The Peace That Leads to WarJosh. 10:1-15 sermon transcript

5/7/17

Have you ever had the experience of making a friend that upset some of your other friends? Starting a relationship with somebody new, and your old friends don’t like that person—it can cause a bit of a rift. Sometimes making new friends, developing new relationships, leads to more conflict and hostility. And I think that’s actually a principle that we can see in Scripture. This morning we’re going to look at Joshua 10, and we’re going to see a story where making peace resulted in greater warfare, greater conflict. And we’re going to see this morning that that’s the truth of the Christian life. When you accept Jesus, very often your family won’t like it, your friends won’t like it, other people in the culture and out in the public square won’t like it. You gain enemies when you begin to follow Jesus very often, and we’re going to see that that’s the normal Christian life in a real sense.

To remind you of where we were last week, Joshua chapter 9 is the famous story of the Gibeonite deception, where these Canaanite came to Joshua and the Israelites and convinced them through an elaborate ruse that they were from a far country, and so they should make a covenant of peace with them, and that covenant of peace would involve them, well, not killing them. Because, by rights, when we discover, and when Joshua discovered a few days later that these are in fact Gibeonites, Hivites, Canaanites that live in the land with the people of Israel now, God had instructed them to devote these cities to destruction. And so for them to come and ask for terms of peace in this deceptive way should have moved Joshua to consult the Lord about how to handle this, but he did not, and so he made the peace treaty with these people, and now we get to see in Joshua chapter 10 whether he’s going to honor the terms of peace when Gibeon gets into trouble. Because Gibeon has now made peace with Israel, and that’s upset some of their former allies, particularly the king of Jerusalem. So, we’re introduced to Jerusalem for the first time in the Bible in this passage. Now, we’ve seen the place in Genesis a few times, but the first time the word “Jerusalem” appears is right here in Joshua chapter 10 verse 1, and we see right here from the beginning, Jerusalem is the bad guys, and they’re very bad at this point, and so we’re going to be introduced to this coalition that’s going to come after Gibeon and attack the people of Israel as well. So, let’s dive into this story here this morning.

Look at Joshua chapter 10 verses 1-5 with me: As soon as Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured Ai and had devoted it to destruction, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were warriors. So Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, “Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon. For it has made peace with Joshua and with the people of Israel.” Then the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered their forces and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon and made war against it. So, the king of Jerusalem is upset because Gibeon is a close ally of Jerusalem, and now they’ve made peace with Israel. Israel’s coming into the land of Canaan to take the land.

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Yahweh has promised to give this land to his people, to the people of Israel, and the Gibeonites have made peace and joined up with the people of Israel, and this upset their allies, Jerusalem particularly. And so, the king of Jerusalem sends to some friends, some other allies to mount a great army to come and attack Gibeon. They want to punish Gibeon for what they’ve done, but they’re also seeking to test this relationship. Will Joshua and Israel really show up to protect Gibeon when they come to attack?

Now, I want to mention one thing about this coalition. One of these cities is important: Hebron. Hebron is an important city in many different ways in the Bible, but there’s a particular way that I want you to recall. Remember the story of the twelve spies in Numbers chapter 13. When Moses sent in the twelve spies originally, they went into Hebron. And do you remember what they saw there that scared ten of them to death? The Anakim, the giants.1 This is the first time that Israel will actually encounter the giants, the Anakim, that they were so terrified of when the spies first went in. Those ten spies came back out to Moses, and they said, “We can’t go in to take this land! The people are too large!” Do you remember how they described their perspective? “We seemed to them as grasshoppers! They will squash us! We can’t go in!” Now, Joshua was there, remember? Joshua and Caleb were there, and they said, “God has promised to give these people to us, big or small! We can go! Let’s go!” But, of course, the ten prevailed on the nation, and they did not go. So now, they’re actually going to face these giants in the flesh. They’re not mentioned in the story, but I wanted you to see something of the background color here, because at this point, with the mention of Hebron, if you know the biblical story, you might be thinking, “What’s going to happen? Are they going to freak out like they did before and turn tail and run? Or is God going to fulfill his promise?” Let’s see what happens.

In verses 6-8, Joshua responds to Gibeon’s cry for help. And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, “Do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us.” So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” So, Gibeon is besieged; these five armies that have come together are surrounding the city and breaking down the walls, so Gibeon sends a runner—perhaps on a horse or some other animal to move quickly—to traverse about 20 miles to get down to Israel’s camp at Gilgal and to summon Joshua to bring aid, to bring help before they’re utterly destroyed. And so Joshua does; he gets up immediately, and what we’re going to see next is that he’s going to march his army overnight to reach them and to help them.

As they’re getting ready to go, or perhaps on their way, Yahweh speaks to Joshua. This is the first time Yahweh has spoken to Joshua since chapter 8. You remember in chapter 9, Joshua didn’t think about consulting the Lord when the Gibeonites were tricking him, and Yahweh didn’t step in to intervene. He didn’t reveal anything to show Joshua that there was trouble brewing. But here Yahweh intervenes and he speaks, unsummoned, uninvited—he just steps in and tells Joshua what he needs to hear most: “Don’t be afraid.” How many times does Joshua

1 I was reminded of this by the note on these verses in Faithlife Study Bible (edited by John D. Barry et al; Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2016), s.v. Josh. 10:3, where we read, “Hebron was formerly called Kiriath-Arba, which was the city of the Anakim giant clan in Num 13:22, 32–33 (the population that caused Israel to doubt God, leading to the 40 years of wilderness wandering; compare Josh 14:13–15).”

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need to hear that? At least once more, apparently. “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands”—a reiteration of that promise that covers the book of Joshua. As they come in to take the land, Yahweh has already decided; it’s a done deal. “I have given them to you. They are going to be yours.” And then he adds, “Not a man of them shall stand before you”; whether giant or little guy, they’re going to fall over before you.

And so, as we move into the next part of the story, Yahweh’s going to step in and fight for his people. He’s promised to do that, and here we get to see it more fully than we have to date, it seems. Verses 9-11: So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. And Yahweh threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, Yahweh threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword. So, Yahweh steps in. He intervenes. “And he threw them into a panic,” it says in verse 10. Now, reading the ESV here, the rest of the verbs in the sentence have Israel as the subject. But, in the New American Standard and the New King James and several other versions, Yahweh is the subject of all the verbs, and that is what the Hebrew seems to indicate. It was Yahweh who threw them into a panic before Israel. It was Yahweh who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon. It was Yahweh who chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon. And it was Yahweh who struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.2 God is fighting for his people here. He is intervening and he is beating them.

Now, Israel is involved. We see at the end of verse 11, Israel is killing some of these people. They are chasing them, chasing the army away. And you’ve got to think about the odds here. You’ve got five full armies against Joshua’s army. They’re outnumbered; if we are to connect this to the giants of Hebron, they are probably outmatched significantly. But Yahweh has told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid; I have given them into your hands.” And so Yahweh steps in to fight for his people.

And then it gets even more direct with his battling. Yahweh threw down large stones from the sky, hailstones. And it seems that we are to recognize that the hailstones only hit the Canaanites.3 So, it wasn’t like a hailstorm that we might experience where all your cars get dinged and windows get broken of Christian and non-Christian alike. This is a situation where God takes perfect aim at his enemy, and he does not miss, and he does not hit any of his own people with these large hailstones. “There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.”

2 Cf. David M. Howard, Jr., Joshua (The New American Commentary 5; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1998), pg. 237, who writes, “While Joshua and his force marched all night and took the Amorites by surprise (v. 9), it was Yahweh—and Yahweh alone—who took the decisive actions against the enemies (v. 10). Every verb in this verse is singular, indicating that he alone confused, struck, pursued, and struck them.”

3 Cf. Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Strong: Putting God’s Power to Work in Your Life (“Be” Commentary Series; Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1996), pg. 114, who writes, “The timely occurrence of the storm was itself a miracle, but an even greater miracle was the fact that the stones hit only the enemy soldiers. God took His special ‘ammunition’ out of His storehouse and used it to good advantage (Job 38:22-23).”

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Now, it’s at this point that we get to the part of the story that is most famous. Joshua 10 is known for the miracle that is described in the following verses. I want you to see, though, the miracle is not the message of this text. The passage itself draws our attention away from the miracle. But we will talk about the miracle as well. But, as we begin in verse 12, we’re given a time marker, and I want you to think about this for just a moment. The ESV has “at that time.” Now, if you’re reading along, you might assume that we’re talking kind of chronologically; Israel has been chasing this Jerusalem coalition away, God’s been throwing down hailstones from the sky and killing soldiers along the way, and then, after that, you have this miracle that takes place with the sun and the moon. But, it’s slightly more likely that the “at that time” is pulling us back in the story. The narrator of Joshua does this repeatedly; he tells us the story, summarizing what’s happening, and then he backs the tape up, and he zooms in on something that he doesn’t want us to miss, and it seems that that’s what he’s doing here. So, it seems to me that verses 12-14 actually occur in between verses 10-11, as they’re chasing the people, and as God is throwing down hailstones at these Canaanites.4

But, at any rate, let’s read the text. Verses 12-15: At that time Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when Yahweh heeded the voice of a man, for Yahweh fought for Israel. So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. Let me start in with verse 15 and just get that out of the way right now. This exact sentence that we see in verses 15 is going to be repeated verbatim in the last verse of the chapter, verse 43. And so, the question is: Does Joshua go back to the camp at Gilgal, 20 miles south, and then return to deal with the five kings that are here, and then go back to the camp at Gilgal again. Or, is our narrator doing what he so often does, again, kind of going back into the story and telling us more details. I think that’s what’s going on. What we see following verse 15, and what we’ll talk about next Sunday is the mop-up operation and the completion of the battle in verses 16 through the end of chapter 10. And so, what we have in verses 1-15 is the story of the battle focusing on God’s activity, focusing on God’s involvement, and then the rest of the chapter goes back through the story again, but focuses on the activity of Israel and Joshua’s involvement in particular.5 But we’ll see that next week.

So, what of this miracle? The miracle itself is remarkable. It draws our attention; it draws all the discussion among students of Scripture, and it draws the attention of skeptics and scientists who want to suggest that this is impossible and cannot happen, could not be the way that it’s written. Well, before deal with any of that, let’s make sure we understand what’s being said here, and

4 So argues, among other commentators, Howard, Joshua, pg. 238, who writes, “It introduces important action that took place at the same time as that of vv. 6-11, not something that happened later.”

5 Cf. Rhett P. Dodson, Every Promise of Your Word: The Gospel According to Joshua (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2016), pg. 212, who summarizes, “Verses 15 and 43 both refer to the same return to Gilgal. The first fifteen verses give a summary of the day’s events with a focus on the miracle of the sun and moon while verses 16-43 give an expanded version of the story that fills in more of the details. In the first part of the chapter, verses 1-14, the Lord fought miraculously. He exercised his omnipotence to make the sun and moon stand still (verse 13). But he fought for Israel in other ways as well, and it is those other ways that we see emphasized in the remainder of the chapter.”

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there’s some ambiguity here at the beginning. Look at verse 12 again. The question on the table is—when you get to the end of verse 12, you probably see in your Bible that’s it’s indented to indicate that we’re talking about poetry, that there’s suddenly poetry being spoken here. But the question on the table is, Who is speaking? So, look at verse 12 again: At that time Joshua spoke to Yahweh…. Now, it’s at this point that the typical assumption is that the end of verse 12 is what Joshua said. You probably see quotation marks around, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” And the assumption typically is, “Well, that’s Joshua speaking.” And it might be. But that seems a little strange to me for this reason. The text says that he’s speaking to Yahweh…but what is said addresses the sun and the moon. I don’t pray like that. Maybe Joshua did. But that seems a little bit odd. And the second reason it seems odd to me is, Who does Joshua think he is commanding the sun and the moon…even as he’s praying? I think some versions try to get out of the difficulty by paraphrasing it and saying, “May the sun stand still at Gibeon; may the moon stop in the Valley of Aijalon.” But the text is just an imperative; whoever is speaking here is addressing the sun and the moon. So, look at verse 12 again: At that time Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel,--comma—and he said in the sight of Israel…. So, who’s “he”? It could be Joshua, and that might be our instinct as we’re just reading through, but it also could be Yahweh, and that makes a little bit more sense to me, on the balance of things.6 So, we don’t know what Joshua asked for. That’s the interesting thing to think about, and we’ll come back to that in just a minute. What did Joshua actually pray for? What did he ask God to do? And I don’t think the text tells us, and I think that what we do get is God’s answer, and it’s way bigger than I think Joshua ever could’ve imagined to ask. So, we’ll look at more of that in just a minute. But, I’m assuming that Yahweh is actually speaking to the sun and the moon. Doesn’t that make sense? He has jurisdiction over the sun and the moon. He has the right to command them, and when he commands them they do what he says, and so it makes good sense to me, at least, that Joshua prayed for something, and in response Yahweh says this “in the sight of all Israel.” So, verbally before the people—so they hear this voice from heaven say, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”

And then verse 13 explains it, sort of. It’s still poetry: “The sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.” So, it’s at this point that, when we see it as poetry, many people go, “Well, it’s poetry, so maybe it’s figurative, or it’s not really literal or historical.” And they try to get out of it, but that just won’t work because if you read the rest of verse 13—no poetry here—the narrator just says, in plain ordinary…Hebrew…English, “The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.” But it’s that description that gives us a hint, I think, at two things. One: what actually happened? How do we really explain it, if we want to think about it in scientific terms at all? And, secondly, it might hint at what Joshua was asking for, but we’ll get there in just a second.

If you’ll put that first slide on the screen, I just want to give you a visual of what probably was going on visibly. Note the poem and the way God speaks: “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon….” And so, what’s happening are that the sun and the moon are both visible.

6 Cf. Howard, Joshua, pg. 240, who comments, “First, the subject of the verb wayyōʾmer, “and he said,” is not specified, and it is at least possible that God, not Joshua, is the speaker; the grammar would certainly allow for this, even if it is not the first probability.”

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I’m sure you’ve observed this; if you’re up early enough and out on the road, you might see in the morning as the sun is rising in the east, sometimes you can still see the moon visibly in the west, or thereabouts. And then is an actual photograph; I don’t think this is an artist’s rendering, but the sun and the moon you can see up in the east and in the west, and this is a common phenomenon. It’s not something out of the ordinary; it happens pretty ordinarily. But, there is some background to this that might be significant. Why does God do this? What’s the point? There’s a couple of pieces of this that I think we need to understand. One: When the sun and the moon are visible like this—in the ancient world, people are always looking at the sun and the moon and the stars and thinking that they are giving messages and signals, omens. Sometimes they’re good omens; sometimes they’re bad omens. And they indicate that the gods are either really upset with us and things are going to go really badly for us and our king, or things are going to go really well for us and our king. Well, it so happens that when the sun and the moon are aligned like this and visible out in the middle of the day, if it happens on the 14th of the month, it’s a good omen in the ancient world. So, Babylonians, Egyptians, Canaanites—if they see the sun and the moon visible on the 14th day of the month, it’s going to be a good day. The gods are going to do good thing for us. But, if it happens on any other day, we’re in trouble. The gods are going to do something bad to us.7 Now, we don’t know what day this happened, but it’s possible that God is doing this partially as an omen to say, “You guys are in big trouble”—to the Canaanites. Because the Israelites were not going to think that way; they don’t look at the sun, moon, and stars the same way that the Canaanites and the Babylonians do. They have been taught better by God in the Law, and so when they see it they’re meant to understand that things are going to go well for us; God’s already told them that, but here’s something for the Canaanites to understand, that things are not going to go well for them.8

But that’s not really the miracle. This just happens all the time, and it happens on different days quite often. So, what’s the miracle? Look at verse 13 again, the way it’s described: “The sun

7 For a full explanation of this, see John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2006), pgs. 262-263.

8 I got a bit muddled on this point. The Israelites likely wouldn’t have perceived any omen significance in this event. However, the Canaanites probably would have seen this as bad news for them and good news for their enemies, the Israelite forces.

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stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry”—that’s the key word—“did not hurry to set for about a whole day.” So, they’re speaking as they’re observing, right? So, they’re looking—just like we would; we say that the sun rises and the sun sets, but scientifically that’s not what’s really going on, right? It has to do with the rotation of the earth. Right? I have scientists in the room; you could explain to me how that works, but that’s the gist, right? I think so. Well, they’re looking the same way; they’re saying, “The sun normally starts over here and it takes its course across the sky,” right? And so, as they’re observing, what they’re noticing is as the day progresses and the battle goes on, the sun is still hanging out right in that one spot, and the moon is even still visible. And so, all of this seems to have happened early in the morning, right? Joshua had marched his army all night long. That seems like an unwise leadership tactic, by the way. March your army all night long, and then go get ‘em! That seems like a bad strategy, but…it’s not. God is going to do this for them, but they’re exhausted. They’ve marched all night long, and early morning is when you can see this phenomenon displayed, and so God commands the sun to not move.

Now, I think we can understand—how does this happen, then? God slowed the rotation of the earth, or stopped it.9 Now, at this point, scientists go, “No, no, no! That cannot happen because, if that happens, all kinds of catastrophic effects would take place and the globe would blow up basically!” That’s an exaggeration. But bad, bad things would happen all over the world if the rotation of the earth slowed down or shifted or stopped. But, folks, if you believe in the Bible and you believe in the God of the Bible, you believe that he’s big enough to, yes, slow the rotation of the earth or stop it, and also preserve the globe from any consequences that might naturally happen, right?10 I’m okay with that. That doesn’t keep me up at night at all. I don’t have a problem with that one bit, and I think that that’s a good explanation for what happened here. God slowed the rotation of the earth sufficiently that the sun hung out in the one spot for hours longer than it normally would have.

But why? Why would he do it? Why would Joshua want that to happen or something like it? “The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.” That suggests to me that Joshua was asking for more time, and he wanted more time because he wants to beat this Jerusalem coalition. He wanted to be done today. So, I can imagine Joshua praying something like, “God, give us more time.” Or, even, “God, help us win this battle today. It’s got to get done today, because, if this coalition escapes into the night and hides out in the mountains or in the forests, they’re going to be able to regroup; they’re going to be able to maybe call in reinforcements, and we’re going to have to prolong this thing.” I know that God has promised to give them over to Joshua and the people, so maybe they’re not worried about that. But Joshua wants this to be done today. I can imagine that, because his army is exhausted because they’ve marched all night long, they really physically, all by themselves, are no match for the opposition,

9 Cf. Donald K. Campbell, “Joshua,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary (edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck; Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1985), pg. 351, who writes, “But the best explanation seems to be the view that in answer to Joshua’s prayer God caused the rotation of the earth to slow down so that it made one full rotation in 48 hours rather than in 24.”

10 Cf. Campbell, “Joshua,” pg. 351, who writes, “God stopped the cataclysmic effects that would have naturally occurred, such as monstrous tidal waves and objects flying around. Evidence that the earth’s rotation simply slowed down is found in the closing words of Joshua 10:13: The sun … delayed going down about a full day. The sun was thus abnormally slow or tardy in getting to sunset, that is, its progression from noon to dusk was markedly lethargic, giving Joshua and his soldiers sufficient time to complete their victorious battle.”

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and yet God is fighting for them all along, Joshua is concerned to get this done today,11 and God answers his prayer way bigger than he was thinking. He answered it by performing a cosmic miracle.

Now, we’ve talked a lot about the miracle already, and I’m going to say one more thing. I’m going to chase a little rabbit for just a moment. I think this is really important, so I’m going to take the time to do it, but I’m going to stick to my notes, so I don’t ramble. So, in light of this miracle, perhaps you’ve heard about the astronomer who discovered astronomical evidence that demonstrates that there is evidence for a missing day or a lengthened day. Maybe you’ve read that on the internet. Folks, listen: you have to be very careful about believing what you read on the internet, even if it supports what you believe already. This particular story is a hoax, a myth.12 There is no evidence that this happened, that there was this kind of discovery in the scientific community. And so here’s the problem; here’s why I even go down this road: when we fudge the facts, when we ignore data, or misrepresent opposing views, we are actually discrediting Jesus and the Bible, damaging the reputation of Christianity, and putting a stumbling block in the way of the gospel being received. Christian historians and Christian scientists ought to be the most diligent, most honest, and most rigorous pursuers of truth around. It is a terrible shame that many historians and scientists who call themselves Christians are so desperate to prove what is taught in the Bible—or, more often, their own particular perspectives or interpretations of the Bible,13 or even to put a Christian spin on events in history14—that they’re willing to twist and manipulate the data. We need to be humble enough to admit when we don’t have enough data to understand everything, or when a particular passage of Scripture has ambiguities that make it capable of multiple understandings, and we always have to recognize that we have limitations in our understanding. But, at the same time, we need to be confident enough to trust that the Bible is

11 Cf. Campbell, “Joshua,” pg. 350, who writes, “Gathering his forces, Joshua and his men marched the 25 miles from Gilgal to Gibeon under cover of darkness. It was a tiresome journey with an ascent of 4,000 feet up steep and difficult terrain. There was no opportunity to rest. The army was fatigued and faced a powerful foe. Clearly God must intervene or all would be lost.”

12 See a straightforward discussion of this at https://answersingenesis.org/creationism/arguments-to-avoid/nasa-found-joshuas-missing-day/. Cf. also Howard, Joshua, pg. 242, who writes, “In modern times, some Bible students have claimed to verify this by referring to supposed calculations showing that precisely one day is missing from astronomical history and that this missing day is accounted for by the extra ‘day’ in Joshua 10 and the ten steps (degrees?) that the sun went backwards in Hezekiah’s time (2 Kgs 20:9–11). In one such account, it is claimed that a Professor Pickering of the Harvard Observatory traced this missing day back to Joshua’s time, and that the ten ‘degrees’ in Hezekiah’s time were verified by astronomers from Greenwich and Yale. However, such claims have not been verified; they only exist in popular-level works on the Bible and science.”

13 A recent example of this is the documentary film Is Genesis History? See the review that comments on this problem here: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/is-genesis-history-revisiting-an-age-old-debate

14 This is a major problem in the so-called “Christian America” movement, with David Barton being a major contributor to the problem of poor historiography leading lots of Christians astray, attempting to support what we all want to believe about our heritage by omitting crucial data that disagrees or at least calls into question most of his conclusions about the founding fathers. This grieves me because his work has influence so much homeschool material in the area of American history. For evidence, see, for example, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/publisher-pulls-david-bartons-revisionist-history-of-thomas-jefferson. Barton even specifically articulates his own deceptive methodology—that he purposes to leave out certain details that supports other conclusions. In the midst of providing a helpful Christian model for interpreting historical documents, the following article also highlights Barton’s work as the awful foil: https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/evangelical-history/2017/01/03/what-do-historians-do-with-primary-sources/.

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telling us the truth in every case, even if we don’t understand how all the details work out. Rabbit trail over.

The miracle is not the message, though. The text itself draws our attention away from this miracle. So, you can turn that slide off! We want to stop looking at that. Verse 14, look at it again, and we’re going to take it a piece at a time briefly here. First, he says, “There has been no day like it before or since.” Now, if he had just said that, if he stopped, I would think, “There has been no day like it before or since, when God lengthened the day, or when God made the sun stop and the moon stop.” That’s what I’d think. But that’s not what he says. He draws our attention to something different. “There has been no day like it before or since, when Yahweh heeded the voice of a man.” So, the uniqueness of this event that God wants us to see is not the miracle, but it’s him “heeding the voice of a man.”15 Now, if you stop there—I stopped there and I banged my head on my Bible for probably way longer than I should have, because God heeds the voice of a man every single day. He answers prayer! Right? And, this exact phrase is used repeatedly in the Old Testament—before Joshua at least two or three times, God is said to have “heeded the voice of” a person.16 So, I don’t understand the uniqueness here. It’s not just that he answered Joshua’s prayer; that’s something God does often. So, why is he drawing attention to it? Well, then you have to add the last phrase, and I don’t know that I understand this rightly, but here’s my best attempt. If you hold it all together—“There has been no day like it before or since, when Yahweh heeded the voice of a man, for Yahweh fought for Israel”—maybe you can begin to see something of the uniqueness of this event. You see, God does answer prayer all the time, but to this point in these contexts of warfare, God has set the battle strategy. Remember the battle of Jericho? God said, “March around the city every day once a day, and then on the seventh day march around it seven times, blow your trumpets, and yell real loud, and then the walls will fall down.” And then, you remember the battle of Ai, the second one? God spoke up and said, “Set an ambush between Bethel and Ai.” God set the battle strategy entirely. But here, in the midst of the battle, Joshua asks God to intervene in the battle in a certain way, and God said, “Yeah, I’ll do that.”17 Now, my larger understanding of prayer suggests that that was God’s plan all along in answer to Joshua’s prayer, but nevertheless the significance of this moment—God intervening in a battle in a miraculous way like this is a unique moment in response to the prayer of a human being. That’s the best I can do. I don’t know if there’s more to it or less to it than that. Maybe I’m thinking too hard; I do that occasionally.

But, at any rate, the message of this text is not so much about the miracle, but it’s about God’s involvement in the battle. And, the larger thing that I see here—the Gibeonites made peace with Israel, and that’s what produced all this conflict, this war. And I see that as a kind of analogy that we can see in the Christian life. Peace with God leads to war with God’s enemies. Peace with God leads to war with God’s enemies. So, let me mention a number of things; you’ve got these if

15 Cf. Howard, Joshua, pg. 239, who writes, “The author’s emphasis in the section comes in v. 14. He marvels, not so much at the miracle or sign of v. 13, but rather at the fact that God heard and responded to the voice of a man (v. 14), interceding dramatically for Israel because of Joshua’s petition (v. 12)!”

16 See Gen. 30:6; Num. 20:16; 21:3; Jdg. 13:9; 2 Sam. 22:7; 1 Kgs. 17:22. Sometimes our English translations use the verb “heard,” which is the basic meaning of this Hebrew word, but it almost always means “to respond to what was heard,” and, thus, “to heed.”

17 I was nudged in this direction by a comment of Walton, Ancient, pg. 263, where he writes, “All of this language is familiar from the celestial omens. It should be noted that the biblical text does not suggest that the astronomical phenomena were unique; instead, Joshua 10:14 says plainly that what was unique was the Lord accepting a battle strategy from a man.”

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you’re looking at your sermon notes in outline form, but let’s talk for just a few minutes about this. Jesus taught us this; this shouldn’t be news to us. Jesus came to make peace that would lead to war. Let me show you. Two texts together—this is the night before Jesus died; he’s talking with his disciples, and he says to them in John 14:27, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Note that exact phrase, “My peace I give to you.” And then, later in the same conversation, John 16:33, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. So, there in John 16, he’s already introducing to them, “I’m giving you peace, but at the same time that you experience peace, you are going to experience tribulation, pain, suffering, pressure, conflict, hardship, difficulty.” Peace and tribulation—they come together. They’re side by side and overlapping all the time in the life of the Christian. So, Jesus taught us this.

But then he said, Luke 12:51, earlier in his ministry, Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. So, the same exact phrase that we saw in John 14—“I have come to give peace; No, I have come to give division,” he says. Matthew 10:34 says it even more plainly: Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. Now, you’ve got to hold those together. We too easily camp out on the peace part, and we’re like, “Yeah, we’ve got peace with God! Yay! Everything’s good!” And we don’t look the conflict, warfare part, that has together with this. And Jesus won’t let us tear them apart; we can’t hold these things in separate things and ignore one at the expense of the other. Jesus taught us to expect this. Peace with God leads to war with God’s enemies. Charles Spurgeon said, “Truth provokes opposition, purity excites enmity, and righteousness arouses all the forces of wrong.”18

Secondly, let me remind you that you were saved to be a soldier. God has drafted you into his army, to put you on the front lines. You’re not on the bench; you’re not on the sidelines of the warfare; you’re in the trenches. 2 Timothy 2:3: Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. That’s your identity, Christian. If you’re in Christ, you are a soldier. He’s drafted you into his army. He’s called you into a great war. And, interestingly enough, you were in the war before, but you were on the wrong side. We all come into this world as rebels against God, in the enemy camp, and God graciously comes into the enemy camp and snatches us out and makes us his friends and his soldiers in his army.

Next, we can say with great confidence that the Lord fights for his soldiers. Just like we see in Joshua 10, Yahweh, the Lord, fights for us! He fights for us. Three points under this heading. Number one, we need to remember that the war has already been won. Colossians 2:15: [God] disarmed—(note the past tense)—[God] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [Christ]. God has disarmed—do you know what the word “disarm” means? It means to take away someone’s weapons, to take away their power. Now, we’re going to talk about conflict and warfare that continues. Can the enemy hurt us and harm us? In a certain sense, yes. Does he still have weapons to use against us? In a certain sense, yes. But you have to use that phrase, “in a certain sense.” Ultimately, God has taken away the big gun of the enemy. God has taken away the primary weapon of the enemy: condemnation and death. You face no condemnation under the wrath of God; that weapon has been taken away

18 Charles H. Spurgeon, The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Commentary on the Book of Matthew (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1893), pg. 74.

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from the Accuser, and he can’t hurt you ultimately because he doesn’t have that weapon to use against you. He’s been disarmed; his weapons have been taken away.

Secondly, God promises protection. This is a precious truth to me, and I want it to become precious to you. In this series on Joshua, I think I’ve already brought up 1 John 5:18, but I want to go there again. It’s just so helpful to remember this. We know that everyone who has been born of God—(that’s all Christians)—everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning. That’s a heavy word. I think he means, “does not pursue a life of sin, does not move toward sin.” If you’re a Christian, you’re constantly moving away from sin, fighting sin, running from sin; you’re not moving toward it; you’re not pursuing; you’re not chasing after it; it doesn’t orient your life. Your life is not oriented around sin any longer. Why not? But he who was born of God—(and that’s John’s tricky way of referring to Jesus in this passage: “he who was born of God” uniquely)—[he] protects him. And so now it’s “each Christian.” All Christians, he says, do not keep on sinning, because Jesus—“the one who was born of God”—is protecting him, each Christian. So, you are being protected by Jesus right now and throughout your life and through all eternity. What’s the result of that protection? The evil one does not touch him. Do you believe that? Jesus is protecting you. There’s nothing you can do to get out from under his protection. He is protecting you, so that the devil, the evil one, Satan cannot touch you! Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus is stronger than the devil? That’s really the issue on the table. If Jesus is committed to protecting you and he’s stronger than the devil, what are you afraid of? Do you fear the devil harming you in some way? Why? Jesus has committed to protecting you! Period! It’s not a conditional statement! It’s who you are.

Finally, and we have to be very brief, we have been outfitted with God’s own armor. Note the way that I said that. Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 6. We’re going to race through this passage super fast. But I want you to see the final slide on the screen.

I specifically say “God’s own armor,” because that is what Paul has in mind. I want you to try your hardest to throw the Roman soldier image out of your mind. That’s not what Paul is thinking about, I don’t believe. His background is Old Testament Scripture. He doesn’t want you to think about a Roman soldier here; he wants you to think about God. This is God’s own armor.

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We’re not going to look at all those texts; you can read them at home, and I encourage you to, but every piece of armor mentioned in Ephesians 6 is armor that God puts on himself in the Old Testament, or the Messiah, the Messiah puts on in Old Testament prophetic texts. You can look at every one of those; that’s the truth of them. Every piece of armor—it’s God’s armor! And so Ephesians 6 is largely a metaphor, an extended metaphor, and its point is simply to say, “God is protecting you! God has outfitted you with his own armor to guard you and to protect you.” That’s the point of it.

But let’s look at some of these verses. Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10-17. Finally, be strong19 in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God—(God’s complete suit of armor)—that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Note the word “stand.” You’re going to see it four or five times here at least. The emphasis of the passage, the obvious thrust of the passage is “stand.” This passage is about taking a defensive posture. When we talk about spiritual warfare, engaging with Satan and demons, rulers and authorities, the Scriptures teach us defensive posture. Even the sword is used for defense. We’ll talk about that in just a second. But note the command, “Stand.” It’s repeated so many times in this passage that it’s obvious that’s what he’s talking about. Stand, so that the onslaught, the attack, the opposition doesn’t knock you down. Verse 12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Don’t think, when you face opposition in this world, don’t think that your enemy is the people that might be the mouthpieces. The true enemy is the spiritual powers behind them.

Verse 13: Therefore, take up the whole armor of God—(God’s complete suit of armor). Now, that word “take up” sounds so active. Pick it up and grab it! But the Greek word is “embrace, hold onto something to something you’ve already been given.” It’s hold onto what you already have. This is not something that you’re supposed to be super-active in. Embrace God’s suit of armor; hold onto it. So that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth,20 and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,21 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.22 In all circumstances take up—(embrace)—the shield of faith,23 with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Folks, I want you

19 Even this is a passive command in Greek, so that the phrase could be translated, “be empowered by the Lord.”

20 The belt of truth is drawn from Isa. 11:5b, where the word translated “faithfulness” is the same word often translated truth in the Old Testament, and the Hebrew word translates into Greek with the same word Paul uses here for “truth.” This verse is referring to the Messiah who will come to judge the wicked.

21 The breastplate of righteousness is drawn from Isa. 59:17a, where Yahweh is described as going to war to bring judgment on his enemies. Also, see Isa. 11:5, where the Messiah is depicted as “wearing” righteousness as a belt.

22 The “gospel shoes” probably alludes to Isa. 52:7, which does not directly refer to God or the Messiah wearing them. Instead, it is probably referring to Isaiah himself or to the prophets more generally. However, although Isaiah may have originally only been referring to himself and his prophetic ministry, ultimately God may have been pointing through Isaiah to the prophetic preaching ministry of Jesus the Anointed prophet who announced the arrival of the kingdom of God. Paul might have made this connection in Ephesians, since we read in Eph. 2:17 that Jesus “came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.” The association of the gospel with peace in Ephesians is probably drawn from Isa. 52:7.

23 The shield of faith is drawn from Ps. 91:4, which refers to Yahweh’s faithfulness particularly in protecting his people. One cluster of words both in Hebrew and in Greek can be translated as either “faith” or

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to see that Paul’s structure here—the centerpiece of this armor is the shield of faith. Note how he emphasizes it. Now, some of your versions—NIV and KJV—say something like “above all” (I think King James) and NIV says “in addition.” The Greek is more simply just “in all things,” in all circumstances, emphasizing that point. No matter what you face, no matter what opposition you’re facing, no matter what the devil might throw at you—in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Every piece of this armor, everything in this passage is rooted in faith. Faith in what, though? Faith in Jesus and faith in the gospel more specifically.

See how it goes on. Take the helmet of salvation.24 Again, another active word. This is the normal Greek word for “to receive.” Receive a gift. “Receive the helmet of salvation. And receive the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” How does this work? Real briefly: so, if you’re faced with a lie, if Satan or one of his agents wants to deceive you, what do you have to do? You need to believe the truth. Faith in the truth—that will dispel the lie. Don’t give in to the lie; believe in the truth.25 If you’re tempted to sin, well you need to believe the truth there as well, but perhaps you also need to believe the righteousness—the breastplate of righteousness. You need to trust in the gospel that provides your justification.26 You’ve been counted righteous. God has pronounced the verdict over your life of “righteous,” and you’re set free from sin. You’re no longer a slave to sin. So, when the devil or something tempts you, you don’t have to! You need to believe the gospel in that moment, in order to defend yourself, in order to stand firm against temptation. You need to believe the gospel, because that’s what’s counted you righteous through the blood of Jesus.

“Shoes for your feet”—put on the “readiness given by the gospel of peace.” I think this means: God has put the gospel in you, and the image is that it’s on your feet, meaning: you have the gospel wherever you go, and the people around you need to hear it. You’ve got it! You have everything that you need, Christian, to share the gospel with somebody else. You just need the gospel; you have it! It’s in you! God has put it there, and it’s always there. It’s on your feet like shoes, wherever you go, the gospel is there, and it’s the power of God for salvation for you and your hearers.

The helmet of salvation—salvation is an act that has a past element, a present element, and a future element. Perhaps we could say that the emphasis here, defending you day by day, is that God is keeping you safe because he has saved you. That’s really the emphasis of Ephesians 2:8-10: “It’s by grace that you have been saved” really means, “It is by grace that you are safe now.”

“faithfulness” depending on context. Ultimately, God’s faithfulness is the reason people should have faith in him.24 The helmet of salvation is drawn from Isa. 59:17b, which refers to Yahweh coming to judge the wicked.

Often, if not always, in Scripture God’s salvation comes through judgment, so that he wears salvation as a helmet even as he comes to judge the wicked. Thus, in judging his enemies, God will save his people.

25 Specifically, we ultimately need to go back to believing the truth of the gospel, for the gospel is what ensures the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to us. Also, note that Paul has already defined the gospel as “the word of truth” in Eph. 1:13. See also Eph. 4:21 where Paul says “the truth is in Jesus.”

26 With Isa. 59:17a in the background—a text that speaks of Yahweh executing judgment against his enemies—Paul likely intends for us to believe that God has executed judgment on behalf of us believers in the death of the righteous Messiah, so that believers are counted righteous. Thus, “putting on the breastplate of righteousness” probably means resting in Christ’s work on our behalf, knowing that our righteousness is settled in him. It could also perhaps suggest that believers ought to imitate God’s righteous character.

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You are safe! That ought to give you so much confidence in living the Christian life. God is keeping you safe! There is nothing that can destroy you! You are safe, Christian.

And receive the sword of the Spirit.27 What is the sword of the Spirit? Well, it’s the word of God. But why does he call it the sword of the Spirit? First of all, remember the sword is not only an offensive weapon. We tend to say that the sword is the one offensive weapon that is given you, but if you think that, you need to watch more medieval movies with knights and fighting with swords, because the sword is a defensive weapon as well, and the emphasis of this passage is on defense. “Stand” with this sword! Notice that it’s the sword of the Spirit; it’s the sword that the Spirit forged. He inspired it. But not only that, I suggest to you that it’s also the sword that the Spirit wields, not that you wield. The point here is that God is using his word, the Spirit uses his word to change you and to protect you, to keep you from sin and to grow you in holiness. God uses his word; this is not about how you use the word. Yes, it’s good to memorize Scripture; yes, it’s necessary to read Scripture, immerse yourself in Scripture, but that’s not the emphasis here. The emphasis is on the Spirit using his word to change your life and to protect you from sin and harm. That’s what the armor of God is all about really. It all can be boiled down very simply; this is an elaborate image that tells us that we must believe the gospel.28 We must trust Jesus and what he’s done for us and its continued significance for us day by day.

But, Paul’s not done. He adds this element of prayer, and that picks up on the rest of our passage in Joshua 10: God heeds the voice of his people. He listens to us, he answers us, he responds to us. Paul goes on in verse 18: praying at all times in the Spirit—now that’s not a special kind of prayer, folks. That’s normal Christian prayer. When you’re moved to pray, when you do pray, the Spirit is at work in you. He’s helping you; he’s moving you; he’s motivating you. Prayer in the Spirit is normal Christian prayer. If you pray, you’re praying in the Spirit. Period. But he’s emphasizing that point: you pray and it’s not like you’re doing something by yourself. It’s not your initiative that’s going on; you’re actually responding to something…even if you’re not aware of it in the moment. Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints—(and then he adds a specific request; this is what is on his heart)—and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. And so, the one weighty prayer concern on his heart in the midst of spiritual warfare, the combat that he’s engaged in and that you and I are engaged in, is confidence to proclaim the gospel, confidence to speak the gospel. That’s really what this is all about, I think.

27 The sword of the Spirit is probably alluding to Isa. 11:4, where the Messiah will come to judge the wicked by striking the earth with “the rod of his mouth,” and “with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.” The word “sword” doesn’t appear in the verse, but “striking” and “killing” indicate that “the rod of his mouth” is deadly like a sword. Moreover, the Greek translation of Isa. 11:2—which Paul would have known—has the word “word” instead of “rod.” Isa. 11:2 emphasizes the Spirit’s empowering of the coming Messiah. Ultimately, this prophecy finds its fulfillment in Rev. 19:21, where John sees a vision of the wicked “slain by the sword that comes from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse.” Thus, “the word” in these passages is God’s weapon to execute justice against the wicked.

28 Indeed, “the word of God” in this passage is probably more specifically the gospel message, as it does often in Paul’s letters. Thus, Paul insists that to successfully withstand the multi-faceted onslaught of evil in this world believers must hold tightly to the gospel message, seeking to understand it thoroughly, believe it consistently, and proclaim it boldly, even as God uses the proclamation of the gospel both to bring salvation and to execute judgment (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 2:15-16; Isa. 55:11).

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At the end of the day, I think you know it by experience: if you are a follower of Jesus, conflict comes, hardship comes. Knowing Jesus does not absolve us or take us out of tribulation or suffering or conflict or hostility. It never was intended to. Instead, he transforms us so that we respond to suffering, tribulation, persecution, and opposition and spiritual opposition as well, differently. So, let us pray that we may engage in the warfare that God has called us to. If we’re soldiers, we need to know how to fight. If we’re soldiers, we need to know who our enemy is and how he works and what we need to do in response. So, let us pray toward that end.

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