May 21, 2022
Today’s reading: Joshua 10:13-14
The Longest Day
We read in Joshua 10:13-14:
Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. 14 And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the LORD heeded the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel.
For a long time, I personally only focused on the amazing miracle written in this verse. However, I haven’t really thought about how significant this miracle is until doing a study about the whole battle.
We need to read the conquest of Canaan from a military point of view.
We read in the previous verse how Israel committed a fatal mistake of making a covenant with the Gibeonites. They are supposed to destroy Gibeon and yet, they found themselves making a vow to protect them!
What a great contradiction!
However, as we read time and time again, Yahweh is a Master Artist in turning curses into blessings. As we will see, God can use even mistakes to fulfill his plan.
We read in Joshua 10 how Adoni-Zedek successfully united the different kingdoms or states in Canaan.
(Note: Adoni-Zedek is essentially the same as Melchizedek. This somehow represents Adoni-Zedek as an antichrist or a fake Messiah that deceived a lot of people and caused them to fight against God.)
Since the Canaanite kings were somehow afraid of Israel, what did they do? They instead attack Gibeon.
Why?
They were upset with Gibeon. It was a royal city with a big army and a powerful influence around the area. Yet, they decided to become a vassal state of Israel!
As Gibeon learned that they would be attacked, they asked Israel for help.
Here’s where God can turn lemons into lemonades.
Some of us have not really realized the difficulty of attacking big and powerful royal cities. It takes a tremendous amount of time, energy, and effort to take down even one walled city.
So, what is the solution? God allowed certain things to happen to expedite and hasten the conquering of the land.
Because of Adoni-Zedek’s plan, five of the rulers of the royal cities went out of their fortified cities to attack Gibeon. This left them vulnerable to Israel’s attack.
However, this is not an easy war to fight. Joshua had reasons to fear. Imagine, Israel would be going against five kings — all at the same time, instead of conquering them one by one!
Thus, Yahweh needed to encourage Joshua:
8 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you.” Joshua 10:8
Joshua used the dark of the night to march towards Gibeon and make a surprise attack against the armies of the five kings. As a result, panic ensued and the first goal of the enemies was to go back to their fortified cities.
This is where the importance of extending the day comes in.
Joshua knew that they needed to finish the battle right there and then. If not, they will still have future headaches in conquering the fortified cities with their armies who retreated from the battle.
Yahweh saw the importance of finishing the battle on that day and thus, He wrought one of the most amazing and incredible miracles of all, making the sun stand still.
To learn more about waiting and patience, please read, “Turning Trials into Blessings.”
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