Joshua 10:1-43


The conquest of the land of Canaan continues with Joshua leading the children of Israel into battle and the Lord delivering the people into their hands.  God is faithful to give victory and the people are faithful to obey God’s commands.  The battles are composed of both supernatural interventions with God fighting for the nation of Israel as well as conventional battles that have the children of Israel combating the enemies and overpowering them in the strength of the Lord.  I think it is important for us to realize that both of these aspects are a part of every endeavor that we undertake in the name of the Lord.  There are times where He steps in and works in obvious and miraculous ways to meet our needs.  However, there are many times where He uses our efforts and a dependence on Him to accomplish His will.

GOD SENDS ISRAEL TO DEFEND THE GIBEONITES:  When the surrounding nations heard that Ai had fallen and then that the Gibeonites had made peace with Israel; they decided to unite and go to war against Gibeon.  This was a real test of Joshua’s commitment to his word to be an ally of this nation.  He could have just stood by and let them be taken down by this outside foe and seen it as a way to punish the people for tricking him into the treaty he made.  Instead, he was faithful to his word and went down to deliver the nation from their common enemies.  There are times where we may be tempted to rationalize our own sin by using half truths and manipulating situations for our own purposes.  We must not fall into this trap but be sure that we are people who keep their word because that is how God is.

GOD SERVES ISRAEL IN MIRACULOUS WAYS:  God went before Israel in this battle and assured Joshua that he was doing the right thing.  The attack came as a complete surprise and then God set the enemy into confusion as they were trying to flee.  Then God sent hail stones that miraculously only landed on the enemy as they fled.  The army of Israel had marched all night to start the battle early in the morning.  By late afternoon the enemy was still attempting to flee to safety.  Joshua asked God to make the sun stop in the sky so that they could complete the conquest in day light.  God honored that request and apparently temporarily suspended the laws of nature in order to answer Joshua’s request.  We don’t need to be able to explain how this happened, but apparently the Earth stopped rotating for the day and allowed the army to continue the rout of the army.  We serve a God who has the supernatural at His disposal, so we must no despair no matter how difficult our tasks may seem.

GOD STRENGTHENS ISRAEL TO DO HIS WILL:  God empowered Israel to go into the southern region of Canaan and continue the conquest.  Joshua and the army were faithful to do as God told them to do and God was faithful to go before Israel and fight with them in battle.  Israel enjoyed victory after victory in the strength of the Lord but they were also required to do the work at hand.  God provision of strength for us to promote the work of the kingdom on earth is no less of a miracle than His suspending the laws of the universe in answer to our prayers.  We must recognize and rely on both of these means through which God accomplishes His will in this world through our lives. 

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