The Long Day of the Lord's Battle Text: Joshua 10:1-15
Introduction: The Treason of Grace
In the economy of God, there is no neutrality. There is no Switzerland. There are only two camps, two cities, two covenants, and two destinies. There is the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and there is the kingdom of this world, which is a sprawling, chaotic, and ultimately doomed confederacy of rebels. Every man, woman, and child is born into that second kingdom. The story of the Christian faith is the story of a great and glorious treason, where the Spirit of God invades our hearts and causes us to defect from the kingdom of darkness and swear allegiance to the King of light.
This is precisely what the Gibeonites did. They looked at the coming judgment of God, manifested in the armies of Israel, and they wisely threw themselves on the mercy of the invaders. They made peace. But what the world calls peace, the devil calls treason. And the world system, that unholy alliance of petty tyrants and god-haters, does not take kindly to defectors. When someone escapes the plantation, the master sends his dogs. When a soul is translated from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God's beloved Son, all hell takes notice. The world can tolerate a vague and sentimental religiosity. It cannot and will not tolerate a divided loyalty. You cannot serve two masters. The Gibeonites learned this lesson immediately. The moment they made peace with Joshua, they found themselves at war with everyone else.
This chapter is not simply a fascinating historical account of a battle from long ago. It is a paradigm. It is a pattern for the Christian life and for the mission of the Church. When we make our peace with God through the blood of the cross, we simultaneously declare war on the world, the flesh, and the devil. And in that war, we discover that our new King is a mighty warrior, who fights for His people with the full arsenal of heaven.
The Text
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, 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. 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, “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.” 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.
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.” So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him and all the valiant warriors. 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.” So Joshua came upon them suddenly, he had gone up, marching all night from Gilgal. 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 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.
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.” 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 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.
Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp to Gilgal.
(Joshua 10:1-15 LSB)
The World's Fury (vv. 1-5)
We begin with the reaction of the world to Gibeon's conversion.
"Now it happened that when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard... they feared exceedingly..." (Joshua 10:1-2)
The ringleader of this pagan backlash is a man named Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem. His name means "My Lord is Righteousness," and he rules from the city that will one day be called the City of Peace. This is a profound irony. Here we have a counterfeit "lord of righteousness" from a counterfeit "city of peace" who is the chief instigator of war against those who have made true peace with the living God. He is a type of the antichrist, a satanic parody of the true Melchizedek, the true King of Righteousness and King of Peace who would one day rule from that same city.
And what is his reaction? Fear. Exceeding fear. Why? Not simply because Israel was a military threat. The text is specific. They feared because Gibeon, a great and mighty city, had capitulated. A significant player had switched sides. This is what terrifies the kingdom of darkness. They are not threatened by moral people or religious people. They are threatened by converted people. The conversion of a single soul is a greater blow to Satan's empire than the passage of a thousand righteous laws, because it demonstrates that his grip is not absolute and his subjects can be set free. Gibeon's surrender was a crack in the dam of Canaanite solidarity, and Adoni-zedek knew it was the beginning of the end.
So what does he do? He forms a coalition. He sends word to four other Amorite kings, and they set aside whatever rivalries they may have had to unite against a common enemy. This is the nature of worldly unity. It is almost always a negative unity, a unity against God and His people. Herod and Pilate, who were enemies, became fast friends on the day they united to crucify the Lord of Glory. The world's ecumenism is always directed against the church. When God's people are faithful, the various factions of the world system will always find common cause in opposing them.
The Covenant Plea (vv. 6-7)
The new converts are immediately under siege, and they do the only thing they can do: they appeal to the one with whom they made a covenant.
"Do not abandon your slaves; come up to us quickly and save us and help us..." (Joshua 10:6)
Notice the basis of their appeal. They don't say, "We are good people, and we deserve your help." They say, "Do not abandon your slaves." They appeal to the covenant relationship. They had entered that covenant by deceit, but Israel, having sworn an oath in the name of Yahweh, was bound to it. This is a glorious picture of our salvation. We, who were liars and deceivers from the beginning, have no merit of our own to plead. We cannot appeal to our own goodness. Our only hope is to cling to the covenant that God has made with us in Christ, a covenant sealed not by our faithfulness, but by His. We are His servants, His bondslaves, and our security rests entirely on the integrity of our Master.
And Joshua's response is immediate and decisive. He goes up from Gilgal with all his mighty men. He honors the treaty. This is a picture of our great Joshua, Jesus Christ. He is our covenant head, and He will not abandon those who have sworn allegiance to Him. When the world, the flesh, and the devil lay siege to the believer, our High Priest ever lives to make intercession for us, and He comes quickly to save us.
Yahweh's War (vv. 8-11)
Before the battle is even joined, God declares the outcome.
"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.'" (Joshua 10:8)
This is the fundamental principle of all spiritual warfare. We do not fight for victory; we fight from victory. The outcome has already been determined in the heavenly places. Christ has already triumphed over the principalities and powers at the cross. Our task is to believe God's promise and then act on it. And notice what Joshua does in response to this promise. He doesn't put his feet up and wait for the enemy to fall over. No, "he had gone up, marching all night from Gilgal" (v. 9). Divine sovereignty does not negate human responsibility; it energizes it. Because God has promised success, we work with all our might. Faith without works is dead.
And when the battle begins, God makes it clear who the primary combatant is. First, "Yahweh threw them into confusion before Israel." This is a holy rout, a divine panic. Then, as the defeated armies flee, God brings out the heavy artillery. "Yahweh threw down large stones from heaven on them... there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword" (v. 11). This is not just a weather event; it is a theological statement. The Canaanites worshipped storm gods like Baal. Here, the true and living God demonstrates His absolute sovereignty over the creation, using the very elements they worshipped to destroy them. God will not share His glory with another.
The Longest Day (vv. 12-15)
This brings us to one of the most astonishing events in all of Scripture.
"Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh... and he said in the sight of Israel, 'O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.'" (Joshua 10:12)
In the heat of a victory orchestrated by God, Joshua is filled with a faith that is so aligned with the purposes of God that he speaks with God's own authority. He does not timidly ask God to stop the sun. He commands the sun to stop. This is a man acting as God's true viceroy on earth. He is exercising the dominion that was given to Adam in the beginning. The pagans worshipped the sun and moon as powerful deities that controlled their fates. Joshua treats them like light fixtures that can be paused at his command. This is the ultimate polemic. Your gods are our God's servants.
And the cosmos obeys. "So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped... for about a whole day." Modern skeptics, with their starched materialist collars, choke on this. But for those who believe Genesis 1:1, this is a small thing. If God can create the entire cosmic order with a word, He can certainly pause it for an afternoon to accomplish His redemptive purposes. The text tells us why this happened: "for Yahweh fought for Israel." The event was not a testament to Joshua's personal power, but to God's covenant faithfulness. When a man is fully submitted to the will of God, he can pray with breathtaking audacity.
The day was extended so that the judgment against God's enemies could be completed. This long day of judgment in the Old Testament is a foreshadowing of the long day of grace we now live in. God is holding the sun still, as it were, delaying the final judgment, so that the gospel may go forth and His people may be gathered in from every tribe and tongue. But this day of grace will not last forever. The sun will eventually set on this age, and the final judgment will come.
And where does this monumental chapter end? "Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp to Gilgal" (v. 15). Gilgal was the place of their circumcision, the place where the reproach of Egypt was rolled away. It was the place of their covenant identity. After the greatest military victory of their lives, they return to the sign of the covenant. This is crucial. All our victories, all our successes, must drive us back to the cross, back to our identity in Christ, lest we become proud and forget that it is Yahweh who fights for us.