God's Power Displayed

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

GOD’S POWER DISPLAYED

Josh 10:1-14

10:1 Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally destroyed 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 were living near them. 2 He 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. 3 So 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." 5 Then 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. 6 The 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." 7 So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men. 8 The 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." 9 After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise. 10 The LORD threw them into confusion before Israel, who defeated them in a great victory at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the LORD hurled large hailstones down on them from the sky, and more of them died from the hailstones than were killed by the swords of the Israelites. 12 On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: "O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon." 13 So 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. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!

NIV

Within the whole narrative of this war all the attacking and killing, and the pursuing of those five kings and their armies, we have something that is a once-in-a-lifetime event for Joshua, as well as for all mankind. First, although the LORD had told Joshua not to be concerned for he had given those kings and their armies into the hands of Joshua and his fighting men. Second, it is also interesting God threw those five kings and their armies into confusion so Joshua had a great victory in battle over them. However, they fled from the army of Joshua and so they pursued after them. Thirdly, God got involved personally in the fight and threw down large hailstones upon the fleeing armies of the five kings and killed more than had been slain in the battle against the army of Israel. But the greatest event was that God listened to Joshua and did as Joshua spoke in the presence of Israel. “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, of the Valley of Aijalon”. So it happened just as Joshua spoke it. There have been studies by those who think they are in the know, which say this was the first eclipse recorded of what happens every so many years, so they can date this battle time exactly. However, the point here is not the time it happened, but God listened to a man and had the sun stand still, or as we know, kept the earth from spinning, keeping the sun shining until Israel avenged itself on its enemies. It is written there was never a day like that one or since that, the LORD listened to a man. Yet, we know because of the rest of the words of God, we are assured that He hears our prayers. He listens to us every time we speak to him. Jesus promised us that we could ask the Father anything in his name and he would do it. Of course, our salvation is an act of God listening to our prayer of repentance. However, what happened that day was special for the Hebrew word translated when the LORD listened to a man, has a direct use as, to hear, to listen, to harken, to obey. Therefore, God did what Joshua spoke, God obeyed the words of a man. There are false prophets today who teach the “Name it, and claim it” theology, in essence, saying they have the same authority Joshua had that one day and God is obliged to do whatever they say. Rubish, as the exact opposite is true, we are obligated to do whatever God says. He is God and we are His people, His creation, His to command. Nevertheless, God displayed his majestic power on that day, before all of Israel, just as we see him display his awesome power in our lives today.