Joshua chapter number 10. We're making our way through the book of Joshua. Children of Israel come into the land. The Lord is giving them the land as he promised their forefathers. He promised us Moses. And Aaron as they come out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of Goshen. that indeed it would be that land that he would give unto them. They have at last made it after forty years in the wilderness, after forty years of wandering because of their sin. The children of Israel had to spend that time in the wilderness. They have now at last entered the land and God is blessing them with these many victories that they've received so far. And we looked on Wednesday night with the situation with Gibeon as the inhabitants of Gibeon and those other three cities besides Gibeon that are gathered together there just on the northwest side of Israel, or Jerusalem rather. They decided, you know what we need to make? a deal with Joshua because they're coming and when they come they're going to wipe us out and they're going to destroy us. And so they put on that big charade. They dressed up in tattered clothing. They had tattered wineskins. They had moldy bread that they brought with them and they pretended like they were from a far journey. And even the wording of how they told the story to Joshua, they didn't mention anything had taken place in Canaan. They only talked about those conquests on the outside of Canaan in the wilderness there. And so they were very careful in how they told their story and the lie that they told and who they were. from a far away country and they came to make a league and God had permitted Israel to make all the alliances that they needed to outside of the land of Canaan. All those inside the land of Canaan, God had already declared, you don't make alliances with them, you destroy them, I'm going to run them out before you, they're not going to be your friends, I'm putting them out of the land. However, with this Acting, I guess is the way to put it, that Gibeon put on, they fooled Joshua and the children of Israel, and they did not seek the face of the Lord on this. If they would have sought, you would have thought, after what took place with Ai, they would learn the lesson, you know, we need to consult God in all of these things. They didn't do it again. They didn't consult God again on this issue. They made this alliance with Gibeon, and then it's found out, oh, wait a minute, These folks are not who they claim to be. These are folks from Canaan themselves. And so because they made this promise to them, because they made this treaty with them, God, and they swore by God's name to that treaty, God held them to the treaty. And they were required to follow after that. And as we make mention on Wednesday, Saul would be one that would go against that treaty in his day, King Saul. And he would kill the Gibeonites or many of them. And because of that, God brought a famine on the land. Because Saul had broken this treaty that was made by Joshua with the Gibeonites all those years before. So God holds this treaty in high regard because it is His name that is sworn by. It is His name that is used to make this treaty, which is why He warns us, don't do that. He expects not only Gibeon to hold up their side of it, but he expects Israel to hold up their side as well. And so because of this, Joshua would make them servants to Israel. And he makes them servants to Israel because of their lying. But nevertheless, they remained in alliance with them, and he would not destroy those four cities, Gibeon being the chief of them. And we come to chapter number 10 here, and it tells us that the other nations, or not the nations rather, but the other cities of the Amorites around, now Gibeon, Shepherah, and Beeroth, and Kerjeth, Jerum, those are the cities that were mentioned in chapter 17, verse 17 of chapter number 9, those are those four cities that made the alliance with Israel. They are the cities of the plain, if you will, that were there together. Well the cities of the mountains are the cities that we're talking about here in Joshua chapter number 10. They are also Amorite cities. So this is Amorite against Amorite is what we find here in chapter number 10. Because they get angry, these folks in chapter 10, they get angry at Gibeon and these other cities for siding with Joshua. And so they decide, well, we're going to go walk them out. So they're going to invoke Comethram for siding with Joshua. And that's what chapter number 10 is telling us about. It begins in verse number 1, it says, "...came to pass when Adonai Zedek, the king of Jerusalem, had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed, as he had done to Jericho and her king, as he had done to Ai and her king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, that they feared greatly Because Gibeon was a great city. Now, Jerusalem is only seven miles away. And of course, Jerusalem is not at this point a city of the Jews. In fact, it won't be a city of Jews. The Jebusites will get control of it. as time goes on and David will actually be the one that will go in and conquer Jerusalem at last. And it would be the city of the Jews when David was king that he would conquer the Jebusites and take control of the city of Jerusalem at that point. And so here now it is the Amorites that are in control of the city of Jerusalem. Seven miles away from Gibeon and they are scared. Here Joshua has come in and he's made alliance with Gibeon and these other three cities and he has conquered Ai and Jericho and they know they're next on the list or at least pretty close because they are so close in proximity. Literally seven, eight miles away from where the events are taking place right now. And so it says that, verse number two, they feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city. Gibeon was a powerful city. They had a vast army. They had men of war there that were proven out, and they didn't take no chances. Gibeon, this great city, said, uh-uh, we're getting on the side of Jerusalem. And so they didn't even, they didn't even attempt to make a fight. They knew and it's what they explained to Joshua in chapter number 9. We know that whoever your God wants to conquer, He can conquer. And we know that He is able to conquer great, great kingdoms, great cities. We've already seen this accomplished and we want to be on your side. And so this is what they declared already in chapter number nine. And so they didn't even make up a fight. They didn't even attempt to. They immediately wanted to be on the side of Joshua. So Jerusalem now, they're waiting for it now. This great city of Gibeon, the one that had all this strength, this one that is such a great army, this one is proven in battle. They've immediately joined Joshua's side. And so they are in great fear, knowing the strength of Gibeon. And it says, verse number 3, Wherefore, Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent unto Hoam, king of Hebron, and unto Piram, king of Jarmath, and unto Japhia, king of Lachish, and unto Debir, king of Eglon, saying, Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon. for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel." So far he's not even talking about fighting Joshua. He's just going to fight Gideon to try to teach them a lesson. But he knows he can't do it himself, so he's calling up for help to come and fight against their own brethren because they would dare side with Joshua. And so he says, verse 5, therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmath, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon and made war against it. And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua through the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants, come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us. And so they sit, Joshua's already went back to Gilgal, they're encamped there, they're pretty much staying there, and going out from there, doing the conquest that God is directing them to go to. And so Joshua's went back to Gilgal to the plain there, next to Jericho, and there he's residing and resting, and they sin for him. Now this wasn't, in other words, it wasn't a single day battle like has been the case for Israel in these other battles that they went for. Jericho, it took seven days, but the seventh day was really the only fighting day. Every other day they were simply making circles around. That's not normally how a city was taken. It normally didn't happen in a single day. These cities were so vast, they had such defenses built up, they were walled cities, and being walled cities, they were able to withstand a siege army for many days, many months, sometimes even years before they would give in, depending on two things, if they could get food and if they could get water. If they could get food and they could get water, then they could withstand, many of them, and hold the line against these invading armies. Jerusalem, during the time of Daniel, when Nebuchadnezzar would come and attack the city, they beseeched besieged, rather, the city of Jerusalem at that point. And they were able to withstand Nebuchadnezzar for many months. But because of their standing, they had water, they could get water because of the cisterns that were there, but they could not get food. That they had actually, by the time that Nebuchadnezzar had actually come into the city of Jerusalem, they had already turned to cannibalism and were eating the dead to try to stay alive. So, I mean, it got bad by the time he'd come in. and conquered the city there and took them off into captivity. And so this was a city that was sieged upon, could last for quite some time. So Gibeon is sieged upon by these five kings of the cities of the mountains that had come against him and so they send out for help for Joshua. Please get here. Now I don't know how long it took Joshua to get there, probably took him maybe a couple of days from the city or the plain of Gilgal to get to where they're at. It's not that far, but by the time you mobilize this army and get them together and get them there, it might take you a little while to come on the scene. But Gibbon was concerned because they are besieged with these five different armies here. And it says to us, so Joshua ascended from Gilgal, verse number 7, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. So Joshua came to help his servants there in Gibeon. And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not, for I have delivered them into thine hand. There shall not a man of them stand before thee. Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night. And the Lord disconfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Ezekiah, and unto Makeda. And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel and were in the going down to Beth Pharon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Ezekiel, and they died. They were more which died with hell stones, and they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword." Now you know you're on the wrong side. when you're running from your enemy and you're simply trying to escape, trying to survive, and hailstones from heaven come down upon you and kill more of you than the Israelites did. This is what happened to these five kings as they tried to escape from the presence of Joshua and the children of Israel coming to the rescue of Gibeon. And so they were more than died from the hailstones than actually from the sword. Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day, when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said, In the sight of Israel, 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. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? The Jasher is one of those books we don't have record of. We don't know exactly what was written. It was obviously a history book that these events that took place that tells us about this. It is one of those books that God did not include in the canon of the Scripture, but it is obviously a history book that tells about these situations, about these events that took place. So the Son stood still in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a hole day, that's 24 hours there, that the sun about, now that's important to note, that it was about a whole day that God held the sun and held the moon until Joshua was able to beat the enemies there. Now, what's so interesting about this is a few years ago, I think it was actually in the late 60s is when this actually took place, When NASA started getting an understanding about how the trajectory of stars and the movement of the stars and so on, they started seeing that they could tell time with these things and started tracing back time with them. And they were comparing it to some of the events that took place in history as they were going back. And they got to a place, following the trajectory of a particular star, they got back to a place in history where they said, hmm, that's weird. This star didn't move this one day. It was like it didn't move, it was like it stood still for one whole day. And they were scratching their head, well what happened? Something happened that they got to looking, well it happened everywhere. It wasn't just that one star, it was all the stars. Didn't move on that one day. And one of those NASA scientists that were going over this problem and trying to figure out what took place, he said, you know what? I remember when I was in Sunday school, that somewhere in the Bible, it said God made the sun stand still for a day. And they got to research it, got to look it up, and they found it. But one of them turned up, wait a minute now. Okay, let's just say this is real. Let's just say God did this. He said he says about the whole day. Now, We know, he says, based on the movement of these stars, that it was a full day that's missing. The Bible says it was about a full day, so we're still missing some time. And so they start digging a little deeper. Well, let's go see if the Bible says something about that. Go over to Isaiah. Isaiah chapter number 38. And we read here in Isaiah chapter number 38 about King Hezekiah. Now King Hezekiah, he was kind of in and out. Part of his life he served himself, most of his life he served himself, and part of his life he sought to serve the Lord. But he got down to a place where he was sick and he was about to die, and he didn't want to die. And he begged the Lord to give him more life. And the Lord extended him 15 years of life. 15 years. I've often wondered, if he hadn't asked for 15, would God have gave him 20? But nevertheless, he got him 15 more years of life. And he wanted some proof of that. Well, how do I know, Lord? Well, enough for God to tell him, I want some proof that this is what you're going to do. And so in chapter 38, Verse 7 and 8, he says here, "'And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, and the Lord will do this thing, that he hath spoken, Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees which is gone down in the sundial of Ahaz ten degrees backward.' So the sun returned ten degrees by which degrees it was gone down." God moved the sun back ten degrees. Now I don't know all the math on that and the figurings of what 10 degrees would be on the sundial and how much time that would be, but the NASA scientists were satisfied, alright there it is, there's the full day. And they were satisfied of what happened to that missing day. of the movement of the stars. God had it recorded in His Word. He held the sun for Joshua. He moved it back ten degrees for King Hezekiah. There was their missing day. There was their missing day. The God who made the stars, He can stop them. He can speed them up. He can put them where He wants them. He can do what He wants to. He's the one that made them and spoke them into existence. He has no problem telling them to stop. No problem. And guess what? When He makes them stop, it all don't fall apart. That's what science says. Why? If anything, anything goes awry. If anything stops, it's all destroyed. We're all going to die. It's all going to just go into chaos and erupt. No, no, no. Because that's what Colossians chapter 1 tells us. Jesus is the one who created all things and in Him all things consist. He holds it in place. It will not be done. It will not be destroyed until he says it's time to destroy. Listen, this is a side note here from Joshua chapter 10. We can make a mess out of the things that God has given us. And we should be good stewards of that which God has put us in. We should take care of the land. We should take care of this earth that God has given. We shouldn't trash it up. We shouldn't mess it up and so on. But let me tell you something. Man does not have enough power. In all the pollution that man could gather together, he does not have the power to destroy this earth. He can't do it. Why do I know that? Because He wasn't the one that created it. God created it. And God has a plan with this earth. And He knows when it's going to be destroyed, and He knows how He's going to do it, and He knows how He's going to recreate it. You don't have to worry about global warming, or global cooling, or climate change. You don't have to worry about all that stuff. God will do what He is going to do, and He will accomplish it exactly as He claimed and declared He was going to accomplish it, and He will do it exactly to the detail. Man does not have the power to destroy that which God has created. God is the one that keeps it. He is the one that holds it into place. And it consists, it continues in Christ Jesus our Lord. He is the one that keeps it. And so this event here was a great miracle of the Lord. A great miracle that he held the sun, held the moon for almost a day there while Joshua disconfitted the armies that came against Gibeon there. Now, he goes on to tell us in verse number 15 of this passage, Joshua returned and all Israel with him. unto the camp to Gilgal. But these five kings fled and hid themselves in the cave at Makedah. And it was told Joshua, saying the five kings are found hid in the cave at Makedah. And Joshua said, roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave, and set men by it for to keep them. And stay ye not, but pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them. Suffer them not to enter into their cities, for the Lord your God hath delivered them into your hands. And Joshua sends them after those that were still fleeing for their lives. And he says, slay them all. But those five kings, he said, pinned them up in the cave so that they can't get out. So they put stones over the cave of Ma-Ki-Da, and those five kings were trapped there inside the cave. Joss said, leave it alone. And once you get the stones up over the door, go on and chase the rest of them. We'll take care of those guys later. Okay, so they obviously weren't strong enough to tunnel themselves out of these great rocks. They had to wait for Joss to come back and get them. And so it says, verse number 19, it says, "'You shall not pursue after your enemies, and smite behind most of them. So go and destroy the rest of them that have run off and escaped.' And it came to pass, when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they were consumed, that the rest which remained of them entered into the cities. And all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua at Makedah in peace, none moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. Then said Joshua, open the mouth of the cave and bring out those five kings under me out of the cave. And they did so, and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmath, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel. and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near and put their feet upon the necks of them. And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed. Be strong and of good courage. For thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom you fight. And afterward, Joshua smote them and slew them and hanged them on five trees, and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening. And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees and cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid and laid great stones in the cave's mouth which remain until this very day." So they slay the five kings and they buried them in the cave that they sought the refuge in. And that day Joshua took Makedah and smote it with the edge of the sword. And the king thereof, he utterly destroyed them and all the souls that were therein. He let none remain, and he did to the king of Makedah as he did unto the king of Jericho. Then Joshua passed from Makedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libna, and fought against Libna. And the Lord delivered it also, and the king thereof, in the hand of Israel. And he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein, he let none remain in it. But did unto the king thereof, as he did unto the king of Jericho. And Joshua passed from Libna, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish, and he camped against it, and fought against it. And the Lord delivered Lachish in the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day and smote it with the edge of the sword and all the souls that were therein. according to all that he had done to Libnah. Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua smote him and his people until he had left him none remaining. And from Lachish Joshua passed unto Eglon and all Israel with him, and they encamped against it and fought against it. And they took it on that day and smote it with the edge of the sword and all the souls that were therein. He utterly destroyed that day according to all that he had done to Lachish. And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him unto Hebron, and they fought against it. And they took it and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein, he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon, but destroyed it utterly, and all the souls that were therein." And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir, and fought against Sid, and he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof. And they smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein. He left none remaining, as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king thereof, as he had done also to Libnah, and to her king. So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathe, as the Lord God of Israel commanded. And Joshua smote them from Hadesh Barnea, even unto Geza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon. And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. And Joshua turned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp of Gilgal. See? This is the southern conquest, and he conquered everything in the south. Conquered every one of those enemies in the south there, all the way, it says, unto the country of Goshen. Now, where's Goshen? That's in Egypt, all the way to the Nile River there. He went back down into Egypt. Don't you think they wouldn't be happy to see him when they come back? All the way down. And it's interesting, we don't have no, I mean it just tells us he conquered them. We don't have no record of the fights there. And I'm just curious if they, if Egypt was still not feeling the effects of the crossing of the Red Sea and the losing of the army of Egypt there and losing their Pharaoh at that point, what effect it had on the nation of Egypt 40 years earlier if they were not still feeling that reality? Because it's still being told. They're still being passed around throughout all the wilderness into the land of Canaan. Everybody knew about what happened to Egypt 40 years earlier. And so I wonder how much effect truly it had on Egypt even 40 years later if they were still feeling the effects of what took place there at the crossing of the Red Sea and God's blessing there is on their deliverance. And here they do, they go back down and they go capture Goshen again. And here they have conquered all of this land. And Joshua returns back to the plain of Gilgal, there next to Jericho, and he encamps there. We will, just 40 years earlier, the Israelites would not enter the land. And they would not enter the land because there were giants in the land. And they would not go in. For that reason, they would have to circle around 40 years in the wilderness. Joshua enters in, and he's having victory after victory after victory. When they follow the Lord, victory after victory after victory. God running the armies out before them, casting hailstones upon them from heaven God slaying his enemies before him. As Joshua and the children of Israel go forth, they conquer the south. And we read in chapter number 11, next time, we'll actually try, we'll probably try to take chapter 11 and 12 next time as we look at these events, because chapter 12 is the the all the kings that were conquered there and so it's kind of it's just a list basically of these different kings that we will look at so we'll probably try to take chapter 11 and chapter 12 together as we look at this final conquest of Canaan and Joshua's victories that God has given unto them as they would take the land that God had promised to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses and Aaron And now to Joshua as he is taking the land as God has given. All right, let's all stand together.