Joshua 10:1

Here we have the record of the conquest of Southern Canaan in which is featured the great third and final miracle of the Book of Joshua, the miracle of Beth-horon, the mighty hailstorm and the very long day. Commonly called "the Miracle of the Sun Standing Still," the event described in this chapter is one of the most talked-about occurrences in the O.T. A great deal of the scholarly comments focus on skillful attempts to avoid the acceptance, as fact, of what is related here. We shall give careful attention to these. It is impossible, of course, for anyone to profess a knowledge of exactly WHAT happened at Beth-horon, or precisely HOW it occurred, but there is no good reason whatever for denying God's intervention on behalf of the Gibeonites and of Israel in this most decisive battle in the conquest of Canaan. Given the fact that it was GOD who intervened here, where is any problem? Is anything TOO HARD for God?

We shall turn our attention at once to the text.

"Now it came to pass when Adonizedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and utterly destroyed it (as he had done to Jericho and her king, so 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, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty. Wherefore Adonizedek king of Jerusalem sent unto Hotham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying, Come up unto me, and help me, and let us smite Gibeon; for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped against Gibeon, and made war against it."

"Adonizedek ..." (Joshua 10:1). This king of Jerusalem, unlike his famous predecessor, Melchizedek, the king of Salem (Salem here being understood as an earlier name for Jerusalem), was an evil man. And like every wicked man, he was utterly blind to the presence and purpose of God which promulgated the invasion of Canaan. Notice that Adonizedek did not fear God, but only Joshua. He failed to see that Joshua was not his primary enemy, but that God Himself was the Person who would drive the wicked Canaanites out of Palestine, and that Joshua was only God's INSTRUMENT in that operation.

REGARDING ZEDEK

The word "Zedek" means "righteousness." Adonizedek has the meaning of "lord of righteousness, nearly synonymous with Melchizedek, which means `king of righteousness.'"[1] There cannot be any doubt that Melchizedek was a "Priest of God Most High," as emphatically declared in Genesis 14:18, making it absolutely certain that Melchizedek was a monotheist and a worshipper of the One True and Almighty God. Otherwise, Abraham's paying tithes to him, and his being singled out in the N.T. as a Great Type of the Son of God Himself (Hebrews 7:1ff) would make no sense at all. The expression "God Most High" receives further light in the N.T., where the expression is found five times: (1) in Mark 5:7, where a demon protested an order from Christ, addressing Jesus Christ as, "Jesus, thou Son of God Most High"; (2) Luke 8:28 states that a demon, pleading with Christ not to torment him, addressed Our Lord as, "Thou Son of the Most High God"; (3) the Christian martyr Stephen declared that, "The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands"; (4) the demon-possessed girl who followed Paul and Silas for days at Philippi, continually cried out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim unto you the way of salvation"; and (5) the passage in Hebrews 7:1 affirms that, "Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God."

The critical community, however, have long accepted the false view that monotheism was unknown until the Jews "developed" the idea, and, therefore, as a rule, the critical scholars deny that Melchizedek was a priest of the one and only God Almighty, despite the passage in Hebrews that affirms flatly that he was a worshipper of "God Most High," which in Biblical history never referred to anyone else, other than the One True God.

How do they manage to claim this? It is done simply by that old trick of false teachers, namely, the device of finding some off-beat, unusual use, or alternative meaning of some well-known word, and then ramming such a bizarre meaning into the Sacred Text. We gave a classical example of this in our exegesis of 1 Peter 3:21. (See Vol. 11 of my N.T. series of commentaries, pp. 236-237).

How is this wicked device implemented here? Note the following: "Some have suggested that Zedek was originally the name of a deity. This would make the meaning of Adonizedek to be, `My lord is Zedek.'"[2] Therefore, unbelievers will reject what the text plainly declares and announce the postulation that both Melchizedek and Adonizedek were not worshippers of the One God at all, but worshippers of Zedek! We need to remember, however, that "There is no sufficient evidence for this suggestion."[3] Very recent scholars like Boling and Wright have pointed out that, "The form and meaning of this name (Zedek) tell nothing with certainty about the identity of this (alleged) Jerusalem deity."[4] Morton attempted to make a big thing out of the Zedek suggestion, as follows: "Since Zedek is known to have been a Canaanite divine name, its earlier meaning probably was `My lord (the god) Zedek.' The same element appears also in the name Melchizedek."[5] Note that Morton uses the word probably, which means that there is no solid evidence whatever to sustain this evil suggestion. Absolutely nothing is known of any Canaanite god called Zedek! For generations, the meaning of Zedek has been understood as "righteous", or "righteousness".[6] Similar efforts have been made to corrupt the plain meaning of "Most High God" through the `discovery' of a Babylonian pagan god called Elyon, or "the Most High."[7] In all such cases, the Biblical usage of "God Most High" (all three of these titles have the same meaning) squarely denies the aberrations that men would impose upon the word Zedek or Adonizedek and Melchizedek.

"They feared greatly ... etc." (Joshua 10:2). Not only had the victories of Israel at Jordan and Ai demonstrated the need for this fear, there was the additional fact that Gibeon, a powerful city, with some of the most magnificent fighting men of ancient history enrolled among them, had defected to Israel and was now an ally of the invaders. As Boling said, "The awareness of the opposition had increased enormously!"[8] The fact of Gibeon having no king and its related monarchical system to support enabled them to develop a powerful middle class, many of whom were prosperous enough to provide armament, and a squire, and the leisure to become skilled in the use of such equipment. The Hebrew word here rendered "mighty" is translated "knights" by Boling.[9]

Bible students once had to contend with the bald, unsupported assertions of Biblical enemies that the account in this chapter is "unhistorical." Samuel Holmes, for example said: "This section (Joshua 10:28-40) is quite unhistorical."[10] The spade of the archeologist has proved the historical nature of this account.

Unger noted that:

"When Israel entered Canaan (about 1400 B.C.), there were more than 25 of these city-states (like the ones mentioned in this chapter), but by 1390 B.C., Israel had swallowed up many of them. The Tel El-Amarna letters reveal that by 1375 B.C., there remained only four main independent states."[11]

"Hebron ..." (Joshua 10:3). This was indeed a powerful city from very ancient times. Moses tells us that "Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt" (Numbers 13:22). And who, we might ask, could ever have known a fact like that except Moses? F. F. Bruce identified Hebron as having the highest elevation of any city in Palestine 3,040 feet above sea level, situated 19 miles south-southwest of Jerusalem. The date of its founding was about 1720 B.C.[12] Dating from the times of Abraham when that patriarch pitched his tent under the Oaks of Mamre near there, Hebron was destined to play a major role in Jewish history:

(1) There is the cave of Machpelah, purchased from the sons of Heth, where many of the patriarchs are buried.

(2) When the spies were sent out by Moses, they reported on Hebron.

(3) In this chapter Hebron joins the group of five allies who attack Gibeon and were defeated by Joshua.

(4) Caleb finally took possession of the city and received it as his possession.

(5) In Hebron, David was anointed king of Judah (2 Samuel 2:4).

(6) It remained as David's capital for seven years.

(7) It was also Absalom's capital when he rebelled against David.

(8) It was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:10).

(9) Exiles returning from Babylon settled here (Nehemiah 11:25).

(10) Today, under the name of El Hilil, it is one of the four sacred cities of the Muslims.

(11) The most ancient name of the place was Kiriath-arba.

"Jarmuth ..." (Joshua 10:3). "The low hill tract between the high central mountains and the coastal plain of Palestine was called the Shephelah;[13] and one of the principal fortified towns on this intermediate strip was called Jarmuth. About the time of the Israelite invasion of Canaan, Jarmuth was fortified, occupied a site of about eight acres, and is supposed to have had a population of between 1,500,2,000.[14]

"Lachish ..." (Joshua 10:3). At one time larger than Jerusalem, Lachish was an important fortified city guarding the main road up to Jerusalem from Egypt. It was about 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem.[15] Paganism was thoroughly entrenched here, and through Lachish, "The idolatry of the Northern Israel was successfully imported into Judah (Micah 1:13)."[16] (See further comment on this town in Vol. 2 of my series of commentaries on the minor prophets, pp. 291,292).

"Eglon ..." (Joshua 10:3). Little is known of this place except what may be gleaned from this chapter. W. F. Albright has identified the place as Tel el-Hesi, which was once thought to be Lachish.[17]

"Come up unto me ... (Joshua 10:4). Since, most of these kings were on the Shephelah, or even the lowlands, it was circumstantially accurate for the king of Jerusalem to say, "Come up" unto me, Jerusalem being on much higher ground (except in the case of Hebron). Note also that Adonizedek did not dare to propose that they fight Joshua, but only that they smite Gibeon. All such details as these, which are numerous in this chapter, are in keeping with the whole geography and history and of those times; and, collectively, they constitute an eloquent and convincing testimonial to the truth and historical accuracy of the whole passage.

Joseph R. Sizoo commented on the illogical and inaccurate allegations of scholars who would like to deny the historical nature of this narrative, identifying Martin Noth, especially, as having carried out his etiological explanation of the five kings in the cave (Joshua 10:27) to "a reductio ad absurdum."[18] It is refreshing, although surprising, to find a comment like that in the Interpreter's Bible!