Yehoshua 10: Did Yehoshua Invent Daylight Savings Time?

Frustrated in their attempt to defeat the Israelites, five kings in Canaan decide to take out their frustrations on the Gibeonites for making peace with the Israelites. Reminiscent of the battle of the five kings and four kings at the time of Avraham, this battle drags the Israelites into an inter Canaan dispute. Interestingly, the treaty with the Gibeonites in the last chapter did not seem to include a mutual defense option, only a non-combatant component. This may have looked like the perfect “out” for the Israelites to allow others to defeat the Gibeonites. Nevertheless, Joshua brings reinforcements to attack the five kings and defeats them with the help of two miracles. The first is a hailstorm—reminiscent of the plague of hail. The second is the opposite of a plague in Egypt. This time, instead of God enveloping the land with darkness, Joshua requests that the sun stay in the sky longer to aid in the battle. Why is the sun staying in the sky so important? The answer to this question may be at the end of the chapter. The five kings flee the battle scene and all hide in a cave. Joshua finds out and orders the cave shut with a large stone until the battle is complete. Once the five city states are routed, Joshua opens the cave and brings out the defeated rulers. The kings hide in the cave because they feel they can slip away into the darkness. At the beginning of the chapter they thought they could avoid the Israelites by attacking an ally instead—again, trying to avoid the Israelites. The message of the sun staying in the sky longer sends a message that there is nowhere to hide. Try to defeat us by attacking our friends instead? We will find you. Try to flee to the darkness of a cave? We will find you. Try to flee the battlefield? We will find you. Joshua records this message in an epic poem. The text states “While a nation wreaked judgment on its foes—as is written in the Book of Jashar. Thus the sun halted in midheaven, and did not press on to set, for a whole day” (verse 13).וַיִּדֹּם הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְיָרֵחַ עָמָד עַד־יִקֹּם גּוֹי אֹיְבָיו הֲלוֹא־הִיא כְתוּבָה עַל־סֵפֶר הַיָּשָׁר וַיַּעֲמֹד הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בַּחֲצִי הַשָּׁמַיִם וְלֹא־אָץ לָבוֹא כְּיוֹם תָּמִים(Joshua 10:13)What is the Book of Jashar? Rashi explains that this is the book of Bereishit. Verse 13 does not mean that Joshua recorded this in some new book. Instead, it is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Yaacov. Yaacov blesses Yosef that “The fame of his descendants will fill the nations.” That incident happens when Yosef’s descendant Joshua halts the sun. Abarbanel looks at the name of the book, Yashar/upright, and explains that the book was a compendium of stories of upright people in the Torah. Ralbag gives the straightforward answer that it was a book of epic poems that was lost in the exile. This is most likely a book related to the Book of the Wars of the LORD mentioned in the Torah.