Joshua’s Request
“Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon” (Joshua 10:12).
Abstract. Much has been written through the centuries about these scriptures found in Joshua 10:12-14. Some of the explanations of Joshua’s request defy the very laws of the universe established by God. God uses His universal laws to accomplish things but does not go against these laws. With this in mind what could be the meaning of this request? To answer this we will consider three segments:
(1) The context of events leading up to this battle at Gibeon, for in them lies the meaning for Joshua’s request.
(2) The motivation for Joshua’s request. Jehovah’s purpose is to redeem Israel from the nations, and most importantly, from their gods (2 Samuel 7:23). Joshua’s request accords with this purpose.
(3) The event itself. We will show that the physical event depicts Joshua’s motivation to fulfill Jehovah’s purpose for redeeming Israel from the nations and their gods.
From secular history we understand that the peoples of the land worshipped a multitude of various gods. False gods of the sun, moon, storm, and summer solstice would play a role in the upcoming battle. But instead of helping the Amorites, they were powerless in stopping Israel’s one true God.
THE COVENANT WITH GIBEON
After the battle with Ai, the Gibeonites tricked the Israelites into a covenant (Joshua 9:3-6). Now the Gibeonites would be able to live in peace among the Israelites (Joshua 9:15, 16). In response, the kings of the mountains where Gibeon is located gathered against Gibeon (Joshua 10:1-5). Recognizing the peril, the Gibeonites sent for help from the Israelites, who honored their obligation to their new allies. The stage was set for a battle between Israel and the five Amorite kings (Joshua 10:6-9).
There are about twenty miles from Gilgal to Gibeon. Verses 7-9 show that Joshua ascended from Gilgal to Gibeon – they had to go up hill in order to get there – a climb of 3,400 feet (Hastings Bible Dictionary). So the Israelite army had a forced march, uphill, at night, in order to have the element of surprise against the Amorites. Considering the terrain and distance traveled, probably this march was done on the night of a full moon or near full moon.
Another important aspect of these verses is that Joshua, like Moses, built up the faith of Israel’s armies by assuring them that Jehovah was with them. Israel had to have faith in their one God and not fall back onto false gods (Deuteronomy 31:7, 8, Joshua 10:25). We see the results of the battle in Joshua 10:10, 11.
JOSHUA’S PRAYER
Now we consider the motivation behind Joshua’s request. As the events unfolded, Jehovah fought for the Israelites. Joshua put this to his advantage in the eyes of Israel. Remember that Joshua was dealing with a new generation of Hebrews who had needed to be circumcised and had not seen the plagues that had happened in Egypt. The previous generation had died in the wilderness. So Joshua built them up in faith as he and Caleb tried to do after spying in the land years earlier (Numbers 14:29, 30, 32, 33, Numbers 14:7-9).
In Joshua 10:12, 13, Joshua showed Israel who their true God was and exposed the false gods of the Amorites, as Moses did in Egypt (Deuteronomy 4:33-35, 39). The Amorites worshipped a sun god and a moon god. Jericho was the city of the Moon.
It was important that Israel recognize and have faith in Jehovah who was fighting for them.
The meanings of some of the words in Joshua 10:12, 13, give us some insights into the motivation behind Joshua’s request. As Moses showed the superiority of Jehovah over the gods of Egypt in the ten plagues, so Joshua would show the superiority of Jehovah over the gods of the Amorites. Joshua had stood by the side of Moses and learned from him – now he puts this learning into practice.
First, the request is made in the sight (Strong 5869, “eye,” as showing mental qualities, compare Genesis 3:5) of Israel.
In verse 12 Joshua asks for the sun and moon to be still (Strong 1826, “to be still, silent, be dumb, grow dumb”). In verse 13, the words “stayed” or “stood still” are from Strong 5975, which means “to make a stand, hold one’s ground, arise, appear, come on the scene.” Joshua wanted the sun and moon to make their stand, to come on the scene, in other words to be present as the events unfold.
The word “hasted” in verse 13 (Strong 213) means “to press, confined.” The phrase “to go down” is from Strong 935, “to come, to enter, to fall or light upon, attack.” Joshua wants the sun to be confined from going down or attacking. Interestingly, all these words have a military implication.
In Joshua’s word choice, he tried to get Israel to use their mental faculties to see that Jehovah is a living God as compared to the gods of the Amorites. The words Joshua used regarding the sun and moon shows their limitations. This is done to expose them as false gods in the eyes of Israel. He calls to the sun and moon to be silent and watch what is going to happen to their worshippers as Israel through Jehovah avenged themselves on their enemies. Israel is to understand that even though the sun and moon stand their ground in the heavens, they are unable to attack or do anything to stop the armies of Israel. Joshua wants Israel to understand that these are nothing more than creations of Jehovah which Jehovah controls. These are not gods. Israel is to worship the creator and not the creation (Genesis 1:14, 1 Chronicles 16:25, 26, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalms 148:2-5).
In 1 Corinthians 12:2, the Apostle Paul refers to idols as being dumb (Strong 880, “voiceless, dumb, without the faculty of speech, idols”).
The Psalmist also brings this out in Psalms 115:4-8 and 135:15-18.
It is also found in Habakkuk 2:18-20 (in verse 18, the word dumb is from Strong 483, mute, silent, dumb, unable to speak; and in verse 19, it is from Strong 1748, silence).
Joshua, through Jehovah, is passing judgment on the gods of the Amorites. The Hebrews had a similar experience when they came out of Egypt with respect to the Egyptian gods. As each plague presented itself, Egyptian gods and goddesses where exposed as powerless in the presence of Jehovah. As judgment came on the gods of Egypt, so judgment came on the gods of the Amorites (Exodus 12:12, Numbers 33:3, 4, Exodus 18:11).
The place of Gibeon
Another example of this is when Elijah tormented the priests of Baal and told them to shout louder so Baal could hear and send fire down on the altar (1 Kings 18:27, 28). That understanding helps explain Joshua 10:14.
At the Exodus from Egypt, and at Elijah’s confrontation with the priests of Baal, God used Moses and Elijah to expose the false gods. In Joshua 10:14, Joshua is asking God for the opportunity to expose the false gods. Jehovah granted the request of a man. Joshua validated this request, giving credit to Jehovah who fought for Israel.
Scripture shows that Israel had a problem worshipping the hosts of heaven, the sun and the moon. Israel did not differentiate between what was a creation of God for their benefit, and God himself. Stephen summed up this weakness up in Acts 7:39-43 (see also 2 Kings 17:16, 17, 2 Kings 21:3-5, Jeremiah 8:1, 2, and 2 Kings 23:5). Moses warned Israel not to worship false gods (Deuteronomy 4:3, 4, 19, 20). But he also predicted that they would (Deuteronomy 31:16-20. See Ezekiel 8:15, 16 for a blatant example).
The Moabites, Amorites and Canaanites worshipped a moon god, Sin, Yerach, or Ashtoreth – a sun god, Shapash or Baal – a storm god, Addu or Adad – and the god of noon, summer solstice, and the underworld, Nergal. All four of these sun, moon, storm, and solstice, would play a role in the upcoming battle – but all were powerless to stop Israel’s one true God.
EARLY TENDENCY
In Deuteronomy chapter four, Israel was in Shittim, east of Jordan. Moses with Joshua knew that Israel had gone after Moabite and Midianite women and had started to worship strange gods. That occurred just before Israel would go into the land. This incident is recorded in Numbers 22-25. It began with Balak, King of the Moabites, seeking Balaam to curse Israel. Balaam would not curse Israel because God told him not to, but he did tell Balak how to snare Israel (Numbers 31:16, Revelation 2:14). Thus Joshua learned a lesson from Moses on how to demonstrate to Israel who was the one true God (Numbers 25:1-5, Joshua 10:13, 14).
The word “heads” in Numbers 25:4 (Strong 7218) means a head as in rank, those who had a position of authority and responsibility. Note – they are hung against the sun. The word “hang” (Strong 3363) is defined by Strong as “properly, located; figuratively, to abandon; causatively, to impale.” Notice that they are hung before the sun, the god which they worship. The word “grove” in the Old Testament (Strong 842) is asherah, from the root ashar, which means to be straight or upright. This ancient god was the symbol of fertility and was represented by an upright pole, called the tree of life. Moses used what he knew of these false gods to give Israel a solid example that Jehovah is superior. He hung the kings on their asherah in front of their sun God. He challenged the Moabite sun god and asherah to save their worshippers.
Joshua followed Moses’ example and did the same thing with the king of Ai, and then with the five Amorites kings (Joshua 8:29, Joshua 10:26, 27).
Israel constantly needed physical proof regarding Jehovah. They had difficulty developing faith in things not seen and would fall away (Joshua 24:14, Hebrews 11:1, 6).
JOSHUA 10:12, 13
Here is Joshua 10:12, 13, with Strong’s reference numbers.
(12) “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 [8121, sunrise, sunset, pinnacles, battlements, shields as glittering or shining] stand thou still [1826, to be silent, still, wait, be dumb, grow dumb] upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon [3394, moon], in the valley of Ajalon.
(13) “And the sun stood still [1826], and the moon stayed [5975, to stand, to make a stand, hold one’s ground, remain, take one’s stand, to tarry, delay, to arise, appear, come on the scene, rise up or against], until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still [5975] in the midst [2677] of heaven, and hasted [213, to press, hasten, confined, narrow] not to go down [935, to come, to enter, come in, to come upon, fall or light upon, attack] about a whole day.”
It is likely that the rendering of these verses would follow a battle scenario, and it is showing the inability of the Amorite gods to stop Jehovah. So Joshua 10:12,13 could read as follows:
“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 (to the thinking minds) of Israel, Sun be silent upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon be silent in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun was silent, and the moon stood its ground until [at the time of the solstice this is a 2-3 hour period] the people avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood its ground in the midst of heaven and was confined not to come upon or attack the whole day.”
Five Kings against Gibeon, Israelites march from Gilgal
Just as Joshua was showing the superiority of Jehovah to Israel, the lesson that there is only one true God was also for the Amorites, as it had been for the Egyptians at the time of the plagues, There is only one true God. They had a choice of believing in the one true God or continuing to believe in their own gods (Exodus 7:5, Exodus 14:4, Exodus 9:18, 20, 21, Exodus 12:38).
JOSHUA’S SURPRISE ATTACK
Lastly we consider the physical events behind what Joshua asked of God. As mentioned earlier, it seems logical that on the night in which Joshua moved the army to Gibeon, there was a full moon – for they traveled twenty miles and an elevation of 3,400 feet during the night.
The five kings went to attack the Gibeonites, encouraged that their gods gave a sign that the time was right. The kings looked at the celestial signs to determine if they would be successful. Archeologists have found clay tablets which show the elaborate tools diviners used to forecast events using the sun, moon and the hosts of heaven – something that Israel was not allowed to do (Deuteronomy 18:10-14).
Joshua’s words synchronize with the physical events on this day of battle. His purpose was to show Israel the superiority of Jehovah over the Amorite gods. What happened with the sun and moon was important because they are gods to the Amorites. For the moon god, Sin, to be full or near full was considered a positive sign by the Amorites.
We suggest the battle started just at the time of sunrise (Joshua 10:9). Joshua (10:12) says the sun was silent over Gibeon and the moon over the valley of Ajalon. The sun was rising in the east where Gibeon was and the moon was setting in the west were the valley of Ajalon was.
In Joshua 10:9, “suddenly” (Strong 6597) means suddenly or surprisingly, indicating the attack came when the Amorites were not prepared – consistent with sunrise, when the Amorite army might be sleeping or getting up.
“Discomfited” (Strong 2000) means to move nosily, confuse. Notice, it is the LORD that discomforted the Amorite army. Perhaps Joshua attacked with the sunrise behind him, impairing the sight of the enemy amid confusion from the noise of the attack – similar to the Civil War when the southern armies would yell and shout as they attacked to intimidate and unnerve the enemy and boost their own morale.1
Right from the beginning, the battle went well for Israel. The enemy was on the run. As they retreated they were pushed towards Beth-Horon. Though Jerusalem would be the nearest city for refuge, the Amorites were moved away from it, westward (Joshua 10:10, 11).
Though the King of Jerusalem brought this confederacy against Israel, Jerusalem was not destroyed at this time – though the other cities of the confederacy were (Joshua 10:28-43, 2 Samuel 5:7, Judges 1:8).
The next important thing is that hailstones fell on the retreating Amorites, and more were killed by the hailstones than by the Israelites! Remember that the Amorites had a god of storms (Addu or Adad), and now they were being killed in a storm.
DATE OF BATTLE
This battle occurred some time after Passover (Joshua 5:10). We suggest it occurred during the month of June. When Joshua told the sun to be silent and stand its ground, perhaps he referred to the time when the sun would be up for the maximum hours of daylight – the summer solstice, the longest day of the year – June 21 or 22 by our calendar.
The word “solstice” is from the Latin sol (sun), and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstice the sun stands still on its declination. Solstice, Midsummer, or Litha, means a stopping or standing still of the sun. In other words, its apparent movement north and south from our perspective comes to a stand-still. The sun has moved to its farthest point north from the Celestial Equator. To the unaided eye, the sun seems to rise and set at the same location on the horizon for about five days before and after the actual solstice.
The word “midst” in verse 13 (Strong 2677) means “half or middle.” It refers to the path of the sun during the summer solstice where its path is at its highest point and is perceived to be moving through the middle of the sky. At this time of year a full moon may look full to the naked eye for as long as three days.
This phenomenon is documented at the NASA website, which states, “On June 16, 2000, the problem could be even worse than usual. Instead of a dark, sleepy night sky following sunset, the blazing rays of a bright full Moon will come streaming through bedroom windows. This June’s full Moon occurs just four days before the 2000 summer solstice — the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere … Full Moons that occur close to the summer solstice are special because they follow the lowest path across the sky of all of the year’s full Moons” (Dr. George Lebo, a NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center Summer Faculty Fellow).
“Moons seen just above the horizon look much larger than normal. It’s an optical illusion, of course, but it’s still a pretty sight.” Anytime the Moon is full the Sun and the Moon are on opposite sides of the Earth. If one is high in the sky, as the Sun will be near the beginning of summer, the other must be low. On June 16, the Moon will never climb more than 30 degrees above the horizon as seen from mid-latitude sites in the northern hemisphere” (NASA website science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast14jun 1.htm)
This also happened in 2008 – full moon was on June 18, and on June 20 (summer solstice), at 11:59 pm, the moon was 91% of its total.
Technically, a full moon occurs the instant the moon’s shadow completely disappears because of its alignment with the earth and the sun. This is known as a lunar phase. Humans cannot determine the exact moment this lunar phase occurs without the aid of a telescope. Thus the moon appears full for 36 hours – 18 hours before and after this lunar phase.
If the battle of Gibeon was at summer solstice, perchance at full moon, this would explain several things – the language used by Joshua in his request to God, the attack of Amorites encouraged by a sign they supposed their gods provided, and moonlight enabling Joshua’s troops to march all night to Gibeon. It would be cooler traveling by night and this was summer in Israel. In the morning Joshua would have the sun to his back when attacking downhill.
SUMMARY
Joshua 10:12, 13, have been much discussed over the centuries. There are many opinions as to what Joshua intended, why he asked what he did of God, and what happened in answer to his prayer. We think the motive for Joshua’s prayer was to strengthen the faith of Israel in their one true God, as superior to the gods of the Amorites.
Why would he have to say in Joshua 10:25, “fear not, nor be dismayed,” and in Joshua 24:15, “and if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD,” if they were a people of great faith in Jehovah? Joshua remembered that Moses said Israel would go back to worshipping idols. So Joshua gave them many testimonies about the one true God.
The perceived advantages of the Amorites – the summer solstice of maximum daylight, and a full moon, suggesting the favor of their gods – became the very things Joshua used to his advantage to exhort Israel to faith in Jehovah.
What one lesson can we learn from this incident in Joshua? “Be strong in your faith of the one true God.” Israel had to believe in God as they went out to battle, for Jehovah would overcome all that lay before them (Deuteronomy 31:6, 7, Joshua 1:5-7).
As we face the battles of life, in order to conquer the things that draw us away from God, we too can trust in God’s words. Whatever God was willing to do for Joshua, He is willing to do for us (1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 6:10-13, Hebrews 13:5, 6).
– Bro. “Rick” Evans, Jr.
(1) Editor’s note: such tactics have been typical throughout world history. They are called a “shout,” or keleusma in the New Testament (1 Thessalonians 4:16).