We wrestle not against flesh and blood.
Five kings of the Amorites had had formed a confederacy and marched against Gibeon which had just recently entered into a league with Israel. The Gibeonites appealed to Joshua for help; so he gathered his army and marched against this confederacy. By the help of God, he was able to defeat these five kings.
This confederacy of kings is a picture of the spiritual foes that stand against God’s people. The Bible teaches that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but with principalities, powers, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). The weapons to be used against this enemy are not carnal but spiritual (2 Corinthians 10:3, 4).
The fact that Israel went to battle from Gilgal is very important (Joshua 10:7). Gilgal was a place of remembrance, where all of God’s people went down unto death; it was a place of resurrection where together they came up with their leader into life. It was a place of renunciation, where they cast off the carnal existence of the wilderness; it was a place of restoration, where they came again into fellowship with the Lord. It was the place of realization, where they began to taste of the strong food of the land; it was the place of revelation, where they met their captain with a drawn sword.
The Christian life has its roots firmly imbedded in Calvary, the place where we died with Jesus and rose with Him, where we have deliberately renounced carnality and have entered into a living fellowship with our Lord, where we have begun to take the strong food of His Word and to realize every moment of our lives that the Captain of the Lord’s hosts is with us (Joshua 10:8).