(יא) וַיְהִ֞י בְּנֻסָ֣ם ׀ מִפְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל הֵ֞ם בְּמוֹרַ֤ד בֵּית־חוֹרֹן֙ וַיהֹוָ֡ה הִשְׁלִ֣יךְ עֲלֵיהֶם֩ אֲבָנִ֨ים גְּדֹל֧וֹת מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֛יִם עַד־עֲזֵקָ֖ה וַיָּמֻ֑תוּ רַבִּ֗ים אֲשֶׁר־מֵ֙תוּ֙ בְּאַבְנֵ֣י הַבָּרָ֔ד מֵאֲשֶׁ֥ר הָרְג֛וּ בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בֶּחָֽרֶב׃ {ס} (יב) אָ֣ז יְדַבֵּ֤ר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה בְּי֗וֹם תֵּ֤ת יְהֹוָה֙ אֶת־הָ֣אֱמֹרִ֔י לִפְנֵ֖י בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ׀ לְעֵינֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל שֶׁ֚מֶשׁ בְּגִבְע֣וֹן דּ֔וֹם וְיָרֵ֖חַ בְּעֵ֥מֶק אַיָּלֽוֹן׃ (יג) וַיִּדֹּ֨ם הַשֶּׁ֜מֶשׁ וְיָרֵ֣חַ עָמָ֗ד עַד־יִקֹּ֥ם גּוֹי֙ אֹֽיְבָ֔יו הֲלֹא־הִ֥יא כְתוּבָ֖ה עַל־סֵ֣פֶר הַיָּשָׁ֑ר וַיַּעֲמֹ֤ד הַשֶּׁ֙מֶשׁ֙ בַּחֲצִ֣י הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְלֹא־אָ֥ץ לָב֖וֹא כְּי֥וֹם תָּמִֽים׃ (יד) וְלֹ֨א הָיָ֜ה כַּיּ֤וֹם הַהוּא֙ לְפָנָ֣יו וְאַחֲרָ֔יו לִשְׁמֹ֥עַ יְהֹוָ֖ה בְּק֣וֹל אִ֑ישׁ כִּ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה נִלְחָ֖ם לְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ {ס}
(11) While they were fleeing before Israel down the descent from Beth-horon, GOD hurled huge stones on them from the sky, all the way to Azekah, and they perished; more perished from the hailstones than were killed by the Israelite weapons. (12) On that occasion, when GOD routed the Amorites before the Israelites, Joshua addressed GOD; he said in the presence of the Israelites: “Stand still, O sun, at Gibeon, O moon, in the Valley of Aijalon!” (13) And the sun stood still And the moon halted, While a nation wreaked judgment on its foes —as is written in the Book of the Upright. Thus the sun halted in midheaven, and did not press on to set, for a whole day; (14) for GOD fought for Israel. Neither before nor since has there ever been such a day, when GOD acted on words spoken by someone else.
1) Why did the 5 kings choose to attack the Gibeonites and not Klal Yisrael? Whatever justice or retribution they were trying to exact was a waste of resources against the real "enemy" who was seeking their destruction. There is no greater proof to this in the fact that this reckless military move caused them to lose the war and their cities defenseless, why did they choose such action?
2) If Hashem supported Yehoshua and the army of Klal Yisrael in vanquishing their enemies, why did he need the miracle of stones falling from heaven? In addition, how do we understand the following Gemara on this topic?
What is the connection between this battle and the Exodus from Egypt?
Why didn't these stones come down in earlier battles for Yericho or Ai?
Why are they called stones here when the Torah in Exodus calls them ברד hail?
3) How does this match up with the second miracle of the day with the stopping of the sun? And why exactly did Yehoshua have to stop the sun the begin with? Was he waiting on a supply of night vision goggles and couldn't fight in the dark? Hashem was clearly fighting his war with miraculous hail stones, why the need to stop the sun as well?
(ח) הַמּוֹפֵת הַשִּׁשִּׁי, מִיּוֹם שֶׁנִּבְרְאוּ שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְהַיָּרֵחַ וְהַכּוֹכָבִים וְכָל הַמַּזָּלוֹת הָיוּ עוֹלִין לְהָאִיר עַל הָאָרֶץ וְאֵינָן מְעַרְעֲרִין זֶה עִם זֶה, עַד שֶׁבָּא יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וְעָשָׂה מִלְחַמְתָּן שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְהִגִּיעַ עֶרֶב שַׁבָּת וְרָאָה בְּצָרָתָן שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁלֹּא יְחַלְּלוּ אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת, וְעוֹד שֶׁרָאוּ חַרְטוּמֵי גּוֹיִם כּוֹבְשִׁים בַּמַּזָּלוֹת לָבֹא עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל. מֶה עָשָׂה יְהוֹשֻׁעַ? פָּשַׁט יָדוֹ לְאוֹר הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וּלְאוֹר הַיָּרֵחַ וְהִזְכִּיר עֲלֵיהֶם אֶת הַשֵּׁם וְעָמַד כָּל אֶחָד בִּמְקוֹמוֹ שִׁשָּׁה וּשְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁעוֹת עַד מוֹצָאֵי שַׁבָּת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר ״וַיִּדֹּם הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְיָרֵחַ עָמָד עַד יִקֹּם גּוֹי אוֹיְבָיו וַיַּעֲמֹד הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בַּחֲצִי הַשָּׁמַיִם וְלֹא אָץ לָבוֹא כְּיוֹם תָּמִים״. וְרָאוּ כָּל מַלְכֵי הָאָרֶץ וְתָמְהוּ שֶׁלֹּא הָיָה כָּמֹהוּ מִיּוֹם שֶׁנִּבְרָא הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וְלֹא הָיָה כַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לְפָנָיו וְאַחֲרָיו לֹא יִהְיֶה כֵּן לִשְׁמֹעַ ה' בְּקוֹל אִישׁ כִּי ה' נִלְחָם לְיִשְׂרָאֵל״.
(8) The sixth wonder (was): From the day when the heavens and earth were created, the sun, the moon, and the stars and the constellations were ascending to give light upon the earth, and they did not come into contact with one another until Joshua came and fought the battles of Israel. It was the eve of the Sabbath, and he saw the plight of Israel lest they might desecrate the Sabbath, and further, he saw the magicians of Egypt compelling the constellations to come against Israel. What did he do? He stretched forth his hand to the light of the sun and to the light of the moon, and he invoked upon them the || (Divine) Name, and each one stood for thirty-six hours in its place until the termination of the Sabbath day, as it is said, "And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed" (Josh. 10:13). All the kings of the earth heard thereof and they wondered, because there had been none like him from the day when the world had been created, as it is said, "And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man" (Josh. 10:14).
Clearly, if Hashem wanted the battle to end early, he could have vanquished the enemy in an instant... why the need to run into Shabbos and need a miracle like this to save the day? Especially in light of the fact that the conquest of the first city, Yericho, was specifically done on Shabbos, why couldn't it be done here?
We had this number 36 before, if you recall when Achan stole the spoils of Yericho, 36 people lost their lives in the battle of Ai, and some said it was Yair ben Menashe (look back at our piece on Chapter 7). But what does this have to do with Yehoshua and stopping the sun for 36 hours in a way that broke the laws of nature more than all of the 10 plagues combined!
There must be something deeper that the sources are trying to reveal... especially in light of this intriguing Gemara in Avodah Zara...
As difficult as that seems to be, the first answer of the Gemara is somewhat logical, the increased timeframe was a greater miracle. But what about the second answer?
How does the fact that the sun standing still in the times of Yehoshua was also accompanied with hail stones change anything in terms of the nature of the miracle itself?
A curious and critical learner of Tanach at this point should have many questions... I think it's time for some answers!
Let's start off with a comment of Rav Tzadok Hakohen on the depths of the plague of hail in Egypt:
והענין כמו שאמרנו שסדר המכות היו נגד ע"ס מתתא לעילא ומכת ברד היא נגד מדת החסד דאברהם אבינו ע"ה מרכבה לה חסד לאברהם. והיו המכות נגוף למצרים ורפוא לישראל ועל כן זכו ישראל במכה זו לאש מתלקחת שמרמז לדברי תורה. דבאברהם התחיל הב' אלפים תורה והוא היה הראשון שקיים ולימד התורה שלא ניתנה (כמ"ש יומא כח :) וזהו אש מתלקחת ע"ד שא' (תענית ד'.) האי צו"מ דרתח אורייתא דקא מרתחא ליה דכ' הלא כה דברי כאש.
ושם מיירי מתורה שבעל פה כענין צו"מ דרתח וכן לשון דברי היינו תורה שבעל פה דבר ה זו הלכה (כמ"ש שבת קלח :) שעיקר האש מדברי תורה שהיא אוכלת אש היצר הרע היא אש התורה שבעל פה (כמו שנתבאר כ"פ). ותורת אברהם אבינו ע"ה שהיה עד שלא ניתנה רק זימן הקב"ה ב' כליותיו כמין ב' רבנים...
וזכו אז ישראל במכת הברד שכנגד קדושת ארץ ישראל לקדושה זו דאש מתלקחת בלב ישראל שהוא הלא כה דברי כאש. וזה לא הרגישו פרעה והמצרים כלל רק ישראל הרגישו בלב האש מתלקחת דדברי תורה אש אוכלת האש דיצה"ר.
1) The plague of hail corresponds to Avraham Avinu and his attribute of kindness.
2) The fire within the hail is compared to the Oral Torah which Avraham was able to access from within his own being, even before the Torah was given.
3) This fire is the same passion the Jewish people need to be worthy of Eretz Yisrael and to be able to inherit the Land forever.
If we were to take these ideas further and apply them back to our sugya:
The idea of the hail starting in the times of Moshe Rabbeinu and then being completed in the times of Yehoshua echo a common idea that Moshe was the bridge between the Written and Oral Torah and Yehoshua was able to access the sparks of the Oral Torah of Moshe and carry them forth into the generation entering Eretz Yisrael.
But why was the hail used to annihilate specifically the 5 Kings in the battle to save the Gibeonites?
Perhaps we can suggest based upon the comment of the previous chapter, that the Gibeonite deceptive conversion, on a deeper level, was the active elevation of the power of imagination for Klal Yisrael, specifically an ingredient needed in prayer and the study of the Oral Torah.
And this was the force that the 5 Kings were going up against. Led by the king of Jerusalem, they held the cosmic force to block the sanctity of Klal Yisrael transforming these cities into places of Kedusha.
Interestingly, some of the deeper sources reveal that Hashem created the world with mathematical structure using the final Hey of his name, Hey with a numerical value of 5. The 5 Kings could accept the fact that there was a God who ran the world in an orderly, linear kind of way.
But as soon as Klal Yisrael took that a step further, bringing Hashem's presence with passion, creativity and imagination down to this world, they couldn't stand for that, and they went to battle it head on by attacking the Gibeonites.
So it was no coincidence, that measure for measure, they very power of internally driven Oral Torah, started by Avraham and then full brought out with the hailstone through Moshe and Yehoshua, was the very thing to aid in their battle.
And maybe this is the deeper reason that they weren't called hail in Sefer Yehoshua at all, I needed the Oral Tradition in the Gemara to fill in those details. It was the very power of the Oral Torah that was able to rain down the hailstones to begin with!
1) Why did the hail accompany the miracle of the sun standing still for 36 hours?
2) Why couldn't Klal Yisrael battle of Shabbos like in the times of Yehoshua?
3) And what does this have do with practical Avodah and Eretz Yisrael today?
Hashem created the shining light that revealed the depth of spiritual perfection... but He then hid it away for the righteous in the future.
Connect this idea to imagination, the power that the Gibeonites represented.
Imagination is the faculty of the mind that allows a person to create, visualize, or conceptualize things beyond immediate sensory experience.
This is the power that connects back to the ideal of the perfection of the Or Haganuz even in the darkness of this world.
It's the power that connects human beings to the Divine through prophecy and the study of the Oral Torah.
And Yehoshua in stopping the sun, needed that light to shine specifically before Shabbos, before the day of completion and spiritual bliss. He needed it to shine in the darkness of Chol to illuminate why Klal Yisrael was battling the 5 kings to begin with!
It was this power of imagination that needed to be focused and channeled into the Oral Torah continued from Moshe Rabbeinu, hence the combination of hail stones and stopping sun both at once. They were the necessary ingredients to work in combination that would help Klal Yisrael be victorious in battle and be able to access the true depth of Eretz Yisrael!
Ah, nothing sweeter!
Until next time where we further uncover the depth of Sefer Yehoshua,
With love from the Holy Land
Doron Lazarus
Ramat Bet Shemesh