“Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh.” Although the Bible does not say “Joshua prayed to Yahweh,” that is what this is; Joshua prayed to Yahweh. Prayer consists mainly of two things: requests and praise. This is a request to God, it is a prayer. Prayer makes a difference, and the Bible says that God’s people should pray much: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17).

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon.” This is clearly a miracle. The God who placed the sun and moon in the heavens is fighting for Israel. As if the sniper-like hailstones were not enough, these additional cosmic signs are evidence that Yahweh fought for Israel (Josh. 10:14). We should also see in this miracle a defeat of the Canaanite religious system, which included the worship of the sun and the moon. For example, “Jericho” means “moon,” while “Beth-shemesh,” originally a Canaanite town, means “House of the Sun.” Thus the objects that the Canaanites worshiped to elicit their help were actually objects that Yahweh created and controls. So as with Egypt during the plagues, Israel’s conquest of Canaan was not only a victory over the Canaanites themselves, but over their false religious systems as well.