Chapter 10
The Amorites, upset at the Gibeonites for making peace, get together and bring war against Gibeon. This seems very foolish. The real danger to them all is Israel and her army. Instead of mobilizing against Israel, they instead turn on one of their own - the Hivites - and combine the five Amorite armies against them. At best, even if victorious, this is going to reduce their army.
For their part, Gibeon appeals to their new "masters" for help against the Amorites. Joshua comes to their aid with the whole army of Israel. God says not to fear them, and so Joshua attacks at the end of an overnight march. The Amorites panic and run, and Israel chases them. God sends stones (later it says hailstones), dropping from heaven, to kill the Amorites. God kills more with these stones than Israel kills with the sword. So the poor strategy of the Amorites seems to have been God's way of bringing them all together so that their army can be routed and make conquest of the Amorites a much easier thing than it might have been. As God used Pharoah to show the whole world His power, he now manipulates the Amorites to deliver on His promises to Israel. There is that proverb about the hearts of kings being as a river to God, and He turns it where ever He wills.
Joshua prays for the sun and moon to stop to give Israel more time to complete the slaughter of the Amorites. God obliges.
13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. 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. [Jos 10:13-14 ESV]
If the inhabitants of Canaan were not already afraid of a nation who's God fights for it by drying up rivers in flood, dropping stout walls straight to the ground with trumpets, and by raining down hailstones large enough to kill on an escaping army, now the sun and moon stand still in the sky. Who could gather the courage to try and fight such a nation?
There is a good MSB note on The Book of Jashar. Says it may be the same as the Book of War mentioned in Nu 21:14. It is also mentioned in 2Sa1:18, and a portion is recorded in Jos 10:12,13.
The five Amorite kings hide in a cave. Joshua has them sealed up while he continues to dispatch their subjects and invade their cities. When all this is done, and Israel has returned to camp and is resting, Joshua opens the cave. Joshua has the soldiers of Israel put their feet on the necks of the five kings, to show that God will deliver Kings to their hand. Then Joshua kills the kings, and hangs them on five trees until sundown, and then takes them down and seals the bodies back in the same cave.
Israel undertakes a journey of conquest into the Southern part of the land they were promised. They are everywhere successful, and they kill everything breathing:
40 So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the LORD God of Israel commanded. [Jos 10:40 ESV]
Here is that phrase yet again - "devoted to destruction". It has been used six times in this chapter alone. It means that every man, woman, child, all the livestock - anything that breathed, was put to the sword. Absolute unmitigated conquest of all this land - except for Gibeon and the Hivites - so far.
This "sews up" the central and southern parts of Canaan. From Jerusalem south through the Negev, and on to the Mediterranean coast. They kill everything alive in this part of Canaan. Then they go back to the original camp at Gilgal.