Up all day. March uphill through the wilds all night. Fight all the next day. And that isn’t long enough?
What a difference the Lord makes when He fights for His people! The strategy is always right. The victory is always assured. First, “the Lord routed them before Israel” (Jos 10:10). The word “rout” means “to cause commotion and confusion.” It was a large-scale panic attack. The five armies turned to flee, some down the Aijalon Valley and some along the Beth Horon Pass. Both led to the coast road south. Joshua was moving along the Aijalon with his troops, slaughtering as they went. So the Lord took care of the enemy “on the descent of Beth Horon.” He “cast down large hailstones from heaven on them…and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword” (v 11). Meanwhile, back at the main force with Joshua, he noticed the sun was soon to set over the Mediterranean and their work wasn’t done. Now if “hailstones from heaven” wasn’t clear enough evidence that they were fighting against God, Joshua’s surprise certainly was. “Then Joshua spoke to the Lord…and he said in the sight of Israel: ‘Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon’” (v 12). I’ll let others fuss over what actually happened to produce this Daylight Extending Time. Just remember we’re talking about God here, who made the sun and moon not just for shining but “for signs” (Gen 1:14). He had already turned off the sun for the Egyptians, and would do it again when His Son was dying. All I know is what I read: “So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day” (v 13). There was no day like it before or since “that the Lord heeded the voice of a man” (v 14) for this specific request. Yet the same God hears and answers us all the time!