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(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, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword. (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 Israel: "Sun, stand still over Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." (13) 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. (14) And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the LORD heeded the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel. -Before we look for the application let me first address the information that we’re given about this reference to the Book of Jasher. Where is this? -Why wasn’t it included in the cannon of scripture? The short answer is; God, in His sovereignty, deemed it fit to not include the book of Jasher. -I’m of the belief that the Book of Jasher along with the Book of Wars, though a tremendous need for them then, was not needed for us now.

-Now, having said that, I want to talk about this unbelievable miracle of God casting down huge hailstones and then stopping the sun and moon. -Perhaps you’ll indulge me for just a moment as I attempt to explain the “why” the “how” and the “what” of this miracle in terms of it’s application. -Before I do that, I think it’s incumbent upon me to first deal with the matter of the supernatural. I’m keenly aware that some would beg to differ.

-Whenever you come up against those who try to refute the miracles of God, it’s always good to be ready with an answer from the Word of God. -Example, the Red Sea miracle. There are those who argue that part of the Red Sea had dried up allowing the Israelites to cross it on dry land. -Answer: then you have a bigger miracle in order for God to supernaturally drown the entire Egyptian army, chariots and all, using that dry land.

-Fast forward to this miracle of the hailstones. Some would argue that this was just a coincidence, and it just so happened to be a storm that day. -OK, then this would be even more of a miracle because now God would have to supernaturally see to it that the hailstones don't hit any Israelite. -Listen, I could go all night with this, and have an enormous amount of fun doing it but, suffice it to say, this is God performing a miracle for them.

-By the way, stopping the sun and the moon is a bigger miracle then the Red Sea, and the hailstones combined if you really stop to think about it. -The reason being is that this would have to be performed in such a fashion that the whole universe would be affected by it, as it relates to time. -There have been some within the scientific community who still believe in what’s been dubbed; “Joshua’s long day” being proved scientifically.

-For me, its really simple God said it that settles it. If you really believe Genesis 1:1, that in the beginning God created, then there’s no problem. -Let’s get back to the why, what and how of these miracles by first tackling the why. Why so dramatic? Why cast down such large hailstones? -Answer: because being stoned was the judgment for blasphemy in the Old Testament, which incidentally reinforces that God is just and right.

-Also, we see this in the New Testament Book of Revelation, when God judges a blasphemous Christ rejecting world with 100-pound hailstones. -That’s the why, what about the how, answer: I don’t have the foggiest idea about how God did this. I’m not trying to be cute, we don’t know why. -The reason that we don’t know why is because we can’t know why and the reason we can’t know why is because we’re finite, and God’s infinite.

-Let me take it one step further and say that even if God could somehow impart the infinite to us as the finite, it would only create more why’s.

Charles Spurgeon -“To please skeptical minds, scores of explanations of this wonderful occurrence have been laboriously elaborated, but there is no need for them and no use in them. The almighty God can as easily stop the sun and moon as a watchmaker can alter a watch; He did do so, and how he did it is no question for us: we may be rest assured He prolonged the daylight by the very wisest means. It is not ours to try and soften down miracles, but to glorify God in them. At the appearing of our great Joshua, the sun and moon shall be confounded while He shall be revealed in flaming fire, taking vengeance on His enemies.”

-The how sort of dovetails into the what. More specifically what is the lesson that God wants me to learn from this, in applying this to my own life? -I am learning in my own Christian life, that when I’m walking in obedience to the Lord, He will tax the moon and the stars for me, supernaturally.

Damian Kyle – “One of the great lessons of this particular miracle is that, as we obey the Lord in what He calls us to do, He will always add whatever He has to from the supernatural to make us successful.”

-This of course presupposes that we are open to, and not afraid of, the supernatural. Often times we can limit God, and what He may want to do. -In a sense, we tie the hands of God performing miracles, with the ropes of our unwillingness to anticipate the supernatural. Simply put we fear it. -That’s not to say that we become hyper spiritual seeking only the supernatural, and in so doing dwell on and trust in just the signs and wonders.

-The problem is that going to this extreme is not the problem it’s the polar opposite that’s the problem. I’m only comfortable with what I know. -Thus, instead of asking or seeking or knocking on the door of the supernatural, I resign myself to the natural because I’m more secure with it. -Sometimes I wonder in my life how many miracles I have not all because I asked not. I wonder if this would’ve happened had Joshua not asked.

-What’s striking to me is that Joshua not only asked, but he actually spoke to the sun and the moon commanding them to stand still and they did. -If you’re wondering whether or not I’m getting dangerously close to the name it claim it, blab it grab it, word faith teaching, relax, I’m not, sort of. -Let me explain, under the banner of this false teaching, Satan has succeeded in getting us to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water.

F. B. Meyer -“… Joshua dared to ask an unprecedented gift of God that the day might be prolonged. ‘Why should not the sun, which is thy creature, but worshiped too long in this land in thy stead, now subserve thy purpose in the destruction of these who have given it what was thy due? and why should not yonder moon, which has so often looked down upon these licentious orgies of the Amorite, now see their impurity washed out by blood? They are thine, The Lord; they will perform thy bidding; hearken to my voice and let them stay.”

Mark 11:23-24 NIV (23) "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. (24) Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 6:1-6 NIV Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. (2) When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! (3) Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. (4) Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." (5) He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. (6) And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.

-Here’s the bottom line, had Joshua lacked the faith like those in Nazareth, I would submit to you that we would be reading a different account. -Yes, God would have found another, like when Mordecai tells Esther that if she didn’t speak to the King, deliverance would come from another. -However, instead of the Book of Joshua, it would be the Book of that other, who dared to trust God, and have faith in God to do the impossible.

-Would to God, that we would be numbered amongst those who are not afraid to ask God, to move the heavens and the earth on our behalf. -If you were to ask me why it is we’re so unwilling to pray big it would have to be that we’re afraid God won’t pull through and we’ll look like a fool. -Well, let’s ask Esther about that? In order to do that we need to go to the book of Esther for her answer found in the fourth chapter verses 12-16.

Esther 4:12-16 NKJV So they told Mordecai Esther's words. (13) And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. (14) For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (15) Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: (16) "Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"

(15) Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. (16) But these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in a cave at Makkedah. (17) And it was told Joshua, saying, "The five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkedah." -Verses fifteen through seventeen raise the question of why it is that these five kings would run for their lives and hide themselves in this cave. -In other words, what would have so terrified them as the kings no less, that rather than being mighty warriors and fighting, their fleeing instead? -The answer is, they’ve just witnessed the God of Israel completely and totally debunk and destroy their gods, which were the sun and the moon.

-It’s important to understand that God is never arbitrary when it comes to meting out judgment or bringing down plagues against His enemies. -Like with Egypt in the Exodus, every single one of those plagues was specifically against their gods. This was God’s way of saying; “I am God.” -This is both a declaration and a demonstration of God supernaturally and miraculously exercising His power, being omnipotent, over their gods.

PLAGUE ON EGYPT

GOD OF EGYPT

Nile River turned to blood

Hapi -god of the Nile

Frogs coming from the Nile River

Heket -goddess of fertility water and renewal

Lice coming from the dust of the earth

Geb -god of the earth

Swarms of flies

Khepri -god of creation movement of the Sun and rebirth

Death of cattle and livestock

Hathor -goddess of love and protection

Ashes turned to boils and sores

Isis -goddess of medicine and peace

Hail rained down in the form of fire

Nut -goddess of the sky

Locusts sent from the sky

Seth -god of storms and disorder

Three days of complete darkness

Ra -the sun god

Death of the firstborn

Pharaoh – the ultimate power of Egypt

http://inthedoghouse.hubpages.com/hub/Ten-Plagues-For-Ten-Gods

-The reason I deemed it necessary to take the time and go into all of this is because there’s nothing new under the sun; you’ll forgive the pun. -What I mean by that is, the names have been changed to protect these false gods from being exposed as the gods that are worshipped today. -We don’t call them by their ancient names, but they are still worshipped by their new names, which are commonly known by, and in, the world.

Ancient Names of Some False Gods

Contemporary Names of the Same Gods

The god of Mammon.

The god of money and success.

The goddess Ashtoreh.

The goddess of sex and fertility.

The god of Baal.

The god of power and prestige.

The god of Molech.

The god of convenience and prosperity.

-While I am keenly aware that none of us have a Molech god in our back yard or lanai, I wonder about the other gods that we may have there.

Financial security

Pleasure

Materialism

Comfort

Knowledge

Convenience

Power and Control

Pain free, trouble free life

Sex

Accomplishment

Money and prosperity

Work, business or career

Self

Significance and success

Health

Physical appearance

Another person

Happiness

-This begs the question of how I can know whether or not any or all of the above have become gods in my life. Well it will be evidenced by:

• My focus will be on it

• My looking will be to it

• My adoration will be of it

• My sacrifices will be for it

• My submission will be to it

• My seeking will be after it

• My trust will be in it

• My giving will be to it

• My serving will be of it

• My speaking will be about it

• My investment will be in it

(18) So Joshua said, "Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and set men by it to guard them. (19) And 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 hand." (20) Then it happened, while Joshua and the children of Israel made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they had finished, that those who escaped entered fortified cities. (21) And all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua at Makkedah, in peace. No one moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. (22) Then Joshua said, "Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings to me from the cave." (23) And they did so, and brought out those five kings to him from the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. (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. -There’s a most interesting parallel to this passage found in none other than the book of Revelation, the sixth chapter verses fifteen and sixteen.

Revelation 6:14-17 NIV The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. (15) Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. (16) They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! (17) For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

-Here’s what I’m thinking, This Adoni-Zedek is a type of the anti-Christ, and with Joshua as a type of Jesus Christ, this points to the 2nd Coming.

(28) On that day Joshua took Makkedah, and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them—all the people who were in it. He let none remain. He also did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho. (29) Then Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, to Libnah; and they fought against Libnah. (30) And the LORD also delivered it and its king into the hand of Israel; he struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword. He let none remain in it, but did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. (31) Then Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, to Lachish; and they encamped against it and fought against it. (32) And the LORD delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, who took it on the second day, and struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that he had done to Libnah. (33) Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua struck him and his people, until he left him none remaining. (34) From Lachish Joshua passed to Eglon, and all Israel with him; and they encamped against it and fought against it. (35) They took it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword; all the people who were in it he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish. (36) So Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, to Hebron; and they fought against it. (37) And they took it and struck it with the edge of the sword—its king, all its cities, and all the people who were in it; he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon, but utterly destroyed it and all the people who were in it. (38) Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir; and they fought against it. (39) And he took it and its king and all its cities; they struck them with the edge of the sword and utterly destroyed all the people who were in it. He left none remaining; as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, as he had done also to Libnah and its king. (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 as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even as far as Gibeon. (42) All these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel. (43) Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. -As we end the chapter, it’s interesting to note how that of all places, Gilgal became a headquarters of sorts for what can be deemed good reason. -Gilgal was the place that represents not only Israel conquering because of the Lord it was also the place where Israel was conquered by the Lord. -I like how one commentator said it: “Israel’s victories always came from Gilgal, …this was the place where Israel had been conquered by God.”