How the 5 Kings of Joshua Point to the Empty Tomb of Christ
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Jonathan Parnell describes Joshua 10 as one of the Bible’s most violent chapters, yet also a book filled with the wonder of God’s power. A battle between Israel and the Amorites ends with five kings’ bodies entombed in a cave where they had sought to hide from Israel.
Is there some thematic connection between one tomb full of kings, and the empty tomb of our resurrected King? How can we connect this violent episode in the history of Israel with gospel freedom and peace?
Some Military Context
First, what is going on here? Who is at war with whom and why? After destroying their enemies by the power of Almighty God in order to claim the Promised Land, Israel was feared by the surrounding nations. When “the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning” (Joshua 9:3-4). A group of Gibeonites disguised themselves as weary travelers from a foreign land far away, asking to form an alliance with the mighty nation of Israel. Their ruse worked, and they successfully deceived Israel, although at a cost: the Gibeonites became “cutters of wood and drawers of water” to Israel (Josh. 9:23, 27).
This was a curse, meant to subjugate their enemy without destroying them, but Israel had entered into a relationship whereby they would come to the defense of Gibeon. Known as a great city where “all its men were warriors” (Josh. 10:2), Gibeon had many enemies of their own. As an ally, Israel had to come to Gibeon’s aid when they called for it. “Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured Ai and had devoted it to destruction” (Josh. 10:1). Ai’s power was famous enough, and Gibeon’s power was even greater: Israel must have been greatly feared. Gibeon was a threat in its own right to the King of Jerusalem, but could also be used to draw out and defeat Israel.
Adoni-Zedek made an alliance with four other kings, and they agreed to move on Gibeon in order to defeat this powerful city and also to crush Israel when they defended their new ally. “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 their forces and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon and made war against it.” (Josh. 10:5)
Five Kings Hide
Joshua 10:12-15 describes what happened next: “Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, ‘Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.’ And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.” God showed the people of Israel, the Amorites, the Gibeonites – every warrior from every nation at the scene – that he is Almighty God, Lord of Heaven and Earth, and that he defends his people.
The five Amorite kings, who could see how the tide was turning against them, hid in a cave rather than risk their lives and their crowns. They did not die with their warriors; they did not serve their people. They were the kings who fled when the power of death was too great for them to handle. They were ashamed and afraid.
A gruesome battle, the sting of defeat, the horrors of death: these are often enough to overcome a person, no matter how strong. Jon Bloom observes that “Shame has plagued us since Adam and Eve bit into the fruit and realized they were naked. Their first instinct was to hide from each other and God (Genesis 3:7–11).” Their sin was out in the open where they faced judgment and condemnation. “We also live in this dangerous world and have the same instinct to hide ourselves. [...] And because we are full of sinful pride, we are ashamed of our failures and weaknesses, and will go to almost any length to hide them from others.”
Bear in mind that the Amorite kings did not know the God of Israel, his mercy, love, and promises. They relied on their own power which was now completely undone by a supernatural force which made numbers irrelevant. Skill was meaningless. Where Gibeon sought the support of their powerful neighbor through humility, the Amorites pridefully sought supremacy. There was no repentance, no healing. Five earthly kings accustomed to being lauded and obeyed came up, not against Israel, but against the King, Almighty God.
A Foot on the Neck
Israel had been told to destroy any foreigners in the land which they were to claim as their own. God did not want his people to be surrounded by idolatry and paganism. He knew that they were easily swayed by enticing ideas and appealing customs, and he could not abide their sin. A good and loving ruler will have mercy, but will also employ discipline as needed, and the Lord had already prevented Moses’ generation from entering the Promised Land due to their disobedience.
Yet as with Adam and Eve, the Lord had always provided hope – a promise that he would defeat our enemy, which is sin. In Genesis 3:15, God promises that the serpent “shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” We will put our foot on the enemy’s head – or in this case, on his neck. Slaughtering nations is not about God giving his people license to exert brutality in his name, it is about wiping out the deadly enemy of sin in the lives of his people – people who could not seem to resist its pull.
Five chiefs of Israel placed their feet on the necks of the five Amorite kings. As Parnell puts it, “long before the chiefs of Israel put their feet on the necks of these foes, God promised us One who would put his foot on the neck of our greatest foe. This is where Joshua 10 is pointing.”
Full Tomb, Empty Tomb
Joshua 10:27 tells us that, after displaying the kings’ bodies for some hours, “Joshua gave the order and they took them down from the poles and threw them into the cave where they had been hiding. At the mouth of the cave they placed large rocks, which are there to this day.” Those five kings who sought to lure Israel into war and to defeat them by attacking their ally, Gibeon, did not leave their tomb. “All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return” (Ecclesiastes 3:20). We cannot prevent death; only the resurrection power of Christ can overcome that enemy. His tomb is empty.
This is a profound reality for those who struggle with fear that the enemy in their lives is too big to defeat, that they are too sinful to be saved or too overwhelmed by shame to ask the Lord for help. Satan tries to overwhelm us with temptations, with shame, and with sins committed against us. We are too weak to defend ourselves and, without Christ, we feel alone, in the dark. But if we call on the Lord, he will bring the light and hold it there, over our heads: his Son Jesus Christ, a very real and formidable power. He is not afraid of our enemy. The Lord dispels our darkness and reveals his glory in the person of Christ.
And the gift of his mercy, grace, power, and love are available to anyone who will choose to follow Christ alone as King and Savior if he or she comes needy and humble. The people of Gibeon were cursed to become drawers or water and cutters of wood, but the Gentile believer is blessed as a son or a daughter of the Lord (John 1:12). We are enveloped into a family of fellow believers, all of them fighting to stay humble and to retain their sense of awe and wonder about this marvelous Savior who is so unlike any earthly king.
God promised that a Victor would come to crush our enemy, and “indeed this Son has come. But rather than conquer by the strength of a sword,” says Parnell, “he conquered by the suffering of a cross. Rather than trap his enemies in a cave, he gave himself to be trapped, hid behind a large stone — until the third day when he rose from the dead and secured our victory over the grave.”
A Promised Victor
And rather than hide and allow us to face the wrath of our enemies, Jesus went to the cross to face the shame that we all were afraid of and the sins we are unable to pay for. He came to be a servant King, “gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29).
God had told Joshua not to fear their enemies or to fight in their own strength. We are not to run from our sin but to come out and fight it in Christ’s power. “You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you” (Deuteronomy 3:22). When we think our shame is too much to bear and all we want is to find a dark tomb to hide in, Parnell points to Joshua’s confidence in the Lord. He “beckons us to stand in awe of this spectacle, embrace its symbolism, and connect this scene of hope to our struggles today.”
Sources
https://biblehub.com/topical/t/the_role_of_alliances_and_partnerships.htm
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/put-your-foot-on-it
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/breaking-the-power-of-shame
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/pamela_d_mcadams
