Thursday, March 8, 2012

Joshua 10

The surrender of the Gibeonites does not sit well with the locals. The kings of 5 Amorite cities (including Hebron and Jerusalem) gather together and attack Gibeon, who calls for aid from Joshua.

Joshua moves his army to support his new allies, but must take on 5 armies at once. God says to Joshua to not be afraid. He moves through the night and attacks in the morning, I read this to mean that he attacks around dawn before the Amorites have fully woken up.

The Amorites flee and God sends a hail storm that kills more Amorites than Joshua's army did. Joshua also prays that the son and moon be immobilized in the sky. It happens, which allows daylight to be extended.

Woah!

Meanwhile, the 5 kings hide out in a cave. When they are found, Joshua orders a large rock and sentries posted by the cave until the battle is over. After the battle, Joshua returns to the cave and has each king impaled on a pole and displayed until evening. Gross. Vlad Dracula did that a lot too, but he would leave the bodies displayed for longer. I assume that Joshua has them taken down by evening because of the Mosiac code provision that a person is cursed if they are hung from a tree after sunset.

Joshua then goes on a rampage, taking city after city until the entire region is conquered. Afterwards, he goes back to camp at Gilgal.

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