Let's start today by simply rereading Joshua 10:1-11 (read it).
This brings us to verse 12. The easiest way to think about verses 12-15, is that AJ here hits the pause button on the story, because there's something else he wants to add. He could've talked about it earlier, in verses 1-11, but he wanted us to focus on Yahweh the Warrior. He wanted us to marvel at this picture of Yahweh throwing enormous hail stones from the heavens, killing thousands of men. He wanted us to think about how Yahweh is the More Powerful One-- more powerful than kings, more powerful than the army of Israel as a whole.
AJ knew that once we hear verse 12, we will lose all of that. And if he'd smooshed the two stories together, we'd find it impossible to revel in Yahweh the Warrior.
But what we are about to read is too cool to simply not include. It's too amazing. So AJ here adds it to the story.
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How we should understand the phrase, "Then/At that time... imperfect verb" is debated. Isaac Rabinowitz, "Az followed by imperfect verb-form in preterite contexts: a redactional device in biblical Hebrew" (VT 34:1, 54-62), argues that "the imperfect verb-form is used in these instances because the action is thought of as having taken place before the completion of, hence as incomplete relative to, the actions described in the preceding context. The construction is resorted to as an efficient means of causing a reader or hearer to regard the ensuing additional textual material as temporally (though not sequentially) linked the preceding textual statements, when the writer, editor or speaker does not wish to work in and to merge such additional material with that of the preceding text as given" (54).
Rabinowitz argues that this is a redactional use-- a clue that a later author is combining two sources-- but if we just stick with this summary, it works really well for a literary/narrative approach. AJ wants to tell this two different ways, separately.
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So. Verse 12, and I'll read through part of verse 13:
(12) At that time Joshua was speaking to Yahweh, on the day Yahweh gave the Amorites before the sons of Israel,
and he spoke before the eyes of Israel,
"Sun, at Gibeon, stand still!
and moon, at the valley of Ayalon,"
(13) and the sun stood still,
while the moon stood still until the nation took vengeance on its enemies.
So Joshua is pressing the attack, and the day is going great. But there's a problem-- there's not enough daylight in the day, to kill everyone who needs killing. These kings dared to attack Gibeon, and Gibeon is now part of Israel.
It's all part of Yahweh's one special, chosen nation. Anyone who dares to attack God's people deserves to die. Joshua's job is to take vengeance on them for their sinful, arrogant attack.
Now, every soldier who has ever been defeated in battle knows that the night is your friend. The darkness will let you hide; it will let you run away in relative safety. If you've lost, and you're running, you know that all you have to do, is hang on until dark.
Joshua sees all of this unfolding in front of him-- the attack is going well, but the day will be too short. Too many of these enemies, vulnerable outside of their fortified cities, are going to get away. So Joshua does something astonishing. In the full view, and hearing, of the Israelites, he commands the sun to stop moving.
And it stops! Many of you, maybe, get to verse 13, and you mutter to yourself, "No way." You say to yourself, "I have a scientific, Western mindset, and I don't have time for legends and myths. God either couldn't do this, or wouldn't. This is ridiculous."
AJ knows that his readers/hearers will hear these words, and some of them will struggle. Israelites weren't any less intelligent than you. They know that the sun doesn't just stop. So AJ reveals himself in verse 13, about as clearly as he does anywhere in his book. He writes this, next:
"Is it not written in the book of Yashar?
AJ knows some of you will struggle to believe him, so he points you to one of his sources, a well-known book called the book of Yashar. He says, "Go research this. I'm not making this up."
This book of Yashar turns up one other place in the OT, in 2 Samuel 1. Let's turn there, and start reading at verse 17 (ESV, modified spelling so it's Yashar, not Jashar):
17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, 18 and he said it[a] should be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Yashar.[b] He said:
19 “Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places!
How the mighty have fallen!
20 Tell it not in Gath,
publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
21 “You mountains of Gilboa,
let there be no dew or rain upon you,
nor fields of offerings![c]
For there the shield of the mighty was defiled,
the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.
22 “From the blood of the slain,
from the fat of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan turned not back,
and the sword of Saul returned not empty.
23 “Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely!
In life and in death they were not divided;
they were swifter than eagles;
they were stronger than lions.
24 “You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet,
who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
25 “How the mighty have fallen
in the midst of the battle!
“Jonathan lies slain on your high places.
26 I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;
very pleasant have you been to me;
your love to me was extraordinary,
surpassing the love of women.
27 “How the mighty have fallen,
and the weapons of war perished!”
Everything we know about the book of Yashar, is based on these two passages. We don't have a copy of this book anymore. But AJ's readers would've.
I think at this point, we just need to stop and think about the book of Yashar. I'm guessing that many of you have never really thought about how the Bible came into being. How did we get the book of Joshua? How did AJ write it?
Picture AJ, bent over an ancient table, pen in hand. How does he decide what to write-- what to include, what to leave out? Some of you maybe think, the Holy Spirit guided his hand. AJ is just an empty vessel-- a convenient hand that the Holy Spirit borrows. You think AJ really had nothing to do with it. Or maybe you've never thought about it. You've just heard that the 66 books of the Bible were written by 40 human authors.
I think passages like this show that the truth is more complicated.
AJ is sitting down with his scroll and pen, and there are things he wants to teach his readers from Israel's history. He wants to teach them about God, and about their covenant with him, and about obedience and sin. But how does he do this? And when is he doing this?
I think there's six things we should learn from this verse, about inspiration and how Joshua was written.
(1) AJ is writing much later than the events he describes. The book of Yashar records events from King David's life. David reigned hundreds of years after the conquest.
(2) AJ is up front about this. AJ doesn't pretend to be Joshua. He doesn't pretend to be an eyewitness. He's writing much later, and he admits this. He's not hiding this.
(3) AJ is writing much later, but he is using sources. We don't know what sources AJ had available to him. We don't have the book of Yashar. We don't know how much of Israel's history it told. We don't know how thorough it was. And we don't know what other oral and written stories AJ knew. But AJ is up front about where his information comes from. He's not making this stuff up out of thin air.
(4) AJ works very hard in the book of Joshua to show us that his story is verifiable and trustworthy.
These stories aren't legends or myths, because you can go to these places, and see the memorials. You can visit the Hill of the Foreskins. You can see where Israel crossed the Jordan River. You can see the burnt and abandoned cities of Jericho and Ai. You can see where their kings were buried.
Throughout the book of Joshua, AJ has constantly been pointing to the verifiable nature of these stories. These are the kind of verses that we as readers tend to ignore. They're boring, right? They aren't nearly as cool as the sun stopping. But if we don't take these verses seriously, and understand what AJ is doing, we are going to miss out. I did a search of the phrase "up to this day," and I found 12 places where AJ has gone out of his way to show that this story can be verified. I think if I read them all at once, they are more likely to us hit us the way AJ intended:
(1) And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the LORD told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down[a] there (4:8).
(2) And Joshua set up[b] (a separate group of) twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day. (4:9).
The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 21 And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever." (4:19-24; this one doesn't have "to this day", but points forward).
(3) And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal[b] to this day (5:9).
(4) But Rahab the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho (6:25).
(5) And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor (7:26).
(6) So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day (8:28).
(7) And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day (8:29).
(8) But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to this day, in the place that he should choose (9:27).
(9) Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day (13:13).
(10) Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel (14:14).
(11) But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day (15:63).
(12) However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor (16:10).
AJ works very hard throughout his book to make it easy for you to trust him. All of these stories are verifiable. These hills, and places, are named after the events. The descendants of Rahab and Gibeon and the Jebusites are among Israelites to this day.
(5) When the Holy Spirit inspired AJ to write, the Spirit didn't work independently of AJ, or apart from AJ's careful study. AJ isn't an empty vessel. AJ is more like the writer of the gospel of Luke, who carefully studied the available sources, and set out to create a reliable guide to Jesus' life (Luke 1:1-4). I believe all scripture is God-breathed, but this doesn't mean it was written in a vacuum, apart from careful study and research.
(6) The way some Christians talk about the 66 books of the Bible, being written by 40 human authors, is over-simplified. At some point, if some of you do more in-depth study of the Bible, you're going to learn things about how the Bible developed that will stretch you. But if you go into your study knowing that the Bible's growth is complicated, you're less likely to have it become a crisis of faith. There's no reason to view it that way.
So when you take a step back, and think about AJ and the book of Joshua, do you trust him?
AJ goes out of his way, over a dozen times, to show his readers that these stories are verifiably true. He points you to specific places named after the events described in the book. He points you to people groups in Israel, whose existence can only be explained on the basis of these stories.
Whether or not you believe him is up to you. I don't have any interest in trying to persuade you, if you're skeptical. I'm not even sure how I'd do that-- I've been up front with you, that I ca hardly find Jerusalem on a map. Few people know less about Israelite geography, or archaeology, than me. All I'm trying to do, is show you that AJ doesn't think he's telling myths and fairy tales. And I think it's ultimately God, through his Holy Spirit, who persuades people about the truthfulness of this book.
So now that I've totally destroyed the flow of the story--I would apologize to AJ, if he was here-- let's just start back up again in verse 12, and read the whole way through verse 15:
(12) At that time Joshua was speaking to Yahweh, on the day Yahweh set/gave the Amorites before the sons of Israel,
and he spoke before the eyes of Israel,
"Sun, at Gibeon, stand still,
and moon, at the valley of Ayalon,"
(13) and the sun stood still in the middle of the heavens,
while the moon stood until the nation took vengeance on its enemies.
Is it not written in the book of Yashar?
and the sun stood in the middle of the heavens,
and the sun wasn't in a hurry to move until the day finished,
(14) and there wasn't like that day, before it and/or after it, when Yahweh heeded the voice of a man, when/because Yahweh fought for Israel,
(15) and Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal,
So Joshua commanded, and the sun and moon stood still. Unbelievable. Crazy.
I'm pretty sure that every pastor and teacher who has ever lived, has read these verses, and found themselves itching to talk about faith. We find ourselves thinking about Matt. 21:21, where Jesus said,
“Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
But AJ draws a different conclusion to this story. What's the remarkable thing about this story? Is it Joshua's faith? Let's reread verse 14:
and there wasn't like that day before it, and after it, when Yahweh heeded the voice of a man, when Yahweh who fought for Israel.
The exceptional thing about this story, from AJ's perspective, isn't Joshua's faith. The astonishing thing about this story is what Yahweh did. What did Yahweh do? It depends on what translation we use. If you're reading the NIV or NASB, Yahweh "listened" to Joshua. The NLT says, Yahweh "answered." The RSV and KJV say "hearkened." If you're reading the ESV, NKVJ, or NRSV, it says something like this:
14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD heeded the voice of a man, for the LORD fought for Israel.
"Heeded." Yahweh "heeded" Joshua's voice.
What does "heeded" mean?
The verb here, ????, ("shama") can mean different things in different contexts. Sometimes, it just means "listen."
More wooden/literal translations like the NASB work very hard to always translate a word the same way, and so here they just have "listen" (although KJV has hearken, which surprised me). But when this verb is used as part of the larger phrase found here (with a particular preposition usually translated "in", and the word for "voice,") it describes a situation like this:
Imagine that someone comes to you, and they tell you to do something. If you listen to them, and do what they tell you to do, then you are "heeding" them.
There's an English word for this: It's "obey." When our English Bibles come to a verse with this construct, and Yahweh tells Israel to do something, and they do what he wants, it translates it "obey." There's not actually a separate Hebrew word for obey (there's other ways Hebrew can give this sense of "obey" as well-- "guard," "keep," etc.).
So is AJ telling us that Yahweh "obeyed" Joshua?
Our hang-up here, as English speakers, is that we divide up this Hebrew word into two different English words, "obey" and "heed." If I go to my boss, and I tell her that she should do something, and she responds positively to me, she is "heeding" my words. She's not "obeying" me; she's "heeding" me. Now, if my boss tells me to do something, I "obey" her. It's like the first rule of [my place of employment]-- you work as directed. Hebrew would use the same verb for both of these situations.
2 Samuel 12:15ff:
And the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick. 16 David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. [ME: He didn't heed our words, and do what we told him he should do.] How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20 Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”
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For those wanting to study this construction, here's the examples my lexicons list:
??? to or introducing object, + ???? voice
Gn 30:6; Ex 4:1; 5:2; 18:19; 23:21, 22; Nm 21:3; Dt 1:45; Jos 10:14; Jg 13:9; 20:13; 1 S 8:7, 9, 19, 22; 12:1; 19:6; 25:35; 28:21, 22; 2 S 12:18; 13:14; 1 K 17:22; 2 K 18:12; Zp 3:2; Ps 95:7; 130:2; Pr 5:13; Sirach 4:6; 48:20.
with ??????? Gn 2218 2713 2S 1218 Jr 3820 Hg 112 Pr 513
(The closest parallels, where Yahweh "heeds" a human, are Genesis 30:6, 1 Kings 17:22)
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Returning to Joshua 10...
The remarkable thing about this story, for AJ, is not Joshua's faith. It's that Yahweh "heeded" the voice of a man.
Now, before I say anything else, I think I need to counter a possible objection. Some of you may read this, and think, "Yes, it's true, here Yahweh heeded Joshua's voice. Yahweh did what Joshua told him to do. But AJ makes a big deal about this, and makes it sound like this isn't normal practice.
So let's turn to two other passages first.
Genesis 30:6 (NRSV, altered I'm going to use my own translation of this, because "judge" is an icky way to translate it, and it translates "listened" instead of "heed" but it's the same construction)
30 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” 2 Jacob became very angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees and that I too may have children through her.” 4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife; and Jacob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has given justice to me, and has also heeded my voice and given me a son”; therefore she named him Dan.[a] 7 Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled[b] with my sister, and have prevailed”; so she named him Naphtali.
So Rachel says, God gave justice to her in her quarrel against Leah, and God heeded her voice. He gave her the son she asked for.
1 Kings 17:22
17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” 19 But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. 20 He cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” 22 The LORD heeded the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” 24 So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”
So let me propose this. Whenever God's people pray to him, and God does what people tell him he should do, God is heeding their voice. Rachel asked for a son, and God heeded her request. Elijah cried out to God about the widow's son, and God heeded his voice. And Joshua commanded the sun to stop moving, and God heeded his voice.
The OT doesn't use this language every time God answers prayer-- it doesn't always tell us, that God heeded someone's voice. But this, I think, is how prayer works. People cry out to God, or ask something of him, or tell him something they need, and when God says "yes," he is heeding their voice.
This idea, that Yahweh heeds his people when they call out to him, is something that's maybe a struggle for a lot of you. Maybe, you find it easier to believe that God stopped the sun for an entire day, than that He did what Joshua told him to do.
Why do I say this?
I've heard how Christians pray. And there are few things that make me more sad than listening to Christians pray.
We Baptists, in particular, pray sporadically. We pray weakly-- not like, once a week, but like wimps. We pray, not because we think God may heed our prayer, but because we know we're supposed to pray. We don't expect God to actually do anything. We think God will do his will. And we think, God will do his will independently of us, and our prayers.
Prayer is not complicated. As you go through life, there are times when you see needs-- you have a need, someone else has a need. You know, objectively, that God can fill that need. So what you do, is you go to your Father in Heaven, and you tell him what you need, and why. And maybe God will heed your voice, and do what you want.
But the reality is, that when many Christians pray, they aren't really asking or telling God to do anything. Maybe, we'd excuse or defend our prayers by saying, "I'm praying in humility." Or, "God knows what I need before I even pray." But maybe, the truth is that we don't think that Yahweh is a God who heeds. That's why we don't really pray. That's why we pray so ineffectually.
If this is you, be honest about this. If you don't think Yahweh heeds, own this. Tell AJ he's wrong. Run a Sharpie through this verse. And when people come to you with a prayer request, let them know you don't think God heeds their prayers, or yours. That way, they know to ask someone else to pray for them.
Maybe the reason God doesn't seem to do very much in his church, is because we don't ask much of him (Acts 4:29-30). We aren't really living by/from faith.
Why does God heed our voice? God heeds, because he is unselfish. God is generous, and he enjoys blessing his people, and doing good for them. God gave his Son for you, while you were still his enemy. While you were rebelling against him. If God did this for you, while you were still sinners, how much will he work for his people who are committed to him now? God loves you. God is committed to you. And God will heed your voice when you call on him.
John 15:7: If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
So don't be shy. As you go through life, you are surrounded by needs-- needs that God can fill. Learn to recognize these needs. View life through the eyes of faith, through eyes of what's possible through God. Realize that God can help. Have faith that He will help (Mark 11:23-24). And then ask. Ask the God who heeds.
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[Ending #2. This was my first crack at any application. Ended up not using it-- couldn't figure out how to work it in.]
Yahweh is the Creator of the world. He is the one who sustains life, who maintains the order and rhythm to the world. We maybe think that the world moves according to scientific laws. We think that God is like a Watchmaker, who got the world started, and it just keeps working by itself. But, as far I know, this isn't particularly biblical. God changes the seasons. God sends the rain. God controls the sun, and makes it rise and fall with a regular rhythm.
And here, Yahweh gives his control--his authority-- over the sun and moon to Joshua. He "heeds" Joshua. He listened to Joshua, and then He did what Joshua wanted him to do.
Does this surprise us? One of the things about people who are in charge, and running the show, is that they usually think they know what's right. They tend not to be open to suggestions; they tend to want to do things their way. They view their power and authority as something to be tightly guarded with clenched fists.
Our God is nothing like this. Yahweh is not a dictator. He's not an autocrat. Yahweh is a God who shares his power. The God who can kill thousands of soldiers by throwing hail at them, and laughing at them from the heavens (Ps. 2), is the God who shares power and heeds his people's voice. This is the marvel of Joshua 10-- that our More Powerful God heeds us when we pray.
At the creation of the world, Yahweh commanded people to rule over the world (Gen. 1:28). Yahweh, as Creator of the world, has rights over the world. It's his to rule, and do with as he sees fit. But what Yahweh does, is share.
It's the first thing he does, after creating the world-- is give it to humans to rule over.
And even now, as Jesus' disciples, we have the promise that, if we persevere, we will rule over the world forever with him on his throne (Rev. 3:21).
Here, in Joshua 10, Yahweh extends what humans rule over. It's not just the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the livestock and wild animals (Gen. 1:26). Yahweh gives Joshua authority over the sun.
I'm not even sure what else to say. I'm scared I'm going to mess this up badly if I try to unpack this. Our God, Yahweh, is a God who shares his authority, and power, and responsibility. We wouldn't expect Yahweh to be willing to do this. People in authority enjoy their power. They share grudgingly, unwillingly. Yahweh does things differently. Yahweh shares. Yahweh heeds his people's voice-- here, in a spectacular, unexpected way.
Why does Yahweh do this here? Yahweh fights for his people.
When you read these verses, it's really hard to focus on Yahweh. We want to think about Joshua's faith. We want to get stuck on the sun not moving. But what AJ wants is for you to lift your eyes upward, to Yahweh. Yahweh is the one who deserves the glory and praise here. He is the one who surprises us with his willingness to give up his rights, and his control, for his people (Phil. 2:1-11). He is the one who fights for his people. Yahweh fights for us.
Yahweh heeds our voice when we call to him. So call to him.
