Commentary - Joshua 10:1-15

Bird's-eye view

In this tenth chapter of Joshua, we are thrown headlong into the consequences of both covenant-keeping and covenant-breaking. The Gibeonites, having made a deceitful but binding covenant with Israel, are now under threat from a confederation of Amorite kings. This passage is not simply an account of a strategic military victory; it is a profound demonstration of God's absolute sovereignty over creation, His faithfulness to His word, and His righteous judgment against the entrenched evil of the Canaanites. When Joshua honors the treaty and marches to defend Gibeon, God honors Joshua's faithfulness with a series of staggering miracles. The battle is won not primarily by Israel's might, but by Yahweh's direct intervention, confusion, slaughter, hailstones from heaven, and the unprecedented halting of the sun and moon. This is holy war, and the God of the armies of Israel is making it clear who is in charge. He is not a tribal deity, but the Lord of heaven and earth, who can command the celestial bodies to serve His redemptive purposes. This event is a monumental display of God's power, a sign to all nations that He fights for His people, and a foretaste of that final victory when Christ, the greater Joshua, will put all His enemies under His feet.

Outline

The Text

1 Now it happened that when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and had devoted it to destruction (just as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king), and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were within their land,

The story begins with a pagan king hearing the news. Adoni-zedek, whose name ironically means "lord of righteousness," is the king of Jerusalem, a city that would one day be the city of the great King. He hears two things that stir him to action. First, he hears of Israel's total warfare, their practice of herem, devoting cities to utter destruction. This is not a land dispute; this is a holy war. Second, he hears that a significant Canaanite city, Gibeon, has defected. They have cut a deal. This is not just a military loss; it is a spiritual and political betrayal in his eyes. The world always takes notice when someone defects from their ranks to make peace with the people of God. It is an intolerable offense.

2 they feared exceedingly because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty.

The fear here is palpable. It is not just the loss of a city, but the loss of a great city. Gibeon was not some backwater village. It was a strategic power, a "royal city," filled with "mighty men." When a city of this stature capitulates, it sends shockwaves through the entire region. The strength of the ungodly is always a house of cards. They trust in their might, their numbers, their fortifications. But when one of their own mighty ones bows the knee to the living God, or even to His people, it exposes the rot at the foundation. Their fear is a tacit admission that their gods are nothing and their strength is an illusion.

3 Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron and to Piram king of Jarmuth and to Japhia king of Lachish and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, 4 “Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel.”

Fear motivates action, and the action of the wicked is always to consolidate their power against God and His people. Adoni-zedek becomes a kind of anti-Joshua, assembling a confederation of kings to punish the traitors. Notice the charge: Gibeon's crime was that it "has made peace with Joshua." In the economy of the world, making peace with Christ is a declaration of war against the world. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed. This is Psalm 2 in shoe leather. Their solution is to strike the one who has reconciled with the enemy. This is precisely how the world treats new converts.

5 So the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they with all their armies, and camped by Gibeon and fought against it.

The ungodly are capable of remarkable unity when their target is the people of God. Five kings, five armies, all with one purpose: to crush the city that made peace. They gather, they go up, they camp, they fight. There is no hesitation. This is the pattern of worldly opposition. It is swift, organized, and aimed at making an example of those who would dare to leave the city of destruction for the camp of the saints.

6 Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, saying, “Do not abandon your slaves; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that live in the hill country have assembled against us.”

The Gibeonites, for all their initial deceit, now act in faith upon the covenant they made. They appeal to Joshua not as equals, but as his "slaves" or servants, reminding him of his covenant obligation. They are in trouble precisely because they allied with Israel, and so they rightly appeal to Israel for protection. Their plea is urgent: "come up to us quickly and save us." This is a picture of the new believer, attacked by his old allies, crying out to the Lord for deliverance. And notice their recognition of the threat, "all the kings of the Amorites." They know they are outmatched and their only hope is the faithfulness of their new covenant head.

7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him and all the valiant warriors.

Joshua's response is immediate and decisive. He honors the covenant, even a covenant made under false pretenses. A man's word is his bond, and Israel's word is Israel's bond. Joshua doesn't debate the fine print or point out that the Gibeonites got themselves into this mess. He simply goes. He takes "all the people of war with him," including the "valiant warriors." He is bringing his best. This is covenant faithfulness. Our Lord Jesus, the greater Joshua, does the same for us. When we cry out to Him, He does not delay, and He comes to our aid with all the power of heaven.

8 And Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands; not one of them shall stand before you.”

Here is the central reality of the entire conflict. Before the battle is joined, God declares the outcome. The victory is not in question. God's word to Joshua is the same word He gives to all His captains: "Do not fear." Why? Because the enemy has already been defeated. "I have given them into your hands." The victory is spoken of in the past tense. The battle, for Joshua, is simply the process of taking possession of a victory already secured by God. This is the nature of the Christian life. We fight from victory, not for victory. Christ has already won the war; our task is to mop up.

9 So Joshua came upon them suddenly, he had gone up, marching all night from Gilgal.

God's promise does not eliminate Joshua's responsibility; it fuels it. Because God has promised victory, Joshua acts with astonishing speed and diligence. He marches his army all night. This is not the action of a man waiting passively for God to act. This is a man whose faith in God's promise energizes him to do the humanly impossible. He leverages the element of surprise, a good military tactic, but he is able to do so because he is resting in a divine promise. Faith without works is dead, and Joshua's faith is manifestly alive.

10 And Yahweh threw them into confusion before Israel, and He struck them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

Now we see the partnership between divine sovereignty and human action. Joshua arrives, but Yahweh throws the enemy into confusion. Israel fights, but Yahweh strikes them with a great slaughter. The text is clear: God is the primary actor here. He doesn't just help Israel; He fights for Israel. The confusion He sends upon the Amorites is a divine panic, a supernatural terror that breaks their ranks and renders their mighty men useless. The pursuit that follows is relentless, a testament to the totality of God's judgment.

11 Now it happened as they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, that Yahweh threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

Just in case anyone was tempted to think that Israel's military prowess was the deciding factor, God makes it emphatically clear who is winning this battle. As the enemy flees, God employs His own artillery. These are not ordinary hailstones; they are "large stones from heaven," instruments of divine judgment. And the casualty report is stunning: more Amorites were killed by God's hailstones than by Israel's swords. God is not a spectator in this conflict. He is the commanding general, and His arsenal is limitless. He can use the weather, the rocks, the very elements of creation to accomplish His will and judge His enemies.

12 Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh gave over the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.”

Emboldened by God's promise and God's miraculous intervention, Joshua offers one of the most audacious prayers in all of Scripture. He doesn't ask this in a quiet corner. He speaks "in the sight of Israel." This is a public declaration of faith. He commands the sun and the moon to halt their courses. He is not asking for a little more daylight; he is asking God to suspend the laws of the cosmos in order to complete the victory. This is the kind of faith that moves mountains, or in this case, stops planets. It is a faith born from seeing God at work and believing that nothing is too hard for Him.

13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stood in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

And God answered. The text states it as a matter of fact: the sun stood still and the moon stopped. The universe bent to the will of its Creator to serve His purpose for His people. Modern rationalists try to explain this away as poetic language or a solar eclipse, but the text is straightforward. For about a full day, the normal celestial rhythm was suspended. The reference to the book of Jashar, likely a collection of poems or annals celebrating Israel's heroes, indicates that this event was so momentous it was recorded in other sources as a historical fact. God gave His people the time they needed to utterly finish the work of judgment He had assigned them.

14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, when Yahweh listened to the voice of a man; for Yahweh fought for Israel.

The narrator steps in to underscore the uniqueness of this event. There has never been another day like it. Not because a man had such power, but because Yahweh condescended to listen to the voice of a man in such a dramatic fashion. The ultimate reason is given at the end: "for Yahweh fought for Israel." Joshua's prayer was not the prayer of a man trying to bend God to his will. It was the prayer of a man who had aligned his will with God's revealed will. God had promised to give the Amorites into his hand, and Joshua was simply asking for the necessary means to carry out that decree. When God fights for us, we can pray with breathtaking confidence.

15 Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp to Gilgal.

The chapter segment concludes with the return to camp. The battle is over, the victory is total, and the people of God return to their place of rest. Gilgal was their base of operations, the place where they had been circumcised and had celebrated the Passover. It was their place of covenant identity. After a great victory, it is right to return to the place of worship and remembrance, acknowledging the God who gave the victory.