Joshua 10 : 6 – 14
Intro: Chapter 10 opens with five of the Canaanite kings joining forces to attack the Gibeonites because they had made a peace treaty with Israel’s people. The Gibeonites had tricked the Israelites into making a peace treaty with them. This was a direct violation of the Lord’s command to Israel in Deut. 7:1-6.
Israel is bound to the Gibeonites by an oath, and it is time for them to make right on their promise to protect the Gibeonites. For Israel, this will be just another battle in their conquest of the Promised Land. For us, this battle is a vivid picture of the Christian life.
Battles are a daily reality in the life of the child of God. While that is true, we can thank God that we never have to face our battles alone, Heb. 13:5; Matt. 28:20. In the day of battle, we have the promise of help from One Who is “an ever present help in a time of need,” Psa. 46:1.
As we observe Joshua and Israel’s armies continue to fight for their inheritance in Canaan, it helps us fight our own battles. As we watch them in action, some precious lessons will help us face our days of fighting.
I. V. 6-15 A LESSON ABOUT THE SAVIOR
As they prepare for battle, the Lord comes to them with His promise of help and victory. God is about to go to war for His people!
Q: What lessons can we learn from the men of Gibeon asking for Israel’s protection?
These verses speak to the supernatural aspect of our battles. When the struggles of life come your way, the Lord comes to your aid and fights for you. There are times when He moves in power and works great miracles in your life. Such a time is pictured here. Three precious truths got about our Savior on the day of battle.
Q: We read that God spoke to Joshua, vs 8a. What are ways in which God speaks to us today?
A. V. 8 He Grants His People His Peace – Notice the words in verse 8, “Fear them not!” God’s challenge to His people was for them not to fear the enemy. God was reminding Joshua that He was still in control of the situation!
God is still in control! He is always on the throne, and He is still the Prince of Peace. For those who will walk by faith and not by sight, the Lord still gives Peace that passeth understanding, Phil. 4:6-7, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the Peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
He has His brand of Peace that keeps and comforts the hearts of His children. “Peace I leave with you, My Peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid,” John 14:27. The secret to walking in Peace is to walk in faith, knowing that the Lord is in absolute control of all of life.
The Lord did not save you for you to be agitated, worried, and filled with fear. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,” 2 Tim. 1:7. He does not intend for you to tremble in fear when the enemies of life come near.
When the day of battle comes, the Lord will give you Peace, if you will lean on Him. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths,” Pro. 3:5-6. As God’s children, we need to remember that everything that happens in our lives had to pass first over God’s desk, and it received His stamp of approval, Rom. 8:28.
Q: What are examples of promises in the Bible that guarantees us victory in life’s challenges?
B. V. 8 He Grants His People His Promise – The Lord didn’t stop with just a word of encouragement. He also gave them the promise of absolute victory!
I want to remind you that the Lord did not save you for you to be defeated! When He saved you, He did so with the promise that you could walk in His victory.
1 Cor. 15:57, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Cor. 2:14, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.”
Rom. 8:37, “Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
This does not mean that every situation in life will work out the way you want it to, but it does mean that God can enable you to live above your circumstances and share in His victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil!
Q: What should be our reaction to the promises of God?
C. V. 9-14 He Grants His People His Power – In these verses, we see the mighty demonstration of the power of the Lord in the life of Israel! God moved in a great manifestation of supernatural power and gave His children the victory. He moved in two unique ways.
1. V. 11 God Moved In The Hail – By sending the hail, God showed Israel and the Canaan people that Hadad and Baal, the Canaanites’ storm gods, were powerless. Hailstones killed more people than by the sword. A hailstone weighing 1.7 pounds fell in Kansas in 1970. Such a stone would have been traveling well over 100 miles per hour when it struck the ground. The book of Revelation tells us that hailstones will fall weighing about 100 pounds each, Rev. 16:21. However large this hail may have been, it devastated Israel’s enemies.
Here is the greater miracle: The Hail destroyed the Canaanites, but the stones did not kill God’s people. “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?” Job 38:22-23.
2. V. 12-14 God Moved In The Heavens – Here, we see the Lord perform the greatest miracle ever recorded regarding the physical world. God stopped the sun in the heavens and extended the daylight hours for Joshua and his army to finish the battle.
This passage has brought much ridicule upon the Bible. Some believe the record of this miracle proves the Bible is uninspired because science has long since confirmed that the earth rotates around the sun and that the sun doesn’t move. However, I would like to make a few statements about this miracle.
A. This is the language of observation. We all speak of the sunrise and the sunset. We do not use technical, scientific language to describe the things we observe all around us. Very literally, the sun hung at the zenith of the sky for about a whole day!
B. Ancient history supports this claim. Many ancient cultures record the existence of an unusually long day, which occurred about this time.
Chinese writings record a legend of a long day. This same legend got recorded among the Inca Indians of Peru and the Aztec Indians of Mexico. Both of these tribes worshiped the sun.
Babylonian and Persian documents record the legend of a day miraculously extended.
Herodotus, an ancient historian, recounts that while in Egypt, the priest showed him their temple records, and he read of a day twice its natural length.
C. The calendar supports it. Using an ancient Chaldean calendar system built around lunar and solar eclipses, it is possible to count forward to this day and find that this day fell on Tuesday, July 22. However, if we measure backward, using our reckoning system, we will find that this event happened on July 22, a Wednesday. Is there a problem? No, just the fact that an entire day is missing either way you go. Verse 13 tells us where that missing day went!
D. Some will indeed counter, “But preacher, this violates all the laws of nature!” I want to remind you that there are no laws of nature! There are only the laws of God that govern nature! We need to remember Who made this world. If He can create it, then indeed He can control it!
E. The bottom line is this, God intervened supernaturally on behalf of Israel. God gave them all the daylight they needed to get the job done!
Q: Give examples of God’s supernatural move on the behalf of men in the scriptures and what lessons can we draw from them?
What does this mean for us? There are times when the Lord will supernaturally intervene in your life, and He will fight your battles for you. Consider Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Daniel, the Widow of Zarephath, the disciples in the storm, feeding the 5,000, walking on water, healing a leper, raising the dead, etc.
I have seen people healed of disease. I have seen drunks saved and sobered immediately by the power of God. I have seen drug addicts released from the influence of drugs and made clean. I have seen lives changed in miraculous ways by the supernatural intervention of God. I have seen the Lord move in response to His child’s need and move any mountain that needed to be moved to get them what they needed. That is our God!
Please understand, He doesn’t always move like that. I have seen drunks delivered, but I have seen others who still struggled with that sin even after being saved. I have seen saints healed, but I have seen others die with their disease. I am just saying that there are times when the Lord will move in supernatural power to meet His child’s needs!
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