mh_parser/scraps/Josh_10_7-Josh_10_14.html

<p>Here, I. Joshua resolves to assist the Gibeonites, and God encourages him in this resolve. 1. He ascended from Gilgal (<a class="bibleref" title="Josh.10.7" href="/passage/?search=Josh.10.7">Josh. 10:7</a>), that is, he designed, determined, and prepared for, this expedition to relieve Gibeon, for it is probable it was before he stirred a step that God spoke to him to encourage him. It was generous and just in Joshua to help his new allies, though perhaps the king of Jerusalem, when he attacked them, little thought that Joshua would be so ready to help them, but expected he would abandon them as Canaanites, the rather because they had obtained their league with him by fraud; therefore he speaks with assurance (<a class="bibleref" title="Josh.10.4" href="/passage/?search=Josh.10.4">Josh. 10:4</a>) of smiting Gibeon. But Joshua knew that his promise to let them live obliged him, not only not to slay them himself, but not to stand by and see them slain when it was in the power of his hand to prevent it, <a class="bibleref" title="Prov.24.11,Prov.24.12" href="/passage/?search=Prov.24.11,Prov.24.12"><span class="bibleref" title="Prov.24.11">Prov. 24:11</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Prov.24.12">12</span></a>. He knew that when they embraced the faith and worship of the God of Israel they came to trust under the shadow of his wings (<a class="bibleref" title="Ruth.2.12" href="/passage/?search=Ruth.2.12">Ruth 2:12</a>), and therefore, as his servants, he was bound to protect them. 2. God animated him for his undertaking, (<a class="bibleref" title="Josh.10.8" href="/passage/?search=Josh.10.8">Josh. 10:8</a>): <i>Fear not</i>, that is, (1.) “Doubt not of the goodness of thy cause and the clearness of thy call; though it be to assist Gibeonites, thou art in the way of duty, and God is with thee of a truth.” (2.) “Dread not the power of the enemy; though so many kings are confederate against thee, and are resolved to make their utmost efforts for the reduction of Gibeon, and it may be will fight desperately in a desperate cause, yet let not this discourage thee, <i>I have delivered them into thy hand</i>;” and those can make neither resistance nor escape whom God has marked for destruction.</p>
<p class="tab-1">II. Joshua applies himself to execute this resolve, and God assists him in the execution. Here we have,</p>
<p class="tab-1">1. The great industry of Joshua, and the power of God working with it for the defeat of the enemy. In this action, (1.) Joshua showed his good-will in the haste he made for the relief of Gibeon (<a class="bibleref" title="Josh.10.9" href="/passage/?search=Josh.10.9">Josh. 10:9</a>): <i>He came unto them suddenly</i>, for the extremity was such as would not admit delay. If one of the tribes of Israel had been in danger, he could not have shown more care or zeal for its relief than here for Gibeon, remembering in this, as in other cases, there must be one law for the stranger that was proselyted and for him that was born in the land. Scarcely had the confederate princes got their forces together, and sat down before Gibeon, when Joshua was upon them, the surprise of which would put them into the greatest confusion. Now that the enemy were actually drawn up into a body, which had all as it were but one neck, despatch was as serviceable to his cause as before delay was, while he waited for this general rendezvous; and now that things were ripe for execution no man more expeditious than Joshua, who before had seemed slow. Now it shall never be said, <i>He left that to be done to-morrow which he could do to-day</i>. When Joshua found he could not reach Gibeon in a day, lest he should lose any real advantages against the enemy, or so much as seem to come short or to neglect his new allies, he marched all night, resolving not to give sleep to his eyes, nor slumber to his eye-lids, till he had accomplished this enterprise. It was well the forces he took with him were mighty men of valour, not only able-bodied men, but men of spirit and resolution, and hearty in the cause, else they neither could nor would have borne this fatigue, but would have murmured at their leader and would have asked, “Isa. this the rest we were promised in Canaan?” But they well considered that the present toil was in order to a happy settlement, and therefore were reconciled to it. Let the <i>good soldiers of Jesus Christ</i> learn hence to <i>endure hardness, in following the Lamb whithersoever he goes</i>, and not think themselves undone if their religion lose them now and then a night’s sleep; it will be enough to rest when we come to heaven. But why needed Joshua to put himself and his men so much to the stretch? Had not God promised him that without fail he would <i>deliver the enemies into his hand</i>? It is true he had; but God’s promises are intended, not to slacken and supersede, but to quicken and encourage our endeavours. He that believeth doth not make haste to anticipate providence, but doth make haste to attend it, with a diligent, not a distrustful, speed. (2.) God showed his great power in defeating the enemies whom Joshua so vigorously attacked, <a class="bibleref" title="Josh.10.10,Josh.10.11" href="/passage/?search=Josh.10.10,Josh.10.11"><span class="bibleref" title="Josh.10.10">Josh. 10:10</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Josh.10.11">11</span></a>. Joshua had a very numerous and powerful army with him, hands enough to despatch a dispirited enemy, so that the enemy might have been scattered by the ordinary fate of war; but God himself would appear in this great and decisive battle, and draw up the artillery of heaven against the Canaanites, to demonstrate to this people that they <i>got not this land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them, but God’s right hand and his arm</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.44.3" href="/passage/?search=Ps.44.3">Ps. 44:3</a>. <i>The Lord discomfited them before Israel</i>. Israel did what they could, and yet God did all. [1.] It must needs be a very great terror and confusion to the enemy to perceive that heaven itself fought against them; for who can contest with, flee from, or fence against, the powers of heaven? They had affronted the true God and robbed him of his honour by worshipping the host of heaven, giving that worship to the creature which is due to the Creator only; and now the host of heaven fights against them, and even that pa
<p class="tab-1">2. The great faith of Joshua, and the power of God crowning it with the miraculous arrest of the sun, that the day of Israel’s victories might be prolonged, and so the enemy totally defeated. The hail-stones had their rise no higher than the clouds, but, to show that Israel’s help came from above the clouds, the sun itself, who by his constant motion serves the whole earth, by halting when there was occasion served the Israelites, and did them a kindness. <i>The sun and moon stood still in their habitation, at the light of thy arrows</i> which gave the signal, <a class="bibleref" title="Hab.3.11" href="/passage/?search=Hab.3.11">Hab. 3:11</a>.</p>
<p class="tab-1">(1.) Here is the prayer of Joshua that the sun might stand still. I call it his prayer, because it is said (<a class="bibleref" title="Josh.10.12" href="/passage/?search=Josh.10.12">Josh. 10:12</a>) <i>he spoke to the Lord</i>; as Elijah, though we read (<a class="bibleref" title="1Kgs.17.1" href="/passage/?search=1Kgs.17.1">1 Kgs. 17:1</a>) only of his prophesying of the drought, yet is said (<a class="bibleref" title="Jas.5.17" href="/passage/?search=Jas.5.17">Jas. 5:17</a>) to pray for it. Observe, [1.] An instance of Joshua’s unwearied activity in the service of God and Israel, that though he had marched all night and fought all day, and, one might expect, would be inclined to repose himself and get a little sleep, and give his army some time to rest—that, like the hireling, he would earnestly desire the shadow, and bid the night welcome, when he had done such a good day’s work—yet, instead of this, he wishes for nothing so much as the prolonging of the day. Note, Those that <i>wait on the Lord</i> and work for him <i>shall renew their strength, shall run and not be weary, shall walk and not faint</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Isa.40.31" href="/passage/?search=Isa.40.31">Isa. 40:31</a>. [2.] An instance of his great faith in the almighty power of God, as above the power of nature, and able to control and alter the usual course of it. No doubt Joshua had an extraordinary impulse or impression upon his spirit, which he knew to be of divine origin, prompting him to desire that this miracle might be wrought upon this occasion, else it would have been presumption in him to desire or expect; the prayer would not have been granted by the divine power, if it had not been dictated by the divine grace. God wrought this faith in him, and then said, “<i>According to thy faith</i>, and thy prayer of faith, <i>be it unto thee</i>.” It cannot be imagined, however, that such a thing as this should have entered into his mind if God had not put it there; a man would have had a thousand projects in his head for the completing of the victory before he would have thought of desiring the sun to stand still; but even in the Old-Testament saints <i>the Spirit made intercession according to the will of God</i>. What God will give he inclines the hearts of his praying people to ask, and for what he will do he will be enquired of, <a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.36.37" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.36.37">Ezek. 36:37</a>. Now, <i>First</i>, It looked great for Joshua to say, <i>Sun, stand thou still</i>. His ancestor Joseph had indeed dreamed that the sun and moon did homage to him; but who would have thought that, after it had been fulfilled in the figure, it should be again fulfilled in the letter to one of his posterity? The prayer is thus expressed with authority, because it was not an ordinary prayer, such as is directed and supported only by God’s common providence or promise, but the prayer of a prophet at this time divinely inspired for this purpose; and yet it intimates to us the prevalency of prayer in general, so far as it is regulated by the word of God, and may remind us of that honour put upon prayer (<a class="bibleref" title="Isa.45.11" href="/passage/?search=Isa.45.11">45:11</a>), <i>Concerning the work of my hands command you me</i>. He bids the sun stand still upon Gibeon, the place of action and the seat of war, intimating that what he designed in this request was the advantage of Israel against their enemies; it is probable that the sun was now declining, and that he did not call for the lengthening out of the day until he observed it hastening towards it period. He does likewise, in the name of the King of kings, arrest the moon, perhaps because it was requisite for the preserving of the harmony and good order of the spheres that the course of the rest of the heavenly bodies should be stayed likewise, otherwise, while the sun shone, he needed not the moon; and here he mentions the valley of Ajalon, which was near to Gibeon, because there he was at that time. <i>Secondly</i>, It was bold ind
<p class="tab-1">(2.) The wonderful answer to this prayer. No sooner said than done (<a class="bibleref" title="Josh.10.13" href="/passage/?search=Josh.10.13">Josh. 10:13</a>): <i>The sun stood still, and the moon staid</i>. Notwithstanding the vast distance between the earth and the sun, at the word of Joshua the sun stopped immediately; for the same God that rules in heaven above rules at the same time on this earth, and, when he pleases, even <i>the heavens shall hear the earth</i>, as here. Concerning this great miracle it is here said, [1.] <i>That it continued a whole day</i>, that is, the sun continued as long again above the horizon as otherwise it would have done. It is commonly supposed to have been about the middle of summer that this happened, when, in that country, it was about fourteen hours between sun and sun, so that this day was about twenty-eight hours long; yet, if we suppose it to have been at that time of the year when the days are at the shortest, it will be the more probable that Joshua should desire and pray for the prolonging of the day. [2.] That hereby the people had full time to avenge themselves of their enemies, and to give them a total defeat. We often read in history of battles which the night put an end to, the shadows of which favoured the retreat of the conquered; to prevent this advantage to the enemy in their flight, the day was doubled, that the hand of Israel might <i>find out all their enemies</i>; but the eye and hand of God can find them out without the help of the sun’s light, for to him <i>the night shineth as the day</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.139.12" href="/passage/?search=Ps.139.12">Ps. 139:12</a>. Note, Sometimes God completes a great salvation in a little time, and makes but one day’s work of it. Perhaps this miracle is alluded to <a class="bibleref" title="Zech.14.6,Zech.14.7" href="/passage/?search=Zech.14.6,Zech.14.7"><span class="bibleref" title="Zech.14.6">Zech. 14:6</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Zech.14.7">7</span></a>, where the day of God’s fighting against the nations is said to be <i>one day</i>, and that <i>at evening time it shall be light</i>, as here. And, [3.] That there was <i>never any day like it</i>, before or since, in which God put such an honour upon faith and prayer, and upon Israel’s cause; never did he so wonderfully comply with the request of a man, nor so wonderfully fight for his people. [4.] This is said to be written <i>in the book of Jasher</i>, a collection of state-poems, in which the poem made upon this occasion was preserved among the rest; probably the same with that <i>book of the wars of the Lord</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Num.21.14" href="/passage/?search=Num.21.14">Num. 21:14</a>), which afterwards was continued and carried on by one Jasher. Those words, <i>Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon</i>, sounding metrical, are supposed to be taken from the narrative of this event as it was found in the book of Jasher. Not that the divine testimony of the book of Joshua needed confirmation from the book of Jasher, a human composition; but to those who had that book in their hands it would be of use to compare this history with it, which warrants the appeals the learned make to profane history for corroborating the proofs of the truth of sacred history. [5.] But surely this stupendous miracle of the standing still of the sun was intended for something more than merely to give Israel so much the more time to find out and kill their enemies, which, without this, might have been done the next day. <i>First</i>, God would hereby magnify Joshua (<a class="bibleref" title="Josh.3.7" href="/passage/?search=Josh.3.7">Josh. 3:7</a>) 71dc , as a particular favourite, and one whom he did delight to honour, being a type of him who has all power both in heaven and in earth and whom the winds and the seas obey. <i>Secondly</i>, He would hereby notify to all the world what he was doing for his people Israel here in Canaan; the sun, the eye of the world, must be fixed for some hours upon Gib