Joshua 9 – 21
So far in the book of Joshua, Joshua has conquered two
cities so far and this has the rest of those in the promise land scared and
trying to figure out way to defeat them and their God. However we know that
this was just the beginning of the many battles that would take place that ultimately lead to the
children of
Joshua 9:1 And it
came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, in
the hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts of the Great Sea toward
Lebanon -- the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite,
and the Jebusite -- heard about it,
2 that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel
with one accord.
Notice these kings do a
wise thing they join forces. They realize they have little chance to win by
themselves but united with their fellow kingdoms they think they can surely defeat the children of
Joshua 9:3 But when
the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 4 they worked craftily, and went
and pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old
wineskins torn and mended, 5
old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all
the bread of their provision was dry and moldy.
6 And they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, and said to
him and to the men of
These
guys laid it on thick as were trying to pull of their scam. They obviously put
a lot of thought into their scam and they didn’t miss any details on trying to
show they came from a long ways off. To make sure that the children of
Joshua
Here
was the whole problem of the matter the men of
1.
When you have difficult decision to make don’t forget to pray and ask God for
guidance. We need to remember that he is there for us and if we will allow him
he will help us in decision that we have to make.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us
therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need.
2.
Don’t allow others to fool you into entering into agreement or entering into a
sin without seeking guidance from Gods Word. That what Paul teaches us in.
Ephesians 5:6 Let no
one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God
comes upon the sons of disobedience.
How can make sure that we
are not fooled by smooth spoken words? Paul give us the answer in,
2 Timothy 4:2 Preach
the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with
all longsuffering and teaching.
If
we don’t put on whole armor of God by growing in knowledge of God’s Word we
will be battling with a broken sword and it will be easy for us to fooled by
those who are crafty.
3.
The third thing we learn is that we must
keep our commitments once we make them just a Joshua had to keep his word to
these that fooled him. As continue through the rest of the chapter you see
Joshua and his men go to these con-artists city and he keeps his word he
doesn’t destroy them. However, he make them keep there end of the bargain and
makes them slaves as stated in verse,
Joshua 9:27 And
that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation
and for the altar of the LORD, in the place which He would choose, even to this
day.
Now lets look at chapter
10.
Joshua 10:1 Now it
came to pass when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai
and had utterly destroyed it -- as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he
had done to Ai and its king -- and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace
with Israel and were among them, 2
that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of
the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were
mighty. 3 Therefore
Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of
Jarmuth <jar'-muth>, Japhia <ja-fi'-a> king of Lachish <la'-kish>, and Debir <de'-ber> king
of Eglon, saying, 4
"Come up to me and help me, that we may attack Gibeon, for it has made
peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel." 5 Therefore the five kings of the
Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth <jar'-muth>, the king of Lachish, <la'-kish> and
the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they and all their
armies, and camped before Gibeon and made war against it. 6 And the men of Gibeon sent to
Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, saying, "Do not forsake your servants; come
up to us quickly, save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who
dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us." 7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal,
he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor.
These 5 kings gather
together in the hopes to defeat Gibeon and the children of
Joshua 10:8 And the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear
them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand
before you."
This is the third time we
have seen God tell Joshua this and
this had to be encouraging to him
because every time God has said this he has easily defeated his enemy. Sure enough he went into
Joshua 10:11 And it
happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth
Horon, that the LORD cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as
Azekah <a-ze'-ka> , and
they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the
children of
Notice God killed more of
these men that the children of
Joshua 10:12 Then
Joshua spoke 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
Some have doubted that
its possible for God to have kept the sun in the same place for additional day.
But, there should be no doubt. If God had the ability to create the universe and
everything in it and he certainly could prolong the sun to be their for
additional 24 hours. Some astronomers believe they have found proof of a
missing day by comparing the cosmos to that of what was recorded in ancient
James 1:6 But let him
ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea
driven and tossed by the wind. 7
For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
So
when pray or put self in God’s hands do not doubt and God will supply you with
what you need.
In
verse 16 and following we learn that 5 kings have hidden in a cave. Joshua
tells them to seal the cave and they
will deal with them latter after they finish destroying their enemies. That
exactly what they do notice what is done to the 5 cowardly kings.
Joshua 10:24 So it
was, when they brought out those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all
the men of Israel, and said to the captains of the men of war who went with
him, "Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings." And they
drew near and put their feet on their necks.
25 Then Joshua said to them, "Do not be afraid, nor be
dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the LORD will do to all your
enemies against whom you fight." 26
And afterward Joshua struck them and killed them, and hanged them on five
trees; and they were hanging on the trees until evening. 27 So it was at the time of the
going down of the sun that Joshua commanded, and they took them down
from the trees, cast them into the cave where they had been hidden, and laid
large stones against the cave's mouth, which remain until this very
day.
Notice how Joshua uses the defeat of these kings to
boost the moral of his people and to show them
truly God is with them helping them. Now in verse 28 and following Joshua begins southern
campaign. Once again we see the same story repeated. His enemies do there best
to withstand the children of Israel but the fail horribly as the Children of
Israel make their way through city after city. This southern conquest is
summarized starting in,
Joshua 10:40 So
Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country and the South and the
lowland and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings; he left none remaining,
but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel had
commanded. 41 And Joshua
conquered them from Kadesh Barnea <ka'-desh-bar'-ne-a> as far as
Now in chapter 11 we have
the Northern conquest. Now the king of Hazor new that he must destroy the children of
Joshua 11:6 But the
LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about
this time I will deliver all of them slain before
That’s all Joshua needed
to hear because he knew that it didn’t matter how big or strong they were
because if God said they would be
defeated then they would be defeated. Lets read on.
Joshua 11:7 So
Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the
waters of Merom <me'-rom>, and they attacked them. 8 And the LORD delivered them into
the hand of
From the time Joshua set
foot into the promise land and to the end of the northern conquest
approximately 5 years have passed and now the children of
Now look at Chapter 13.
Joshua 13:1 Now
Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the LORD said to him: "You are old,
advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed.
God is letting Joshua
know that the children of
Joshua 13:7
"Now therefore, divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and
half the tribe of Manasseh."
Now we need to remember that the reason why the land is being divided up with
only 9 and half tribes is because 2 and
half tribes have take their land on the other side of the Jordan. As the tribes
divide up into their different sections of land they would conquer the remaining
land that God spoke of. You can read about all the details about the dividing
of the land and conquering of the rest of the land from the end of Chapter 13
to Chapter 19. Now one thing I do what
to point out is some additional information we find out about Caleb in Chapter
14:6-15.
Joshua 14:7 "I was
forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh
Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in
my heart.
Joshua 14:10 "And
now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years,
ever since the LORD spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the
wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old.
Not only do we learn how
old Caleb was at these different points this is also where we can see by doing simple math that
all of these conquest that Joshua had done took
about 7 years. He was 40 when the wandering in the wilderness began and
we know that this 40 years started from the time crossed the red sea.
Approximately 2 years went by before they spied the promise land out the first
time. So this means they would wander 38 more years Deut. 2:14 putting Caleb
entering into the promise land at the age of 78 and since he is 85 now this
gives us our 7 year time span.
In chapter 20 they set up
cities of refuge and in chapter 21 the Levities are given 48 cities in all in
which to dwell in since they did not receive land inheritance. This brings us
to our final verses for this evening.
Joshua 21:43 So the
LORD gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their
fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. 44 The LORD gave them rest all
around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of
all their enemies stood against them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into
their hand. 45 Not a word
failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of
Notice all came to pass
the land promise God made to Abraham has now been fulfilled and God word has
not failed. We need to remember these verse and show them to those who teach
that God is going fulfill the land promise sometime in the future because the
Bible clearly state that is fulfilled during Joshua’s time.