Defenders of the Deceivers

Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: "Don't abandon your servants. Come quickly and save us! Help us, for all the Amorite kings living in the hill country have joined forces against us." So Joshua and all his military force, including all the fighting men, came from Gilgal.
The Lord said to Joshua, "do not be afraid of them, for I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will be able to stand against you."
So Joshua caught them by surprise, after marching all night from Gilgal. The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel.
As they fled before Israel, The Lord threw large hailstones on them from the sky.. Joshua 10:6-10;11

The Gibonites were blessed indeed, now they were being defended by Joshua. Considering they had deceived Israel by pretending to be strangers in the land they had evaded their own slaughter but now they were tools used to attract their enemies and allow God to deal with the inhabitants of the land.

More died from hailstone damage than the sword.

Living in a city that is often afflicted by hailstone damage I could imagine what this was like. I regularly see motor cars severely dinted by hail, rooves damaged, windows broken and fence destroyed. However, to see an army of men killed by hail, that would take large hailstones indeed.

I could well imagine that the locals saw God as a huge man in the sky hurling down hail upon them, much like Thor or Odin. Yet our God is more than man's imagination or fiction, He is living and real and He was very involved in the battles that Joshua fought. What an ally. When the commander of the Lord's host was on side, what an army!

We have such an ally, He is the same now as He was then. If God be for us, who can be against us? Amen!

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