THE DAY THE SUN STOOD STILL

Proclamation

“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 … And there was no day like that before it or after it …”  Joshua 10:12-14 (KJV)

 

Explanation

These are the words of God which were written by Joshua under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After hearing about what the Israelites had done to Jericho and Ai, all of the kings west of the Jordan joined forces to wage war against Israel.  However, the Gibeonites had made peace with Israel. (Joshua 10:1-5)  After Gibeon was attacked, Joshua and his men of war went to the aid of the Gibeonites.  They slaughtered a large number of their enemies but a lot of them fled and they chased them. (Joshua 10:6-10)  The Lord God rained down large hailstones from heaven on the five armies of the Amorites and killed more men with hail than Joshua and the Israelites did with swords. (Joshua 10:11)  However, in order to completely defeat all five armies, Joshua prayed that the sun would stand still until they had totally annihilated their enemy.  The Lord God caused the sun to stop and stay in the middle of the sky for about a full day. (Joshua 10:12-14)  While the fighting was going on, the five kings hid in a cave.  When Joshua learned of this he had the cave sealed until they had defeated their armies.  When all of the fighting was done, Joshua brought the kings out of the cave, killed them, hanged them from five trees for a day.  Then threw their bodies into the cave where they had hidden and sealed the cave. (Joshua 10:16-27)  Afterwards, Joshua and his army attacked and defeated all of the surrounding kingdoms until he had subdued the entire region from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza and from Goshen to Gibeon. (Joshua 10:28-43)

 

Application

There are those who do not believe that God stopped the movement of the entire universe for a day. The Bible records that Jesus, The Christ, said “… with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26 and Mark 10:27)  God is all powerful.  He created the heavens and the earth out of nothing by speaking them into existence. (Genesis 1:1-19)  He also parted the Red Sea and allowed the children of Israel to cross it on dry land, (Exodus 14:21-22) and then drowned Pharoah’s army in it when they attempted to pursue them. (Exodus 14:26-30)  Nothing is impossible for God. (Jeremiah 32:17)  He can fight our battles if we only believe.