Joshua's Long Day

*** WALK-THRU the BIBLE ***

Re: Joshua's Long Day (Joshua 9:1-2, 10:1-11, 23)

"And Jehovah said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you." (vs8)

Jericho and Ai are destroyed, and Gibeon has made peace with Israel. This is becoming a precarious situation for the remaining city-states. So the five kings of the Amorites (vs5) get together and decide to punish Gibeon for making peace with Israel. Gibeon calls out to Israel: Help! And so Israel, in keeping with the treaty they forged, goes to help Gibeon. And even though they had been foolish, they are keeping their word, and God honors that by promising victory. But this will be a victory like no other.

The treaty with Gibeon has actually turned out for an 'opportunity' for Israel, to engage in preemptive defense. (Like they did in 1967 when they obliterated Egypt's air force and other similar things in short order. Quick and sudden strikes. To Egypt they flew below the radar. When they took out Sadam Hussein's nuclear reactors, their jets flew in a -very- tight formation, making themselves appear to the enemy radar as a commercial airplane) The enemy coming to Gibeon, coming -to- Israel was part of God's plan; just as in the next chapter when some more nations decide to come after Israel it says...

"For it was of Jehovah to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them, as Jehovah had commanded Moses" (11:20)

What is it that they call it? "First blood"? If an enemy comes and attacks, and a nation 'defends' itself, there is more justification in the eyes of the world for self-defense, than for out-n-out naked aggression.

And so, before all is said and done for the next few days, a whole bunch of nations will be obliterated. And it says,

"All these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because Jehovah the God of Israel, fought for Israel" (10:42)

How did God fight for Israel? He moved the heavens and earth. God threw hailstones down on the enemies, such that more died of the hailstones, than at Israel's hand. (10:11)

There was a lot of fighting to do, but only so much daylight. Joshua speaks to God, and the sun and moon stood still to make for an extra day's worth of daylight. (10:13)

How did this happen? There are others who know a lot more about astronomy than I do. It is said that astronomers, when calculating the passage of time, going backwards through history, and calculating the orbits of the planets and the solar system, that there is a missing day in their calculations. Did God just -stop- the earth's rotation? The fact that a bunch of ice came crashing down suggests something else. Perhaps another planetoid came orbiting near the earth, and the gravity between the two pulled on the earth. If this planet had an ice moon that came within Roche's Limit of earth, the interaction of gravity would have made the ice moon 'explode' into bazillion pieces, and that's where the hailstones came from? Perhaps it was an icy comet? The fact that there was lots of ice falling from space, and that there was a complete extra day, means that -something- spectacular happened in the heavens. After all, God did set up the universe for "signs and seasons, and for days and years" (Genesis 1:14)

When we read in Revelation about the stars falling from heaven and the huge earthquakes, as Jesus promised (Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:25), or as Joel speaks of the sun, moon and stars (Joel 2) or about the earth moving out of its place (Isiah 13:13), and hail falling (Revelation 8:7, 11:19, 16:21, Ezekiel 38:22) as Zechariah speaks of the final conflict as God restores Israel and judges the nations, it says...

"And Jehovah shall go forth and fight against those nations, like the day He fought in the day of battle." (Zechariah 14:3)

I believe this episode with Joshua is what that refers to. (10:14) As Joshua speaks to Israel...

"..for Jehovah your God is He who is fighting for you.." (23:3,10)

It was not Israel's bravery, nor Joshua's commanding skills, but...

"..Jehovah your God has delivered them into your hand" (10:19)

They were able to defeat all these nations in one fell-swoop...

"because Jehovah the God of Israel fought for Israel" (10:42)

Israel has another time of deliverance coming. As we have seen, both Israel and Joshua have had lapses in obedience and wisdom. As it comes to the end of Joshua's life he is going to chide them to get rid of their idols (24:23); but the time is coming when Israel will be given a new heart (Jeremiah 31:31-34); as the third part that remains (Zechariah 13:9) after Armageddon, they will "all be saved" (Romans 11:26) God moved heaven and earth to get Israel into the land of promise in the first place. And when He eradicates, once and for all, Israel's enemies who want to wipe her off the map, He is going to do so again, just as He did in the days of Joshua.

"For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem. And the city shall be captured, and the houses plundered, and the women ravished. And half the city shall go into captivity and the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. And Jehovah shall go forth and fight against those nations, like the day He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall split in two, from the east even to the west, a very great valley. And half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south... And it will come to pass in that day, that there shall not be light; the great lights will shrink. And it will be one day which shall be known to Jehovah; not day and not night, but it will happen, that there will be light at evening time." (Zechariah 14:2-4,6-7)

"..knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep;
for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Let us
walk decently, as in the day...putting on the Lord Jesus Christ..
...redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
Romans 13:11-14~ Ephesians 5:16

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