Introduction
If you haven’t been here for a while, let me fill you in on what we’ve been doing. We’re studying the book of Joshua, which tells the story of what happened after Moses died and Joshua was appointed in his place to lead God’s people out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land of Canaan.
So, God opened a way for them through the Jordan river so that they were able to cross over on dry ground. The Lord then enabled them to conquer Jericho. He commanded them to walk around the city once every day for six days and then on the seventh day they were to walk around it seven times. And when the priests blew their trumpets, and when the people shouted, the walls of the city collapsed and the Israelites were able to go in and take over the city.
On that occasion they were to devote everything to the Lord. That meant that every living being was to be killed and every non-living thing was to be burned except for anything made of precious metal which was to be placed in the Lord’s treasury. However, one of the Israelites, a man named Achan, kept a robe and some silver and gold for himself. And because he disobeyed the Lord, the anger of the Lord burned against all of them. And so, when they went up to fight against the people in the city of Ai, the Lord did not go with them and he let the men of Ai defeat them in battle.
At this, the hearts of the people melted with fear and Joshua tore his clothes and fell before the Lord and prayed to him about what had happened. The Lord answered by telling him that they had broken their covenant with him by taking some of the things that should have been devoted to him. And he said that he would not go up with Israel into battle until they had dealt with the person who was responsible.
And so, the next day each tribe presented itself before the Lord and one was chosen. And then each clan from that one tribe came forward and one was chosen. And then each family from that one clan came forward and one was chosen. And then each man from that one family came forward and Achan was chosen. He confessed his sin and was put to death. And the Lord turned from his fierce anger and he helped the Israelites conquer Ai.
And then last week we read how the people living in Canaan were afraid of Israel. Some of the kings joined together to make war on Israel, but the people of Gibeon decided to try another approach. They sent a delegation to the people of Israel to make a treaty with them. And the members of the delegation dressed in old clothes and they took old wineskins with them as well as old, mouldy bread. They were pretending that they have come from a distant land, because they knew that God has commanded Israel to destroy whatever nations lived within the borders of the Promised Land, but he allowed them to make peace with nations who lived outside the Promised Land. And so, they pretended that they had come from outside the Promised Land. And in this way they managed to fool the Israelites, who made a treaty of peace with them.
When the Israelites realised their mistake, it seems that some of the Israelites wanted to forget about the treaty and attack the Gibeonites. But Joshua and the leaders insisted that they had to keep the covenant with Gibeon. Even though the Gibeonites deceived them, the covenant had to be honoured, because it had been made in the name of the Lord. And so, they promised not to harm the Gibeonites. However, they made the Gibeonites their slaves. And so, from that time on, the Gibeonites were to serve the Lord and his people.
We noted last week that many years later, in the days of Nehemiah, the Gibeonites had been assimilated into the Israelites and were regarded as members of God’s people. And so, we thought about how it has always been God’s will to bring Gentiles into his kingdom. Because of God’s overflowing grace and mercy and love, he calls men and women and children from every nation of the world into his kingdom of grace, where there is forgiveness and peace with God and the hope of everlasting life. The Lord let the Gibeonites become part of his people and he has let us become part of his people.
That’s what has happened so far in the book of Joshua. And today we come to the chapter we read a moment ago where we read how five of the kings in Canaan joined their forces together to attack Gibeon. And the Gibeonites looked to Joshua to protect them.
The chapter can be divided into three main parts. Verses 1 to 15 tell us about the battle at Gibeon. Verses 16 to 27 tells us about the aftermath of the battle. And verses 28 to 43 summarise the rest of the campaign which Israel fought against the nations in the southern part of Canaan. And I feel compelled once again to remind you that conquering the Canaanites was not an act of genocide or ethnic cleansing or terrorism by Israel. It was an act of justice. God was using the Israelites to punish the Canaanites for their wickedness. And years later, when Israel sinned against the Lord, God sent the Assyrians and Babylonians to attack Israel as punishment for what they had done wrong. God, who rules over all the nations of the world, is able to use one nation as his instrument to punish another nation.
And every time we read about God judging the nations, it’s always a foretaste of that great and terrible day when the Lord Jesus will come with power and glory to judge all the nations at once. And on that day everyone who has not trusted in the Lord Jesus for salvation will be condemned and sent out of God’s presence to be punished for ever, whereas all who have trusted in the Lord Jesus will be acquitted and brought into God’s presence, where we will be happy and holy for ever.
Verses 1 to 5
Verse 1 introduces us to Adoni-Zedek who was, in those days, the king of Jerusalem. And he received a report that Joshua and his army had taken Ai and had completely destroyed it. He heard that Israel had done to Ai and its king what they had done to Jericho and its king, which is they had completely obliterated those two cities. And he also heard that Gibeon had made a peace treaty with Israel. That is to say, Gibeon — one of the Canaanites, and therefore a former ally — had deserted and had gone over to the other side. And since Gibeon was near Jerusalem, then perhaps Adoni-Zedek was worried that Israel and the Gibeonites might decide to attack Jerusalem next and do to Jerusalem what they had already done to Jericho and Ai.
And so, he decided to do something about it. He decided to attack Gibeon, perhaps with the hope of getting them back on side. But since Gibeon was an important and large city and since its men were good fighters, he needed some help. And so, he appealed to four other kings in Canaan, asking them to help him attack Gibeon.
And we read in verse 5 that the four other kings responded to his appeal and they joined forces against Gibeon.
Verses 6 to 11
The Gibeonites responded by sending word to Joshua, asking him not to abandon them, but to come up quickly and save them.
It seems that the treaty they made with Israel not only meant that Israel would not harm Gibeon, but that Israel would protect Gibeon from their enemies. And so, because of the oath they made with Gibeon in the name of the Lord, Israel was now obligated to come to their aid. Therefore, according to verse 7, Joshua and his entire army marched up from Gilgal, where they were camped, to help the Gibeonites.
We can imagine that Joshua might have been tempted to leave his best men behind, because after all, why risk his best men in order to help the Gibeonites? Isn’t that what a football manager does when his team is playing a game that is inconsequential? On such occasions, the manager rests his best players. And we can imagine Joshua wanting to do the same with his best men. But such was his commitment to the treaty that he was prepared to use his whole army including his best men to help this foreign nation.
And according to verse 8, the Lord himself was willing to fight for Gibeon. The Lord said to Joshua that there was no need for Joshua to be afraid of the coalition army, because he has given them into Joshua’s hand. The outcome had already been decided. God, who rules over heaven and earth, had already decreed that Israel would beat the coalition army. And so, not one of the enemy soldiers will be able to stand up against Joshua and his men.
God’s decree does not mean that Joshua and his men didn’t have to fight. The outcome might have been decided in heaven, but it was still necessary for Joshua and his men to march through the night and to fight against the enemy. But God would help them succeed in the battle in order to fulfil his heavenly decree.
And we read in verse 9 that Joshua took them by surprise and the Lord threw them into confusion. The NIV translation implies that Israel defeated them, but it’s possible that the Lord is the subject of all the verbs in verse 10. So, the Lord defeated them in a great victory. And the Lord pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon. And the Lord cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. Yes, the Lord defeated them by the hand of Joshua and his men, but our narrator is making clear that Joshua and his men only triumphed because of the help they received from the Lord. They conquered the coalition army in the strength of the Lord.
And as the coalition army fled, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them from the sky. Can you imagine it? God was hurling great big hailstones like rocks at them. And in fact, more of them died from the hailstones that from the sword.
Verses 12 to 15
In verse 12 we read about Joshua’s prayer to the Lord that day. The NIV assumes that the words we read in verse 12 and 13 are what Joshua said to the Lord. However, those words are addressed, not to the Lord, but to the sun and the moon. The ESV has a better translation of verse 12. It says: ‘At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel….’ So, Joshua spoke to the Lord and then ‘he said’. Who is the subject of ‘he said’? We assume it’s Joshua, but it’s possible that the narrator is referring to the Lord. So, Joshua prayed to the Lord and as a result of Joshua’s prayer, the Lord spoke and he, the Lord, addressed the sun and moon.
And what did the Lord say to the sun and the moon? Most English translations say that the Lord commanded them to stand still. And so, the Lord made the sun and the moon stop in order to give Joshua and his men more hours of daylight to defeat the coalition army. However, some commentators suggest that what the Lord commanded the sun and the moon to do was to stop shining. Joshua’s men marched through the night and attacked the coalition army when it was still dark. The coalition army was confused because of the darkness and Joshua therefore wanted the Lord to extend the hours of darkness until they had defeated the coalition army.
Whichever interpretation is correct, the point is that this was a remarkable day. In verse 14 our narrator explains why it was a remarkable day. He says that there has never been a day like it before or since: a day when the Lord listened to a man. Now, the Lord listens to us every time we pray. But the word translated ‘listened’ in this verse means something like ‘obey’. There has never been a day like it when the Lord God Almighty obeyed the voice of a man. The Lord heard Joshua’s command and he did what Joshua asked.
Verse 16 to 27
In verses 16 to 27 we have the aftermath of the battle. It seems the five Canaanite kings were hiding in a cave. Joshua’s men discovered them and, under orders from Joshua, they rolled a stone over the entrance to trap the kings. Once the coalition army had been destroyed, Joshua went to the cave and had the five kings brought out. They were made to lie on the ground and Joshua ordered his commanders to place their feet on the necks of the defeated kings to symbolise what the Lord will do to all their enemies in the Promised Land. And then Joshua killed them and their bodies were hung on five trees until the evening as a form of public humiliation. Then they took the bodies down and threw them into the cave and the entrance was covered with large stones. And that was the end of that coalition army.
Verses 28 to 43
And in the third part of the chapter, we have a summary of the rest of the campaign which Israel fought against the nations in the southern part of Canaan.
The narrator mentions seven cities which they conquered. There were more than seven cities in the southern part of Canaan. And so, these seven represent all of the cities they defeated. And verses 30 and 32 and 42 remind us that Joshua and his men only succeeded in battle because the Lord was on their side. So verse 30: ‘The Lord also gave that city and its king into Israel’s hand.’ Verse 32: ‘The Lord handed Lachish over to Israel.’ And verse 42: All these kings and their lands Joshua conquered in one campaign, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.’
Conclusion
As we close, let’s compare and contrast what the Lord did for Israel and the Gibeonites and what he does for his people in every generation.
Firstly, the chapter began with a coalition of Canaanite kings going to war against the Gibeonites. And because of the covenant between Israel and Gibeon, which was made in the name of the Lord, the Lord sent Joshua to deliver the Gibeonites from their enemies.
And God has established an everlasting covenant with his elect people. We call it the covenant of grace. And by this covenant God promises to deliver his people, not from enemy armies, but from our sin and misery in this life and to give us everlasting life in God’s presence.
Secondly, God sent Joshua to save the Gibeonites and God was with Joshua to help him. He gave Joshua and his army the strength they needed to conquer the Canaanites and to save the Gibeonites.
And God sent the Lord Jesus Christ to save us and God was with the Lord Jesus to help him, because the Lord Jesus was filled with God the Holy Spirit from the moment of his conception. And by the power of the Holy Spirit he was able to fulfil his mission here on earth. The Holy Spirit enabled him to be and to do everything necessary so that he could save us from our sin and misery and give us life in God’s presence.
Thirdly, God listened to Joshua’s prayer when he prayed about the sun and the moon.
And God the Father listened to his Son when he was here on earth. As it says in Hebrews 5, during the days of his life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverent submission. Just as God listened to Joshua, so he listened to the Lord Jesus.
Fourthly, Joshua saved the Gibeonites by killing the coalition army and by killing their kings.
By contrast, the Lord Jesus did not come to kill, but to be killed. He was killed on the cross in accordance with his Father’s will, for there was no other way to save us from our and misery in this world except through the death of Christ, who died that we might live. He bore in his body on the cross the punishment we deserve so that we can have peace with God and everlasting life in his presence. Whereas Joshua hung his enemies to trees, the Lord Jesus let his enemies hang him to a tree so that he could give up his life for our salvation.
Fifthly, Joshua saved the Gibeonites so they could go on living in the land of Canaan.
But the Lord Jesus Christ saved us so that we can have everlasting life in the presence of God in heaven, where there is fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore for all of God’s people as we glaze upon the glory of our God and are loved by him for ever and for ever.
Sixthly, years after Joshua saved the Gibeonites, they and the rest of God’s people were taken from Canaan and sent into exile.
However, when the Lord Jesus brings us into the presence of God in heaven, it will be for ever and we’ll never have to leave and no one will take our place away from us. Christ died to give us everlasting life; and no one will be able to take that everlasting life from us.
Seventhly, after Joshua rescued the Gibeonites, he went on to conquer the other cities in the southern part of Canaan. On behalf of the Lord he executed God’s judgment on the Canaanites and he punished them for their many sins over several generations. And destroying them was a foretaste of the great and terrible day of judgment when Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.
And we would be among those who are condemned to everlasting punishment, away from the presence of God, if it were not for Christ the Lord, because before he comes as the judge of the world, he came as the Saviour of the world and he paid for our sins with his life. And then, after his resurrection from the dead and his ascension to heaven, he sent his Spirit into our lives to enable us to repent and to believe the good news. And for all who repent and believe the good news, there is now no condemnation.
And so, because of Christ and his love for us, we do not need to fear the coming judgment, because he was punished in our place when his body was broken and his blood was shed. He was punished in our place so that we who believe will never be condemned. Instead we can look forward to everlasting life in the Promised Land to come, where God will dwell with us and where we’ll see God. And in seeing God we’ll be happy and holy for ever.
And while we wait for Christ to come again, we should give thanks to God for him. And we should make it our aim to live for him and for his glory and to demonstrate our love and gratitude by striving to do his will in all we do and say.
And as we come to the Lord’s Table on Sunday, we come with gladness to rejoice in Jesus Christ, who is the new and better Joshua who has saved us from our sin and misery so that we might have everlasting life in the presence of God in the Promised Land to come.
