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The Defeat of the Five Kings on a Day of Miraculous Length
v. 1. Now, it came to pass, when Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem, had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it, (as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king, a judgment of extermination having been carried out upon them,) and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, in alliance with them, the entire Central Canaan thus being in the hands of the invaders,
v. 2. that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, the capitals occupied by the sheiks, or kings, of the various tribes and nations, and because it was greater than Ai and all the men thereof were mighty.
v. 3. Wherefore Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem, sent unto Hoham, king of Hebron, the ancient city in Southern Canaan, and unto Piram, king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia, king of Lachish, and unto Debir, king of Eglon, these cities being in the lowlands toward the southwest, bordering on Philistia, saying,
v. 4. Come up unto me and help me that we may smite Gibeon; for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. The campaign was not directed against Israel, but against Gibeon, for the action of the Gibeonites was construed as a betrayal of the Canaanites' cause, as a going over to the enemy.
v. 5. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, formed an alliance, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it. Thus these kings hardened their hearts against the obvious proofs of God's power and plunged headlong into their destruction.
v. 6. And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua, to the camp, to Gilgal, for they were now in alliance with Israel, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants, do not withdraw it in this emergency; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us, the appeal being in the form of a climax; for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us. Since the Amorites of the mountains, the Jebusites, were the strongest among the allies, the entire army of the enemy is described accordingly.
v. 7. So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, in a forced night march, he and all the people of war with him and all the mighty men of valor, a picked portion of the army.
v. 8. And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not, for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee. Cf Jos_2:24; Joshua 6"2; 8:1-18.
v. 9. Joshua, therefore, came unto them suddenly, in a surprise attack, the rapid march being a proof of his great military genius, and went up from Gilgal all night.
v. 10. And the Lord discomfited them, the Amorites, before Israel, made them confused and helpless at this sudden attack, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, the pass in the mountains which led to the plains beyond, and smote them to Azekah and unto Makkedah, far down in the lowlands of Philistia, the battle thus rapidly changing to flight and pursuit over a distance of some thirty miles.
v. 11. And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, where the foothills converge into the plains of Philistia, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, in a terrible hailstorm, and they died; they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. The Israelites were to see and understand that it was not their own strength, but the divine assistance of Jehovah, which gave them the victory.
v. 12. Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, in a mighty prayer of faith, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, wait, delay some time; and thou, Moon, in the Valley of Ajalon. This must, therefore, have happened while the moon was in its first quarter. The command was a heroic prayer to the Lord and Creator of the world to interfere in the order of nature and not to permit the setting of the main lights controlling the division of time until Israel would have completed her vengeance upon her enemies.
v. 13. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, they were held back, they did not continue their course, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies, completely destroyed them. Is not this written in the Book of Jasher (of the righteous), a book of poems praising the great deeds of Jehovah? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down, made no progress toward the west, about a whole day.
v. 14. and there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel. Thus the living, almighty God wrought a great miracle, for the religious destiny of all the world was here at stake. All the efforts of Bible-scholars and critics to explain away this fact avail them nothing; the text is too clear and too powerful.