Joshua Chapter 10
Once inside the promised land, Gilgal became a base camp for the Israelites. They returned to Gilgal after battles fought, and the women and children stayed at Gilgal while the men went out to fight. In this chapter we read about several skirmishes that the Israelites fought and won. God was doing as He had promised – He was causing great victories for Israel. There was great fear in land amongst the little kingdoms. Even joining with other kings in alliance did not help. God’s people could not be defeated.
God was cleansing the land. We need to remember that the inhabitants of the promised land practiced all kinds of worship of gods with wicked practices that were sexually immoral and, in many cases, satanic. These people burned their own babies in sacrifice to their god. God was giving Joshua and his men all the supernatural help that they needed to stamp out these people groups.
Let's Reflect
1. The Bible tells us that Adoni-zedek who was the king of Jerusalem had heard about the victories of Israel. He had also heard about the people of Gibeon. What had he heard about Gibeon?
2. This king of Jerusalem wrote letters to other kings of cities to join forces with him. They were not strong enough to fight Israel even as an alliance, but Adoni-zedek thought he would send a message to other people groups not to surrender to Israel. What did Adoni-zedek do instead of attacking Israel directly?
3. According to verse 8 what did God tell Joshua about the ensuing battles?
4. The LORD sent supernatural help for Israel when the men they were pursuing tried to escape. What did God do? See verse 11.
5. God also supplied some supernatural help that is described in verses 12-14. What miracle happened that allowed the Israelites to annihilate all these armies that had come up against them?
6. The Amorites were some of the people mentioned as those that seemed fearful when Israel first spied out the land of Canaan. Now we learn that 5 of their kings were hiding in a cave, afraid of the people of Israel. What did Joshua do to these 5 kings?
7. Joshua used this moment to be a teaching moment as they were about to end the lives of those 5 kings. What did he tell his men?
8. Joshua and the men of Israel went on to conquer many other cities. They did not leave any of those people to survive just as God instructed. There are descriptions of all the places that were conquered from one side of the promised land to the other. The credit for victory was given to the LORD and rightfully so. What did the men do after fighting all these battles?
