeon was a large town, like one of the king’s towns, even larger than Ai, and its inhabitants were brave men. He therefore joined with the kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, to make a common attack upon Gibeon, and punish it for its alliance with the Israelites, and at the same time to put a check upon the further conquests of Israel.

As is often found throughout Scripture, Amorite is in the singular. This is often the general name applied to the peoples in the land of Canaan. I tend to call them Canaanites more often, as the Amorites were descended from Canaan (Gen. 10:15–16). When the first set of spies entered into the land, they were more specific. “Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.” (Num. 13:29). This is confirmed in Deut. 1:7 by Moses, who said, “Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorite, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.” (Deut. 1:7).

We have all their and masculine plural of machăneh (ה ∵נ ֲח ַמ) [pronounced mah-khuh-NEH], which means camp, encampment. It can refer to the camp or to those in the camp, who are often soldiers (Ex. 14:24 Judges 4:16). In the plural, it has three meanings: ➊ encampments or camps, as we find it used above; ➋ the courts of Jehovah (i.e., where the priests were encamped); and, ➌ the heavenly hosts; i.e., angels. Strong’s #4264 BDB #334.

What they did at the end of the verse is the Niphal imperfect of lâcham (ם ַח ָל) [pronounced law-KHAHM], which means to fight to do battle, to war. The Niphal is not always the passive, but it can also refer to an action in a state of progress or development; therefore we add in the word being. It can express adjectival ideas and it can, in plural forms, stress the individual effect upon each member of the group. Occasionally, the Niphal acts as a reflexive of the Qal. With this stem, the verb appears to mean engage in battle, engage in war, to wage war. Strong’s #3898 BDB #535. This is followed by the preposition ׳al (ל ַע) [pronounced ģahl] and it means, primarily, upon, against, above. Strong's #5920, #5921 BDB #752.

These are the five kings of the major cities at that time in the southern mountains. The Amorites are to be found primarily in the hill country and the Canaanites by the Med. I don’t know exactly why Joshua mentions these kings and where they came from twice. Sometimes he is difficult to figure out. There are times when he seems quite sketchy and other times when he is repetitive.

Joshua Defends Gibeon

Quite often, the differences between manuscripts is very slight. In the Massoretic text, hands is in the plural, although there are three early printed editions where it is found in the singular.

What the Gibeonites ask for (and, an interesting note, we never get a Gibeonite’s name) is for Joshua to come to them quickly and the Hiphil imperative of yâsha׳ (ע ַש ָי) [pronounced yaw-SHAHĢ], which means to deliver, to save. Joshua’s name was in part built upon this word. This verb is found only in the Hiphil and Niphal. Strong’s #3467 BDB #446. After this verb, we have the Qal imperative of ׳âzar (ר ַז ָע) [pronounced ģaw-ZAHR], which means to help. Strong’s #5826 BDB #740. There is an undeniable urgency in their request. Certainly their enemies are only days, if not hours, away from attacking Gibeon. Gibeon, on its own, could probably withstand an attack by any of the individual groups in the alliance, but could not protect herself against all five kings and their armies.

Dwellers is the Qal active participle, masculine plural of yâsha^bv (ב ַש ָי) [pronounced yaw-SHAH^BV] and it means to remain, sit, dwell. In the Qal participle, masculine plural, it should be rendered those inhabiting, those dwelling in, the inhabitants of, the ones dwelling in, dwellers of. Strong's #3427 BDB #442. Obviously, not all of these kings come from the hill country. According to Keil and Delitzsch, this is to be understood a potiori; that the strongest of the Canaanites were the Amorites, who dwelt in the mountains. What they have done is the Niphal perfect of qâbats (ץ ַב ָק) [pronounced kaw-BATS], which means to gather, to grasp with the hand, to seize, to collect. Strong’s #6908 BDB #867.

Joshua never really hid himself when entering the land (how could he?). The Gibeonites both here and in Joshua 9:6 knew right where to go to speak to him. The NIV Study Bible: An urgent appeal for deliverance to a man whose name means “The Lord saves.”  We are not unlike the Gibeonites, who were condemned by God to death, yet appealed to their savior, Joshua, for deliverance. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and you became partaker with them of prosperity and the root of the olive tree...you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree (Rom. 11:17b, 24a). If you ever doubt your salvation or the faithfulness of God, look to the Gibeonites. They recognized Joshua as their savior and they trusted in him. They went to him in an unclean state, intent on deceiving him. Because they trusted in him, he made a covenant with them, this covenant which protected them from thereon in. They were allied with Israel; they were brought into Israel, as we, the Gentiles, were grafted into the tree of Israel as a wild olive branch onto a cultivated tree. Suddenly, the Gibeonites find themselves in a desperate situation, and they turn to their savior for help. We can trust our Savior for our salvation, as well as for our daily deliverance.

We have two phrases which act almost as synonyms. The first is the masculine singular construct of ׳am (ם ַע) [pronounced ahm] and it means people. Strong’s #5971 BDB #766. This is followed by the feminine singular noun mil^echâmâh (ה ָמ ָח  ׃ל  ̣מ) [pronounced mil-khaw-MAW], and it means battle, war (when used in the construct with men). We might translate the words as the people of war, the people of battle, the people of the fight. How appropos that such a word would be in the feminine. Strong’s #4421 BDB #536.

This is followed by the w âw conjunction and the masculine plural construct of gibbôwr (ר  ̣) [pronounced gib-BOAR], which means strong men, mighty men, soldiers. Strong’s #1368 BDB #150. This is followed by the definite article and the masculine singular noun chayil (ל  ̣י ַח) [pronounced CHAH-yil ] and it means efficiency, army, strength, valour, power. Strong’s #2428 BDB #298.

Barnes: The language [of v. 6] reflects the urgency of the crisis. Accordingly, Joshua made a forced march, accompanied only by his soldiers...and accomplished in a single night the distance from Gilgal to Gibeon (about fifteen miles in a direct line), which on a former occasion had been a three days’ journey (Joshua ix. 17).

The verb for fear is yârê (א ֵר ָי) [pronounced yaw-RAY] means fear, fear-respect, reverence, to have a reverential respect. Its use in Lev. 26:2 indicates that reverence is definitely a part of its meaning. The use of this word to describe someone in the Old Testament is similar to our calling someone a Christian today. Its only use, however, is not strictly in the sense of reverential fear. In Job 5:21–22, it is found in the Qal imperfect with the particle of negation, and it simply means to fear, to be afraid. Rotherham says it means to shrink back in fear. The idea is is that reverence and fear might cause a person to assume the same position of shrinking back. Strong's #3372 BDB #431.

Again, it is unclear whether hand should be in the singular or the plural. In some manuscripts, it is written in the plural and read as a singular, in others it is written and read in the singular (in six early printed editions); and in several codices, it is written and read in the plural (the Septuagint, the Syriac and the Vulgate). My thinking here is that in some cultures, it would be a common saying to say that some has been given into your hand, whereas, such a saying would be correctly said, into your hands in another. I can’t see there as being any real difference in meaning. Although we may understand this saying, we would rarely use such a saying in our language.

When I first exegeted this verse, I half expected to find the wâw conjunction at the beginning of this second line. Apparently, that was not too unreasonable, as two early printed editions as well as the Syriac codex begin this verse with an and. The second line begins with a negative and then the verb ׳âmad (ד ַמ ָע) [pronounced ģaw-MAHD], which means to take a stand, to stand, to remain, to endure. Strong's #5975 BDB #763. Although face is in the plural (as always), it comes with a 2^nd person masculine singular suffix, referring primarily to Joshua. With the wâw conjunction, this would read either And not a man will stand before your faces or Not a man, therefore, will stand before your faces. Moses promised this to the people: “And Jehovah your God will deliver them before you, and He will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. And He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven; no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them.” (Deut. 7:23–24). And God promised this to Joshua: “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5).

What this verse does is affirm the treaty which Joshua had made. He did make the treaty apart from asking God for direction. Throughout the entire process, God was never approached, yet, to the best of our knowledge from hindsight, the honoring of the pact with Gibeon was the right thing to do. Here, God tells Joshua that He will defeat the common enemies of Joshua and the Gibeonites and that Joshua need not be afraid. Considering what had occurred and the treaty which Joshua had made, this would be quite important to know. God does not amend this command with, “And once you’re done with them, destroy the Gibeonites.”

A misapplication of this verse would be to say that we need to pray for guidance and be sensitive to the Lord’s direction for our lives. Joshua had what we do not have—he had access to Urim and Thumim and could call upon them to give him the straight of it. He did not even have to contact God directly—he just would go to the High Priest and ask him. This is not guidance by prayer but guidance from a means which is no longer available to us. Joshua did have direct contact with God, although he does not reveal any specifics here (Moses only occasionally gave us specifics). However, we do not have access to Urim and Thumim; we are not told to flip a coin and ask for God to direct the falling of the coin; we do not have a direct line to God by which we may hear Him speak to us. When we go to God in prayer, we speak to Him. He has given us access in that way. However, prayer was never designed to be a method of guidance. That is, going to God in prayer is not an infallible way of determining His will for our lives. In fact, most of the time when people say that they will sit down and pray about it, they end up doing just exactly what their old sin nature wants them to do. I have leased property to many believers, some better than others, but damn few who have even a clue as to what is right and wrong and damn few who will honor the contract which they signed. One set of tenants who always paid on time and left the house in immaculate condition, they moved out early and, when it came to paying the last month’s rent, they did not, even though it was so specified in the contract. No doubt they sat down as a couple and prayed about this course of action before the embarked on it. However, clearly, as per a passage like this (not just the verse, but the passage), you honor a contract which you have signed. Joshua made a covenant with these Gibeonites and he keeps it and God honors that covenant. In this regard, Joshua did not have to go to God to determine what to do. If you sign a contract and agree to something, then you don’t need to pray not even a little when it comes to deciding what to do about that contract—you honor the contract. I once bought what I thought was my dream house and decided that I really did not need my old house which was worth about $20,000 and I owed almost $40,000 for it. At that time, I could have given the property back to the bank and possibly could have gotten away unscathed. And, I admit, I did probably pray about it. However, what caused me to make the decision which I made was the fact that I had entered into a contract with a mortgage company. They had lent me the money to purchase the home. There was no clause in the contract that I could return the home to them if it fell below the amount of the loan. There were no guarantees that the house and the area would maintain the value. What I agreed to do was to pay them the principal and interest month after month, along with reserves for taxes and insurance. Now, this is what the contract which I signed said that I should do and so I did it. That was a correct decision, even though it caused me a great deal of personal difficulty over a period of time. I will guarantee you that many was the time that, in dealing with the riff raff of tenants which I had in there; their inconsistency, their filth, and their lack of regard for honoring their contract—many a time, I thought to hell with this rental property. The bank can have it. However, I never gave it to the bank. And, furthermore, I did not need to pray over that decision—it was clear as to what God expected me to do. I had willingly and knowingly entered into a contract and it was my duty as a believer in Jesus Christ to honor my signature. This does not mean that everything that I have ever done in regards to real estate has been perfectly moral and that I made every correct decision that I should. That was an example of one correct decision. The key to divine guidance is knowing God’s Word. There are literally hundreds of decisions which we can make every day which can be determined simply by knowing and following God’s Word. In the lunch line, I don’t suddenly fall on my knees in prayer to determine whether I should have the chicken fried steak or the lasagna. Obviously, that’s stoopid. Some of the things which believers pray about are equally as stoopid. Often what the believer is doing wen he prays for guidance is that he knows what is right—he just does not want to do it and he wants some way out.

Some time ago, with respect to the worship ceremony at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, I remarked that nothing was said about their trip to or back. You will notice that throughout the book of Joshua, his travels to and fro are chronicled as a general rule, as we see here. This does give us a distance between Gilgal and Gibeon—one night’s forced march.

Gilgal was roughly 15–20 miles east of Gibeon and this was mostly an uphill march. In order to make such a march, Joshua and his men would need a full moon. You cannot make a night march in area which is mostly unfamiliar to you without some light. Now, a full moon is more than enough. I personally jog a golf course at 3 or 4 in the morning when there is a full moon and it is a marvelous sight—there is enough light by the moon to make out the pathway and most anything which I need to see. However, I cannot run on this course without the moon, even though it is familiar to me. This partially explains the latter half of v. 12: “And O moon in the valley of Aijalon, stand still.” When the Israelites were moving in that direction at a more leisurely pace (and not in a straight line), it took them a little over two full days. Then the sons of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim (Joshua 9:17). It is obvious by the urgency of the message of the Gibeonites and the quick troop movements of Joshua that Gibeon was probably under siege when these men had first come to Joshua.

Now, no details will be given concerning the attack upon the Gibeonites. We don’t know much about their city, the strength of their walls, how many of their men died, etc. My guess is that there were some casualties on their side and that these were men whom God wanted destroyed. Recall that the Gibeonites were among the people who were to be removed from the land and certainly some careful culling occurred during the chaos of the battle. However, it is likely that their walls had not been breeched, as the five-king alliance was put on the run immediately when Joshua arrived.

The first verb is the 3^rd masculine singular, Qal imperfect of châmam (ם ַמ ָח) [pronounced chaw-MAHM], which means to make a noise, to move noisily, to confuse, to discomfit, to put ot flight, to put into a commotion, to destroy utterly, to make extinct (taking all of the meanings given by BDB and Gesenius). I would have to go with to put to flight, to put into a commotion. The NASB goes with the simple translation routed. The NIV Bible notes: the Hebrew for this word implies terror or panic. This is found only a dozen times in Scripture. Strong’s #2000 BDB #243. This panic would have been because of the sudden attack of Joshua, as well as the wind, thunder and lightning which would accompany a hail storm.

From hereon out we have several verbs which are in the 3^rd person masculine singular. Although this could certainly be taken as acts of Joshua, the connection of Jehovah with the first verb would indicate that He is the subject for al the subsequent verbs until we come to a different subject or to a differently constructed verb. We twice have the verb nâkâh (ה ָכ ָנ) [pronounced naw-KAWH] which means smite, assault, hit, strike (Strong #5221 BDB #645); and we have, as well, its noun cognate, the feminine singular substantive makkâh (ה ָ ַמ) [pronounced mahk-KAW], which means a blow, a wounding, a wound, a slaughter, a beating, a scourging. Strong’s #4347 BDB #646.

What we have in v. 10 is approximately a two day summary of the battle which followed. More details will be given in subsequent verses. At least, more details will be given in v. 11, and then we will discuss the other verses. Recall that we have a five king alliance and five separate armies. Therefore, they probably, in a panic, ran in at least five different directions, if they were that organized. Their leaders were undoubtedly organized. Their leaders banded together and fled together, very likely leaving their men to fend for themselves. Given where Gibeon is, and that Joshua and his men likely lined up east and south of Gibeon, the armies of the five kings could only head north-northwest.

It is likely that this hail storm had been pre-planned as a natural event since eternity past, one which affected only the allied forces against Gibeon and Israel. There was certainly a buffer of allied soldiers between the men who got a head start and Israel, so God struck many of those soldiers down with hail stones. And Jehovah will cause His voice of authority to be heard and the descent of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, and in the flame of a consuming fire, in cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones (Isa. 30:30). One of the ways which God shows His anger and indignation of man is to hurl things from the sky, as in Rev. 16:21: And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe (see also Ex. 9:23–24 I Sam. 7:10 Isa. 32:19 Ezek. 13:13). If I recall correctly, Thieme suggested (as though Bob suggested anything) that this was a meteor shower, and not a hail storm. The first time the stones are mentioned, they are called great stones. The first words used do not necessarily refer to hail stones; however the second time, we do find the word for hail. The prepositional phrase in question begins with the bêyth preposition, which can be used to having respect to anything: in respect to, on account of, in that, about concerning. No Strong’s # BDB #88. This is followed by the construct of the word stones again, which is e^bven (ן ∵ב ∵א) [pronounced EH^B-ven] is found over 250 times in the Old Testament and is consistently translated stone. Strong's #68 BDB #6. This is followed and modified by the definite article and masculine singular of bârâd (ד ָר ָ) [pronounced baw-RAWD], which does mean hail. Strong’s #1259 BDB #135. I think that we can reasonably conclude that this was a simple hail storm. Hail the size of baseballs or grapefruit can be deadly. That so many want to call this a miracle, either stretches the meaning of the word miracle or downplays God’s great omniscience and intelligence. A miracle is something which falls outside the laws of science, e.g., the feeding of the 5000 with a five loaves and two fish (Luke 9). This completely falls outside our laws of observed science. God, when He created the universe, set certain natural laws into motion, so that, at an exact time in the future, a great hail storm would strike this area and specifically strike those who were fleeing Joshua’s army. Many of the so-called miracles throughout Scripture are of this variety. They reveal a pre-planning which goes beyond our imagination to a point where they seem miraculous. God did not even have to slip into the picture here and make certain that the hail which fell hit the enemy soldiers. By His omniscience and omnipotence, He had determined the precise trajectory of each and every hail stone in eternity past. This kind of power is mind-numbingly phenomenal.

The map that this hyperlink goes to is from The MacMillan Bible Atlas. The five kings come from the south and the southwest, meeting at Jerusalem and proceeding north-northwest from there (this is speculative, but the geography would tend to support this). Because they struck Gibeon, five miles away, from the south and Joshua struck them from the east, they were limited as to the direction in which they could move. They would also be limited by whatever roads existed during that time, albeit however crude. Since Joshua surprised them, striking from due east, they only had one direction in which to go—toward the west, racing up a mountain road to Upper Beth-horon (roughly six or seven miles from Gibeon). Later, the primary road from Jerusalem to the seacoast went through the Beth-horon’s and Solomon secured these two cities with strong fortifications (II Chron. 8:5). Beth-horon means house of caves, and it is actually the name of two cities. We are almost certain of their location, as there are two modern cities there today. There is Beit-´Ur el-Faqa, which is at about 1800 ft. above sea level; the larger city is Beit-´Ur et-Tahta, which is at 1100 ft. Archeological evidence indicates that these cities have been occupied at least since the Late Bronze Age. The name, Beit-´Ur, is likely a corruption of Beth-horon. Between these two cities is a steep and rocky pass, and it is at this juncture that God struck them with great hailstones. At the descent of Beth-horon, they turn, moving south-southwest, into the valley of Aijalon, another five miles. There was apparently a city of Aijalon which overlooked this valley. We do not find this name here in v. 10, but we find it in v. 12, where Joshua prays for the sun to stand still. Given a fight, a flight and a pursuit of ten miles, this would be about the time that Joshua would be concerned about being able to destroy all of God’s enemies. With the sun stayed in the sky, the pursuit continues to Azekah, which is about ten miles south-southwest of the valley of Aijalon. Azekah sits upon a plateau overlooking the Valley of Elah (not mentioned in this passage), in the hill country between the mountains and the valley. Although there are remains of great walls and towers, these probably date back to a later time, the result of Rehoboam’s fortification of the city hundred’s of years later.

Makkedah is another ten miles south of Azekah. Apparently there is some disagreement as to the modern location of Makkedah. Knobel places it near Terkumieh or Morak, which would put it in the hill country or in the mountains. Since Makkedah is associated with the cities of the plain (Joshua 15:41), it is probably the modern day Summeil, which is a large village on the plain, with a large public well 110 feet deep and 11 feet in diameter, with strongly built walls of hewn stones, where there is also part of an old wall, which to all appearance must formerly have belonged to a large square castle built of uncemented stones. If Joshua makes the forced march from Gilgal to Gibeon during one evening’s time, and his enemies scatter to the distances recorded here in Scripture, it is going to require more than eight hours to run most of them down.

Possible Insertion of Verses: The Famous Long Day of Joshua

The verse begins with the adverb âz (ז ָא) [pronounced awz], which means then, at that time, in that case (when following an if or though), now, as things are; that being so. This adverb also gives us logical progression or logical sequence, so it means in that case, now as things are, that being so, then. Strong’s #227 BDB #23. In this verse, we have what is known as an homœoteleuton [pronounced HOE-mee-oh-tay-LEW-ton], which has two separate meanings. In this instance it refers to a copyist who has written a word, looks back up to the same or a similar word, and continues writing, accidentally leaving out some text. This should read: Then Joshua spoke to Y^ehowah in a day of a giving of Y^ehowah the Amorite before faces of [the] sons of Israel, when they destroyed them in Gibeon, and they were destroyed from before faces of [the] children of Israel, “Sun in Gibeon, stand still; and moon in a valley of Aijalon.” What is in italics is the portion which has been left out. You will notice that it is bookended by the words Israel. The scribe was writing, came to the word Israel, looked back up to his place, and continued to write, focusing on the wrong word Israel. The fuller version is preserved in the Septuagint.

V. 10 takes us from beginning to the end of the battle. V. 11 covers the major killing, which occurred in the middle. When Joshua actually said this is a bit difficult. Barnes suggests that the sun is just beginning to rise behind him, towards the hills of Gibeon, and the moon is “setting” in front of him over the valley of Aijalon. This places his troops with the allied troops on the run in front of him, along the road through upper and lower Beth-horon. To have the sun beginning to rise and the moon beginning to set places us near the beginning of the battle. However, early in the morning would make such a prayer unnecessary. Or, at least, Joshua would not know that he would need longer than a day to finish the execution of the enemy troops. The other option is that he last saw the moon set over the valley of Aijalon as he and his troops came up on Gibeon; and, as he speaks Gibeon is slightly behind him and the sun is over Gibeon, making it roughly 11:00 pm. This gives us a possible five or six hours of battle time, giving Joshua enough time to realize that he will require more time, although that could be debated.

The scenario is this: the Israelites are clearly beating the five-king alliance; however, the enemies are beginning to scatter and it will be difficult to capture and execute them all. Joshua knows that Jehovah will not give an order that cannot be obeyed, so he asks, in the sight of all Israel, for the sun to stand still in the sky until the finish the battle and completely destroy the peoples of the land. The idea that any man would pray such a prayer in a large public place where his prayer can be heard and it will be obvious whether or not it comes to pass. Joshua’s prayer is to God, although he speaks directly to the sun and the moon. What he says to the sun is the Qal imperative, 2^nd masculine singular of dâmam (ם ַמ ָ) [pronounced daw-MAHM] and it means be still, silent, cease, cut off. It also means to be astonished, to be confounded (which would result in being silent—Ex. 15:16). Strong's #1826 BDB #198. We have a minor problem here, as the word for sun is the feminine singular; however, Joshua adds, and moon, which is in the masculine singular. Joshua speaks to the sun and moon, giving them one command which is to be obeyed individually.

We do have a verse found later in Scripture which refers back to this time: For Jehovah will rise up as He did at Mount Perazim. He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon to do His task, His unusual task and to work His work—His extraordinary work (Isa. 28:21). What would be nice is for this verse to confirm more clearly the miracle contained in this passage. It does support God being stirred by a prayer. Furthermore, we have Biblical evidence that God will do this again: Sun and moon stood in their places. They went away at the light of Your arrows; at the radiance of Your gleaming spear (Hab. 3:11). The defeat of the people of the land in general is later given by Amos: “Yet it was I Who destroyed the Amorite before them, though his height was like the height of cedars and he was strong as the oaks. I even destroyed his fruit above and his root below.” (Amos 2:9).

The Septuagint version of this verse is a bit more talky. It reads: Then Joshua spoke to the Lord, in the day in which the Lord delivered the Amorite into the power of Israel, when he destroyed them in Gibeon, and they were destroyed from before the children of Israel; and Joshua said, “Let the sun stand over against Gibeon, and the moon over against the valley of Aijalon.” (I went back here to the English transliteration of the Hebrew proper nouns).

Barnes suggests that vv. 12–15 were added from another independent source sometime after the book of Joshua had been written. If such is the case, then their inspiration is in doubt. If this was added decades or even a century later from a book not written by an eyewitness, then we have reason to doubt the factuality of these verses. Vv. 12–13a are poetical and the remainder is in prose.