Making peace with Israel put Gibeon in mortal danger: five Amorite kings march on the city to punish it. Gibeon sends word to Joshua — slack not thy hand from thy servants — and Joshua, bound by the treaty he was tricked into, marches all night to defend them. God fights the battle with hailstones, and when the daylight runs short, Joshua asks for more of it, out loud, in front of the whole army.
A study in Joshua 10 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 8 min read
Slack Not Thy Hand From Thy Servants
“And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us… And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand.”
Joshua 10:6, 8
The people Israel was deceived into sparing are now the people Israel is obliged to rescue. Joshua could have let the coalition do his work for him; instead he honours the oath, musters the army, and climbs the passes overnight to reach Gibeon by dawn. Keeping faith with the Gibeonites was not convenient, and God backed him in it — the same promise as always: fear them not.
The LORD Cast Down Great Stones From Heaven
“The LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.”
Joshua 10:11
Israel does real fighting in this chapter, but the body count belongs to God. The hailstorm kills more of the enemy than the entire army does, and it falls on the fleeing Amorites without touching the Israelites among them. The lesson Jericho taught with a wall, this teaches with the weather: the outcome is the LORD’s, and Israel is along to see it done.
Sun, Stand Thou Still Upon Gibeon
“Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies… So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.”
Joshua 10:12-13
Joshua looks at the westering sun, sees the day is too short to finish the rout, and gives a command to the solar system — in front of Israel. And it holds. Whatever the mechanism, Scripture’s claim is plain: the day was lengthened because a man asked. Ellen White ties the boldness of the prayer to the discipline behind it — the man who could speak to the sun was a man who had spent hours face-down in prayer.
“The man who commanded, ‘Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon,’ is the man who for hours lay prostrate upon the earth in prayer in the camp of Gilgal. The men of prayer are the men of power.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 509
The LORD Fought For Israel
“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.”
Joshua 10:14
The verse credits the miracle to the right party twice over: the LORD hearkened, and the LORD fought. Joshua worked as hard as if it all depended on him, then prayed as if it all depended on God — and it did. That day broke the back of southern Canaan; the chapter ends with city after city falling “because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel” (verse 42). The same hailstones reappear at the end of the Bible, in the last battle (Revelation 16:21).
“He did all that human energy could do, and then he cried in faith for divine aid. The secret of success is the union of divine power with human effort. Those who achieve the greatest results are those who rely most implicitly upon the Almighty Arm.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 509
