Joshua 10:1-43 NIV
The Sun Stands Still
1Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai
and totally destroyeda it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done
to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty of
peace with Israel and had become their allies. 2He and his people were very much alarmed at this, because Gibeon
was an important city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and
all its men were good fighters. 3So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem appealed to Hoham king of
Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon. 4“Come up and help me attack Gibeon,” he said, “because it has
made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”
5Then the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem,
Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon—joined forces. They moved up with all their
troops and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it.
6The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal:
“Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us,
because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against
us.”
7So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including
all the best fighting men.
8The LORD Said To Joshua,
“Do not be afraid of them; I Have Given them
into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.”
9After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by
surprise. 10The LORD Threw them into confusion before
Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel
pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the
way to Azekah and Makkedah. 11As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to
Azekah,
The LORD Hurled large hailstones down on them,
and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the
Israelites.
12On the day The LORD Gave the Amorites over to Israel,
Joshua said To The LORD in the presence of Israel:
“Sun,
stand still over Gibeon,
and you,
moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
13So the sun stood still,
and
the moon stopped,
till
the nation avenged itself on its
enemies,
as it is written in the Book of Jashar.
The sun stopped in the middle
of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.
14There has never been a day like it before
or since, a day When The LORD Listened to a human being. Surely The LORD Was Fighting for Israel!
15Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.
Five Amorite Kings Killed
16Now the five kings had fled and hidden in the cave at Makkedah. 17When Joshua was told that the five kings had been found hiding
in the cave at Makkedah, 18he said, “Roll large rocks up to the mouth of the cave, and post
some men there to guard it.
19But don’t stop; pursue your enemies! Attack them from the rear
and don’t let them reach their cities, For The LORD your GOD Has Given them into your
hand.”
20So Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely, but a few
survivors managed to reach their fortified cities. 21The whole army then returned safely to Joshua in the camp at
Makkedah, and no one uttered a word against the Israelites.
22Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five
kings out to me.” 23So they brought the five kings out of the cave—the kings of
Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. 24When they had brought these kings to Joshua, he summoned all the
men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had come with him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks
of these kings.” So they came forward and placed their feet on their necks.
25Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Be strong and courageous. This Is What The LORD Will Do to all the enemies you are
going to fight.” 26Then Joshua put the kings to death and exposed their bodies on
five poles, and they were left hanging on the poles until evening.
27At sunset Joshua gave the order and they took them down from the
poles and threw them into the cave where they had been hiding. At the mouth of
the cave they placed large rocks, which are there to this day.
Southern Cities Conquered
28That day Joshua took Makkedah. He put the city and its king to
the sword and totally destroyed everyone in it. He left no survivors. And he
did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.
29Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Makkedah to
Libnah and attacked it. 30The LORD Also Gave that city and its king into
Israel’s hand. The city and everyone in it Joshua put to the sword. He left no
survivors there. And he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.
31Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Libnah to
Lachish; he took up positions against it and attacked it. 32The LORD Gave
Lachish into Israel’s hands, and Joshua took it on the second day. The city and
everyone in it he put to the sword, just as he had done to Libnah. 33Meanwhile, Horam king of Gezer had come up to help Lachish, but
Joshua defeated him and his army—until no survivors were left.
34Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Lachish to
Eglon; they took up positions against it and attacked it. 35They captured it that same day and put it to the sword and
totally destroyed everyone in it, just as they had done to Lachish.
36Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron
and attacked it. 37They took the city and put it to the sword, together with its
king, its villages and everyone in it. They left no survivors. Just as at
Eglon, they totally destroyed it and everyone in it.
38Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned around and attacked
Debir. 39They took the city, its king and its villages, and put them to
the sword. Everyone in it they totally destroyed. They left no survivors. They
did to Debir and its king as they had done to Libnah and its king and to
Hebron.
40So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country,
the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all
their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, Just As The LORD, The GOD of Israel, Had Commanded. 41Joshua
subdued them from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza and from the whole region of Goshen to
Gibeon.
42 All these kings and their lands Joshua conquered in one campaign, Because The LORD, The GOD of Israel, Fought
for Israel.
43Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.
Adoni-zedec, king of
Jerusalem, hearing of the capture of Ai, and that the Gibeonites had made peace
with Israel, calls to his assistance four other kings to fight against
Gibeon, Joshua
10:1-4. They join forces,
and encamp against Gibeon, Joshua
10:5. The Gibeonites send
to Joshua for help, Joshua 10:6, who immediately marches to their relief,
receives encouragement from GOD, and falls suddenly on the confederate
forces, Joshua
10:7-9, and defeats them;
they flee, and multitudes of them are slain by a miraculous shower of hailstones, Joshua 10:10, Joshua 10:11.
Joshua, finding that the day began to fail,
prayed that the sun and moon might stand still, that they might have time to
pursue and utterly destroy these confederate forces, Joshua 10:12. The sun and moon stand still, and make that
day as long as two, Joshua 10:13, Joshua 10:14. Joshua and the people return to their camp
at Gilgal, Joshua
10:15. The five kings
having taken shelter in a cave at Makkedah, Joshua commanded the people to roll
great stones against the mouth of the cave, and set a watch to keep it, while
Israel were pursuing their enemies, Joshua 10:16-19.
The Israelites return
to Makkedah, bring forth the five kings, then slay and hang them on five
trees, Joshua
10:20-27. The Israelites take
and destroy Makkedah, Joshua 10:28, and Libnah, Joshua 10:29,Joshua 10:30, and Lachish, Joshua 10:31, Joshua 10:32, and defeat Horam king of Gezer, Joshua 10:33, and take Eglon, Joshua 10:34, Joshua 10:35, and Hebron, Joshua 10:36, Joshua 10:37, and Debir, Joshua 10:38, Joshua 10:39, and all the country of the hills, south,
vale, and springs, and the whole country from Kadesh-Barnea to Gibeon, Joshua 10:40-42. They return to Gilgal, Joshua 10:43.
I am introducing an
article that helps you better understand The WORD of GOD in Joshua 10:12-14
telling us the Sun and the Moon stood still.
Did the Sun Stand Still?
Q.
How can I
believe the Bible is reliable when it says that the Sun “stood still” at the
request of Joshua?
A.
This
question relates to the history narrated in Joshua 10. After the defeat of Ai,
five kings of Canaan joined forces to attack the city of Gibeon for making an
alliance with Israel. Upon hearing of this move, Joshua and his men marched
through the night from Gilgal to Gibeon where, with The LORD'S Help, Israel
waged war. In the midst of battle, Joshua prayed To GOD that the Sun would
stand still until Israel could vanquish her enemy. This request was granted, as
the record states: “So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not
hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that,
before it or after it, that The LORD Heeded the voice of man, For The LORD Fought For Israel” (Joshua 10:13-14).
Critics
insist that such an event is impossible, and thereby impugn the veracity of the
Scriptures. Various solutions to this alleged problem have been proposed.
This
article will consider four of them.
First,
some suggest that the text should be understood in a figurative sense and that
the event did not involve a miracle. Hence, it is suggested that The LORD Helped Israel win the battle in such an incredibly short time that she felt as
though the day had been lengthened, when in fact it was not (Keil, 1980,
2:110).
Second,
some scholars take the language figuratively and attach a purely naturalistic
explanation to the event. Donald Patten and his colleagues believe that the
planet Mars passed by Earth in an unusually close orbit that caused the Earth
to tilt on its axis (1973, pp. 172-198). Viewed from the right geographical
location, the Sun actually would hang in the sky longer than normal.
Third,
others suggest that a local miracle took place. Hence, the Sun’s rays may have
been refracted miraculously so that they gave every appearance of
daylight-illumination in Palestine, when in reality the Sun had slipped below
the horizon (Davis, 1980, p. 69).
Fourth, still others take the language literally and accept that the
Sun was indeed halted miraculously. Henry Morris explains that even more may
have been involved: “Since the account says that the moon also stood still
(Joshua 10:13), it may be that the entire solar system stopped in its tracks
for a day, with all relative positions and motions simply suspended”
(1971, p. 73).
Each of
these solutions has met with criticism.
Against
the first it has been contended that a cardinal rule of interpretation is that
a passage is to be considered literal until proven figurative. Joshua 10 reads
like simple, historical narration. The LORD Could Have Made the day “seem”
long, but the text says that “the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till
the people had revenge upon their enemies” (Joshua 10:13).
The
second has been challenged for lack of evidence. The notion that the Earth
shifted on its axis in response to a fly-by of Mars is purely hypothetical.
The third
option is rejected out-of-hand by anyone who refuses to accept the possibility
of miraculous occurrences. Against the literal reading, it is argued that since
the Earth orbits the Sun, it would have been the Earth that ceased to rotate,
rather than the Sun stopping, that lengthened the day. Also, if the Earth
stopped it would experience incalculable global catastrophes.
If each
solution has difficulties, what is one to make of the event?
Primarily
this: it was a miracle. Joshua prayed for Divine Assistance, and he received
it. An Omnipotent GOD Could Have Helped in any way HE Chose. Before anyone can
dismiss the Bible because it reports miracles as though they really happened,
he must do two things.
First, he must prove that there is no GOD Who Has the Ability to accomplish such tasks. Now, if there is a
GOD WHO Is Capable of Speaking the entire Universe into
existence (Psalm 33:9), then it must be admitted that HE Has the Power To Do
with it whatever HE Wishes. Who is measly man to say that The GOD of the
Universe does not have the power to stop the Earth, Moon, and Sun, and still
maintain every other semblance of order? By definition, GOD Is beyond the scope
of such criticism.
Second,
the critic must be able to prove that the Bible is of purely human origin.
However, the Bible itself is one the best-known examples of a miracle. When all
of the facts are considered, it is evident that Without GOD, the Bible cannot
be explained. The burden of proof rests with the skeptic; until he can prove
there is no GOD, and that the Bible is merely a human production, he has no
basis upon which to deny the biblical record of a miracle. To dismiss the Bible
because it contains accounts of “impossible” events is inane. With GOD nothing
is impossible except, of course, those things which are at odds with His Nature
(e.g., He cannot lie—Titus 1:2). As with all miracles, no explanation is given
as to how the feat in Joshua 10 was performed. How did the axe head float (2
Kings 6)? How did five loaves and two fish feed over five thousand (Matthew
14)? How Did JESUS Give sight to the blind (John 9)? That these things happened
is sufficient for the man who accepts the Omnipotence of GOD.
Accordingly,
two of the above solutions seem to fit the data.
First,
GOD May Have Caused the solar rays to linger over Palestine for the specified
time. If GOD thus Made the Sun to appear—from Joshua's perspective—to hang in
the sky above Gibeon, it would be correct to report the event in such terms.
Or
second, it may be that the Sun (and indeed the entire solar system) was
suspended miraculously for a day. Whether the miracle was local or universal is
not specifically stated in the text. Either way, “there has been no day like
that, before it or after it” (Joshua 10:14)!
A final
thought on this subject needs to be addressed. The story occasionally
circulates that “NASA scientists were checking the position of the sun,
moon, and planets 100 years from now and 1,000 years from now in order to plot
space craft trajectories. As they ran their computers up and down the
centuries, their machines came to a grinding halt because they showed a day
missing about the time Joshua lived.” This story is purely fictional. Computers
do not have the ability to make such a discovery, and every effort to contact
the scientists allegedly involved has resulted in either failure or denial.
The July
1989 Bible-Science Newsletter carries an excellent article
that debunks this farce
(Bartz, 1989, p. 12).