Slices
Prepare
Consider the challenges you are currently facing. Remembering that ‘our struggle is not against flesh and blood’ (Ephesians 6:12, NIV), pray for God’s protection, and a fresh empowering.
Bible passage
The sun stands still
10 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 had become their allies. 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, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely 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, and more of them died from the hail 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:
‘Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
and you, 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 human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!
15 Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.
Explore
The people of Gibeon are in trouble. Their recent peace treaty with Israel (Joshua 9:15; 10:1) has threatened their neighbours. The regional balance of power is shifting.
Joshua and the Israelites quickly rally to the aid of Gibeon. An all-night march to attack the enemy is matched by the Lord’s decisive intervention. The victory is swift and complete (v 10).
Observe the supernatural. More enemy are destroyed by a sudden hailstorm than by the military might of Israel (v 11). Sun and moon stand still (v 13).
Yet note what is considered the greater miracle. The Lord listened to the prayer of a man (v 12). Why? We see that Joshua took what God had promised (v 8), applied it to his situation, and the Lord heard his cry (v 14).
What about us? In our battles in life God is still the same. He promises that when we call to him, he will answer (Psalm 91:15). What an amazing God!
Respond
Give thanks that God fights for us even when we feel weak and unable. Bring to him your fears and concerns, and lay hold of his promise of victory through Christ’s resurrection. ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ (Romans 8:31, NIV).
Deeper Bible study
‘Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’1
This passage tells of another great victory for Joshua’s army. There are four aspects to the victory. First, God is pictured as the warrior of Israel fighting for his people (vs 8,11). It is God who ‘threw them into confusion’ (v 10) and who ‘hurled large hailstones down’ (v 11). Second, God’s part still left room for Joshua’s clever strategy of a surprise attack (v 9). Third, Joshua and the army needed to display great courage to take on the five kings (v 5). Fourth, the victory was an answer to Joshua’s prayer (v 12).
The passage makes clear that Israel’s victory is due to God’s intervention; but it is more difficult to understand exactly what happened. The reference to the sun standing still comes from the ancient poem from the Book of Jashar. The poetry of verses 12–14 is difficult to reconcile with the prose account of the battle which precedes it. The editor of the book of Joshua seems to be interpreting the factual victory figuratively with reference to the ancient poem, which is incidentally one of many accounts in ancient literature of time standing still to enable a victory to be achieved.2 Among those who take the sun standing still literally, some see it as giving extra daylight, whereas others see the sun not rising to give extra darkness for the surprise attack. The fact that the word translated ‘stand still’ (v 12) literally means ‘be silent’ does not make understanding any easier.
While we are unlikely to experience God’s intervention in our lives in quite such a spectacular way, we can take from the passage the encouragement of God’s sovereignty and the assurance that he still acts in answer to the prayers of his children who put their trust in him.
What areas in your church or your personal life do you need to give to God in prayer and ask for his intervention in?
1 1 Cor 15:57 2 For example, Agamemnon prayed to Zeus not to let the sun go down before the Achaeans had been victorious (Iliad II)
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Samuel 23,24; Proverbs 31
Pray for Scripture Union
The importance of music in communicating the gospel is featured several times in this edition of Connecting You. Praise God for all those Christian musicians who write and perform songs which help children and young people discover and learn more about Jesus.
