The Sun Stands Still

This week, we look at the battle of the five kings with Joshua and how God heeded to him. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hello, and welcome to a Path Redemption of the Podcast. My name is Daniel Arona, and just remember the simple truth. The Father loves you, Jesus loves you, and the Holy Spirit loves you. Once again, I hope that you had a great week. I hope that you've had time to spend with the Lord in prayer and also in his word. Again, I know I say it every single week, but I truly, truly mean it. You know, we are quickly, quickly approaching the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the rapture of the saints. I truly believe that it can happen at any time. Um, and we have got to make sure that we are prepared. You know, we we're looking at this last century church as a last day church, and I think that we are going to have to make sure we are about his business, that we're doing the things that he asks us to do, that we are focused on uh on the work and telling people about Jesus. I mean, that is literally the biggest thing that we have to do. Um, because if if they know Jesus and they have a personal relationship with him, they're intimate with him, then we can get as many people to go with us as possible. And and you know, a lot of people criticize the rapture, calling it escapism and those types of things, and it's not, it's the fact that the saints of God, the ones that truly believe, um, that trust him with all things, we're not appointed under wrath. Um, that's what the scripture says in the book of Romans, Romans 5. So uh we're that's not our appointment, and it's called Jacob's trouble this time at the end. It is about Israel, it's about reconciling Israel back and about a king that is judging the people that have rejected him, um, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. So um understand that, understand how this works, understand exactly what's going on, but make sure that you're you're putting in the work, make sure that you are doing the things that you need to do. Amen. So last week, again, we looked at the treaty with the Gibeonites. Um, that was the second major mistake that Israel made. The first was Achan, that that cost them a defeated Ai, but the second was this treaty. And as we saw last week, Israel and specifically Joshua did not inquire of the Lord. And we're gonna kind of pick up there because they talked about there was still an army of five kings that had come out against Israel due to what happened to Jericho and AI. And we're gonna kind of look a little bit about that battle, what happened, how God stepped in, and how he called it its own, right? And I know that we're talking about the land of Israel and that we're we're talking a lot about these things that are happening in this ancient time. And I promise you that there's a reason behind this as we're talking about this land. But again, you know, we're standing at a precipice of full-out war in the Middle East, um, particularly as President Trump continues to weigh about whether or not to attack Iran or not. More and more military pieces have been moved over there. And we could very easily be looking at the fulfillment of Jeremiah 49, the prophecy of Elam. Um, we could very easily see retaliations in certain areas that could cause additional additional issues. Um, the uh Iranian Revolutionary Guard uh has recently taken over Hezbollah in uh Lebanon, uh so they're preparing for war there as well. Uh we have no idea what the Houthis in Yemen are are about to do. So, and we know that Iran has already partially um uh shut down the Strait of Hormuz. So um, yeah, everyone's posturing for war and that it is potentially coming. Is it more than likely it has at some point it has to in order for scripture to be fulfilled? Um, is this it? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Um Lord has not told me. Um, but it's important that we again stay prayed up and focused on the things that he has, amen. So again, just some housekeeping items. All of our scripture comes from the New King James Bible. If you'd like a copy of the New King James Bible, feel free to drop me a note at pathroomedemptionohio at gmail.com. More than happy to get one into your hands. Also, my book's out, Grace Abounds. If you'd like that, um, feel free to drop me a note again at pathroomemptionohio at gmail.com. Um, my other book, uh, the first in the trilogy of Iniquity, the cross and redemption is out, book one Iniquity. Um, and that is uh available for purchase at Amazon or Barnes and Noble online, um, any of those places as well. Working on getting it into some local retailers here uh where I live in Ohio as well. So still working on some pieces there as well. Um, but regardless of all that, that's out. If you like copy, feel free to look that up and purchase it. Um, you know, and finally, the last thing here is once again, just don't take my word for it. Make sure you study to show yourself approved under God. Do the work yourself. You have to. You've got to. Now, look, I'm always here for questions. If you want to email me at pathsredemptionohio at gmail.com, more than happy to answer any questions you may have. You know, more than happy to help you as much as I possibly can. But at the end of the day, you've got to put into work and you've got to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Amen. So, with all of that being said, okay, we know that that Israel made some missteps, particularly with the treaty of the Gibbonites. Uh, now there's an army of five kings that have come out against the Gibeonites. They've kind of uh camped across Gibeon to draw Israel, I believe, into a war. Um, and God had a choice here. Uh, he could have left Israel due to the treaty for not inquiring of him, or he could show them grace due to the deception of the Gibeonites, and ultimately he did the latter. The reason is because they were deceived. That's what I personally believe. You know, I personally don't believe that there was a willful disobedience here, like we saw in the case of Achan, where they were told to do one thing and they did another. I think that they were truly deceived, and this was a mistake, and it was a mistake uh to not inquiring of the Lord. And I think that's the difference in our lives as well. You know, we all make mistakes, we all make missteps, and and not, and we don't do things perfectly before the Lord. None of us are perfect before him, but yet his grace is sufficient, and we have to learn from our mistakes and move on. But God is gracious in those situations. Sometimes he lets us sit there until we do learn the situation, which is exactly what's going to happen with the Gibeonites and some others, um, as we'll kind of see when we get to the book of Judges. But you know, God is still gracious, and if but Israel in the wilderness, when you compare the two, they willfully disobeyed and did not believe God. And I think that's the difference here. These people had a heart, this generation had a heart to do the things that God wanted them to do and to listen to Joshua. And I think that God recognized that and they believed God, they trusted God, they had to, they didn't have a choice. They were strangers in a strange land that were it was ultimately going to be their promised land, but they are surrounded by completely enemies. They have to rely on God for all things, and we're gonna be no different coming up here in these last days. So we've got to make sure that we are staying the exact same thing, that we are focused on the things that God has, and that we are trusting him. So, with that background, let's go into Joshua 10, 1 through 5, where it says, Now it came to pass when Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had taken Ai and 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, 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. Therefore Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent to Hoham, King of Hebron, Piram, king of Jarmouth, Jephiah, King of Lachish, and Deber, King of Eglon, saying, 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. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmouth, the king of Lakish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they and all their armies, encamped before Gibeon and made war against it. So here we find the details of who comes against Israel. There are five kings. The leader was Adonizadek, king of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was just south of Ai. It was one of the closest cities to Ai outside of Bethel. But the king was probably scared and fearful and got his friends to come up and help him. The second was Hoham, king of Hebron. Hebron was much further south, but in the mountains of Judea still. The third was Piram, king of Jarmuth. Jarmuth was east of the area, more in the foothills of the mountains, towards the Mediterranean Sea. Fourth was Jephia, king of Lakish. Lakish was in southwest, kind of in the plain, more so, just past the foothills. And the final one was Debir, king of Eglon. Eglon was much further south, still in the mountains, but closer to the land of Edom and in Mount Seir. In defeating these kings, though, Joshua and Israel would defeat some pretty major powers in the land. The other key here is the reason why they went up. They saw that Gibeon, who were mighty men, had made a peace treaty and were among the Israelites. The issue is that they didn't really revere Israel or especially God, but rather it seemed like they were more afraid of the fact that the Gibeonites had joined Joshua and Israel because of their mighty men. And notice that they did not come directly at Joshua or Israel, but rather they camped before Gibeon to make war against it, knowing that it would draw Israel into it. And look, there could be a few reasons that they did this. The first is that they did not want to fight Israel. The second could be they're angry and that they betrayed the rest of the people of Canaan, talking about the Gibeonites. But regardless of the reasoning, they picked a fight and they would now have come out to war against Joshua and ultimately against Gibeon. So ultimately, what happens here? Joshua 10 6, and the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp of 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. So this is the issue with a treaty, and this is the issue with putting them under tribute. Israel is now responsible for them. When they need help, it is now Israel's responsibility to care for them because they are in alliance with them. Now notice here that they recognize all of these kings and know who the armies are. This very well could mean that they were in league with each other prior. Or regardless, though, they sent word to Joshua in order to get help. So what does Joshua do? Joshua 10, 7 through 11 says, So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 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. Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. So the Lord routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Beth Haran, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Mekeda. And it happened as they fled before Israel, and were on the descent of Beth Haran, that the Lord cast down large hailstones from the heaven on them as far as Azica, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the with the sword. So Joshua gets up and he goes to war with the five kings. Notice, though, that the Lord tells Joshua not to fear, that he has already delivered them into his hands. This is the grace that I was talking about that the Lord shows. The Lord shows them grace by still being with them, by still following them, by still helping them. They defeated the armies and killed them with a great slaughter because God was on their side. And notice that Joshua writes here that the Lord routed them before Israel. It was the Lord's battle. And notice again that the Lord rained down hailstones on the armies as well. And we're going to see this again too in the battle over Israel, known as Gog and Megog war in Ezekiel 38. So reading Ezekiel 38, 21 through 23, it kind of tells us what happens here. God says, I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all my mountains, says the Lord God. Now, I'm going to stop there for a second. Why? Because that's where this battle happens. It happens in the mountains. It happens in the mountains of the promised land. And notice that these kings were all kings of the mountains, okay? So this is God establishing his mountains, the Judea and Samaria, the mountains that go along with that. And basically there's another battle that's coming. And this is what the Lord says. He says, He's going to call for a sword against Gog throughout all my mountains. Every man's sword will be against his brother, and I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus I will magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord. So what we see here in the battle of Gog and Magog is in the same locations, the same area, against kings that have come against Israel. Again, um, again, another coalition of kings from the north, in this case from the south. But ultimately, what do they do? They're from the mountains. God calls it in the same battle, and he does this, rains down hail, fire, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Why? So that he can magnify himself and sanctify himself in the midst of many nations. So now that's the key here, though, is that God is going to magnify himself by doing this. That is the purpose of why God did this against the kings as well. He wanted to magnify himself in the sight of all the land. You see, more people died from the hailstones than Israel. God himself won this battle through his actions, not through those of Israel. This is how God will do for us as well. If we allow him, there's an old song that says, you know, if I hold my peace and let God fight my battles, victory, victory shall be mine. That was true for Israel, and that is true for us today. We've got to let God be God in our lives. If he is Lord of our life, he's Lord of our problems. If he's Lord of our life, he's Lord of our battles. He's the ultimate general, and victory is already his. He secured it on Calvary. So what we have to do is just trust him, trust him, trust him, trust him, and obey him and walk in the way that he wants us to. You know, it's what David said in the Psalms, you know, I have been young and I've been old, and I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. We've got to make sure that we understand that and know that to the core of our being, that no matter what happens, God has us. Children of Israel had no no no other choice here because again, they were surrounded completely by enemies. But for us, there's so many other things going on and so many distractions that if God's not number one and we don't have our trust fully in him and we have it in something else, then we could get left behind from it. So now something extraordinary is about to happen in the rest of this chapter. In Joshua 10, 12 through 15, it says, 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 Israel, Sun stand still over Gibeon, and moon in the valley of Agilon. The so the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, and if the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel, and then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him to camp at Gilgal. Now this is an absolutely amazing thing when you think about it. Joshua told the sun to stand still, and the moon to stand still in its place, and the Lord heeded and listened to Joshua. Now let's think about that for a second. This is the only time per the Bible that it says that that God has heeded man and that he has done exactly what man had said, and ultimately it's an amazing thing. It was it it's his choice on the things of how he does or what he does. But in this case, he listened to Joshua. Look, we cannot force God's hand in anything. I want to be clear about that, right? We really truly cannot force God's hand. But what we can do is we can ask him to do the same thing, and that's ultimately what Joshua did. He asked, he, but Joshua declared it. He didn't really ask. And God obliged. Why? Because again, God wanted to establish his name in the kingdom, in the land of Canaan. Now, if you look at the book of Joshua, you're going to see it in Joshua 88 and 63, where it says, And when they were smiting, the day was declining toward evening. And Joshua said in the sight of all people, Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Agilon, until the nation shall have revenge itself upon its enemies. And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Joshua, and the sun stood still in the midst of heavens, and it stood still six and thirty moments, and the mo and the moon also stood still and hastened not to go down a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it that the Lord hearkened to the voice of man, for the Lord fought for Israel. Now I have no idea what thirty-six moments is. Um I don't know what that is. Is that minutes? Is that is that seconds? I don't know. But at the end of the day, what happened was the moon stood still and God listened and hearkened to a man. Now there were a few reasons why he did this, I believe. One, he had already declared that the people of Canaan were set to be destroyed. Remember, Joshua said not to go down. Son, don't go down until the people have revenge upon their enemies. They were their enemies, they were the enemies of Israel. The Gibeonites had deceived Israel as being part of Canaan, and because of that, these armies have come out against Israel. So there could be a revenge point there. But notice how Joshua puts it, until people have their revenge. This was about the treaty they were forced into, I believe. All of it was, and it was against them, and they wanted revenge on them. And again, this was a different time, and God had appointed them for destruction. But for us, you know, we have to make sure that we are walking in forgiveness because it's a time of grace. But here, this is not it. Their DNA had been compromised. They were part of the of that Nephilim DNA, of that Nephilim heritage, based upon what we've seen before. So understanding all of that, we had then have to understand that God had to utterly destroy them. Now, finally, let's look at Joshua 10, 16 through 27, because this is an important part as well. But and it says, But these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in the cave of Macada. And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings have been found in the cave at Macada. And so Joshua said, Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and set men by it to guard it. But do not stay there yourselves, but pursue your enemies and attack their rear guard. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hands. Then it happened while Joshua and the children of Israel made an end to the slang with a very great slaughter, till they had finished that those who escaped entered fortified cities. And all the people returned to camp to Joshua at Macada in peace. But no one moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. Then Joshua said, Open the mouth of the cave and bring out those five kings to me from the cave. And they did so, and brought out those five kings from to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the King of Lakish, and the King of Eglon. 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 and put your feet on the necks of these kings. And they drew near and put their feet on their necks. 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 of your enemies against whom you fight. And afterward Joshua struck them and killed them, and hanged them on five trees, and they were hanging on the trees until evening. 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. So these kings hid themselves in caves. Now let's think about this. There was a great slaughter of men, their armies were being absolutely defeated, and these weak men that God had ordained for destruction went and hid because they were scared. So what happens? Joshua tells them look, roll large stones in front of the mouth of the cave, and set the men by it to guard them. But rather go and destroy the armies, right? These leaders are nothing. And that's what Joshua kind of recognized is that these leaders are weak leaders. They're never going to be followed again. They're hiding while their armies are absolutely being destroyed. You go focus on the power, which is the armies, and you chase them down into their fortified cities. Because don't let them do it, because the moment they do it, you know, then you're going to have to come back to battle, right? And that's exactly what they're going to end up doing in the southern conquest, which we'll start up against next week. But the kings were afraid, and there's an important prophecy here. So when they bring them out, Joshua tells the captains not to be afraid or dismayed, but to be strong and of good courage, because God will do that to all the enemies who they fought who they fight. So what is that? That is he's going to put their foot on their neck. And I think that that's key, right? Because they had seen what God had done. God had let the let the sun stand still, let the moon stand still, heeded to Joshua, understood that God was with them, despite the missteps that we had seen here. But there's gonna come a time, though, when these men, this generation, will die off, and another generation. Generation is going to arise, but that same prophecy would have been available to that next generation. But we'll talk about that when we get to Judges because ultimately that's a that's just a different story for a different time. But again, Israel hung them on the trees because they were cursed and then took them down at nightfall as to not curse the land. You see, all of these men were cursed. The Nephilim line of DNA that we've talked about leads them to the curse. So again, this is all about the complete destruction of the Canaanite kings. And this is going to be the last battle of the central conquest of the land. And what do I mean by the central conquest? Israel had in essence split the land in two and now have to deal with the cities of the south where these kings came from, and finally with the cities of the north. So what's going to happen is Joshua is going to turn south and begin the southern conquest right there at Makada. But we'll talk about that going into next week. But God has been with them this entire time, and they have faith been faithful in the promised land so far, despite some missteps and some mistakes. But God is always faithful, and this belongs to this land belongs to whoever he gives it to. And clearly it was given to Israel during the Canaanite conquest. It was promised to Abraham back when he walked, but established through the work of Joshua in this generation of Israelites, because they drove out the people in the land. Now, the other thing that I think that this shows, and I think that this is even more important for our modern time, is that where you line up these cities, and when you look at these cities and where they are, it really lines up with the modern day West Bank or Samaria. And guess what? Israel conquered this area. It's Israel's. They conquered it during the central campaign. And today, people believe that this is occupied land and it belongs to the Palestinians. But God would say otherwise otherwise in his scripture. It clearly belongs to Israel. It was promised to Abraham. It was pro it was taken by Joshua who drove out the seed of the giants, drove out the Amalekites here, not the Amalekites, the Amorites here. And ultimately it's theirs. It's Israel's. But yet today people want to say that, oh, it's occupied, that that the Palestinian people need their land and they need their things. And look, is there some truth in that? Sure. Every people deserves a land. I'm not saying it's not just not this land, right? That's the whole thing, is that this land is God's. It is God's land. It is his. And the sooner that people understand that, the better off this world will be. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen until Christ rules and reigns from Jerusalem, until that millennial kingdom is set up, because the people aren't going to ever understand the history and the things that are here. People think that the history began in 1948 and that all these people were dispersed. Well, no, they weren't. I'm sorry, they they really weren't. Actually, if you go back into the 1860s, Mark Twain wrote in his travels around the world that he went to the Holy Land and that you could walk 10 miles without seeing 10 people. Yet people want to say that that this land belongs to all these people. Look, we're going to get to all that. We're going to talk about modern Israel when we get there, but we have to understand the foundations of it here. And we have to understand who did what and why this is God's land and why this Canaanite conquest matters so much. So that's why this is clearly the conquering of the land of Judea here in the central regions. And he's going to turn south and he's going to conquer Judea and Samaria, and then he's going to turn north. So we'll talk about that. We're going to start with the southern uh conquest next week as we continue to talk about this land. So, with all of that being said, I hope you're getting something out of the study. I hope you understand this. But make sure you're praying for the peace of Jerusalem. That's our command in Scripture is to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. So make sure that we are doing that, right? And pray for the people that revival may break out. Yes, I know they don't believe in Christ. I know they don't, but they are still God's chosen people. If you read the book of Romans, we know they will be reconciled at some point. But it's important for us to pray for them and pray that revival breaks out and that they see Jesus Christ for who he is, which is the Savior and salvation that we have come to know him as. So, with that being said, I hope you're getting something out of this. Um, until next time, just remember this simple truth the Father loves you, Jesus loves you, and the Holy Spirit loves you. God bless.