Summary:
Adonizek feared the Gibeonites joined Israel to make them-selves strong enough to attack him. And Gibeon was already a “great” and “mighty” nation (v.2), so strong the king of the country of Gibeon felt safe living there, making it a “royal” city (v.2). So he invited other kings to help him attack Gibeon (v.3,4), and Gibeon asked Israel for help (v.5,6).
Joshua honored the league that he made with Gibeon, and even marched “all night” to get there (v.7-9). He “discomfited” those Canaanites (v.10), which means to scatter (II Sam. 22:14-16), but to scatter people after you’ve conquered them. When the survivors tried to escape, God sent hailstones that killed more of them than the Jews did (Josh.10:11).
The battles the Jews fought here to possess the Promised Land were types of the battles that future Jews will fight after Armageddon to possess the kingdom. After defeating “the Assyrian” (i.e., Antichrist) for them, God will once again use hail to scatter their enemies (Isa.30:27-32; Rev.16:16,21).
God helped Joshua in this type of that by stopping the sun and moon so he could finish smiting the Canaanites (Josh.10: 12,13). He either stopped the earth’s rotation, or else slowed the sun’s movement to match the earth’s rotation. Like all other stars, the sun moves in a “circuit” in heaven around the north star (Ps.19:4-6). So the north star is either heaven, or heaven hides from our telescopes right behind it. We know heaven is north (Ps.48:1-3; Isa.14:13,14). The moon revolves around the earth, so perhaps God made its rotation match earth’s. It says that the sun “stood still” because God used the language of accommodation, accommodating His words to the limited understanding of men back then. Even today, however, the weatherman predicts the time of “sunrise.”
God stopped the sun so the Jews could get be “avenged” on their enemies (v.13). God was not a bully beating up on men here. He was just taking vengeance on men who bullied His people in Israel. We know those future Jews will also be avenging their fellow Jews whom the beast will kill, for we hear them praying for it (Rev.6:8-10). “The book of Jasher” (Josh.10:13) isn’t in the Bible, but the Bible mentions other noncanonical books (Num.21:14; IIChron.29:29). But we can be sure we have all the books that God wrote by comparing Isaiah’s 66 chapters to the 66 books of the Bible.
God turned back the sun for Hezekiah as a sign He’d keep His word, and not to hearken to Hezekiah’s voice, so it’s true there was no day like that (v.14). But there will be again after Armageddon (Zech.14:1-7). God will stop the sun again so future Jews can tear through Antichrist’s armies after the Lord defeats him (Micah 5:2,5,8). Then the nations will be “confounded” by the “might” of the Jews (Micah 7:14-16).
God finally let the sun go down so the Jews could go home and rest (Josh.10:15-18). But then Joshua heard those 5 cowardly kings were hiding in a cave, so he ordered a stone rolled over it. Men were often buried that way (cf.Jo.11:38), so they were symbolically wishing for death. Joshua made them wait for death though, as he pursued their armies (10:18-24). Putting their feet on the necks of those kings was symbolic of Malachi 4:1-3 and Psalm 47:1-3, but that too will just be vengeance (cf.Rev.47:1-3). Future Jews will be on the run from the beast, as David was from Saul (Ps.18). God never discomfited David’s enemies with hail or lightning (v.6,13,14), and David never put his feet on his enemy’s neck (v.40,42); he was speaking of future Jews.
Joshua hung those 5 kings on trees (Josh10:25-27) to curse them (Deut.21:23). Christ was hung on one (IPet.2:24) because He was cursed for us (Gal.3:13). If you reject His sacrifice, you have to be cursed, as we see pictured with these kings. If you reject His sacrifice, you have to become your own sacrifice to pay for your sins at the Lord’s coming (Zep.1:7; Isa.34:6; Jer.46:1,10), then in hell (Mark 9:47-49).
A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: “Joshua Honors The Peace Treaty” Joshua 10:1-27
