Exodus Introduction

The expression, “the sun stands still” is as inaccurate a statement as the “sun rises” or the “sun sets.” The sun doesn’t move . . . ever. So how can it stop moving? Nor does it rise or fall. Such expressions are examples of observational language. It is not scientifically accurate, but it is described as it appears to be. The Bible isn’t a textbook on science, it uses non-technical, everyday language. Having said that, this is the story behind the expression.

Joshua 10 opens with Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem, having heard of the destruction of Jericho and Ai, and the people of Gibeon had made peace with Israel. The king and his people were “very much alarmed at this.” So, the king brought together a military alliance with the five kings of the Amorites and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it.

Joshua 10:6, “The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua, “Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us!

Joshua leads his best fighting men to rescue their servants, the Gibeonites. Joshua 10:8, “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand.’”

Joshua 10:9-11, “After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise. The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, who defeated them in a great victory at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Aekah and Makkedah . . . The Lord hurled large hailstones down on them from the sky.”

The Canaanites worshipped the gods who controlled nature, including the weather. The fact that they were being bombarded with hailstorms must have confused them. They probably thought that their own gods were working against them and aiding the Israelites.

If you lead your troops on an all-night march, do you think you might want to give them some down time to rest before going into battle? I think they went into battle exhausted to be shown that the victory wasn’t for them to win, but for God.

Here’s the strange part . . . verse 12, “Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel, “O sun, stand still over Gibeon . . . So, the sun stood still.”

One commentary had this to say about this passage: “No final word can be said about the exact nature of the miracles when scholars disagree on the meaning of vv.12-13.”

Some translations read, “be silent” rather than “stand still.” This may have meant that Joshua didn’t want the sun to keep shining in its normal brightness and heat. Cloud cover could have been a by-product of the hailstorm. The relief from the heat would have helped the exhausted Israelites. But, then again, it would help the enemy as well. This isn’t a very satisfying explanation.

“But, if the sun did appear to “stand still,” giving more daylight time to finish the battle it might have meant that God had to slow the earth’s rotation. And he could have done that. He created the universe and the laws which govern it. He stopped the flow of water at the Red Sea and the Jordan River. My view is that the sun didn’t slow down or stand still because it never moved. Nor did the earth’s rotation slow down or stop to extend the hours of daylight.

I suggest another explanation. If an afternoon baseball game goes into extra innings and it starts to get dark, what happens at the ballpark to extend daylight? They turn on the lights. The lights don’t illuminate the whole city, only the park gets lit up so the game can continue.

If Joshua needed more light, God could have given them a source of local light that the Israelites would be familiar with. When the Israelites were on their journey from Egypt to the promised land, they were guided by a cloud and a light. Ex. 13:21, “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.”

At nighttime they don’t need a light to guide their movement since they were camped for the evening, but they did need a night light. Without a light at night people would get lost going to the bathroom. Without lighting, old men would wander around trying to find the bathroom, stepping into gopher holes, spraining their ankles. They might wander into someone’s tent by mistake and get beat up. They might get lost going back to their tent and decide to sleep on the ground and wait til morning to find their way back.

What was the source of this light? In the Bible, the display of God’s dwelling among human beings is described as His “glory.” It symbolized divine leadership, direction, and protection.

This light has a name. It is the Shekinah, or literally "dwelling" or "settling" and denotes the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God. It appeared above the Ark of the Covenant and in the temple (Lev. 16:2). It was in the temple until the time the Babylonians invaded the city of Jerusalem. Ezek. 10:4, 18 sees “the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.”

We see this glory appear at the Transfiguration in Matt. 17:2, “there he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light.”

Acts 1:9 says that Christ ascended to heaven in the glory cloud.

Rev. 14:14-16 says that Jesus will return the second time in the same cloud of glory.

Revelation 21 says that in the New Jerusalem it is the “glory of God” that is the power source for all light, and “those who are saved shall walk in its light.”

My understanding of this passage is that the earth didn’t stop rotating, the sun didn’t change in any way, but the same source of light that illuminated the Israelite campsite on their journey to the promised land, the Shekinah glory, gave the Israelites extra light to finish the battle.

What I find puzzling is why God didn’t just end the fighting by striking the enemy soldiers with blindness. He could have ended the battle at any time by any means without illuminating the battlefield. 

God didn’t need the Israelite’s assistance to win the battle. It was more for the benefit of the Israelites that they participate, though their presence wasn’t essential. I think that their participation increased their faith in God. Also, by doing for themselves all that they could, they would come to appreciate the victory even more. It’s like when you give your kids something that they want, they don’t appreciate the item as much as they would if they had to earn the money to buy all or part of it themselves. You value something more if you invest your time and money to obtain it than if it is given to you.

Joshua 10:15, “Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.”

The soldiers may have hoped for a week of R & R (rest and recuperation) and some nice citations and medals being awarded, but no. There was more fighting to be done.

Joshua 10:16, “Now the five kings had fled and hidden in a cave.” These kings weren’t leading by example. While the soldiers are fighting and dying, the leaders retreated to the rear, leaving their soldiers behind to fend for themselves.

Joshua 10:21, “The whole army then returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah, and no one uttered a word against the Israelites.”

With every victory the remaining Canaanites must have become even more fearful. No one dared to speak evil of the Israelites. 

Joshua 10:26, “Then Joshua struck and killed the kings and hung them on five trees and they were left hanging on the trees until evening.”

It may not have been Joshua himself who killed the kings, but they were killed under his orders.

Joshua 10:29 on through the rest of the chapter, you find a list of the remaining cities that were conquered in the southern part of Canaan. The description of each is nearly identical saying that the Israelites “attacked it (Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, Debir) and the Lord also gave these cities and its king into Israel’s hands. Everyone in them was put to the sword. He left no survivors.

Keep in mind, these were little more than military forts, the civilians who lived in the country weren’t attacked and “everyone” doesn’t always mean “everyone.” There is a lot of hyperbolic language in these descriptions. How do we know this? Because literally everyone wasn’t killed because we see some of the people appearing later. Not every single creature that drew breath was killed because the cattle was taken as plunder.

Joshua 10:40, “So Joshua subdued the whole region.” Verse 43, “Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.”

What can we take from this chapter? It isn’t enough to translate ancient Hebrew into modern English. One has to understand how the words were understood at the time they were written. We have to know when a passage is to be taken literally or whether the author is using a figure of speech, hyperbolic language, or observational language. If every passage is taken literally, then critics will find contradictions in the Scriptures. One passage says everyone was killed, another passage finds survivors. Everyone doesn’t always mean everyone. Forever doesn’t always mean for all time.

If you find it difficult to believe that unnatural events (miracles) can occur, then you might want to reexamine your perception of who God really is. If God created the laws which govern nature, he can suspend them occasionally (miracle). To not accept this is to have a diminished view of the God as he is described in Scripture.