Joshua 10 & 11 – None Remaining?

We saw last week that God expressed His Will concerning the Canaanites in terms of devotion to destruction.

• Deuteronomy 7:2 (ESV) — 2 and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.
• Deuteronomy 20:16–17 (ESV) — 16 But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded,

What does this “DTD” language mean (quick review)?

• “The Hebrew phrase for ‘devote to destruction,’ cherem, refers to the destruction of life—human and otherwise—as an act of devotion to Yahweh. The destruction is an act of complete consecration; therefore the verb has a religious connotation: destruction is an act of sacrifice” – Michael Heiser.
• Or to put another way, destruction can be seen as an “irrevocable surrender to God” of those things that “impede or resist” God’s Work – TWOT.
• So there is a judicial and religious connotation to “DTD”.

But there is also a brutal implication for the Canaanites.

• “DTD” meant their violent death.
• Though, as we saw last week they were not innocent.

In Joshua 10 and 11, “cherem” appears ten times.

• So ten times we are told that various Canaanite peoples were “DTD”.
• This of course meant that they were judged and set apart/consecrated to God.

But it also meant that a lot of people died.

• “every person in it; he left none remaining” (10:28)
• “struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king and its towns, and every person in it. He left none remaining” (10:37)
• “every person in it; he left none remaining” (10:39)
• “Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining” (10:40)
• “there was none left that breathed” (11:11)

Previous chapters in Joshua were also full of this kind of language.

• “Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old…” (6:21)
• “And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai” (8:25)

We have already discussed the implications of this “DTD” in previous lessons.

• How is it that death can be a devotion, for example.
• And, how do we reconcile a God-sanctioned war.
• But we haven’t addressed the amount of violence.

About all this violence and death, David Howard notes:

• “The picture painted in this section is unequivocally one of complete and swift annihilation of people throughout the entire region” – David Howard.
• He goes to say that the implication of these text is that “Joshua and the Israelites left no survivors in the various cities” – David Howard.

Did the Israelites really leave “none remaining”?

• And if they didn’t, why does the text appear to say that they did?

Amorites:

Joshua 10:8 (ESV) — 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you…the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel (vs. 12)

-- BUT --

Joshua 10:20 (ESV) — 20 When Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished striking them with a great blow until they were wiped out, and when the remnant that remained of them had entered into the fortified cities,

Judges 1:35 (ESV) — 35 The Amorites persisted in dwelling in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor.

Hebron:

Joshua 10:37 (ESV) — 37 and captured it [Hebron] and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king and its towns, and every person in it. He left none remaining, as he had done to Eglon, and devoted it to destruction and every person in it.

-- BUT --

Judges 1:10 (ESV) — 10 And Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba), and they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.

Jebusites:

Joshua 11:3–4 & 8 (ESV) — 3 to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. 4 And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots…8 And they struck them until he left none remaining.

-- BUT --

Judges 1:21 (ESV) — 21 But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

Anakim:

Joshua 11:22 (ESV) — 22 There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel [hill country]. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain.

-- BUT --

Joshua 14:12 (ESV) — 12 So now give me [Caleb] this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”

General Citations:

Joshua 10:40 (ESV) — 40 So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel commanded.

-- BUT --

Judges 2:1–3 (ESV) — 1 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? 3 So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”

So what are we to do with these apparent contradictions?

• The choices seem to be:
• (1) Panic and question the inerrancy claim of Scripture.
• (2) Ignore them.
• (3) Deny them.
• (4) Look for a possible explanation.

Clearly (1), (2), and (3) are not the way to go.

• These choices might very well be signs of a weak and uninformed faith.
• Our faith should be stronger, more robust and more vigorous than to ever be thrown of course by Scripture itself.

It is always more likely the case that Scriptural concerns are caused by the baggage or assumptions we bring to the way we look at Scripture.

• We need to remember that Scripture does not neatly fit into our fleshly, self-centered, modern presuppositions.
• “We cannot read the Hebrew Bible as if it were journalistic or academic history such as might be written today. Such reading would compromise the intentions, presuppositions, values, and poetics of the literature and its authors” – John Walton.

We are left with choice (4) – look for a possible explanation.

• And here, we will look for an explanation in an ancient Near Eastern context.

ANE contextual explanation:

What are we trying to do?

• “When we compare the literature of the ancient Near East with the Bible, we are ultimately trying to recover aspects of the ancient cognitive environment that may help us understand the Israelite perspective a little better. By catching a glimpse of how they thought about themselves and their world, we sometimes discover ways that the Israelites would have thought that differ totally from how we think” – John Walton.
• The fact that there were ways in which Israelite thinking was totally different from ours is very difficult for many Christians to compute.

One area where this ANE thinking differs from ours is in the use of military language.

• And it will be here that we will find a possible solution to our problem.

Along with the OT examples under discussion, we need to look at examples outside the OT.

• This list is lifted in its entirety (verbatim) from Paul Copan’s Is God a Moral Monster?

ANE Examples:

• Egypt’s Tuthmosis III (later fifteenth century) boasted that “the numerous army of Mitanni was overthrown within the hour, annihilated totally, like those (now) not existent.”
• In fact, Mitanni’s forces lived on to fight in the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries BC.
• Hittite king Mursilli II (who ruled from 1322–1295 BC) recorded making “Mt. Asharpaya empty (of humanity)” and the “mountains of Tarikarimu empty (of humanity).”
• The “Bulletin” of Ramses II tells of Egypt’s less-than-spectacular victories in Syria (around 1274 BC). Nevertheless, he announces that he slew “the entire force” of the Hittites, indeed “all the chiefs of all the countries,” disregarding the “millions of foreigners,” which he considered “chaff.”
• In the Merneptah Stele (ca. 1230 BC), Rameses II’s son Merneptah announced, “Israel is wasted, his seed is not,”
• another premature declaration.
• Moab’s king Mesha (840/830 BC) bragged that the Northern Kingdom of “Israel has utterly perished for always,”
• which was over a century premature. The Assyrians devastated Israel in 722 BC.
• The Assyrian ruler Sennacherib (701–681 BC) used similar hyperbole: “The soldiers of Hirimme, dangerous enemies, I cut down with the sword; and not one escaped.”

The similarity between the Israel’s OT language and claims and their neighbors is obvious.

• Does it teach us anything that will help us?

Scholars’ Take:

Scholars suggest that Scripture, like ANE military historiography, is hyperbolic.

• “Scripture is similar to other ancient historiography in that it may use large numbers hyperbolically in military contexts” – David M. Fouts (JETS 40/3).
• “Again, the sweeping words ‘all,’ ‘young and old,’ and ‘men and women’ were stock [ANE] expressions for totality, even if women and children weren’t present” – Paul Copan.
• “Joshua’s conventional warfare rhetoric was common in many other ancient Near Eastern military accounts in the second and first millennia BC. The language is typically exaggerated and full of bravado, depicting total devastation” – Paul Copan.
• “The author was being hyperbolic here in order to reiterate the theological point made many times in the book that God was indeed giving Israel the entire land” – David Howard.

Can something be hyperbole and historical?

• Yes.
• “The use of figurative language, including numerical hyperbole, does not mitigate the historical reliability of an account” – David M Fouts (JETS 40/3).
• Remember, this is an ANE military account NOT a report from Afghanistan.
• They had different literary conventions and concerns.
• It is we moderns who are concerned today about getting casualty reports with exact numbers.

In fact, Richard Averbeck says:

• “Yes, it is true that conservative evangelical scholars naturally give the text the benefit of the doubt in terms of historical, theological, and compositional integrity. Guilty as charged! But evangelicals do not see this as an intellectual or methodological weakness. No, it is a strength and, in fact, a critical procedural advantage because we patiently stay with the text, allowing the (re)working of our understanding as we do our research”.

Do Joshua and his book mislead the reader?

• “Not at all. He was speaking the language that everyone in his day would have understood. Rather than trying to deceive, Joshua was just saying he had fairly well trounced the enemy” – Paul Copan.

In fact, the ANE reader of Joshua and Judges would not be troubled at all with Joshua’s words from Joshua 23.

• Joshua 23:12–13 (ESV) — 12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.
• Joshua himself “matter-of-factly assumes the continued existence of Canaanite peoples that could pose a threat to Israel” – Paul Copan.
• The same Joshua that “left none remaining”.

NOTE – An ANE contextual understanding of things like the sun standing still and military language can help clear the way to the Gospel for the skeptical seeker.

Joshua 10 & 11 – God’s Sovereignty and Conquest

Our text today documents the remainder of the Southern campaign and the whole of the Northern campaign.

• There are some apologetic concerns about the completion of this Conquest we may address at the end.
• But before that, our text reveals something remarkable…

Canaan’s devotion to destruction and Israel’s obedience to this devotion are intricately woven around God’s Will and Sovereignty.

This all comes together in one verse in Joshua 11 –

• Joshua 11:20 (ESV) — 20 For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction [DTD] and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

This text links God’s Will and Sovereignty to Israel’s obedience and Canaan’s “DTD” in a causal chain.

• God’s Will – “The Lord commanded Moses” and Joshua that the Canaanites are to be “DTD”.
• This command to Moses expressed the Will of God.
• It was to be obeyed.
• God’s Sovereignty – To this end, “it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts”.
• God’s act of hardening was to ensure they would “come against Israel in battle”.
• This would then lead to their being “devoted to destruction”.
• The very thing God Willed in His giving of the Promise Land to Abrahams descendants.

God’s Will:

God had made it clear to Moses and Joshua His Will concerning the Canaanites:

• Deuteronomy 7:2 (ESV) — 2 and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.
• Deuteronomy 20:16–17 (ESV) — 16 But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded,

Why was this God’s will?

• We do have some clues as to why God would will Canaanite destruction.

Curse –

• Genesis 9:22 & 25 (ESV) — 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside… 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
• Genesis 10:15–20 (ESV) — 15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, 16 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. 19 And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

Might the curse have had a present and future connotation or at the very least been a foreshadowing?

• Especially if “curse” here refers to the consequences of one’s sin/disobedience.
• This connection becomes all the more acute with the description of Ham’s offspring and their territory.
• The very peoples and land under Conquest in Joshua 10 and 11.

Covenant Faithfulness

• Genesis 12:6–7 (ESV) — 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
• Exodus 3:16–17 (ESV) — 16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, 17 and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’
• Exodus 13:11 (ESV) — 11 “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you,
• Leviticus 25:38 (ESV) — 38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

God’s promise and faithfulness to –

• “Bring” His people (His elect) out of exile
• To return them to the Promised Land
• Are themes that carry forward all the way through the NT
• The church, resurrection, new creation, etc.

Judgment –

• Genesis 15:16 (ESV) — 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
• Exodus 22:20 (ESV) — 20 “Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction.
• Leviticus 18:24–25 (ESV) — 24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
• Deuteronomy 18:12 (ESV) — 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

The abominations included (Leviticus 18 and Deuteronomy 18):

• Incest
• Homosexuality
• Bestiality
• Child sacrifice
• Divination
• Fortune telling
• Interpreting omens
• Sorcery
• Necromancy (speaking to the dead)
• Idolatry

Was God’s will done?

• Joshua 10:28 (ESV) — 28 As for Makkedah, Joshua captured it on that day and struck it, and its king, with the edge of the sword. He devoted to destruction every person in it; he left none remaining. And he did to the king of Makkedah just as he had done to the king of Jericho.
• Joshua 10:35 (ESV) — 35 And they captured it on that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword. And he devoted every person in it to destruction that day, as he had done to Lachish.
• Joshua 10:37 (ESV) — 37 and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king and its towns, and every person in it. He left none remaining, as he had done to Eglon, and devoted it to destruction and every person in it.
• Joshua 10:39 (ESV) — 39 and he captured it with its king and all its towns. And they struck them with the edge of the sword and devoted to destruction every person in it; he left none remaining. Just as he had done to Hebron and to Libnah and its king, so he did to Debir and to its king.
• Joshua 10:40 (ESV) — 40 So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel commanded.
• Joshua 11:11 (ESV) — 11 And they struck with the sword all who were in it, devoting them to destruction; there was none left that breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire.
• Joshua 11:12 (ESV) — 12 And all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua captured, and struck them with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded.

And the author of Joshua makes clear that this “DTD” was done in accordance with God’s will.

• Joshua 11:15 (ESV) — 15 Just as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

BTW – Understanding God’s will here demonstrates that God was not planning as history unfolded.

• He always knew exactly the who, what, and when.
• All of which were preparing the way for Christ.
• And this leads us to the how.

God’s Sovereignty:

What is God’s Sovereignty?

• “The fact that God is free and able to do all that he wills; that he reigns over all creation and that his will is the final cause of all things” – Martin Manser.
• “By his sovereignty we mean the authority of his power over creation” – Michael Bird.
• Psalm 135:6 (ESV) — 6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

We noted earlier an expression of this sovereignty, “it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts”.

• This language is similar to God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus.
• And it parallels God’s stirring of Cyrus’ spirit.
• Ezra 1:1 (ESV) — 1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom…
• Cyrus went on to “allow” and fund the rebuilding of the Temple.

God’s power over earth’s rulers is expressed well in Proverbs.

• Proverbs 21:1 (ESV) — 1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

Judicial Hardening:

In the case of the Canaanites and Pharaoh “it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts”.

• This action of God’s sovereignty is often called “judicial hardening”.
• God is exercising His sovereignty over a “king’s heart” to accomplish His will.

BTW – “Don’t think you can escape this God by running into the New Testament; you will meet the same God there (Heb. 3:12–13)” – Dale Davis.

The topic of God’s Sovereignty raises some important questions.

• Did God leave the fulfillment of His will for the Promised Land up to His creatures?
• Or, did He sovereignly predestinate events, outcomes and behaviors?

God’s Action:

In one sense, the Bible understands the Conquest as God’s work and His predestination.

• His direct and personal causative action in the details of the Conquest.

Scripture puts in this way –

• Exodus 23:23 (ESV) — 23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,
• Exodus 23:29–30 (ESV) — 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.
• Exodus 33:2 (ESV) — 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
• Exodus 34:11 (ESV) — 11 “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
• Joshua 1:2–3 (ESV) — 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.
• Joshua 10:8 (ESV) — 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.”
• Joshua 10:11 (ESV) — 11 And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.
• Joshua 10:12 (ESV) — 12 At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”

Yet, God’s Sovereignty and predestination operates in the context of man’s actions.

• Man’s natural ability (different from moral ability) to be causative somehow compliments God’s Sovereignty.

The two come together in the following verses:

• Joshua 10:25–26 (ESV) — 25 And Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous. For thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.” 26 And afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees. And they hung on the trees until evening.
• Joshua 10:42 (ESV) — 42 And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.
• Joshua 11:6 (ESV) — 6 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.”

Man’s Actions:

The writer of Joshua also explicitly attributes Conquest to the actions of man.

Scripture puts it this way –

• Joshua 10:34–35 (ESV) — 34 Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon. And they laid siege to it and fought against it. 35 And they captured it on that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword.
• Joshua 10:40 (ESV) — 40 So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining…
• Joshua 11:16 (ESV) — 16 So Joshua took all that land, the hill country and all the Negeb and all the land of Goshen and the lowland and the Arabah and the hill country of Israel and its lowland
• Joshua 11:18 (ESV) — 18 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.
• Joshua 11:23 (ESV) — 23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments…

BTW – though God hardened the Canaanites’ hearts, Scripture also shows their causative actions as well.

• Here is but one example –
• Joshua 11:4–5 (ESV) — 4 And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. 5 And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

It is clear that God uses means to accomplish His Will.

• And along with His Sovereign actions in creation – including hardening the hearts of the Canaanites – He also uses the actions of His creatures.
• God gave the Promised Land but Joshua took the Promise Land.
• God hardened Canaanite hearts but the Canaanites allied together to fight Israel.
• The two, God’s Sovereignty and man’s action, mysteriously go together.
• This is no different in the NT.

Dale Davis has some wise words about this mystery.

• “Divine sovereignty does not negate human activity but stimulates it” – Dale Davis.
• “God’s sovereignty is not a doctrine that shackles us but a reality that liberates us, not a cloud that stifles but an elixir that invigorates” – Dale Davis.

Joshua 10:12-15 – Did The Sun Stand Still?

We have dealt with the cutting off of the Jordan River.

• We’ve dealt with the appearance of the Divine Warrior.
• We’ve dealt with the collapse of the wall of Jericho.
• And last week we even dealt with God throwing hailstones down on the Amorites.
• But, the claim that the sun stood still “eclipses” them all.

Perhaps this is because such an event would literally be “universal” in scope.

• Maybe because such an event would surely have massive cosmological implications and repercussions.
• “A phenomenon of colossal magnitude” – David Howard.

So how are we to understand this text?

• We are going to look at three views (there are others).
• A literal view advocated by Marten Woudstra.
• The “poetic expressions” view advocated by David Howard.
• The “celestial omen” view advocated by John Walton.

Joshua 10:12–15 (ESV) — 12 At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. 15 So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

1) LITERAL VIEW

Marten Woudstra says “the language that Joshua uses in addressing the sun and moon is the language of ordinary observation”.

• He states that this observational language is the kind “still used today in the scientific age”.

The implication of this “observational language” is straightforward –

• Joshua asks for the sun to “stand still” and the writer of Joshua declares that Joshua observed that, in fact, the sun “stood still” (vs. 13).
• Joshua asks for the moon to “stand still” and the writer of Joshua declares that Joshua observed that the moon “stopped” (vs. 13).

Furthermore, Joshua observed that –

• Looking east, he could see that the sun stood still “at Gibeon” (vs. 12)
• Looking west, he could see that the moon stopped “in the Valley of Aijalon” (vs. 12)
• This bit of detail even lets us know that this event occurred very early in the morning.
• Perhaps as they were about to ambush the Amorites.
• “It is obvious”, says Woudstra, that “there was a halting of the sun and a delay in its going down. This allowed Israel to complete its campaign against the fleeing enemy.”

Therefore, “The long day must be seen as one of several instances of fact…”

• And given a “biblical view of the world” one should take a “rather literal view of the events reported here”.
• Woudstra even recommends that attempts to rationalize this story for “the modern scientific mind should be avoided”.

BTW – If this interpretation is correct, the miracle is way bigger than stated.

• If the sun and moon literally stood still that would mean the earth stopped spinning.
• This would have disastrous consequences - http://www.universetoday.com/66570/what-would-happen-if-the-earth-stopped-spinning/
• God would also have had to protect the earth from these disastrous affects.

Woudstra does leave the door open for other options.

• He says that the text could also be explained “on the basis of proper philological considerations”.
• In other words, explanations derived from study of, and understanding of the text itself.

2) FIGURATIVE POETIC EXPRESSIONS VIEW

David Howard advocates what he calls the “poetic expressions” view.

• A view that is actually based on “philological considerations”.

This view suggests that, given the poetic nature of the text, “that it was never intended to be taken literally”.

• The text actually “describes the battle”.
• But its description is in “cosmic terms”.

This is seen elsewhere in Scripture.

• Judges 5:20 (ESV) — 20 From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.
• Habakkuk 3:11 (ESV) — 11 The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering spear.

Howard says that “no one suggests” these two are literal events.

• They are “figurative expressions in poetic form”.

These “figurative expressions in poetic form” describe –

• “Yahweh’s victory over the Canaanites (in the first case) or the awesomeness of Yahweh’s appearance (in the second case).”

Prose to Poetry:

How does this approach understand Joshua 10:12-15?

• It plays out as follows – “prose account” followed by “poetic expression” account:

The moon –

• We know the march was all-night – “marched up all night from Gilgal” (vs. 9).
• The prose account.
• We know that the terrain between Gilgal and Gibeon is extremely harsh.
• Especially for an entire army to traverse.
• So how were the Israelite soldiers able to quickly navigate the hill country in the middle of the night?
• Their march was made possible because of the moonlight – a full moon as we will see later.

How do we know?

• Because the “poetic expression” of this historical fact is given in verse 13.
• “…and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.”
• The “poetic expression” of the prose account

The sun –

• The battle, which took place during the day, is described succinctly in verses 10-11.
• The Amorites were thrown “into a panic”.
• The Amorites were struck with “a great blow at Gibeon”.
• The Amorites were chased some distance after the battle at Gibeon.
• The text says there were chased to the “ascent of Beth-horon”.
• And chased even “as far as Azekah and Makkedah”.
• This is the prose account of the battle.

But a battle that took just two verses to describe actually took all day.

• How do we know?
• Because the “poetic expression” of the prose text says –
• “And the sun stood still…until the nation took vengeance on their enemies”.

John Howard puts it like this:

• “The entire battle, which was a lengthy one and which concluded ‘at sunset’ (v. 27), is described in the poetic text as the sun’s stopping in the middle of the sky and delaying setting for a full day.”
• He understands all of Joshua 10 to take place on the same day, but this is not necessary.
• That would put verse 15 “out of place chronologically” – Howard.
• We will deal with that next week.

This argument continues by showing that this pattern – “prose account” followed by “poetic expression” account – is found elsewhere in Scripture.

• For example, Howard says Exodus 15:1-18 is the poetic expression “of the events that are told in a prose narrative in Exodus 14”.
• And that Judges 5 is the poetic expression of “the prose text in Judges 4”.

David Howard’s summary:

• “The suggestion of a figurative interpretation is not a denial that God could perform such a miracle, and one does not need to accept the figurative view because of any concern over scientific problems. God rules over all natural laws and can do whatever he chooses to do. The figurative view is suggested because of the literary features mentioned above, not because of any concern over God’s sovereignty over nature.”

3) CELESTIAL OMEN VIEW

John Walton advocates the “celestial omen” view (Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the OT).

• This view finds its support not necessarily in the Bible but from an understanding of the context in which the Bible was written – ancient Near Eastern culture.
• This view cautions us to be aware when we “are reading the biblical text through our own modern (and therefore anachronistic) grid”.

Given its ANE context, Walton says, “I propose that Joshua 10 operates in the world of omens, not physics”.

• The question to ask is not “what it would mean to us for the sun and moon to stop”.
• But rather ask what it would mean to the ancients.
• He argues that this language is the language of ancient “celestial omens”.

Walton begins his explanation by first explaining the ancient Near East view of a month.

• They didn’t look at the duration of a month as we do.
• The “months were not standardized in length, but varied according to the phases of the moon.”
• A new month began with the “first appearance of the new moon” – different from a full moon.
• A full moon was in the middle of a month.
• It was “identified by the fact that the moon set just minutes after the sun rose”.
• The day a full moon occurred indicated “how many days the month would have”.

He then explains how the ANE interpreted the moon cycles and their relationship with the sun.

• “The Mesopotamian celestial omens use verbs like ‘wait,’ ‘stand,’ and ‘stop’ to record the relative movements and positions of the celestial bodies”.

One such movement was known as “opposition”.

• “Opposition” occurred with the appearance of the “moon and sun simultaneously on opposite horizons”.

The ANE way of describing opposition –

• “When the moon and/or sun do not wait, the moon sinks over the horizon before the sun rises and no opposition occurs.”
• “When the moon and sun wait or stand, it indicates that the opposition occurs for the determination of the full moon day.”

Importantly, when “opposition” occurred it was seen as a “celestial omen”.

• “Opposition” on the 14^th day was a good omen.
• It meant the month would be a “full-length” month “made up of full-length days”.
• Under these conditions “all would be in harmony”.
• “Opposition” on the wrong day “was believed to be an omen of all sorts of disaster, including military defeat and overthrow of cities”.

Walton cites specific examples of the omens assigned to “opposition”.

• “If on the 14th day the moon and sun are seen together: the speech of the land will become reliable; the land will become happy (517: 6– 7).”
• “If on the 15th day the moon and sun are seen together: a strong enemy will raise his weapons against the land; the enemy will tear down the city gate (173: 1– 4).”
• “If the moon does not wait for the sun but sets: raging of lions and wolves (91: 1– 2; see also 174: 4; 295: 1; and 481: 4).”
• “If the moon is fast (= stands) in its course: business will diminish— on the 15th day it will be seen with the sun (295: 7– 8; see also 252: r. 3).”
• “If the moon is hasty in its movements: business will diminish (173: 7).”

How does this relate to our text?

We know that the sun was “at Gibeon” – in the east.

• We know that the moon was “in the Valley of Aijalon” – in the west.
• This, as we saw earlier, would put the event in the early morning.
• Because of this we have an occurrence of “opposition”.

And given the ANE context, Walton argues that the language used to describe this “opposition” is “celestial omen” language.

• “sun, stand still”
• “and moon” stand still (implied)
• “the sun stood still”
• “the moon stopped”

So what we have in Joshua 10:12-15 is God using “celestial omens” to declare doom to the Amorites.

• He is, after all, Israel’s Divine Warrior and sovereign creator of the universe.
• And He had already told Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands” (vs. 8).
• Could He not also used the heavens to declare to the Amorites their pending defeat?
• He told Joshua, why not “tell” the Amorites to His glory.

BTW – Don’t the Psalms speak of “celestial omens”?

• Psalm 19:1 (ESV) — 1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
• Psalm 76:7–8 (ESV) — 7 But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused? 8 From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still,
• Psalm 97:6 (ESV) — 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.

We have more than that.

• We also have Joshua (and the Israelites) looking back and reflecting on the “celestial omen” and it’s meaning.
• Our text’s poetic description of the “celestial omen” is Israelite praise to God.
• It indicates that the Israelites saw the “celestial omen” as a sign of favor from God.
• From the heavens to the earth (hailstones), God was declaring for Israel.

But wait there is more.

• Walton suggests that Joshua was familiar with these “celestial omens” before the omen appeared.
• We know this, because under Walton’s view, Joshua asked for it.
• Joshua’s “knowledge of the Amorites’ dependence on omens may have led him to ask the Lord for one that he knew would deflate their morale” – Walton.
• “At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord…” (vs. 12).

And isn’t this really the focus of our text?

• Joshua’s asking and God’s answer.

Focus on the Focus:

Joshua 10:14 (ESV) — 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.

David Howard picks up on the focus of this story:

• “There was never a day like this one before or since, not because of some extraordinary astronomical phenomenon, but because the Lord listened to the voice of a man and fought for Israel.”
• “This is an excellent example of the power of one person’s influence and of the power of prayer.”

Ralph Davis says of this focus:

• “Astounding! Isn’t it still amazing that God listens to the voice of a man or woman who comes to him? Doesn’t this view of prayer both rebuke both the flippancy and tedium with which we often approach the Great King? Ought we not catch our breath to think that the God who is seated on high (Ps. 113:5) stoops down and bends his ear to lips of dust and ashes? ‘When he calls to me, I will answer him’ (Ps. 91:15); who ever heard of a God like that?”

Another angle entails understanding why Joshua would even ask God for this “event” when he had already been assured of victory by God?

• As much as Joshua knew, He was still seeking assurance from God.
• Who can’t relate to that?
• Maybe it was to encourage the Israelite soldiers.
• Maybe he wanted God to declare His favor for the Israelites at the Amorites expense.