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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Chapter 10 ch. 10:1-15 ch. 10:16-28 ch. 10:29-43 The
Sun Stands Still (ch. 10:1 - 15) In verse 1 we see the name Adoni-Zedek, which means "Zedek
the lord is righteous". The
Hebrew word "Adoni" is often used in reference to the God of
Israel in the Bible, but in this case it's used in reference to the king
of Jerusalem. We often
associate In my thinking there is almost something prophetic about
Adoni-Zedek. He was king of Jerusalem, which would become the city of
God. When he promotes himself
as "Adoni", on the same level as God Himself, that reminds me
of the anti-Christ who will do the same at the end of this age. We see in the first five verses that Adoni-Zedek is quite
upset with Gibeon for making a peace treaty with Israel. From verse 5 to 15 we see the story of this battle. Gibeon
pleads with Joshua for protection. Although
the text does not say it here, Joshua is obligated to fight on the
behalf of Gibeon
because of the peace covenant they made with them.
Israeldefeats five Ammorite nations and when it's all over, just for good
measure, the Lord sends hail stones down to kill more Ammorites than the
Israeli army did. Liberal theologians would argue with the historical
accuracy with this as they always do.
How could hailstones fall from heaven and kill only Ammorites and
not Israelis who would have been in the line of fire, or at least close
to it. But, I say as I
always do, if you can't believe this miracle, then you can't believe in
the miracle of the incarnation of Jesus or the miracle of His death,
resurrection, and ascension. In verses 12 and following we see that Joshua needed more
time to finish up the battle and get back home.
He asked the sun and moon to stand still, and for about a day,
that is what they did. The
text states that God seldom listens to a man and does such a thing.
But, when we understand that Joshua is a type of Jesus, one might
be able to understand why God would listen to Joshua.
I won't get into the science of how the sun and moon would
stand still in the sky. There
are some who have thoroughly studied this through and have come up with
some possible scientific proofs for this event. Note the "book of Jashar" in verse 13.
This is an ancient non-canonical book of poetry. "Jashar"
means "upright". It's
also mentioned in 2 Samuel 1:17 to 27, 1Kings 8:12 – 13, Exodus 15:20
to 21, and Judges 5.
Five Ammorite Kings
Killed (ch. 10:16 -28)
You note in verse 16 that the five kings of the five
Ammorite nations hid themselves in caves during the attack.
This reminds me of the typical political leader.
They call the army to war, but they themselves hide in a safe
place. This place wasn't so
safe though. Joshua heard
these kings were hiding in a cave and he had men to put rocks in front
of the cave and have armed guards stand guard.
Then the battle proceeded as planned. As verses 20 and 21 state, most all, but not all, the
opposing armies were defeated. When Israel
follows their God, He will win the battles for them.
It was true back in Old Testament days and it is true today. Note the five kings in verses 22 and 23 are actually kings
of cities. Kings in this
respect were really tribal leaders, and nations were really only tribes,
and in this case, Ammorite tribes. We
should not view these kings as kings over vast empires.
The political structure of men had not yet progressed to having
kings over large empires. From here to the end of this chapter we see how ruthless
Joshua can be, but this ruthlessness was based on the Word of the Lord.
God told Joshua to kill all of his enemies, if not, they'd come
back to haunt Israel, so that is what he did. Concerning the five kings in the cave, Joshua had them led
out of the cave. He had some
soldiers step on their necks, and then he killed them.
You might wonder about such violence by such a godly man, but one
thing to consider is that people back then were not as cultured as we
are today. Such styles of
violence were more common place and acceptable than they are today.
Also, such a public display of violence was also common place in
those days. It was meant to
be a form of public humiliation of the leader of your enemy.
One thing Christians can learn about the severity that is
seen here concerning the killing of the people who Southern Cities
Conquered (ch. 10:29 - 43)
I
will not comment on this section. This
section is the historical events of Joshua and
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