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Joshua Chapter
Ten
Joshua 10
Chapter Contents
Five kings war against Gibeon. (1-6) Joshua succours
Gibeon The sun and moon stand still. (7-14) The kings are taken, their armies
defeated, and they are put to death. (15-27) Seven other kings defeated and
slain. (28-43)
Commentary on Joshua 10:1-6
(Read Joshua 10:1-6)
When sinners leave the service of Satan and the
friendship of the world, that they make peace with God and join Israel, they
must not marvel if the world hate them, if their former friends become foes. By
such methods Satan discourages many who are convinced of their danger, and
almost persuaded to be Christians, but fear the cross. These things should
quicken us to apply to God for protection, help, and deliverance.
Commentary on Joshua 10:7-14
(Read Joshua 10:7-14)
The meanest and most feeble, who have just begun to trust
the Lord, are as much entitled to be protected as those who have long and
faithfully been his servants. It is our duty to defend the afflicted, who, like
the Gibeonites, are brought into trouble on our account, or for the sake of the
gospel. Joshua would not forsake his new vassals. How much less shall our true
Joshua fail those who trust in Him! We may be wanting in our trust, but our
trust never can want success. Yet God's promises are not to slacken and do
away, but to quicken and encourage our endeavours. Notice the great faith of
Joshua, and the power of God answering it by the miraculous staying of the sun,
that the day of Israel's victories might be made longer. Joshua acted on this
occasion by impulse on his mind from the Spirit of God. It was not necessary
that Joshua should speak, or the miracle be recorded, according to the modern
terms of astronomy. The sun appeared to the Israelites over Gibeon, and the
moon over the valley of Ajalon, and there they appeared to be stopped on their
course for one whole day. Is any thing too hard for the Lord? forms a
sufficient answer to ten thousand difficulties, which objectors have in every
age started against the truth of God as revealed in his written word.
Proclamation was hereby made to the neighbouring nations, Behold the works of
the Lord, and say, What nation is there so great as Israel, who has God so nigh
unto them?
Commentary on Joshua 10:15-27
(Read Joshua 10:15-27)
None moved his tongue against any of the children of
Israel. This shows their perfect safety. The kings were called to an account,
as rebels against the Israel of God. Refuges of lies will but secure for God's
judgment. God punished the abominable wickedness of these kings, the measure of
whose iniquity was now full. And by this public act of justice, done upon these
ringleaders of the Canaanites in sin, he would possess his people with the
greater dread and detestation of the sins of the nations that God cast out from
before them. Here is a type and figure of Christ's victories over the powers of
darkness, and of believers' victories through him. In our spiritual conflicts
we must not be satisfied with obtaining some important victory. We must pursue
our scattered enemies, searching out the remains of sin as they rise up in our
hearts, and thus pursue the conquest. In so doing, the Lord will afford light
until the warfare be accomplished.
Commentary on Joshua 10:28-43
(Read Joshua 10:28-43)
Joshua made speed in taking these cities. See what a
great deal of work may be done in a little time, if we will be diligent, and
improve our opportunities. God here showed his hatred of the idolatries and
other abominations of which the Canaanites had been guilty, and shows us how
great the provocation was, by the greatness of the destruction brought upon
them. Here also was typified the destruction of all the enemies of the Lord
Jesus, who, having slighted the riches of his grace, must for ever feel the
weight of his wrath. The Lord fought for Israel. They could not have gotten the
victory, if God had not undertaken the battle. We conquer when God fights for
us; if he be for us, who can be against us?
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Joshua》
Joshua 10
Verse 1
[1] Now
it came to pass, when Adonizedek 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;
Among them —
That is, were conversant with them, had submitted to their laws, and mingled
interests with them.
Verse 2
[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.
Thy —
That is, he and his people, the king being spoken of verse 1, as a publick person representing all his
people.
Royal cities —
Either really a royal city, or equal to one of the royal cities, though it had
no king, but seems to have been governed by elders, chap. 9:11.
Verse 3
[3]
Wherefore Adonizedek 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,
Adoni-zedek sent —
Either because he was superior to them, or because he was nearest the danger,
and most forward in the work.
Verse 5
[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.
Of the Amorites —
This name being here taken largely for any of the Canaanites, as is frequent;
for, to speak strictly, the citizens of Hebron here mentioned, verse 3, were Hittites. It is reasonably supposed,
that the Amorites being numerous and victorious beyond Jordan poured forth
colonies into the land of Canaan, subdued divers places, and so communicated
their name to all the rest.
Verse 6
[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.
Slack not thy hand — Do
not neglect or delay to help us. Whom thou art obliged to protect both in duty
as thou art our master; and by thy owns interest, we being part of thy
possessions; and in ingenuity, because we have given ourselves to thee, and put
ourselves under thy protection.
In the mountains — ln
the mountainous country.
Verse 7
[7] So
Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all
the mighty men of valour.
Joshua ascended —
Having no doubt asked advice of God first, which is implied by the answer God
gives him, verse 8.
All the mighty men —
That is, an army of the most valiant men picked out from the rest; for it is
not probable, either that he would take so many hundred thousands with him,
which would have hindered one another, or that he would leave the camp without
an army to defend it.
Verse 9
[9]
Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.
Came suddenly —
Though assured by God of the victory, yet he uses all prudent means.
All night — It
is not said, that he went from Gilgal to Gibeon in a night's space; but only
that he travelled all night; unto which you may add part either of the
foregoing or of the following day. It is true, God had promised, that he would
without fail deliver the enemies into his hand. But God's promises are
intended, not to slacken, but to quicken our endeavours. He that believeth doth
not make haste, to anticipate providence; but doth make haste to attend it,
with a diligent, not a distrustful speed.
Verse 10
[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 Bethhoron, and smote
them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.
At Gibeon —
Heb. in Gibeon, not in the city, but in the territory belonging to it.
Verse 11
[11] And
it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to
Bethhoron, 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.
Great stones —
That is, hailstones of extraordinary greatness, cast down with that certainty,
as to hit the Canaanites and not their pursuers the Israelites. Josephus
affirms, that thunder and lightning were mixed with the hail, which may seem
probable from Habakkuk 3:11. They had robbed the true God of
his honour, by worshipping the host of heaven, and now the hosts of heaven
fights against them, and triumphs in their ruin. Beth-horon lay north of
Gibeon, Azekah and Makkedah, south, so that they fled each way. But which way
soever they fled, the hailstones pursued them. There is no fleeing out of the
hands of God!
Verse 12
[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.
Spoke Joshua —
Being moved to beg it out of zeal to destroy God's enemies, and directed to it
by the motion of God's spirit, and being filled with holy confidence of the
success, he speaks the following words before the people, that that they might
be witnesses.
In the sight —
That is, in the presence and audience of Israel.
Over Gibeon —
That is, in that place and posture in which now it stands towards, and looks
upon Gibeon. Let it not go down lower, and by degrees, out of the sight of
Gibeon. It may seem, that the sun, was declining, and Joshua perceiving that
his work was great and long, and his time but short, begs of God the
lengthening out of the day, and that the sun and moon might stop their course,
He mentions two places, Gibeon and Ajalon, not as if the sun stood over the one
and the moon over the other, which is absurd especially these places being so
near the one to the other; but partly to vary the phrase, as is common in
poetical passages; partly because he was in his march in the pursuit of his
enemies, to pass from Gibeon to Ajalon; and he begs that he may have the help
of longer light to pursue them, and to that end that the sun might stand still,
and the moon also; not that he needed the moon's light, but because it was fit,
either that both sun and moon should go, or that both should stand still to
prevent disorder in the heavenly bodies. The prayer is thus exprest with
authority, because it was not an ordinary prayer, but the prayer of a prophet,
divinely inspired at this very time for this purpose. And yet it intimates to
us the prevalency of prayer in general, and may mind us of that honour put upon
prayer, concerning the work of my hands command you me.
Verse 13
[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.
Avenged them on their enemies — That is, till they bad utterly destroyed them.
Book of Jasher —
This book was written and published before Joshua wrote his, and so is fitly
alluded here. But this, as well as some other historical books, is lost, not
being a canonical book, and therefore not preserved by the Jews with the same
care as they were.
The sun stood —
Here is no mention of the moon, because the sun's standing was the only thing
which Joshua desired and needed; and the moon's standing he desired only by
accident to prevent irregularity in the motions of those celestial lights. And
if it seem strange to any one, that so wonderful a work should not be mentioned
in any Heathen writers; he must consider, that it is confessed by the generality
of writers, Heathens and others, that there is no certain history or monument
in Heathen authors of any thing done before the Trojan war, which was a
thousand years after Joshua's time; and that all time before that, is called by
the most learned Heathens, the uncertain, unknown, or obscure time.
A whole day —
That is, for the space of a whole day. Understand an artificial day between
sun-rising and sun-setting; for that was the day which Joshua needed and
desired, a day to give him light for his work.
Verse 14
[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.
No day like that —
Namely, in those parts of the world in which he here speaks, vain therefore is
that objection, that the days are longer near the northern and southern poles,
where they are constantly longer at certain seasons, and that by the order of
nature; whereas the length of this day was purely contingent, and granted by
God in answer to Joshua's prayer.
The Lord hearkened to a man — Namely, in such a manner to alter the course of nature, and of the
heavenly bodies, that a man might have more time to pursue and destroy his
enemies.
The Lord fought —
This is added as the reason why God was so ready to answer Joshua's petition,
because he was resolved to fight for Israel, and that in a more than ordinary
manner. But this stupendous miracle was designed for something more, than to
give Israel light to destroy the Canaanites. It was designed to convince and
confound those idolaters, who worshipped the sun and moon, by demonstrating,
that these also were subject to the command of the God of Israel: as also to
signify, that in the latter days, when the world was covered with darkness, the
sun of righteousness, even our Joshua, should arise, and be the true light of
the world. To which we may add, that when Christ conquered our enemies upon the
cross, the miracle wrought on the sun was the reverse of this. It was then
darkened, as if going down at noon. For Christ needed not the light of the sun,
to compleat his victory: so he made darkness his pavilion.
Verse 15
[15] And
Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.
Joshua returned —
Not upon the same day, but after he had dispatched the matter which here
follows; as appears by verse 43, where the very same words are repeated. And
they are put here to close the general discourse of the fight which begun verse
10, and ends here; which being done he
particularly describes some remarkable passages, and closeth them with the same
words.
Verse 16
[16] But
these five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah.
A cave — A
place of the greatest secrecy; but there is no escaping the eye or hand of God.
At Makkedah —
Heb. in Makkedah, not in the city, for that was not yet taken; but in the
territory of it.
Verse 19
[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.
Enter their cities —
Whereby they will recover their strength, and renew the war.
God hath delivered them — Your work will be easy, God hath already done the work to your hands.
Verse 20
[20] And
it came to pass, when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of
slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they were consumed, that the
rest which remained of them entered into fenced cities.
The children of Israel — That is, a party of them by the command of Joshua; for Joshua himself
went not with them, but abode in the siege before Makkedah, verse 21.
Verse 21
[21] And
all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: none moved
his tongue against any of the children of Israel.
To the camp — To
the body, of the army which were engaged there with Joshua to besiege that
place.
None moved his tongue — Not only their men of war could not find their hands, but they were so
confounded, that they could not move their tongues in way of insult, as
doubtless they did when the Israelites were smitten at Ai; but now they were
silenced as well as conquered: they durst no more provoke the Israelites.
Verse 24
[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.
Put your feet on the necks — This he did not from pride and contempt; but as a punishment of their
impious rebellion against their Sovereign Lord; in pursuance of that curse of
servitude due to all this people, and as a token to assure his captains, that
God would subdue the proudest of them under their feet.
Verse 27
[27] And
it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua
commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave
wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave's mouth, which
remain until this very day.
Took them down —
That neither wild beasts could come to devour them, nor any of their people to
give them honourable burial. Thus that which they thought would have been their
shelter, was made their prison first, and then their grave. So shall we surely
be disappointed, in whatever we flee to from God.
Verse 28
[28] And
that day Joshua took Makkedah, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the
king thereof he utterly destroyed, them, and all the souls that were therein;
he let none remain: and he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king
of Jericho.
And that day — On
which the sun stood still. Nor is it strange that so much work was done, and
places so far distant taken in one day, when the day was so long, and the
Canaanites struck with such a terror.
Verse 29
[29] Then
Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libnah, and fought
against Libnah:
All Israel —
Namely, who were with him in this expedition.
Verse 35
[35] And
they took it on that day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the
souls that were therein he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he
had done to Lachish.
On that day — On
which they first attempted it.
Verse 36
[36] And
Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron; and they
fought against it:
Unto Hebron —
The conquest of Hebron is here generally related, afterwards repeated, and more
particularly described, chap. 15:13,14.
Verse 37
[37] And
they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof,
and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein; he left none
remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon; but destroyed it
utterly, and all the souls that were therein.
All the cities —
Which were subject to its jurisdiction; this being, it seems, a royal city as
Gibeon was, verse 2, and having cities under it as that had.
Verse 38
[38] And
Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir; and fought against it:
Joshua returned — He
is said to return thither, not as if he had been there before, but because
having gone as far westward and southward as he thought fit, even as far as
Gaza, verse 41, he now returned towards Gilgal, which lay
north-ward and eastward from him, and in his return fell upon Debir.
Verse 40
[40] So
Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale,
and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly
destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.
All that breathed —
That is, all mankind, they reserved the cattle for their own uses.
As God had commanded — This is added for the vindication of the Israelites, whom God would not
have to suffer in their reputation for executing his commands; and therefore he
acquits them of that cruelty, which they might be thought guilty of, and
ascribes it to his own just indignation. And hereby was typified the final
destruction of all the impenitent enemies of the Lord Jesus, who having
slighted the riches of his grace, must for ever feel the weight of his wrath.
Verse 41
[41] And
Joshua smote them from Kadeshbarnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen,
even unto Gibeon.
Kadesh-barnea —
Which lay in the south of Canaan, Numbers 34:4; Deuteronomy 1:19; Joshua 15:3.
Gaza —
Which was in the south-west of Canaan. So he here signifies, that Joshua did in
this expedition subdue all those parts which lay south and west from Gilgal.
Goshen —
Not that Goshen in Egypt, but another in Judah.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Joshua》
10 Chapter 10
Verses 1-5
Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it
hath made peace with Joshua.
To arms! To arms!
The greatest poet of Greece has sung in stately numbers the deeds
of heroes whom his race adored. We listen to their counsels, we hear their
battle shouts, we see their awful blows. Yet after all this plain, unvarnished
tale depicts with more fidelity and power the progress and results of a
conflict, the most sublime in its accompaniments that this earth has ever seen.
In this chapter we have recorded not only one of Joshua’s most brilliant
victories, but one of the world’s greatest battles: a struggle surpassing in
importance and interest Issus or Arbela, Marathon or Cannae, and affecting to
an incalculable extent the religious and political, the moral and the material,
welfare of mankind. First of all we listen to the summons--“Come up unto me,
and help me, that we may smite Gibeon,” &c. Notice from whom the summons
comes. From Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem. This is a strange thing. From this
man’s name, Lord of Righteousness, and from his heritage, Jerusalem, we would
have expected something very different. He is certainly the successor, probably
the descendant, of Melchizedek. Here is a man who bears the best of titles, but
is, alas! unworthy of it. Nothing could be better than his name; few things are
worse than his fame. Learn from this sad lesson that piety is not hereditary.
The descendants of the righteous may be a wicked seed. This is a sad thing. A
noble ancestry is not a thing to be despised. It is unwise and ungrateful to
ignore the records
and the glories of the past. This is also a dangerous thing. The opposition of
those who have thus fallen is always most dangerous. None are so bitter and
remorseless, so vehement and virulent, so venomous and subtle, as renegades.
Notice to whom Adoni-zedek’s message was sent. It was not sent to all the members of the great
national league. That was impossible, because the submission of the Gibeonites had split
the confederacy into two unequal parts. Instead of one vast army marching to
crush the invader there must now be two: one in the south, the other in the north.
That of the south is smaller, therefore more easily set in motion; and it is
also placed nearer the centre of attack. Thus we see how God has restrained the
wrath of the enemy and deprived him of half his might. Even so all coalition against
Him must fall to pieces. Transgressors are always lacking in cohesion. It was
to Gibeon that Adoni-zedek summoned his confederates. Thus his enmity was
manifested against their defection. Still this summons of Adoni-zedek betokens
fear. It is to some extent the blustering of a bully who is at heart a craven.
We know this, for we are told that “When Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem had
heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it . . . that they
feared greatly.” Therefore because they fear they do not come alone. They keep
their courage up by company. How many are like them. They do fear when
spiritual truths are brought before them, when God’s judgment stares them in
the face; yet they try to find comfort in the thought, “Well, if I am lost a
great many will be badly off.” Nay! nay! It is a vain thing to banish fear by
such thoughts. Such a fear as that works destruction; because being
accompanied, by a rebellious heart and a darkened mind it led to union against
God. Hatred against the Gibeonites is a very distinct characteristic of
Adoni-zedek’s message. Yet, after all, what right had they to be thus angry
with their old friends? Had not the Gibeonites a right to have a mind of their
own, especially in a matter that concerned their very existence? But the human
heart remains the same. When the sinner turns from his rebellion and humbles
himself before God, then is the time for the wrath of man to be revealed. This
hatred is most unreasonable, for, like these Gibeonites, the penitents in throwing
down the weapons of their rebellion set an example which it is the highest
wisdom to follow. The cunning and the impiety of these Canaanites are also
revealed by this confederation. They will prevent further defection; they will
gain one of the most important strongholds in the land; they will make the old
league possible. Thus they displayed their craft. And in doing so they proved
their impiety. (A. B. Mackay.)
Rage of the world against deserters from its ranks
It is thus in the spiritual life. Upon no outer enemy does the
world turn with such rage and resentment as upon those who desert their ranks
to join the Lord’s host. All the legions of hell are marshalled forth against
the young believer who has newly signed the terms of treaty with the Joshua of the
better covenant. As Bishop Hall says, “If a convert come home, the angels
welcome him with song, the devils follow him with uproar and fury, his old
partners with scorn and obloquy.” In spite of all this, let not those who have
become allied to the Israel of God quail; but let the sequel here before us
reassure them. (G. W. Butler, M. A.)
Combinations against the Church
What combinations have been formed, what artifices practised
against the Church!--one
wile to allure, another to frighten, and sometimes to destroy. As against the
Lord Himself, so against His people, the great and the mighty of the earth have
consulted their ruin, and for a season availed to harass and distress the
saints; nor can this be matter of surprise to those who know their own
character, and remember what themselves were till converted by the grace of
God. The Church’s gain is the world’s grief, as it is the world’s loss. Oh,
what oppositions in families, what combinations out of old connections and
associates, have been raised against those who, no longer of the world, have
been chosen out of it, and through grace enabled to turn their backs upon its
vanities and pursuits! No sooner is it known that any have made peace with our
spiritual Joshua than the world is up in arms, and war declared, lasting as the
irreconcilable enmity of fallen nature. Not one who openly declares himself on
the Lord’s side, and is inwardly devoted to His glory, but, according to the
station he occupies, and the influence of those around him, will experience a
full measure. (W. Seaton.)
Verses 6-11
Come up . . . quickly, and save us, and help us.
Help! help!
The chapter
opens with a cry from Jerusalem, the summons of Adoni-zedek--“To arms! To
arms!” Here we have another and a very different cry, a cry from Gibeon; a cry
to Joshua for help.
I. The trouble of
the Gibeonites. They are in sore straits. What a vivid picture of spiritual
truth have we here! “He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.” Do you
make your peace with God? that instant, and by that act, you are at war with
Satan. No sooner is the treaty of salvation signed than the infernal hosts are
rallied. The ink is scarcely dry before he begins his attack. Old friends become new enemies.
A man’s foes are often those of his own household. When we come into such
trouble let us not think that a strange thing has befallen us. It is the common
fate of God’s children, from the highest to the meanest, and to the end of time. Though
the Captain of salvation is the
Prince of Peace, He has come not to send peace on the earth but a
sword; and so will it be till every enemy is cast out and all flesh shall own
Him Lord. These Gibeonites felt this attack all the more dangerous because it
was the onset of men with whom in the past they had been on such intimate
terms. All their conditions and resources were as well known to these five
kings as to themselves. And the remembrance of these things made this attack all
the more formidable. But what was all the knowledge which the five kings had of
the Gibeonites compared with the knowledge Satan has of us? Therefore, how
terrible must be his attack! If we are not ignorant of his devices, he is not
ignorant of our weakness.
II. But if this cry
suggests the trouble of the Gibeonites, it also points out their resources. If
they are in great trouble they are not without resource, and at once they avail
themselves of it. They dwelt in a fortified city, but they did not depend on
its walls and bulwarks. They had no confidence in themselves. Their own
resources were insufficient. All their confidence was placed in Joshua. Would
that we always showed like wisdom! Sin and Satan are more than a match for the
strongest saint. As they looked to Joshua, so must we look to Jesus. As they
depended on that covenant of peace which had been ratified, so must we. As they
dispatched runners post haste to Gilgal, so must we send out swift-footed
messengers of prayer. Our very existence as saints depends on their success.
III. The earnestness
of the Gibeonites. How keen and piercing is their cry! How urgent is their
request! The message was no doubt short, they did not waste their words; but it
was full of earnestness. It was the message of men thoroughly roused and
anxious. Though short it was very full. They sought to stir up Joshua’s energy.
It is as if they said, “We have no hope apart from you. We are all dead men if
you fail us. We know you can save us and trust you will.” They also manifested
faithfulness to Joshua, by the last two words of their message--“Help us.” Why
were these words added? “Save” is the word of dependence--“Help” suggests the
determination to do what they can. It is as if they said, “While we feel that
in our own strength we must be worsted, yet we are determined to make a stand
against them. On no account will we come to terms. We will never open our gates
to the enemy. We will not even hold parley with him. Till you come, and even if
you do not come, we will do the best we can.” Accordingly this shows that they
were faithful to their new leader. Surely their conduct in this emergency may
well be imitated. Oh, for like earnestness in crying, “Awake, awake, O arm of
the Lord!” How languid are our prayers! How unconscious are we of danger! It is
good for God to open our eyes by trouble, if it leads us to cry like these
Gibeonites.
IV. The succour of
the Gibeonites. Help was sure. Joshua would have belied his name, would have
been unfaithful to his covenant, would have been untrue to his nature, if he
had not hastened to their relief. And help came speedily. Joshua lost not a
moment. Help also came in time. Joshua was not too late. The Gibeonites did not
become a prey; they had cause to rejoice over a great deliverance. Do we in
every extremity cry to God? Help must come. God never said to any, “Seek ye My
face,” in vain. Jesus, like Joshua, is never too late. If He tarries there is
good reason for it. It is always for our good. He may come when Lazarus is laid
in the grave, but He never comes too late. He is never too late in history. The
world had a long time run its course before He came. Why? Because that time was
set. “In the fulness of time God set forth His Son.” He has promised to come
back again, and depend upon it He will not come back too late. What though 1,800 years have passed
away? nothing will divert Him from His purpose; nothing will prevent His
appearing. “Amen,” therefore we say, “Amen, even so, in Thy good time, for that
is quickly, come, Lord Jesus.” And notice, in conclusion, that it may be said
of these Gibeonites that they were twice saved, First they were saved from the
wrath of God; then they were saved from the wrath of their enemies. So we are
saved from the wrath of God and from the wrath of Satan. The Gibeonites were
saved by faith, for they trusted in Joshua and in the God of Israel. They were
saved by works, for they determined to oppose Adoni-zedek or die. They were
saved by hope, for they looked to Joshua for succour and were not disappointed.
So we are saved by faith when we fall at the feet of Jesus and put our trust in
Him. We are saved by works, when in the strength of God we wrestle against
principalities and powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places. We are
saved by hope when we look for the glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour. The Gibeonites were saved by coming to Joshua in their fear of
judgment. They were saved by Joshua coming to them and extricating them out of
all their trouble. So we are saved by coming to Jesus. The instant we fall at
His feet we receive the salvation of our souls. And we are saved by Jesus
coming to us (Hebrews 9:28). (A. B. Mackay.)
The newly-converted assailed
1. No sooner is the soul brought into the bonds of the
covenant with our Joshua or Jesus, but presently the spiritual enemies of the
soul muster up all their forces against it, as the five cursed kings did
against Gibeon as soon as they had entered into a league with Joshua here (2 Timothy 3:12; Acts 14:22).
2. The soul when thus assaulted must immediately send the messenger
of prayer to its Joshua or Jesus.
3. As those new converts the Gibeonites showed their confidence in
that God, whose religion they had newly embraced, therefore sent they for
Joshua, not at all doubting of salvation by him. So the like confidence should be
found in all new converted souls, that their Joshua will relieve them, and turn
their spirit of bondage into the spirit of adoption. (C. Ness.)
Ready help
The help required was great: “Slack not thy hand from thy
servants.” It is not little the Christian needs. How often, in seeking Divine
aid and security, has the believer to say, “Lord, how are they increased that
trouble me”! &c. Ready help was intreated. “Come up to us quickly, and save
us.” It was well they were not what they once represented themselves to be--the
inhabitants of a far remote country; for then help had come too late, had it
come with bottles rent and bound up, shoes clouted and worn out, garments old
and threadbare. Great is the mercy to be near our mercies, that when life, and
all that is dear to us, lies at stake, salvation may be found at hand. (W.
Seaton.)
Value of promptitude in action
Let us note not only the nobility of this acknowledgment of the
claims of the new allies, but also the promptitude and energy with which their
rescue is undertaken. How many good resolves are marred and made of none effect
by lack of decision in their execution. We rest in the thought of our noble
plans, and meanwhile we hesitate and defer to carry them out in the
performance: thus the evils we might have stayed grow beyond control: the
opportunity has sped away; the hearts of those who looked for our help are sick
with hopes long deferred. Too late! too late! is the disappointed cry with
which they greet our tardy steps. (G. W. Butler, M. A.)
Fear them not: for I have
delivered them into thine hand.--
Courage!
On the eve of a great engagement a wise leader often rouses the
enthusiasm of his followers by a few well-chosen words. We know how the message
of Nelson, before the battle of Trafalgar, stimulated every man in his fleet to
do his utmost; and not only so, but it has also come ringing down the years
that intervene with telling effect on every noble heart in great emergencies.
God deals with His servants after the same fashion; therefore, here, before
Joshua passes forth to the rescue of the Gibeonites, he gives them words of
cheer. Notice when God gave this encouragement. It was when Joshua had resolved
to set out to the help of the Gibeonites. There is no evidence that Joshua
asked for or even expected such encouragement. He felt bound to do his duty, to
keep faith with the Gibeonites, and while in the act of responding to their
cry, this encouragement came. The very fact that this cheering word was
unsolicited made it doubly sweet. We may have similar experiences. When we walk
in the path of duty we may always reckon on the Divine encouragement. If we go
to God’s work with good will, however hard it may be, and whoever may oppose,
we may always count on the good will and the good word of God, and surely that
ought to suffice. How encouraging, how comforting, how strengthening, is the
answer of a good conscience towards God! Notice, also, the terms of this
encouragement now given. They were very clear. They had no particle of
ambiguity. How the healthy soul rejoices in certainty! How freely does God
delight to give it! And the fact that the words Joshua now heard were familiar
to his ear, phrases repeated again and again, made this assurance doubly sweet.
God is dealing with him now as He has graciously done in all the past; and
every repetition and new fulfilment of a promise adds to its value. For the old
promise has been tried and tested again and again, and proved to be sufficient.
It is good when we have such experience as Joshua; when we have not only a true
word, but one which in our own experience we have tried and proved to be
sufficient for every emergency. Therefore notice next the effect that this
encouragement has upon Joshua. It fills him with new energy. The clearest
assurance of success does not do away with the use of means, rather is it a
sharp spur to make the most of them. Joshua, though thus assured, yea, because
thus assured, acts as if everything depended on his energy and the swiftness
and strength of his attack. And so in a very important sense it did. But we may
not only trace the effect of this promise in the energy with which it filled
Joshua and his soldiers, but also in that marvellous prayer which rose to his
lips in the great crisis of the fight that ensued. It is this great promise of
God which justifies and explains that great prayer of Joshua. Joshua “spoke to
the Lord” on that day, and his words were wonderful. His prayer was very Short,
but we are startled by its boldness. The prayer was public, therefore Joshua
risked all his reputation on its answer. The prayer was humble. He had no
desire to parade his power; he had no need to win the allegiance of Israel. His
one thought was the perfect fulfilment of that work which by this promise God
had said would be accomplished. God had spoken. His power and glory are pledged
to the fulfilment of that word. Can He not perform? God gave Joshua a large
promise, and Joshua laid before God a large prayer. Thus both God’s power and
Joshua’s faith were magnified and made honourable. In like manner may we make
use of all God’s promises; and we only prove our unbelief by leaving them a
dead letter. Who can over-estimate the value of prayer, who can put a limit to
its power? Did we believe in the promises of God as firmly as Joshua, we would
be able more closely to imitate his prayers. Men make difficulties here where
the simple soul can find none. As a living father can answer the request of his
children, so the Lord can hear and answer the prayer of His people. And He
answers every prayer addressed to Him; not always in the same way, but always
in the best way. Now notice, lastly, the fulfilment of this promise. No doubt
the good generalship of Joshua and the valour of his soldiers had much to do
with it. They marched with swiftness, they laid on with might and main, they
never paused in the pursuit, yet all that they did was obscured by the
wonderful interposition of God. Joshua and Israel did what they could, and yet
God did all. It is well to remember that nature may become one great arsenal
for the defence of those that fear God, for the destruction of all His enemies.
It was no superstition, but true godliness, which enabled our forefathers to
see the finger of God in those storms which swept the great Armada to its doom.
How often does God in His adorable Providence render the very objects in which
men trust the means of filling them with shame and confusion of face! How
manifestly was God with Israel! How evident is it that “The Lord reigneth!”
Israel needed that assurance, and we need it too. Whatever may come to pass
from year to year, from century to century, He and He alone is guiding the
world and the Church to that goal which He has foreknown and appointed. This is
the sheet-anchor of all our hopes for humanity. (A. B. Mackay.)
They were more which died
with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
The Lord’s artillery
We have seen how Gibeon made peace with Joshua.
Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, was exceedingly displeased with the men of
Gibeon for making peace with the enemy.
1. The Divine cause has enemies.
2. But the enemies of the Divine cause have both earth and heaven
against them--the sword of Israel and the hail of God. The living God has two
great forces; if you escape one, you fall under the power of the other. All
things fight for God. The hailstones are His friends and allies; the stars in
their courses beat and throb according to His purpose and express His intent.
The bad cause has no friends; it comes to an ignominious end; it is overwhelmed
by hailstones. It is so humbling. The bad cause perishes in contempt. The five
kings ran away and hid themselves in a cave, and Joshua said, “Bring them out!”
(J. Parker, D. D.)
Verse 12
The sun stood still, and the moon stayed.
The battle of Bethhoron
In some respects this victory had a special significance. In the
first place, it had a most important bearing on the success of the whole
enterprise; its suddenness, its completeness, its manifold grandeur being
admirably fitted to paralyse the enemy in other parts of the country, and open
the whole region to Joshua. By some it has been compared to the battle of
Marathon, not only on account of the suddenness with which the decisive blow
was struck, but also on account of the importance of the interests involved. It
was a battle for freedom, for purity, for true religion, in opposition to
tyranny, idolatry, and abominable sensuality; for all that is wholesome in
human life, in opposition to all that is corrupt; for all that makes for
peaceful progress, in opposition to all that entails degradation and misery.
The prospects of the whole world were brighter after that victory of Bethhoron.
The relation of heaven to earth was more auspicious, and more full of promise
for the days to come. In the next place the tokens of Divine aid were very
impressive. After the experience which Joshua had had of the consequences of
failing to ask God for direction when first the Gibeonites came to him, we may
be very sure that on the present occasion he would be peculiarly careful to
seek Divine counsel. And he was well rewarded. Then as to the miracle of the
sun and the moon standing still. It is well known that this was one of the
passages brought forward by the Church of Rome to condemn Galileo, when he
affirmed that the earth and the moon revolved round the sun, and that it was
not the motion of the sun round the earth, but the rotation of the earth on her
own axis that produced the change of day and night. No one would dream now of
making use of this passage for any such purpose. Whatever theory of inspiration
men may hold, it is admitted universally that the inspired writers used the
popular language of the day in matters of science, and did not anticipate
discoveries which were not made till many centuries later. A far more serious
question has been raised as to whether this miracle ever occurred, or could
have occurred. To those who believe in the possibility of miracles, it can be
no conclusive argument that it could not have occurred without producing
injurious consequences the end of which can hardly be conceived. For if the
rotation of the earth on its axis was suddenly arrested, all human beings on
its surface, and all loose objects whatever must have been flung forward with
prodigious violence; just as, on a small scale, on the sudden stoppage of a
carriage, we find ourselves thrown forward, the motion of the carriage having
been communicated to our bodies. But really this is a paltry objection; for
surely the Divine power that can control the rotation of the earth is
abundantly able to obviate such effects as these. We can understand the
objection that God, having adjusted all the forces of nature, leaves them to
operate by themselves in a uniform way without disturbance or interference; but
we can hardly comprehend the reasonableness of the position that if it is His
pleasure miraculously to modify one arrangement, He is unable to adjust all
relative arrangements, and make all conspire harmoniously to the end desired.
But was it a miracle? The narrative, as we have it, implies not only that it
was, but that there was something in it stupendous and unprecedented. It comes
in as a part of that supernatural process in which God has been engaged ever
since the deliverance of His people from Egypt, and which was to go on till
they should be finally settled in the land. It naturally joins on to the
miraculous division of the Jordan, and the miraculous fall of the walls of
Jericho. We must remember that the work in which God was now engaged was one of
peculiar spiritual importance and significance. He was not merely finding a
home for His covenant people; He was making arrangements for advancing the
highest interests of humanity; He was guarding against the extinction on earth
of the Divine light which alone can guide man in safety through the life that
now is, and in preparation for that which is to come. Who will take upon him to
say that at an important crisis in the progress of the events which were to
prepare the way for this grand consummation, it was not fitting for the
Almighty to suspend for a time even the ordinances of heaven, in order that a
day’s work, carrying such vast consequences, might not be interrupted before
its triumphant close? One other notable feature in the transaction of this day
was the completeness of the defeat inflicted by Joshua on the enemy. This
defeat went on in successive stages from early morning till late at night.
First, there was the slaughter in the plain of Gibeon. Then the havoc produced
by the hail and by Joshua on the retreating army. Then the destruction caused
as Joshua followed the enemy to their cities. And the work of the day was wound
up by the execution of the five kings. Moreover, there followed a succession of
similar scenes at the taking and sacking of their cities. When we try to
realise all this in detail, we are confronted with a terrible scene in blood
and death, and possibly we may find ourselves asking, “Was there a particle of
humanity in Joshua, that he was capable of such a series of transactions?” But
it must be said, and said firmly for Joshua, that there is no evidence of his
acting on this or on other such occasions in order to gratify personal
feelings; it was not done either to gratify a thirst for blood, or to gratify
the pride of a conqueror. Joshua all through gives us the impression of a man
carrying out the will of another; inflicting a judicial sentence, and
inflicting it thoroughly at the first so that there might be no need for a
constant series of petty executions afterwards. This certainly was his aim; but
the enemy showed themselves more vital than he had supposed. And when we turn
to ourselves and think what we may learn from this transaction, we see a
valuable application of his method to the spiritual warfare. God has enemies
still, within and without, with whom we are called to contend. “For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places.” When we are fighting with the enemy within our own hearts leniency is
our great temptation, but at the same time our greatest snare. What we need
here is courage to slay. And in reference to the outside world, want of
thoroughness in warfare is still our besetting sin. If only the Church had more
faith, and, as the fruit of faith, more courage and more enterprise, what help
from heaven might not come to her! True, she would not see the enemy crushed by
hailstones, nor the sun standing in Gibeon, nor the moon in the valley of
Ajalon; but she would see grander sights; she would see men of spiritual might
raised up in her ranks; she would see tides of strong spiritual influence
overwhelming her enemies. Jerichos dismantled, Ais captured, and the champions
of evil falling like Lucifer from heaven to make way for the King of kings and
Lord of lords. Let us go to the Cross of Jesus to revive our faith and recruit
our energies. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
Fixing of sun and moon in the heavens
I. Consider the
arguments, usually advanced against the possibility of the sun and moon
standing still in the heavens. Not merely is it objected that such an
occurrence would be an unwarrantable interference with the laws of nature; but the
historian’s veracity has also been called in question. It is argued that in
recording the circumstance he does not express himself scientifically; but
that, on the contrary, he evinces ignorance of the true principles of
astronomy: that therefore he should not be regarded as an inspired writer, this
circumstance being sufficient in itself to shake credit in his testimony. To
this objection we reply--Joshua did not mean to furnish us with a treatise on
astronomy. He expressed himself according to the opinion formed on scientific
topics during the times in which he lived. Do not we, ourselves, who know that
it is the earth which moves, and not the sun, commonly speak of his rising and
setting; while perfectly aware that in reality he neither rises nor sets.
Certainly the lengthening out of the day (on the occasion of Joshua defeating
the five kings) must have been caused by the earth not revolving so rapidly on
its axis as it usually does. It is well known that in the equatorial regions
the earth moves from west to east at the rate of one thousand miles in the
hour; and that the rapidity of motion gradually diminishes as we go from the
equator to the poles; so that, at the poles, there is no motion whatever.
Supposing that, instead of moving at its usual speed, our earth were to
revolve, on its axis, only five hundred miles in the hour: the result would be
that the day would be protracted to double the ordinary length, because the
apparent passage of the sun first, and of the moon next, over the concave surface
would be proportionally retarded. But it is further objected that such an
interference with the course of nature would have occasioned irreparable
mischief. What! Is anything too hard for God? Cannot He, who called nature into
existence, suspend its laws and operations when He pleases? Is any man so well
acquainted with the complex machinery of nature as to be prepared to say that
the conception and development of animal life are possible things; but that the
slackening of the earth’s rotary motion is an impossibility? And now, before
dismissing this head of our subject, we shall adduce from pagan mythology a
proof that the miracle referred to in our text did really occur. The
superstitious Greeks, in olden times, worshipped the sun, under the name of Apollo,
who (according to them) had a son who was called Phaeton. Apollo was supposed
to drive the chariot of the sun daily through the skies. Phaeton requested his
father to permit him to drive the chariot for a single day. Apollo granted the
request. Phaeton proved an unskilful charioteer, in being unable to curb the
horses, which therefore went out of the proper track. Jupiter (whom the ancient
pagans regarded as the supreme god) irritated at Phaeton’s rashness, and
fearing that a conflagration of heaven and earth might ensue, struck the youth
with the thunderbolt and hurled him into the river Po in Italy. This heathen
anecdote cannot be altogether an invention. There lies a truth at the bottom of
it. Some irregularity in the sun’s apparent diurnal course must have occurred
at an early period of history; otherwise ancient heathens would have no
foundation whereon to build their superstitious legend. And let us observe that
where heathen testimony can be brought to corroborate revelation the testimony
is invaluable; because it is the testimony of enemies.
II. We proceed to
show that there existed an absolute necessity for the miracle in question being
performed. Yes; there is an intimate connection between this miracle and the
redemption which is in Jesus Christ. If sun and moon had not stood still at
Joshua’s command there would (on human calculation) have been no chance of
salvation for a single member of our fallen race. If Israel had not had
sufficient light to guide them in pursuing their Canaanite enemies these
enemies would have escaped during the darkness of the night. Had they escaped
the five kings might have rallied; and, instead of Israel exterminating them,
they might have exterminated Israel. Thus the advent of the promised Redeemer
would have been prevented: for God had decreed that of Jacob’s seed (in the
line of Judah) Messiah should descend. No doubt the Divine plans have long been
settled in the councils of eternity; and the Most High will take good care that
Satan shall not defeat them. But then God employs second means to work His
ends. He ordains every single step and event which will be conducive thereto in
order that a single link may not be broken in the chain of His providential
dealing.
III. The conflict
which Israel, under Joshua, had to maintain with the wicked nations of Canaan
prefigured that deadlier conflict which we ourselves, under a greater than
Joshua, have to keep up with the world, the devil, and the flesh. TO enable us
to make head against these spiritual foes, who have in view nothing less than
our destruction, God in mercy lengthens out the day. There is a spiritual sun,
and there is a spiritual moon: even as there exist a literal sun and moon. God
has set these moral luminaries in the spiritual firmament, to give such persons
as have hitherto turned a deaf ear to the gospel space to believe it and be
saved, ere it be too late; and also to afford light to those who already
believe that they may continue firm to the end. (John Caldwell, B. A.)
How Joshua stopped the sun
For ages multitudes of Bible readers have seen in this narrative a
stupendous miracle. Seeing the statement some have rebelled against it, and
refused to believe it. Others have conscientiously striven to believe the
statement, and defend it. Now, if a miracle is really declared to have taken
place upon that day, its stupendous nature forms no objection whatever to my
faith. Every miracle is to me stupendous, or else it is no miracle at all.
Where God is concerned nothing is impossible. What objection then is there? The
first, that such an act would seem, at any rate to be out of keeping with God’s
economy of power; it serves no direct purpose here. Mere flourishes of
almightinesses are never found in the Bible. Every miracle in the Bible is a
means to an end, and there is a proportion between the means and the end in
view. There is no waste. I search the Bible in vain for any reference to the
fact that the earth was stopped, or the sun stayed. I find no such reference at
all. No use whatever is made of this in any other age, or in any other book.
God led His people out of Egypt with a high hand, and the nation was cradled
among miracles, and these miracles are appealed to time after time, age after
age, to the end of the Bible. But there is a remarkable silence with regard to
this. But my chief objection to the ordinary view is that I do not believe that
the Bible says there was a miracle at all. I hold that, given a fair
translation of this chapter, and an average amount of intelligence in the
reader, and a reasonable freedom for traditional bias, the alleged stupendous
miracle disappears entirely, and gives way to something far more valuable. And
I claim that it is one of the inestimable and innumerable benefits conferred
upon us by the Revised Translation of the Bible, that by its means the average
reader can, without the help of any commentary, see at a glance how the case
stood, and what really took place on that great day. Now, you will ask, What is
the difference, then, between the Revised and the Old Version? Why, simply
this. If you read this chapter in the Old Version the verses follow one another
in unbroken continuity, and no hint what ever is given to the reader that when
he arrives at the twelfth verse he is no longer reading what the author of the
Book of Joshua himself wrote; he is not warned that the author, at the twelfth
verse, breaks off from telling his own story, and introduces a quotation as a
climax to the description of the battle, and that that quotation is a poetical
one, taken from a book once popular, but now entirely lost, the Book of Josher.
If you read the Old Version it would seem to you that from the twelfth to the
fifteenth verses is as much prose as the rest of the chapter, whereas in the
Hebrew Bible, from the first, these verses were marked as a piece of quoted
poetry; and in the Revised Version the thing is done almost in the same way. So
that the reader who just looks at this chapter as it stands in the Revised
Version will see that in the first part of the chapter he has to deal with
history, and in this part he has to deal with poetry--a poetical quotation
introduced by the historian as the climax of his description of the great
battle of Bethhoron. Now it appears to me that this simple fact solves the
difficulty entirely--relieves the faith of multitudes from a great burden; and,
best of all, deprives a certain class of unbelievers of a very coarse but at
the same time a very effective weapon. What; have we here, then? precisely what
we have in many other parts of the Bible--namely, two accounts of the same
thing: one the sober account of the historian, and the other the more glowing
account of the poet. For instance, you have the same thing in the Book of
Judges. You will remember--for you are Bible readers--you remember the great battle
of Mount Tabor, The Jews were groaning under the tyranny of Jabin, the king of
Jerusalem, and at last there arose Deborah. She aroused Barak, Barak routed the
army of Sisera; Jael completed Barak’s work, and with a tent-pin and a hammer
killed Sisera in her tent. This is the story of the battle of Mount Tabor, as
told by the historian. But in the chapter next to it you will find the song of
Deborah, and in that song an inspired poetess gives her account of the battle
from the standpoint of the poet. She says: “They fought from heaven; the stars
in their courses fought against Sisera.” It was Barak who did it, and Jael, and
the tent-pin and the hammer. No, no; they fought out of heaven. “The stars in
their courses,” says Deborah, “fought against Sisera.” Is there any man on the
face of the earth that has ever stood up to say that because Deborah said that
the battle of Mount Tabor was actually won by planetary impulses, therefore the
stars really entered the Jewish army and fought against the oppressor? Who is
there that does not see at once that in that case we have to deal with poetry?
We have something like that even in the New Testament. Our Lord Jesus Christ
said on the very first day when discipleship was born--He said to one of His
first disciples--“Ye shall see the heavens opened, and the angels ascending and
descending upon the Son of Man.” Did they ever? Never, never. They never saw
the blue rent; they never saw angels walking up and down the body of Christ.
Never; it was a poetical form--a great mystical spiritual promise thrown into
the larger language of poetry. And so the Gospel closes--“They shall take up
serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall do them no manner of
harm.” Is that being carried out in everybody or in anybody that believes the
name of Christ? No, not literally. The serpent will kill a Christian as well as
an infidel. Poison is as effective on a saint as on a sinner. What does it mean
then? It is a grand spiritual fact, put in the large language of poetry. And
that is what we have in this chapter. But you will say, Is not the Bible a
serious book? Of what value is the introduction of a bit of poetry like this
when it misleads so many? I reply--
I. Yes, the bible
is intensely serious. This is not quoted as an ornament; it is for use. And if
you ask, What is the value of it? I reply it is immensely valuable. Apart from
this poetical quotation the whole chapter is comparatively worthless. Why?
Because a body without a soul is worthless. The Bible is valuable to us in so far
as it touches my life and yours. To tell me that Joshua routed those people
does not help me very much. That is the body of it. I want to get at the soul
of it. I want to understand Joshua himself, to modernise him, to make him a
brother and to get some good out of him. Well, this bit of poetry helps me:
this is the key to it. If I read this i see how the thing is done, and I see
how I can do the same thing, in a measure, when I am called upon to do it. This
piece of poetry is a window through which we can look into Joshua’s heart. The
great battle of Bethhoron was a battle that threatened to be a drawn battle.
There stands the man on the ridge. The men have been running away faster than
he has been able to pursue them, and at this moment it seemed as if nature were
conspiring against him; as if he were not to have the usual hours of the day. A
black, mysterious cloud was coming to help the people who were running away
from him. Don’t you understand the agony that would come into a man’s soul at
that moment?--the impassioned prayer that would go up to God from his
heart--not to stretch the laws of nature till they crack--but to give him the
usual day, to keep the sun from going down at noon. No child was Joshua, crying
for the moon. No man with such sick fancies could have done the work he did.
What this man prayed for was a fair day’s light to do a fair day’s work in the
strength of and for the glory of God. And do not you know something of the fear
that came over him? If you are trying to do any work you too will come to this
point. It will seem to you as if God were going to make your day too short. You
will see the night falling all too soon. The night cometh, and you will say,
“Oh, for more light. Life is not long enough; I am being taken away in the very
middle of my days.” And you will then know what it is to cry, “Sun, stand thou
in the heaven; and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon.”
II. “and the sun
stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation had avenged themselves.”
That is the key--“until the nation had avenged themselves.” What was coming up
from the Mediterranean was not some awful preternatural piece of night, as
Joshua feared. It was only a shower: a hailstorm. It was not going to help his
enemies, but to slay them. The sun was not hasting from the heavens; the
heavenly orbs would do their work as usual. The sun and moon were to be
depended on; but if Joshua really wanted to have a longer day than usual, that
did not depend on the sun and moon, he had to make it himself. How? Just as he lengthened
the preceding night. From Gilgal to Gibeon, how long? Three days’ journey. What
did Joshua do? Why, he took the twelve hours and stretched them till they
became thirty-six. He did three days’ march in one night. So if Joshua wants a
longer day on Bethhoron, it is not the sun that can make it for him, nor the
moon either. He must go back on his recipe of the night before, and take the
twelve hours of the day and stretch them. It is for Joshua himself to make the
day longer, for it is not up in the skies that days are lengthened, but here on
earth. The secret of a long day lies with Joshua, and not with the sun. No, the
sun will not wait for you; but you can quicken your pace, and so lengthen your
days. The longest day in your life is the day in which you work hardest, think
the closest, live noblest.
III. Is that all?
No. Was nothing done by god? Yes, everything, “And there was no day like that,”
says the old poet, “before it, or after, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice
of a man.” By stopping the sun? No; “The Lord fought for Israel.” That cloud
coming up from the Mediterranean, that Joshua mistook for the night, was one of
his own soldiers marching to meet him; it was one of his own allies. Nature
herself was in league with him. It was the hailstorm, one of God’s
reinforcements coming to do the work of God. It is one of the deepest truths of
experience that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” The
hailstorms are still in league with the Joshuas. Are you false and mean in your
aims? Are your ways corrupt on the earth? Then I tell you, whoever you are, you
may succeed for a while, or you may seem to succeed, as the tares that ripen in
the autumn sun that the fire may burn them all the easier by and by. You may
seem to succeed for a while, but the very framework of the universe must be
shattered; God’s throne must crumble in decay; heaven itself must be carried at
the assault of hell’s dark troops before you can ultimately and really succeed.
You too will be caught some day between Joshua and the hailstorm of the Lord.
But are you seeking to be true, trying to be right, yet often finding things
arrayed against you? Then, in God’s name, go on. You misread the signals. The
blackness that threatens you is only an ally in disguise. You are bound to
succeed in the battle of the Lord. The nature of things is in league with
righteousness.
IV. “and Joshua
returned into the camp at Gilgal.” Did he know what he had done? No. He knew he
had done something; that it had been a great day, but he had no idea how great
it was. It was one of the thousand-year days of God. It is still with us. That
sun that Joshua cried to is still shining, and the moon has never left the vale
of Ajalon. Serve the Lord with all your might, and you will do a work greater
than you imagine, or dream, or desire. Our time-tables are altogether
wrong--sixty seconds to the minute, sixty minutes to the hour; that will do
very well for the rough and tumble work in the city, but apply a time-table
like that to Gethsemane. Read the Gospels, watch in hand, beneath the shadow of
the Cross--“From the sixth to the ninth hour Jesus hung on the Cross, dying.”
Sixty minutes to the hour, sixty seconds to the minute! It will not do. These
are eternal things, and they upset all our calculations. We do not know what we
do when we serve God. Life is greater, grander than we dream. Do not think life
is small. We sow time, and, lo, we reap eternity. We may so live as to leave
behind us a light shining till the world itself shall end. “Returned to the
camp.” Ah, men and women, the pathos of that old phrase! You and I will return
to the camp very soon. The day over. Well, you may arrest the sun before night;
but the sun, once it has dipped beneath the western wave, cannot be brought
back. Yesterday! Where is it? It is beyond, in the great eternity. Can you run
after the lightning and catch it and bring it back? Sooner shall you do that
than at the end of the day recover the sun that has set. We shall be returning
to camp soon. What histories are we bringing back--you and I? The number of our
days is with God; but the
length, fulness, quality, and eternalness arc with us. (J. M. Gibbon.)
Providential help
1. We may learn whither to
have recourse for help whenever the state of the weather has proved unfavourable
to our respective undertakings. Is our land drenched with floods, that threaten
to wash away or decay the seed lately sown? or chilled by cold and blighting
winds? or parched up with a scorching heat, unmitigated by a passing cloud or a
solitary shower? To complain and murmur under such visitations is as vain as ii
is impious; whereas prayer for their alleviation or removal will probably
procure us God’s favourable consideration, and certainly work for our spiritual
profit.
2. Again, we learn by what unlikely means the Almighty brings about
the deliverance of His people and the discomfiture of His enemies. To promote
this great end, all hearts are in His hand, all events are at His disposal;
yea, He directs and controls the elements themselves, so as to extort from the
sons of men the confession, “This is God’s doing; it is marvellous in our
eyes.” What befell the Spanish Armada, fitted out for the invasion and conquest
of Great Britain? “The Lord sent a great wind into the sea,” to destroy the remnant
of those ships which had hitherto escaped defeat; so that the final
discomfiture of the fleet was as much owing to the tempestuous violence of the
ocean as to the desperate valour of the English. However inextricable your
difficulties, however insuperable your dangers may appear, the time for
surmounting or escaping them may be at hand: your last extremity is God’s
gracious opportunity: the valley of Achor He is changing into the door of hope,
and making the vast magazine of ordinary and extraordinary dispensations
instrumental to your eventual happiness and eternal glory. But tremble, ye
wicked, though peace and prosperity at present attend your path. The resources
in the hand of a retributive Providence are leagued against you, which, if
delayed now, will fall on your devoted heads with tripled weight hereafter.
3. But I may instance some still clearer points of resemblance
between this special interference of the Almighty in the case of Joshua and His
providential arrangements at the present day. Every year presents to us an
appearance in the heavens as deserving our surprise and admiration as that
which attracted the notice of the camp of Israel. From the depth of winter to
the height of summer the sun gradually travels over a wider space in its daily
course. Morning after morning it rises earlier; evening after evening later
sets. At length it escapes nut sight for a few hours only; and during that
short interval the twilight in great degree compensates for its absence. Lest,
moreover, during winter nearly utter darkness should veil the skies, on account
of the sun’s few and contracted visits, the stars on frosty nights shine with a
brilliancy unknown in summer, while the unclouded moon supplies its place, a
welcome substitute, guided by whose friendly rays at any time the wanderer may
confidently rely on reaching his place of destination. I scarcely need remind
you what assistance this lesser light lends the labourer in late harvests by
rising about the full at the same hour for some evenings in succession; or how,
when the sun does not rise above their horizon for months together, and they
would otherwise be enveloped in continual darkness, Divine Providence lights up
for the inhabitants of the polar regions the brilliant aurora borealis, or
northern lights, to illumine and cheer their “noonday nights.” Is not as
effectual a provision made for light by these contrivances as though the sun
and moon in set terms stood still, and hasted not to go clown about a whole
day? Are they not as hard to be accounted for?
4. By comparing this miracle wrought by the hand of Joshua with
those performed by Jesus Christ, we may learn to ascribe all proper honour to
His person, all due reverence to the religion He came hither to establish. (H.
A. Herbert, B. A.)
The sun standing still
A new suggestion in regard to the standing still of the sun and
the moon at the apostrophe of Joshua is given by the Rev. J. Sutherland Black
in his edition of “Joshua,” issued as one part of the Smaller Cambridge Bible
series. His new postulate is to the effect that no physical miracle occurred,
or was desired; he thinks the cosmical features of the event do not touch upon
the supernatural at all. His explanation runs thus: “To understand the
quotation from the Book of Jasher, we must figure to ourselves the speaker at
two successive periods of the summer day--first on the plateau to the north of
the hill of Gibeon, with Gibeon lying under the sun to the south-east or south,
at the moment when the resistance of the enemy has at last broken down, and
again, hours later, when the sun has set, and the moon is sinking westward over
the valley of Ajalon, threatening by its disappearance to put an end to the
victorious pursuit. The appeal to the moon is, of course, for
light--i.e., after sunset. The moon appears over Ajalon; that is somewhat south
of west, as seen by one approaching from Beth-horon. There was, therefore,
evening moonlight. Joshua prayed first that the sunlight, and then that the
moonlight following it, might suffice for the complete defeat of the enemy.”
The desire and the improvement of life
It is the language of the passions, in the midst of a
fervid and impetuous career. “Sun, stand thou still,” equally exclaim the sons
of pleasure and of ambition: every rank, pursuit, and age joins in the same
prayer. In the morning of our existence, when all things display their fairest
aspect, and in the midst of a succession of pleasurable scenes time rolls
rapidly along: should a moment of reflection intervene, who does not exclaim,
with a sigh, “How brief, how vain is life! how silently and swiftly do the
hours advance and vanish!” “O sun, stand thou still”; give us a few more of thy
bright morning beams, that we may a little longer taste the sweetness of
unsullied pleasure. When we advance to the noon of the human course; amidst all
the weighty cares, the thronging projects and objects of strenuous pursuit,
that by turns awaken our ardour and elude our expectation--if, amidst this busy
scene, we throw a glance upon the enlarged and enlarging space we have already
passed, and the short and shortening limits of that which remains--how
naturally does the heart send forth the involuntary, fruitless wish, “‘Sun,
stand thou still.’ Hasten not so precipitately to crush our aspiring hopes, and
extinguish in untimely darkness our unripened purposes: shine a little longer
in thy meridian brightness, that we may not only exert our strength, but reap
some recompense of our toil.” Arrived at this period of imaginary
tranquility--though many ties may be loosened which once bound us to the world,
yet new objects of attachment rise, and new motives for wishing that our stay
might be prolonged--or if expectation saddens, and all around the prospect
grows more dim and desolate, still do we linger fondly on the verge of life,
though bereft of its most valued comforts, from that unconquerable dread with
which the untried and unknown future strikes the imagination. “O sun, stop,
stop thy course. Stand thou still in the midst of heaven, yet another year,
another day, to soften our removal from the cheerful light, from the society of
our fellow-beings, that, with more composed and collected thoughts, we may
stand before the tribunal of our Creator.” Thus various and inexhaustible are
the excuses of each successive stage for wishing to lengthen out the brief span
of life; and the same sentiment pervades all the different conditions and
circumstances of mankind. If prosperity smile upon us, we think the sun, which
lights us every day to a succession of pleasures, moves too quickly to his
setting: “O sun, stand thou still” in the midst of this fair horizon--hasten
not to draw the veil of night over these delightful prospects. And if adversity
oppress our spirits, we complain that the days which are clouded with grief,
like those which are illumined with joy, equally pass away never to return. “O
Sun, stand thou still,” let the dark and lowering tempest pass from before thy
refulgent orb: let thy sweet and pleasant light again gladden our hearts, that
our few remaining hours may glide peacefully to the close. But if he, who,
without his own fault, and by inevitable circumstances, has been deprived of
happiness, may complain of the swiftness of time and the brevity of life, how
much deeper regret must that man feel who is conscious of having wasted its
most valuable seasons, in thoughtless inactivity! Well may he cry out to time,
to suspend its course, “Sun, stand thou still,” or rather reverse thy flaming
and impetuous career. On the other hand, the virtuous man. But who is so virtuous
as to have no faults to repair, no defects to supply--the man, however,
comparatively virtuous, whose youthful days have been introductory to a scene
of honourable and useful exertion; who may justly look upon himself as a
blessing to his
fellow-creatures; and who is pursuing, with steady vigour, his well-chosen
course; gradually extending his usefulness and his good affections; and is a
progressive pattern of every social and every religious duty; though he may
submissively await the Divine disposal, yet will he view, not without awe, the
narrow space which even virtue itself can boast of here below; and will be
almost tempted to wish that it might be the will of Divine Providence to
protract the duration of a span so brief, so inadequate to his views and his
desires: “‘Sun, stand thou still’; withdraw not thy precious and useful light
so soon; let me still pursue the happy course on which I have entered.”
Unavailing are all such wishes; the tide of time will be neither accelerated
nor retarded by our entreaties; the sun will neither suspend nor deviate from
his course. Since, therefore, we cannot rule the course of nature, let us
endeavour to rule ourselves. If we are so unhappy as to have wasted our past
hours in folly or to have abused them by misconduct it is in vain to sit down
and fold our arms in melancholy inaction; wishing that the past might be
recalled, and grieving that the future cannot be hindered from advancing. We
should rather call upon our souls and all that is within us to amend our faults,
and repair the ills we have thereby incurred, before it be too late; like
travellers who having wandered from the right path hasten to regain it before
the sun goes down. If, on the contrary, we have happily chosen the path of
virtue, let us cheerfully and thankfully pursue our way. Pleasant but fleeting
is the season of youth, life’s cheerful morning. You cannot prolong its
absolute duration; but you can add
inestimably to its value. You can extend its happy influence over every
remaining period, and draw from it a rich harvest of knowledge, virtue, and
true felicity. Youth is the blossom, the promise of mature years these are
equally transitory with the former. In vain you implore the sun to stay, but
you may call him to witness a train of pious and charitable actions as he
passes; you may crowd into a small extent a multitude of valuable labours; it
is not for us to fix the limits, but to fulfil the duties of life--well pleased
to act in concert with the great first mover of all things, among the innumerable
instruments of His benevolent designs, and not unwilling to cease from action,
whenever He shall see fit to transfer the pleasing though arduous toil from
ourselves to others. No sooner has the sun passed his meridian than the shadows lengthen and
night approaches. The dawn, the noon, the evening, all glide with uninterrupted
speed; and the hour when we must bid farewell to all their successive scenes
nature cannot now long delay. All that remains is, by reason and reflection, by
prayer and repentance, to calm the perturbation of our minds--by holy
resignation to the will of God, and a cheerful performance of our remaining
duties, to seek His aid and protection--then, though we cannot escape the
stroke of death, we shall render it less painful and alarming; thus disarmed of
its sting, it will lose its greatest terrors; and will appear somewhat like a
sound and refreshing slumber, falling on the over-wearied mariner, who is
within sight of his desired haven, and who expects, with the dawn of the succeeding
day, to meet the glad congratulations of all whom he loves. (P. Houghton.)
Sun, stand thou still
“Oh,” you say, “the sun and moon didn’t stand still.” One man
comes to me and says, “According to the Copernican system the sun stood still
anyhow, and it was no miracle for it to stand still.” Another man says, “If you
stop the sun, you upset the whole universe, and throw everything out of order.”
Another man tells me it was only the refraction of the sun’s rays which made
the sun seem to stand still. Another man tells me that all that was necessary
to have this miracle right, was to stop the world on its own axis, and it was
not necessary to stop it in its revolution through its orbit. The universe is
only God’s watch. I suppose He could make it. Then I suppose He could stop it.
Then I suppose He could start it again, and stop it again. Oh! not the sun
standing still! Yes. A bad man does not live out half his days. His sun may set
at noon. But a good man may prolong his days of usefulness. If a man, in the
strength of Joshua, will go forth to fight against sin and in behalf of the
truth, he shall live; a thousand years will be as one day. John Summerfield was
a consumptive Methodist. He stood looking fearfully white in Old Sand Street
Methodist Church, preaching the glorious gospel, and on the anniversary
platform in New York pleading for the Bible until the old book unrolled new
glories the world had never seen. And on his death-bed he talked of heaven
until the wing of the angelic messenger brushed the pillow on which he lay. Has
John Summerfield’s sun set? Has John Summer-field’s day ended? No! He lives in
the burning words he uttered in behalf of the Christian Church. He lives in the
fame of that Christ whom he recommended to the dying people. He lives in the
eternal raptures of that heaven into which he has already introduced so many
immortal souls. Faint, and sick, and dying, and holding with one hand to the
rail of the altar of the Methodist Church, with the other hand he arrested the
sun in the heavens, seeming to say, “I can’t die now; I want to live on, and
live on; I want to speak a word for Christ that will never die; I am only
twenty-seven years of age. Sun of my Christian ministry, stand still over
America.” And it stood still. Robert M’Cheyne, of Scotland, was a consumptive
Presbyterian. He used to cough in his sermon so hard that the people thought
that he would never preach again; but thousands in Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, and
Dundee, heard the voice of mercy from his lips. The people rejoiced under his
ministry. His name to-day is fragrant in all Christendom, and that name is
“mightier than ever was his living presence. The delirium of his last sickness
was filled with prayer, and when in his dying moment he lifted his hand for a
benediction upon his friends, and upon his country, he was only practically
saying, “I can’t die now; I want to live on for Christ; I am only thirty years
of age. Sun of my Christian ministry, stand still over Scotland.” And it stood
still. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
No day like that.--
High days
I. There had been
none like it in the number and strength of the confederacy which was gathered
against Israel. The highlanders, and lowlanders, and the maritime tribes
combined their forces to oppose and crush the invaders, who now, by the
defection of Gibeon, possessed a pathway into the heart of the country. Israel
had previously dealt with separate cities, Jericho, At, Gibeon; but now six of
the seven nations of Canaan joined together at the summons of the king of
Jerusalem, who was allied with the kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and
Eglon.
II. There was none
like it in joshua’s life for heroic faith.
1. It was a day of vigour. As soon as he received the message he saw
the importance of at once vindicating the trust reposed in him. Inertness and
indolence ill become those who are entrusted with great concerns. The stirring
of God’s Spirit in man makes the pulse throb quickly, purposes form themselves
in the will; and all the nature is braced, and knit, to subserve the heroic soul.
2. It was a day of fellowship. Soon after the first message had
come, with surely a certain amount of startling surprise, God had spoken to him
and said, “Fear them not,” &c. And so we may expect it to be always.
Sometimes the assurance comes first to prepare us for what is at hand. But if
not then it will reach us simultaneously with the alarm, reassuring us, and
giving us quiet confidence in the midst of evil tidings, as the bird rocks in
its nest over the rush of the waterfall, serene, though the branch beneath it
sways in the storm. There are high days in human lives when thought and
purpose, which had been quietly gathering strength, like waters swelling
against a barrier, suddenly leap from their leash, and vent themselves in acts,
or words, or prayers, such as stand out from the ordinary routine of existence,
like the cathedral of Cologne from the mean houses that gather around its base.
We are not, then, drunk with wine, but we are flushed, as to our spirits, with
the exhilaration and sense of power which the Spirit of God alone can give, or,
to put it in another form, we catch fire. There is too little experience of
this capacity of rising into the loftiest experience of that Spirit life which
is within the reach of us all, through living fellowship with God; but whenever
we realise and use it, it is as when the feeble, smouldering wick is plunged
into oxygen gas, or as when a flower, that had struggled against the frost, is
placed in the tropical atmosphere of the hot-house. In such hours we realise what
Jesus meant when He said, “Whosoever shall say unto this mountain,” &c.
3. It was a day of triumphant onlook. The kings were summoned from
their hiding-place, and as they crouched abjectly at the feet of their
conquerors, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the chiefs
of the men of war, “Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings.”
And whilst they stood in that attitude of unquestioned victory, there broke on
the exalted spirit-kindled imagination of the warrior-chieftain the sure
prevision of the ultimate issue of the conflict in which they were engaged. He
already saw the day when every knee should bow before Jehovah’s might, when
every king should be prostrate before Israel’s arm, and when the whole land
should be subdued.
III. There had been
none like it in the extraordinary
co-operation of Jehovah. The Israelites were the executioners of Divine
justice, commissioned to give effect to the sentence which the foul impurities
of Canaan called for. There is a judgment-seat for nations as well as for
individuals. Within the limits of the ages as they pass, and on the surface of
this earth, that throne is erected and that judgment is proceeding. We get some
glimpse of this in the hand that wrote the doom of Belshazzar’s kingdom on the
walls of the palace which beheld a scene of wanton revelry lit by the light of
the temple’s sacred lamps. And the almighty Judge sees to it that His sentences
are carried out. He has many agents--the Persian legions to execute his
sentence on Babylon, the Vandals on Rome, the Russian Cossacks on Napoleon, as
the Israelites on the Amorites, whose iniquity was now full, and threatened to
infect the world.
IV. Such days come
still to men. There are days in our lives so extraordinary for the combination
of difficult circumstances, human opposition, and Satanic combination, that
they stand out in unique terror from the rest of our lives. Looking back on
them, we may almost adopt the language of the sacred historian, “there was no
day like that before it or after
it.” But these days do not come if we are living in friendship with God, intent
on doing His will,
without there coming also His sweet “Fear them not, for I have delivered them
into thine hands.” Our only anxiety should be that nothing should divert us
from His path, or intercept the communication of His grace. Like a wise
commander we must keep open the passage back to our base of operations, which
is God. Careful about that, we need have no anxious care beside. The greatness
of our difficulties is permitted to elicit the greatness of His grace. He covers
our heads in the
day of battle. He is our shield and exceeding great reward. Though an host
should encamp against us, we will not fear; though war should rise against us, in this we
will be confident.
Moreover, these days may always
be full of the realised presence of God. All through the conflict
Joshua’s heart was in perpetual fellowship with the mighty Captain of the
Lord’s host, who rode beside him all the day. The blessed colloquy between the two
was unbroken, as between a Wellington and a Blucher, a Napoleon and a Marshal
Ney. So amid all our conflicts, our hearts and minds should thither ascend and
there dwell where Christ is seated, drawing from Him grace upon grace, as we
need, like the diver on the ocean floor who inhales the fresh breeze of the upper air. At these
times it is very necessary not merely to ask God to help us, because the word
“help” may mean that there is a great deal of reliance on self, and whatever
there is of ourselves is almost certain to give way in the strain of battle.
Achilles was mortally wounded in the heel, the one place which did not share in
the plunge given him by his goddess mother into the immortal stream. The Divine
part of our deliverance will be nullified by the alloy of our own energy,
strength, or resolution. Let us substitute for the word “help” the word “keep.”
Let us put the whole matter into the hands of God, asking Him to go before us,
to fight for us, to deliver us, as He did for His people on this eventful day.
“The Lord discomfited them before Israel.” (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Verses 15-27
Bring out those five kings.
The prostrate kings
The kings of the Canaanites fled and hid themselves, but the
Divine vengeance followed them; and after the rout of their hosts was completed
they themselves were taken and put to death. Before this, however, they were
humbled in the sight of Israel; and the captains were bidden by Joshua to put
their feet on the necks of their foes. Thus their thorough subjection was
pointed out; and the people of God were distinguished as triumphing over all
opposition, even the most formidable.
I. No opposition
is so great, no enemies so mighty, but the followers of the lord Jesus can
overcome them. In outward and bodily things, and at the hands of men, the
people of God are ofttimes sorely tried. Over and over again they have been
slain all the day, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter. The deep and
mysterious providence of an all-wise God has suffered and ordered this. But
inwardly, and as regards spiritual experience, is it not true that “We are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us”? As believers in Jesus we are
exposed to constant opposition of a spiritual kind. As soon as ever the
Christian life really begins, so soon does conflict commence. But is it not a
good thing to change slavery for freedom; and to feel the opposition and rage
of Satan rather than to be bound in his destructive chains? Then again, the
rebel flesh puts forth its power, resisting the will of God, and proving that
the carnal mind is enmity against God. But have we not found deliverance? We
have heard the precious assurance, “No weapon formed against thee shall
prosper”; we have taken up the Christian’s war-cry, “I can do all things
through Christ who strengtheneth me”; we have doubtless sung the believer’s
song of triumph, “Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.” Do I now speak to any soul in strong conflicts, and exposed to
some sore temptation? Oh! poor tried and harassed one, look up, look up. Do not
let the enemy engage all your attention: think of the mighty Friend who is
standing by. Do not let the temptation quite swallow up your spirit; remember (1 Corinthians 10:13).
II. It is the lord
Jesus who accomplishes this glorious work for and in behalf of his believing
ones. Mark the circumstances in detail which are narrated in the text, and see
how conspicuous Joshua was throughout the whole transaction (verses 22-26).
Joshua called for all the men, summoned the host, then called out the captains,
and bade them put their feet on the necks of the kings; then he encouraged his
captains; then he executed the kings. The crowning speech, and crowning act, on
that eventful day were his. Just so, it is only our heavenly Joshua who can
make us conquerors, who can effect deliverance for us, who can enable us to set
our feet upon the necks of those hosts, those temptations, those foes of
whatsoever sort, which surround and assault us, and which, without His aid, are
sure to be too many and too mighty for us to cope with and subdue.
1. In the help which we have received, or may now be enjoying, let
us see the pledge of future victory.
2. It may be that some are in sore conflict and trial at this very
time. Forget not who is able to save, even to the uttermost. The same Jesus who
has strengthened thousands of conflicting souls and made them victorious is
ready to help you. (C. D. Marston, M. A.)
Foes under foot
1. This solemn scene reminds us of the mad resistance of these kings.
Here is the end of it. And what a contrast is this to that which they had
conceived. As we look on these wretched kings we hear a voice asking in
earnest, solemn tones, “Who hath hardened himself against God and hath
prospered?” “Who can resist the arm of the Almighty?” And again it says, “It is
hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” Can the clay rebel against the
potter? Will the tool lift up itself against the workman? Will worms defy the
Almighty? Why, then, oh! why are there found, not a few, but many, who still
resist Him?
2. This scene also reminds us of the despairing flight of these
kings. Finding that resistance was useless, they sought to escape by flight,
but this proved also vain. The sinner cannot flee from the judgment of God.
Many a man has been able to escape the just judgment of his fellows. It can
never be so with the Divine justice. It rolls forth no empty thunders. Seeing
all flight is vain, our only hope is instant and complete submission, if haply
the Lord will have mercy on us and spare us for His name’s sake.
3. The scene also speaks of their useless refuge. Their resistance
was found to be utterly vain, therefore they had recourse to flight. But flight
they found also unavailing, therefore they sought to hide, but this was also
vain. By this new device they not only deceive themselves, they actually
destroy themselves. Know that it is as vain to hide from God as to fly from
Him. Yet the truth, “Thou God seest me,” is one not easily learned. Often, as
in the case of Hagar, it is only in the hour of dire extremity that the soul
becomes truly conscious of the fact. Nothing is more common or more natural for
fallen man than to hide from God. Even in childhood, if unwelcome thoughts of
God obtruded themselves, how quickly did we learn to bury ourselves in the cave
of other and more congenial thoughts and hopes. And as we grow older, and the
heart gets more unsusceptible to spiritual realities, how easily can we hide in
indifference. How natural it is to let slip everything that has been taught us
of spiritual truth, to forget all warnings and admonitions, to become engrossed
with the pleasures that lie around, and to forsake the good habits in which we
had been trained. And not a few seek to shelter themselves in hypocrisy. The
Church is the garden of God; and not a few are hiding from Him among the trees
of His own garden. They come to the solemn assembly. They give of their
substance to His work. They maintain propriety of conduct, and yet they know
not God; yea, they are hiding from Him all the time, and by these very means.
Others are hiding from God in business. From Monday morning till Saturday night
they are engrossed in earthly cares, and even on the Lord’s day their heads and
hearts are more in their bank-books and ledgers than in their Bibles. But
though men may for a few moments bury themselves in oblivion of God, they can
never hide from Him. Soon the souls who thus hide will be dragged out to the
bewildering light, to their shame and ruin. Have we, then, no hope? Is there no
refuge for us? There is. We can never hide from God, but we can hide in God.
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is
safe.”
4. Here also we behold the utter degradation of these kings. It was
far deeper than that of their subjects. As they were ringleaders in this
revolt, their end was more terrible. They had to bow their necks under the feet
of the children of Israel. This was a most significant act. It was a picture of
the absolute subjection of all to the yoke of Israel. It was a pledge of the
perfect conquest of the land, of the glorious ending of that work which had
been so well begun. This also was written for our encouragement and
instruction. All things must be brought into subjection to the true Joshua.
They who follow Him are not overcome of evil, they are conquerors in the
struggle against sin. However weak we may feel in ourselves, yet in His name we
dare deal with the proudest and strongest sin that lurks in our hearts, as
Joshua’s captains did with these kings. That man cannot be following Christ who
is not putting all spiritual foes under his feet from day to day. And we have
here not only a picture of this daily and oft-repeated triumph over sin which
Jesus gives His followers, but also a picture of that ultimate and complete
victory over sin and Satan that shall be granted. There were other kings in
Canaan besides these five kings, and they gave Joshua and his captains much
trouble. Though the victory so far was real and glorious, it was by no means
complete. They have faced and overcome these particular foes; but many more
remain. Even so the Christian, though he should and must obtain the victory
over all known sin, and keep it ever under foot, learns the longer that he
lives that there arc other sins which he had not dreamt of lurking in the
recesses of his heart. Therefore he lays count for a protracted war. Yet he
does not go forward with a faint heart to face these new foes. Rather,
encouraged by the victories already granted, he goes on with assurance of like
triumph.
5. We must also draw attention to the miserable end of these kings.
Here, as we stand over the dead bodies of these kings, we hear a voice
proclaiming, “So perish the king’s enemies.” There are judgments of God against
sin in the past history of the world. In the future history of the world these
judgments will again be on the earth. Between the past and the future He has
erected the Cross. That also is a centre of judgment. Yea, the judgment against
sin on the Cross is far more perfect than either that judgment which goes
before or follows after; for it is a judgment finished, a cup of condemnation
drunk to the last drop, and that can be said of no other, past or future.
Identified with that Victim, nailed with Him to that Cross, cursed in Him with
all the curse due to sin, banished with that forsaken Victim in the great
darkness, there is no condemnation, no judgment, to them that are in Christ
Jesus.
6. In these conquests of Joshua we have a faint picture of the
victories of Jesus. However numerous His enemies may be, they will be all
scattered as chaff before the wind, as smoke before the hurricane. However
mighty they may be, they will bite the dust in terror and dismay. However wise
and noble, they will be crushed under His heel. (A. B. Mackay.)
Five kings
You all know something of a struggle that is continually going on
in your own hearts between good and evil. You have all heard of the battle
against sin. Well, the five kings are for us five sins, which day by day are
warring against us. And let us be quite sure of this, if we do not conquer them
they will conquer us.
I. Here is the
first--king anger. What boy or girl is there who has not felt this king rising
in his heart, and leading him on to unkind words and bad deeds. Kill the very
first angry thought, and then it won’t have time to grow into a great king to
trouble you and all near you.
II. “But,” says
some child, “I’m not given to being angry. I have a very good temper. I’m not
afraid of that king.” Don’t be too sure. He may turn up some time when you are
not ready for him. And in any case I fear, from the way yon speak, that there
is another king you will have to keep a very good look-out against--king pride.
Do you know what he is? Some one gave a very good description of pride when he
said that pride was a great big “I” and a very little “you.” Some of you, I am
sure, have read “Alice in Wonderland”; and you remember what happened to Alice
when she ate the piece of cake marked, “Eat me.” She found herself growing
taller, and taller, and taller, until at length everything looked quite small
beneath her. Now King Pride does for us all what the wonderful cake did for
Mice. He puffs us up. He makes us very high and very great in our own sight.
And the only way to deal with him is to do like Joshua’s soldiers, and to take
this king and put our foot upon his neck, and crush him to the ground.
III. But we must
pass on to our third king; and dangerous as were the first two, he is more
dangerous still, for his name is king falsehood. Have you ever told a lie, ever
said what was not quite true to get your own way, or to save yourself from
punishment? If you have, then you are letting King Falsehood reign over you,
and a cruel, hard master you will soon find him to be. Determine at all costs
to say nothing but what is strictly true. Once a great and good man was thrown
into prison because he had written paper which displeased King Charles I. He
was tried and condemned to death for what he had written; but the king sent
messengers to him in prison to say that if he would only deny having written
the paper and signed it, he would be set free. And how do you think he
answered? “I did sign that paper. I could save my life by telling a lie, but I
would rather a thousand times tell the truth, even though my life must be the
cost.” That was noble. Be like that hero, Algernon Sydney.
IV. Our fourth king
need not detain us long--king disobedience. He needs no explanation, but
perhaps you will remember best about him if I tell you how he was once
conquered by a brave English boy. Henry Havelock was his name, and at twelve
o’clock one day his father left him on London Bridge, and told him to wait till
he came back. One hour, two hours, three hours passed, and still the father did
not come; but King Disobedience did. “Why wait any longer?” he whispered to
Henry. “Your father has forgotten you, and will not expect you to remain. It is
quite excusable to disobey him now after all these hours. You had better run
home.” But the boy would not consent. He had been told to wait till his father
came, and like a soldier’s son he drove the enemy back at every point. At seven
o’clock that evening his wife asked General Havelock, “Where is Henry? I have
not seen him all the afternoon.” The General started up. “Oh,” he said, “he’s
on London Bridge! I left him there at twelve o’clock, and told him to wait for
me. In the hurry of business I quite forgot about him. But he’s there still,
I’m sure.” And there indeed he was when his father went to fetch him. Seven
long, weary hours he had waited, and fought King Disobedience. And hard though
the battle had been he had won.
V. And now there
remains only one king; but he is so big and so strong that I shall ask the
printer to print his name in extra large letters--king self. Have you ever
heard two voices inside you; one saying, “Please yourself. Take your own way.
Why should you think about other people?” And the other saying, “No, be
generous; be kind. Give up what pleases yourself, and help others.” I think you
have, and I think you know which is the voice of King Self, and what a poor
sort of a king he is to follow. He can make no one happy. Somehow the boy who
is always trying to please himself is the boy who is never pleased at all. And
then how uncomfortable he makes all round him. It was only because God had
helped him that Joshua was able to defeat the five kings. And so shall we
conquer if we fight in God’s strength, not in our own. Kneel down to Him then,
and ask Him to be with you, and to make you “more than conquerors” for Jesus’
sake. (Morning Rays.)
Five modern kings
The names of the places may help us to consider the nature of
their respective kings.
1. “The king of Jerusalem.” That such a king should have been slain
works violently in our memory and whole thought, for “Jerusalem” means
peace--the city of peace, the restful city, the sabbatic metropolis, the home of
rest. But is there not a false peace? The king of false peace must be slain. He
has ruled over some of us too long.
2. “Hebron” means conjunction, joining, alliance. Is not the king of
false fellowship to be killed? What concord hath Christ with Belial? God has
always been against unholy alliances. Many a man He has, so to say, arrested
with the words, Why this conjunction? What right have you to be here, pledging
your character to sustain a known dishonesty?
3. And the king of Jarmuth. The word means high, that which is
lifted up. And is not the king of false ambition to be slain and then
hanged--to have contempt added to murder? Contempt is never so well expended as
upon false ambition.
4. Then the king of Lachish. The word means hard to be captured, almost
out of reach, or so defended that it will be almost impossible to get at the
king. Is not the king of fancied security to be slain and hanged?
5. King of Eglon. The Word “Eglon” means pertaining to a calf, and
may be taken as representing the whole system of false worship. (J. Parker,
D. D.)
All these kings and their laud did Joshua take at one time,
because the Lord . . . fought for Israel.
Divine sovereignty
I. God has an
indisputable right to dispense his favours to what persons and in what
proportions he pleases. As the sole proprietor, it is His to dispose of.
1. Worldly goods. One is accordingly born to affluence, while
another is cradled in poverty. Before they existed they could, of course, have
no claims or demerits; and therefore the difference in their tot must be owing
to His sovereign disposal of events.
2. Bodily constitution and health. As variety marks all other of
God’s works, so here it happens that one is naturally robust, another sickly, a
third deformed, &c. Who is it that maketh the strong, the beautiful,
&c., to differ? The answer may be found in 2 Samuel 22:30; 2 Samuel 22:35.
3. Mental qualifications. “The inspiration of the Almighty giveth
understanding.” Much, it is true, depends on personal application. But much
depends on natural capacity; given “to one five talents, to another two, and to
another one”; and much on the opportunities, instructors, &c., which God
either gives or withholds.
4. Spiritual privileges. Mankind soon began to have greater or
smaller advantages in this respect, as they descended from families more or
less holy; and the case is the same to the present day. Instance the Israelites
and heathens formerly; Christians and pagans now.
II. God has an
equal right to resume or to transfer his favours.
1. We have seen that whatever we possess is of free favour at first,
from the original proprietor of all. Such the acknowledgment of the psalmist,
“Of Thine own have I given Thee.”
2. No person becomes a proprietor of his possessions merely because
he has long enjoyed them. Every blessing is a loan resumable at pleasure; and
instead of gaining a right by holding it, the holder is becoming more and more
indebted. The property is still God’s (Psalms 24:1; Psalms 24:10; Psalms 12:1-8.
3. On this ground He took His own land of promise from the
Canaanites and transferred it to Israel. And He still puts down one and raises
up another as it pleases Him.
III. God may justly
punish every voluntary transgression of his righteous and equitable laws. Here
we remark--
1. That His intelligent and moral creatures are what they are is
owing to His sovereign pleasure. Thus Elihu (Job 35:10-11).
2. Since they are such, and capable of moral government, their
nature requires a law, as a test of their obedience and for the exercise of
their capabilities; and it is His prerogative, who is not only the sovereign
Lord, but infinitely wise, to say what is right, to enact such law.
3. In order to make the law efficient it was necessary it should be
guarded and enforced by penal sanctions. Whence it follows--
4. That truth requires, while sovereignty authorises, the just
punishment of disobedience to His righteous and equitable commands.
IV. In executing
his righteous purposes God may employ what agency or instrumentality he
pleases. He doubtless can and may work immediately on any and every part of His
creation. Yet He seldom does so. Oftentimes He employs angels, as in the case
of Sennacherib or Herod. And oftentimes storm, pestilence, earthquake, &c.
Deists do not object to these. Yet they cavil at God’s employing the sword of
Israel; a difference merely in the circumstance of instrumentality. Let the
subject teach us--
1. Reverence. “Forasmuch as there is none like unto Thee, O Lord,”
&c. (Jeremiah 10:6-7). The opposite
disposition is reproved (Romans 9:20), and threatened (Isaiah 45:9-10).
2. Dependence. We enjoy no more or longer than He blesses us, and
live no longer than He sustains (Psalms 90:3; Psalms 09:14; Psalms 104:27-29).
3. Humility. “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,” &c. (Jeremiah 9:23-24; 1 Corinthians 4:7).
4. Gratitude. Who maketh thee to differ? (Sketches of Sermons.)
Joshua returned, and all
Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal--
The old camp and the new foe
It must have been a great rest and refreshment for the weary
warriors to come to such a camp from time to time. It would be to them a
Sabbath amid their arduous labours. From this place they would after each visit
go more boldly out to deal harder blows against the uncircumcised Canaanites.
And it is the same with us in the war which we wage against the inner and the
outer foe. We have our headquarters too, a visit to which should stimulate us
even more than a visit to Gilgal did the Israelites. What is our Gilgal? The
Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That remains always our centre. We should come
back to it at all times; not only when driven there by defeat, in order to have
shelter, but also after every victory, in order to give thanks. Thus shall we
maintain faith and a good conscience. Then issuing from such headquarters, so
safe, so restful, so hallowed, so purifying, we shall be filled with a holy
enthusiasm and unconquerable strength, and march like Israel from victory to
victory. When Joshua had come back to the old headquarters word was brought to
him of the gathering of a new foe. This was the most numerous army that had as
yet been gathered against him. And it was the most powerful, as well as the
most numerous army which Joshua had encountered. For the first time in this
campaign we hear of war-horses being used, and the war-chariots of iron which
were such a terror to the ancient infantry. This army is also better led than
any other that had taken the field. Jabin was the commander-in-chief. One of
his successors is called king of Canaan (Judges 4:2-24), and therefore he would in
all likelihood have been the head of the great confederacy. The word “Jabin” is
not a name, but a title borne by the kings of Hazor, and signifies “The Wise,”
just as Adoni-zedek means “Lord of Righteousness.” Therefore, as we have seen
the religious head of the Canaanites marshalling the southern army, so here we
see the wise head of the Canaanites marshalling the northern army. The southern
might be called the coalition of the priest; the northern the coalition of the
sage. How graphically is the spiritual experience of the Christian depicted by
these conflicts! No sooner is one set of foes subdued than another arises.
There is no rest here. There is also a similarity in the kind of opposition
which we have to encounter. As the advance of Israel was opposed now by
Adoni-zedek and now by Jabin, so the advance of truth is opposed now by
apostate Christianity and now by pompous philosophy. As it is with the Church
collectively so is it with the individual. He may lay his account sooner or
later to face these two, often in the same order. First comes superstition,
with its high-sounding titles, its endless genealogies, its imperious claims,
its elaborate ritual, its sensuous will-worship, its irrational bondage. It is
resisted, it is overcome. Then comes rationalism, and it cries, “Well done. You
have routed these infernal hosts. Now come with us. Finish the work you have so well begun. Cast
from you the remaining rags of superstition. Follow the light of Reason. Shake
off the remaining fetters and be free.” Then the sage who argues thus will,
like Jabin, muster whole hosts of imposing arguments. How quickly they come at
his bidding: from north, south, east, and west, like the sand that is on the
seashore for multitude. And when he reviews them, how imposing is their array I
It is a critical time for the soul when he stands gazing on that imposing
array, if he is not assured that the Lord is on his side; if he hears not, as
did Joshua, the words, “Be not afraid because of them, to-morrow will I deliver
them up all slain before Israel.” But for faith in the Divine presence and this
sure word the soul is in a sad case, and with quaking heart and tottering knees
will quit the high
places of the field. Alas! alas! how many in our day are dazed by the hosts of
unsanctified science! The Christian soldier is not worthy of his name who is
not ready with
unfeigned faith in the truth of God to proclaim it boldly, whether men hear or forbear, to
oppose all the glittering phalanxes of false philosophy with the sword of the
Spirit, which is the Word of God. As we look at this new army mustered to
oppose Joshua, we cannot but renew our wonder at the infatuation of the
Canaanites. What a solemn thought it is that the greatest miracles will not in
themselves lead the heart of man to subjection! Yet, after all, why should we
wonder at these Canaanites, when we have greater cause for wonder in the
unbelief of many around us? What were all the miracles of which these
Canaanites were cognisant compared with those with which we have been familiar
since our childhood? (A. B. Mackay.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》