Other tribes in the area naturally become concerned at this
point, just as Jericho was at the start. The Gibeonites trick the Israelites
into an alliance, and end up as “slaves” or aliens working at menial tasks.
Read Joshua 9:3-6
Other tribes, rather than attacking Israel, now attack
Gibeon, thus testing not only the strength but also the trustworthiness of
their enemy.
Joshua’s army sets out under cover of night and hides in the
hills and forests round Gibeon—it’s interesting that we think in terms of
nations fighting nations, whereas the story is more a record of one tribal city
attacking another—more like early America than middle-ages Europe.
The Ammonites would probably have camped near water, and the
Israelite attack, at night, rushing down from the hillsides, was a big success.
Still, it wouldn’t help the invasion much unless the fleeing forces could be
killed before they regrouped.
Read
Josh 10:12-14. Some translations say the sun hastened not to go down, but more
commonly they just claim the sun and moon both stood still.
Interestingly, I’d always interpreted this story as God
granting Joshua an incredibly long day in which to fight his foes. As the
authors of Battles of the Bible point
out, that would be singularly illogical in military terms, and it’s far more
likely God granted them an over-long night by making the morning mists obscure
the sun. After all, Joshua’s army was good at and armed for hand-to-hand
fighting in trees, while the enemy were armed for and accustomed to full-scale
battle formations. History and geography reveal that thick mists do arise in
the Ajalon valley, but, like the Jordan running dry, they can’t usually be
called on to happen just when we need them.
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