The really long day

Now we come to an account of what sounds like one of the most awesome (in terms of leaving one awestruck) battles ever. This is the battle of Gibeon.

The Gibeonites were actually Hivites/Amorites, or Canaanite people whom Israel was told to conquer and kill. This was because the Canaanites had engaged in many practices that were abhorrent to the God of Israel. In fact, the Canaanites had engaged in practices that many people today would still find abhorrent: incest, child sacrifice, and bestiality (Deuteronomy 20:17-18; Leviticus 18). But, through trickery, the story goes that Gibeon managed to ally with Israel by passing themselves off as a people from a distant land who (due to distance) would be unlikely to lead Israel astray from the Law of God.

In the end, the alliance of Gibeon with the Israelites did not go over well with the other Canaanite people. So the surrounding Canaanites waged war on Gibeon. Israel honored their new alliance and came to the aid of Gibeon--this was the story of the battle of Gibeon, or as titled above, the battle of the really long day.

So how well is the battle of Gibeon contextually supported in Scripture?


Old Testament References to Gibeon and Aijalon:

• References to Gibeon:
• Joshua 9:3-15, "When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they also acted craftily and set out as envoys, and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins worn-out and torn and mended, and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbled. They went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, 'We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us . . .' So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the LORD. Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them." 
• Gibeon - portrayed as a historical Canaanite city
• How could a fictional Gibeon have "heard" about the conquests of Jericho and Ai?
• How could fictional Gibeonites send envoys to the real Israelites?
• Why would the Jewish writers note how their people were tricked by fictional Gibeonites?
• Why would the Jewish writers note an unwanted alliance with the very Canaanites Israel was told to conquer, unless that really happened?
• Why else record how Israel failed to seek God's counsel about Gibeon when the whole storyline was that Israel was led by God to conquer Canaan?
• Joshua 10:6-14, "Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, saying, 'Do not abandon your servants; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that live in the hill country have assembled against us.' So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him and all the valiant warriors. The LORD said to Joshua, 'Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands; not one of them shall stand before you.' So Joshua came upon them suddenly by marching all night from Gilgal. And the LORD confounded them before Israel, and He slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, the LORD threw large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword. Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
              'O sun, stand still at Gibeon,
              And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.'
        So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
              Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.
              Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. There was no day like that before it or after it, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel."
• Gibeon - portrayed as a historical Canaanite city
• Why else write of how Israel fought for the Canaanite Gibeonites? How would this improve the whole conquest story?
• Why name a fictional city in a passage with detailed geographical context?
• Why would a real God speak to Joshua about coming to the aid of a fictional Gibeon?
• Why would a fictional city figure in a battle clearly credited to a real God? How would this really give God credit?
• II Samuel 21:1-2,"Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the presence of the LORD. And the LORD said, 'It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.' So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the sons of Israel made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah)."
• Gibeon - portrayed as a historical Canaanite city
• How else could Israel have had a covenant with Gibeon?
• Why else write how a real God said He was holding Israel to their covenant with the Gibeonites?
• Why else would the Jewish writers criticize the zeal of King Saul for his own people?

• References to Aijalon:
• Joshua 21:20-26, "Then the cities from the tribe of Ephraim were allotted to the families of the sons of Kohath, the Levites, even to the rest of the sons of Kohath. They gave them Shechem, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasture lands, in the hill country of Ephraim, and Gezer with its pasture lands, and Kibzaim with its pasture lands and Beth-horon with its pasture lands; four cities. From the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands, Aijalon with its pasture lands, Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands; four cities."
• Aijalon - portrayed as a historical city in Canaan
• Why else place Aijalon in the territory of the real tribe of Dan?
• Why else name "Aijalon with its pasture lands" as a possession given to real families from the sons of Levi? How could the sons of Levi live a fictional city?
• Why associate a fictional Aijalon with the real, historical city of Shechem?
• I Chronicles 6:1, 66-70, "The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath and Merari . . . Now some of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their territory from the tribe of Ephraim. They gave to them the following cities of refuge: Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim with its pasture lands, Gezer also with its pasture lands, Jokmeam with its pasture lands, Beth-horon with its pasture lands, Aijalon with its pasture lands and Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands; and from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Aner with its pasture lands and Bileam with its pasture lands, for the rest of the family of the sons of Kohath."
• Aijalon - portrayed as a historical city in Canaan
• Why associate a fictional Aijalon with the real, historical city of Shechem?
• Why else again assert in the chronicles of the Israelite kings that Aijalon had been given to the sons of Levi, again specifically to the families of Kohath?
• Why else again name Aijalon in context with the same cities of Shechem, Gezer, Beth-horon, and Gath-rimmon?
• II Chronicles 11:5-12, "Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built cities for defense in Judah. Thus he built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and in Benjamin. He also strengthened the fortresses and put officers in them and stores of food, oil and wine. He put shields and spears in every city and strengthened them greatly. So he held Judah and Benjamin."
• Aijalon - portrayed as a historical city in Canaan
• Why else place Aijalon in the context of the historical cities of Bethlehem, Gath, and Hebron?
• Why include a fictional Aijalon in a detailed record of defensive fortifications?
• How would a fictional Aijalon help defend the real tribes of Judah and Benjamin?
• II Chronicles 28:16-18, "At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria for help. For again the Edomites had come and attacked Judah and carried away captives. The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland and of the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, and they settled there. For the LORD humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the LORD. So Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the LORD and out of the palace of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him."
• Aijalon - portrayed a historical city in Canaan
• Why record a humiliating plea for help to Assyria unless this really happened because Israel was in dire straits from Philistine conquest of cities like Aijalon?
• Why else name Aijalon in a passage with such ethno-geographical context?
• Why else name Aijalon in the chronicles of the Israelite kings?
• Why would Jewish writers name a fictional Aijalon in context with a specific, historical Assyrian king?

• Context for the unparalleled long day:
• Joshua 10:12, "Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
              'O sun, stand still at Gibeon,
              And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.'
        So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
              Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.
              Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. There was no day like that before it or after it, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel."
• Talking about sunrise/sunset type terms here, not geocentricism.
• [This is not a case of time standing still, since the writers note that the sun "did not go down for about a whole day". Measurement of time like this would not have been possible if time had stopped. Further, Israel continued pursuing and killing their enemies, showing that neither their persons nor their weapons fell into suspended animation, as one would expect if time had stopped in the physical world.]
• [Since there was "no day like that before it or after it", the day could not have been just another day where a man (here Joshua) waxed poetic in a prayer to God for aid. Scripture repeats itself here in Joshua to affirm that Joshua's prayer was indeed answered. The second affirmation takes a different descriptive angle (common in Scripture), reading: "And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for a about a whole day". If the sun appeared to stop in the middle of the sky, that's exactly what Joshua asked, as that would be overhead of Gibeon in whose vicinity they fought.]
• Why record how Joshua specifically asked for the sun to remain over real Gibeon, unless it really did visibly remain in the sky above Gibeon?
• Why record how Joshua specifically asked for the moon to remain over real Aijalon, unless it really did visibly remain in the sky above Aijalon?
• II Chronicles 1:2-7, "Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ households. Then Solomon and all the assembly with him went to the high place which was at Gibeon, for God’s tent of meeting was there, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness . . . Now the bronze altar, which Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of the LORD, and Solomon and the assembly sought it out. Solomon went up there before the LORD to the bronze altar which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, 'Ask what I shall give you.'"
• What was so special about Gibeon that God's tent of meeting was placed there?
• Gibeon wasn't specified by God as the city for His tabernacle or temple.
• Gibeon wasn't a city of refuge (Joshua 20).
• Gibeon wasn't where Joshua was buried (Judges 2:9)
• Gibeon wasn't a place where Samuel (I Sam. 3:19-21; I Sam. 7:15-17) or any of the other judges judged (see Judges).
• Gibeon wasn't the hometown of either King Saul or David (I Sam. 11:4; I Sam. 16:1)
• Gibeon was a somewhat central city in Israel, but why for that reason alone overlook the embarrassing heritage of Gibeon for Israel (as the people who tricked them)?
• The only special thing about Gibeon appears to be the battle of Gibeon. If so, was not the outstanding event at that battle (which would put Gibeon on the map) the story of the sun remaining over Gibeon?
• Habakkuk 3:1-13, "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
        LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear.
              O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years,
              In the midst of the years make it known;
              In wrath remember mercy.
        God comes from Teman [Edom (Jer. 49:7), S. of Canaan],
              And the Holy One from Mount Paran [Seir/Edom (Deut. 33:2; Jos. 24:4)]
  
  Selah.
        His splendor covers the heavens,
              And the earth is full of His praise.
        His radiance is like the sunlight;
              He has rays flashing from His hand,
              And there is the hiding of His power [see Deut. 33:2].
        Before Him goes pestilence,
              And plague comes after Him [on Egypt & later Israel?].
        He stood and surveyed the earth;
              He looked and startled the nations [Egypt & Canaan?].
              Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered,
              The ancient hills collapsed.
              His ways are everlasting.
        I saw the tents of Cushan under distress,
              The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling [Num 22:1-7?] . . .
       The mountains saw You and quaked [Ex. 19:18?];
              The downpour of waters swept by [Ex. 9:33?].
              The deep uttered forth its voice,
              It lifted high its hands [Ex. 14:21-22?].
       Sun and moon stood in their places [only parallel in Jos. 10];
              They went away at the light of Your arrows,
              At the radiance of Your gleaming spear.
        In indignation You marched through the earth;
              In anger You trampled the nations.
        You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
              For the salvation of Your anointed.
              You struck the head of the house of the evil
              To lay him open from thigh to neck [Canaan conquest?]."