The sermon titled 'Lord Sabaoth His Name' draws from Joshua chapter 10 and explores the narrative of the Israelites' battle against the five Amorite kings. When the Gibeonites, who had allied with Israel, faced an attack from the Amorite coalition led by Adonai-Zedek, they called upon Joshua for help. In response, Joshua and the Israelites marched overnight to surprise the Amorite forces. God directly intervened in the battle, routing the Amorites and causing large hailstones to fall on them, resulting in a significant victory for Israel. The sermon emphasizes God's active role as a warrior fighting for His people, embodying the concept of 'Lord Sabaoth' or 'Lord of Hosts.' It highlights the importance of faith and commitment to covenants, as seen in the Israelites' alliance with the Gibeonites. The miraculous extension of daylight allowed the Israelites to pursue their enemies further, underscoring God's power and support. The sermon concludes with a reflection on the significance of keeping vows and the assurance of God's ongoing presence and support in battles faced by believers.

This sermon text for today is from Joshua chapter 10. I'll be reading the first 27 verses, Joshua chapter 10. Now it came to pass when Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had 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, Pyram, king of Jarmuth, Japhia, king of Lachish, and Debir, 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 Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon gathered together and went up, they and all their armies, and camped before Gibeon and made war against it.

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 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 Bethhoran, and struck them down as far as Ezekiah and Makkah. And it happened as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Bethhoran, that the Lord cast down large hail stones from heaven on them as far as Ezekiah, and they died. There were more who died from the hail stones than the children of Israel killed with the sword. 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. 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, but the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal. But these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in a cave at Makkah.

And it was told Joshua, saying, the five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkah. So Joshua said, roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them. 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. 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.

And all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua and Makkada in peace. 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 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. 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. 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. 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 remained until this very day." The title of the sermon this morning is Lord Sabeoth His Name.

It is borrowed from Martin Luther's hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Lord sabbaoth means the Lord of hosts. Scripture holds God forth as a mighty warrior at the head of a mighty host. So God is at the head. There is a mighty army in heaven, but it has a head and he stands at the head of his mighty army.

And he himself fights for his people. He doesn't even leave it to his hosts. He takes the field himself to fight for his people. You would think that the people would fight for the king of kings. That's how it works, right?

People fight for the king. Nope, not in this kingdom. This king fights for his people. And that is what is before us in this text. So as we come to the text, let's pray for help.

God, thank you for your Word. Thank you especially for Texts of scripture that can't help but build our faith to take this small faith, weak faith that we are often ashamed of and cause it to advance. So thank you for bringing us to such a text this morning and use it for this purpose that our faith would be stronger, that our confidence in you would be growing week by week as we see you fulfilling your promises in the book of Joshua. Pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Well of course we're subdividing.

Let's start with verses 1 through 6. Hopefully you still have a finger in Joshua chapter 10 and follow along as I reread verses 1 through 6. Now it came to pass when Adonai-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had 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, 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, a king of Jerusalem, sent to Hoham king of Hebron, Pyrrham king of Jarmoth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir 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 Jarmoth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up. They and all their armies encamped before Gibeon and made war against it. And men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp at 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. In these six verses, servants call for rescue.

So if you're taking notes on the handout, rescue fills in the blank. Servants, the Gibeonites, who have been taken into the service of the Israelites by covenant, that was last weeks, or two weeks ago, Chapter 9, these servants call for rescue. Rescue fills in the blank. The key verse from Chapter 9 was verse 14. Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but they did not ask counsel of the Lord.

They looked at the moldy bread and the old shoes and the tattered wine skins and said, the story checks out. They walked by sight, not by faith. And we're supposed to walk by faith, and not by sight. And so they entered into a covenant with the Gibeonites that they would let them live and then when they found out that they lived three days travel away for the whole nation We'll find out in our text that you can march there overnight. They lived so close.

They went and confronted them, but they kept their covenant. They took them into service, into their service as woodcutters and water carriers, but that wasn't a violation of the covenant at all. So they kept their covenant even though it was a covenant that they never should have made. Now the king of Jerusalem, Adonizedek hears of it. He hears of what happened to Ai, its king, Jericho, and its king.

And he rallies four other kings to fight against the Gibeonites. A couple of comments about this. First, Adonizedic is a really interesting name. Why do I say that? Because of Genesis 14.

What's in Genesis 14? In Genesis 14 is Melchizedek. This is Adonai, Zedek, and that was Melchizedek from Salem. Jerusalem is the same city. 500 years earlier it was called Salem, now it's called New Salem, Jerusalem.

And Melchizedek meant king of righteousness and Adonizedek means Lord of righteousness so they have really almost the the same name Melchizedek you remember Abraham tithed to him a tenth of the spoils when he defeated, I think it was five kings, he defeated five kings here. And Melchizedek came out, Abraham who was priest of God Most High. This priest-king, who was really a shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ, came out and tithed to Abraham. Now 500 years later, there is a king of almost the same name, but all the love for the God of Israel is gone. So clear that Melchizedek loved the God of Abraham, but Adonai Zedek hates the God of the Israelites.

So there's that name and you should, when you see Adonai Zedek, it is really interesting to go back to Genesis 14 and see Melchizedek in that it's almost the same name, but to notice the shift that has happened as the sins of these people, that tide has been rising and now God is judging them. Second is the question, why would these kings attack the Gibeonites instead of the Israelites? Israelites are the ones invading, What are they doing messing around with the gibyanites when the Israelites are the ones who are invading their country? I think Dale Davis, the commentator, says something really helpful here that really helps us to understand what's going on. Dale Davis says this, we can appreciate Adonized ZX dismay once we observe the strategic location of the Gibeonite tetrapolis.

Now why is he calling it a Gibeonite tetrapolis? Because in chapter 9 verse 17, the Gibeonites were actually leading a coalition of four cities. So they were actually representing four cities that came and entered into a covenant with the Israelites. He continues, Gibian was six miles northwest of Jerusalem. So Gibian is on the doorstep of Jerusalem.

Guarded the eastern end of the way of Bethhoron, an important road between Jerusalem and Eijalon to the west, and was junction for local roads. Why should Adonaisetic be so upset from looking at his map of the Holy Land, because he knew that Israel had already knocked off Jericho and Ai to the east. Now the Gibeonite confederation in the center and west had concluded peace with Israel. Joshua had cut a swath across the midsection of Canaan. He had driven a wedge between north and south.

So I mean there are real geographical challenges that have been imposed by this treaty made between Israel and the Gibeonites. It has cut the promised land in half and isolated Adonai, Zedek, and these other kings that he allies with in this chapter. We have to understand that there are real leaders in these texts with real pressures to respond to. And then they are responding almost predictably. Third, this is speculation but it seems unlikely to me that Canaanite kings would expect Israel to come fight for Canaanites no matter what treaty they made.

In other words, these are wicked kings of wicked people. They would not expect Israel to keep their promise to Achananite peoples. So it seems to me that they believe that they can isolate and deal with Gibeon and then turn towards Israel, not expecting Israelite to keep their word or to treat these servants and come and fight on their behalf. Next notice what the text says of Gibeon in verse 2, it was a great city and all its men were mighty. Gibeon was not like Ai.

Gibeon was a mighty city with mighty defenders. Remember what Deuteronomy chapter 7 says, that these are mightier nations than the Israelites, more numerous nations than the Israelites. That makes the treaty that the Gibeonites sought and made with Israel all the more remarkable. Just think about this. They chose not to ally themselves with the other Canaanite kings around them to repel the invaders, but to instead they believed that God was the God of Israel, and that He was doing miraculous things to fulfill His promise, and that there was no standing against this God.

So Rather than ally themselves with the kings who had always been around them, the peoples that had always been around them, in order to together repel the invaders, they believed in the reports they were hearing about God and about what he was doing on behalf of his people. And they believed that there was no standing against these gods, and so they went and threw themselves on the mercy of the Israelites. So the five kings besiege Gibeon, and Gibeon sends a humble but urgent call for help. Look back at verse 6. The men of Gideon sent to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal saying, do not forsake your servants.

Come up to us quickly. Save us. Help us for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us. It is humble, but it is urgent. Come and rescue us.

Okay, moving to 7 through 15, that will be our next subsection. Follow along as I read 7 through 15. By the way, some of these names I'm pronouncing different than Riley. I'm not correcting Riley. I just have a different guess and I can't keep straight what his guess was, and so I'm just gonna use my guess.

I spend a lot of time on sermons. I spend very little or no time on proper pronunciation, so that's just the deal. Verse seven. 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 Bethhoron, and struck them down as far as Ezekiah and Makkah. And it happened as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Ezekiah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword. 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, Son, stand still over Gibeon, and moon in the valley of Eijalon.

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. There has been no day like that before it or after it that the Lord heeded the voice of the man, for the Lord fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal." In this section the Lord fights for Israel.

Fights fills in the blank if you're taking notes that way. The Lord fights for Israel. The exact quote from the end of verse 14, for the Lord fought for Israel. So there it is in black and white. God went to war against the enemies of Israel.

God fought for Israel. Joshua acts immediately. He mobilizes the army and all the mighty men of valor. At the same time, God gives Joshua direct encouragement. Look back to verse 10.

So the, wait a minute, no. Look back at verse 8. Look back at verse 8. Sorry about that. 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." So it seems to me that Joshua thinks he knows what he should do. He should mobilize immediately and go. And as that is happening, God speaks to him to encourage him in it, to encourage him that God will defeat their enemy before them. They march all night from Gilgal to Gibeon, and so they surprise the five kings. The five kings have no notice to mobilize against them or to prepare.

Just the enemy is upon them. And it is a devastatingly crushing victory. Look at verse 10. So the Lord routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Bethhoron, and struck them down as far as Azika and Makkada. There are four verbs here.

Routed them, killed them, chased them, struck them down, all of them singular. You can tell whether the subject is in English in verbs, conjugating verbs, you can tell whether the subject is singular and plural, so it is with Hebrew, all singular verbs, meaning God did that. God did that. So the army of Israel was engaged, they were fighting and pursuing, but it was God. It was God doing it.

The text is so clear, even down to the grammar, that it was God routing them, killing them, chasing them, striking them down. And if there's any doubt on that topic, look at verse 11. Israel's not even in the picture in verse 11. It happened as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them, as far as Ezekiah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.

So much of the slaughter is actually direct hail from heaven. Because of God, It was hailing great hailstones where the armies of the five kings were fleeing, but not where the army of the Israelites were pursuing. Did you get that? Did you think about that? It's not indiscriminate death from hail.

It's the enemies of Israel dying from the hail, and the Israelites not dying at all. God is making a difference. It reminds me of Egypt 40 some years earlier, when the plagues came. At a certain point, the plagues are affecting only the Egyptians but the land of Goshen where the Israelites are spared. So God is making a difference.

The plagues falling on the Egyptians and Israel completely exempt from those plagues. You know the structure of the book of Job. The book of Job starts with God saying to the devil, have you considered my servant Job, how faithful he is? And the devil asks for permission to afflict Job. God gives him permission and he's terribly afflicted and then his three friends come and say things, a bunch of half-truths.

It's sort of confusing when you read those chapters and preachers have to be careful of the use of those chapters because it's from friends who in some ways are giving bad counsel but it's mixed in with true things about God So you just have to be careful how you use those sections. But it gets really clear in chapter 38 because God shows up and speaks. So then you know, oh, we're on firm ground again. All of this is reliable. I don't have to separate wheat from chaff because God is speaking.

Listen to Job 38 verses 22 and 23. Job 38 verses 22 and 23. So this is the voice of God so you know it's all reliable. God says, have you entered the treasury of snow? Or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war.

God paints a word picture here in Job chapter 28 of a treasury of hailstones just waiting for war. Just waiting to bring trouble to his enemies. There it is. There's a storeroom of hail for God's use. It never melts.

It's always at the ready. Whenever he needs to kill his enemies on earth, he can just dispense hail. That's what he said to Job. And this is exactly, you see a very literal, you think, oh well this must be figurative language. It isn't very figurative in Joshua chapter 10 ask the five kings and their armies how figurative it is it's probably literal and figurative One other thing to note before we move on.

Verse 10 says, they chase them along the road that goes to Bethhoron and struck them down as far as Ezekiah and Makkah. How are you on your Israel geography? I'm terrible. I sort of know where Jerusalem is. And I know where Galilee is because Jesus was in Galilee.

I could find those two things on the map. Everything else is a coin toss. Bethhoron is northwest of Gibeon. So I've practiced reversing this because I know you're looking. So Israel is coming from the east.

That's hard to do it that way because that's from the west as I'm looking at you. But if you were looking at a map, Israel is coming from the east and Bethhoron would be northwest of Gibeon and Ezekiah and Amaketa are southwest. So Israel's coming from this direction and you have enemies fleeing that way and that way. Being driven off and fleeing away from the direction that Israel is coming. And the distance on these escape routes, the distance covers 30 miles.

So you're looking at a sprawling geography and the idea is that the enemies of God are driven back in the opposite direction that Israel is coming from and they're fleeing in all directions. It's covering a tremendous amount of territory because God is giving them extra time to do it. Now we get to this amazing feature, the sun and the moon standing still for a day. A few things to say about the sun and the moon standing still for a day. A few things to say about the sun and the moon standing still for a day.

First, it seems best to me to view this as a prophetic utterance. When we look at Joshua standing before the children of Israel in verses 12 and 13, he speaks to the Lord and this seems to me to be a prophetic utterance. Joshua is speaking both to God and for God. You go out, you speak to the Son, tell it to stand still and see what happens. He's speaking on behalf of God.

The Son is at God's beck and call. Not a man's beck and call. So Joshua is speaking to God and for God. He stands before the children of Israel to declare on behalf of God what will happen because God wills it to happen. I don't believe this is fundamentally different than Moses lifting up his rod and stretching out his hand over the Red Sea in Exodus chapter 14.

God had told him to do it and he stands on behalf of God and he lifts up the rod and he stretches out his hand and God parts the sea. That is very much like what we have happening in our chapter. So first, I think it's a prophetic utterance. Think of Joshua standing and declaring on behalf of God what God wills to happen. Second, what in the world is the book of Jasher?

Can you get it on Amazon.com? No, actually there probably is one, but it isn't the book of Jasher, so don't do that. It is not scripture, But it is used as a source by scripture in two places. Here obviously is one of them. And 2 Samuel chapter 1 is one of them.

In 2 Samuel chapter 1, Saul and Jonathan have been killed on Mount Gilboa in a battle with the Philistines. When Saul and Jonathan die on Mount Gilboa, David commands that the children of Judah be taught a song, the Song of the Bow. We actually even get the name of the song in 2 Samuel chapter 1. The Song of the Bo from the Book of Jasher. It's nine verses.

We're given this song from the book of Jasher and it's nine verses long and it memorializes and honors Saul and Jonathan and their leadership over Israel. John MacArthur says this and I think it's the nail on the head. This is from John MacArthur's study Bible notes. The book of Jasher is mentioned again in 2 Samuel 1 verse 18. The book appears to have been a compilation of Hebrew songs in honor of Israel's leaders and exploits in battle.

So there's, John MacArthur speculates that it's a book of songs about how God gave the leaders of Israel victory and you could learn these songs to sing the history of God's goodness and faithfulness to his people. Certainly these two places in scripture that uses the book of Jasher as a source would fit that comment. So Number one was view it as a prophetic utterance. Number two was what in the world is the Book of Jasher? Number three is though a lot of commentators ink has been spilled on alternate explanations.

I should get paid extra for wading through those. I need hazard pay for reading the commentators that was spilled on alternate explanations. It seems obvious to me that the point is that Israel was given an additional period of daylight to pursue and destroy the army of the five kings. That's the whole point. So there's a whole lot of alternate explanations.

I don't understand why. Seems clear to me that the point is they got extra daylight to pursue and destroy their enemies. Matthew Henry, I think is right on it. Listen to Matthew Henry. Here by the people had full time to avenge themselves of their enemies and to give them a total defeat.

We often read in history of battles which the night put to an end, to the shadows which favored the retreat of the conquered. Now think about that. You could just isolate the American Revolution and multiple times we would have been terribly defeated, but a fog rolled in or it became night and nightfall covered our retreat. That happens multiple times just in the American Revolution so Matthew Henry is exactly right although he predated the American Revolution history is full of Nightfall saving the conquered army from total destruction, but it doesn't save the conquered army army from total destruction here because God extends the daylight God expense extends the period of daylight So Israel can continue to pursue and destroy their enemies. I also want to propose that there is another unmentioned miracle here, which is supernatural strength and endurance.

So think about what happened. They marched all night. They marched all night. And the fighting didn't even start until after they had marched all night. And then they fought and pursued for a double day.

So what amount of time was that? I don't know, but I think you would have to say it's at least another period of daylight. So, they marched all night, and then they fought and pursued and struck down for another double day. Israel clearly had the strength to do it. Their enemies clearly did not have the strength to do it, even though Israel was the one who had marched through the night to engage the battle.

Isaiah 40 verse 31. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint." This was literally fulfilled.

They mounted up on wings like eagles. They ran and were not weary. They walked and did not faint. To summarize this entire section, we'll end the section where we began at the end of verse 14. For the Lord fought for Israel, this was God's victory.

He was the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts who fought for his people. Now the last section, verses 16 through 27. Follow along as I reread verses 16 through 27. These five kings had fled and hidden themselves in a cave at Makkah. And it was told Joshua saying the five kings had been found hidden in the cave at Makkah.

So Joshua said, roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them. 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." And 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. And all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua at Makkah in peace. 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 to him from the cave. The king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmoth, the king of Lachish, 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, 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 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. In this section we have Kings as a parable of future victories. Victories fills in the blank. Kings as a parable of future victories.

Again we see what we have seen in the book of Joshua, the book of Joshua doesn't adhere strictly to a timeline that is always moving forward. It'll move forward and then it'll stop and then it'll go back a little bit in time and feather in some more details to give you more details about the things that have happened. That's what's happening here. During this double day, when they were pursuing and destroying the enemy army, these five fleeing kings fled southwest and sought to hide in a cave at Makkada. When Joshua was told about it, he instructed them to block the entrance with large stones and to post a guard, and then it was back to work.

He didn't want any time wasted while they had daylight and extended daylight to pursue and destroy their enemy to be wasted dealing with these five kings. It could wait, so they block up the mouth of the cave and they post a guard and they're back to pursuing and slaughtering their enemies. The point was to keep as many as they can from making it back to their fortified cities. And it's clear from the text that most are slaughtered and only a few make it back to the fortified cities. And that's going to, we'll pick right back up on that next week when they go and they conquer these fortified cities.

You can tell they are very thinly defended. This happens one right after another. These are not long seizures. It's because God has dealt with them outside their own walls and destroyed most of their defenders outside their own walls. The defeat is so thorough that verse 21b, the last part of verse 21 says, no one moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.

Meaning that they didn't even dare to utter a word against the people of Israel. They didn't dare to even resist Israel with their words, because they were so thoroughly Conquered by the Israelites Now the battles over in this scene shifts back to this cave they bring out the five kings Joshua assembles the army and He has their leaders their captains put their feet on the necks of these five kings. This isn't simply to humiliate their enemies. I'm sure it was humiliating to their enemies, but it wasn't just to humiliate their enemies. It is an acted parable.

That's what Dale Davis calls it in his commentary, and I thank him for the phrase because I think that's exactly what it is. It is an acted parable. It is acting out to declare that God will keep His promise to give them victory over the remaining enemies. It is a preview. His captains putting his feet on the neck of the kings is a preview that God is going to keep every promise to defeat all their enemies that are still ahead of them.

And most of the war is still ahead of them. Joshua tells his captains what God told him. So God told Joshua, don't fear, don't be dismayed. Joshua tells his captains, don't fear, don't be dismayed. God tells Joshua, be strong and courageous.

Joshua tells his captains, be strong and courageous. God is going to do this to everyone we fight. Put your foot on their necks. God is going to do that to everyone we fight. God is going to make your enemies your foot stools.

Then Joshua himself kills the five kings and has them impaled on five trees until sundown. Hanging in this time was not like hanging by the neck until death. Don't think of it that way. It would be impaling to a tree until sundown and then as the law calls for in Deuteronomy when sundown comes, you take the body down. They do that.

That's the third time we've seen that in the book of Joshua. Then they cast the bodies into the cave. This is the cave that they had hoped would be their refuge. They went and hid there hoping it would be their refuge. First it was their prison, then it is their grave.

And we have another monument which still existed at the time of the writing of Joshua. When the book of Joshua was written, you could still visit this side and see the rocks put over the cave where the corpses of these dead kings that God had conquered were. Applications, I'll give you five. More than usual, but I've had two weeks to think about it. You're lucky there's not 10.

Number one, God honors the keeping of vows and owes that we never should have made. God honors the keeping of vows and o's that we never should have made. They never should have made that deal with the Gibeonites. They never should have entered into covenant with the Gibeonites. They walked by sight, not by faith, so they got tricked because they didn't ask God.

They could have asked God, he would have told them. They never should have made that covenant, but once they made it, God honored their keeping of it. This chapter proves that. This chapter proves that. When they went to fight on behalf of people they had been in covenant with, God honored it, God entered the fray, God fought the fight for them.

Who may abide in the Lord's tabernacle and dwell in his holy hill? Psalm 15 asks that question and this is part of the answer. Psalm 15 verse 4, he who swears to his own hurt and does not change. Well I didn't know that commitment was gonna hurt me. Don't change.

You honor that commitment that you made before God, called God to witness. I'm talking about vows and ohs here, calling God to witness, Calling God to judge if one of the parties doesn't make good on it, you honor it. God will honor you. I might have married the wrong person. That's impossible.

You entered into a covenant, you called God to-