Joshua · Chapter 10

V. 1. Among them-That is, were conversant with them, had submitted to their laws, and mingled interests with them.

Verse 1. Adoni-zedec] This name signifies the Lord of justice or righteousness; and it has been conjectured that the Canaanitish kings assumed this name in imitation of that of the ancient patriarchal king of this city, Melchizedek, whose name signifies king of righteousness, or my righteous king: a supposition that is not improbable, when the celebrity of Melchizedek is considered.

Jerusalem] ירושלם Yerushalam. This word has been variously explained; if it be compounded of שלם shalam, peace, perfection, &c., and har raah, he saw, it may signify the vision of peace-or, he shall see peace or perfection.

Verse 1. Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem — Who seems to have been the most powerful prince in Canaan, and carried in his name, which signifies The Lord of righteousness, an honourable title, such as had been anciently given to the kings of this place, who had been famous for doing justice. So Melchizedek undoubtedly was, of whom we have such honourable mention, Genesis 14:18. King of Jerusalem — It is thought by many, that this city retained the name of Salem, which they suppose it had in Abraham’s time, till the Israelites came into the land of Canaan, and took possession of it, when they called it Jerusalem, from vry, Jarash, and µwlv, Shalum, to possess peace: or from Jerus, the same as Jebus, with the change of one letter only, and Shalem, the place having belonged to the Jebusites. How the inhabitants of Gibeon — were among them — Among the Israelites, that is, were conversant with them, had submitted to their laws, and mingled interests with them.

Verse 1. Adonizedek, lord of righteousness. Zedek was common in the names of the kings of Jerusalem, as Melchizedek.

FIVE KINGS WAR AGAINST GIBEON, 1-5.

1. Adoni-zedek — The name means lord of justice. Compare the kindred word Melchizedek, king of justice. Genesis 14:18. All that is known of this Amorite king and his four confederates is recorded in this chapter. Alarmed at the victories of Joshua and the defection of Gibeon, his nearest neighbour on the north, he aroused the kings in the south, and combined them against the seceding state. This drew Joshua to the aid of his ally, and to the discomfiture of his confederated foes, and the execution of Adonizedek and his four royal associates. Jerusalem — This is the first time that undisputed mention is made in the Bible of this celebrated city. Probably the Salem in Genesis 14:18, is Jerusalem, although Jerome contends that Salem was in the southern part of Galilee, near Scythopolis. Jerusalem is called “Jebus” and the “city of the Jebusites” in Judges and some later books. It became the metropolis of the Hebrews under David at a comparatively late date, after the nation had gone through the period of the Judges and entered on the Monarchy. Bethel, Hebron, and Shechem were ancient holy places when the Jebusite was still possessing Jerusalem. It is a little south of the centre of Palestine, thirty-two miles from the coast and eighteen from the Jordan, and is two thousand six hundred feet above the level of the sea. It is surrounded on three sides by hills still higher, from which it is separated by precipitous ravines, which rendered it, before the invention of gunpowder, almost impregnable. “It is on the ridge, the broadest and most strongly marked ridge, of the backbone of the complicated hills which extend through the whole country, from the plain of Esdraelon to the desert. Every wanderer, every conqueror, every traveller, who has trod the central route of Palestine from north to south, must have passed through the table-land of Jerusalem. It was the water-shed between the streams, or, rather, the torrent beds, which find their way eastward to the Jordan and westward to the Mediterranean.” — Stanley. See note, Matthew 2:1. And were among them — That is, were having amicable intercourse with the Israelites.

V. 2. Thy-That is, he and his people, the king being spoken of ver. 1, as a publick person representing all his people. Royal cities-Either really a royal city, or equal to one of the royal cities, though it had no king, but seems to have been governed by elders, Joshua 9:11.

Verse 2. As one of the royal cities] Not a regal city, but great, well inhabited and well fortified, as those cities which served for the royal residence generally were. It does not appear that the Gibeonites had any king-they seem to have been a small but powerful republic, all the men thereof were mighty, merely governed by their elders: for in their address to Joshua, Joshua 9:11, they mention no king, but simply state that they were sent by their elders and the inhabitants of their country; nor do we any where read of their king; and therefore we may naturally suppose that they had none.

Verses 2, 3. They feared greatly — Namely, Adoni-zedek and his people, he being spoken of (verse 1) as a public person, representing all his people. Gibeon was — as one of the royal cities — Either really a royal city, and having a king, or equal to one of the royal cities, though it had not a king. It seems indeed to have been governed by elders, Joshua 9:11. Adoni-zedek sent — Either because he was superior to them, or because he was nearest the danger, and most forward in the work.

2. They feared greatly — The loss to the Amorites of so powerful a commonwealth as Gibeon, and its alliance with Joshua, was a sufficient cause of fear, aside from the fact that Joshua, now securely established in this central position, had completely cut off northern from southern Palestine, so that he could conquer each in detail. As one of the royal cities — It was not a royal capital, but as important. The fact that so large a city, in their immediate vicinity, renowned for bravery, had submitted to the invader without striking a blow, was indeed appalling.

V. 3. Adoni-zedek sent-Either because he was superior to them, or because he was nearest the danger, and most forward in the work.

Verse 3. Hoham king of Hebron] This city was situated in the mountains, southward of Jerusalem, from which it was about thirty miles distant. It fell to the tribe of Judah.

Piram king of Jarmuth] There were two cities of this name; one belonged to the tribe of Issachar, see Joshua 21:29; that mentioned here fell to the tribe of Judah, see Joshua 15:35; it is supposed to have been about eighteen miles distant from Jerusalem.

Japhia king of Lachish] This city is celebrated in Scripture; in that city Amaziah was slain by conspirators, 2 Kings 14:19. It was besieged by Sennacherib, 2 Kings 18:14, 17; and without effect by the king of Assyria, as we learn from Isaiah 37:8: it was also besieged by the army of Nebuchadnezzar, see Jeremiah 34:7; it also fell to the lot of Judah, Joshua 15:39.

Debir king of Eglon] Where this city was situated is very uncertain; but we learn from Joshua 15:39, that it fell to the lot of the tribe of Judah.

Verses 2, 3. They feared greatly — Namely, Adoni-zedek and his people, he being spoken of (verse 1) as a public person, representing all his people. Gibeon was — as one of the royal cities — Either really a royal city, and having a king, or equal to one of the royal cities, though it had not a king. It seems indeed to have been governed by elders, Joshua 9:11. Adoni-zedek sent — Either because he was superior to them, or because he was nearest the danger, and most forward in the work.

3. Hebron — This city, one of the most ancient in the world, is situated among the mountains of Judah, twenty miles south of Jerusalem. It is two thousand eight hundred feet above the Mediterranean, and is the highest town in Palestine, being six hundred feet above Jerusalem. Hence the appropriateness of the expression in Joshua 20:7: “Hebron in the mountain of Judah.” It was well known when Abraham sojourned there, nearly four thousand years ago. Its original name was Kirjath-Arba, the city of Arba, and it was sometimes called Mamre. Ritter argues that the original name was Hebron, and that this name was restored after the expulsion of the Anakim. Joshua 15:14. It is now called by the Mohammedans El-Khulil, “the Friend,” that is, of God — the designation of Abraham, whose tomb, the cave of Machpelah, is still here, one of the historic remains in the Holy Land of which travellers have no doubts. It is enclosed within a mosque. The present population is about ten thousand. Jarmuth was a town in the low country of Judah, but not so far west as the plain. It was southwest from Jerusalem about eighteen miles. Robinson found here a hamlet called Yarmuk, which doubtless represents the ancient capital of Piram, and contains among the hewn stones of its ruins some traces of its ancient greatness. Lachish, probably the modern Um-Lakis, is about fifteen miles west of Hebron, on the lower range of hills, so far below the summit of Hebron that it is called “the plain.” It was rebuilt after Joshua destroyed it, and in the reign of Hezekiah was taken by Sennacherib. The siege is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 32:9, and a plan of the city and its capture is portrayed on slabs found by Layard at Nineveh. See notes and cuts at 2 Kings 18:14; 19:8. Eglon was about eight miles west by north from Lachish on the plain. Its name is supposed to survive in Ajlan, a shapeless mass of ruins covering a round hillock. In translating this verse the Septuagint has erroneously called this place Adullam.

FIVE KINGS WAR AGAINST GIBEON, 1-5.

1. Adoni-zedek — The name means lord of justice. Compare the kindred word Melchizedek, king of justice. Genesis 14:18. All that is known of this Amorite king and his four confederates is recorded in this chapter. Alarmed at the victories of Joshua and the defection of Gibeon, his nearest neighbour on the north, he aroused the kings in the south, and combined them against the seceding state. This drew Joshua to the aid of his ally, and to the discomfiture of his confederated foes, and the execution of Adonizedek and his four royal associates. Jerusalem — This is the first time that undisputed mention is made in the Bible of this celebrated city. Probably the Salem in Genesis 14:18, is Jerusalem, although Jerome contends that Salem was in the southern part of Galilee, near Scythopolis. Jerusalem is called “Jebus” and the “city of the Jebusites” in Judges and some later books. It became the metropolis of the Hebrews under David at a comparatively late date, after the nation had gone through the period of the Judges and entered on the Monarchy. Bethel, Hebron, and Shechem were ancient holy places when the Jebusite was still possessing Jerusalem. It is a little south of the centre of Palestine, thirty-two miles from the coast and eighteen from the Jordan, and is two thousand six hundred feet above the level of the sea. It is surrounded on three sides by hills still higher, from which it is separated by precipitous ravines, which rendered it, before the invention of gunpowder, almost impregnable. “It is on the ridge, the broadest and most strongly marked ridge, of the backbone of the complicated hills which extend through the whole country, from the plain of Esdraelon to the desert. Every wanderer, every conqueror, every traveller, who has trod the central route of Palestine from north to south, must have passed through the table-land of Jerusalem. It was the water-shed between the streams, or, rather, the torrent beds, which find their way eastward to the Jordan and westward to the Mediterranean.” — Stanley. See note, Matthew 2:1. And were among them — That is, were having amicable intercourse with the Israelites.

V. 5. Of the Amorites-This name being here taken largely for any of the Canaanites, as is frequent; for, to speak strictly, the citizens of Hebron here mentioned, ver. 3, were Hittites. It is reasonably supposed, that the Amorites being numerous and victorious beyond Jordan poured forth colonies into the land of Canaan, subdued divers places, and so communicated their name to all the rest.

Verse 5. The five kings of the Amorites] This is a general name for the inhabitants of Canaan, otherwise called Canaanites; and it is very likely that they had this appellation because the Amorites were the most powerful tribe or nation in that country. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were Jebusites, Joshua 15:63; those of Hebron were Hittites, Genesis 23:2, 3; 25:9, 10; and the Gibeonites were Hivites, Joshua 9:7; and yet all these are called Amorites occasionally, probably for the reason already mentioned, viz., because that tribe was most numerous and powerful.

Verse 5. The five kings of the Amorites — This name is here taken generally for any of the Canaanites. But, strictly speaking, the citizens of Hebron were Hittites, those of Jerusalem, Jebusites, and the Gibeonites made a part of the Hivites. It is reasonably supposed that the Amorites, being numerous and victorious beyond Jordan, had poured forth colonies into the land of Canaan, subdued divers places, and so communicated their name to all the rest.

FIVE KINGS WAR AGAINST GIBEON, 1-5.

1. Adoni-zedek — The name means lord of justice. Compare the kindred word Melchizedek, king of justice. Genesis 14:18. All that is known of this Amorite king and his four confederates is recorded in this chapter. Alarmed at the victories of Joshua and the defection of Gibeon, his nearest neighbour on the north, he aroused the kings in the south, and combined them against the seceding state. This drew Joshua to the aid of his ally, and to the discomfiture of his confederated foes, and the execution of Adonizedek and his four royal associates. Jerusalem — This is the first time that undisputed mention is made in the Bible of this celebrated city. Probably the Salem in Genesis 14:18, is Jerusalem, although Jerome contends that Salem was in the southern part of Galilee, near Scythopolis. Jerusalem is called “Jebus” and the “city of the Jebusites” in Judges and some later books. It became the metropolis of the Hebrews under David at a comparatively late date, after the nation had gone through the period of the Judges and entered on the Monarchy. Bethel, Hebron, and Shechem were ancient holy places when the Jebusite was still possessing Jerusalem. It is a little south of the centre of Palestine, thirty-two miles from the coast and eighteen from the Jordan, and is two thousand six hundred feet above the level of the sea. It is surrounded on three sides by hills still higher, from which it is separated by precipitous ravines, which rendered it, before the invention of gunpowder, almost impregnable. “It is on the ridge, the broadest and most strongly marked ridge, of the backbone of the complicated hills which extend through the whole country, from the plain of Esdraelon to the desert. Every wanderer, every conqueror, every traveller, who has trod the central route of Palestine from north to south, must have passed through the table-land of Jerusalem. It was the water-shed between the streams, or, rather, the torrent beds, which find their way eastward to the Jordan and westward to the Mediterranean.” — Stanley. See note, Matthew 2:1. And were among them — That is, were having amicable intercourse with the Israelites.

V. 6. Slack not thy hand-Do not neglect or delay to help us. Whom thou art obliged to protect both in duty as thou art our master; and by thy owns interest, we being part of thy possessions; and in ingenuity, because we have given ourselves to thee, and put ourselves under thy protection. In the mountains-In the mountainous country.

Verses 6, 7. Slack not thy hand from thy servants — Do not neglect or delay to help us, whom thou art obliged to protect both in duty, as thou art our master, and for thy own interest, we being part of thy possessions; and because we have given ourselves to thee, and put ourselves under thy protection. In the mountains — In the mountainous country. So Joshua ascended — Having no doubt asked counsel of God first, which is implied in the answer God gives him, verse 8. All the mighty men — That is, an army of the most valiant men picked out from the rest: for it is not probable either that he would take the whole army with him, consisting of so many hundreds of thousands, who would only have embarrassed and hindered one another, or that he would leave the camp without an army to defend it.

THE GIBEONITES APPEAL FOR AID, 6.

6. Save us — As soon as the hostile army of the confederated Amorites pitched their camp before their walls the Gibeonites sent to Joshua for aid. It was of the first importance that Joshua should rescue them and retain their allegiance. Had the Gibeonites been neglected by Joshua they would have been either forced into a league with the Amorites, or defeated by their superior numbers.

V. 7. Joshua ascended-Having no doubt asked advice of God first, which is implied by the answer God gives him, ver. 8. All the mighty men-That is, an army of the most valiant men picked out from the rest; for it is not probable, either that he would take so many hundred thousands with him, which would have hindered one another, or that he would leave the camp without an army to defend it.

Verses 6, 7. Slack not thy hand from thy servants — Do not neglect or delay to help us, whom thou art obliged to protect both in duty, as thou art our master, and for thy own interest, we being part of thy possessions; and because we have given ourselves to thee, and put ourselves under thy protection. In the mountains — In the mountainous country. So Joshua ascended — Having no doubt asked counsel of God first, which is implied in the answer God gives him, verse 8. All the mighty men — That is, an army of the most valiant men picked out from the rest: for it is not probable either that he would take the whole army with him, consisting of so many hundreds of thousands, who would only have embarrassed and hindered one another, or that he would leave the camp without an army to defend it.

JOSHUA’S NIGHT-MARCH TO GIBEON, 7-9.

7. Ascended — This expression (repeated in verse 9) most obviously has reference to the ascent from the Jordan valley to the interior of Palestine. See notes on Joshua 8:10; 9:6. All the people of war is an expression limited by its appositive in the next clause, all the mighty men of valour, which is the Hebrew way of saying, all the bravest men of the army.

8. Fear them not — He was constrained to aid Gibeon not only by military necessity, but also by the encouraging assurance of the Lord that he should be victorious. As Joshua up to this time had fought only single cities, he needed additional assurance when he was about to meet for the first time the allied armies of Canaan.

V. 9. Came suddenly-Though assured by God of the victory, yet he uses all prudent means. All night-It is not said, that he went from Gilgal to Gibeon in a night’s space; but only that he travelled all night; unto which you may add part either of the foregoing or of the following day. It is true, God had promised, that he would without fail deliver the enemies into his hand. But God’s promises are intended, not to slacken, but to quicken our endeavours. He that believeth doth not make haste, to anticipate providence; but doth make haste to attend it, with a diligent, not a distrustful speed.

Verse 9. Joshua-came unto them suddenly] This he did by a forced march during the night, for he went up from Gilgal all night; from Gilgal to Gibeon was about eighteen or twenty miles; and, having fallen so unexpectedly on these confederate kings, they were immediately thrown into confusion.

Verse 9. Joshua came unto them suddenly — Though assured by God of the victory, yet he uses all prudent means. And went up from Gilgal — all night — It is not said that he went from Gilgal to Gibeon in a night’s space, but only that he travelled all night; unto which you may add part either of the foregoing or of the following day. It is true, God had promised that he would, without fail, deliver the enemies into his hand. But God’s promises are intended, not to slacken, but to quicken our endeavours. He that believeth, doth not make haste to anticipate providence; but doth make haste to attend it, with a diligent, not a distrustful speed.

9. Suddenly — Because Joshua believed the words of Jehovah he made a bold and sudden movement. Great faith is essential to a great captain. Went up from Gilgal all night — He had marched over this route several times before, and was familiar with it. The distance from Gilgal to Gibeon was about the same as that from Gilgal to Ai, fifteen miles. See Joshua 8:9, note. This night march was a memorable prelude to the most astounding miracle of history.

V. 10. At Gibeon-Heb. in Gibeon, not in the city, but in the territory belonging to it.

Verse 10. Slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon] Multitudes of them fell in the onset; after which they fled, and the Israelites pursued them by the way of Beth-horon. There were two cities of this name, the upper and lower, both in the tribe of Ephraim, and built by Sherah, the daughter of Ephraim, 1 Chronicles 7:24. The situation of these two cities is not exactly known.

To Azekah, and unto Makkedah.] These two cities were in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:35-41.

Verse 10. At Gibeon — That is, near Gibeon; for it is plain they were not in the city; and so ought we to take the particle at, in many other places of Scripture, as signifying no more than nigh unto. Along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon — That is, to the place which was afterward called by that name; for there was no such place at the time of this battle, it being built after they were settled in Canaan, as we read 1 Chronicles 7:24. And it probably was so called from the miraculous destruction which overtook the enemies of Israel here; for Beth-horon signifies the place of anger or fury. It stood upon a hill, as appears by the expression here used, of going up to Beth-horon.

THE GREAT BATTLE OF GIBEON AND BETH-HORON, 10, 11.

[“The battle of Beth-boron, or Gibeon,” says Stanley, “was one of the most important in the history of the world; and yet so profound has been the indifference, first of the religious world, and then (through their example or influence) of the common world, to the historical study of the Hebrew annals, that the very name of this great battle is far less known to most of us than that of Marathon or Cannae. It is one of the few military engagements which belong equally to ecclesiastical and to civil history, which have decided equally the fortunes of the world and of the Church.”]

10. And the Lord discomfited them — The victory is ascribed not to Joshua but to the Lord. He had inspired the great Hebrew chieftain with confidence to strike a sudden blow, probably in the early morning dawn, and the panic-stricken enemy fled in confusion. There is no need of supposing, with some expositors, that God made use of thunder and lightning, or any other terrific natural phenomena, to discomfit the Amorite host early in the morning. The sudden assault of Joshua with his battalion of picked men was sufficient to produce such a result. God is often said to do that which is done through the agency of men. The issue of battles, like every other human event, is in the hands of Almighty God. In the sphere of mind there is a field for divine interposition, breathing courage into one army and dismay into the other. Hence many of the most wonderful triumphs in the world’s history have been achieved by the weaker army. Beth-horon — The house of caves. Upper Beth-horon is on an elevation northwest of Gibeon, higher up, and is at the head of a ravine through which there is a steep pass to Lower Beth-horon and to the plain of Sharon. The flight of the Amorites was toward this pass up the long ascent, the way that goeth up. Then came the second stage of the flight down the steep ravine, in the going down to Beth-horon the lower. Azekah was a town in the rich agricultural plain into which the valley of Aijalon opens westward. Its position has not yet been recognized. Makkedah is supposed to be in the same plain, but its situation has hitherto eluded discovery.

V. 11. Great stones-That is, hailstones of extraordinary greatness, cast down with that certainty, as to hit the Canaanites and not their pursuers the Israelites. Josephus affirms, that thunder and lightning were mixed with the hail, which may seem probable from Habakkuk 3:11. They had robbed the true God of his honour, by worshipping the host of heaven, and now the hosts of heaven fights against them, and triumphs in their ruin. Beth-horon lay north of Gibeon, Azekah and Makkedah, south, so that they fled each way. But which way soever they fled, the hailstones pursued them. There is no fleeing out of the hands of God!

Verse 11. The Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them] Some have contended that stones, in the common acceptation of the word, are intended here; and that the term hail-stones is only used to point out the celerity of their fall, and their quantity. That stones have fallen from the clouds, if not from a greater height, is a most incontestable fact. That these have fallen in different parts of the world is also true; the East Indies, America, France, Germany, England, Ireland, &c., have all witnessed this phenomenon: of such stones I possess and have seen several fragments; some considerable pieces may be seen in the British Museum. That God might have cast down such stones as these on the Canaanites, there can be no doubt, because his power is unlimited; and the whole account proves that here there was a miraculous interference. But it is more likely that hail-stones, in the proper sense of the word, are meant as well as expressed in the text. That God on other occasions has made use of hail-stones to destroy both men and cattle, we have ample proof in the plague of hail that fell on the Egyptians. See Clarke’s note on “Exodus 9:18”. There is now before me a square of glass, taken out of a south window in the house of Mr. Ball of Crockerton, in the parish of Longbridge Deverell, county of Wilts., through which a hail-stone passed in a shower that fell there June 1, 1780, at two o’clock, P.M. The hole is an obtuse ellipsis or oval, and is cut as true as if it had been done with a diamond: it is three inches and a half in diameter; a proof that the stone that pierced it, which was about eleven inches in circumference, came with inconceivable velocity, else the glass must have been shivered to pieces. I have known a cannon ball go through a square of glass in the cabin window of a ship, and make precisely the same kind of hole, without either shattering or even starring the glass. It is needless to add that this hail-shower did great damage, breaking even trees in pieces, and destroying the vegetation through the whole of its extent. But allowing that extraordinary showers of hail have fallen in England or France, is it likely that such showers ever fell in the promised land or its vicinity? They certainly have. Albertus Aquensis, one of the writers in the collection Gesta Dei per Francos, in describing the expedition of Baldwin I. in the Holy Land, observes that, when he and his army were in the Arabian mountains, in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, they suffered incredibly from horrible hail, terrible frost, and indescribable rain and snow, so that thirty of his men perished by them. His words are: “Sexta vero die montanis permensis, in extremo illorum cacumine maxima pertulerunt pericula, in GRANDINE horribili, in GLACIE terribili, in PLUVIA et NIVE inaudita, quorum immanitate, et horrore ingruente ad triginta homines pedites præ frigore mortui sunt.”-Hist. Hieros., p. 307. I conclude, therefore, that a shower of hail-stones may be meant; and that this shower, though natural in itself, was supernaturally employed on this occasion, and miraculously directed to fall where it did, and do the execution described.

But I am ready to grant, notwithstanding, that as a most stupendous miracle was in this instance wrought, in causing the sun and moon to stand still; there can be no doubt that the shower of stones, which was also miraculous, might have been of real stones as well as hail-stones. Of late, this subject of the fall of real stones from the clouds has been very closely investigated, and not only the possibility of the fall of such stones from the clouds, or from much higher regions, but the certainty of the case has been fully demonstrated. These substances are now, in philosophical language denominated æroliths or air-stones; and the following table constructed by M. Izarn, a foreign chemist, exhibits a variety of facts of this kind, and shows the places and times in which these substances fell, and the testimony by which these facts are supported. As it is as possible that God might have projected a shower of stones on these idolaters, even from the moon, as to arrest that planet in her course, I give the table, and leave the reader to decide, in the present case, for æroliths or hail-stones, as may seem to him most congruous to the fact here related.

SUBSTANCES PLACES WHERE

THEY FELL

PERIOD OF

THEIR FALL

TESTIMONY

Shower of stones At Rome Under Tullus

Hostilius

Livy

Shower of stones At Rome Consuls, C.

Martius and M.

Torquatus

J. Obsequens.

A very large stone Near the river

Negos, Thrace

Second year of the

78th Olympiad

Pliny

Three large stones In Thrace Year before J. C.,

452

Ch. of Count

Marcellin.

Stone of 72 lbs Near Larissa,

Macedonia

January, 1706 Paul Lucas.

About 1,200 stones;

one 120 lbs,

Another of 60 lbs

Near Padua in

Italy

In 1510 Carden, Varcit.

Another of 59 lbs On Mount Vasier,

Provence

November 27,

1627

Gassendi.

Two large stones

weighing 20 lbs

Liponas, in Bresse September, 1753 Deuteronomy

La Lande.

A stony mass Niort, Normandy In 1750 Deuteronomy

La Lande.

A stone of 7 ½ lbs At Lure, in

Leviticus Maine

September 13,

1768

Bachelay.

A stone At Aire, in Artois In 1768 Gurson de

Boyaval

A stone In Leviticus

Cotentin

In 1768 Morand.

Extensive shower of

stones

Environs of Agen July 24, 1790 St. Amand,

Baudin, &c.

About 12 stones Sienna Tuscany July, 1794 Earl of Bristol A large stone of 56

lbs

Wold Cottage,

Yorkshire

December 13,

1795

Captain

Topham.

A stone of 10 lbs In Portugal February 19, 1796 Southey.

A stone of about

120 lbs

Sale department

of the Rhone

March 17, 1798 Leviticus

Lievre and De

Dree.

Shower of stones Benares, East

Indies

December 19,

1798

J. Lloyd

Williams, Esq.

Shower of stones At Plann, near

Tabor, Bohemia

July 3, 1753 B. de Born.

Mass of iron, 70

cubic feet

America April 5, 1800 Philosophical

Magazine.

Mass of ditto, 14

quintals

Abakauk, Siberia Very old Pallas,

Chladni, &c.

Shower of stones Barboutan, near

Roquefort

July, 1789 Darcet, jun.,

Lomet, &c.

Large stone, 260 lbs Ensisheim, Upper

Rhine

November 7, 1492 Butenschoen.

Two stones, 200 and

300 lbs

Near Verona In 1762 Acad. de

Bourd.

A stone of 20 lbs Sales, near Ville

Franche

March 12, 1798 De Dree.

Several ditto from

10 to 17 lbs

Near L’Aigle,

Normandy

April 26, 1803 Fourcroy.

These stones generally appear luminous in their descent, moving in oblique directions with very great velocities, and commonly with a hissing noise. They are frequently heard to explode or burst, and seem to fly in pieces, the larger parts falling first. They often strike the earth with such force as to sink several inches below the surface. They are always different from the surrounding bodies, but in every case are similar to one another, being semi-metallic, coated with a thin black incrustation. They bear strong marks of recent fusion. Chemists have found on examining these stones that they very nearly agree in their nature and composition, and in the proportions of their component parts. The stone which fell at Ensisheim in Alsace, in 1492, and those which fell at L’Aigle in France, in 1803, yielded, by the Analysis of Fourcroy and Vanquelin, as in this table:— Ensisheim stone fell L’Aigle stone fell

A.D. 1492 A.D. 1803

56 0 54 of silica

30 0 36 -oxyd of iron

12 0 9 -magnesia

2 4 3 -oxyd of nickel

3 5 2 -sulphur

1 4 1 -lime

—— ——

105 3 105

Their specific gravities are generally about three of four times that of water, being heavier than common stones. From the above account it is reasonable to conclude that they have all the same origin. To account for this phenomenon, various hypotheses have appeared; we shall mention three: 1. That they are little planets, which, circulating in space, fall into the atmosphere, which, by its friction, diminishes the velocity, so that they fall by their weight. 2. That they are concretions formed in the atmosphere. 3. That they are projected from lunar volcanoes. These are the most probable conjectures we can meet with, and of these the two former possess a very small degree of probability, but there are very strong reasons in favour of the last. Among the reasons we may notice the following: 1. Volcanoes in the moon have been observed by means of the telescope. 2. The lunar volcanoes are very high, and the surface of that globe suffers frequent changes, as appears by the late observations of Schrœter. 3. If a body be projected from the moon to a distance greater than that of the point of equilibrium between the attraction of the earth and moon, it will, on the known principle of gravitation, fall to the earth. 4. That a body may be projected from the lunar volcanoes beyond the moon’s influence, is not only possible but very probable; for on calculation it is found that four times the force usually given to a twelve pounder, will be quite sufficient for this purpose; it is to be observed that the point of equilibrium is much nearer the moon, and that a projectile from the moon will not be so much retarded as one from the earth, both on account of the moon’s rarer atmosphere, and its less attractive force. On this subject, see Mr. Haward’s valuable paper in the Philosophical Transactions for 1802, and Dr. Hutton’s dissertation in the new abridgment, part xxi. It is highly probable that the ancile, or sacred shield, that fell from heaven in the reign of Numa Pompilius, was a stone of this sort. The description of its fall, as given by Ovid, Fast. lib. iii., bears a striking resemblance to recent accounts of stones falling from the atmosphere, particularly in the luminous appearance and hissing noise with which it was accompanied.

Dum loquitur, totum jam sol emerserat orbem,

Et gravis æthereo venit ab axe fragor.

Ter tonuit sine nube Deus, tria fulgura misit:

Credite dicenti; mira, sed acta, loquor.

A media cœlum regione dehiscere cœpit:

Summisere oculos cum duce turba suos.

Ecce levi scutum versatum leniter aura

Decidit, a pupulo clamor ad astra venit.

Tolit humo munus———————

Idque ancile vocat, quod ab omni parte recisum est.

It is very possible that the Palladium of Troy, and the Image of the Ephesian Diana, were stones which really fell from the atmosphere, bearing some rude resemblance to the human form. See the IMPERIAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA, article Ærolith.

I believe it is generally agreed among philosophers, 1. That all these aerial stones, chemically analyzed, show the same properties; 2. That no stone found on our earth possesses exactly the same properties, nor in the same proportions. This is an extraordinary circumstance, and deserves particular notice.

Verse 11. The Lord cast down great stones — That is, hail-stones of an extraordinary greatness, cast down with that certainty as to hit the Canaanites, and not their pursuers the Israelites. Josephus affirms that thunder and lightning were mixed with the hail, which may seem probable from Habakkuk 3:11. They had robbed the true God of his honour, by worshipping the host of heaven, and now the host of heaven fights against them, and triumphs in their ruin. Beth-horon lay north of Gibeon, Azekah and Makkedah south, so that they fled each way. But which way soever they fled, the hailstones pursued them. There is no fleeing out of the hands of God!

Ver. 11. Great stones—hail stones, as in many versions. So is Psalm 68:14. “When the Almighty scattered kings, it was white as snow in Salmon.” The hail in Egypt destroyed men and cattle. Diodorus Siculus says, that “as the Persians were on their march to plunder the temple of Delphos, a violent storm of thunder and lightning fell on their camp, which killed a great number of the men.” Mr. Harmer mentions a Saracen army almost cut to pieces with sheets of hail.

Calmet contends, but without proof, that these were real stones which fell from heaven. It is a fact fully demonstrated, that ærolites or air-stones have fallen from the clouds, and in countless showers, in different ages. Some of those stones weigh a few ounces; others of various weights, from one to three hundred pounds. On the 13th of Dec. 1795, one fell in Major Topham’s park, at Wold Cottage, near Scarborough, which weighed fifty six pounds.

Those large ærolites have been analyzed by the ablest chemists, and found to contain in 100 parts, 50 silica (flint) and from 30 to 36 iron, about the same proportion as in the great rock of primitive iron ore at Taberg in Sweden. The other parts are one tenth magnesia, with small proportions of nickel and sulphur.

Therefore those ærolites are, without a doubt, real iron ores. Those I have inspected are radiated, and somewhat in appearance like the radiated pyrites found in the chalk. They must have been formed in the matrices of subterranean strata.—If so, how could they fall from the air? It is recorded in our books of science, and in our encyclopedias, that in the year 1660, a mountain of South America burst with so terrible an explosion as to cover the whole country to the distance of sixty miles, with the detritus eight inches deep, and some fragments were propelled to the distance of ninety, and others of a hundred and thirty miles. Now, as we cannot propel a cannon ball more than three miles, those fragments having attained a high elevation, must have met with little or no obstruction from the levity of the air in the higher regions. Why then might not those ærolites, and perhaps much aided by the electric fluid, have taken their flights to unaccountable distances? Their fall has often been accompanied with a hissing noise, and brilliant flashes of lightning; hence the name thunder-bolt stones.

11. The Lord cast down great stones. — Some have supposed that this was a shower of meteoric stones, but before the statement is concluded hailstones are mentioned. Neither of these, considered by itself, is a miraculous event; but either of them occurring at that particular crisis in the flight, and falling only on the foes of Israel, must be regarded as supernatural. Both meteoric stones and hail may have fallen. I have before me the account of a shower of stones in Normandy, in France, in 1803. The stones fell with a hissing noise from a small rectangular cloud, which did not seem to move, and they were scattered over a tract of country eight miles long by three broad. Above two thousand were collected, the largest weighing seventeen and a half pounds. In the Yale College cabinet may be seen a similar stone, weighing sixteen hundred and thirty-five pounds, which fell in Arkansas. Others are found in South America, one whose estimated weight is fifteen tons. The most reasonable hypothesis is, that these stones are fragments of small invisible planets moving through space, drawn within the sphere of the earth’s attraction. That a shower of such projectiles may have been directed by the Ruler of the universe to fall on the descent to Lower Beth-horon while his foes were fleeing from Joshua is not an incredible supposition to one who believes in a personal God. There are many instances of hail storms so violent as to be destructive of life, aside from that recorded in Exodus, (Exodus 9:23-26,) a plague so destructive to all who were unsheltered. In our own country, in Jackson, La., 1834, within ten minutes, a little after midnight, a great number of cattle were killed by the hailstones, and much damage was done to the houses and woods. Sir Robert Wilson describes a terrible thunder and hail-storm at Marmorice Bay, Asia Minor, while the British fleet were at anchor there in February, 1801. It continued, at intervals, two days and nights to pour hailstones as large as walnuts, deluging the camps with a torrent of them till the earth was covered two feet deep. In August, 1831, there was a hail-storm so violent that two boatmen in a village on the Bosphorus were killed, and many others were severely wounded, by balls of ice of a pound weight. Sudden showers of hail are not unusual in Palestine. The destructiveness of this shower of hail to the Amorites only, and its occurrence at this time, mark it as a miraculous event. The Lord cast down great stones from heaven, by intensifying and controlling natural agencies.

V. 12. Spoke Joshua-Being moved to beg it out of zeal to destroy God’s enemies, and directed to it by the motion of God’s spirit, and being filled with holy confidence of the success, he speaks the following words before the people, that that they might be witnesses. In the sight-That is, in the presence and audience of Israel. Over Gibeon-That is, in that place and posture in which now it stands towards, and looks upon Gibeon. Let it not go down lower, and by degrees, out of the sight of Gibeon. It may seem, that the sun, was declining, and Joshua perceiving that his work was great and long, and his time but short, begs of God the lengthening out of the day, and that the sun and moon might stop their course, He mentions two places, Gibeon and Ajalon, not as if the sun stood over the one and the moon over the other, which is absurd especially these places being so near the one to the other; but partly to vary the phrase, as is common in poetical passages; partly because he was in his march in the pursuit of his enemies, to pass from Gibeon to Ajalon; and he begs that he may have the help of longer light to pursue them, and to that end that the sun might stand still, and the moon also; not that he needed the moon’s light, but because it was fit, either that both sun and moon should go, or that both should stand still to prevent disorder in the heavenly bodies. The prayer is thus exprest with authority, because it was not an ordinary prayer, but the prayer of a prophet, divinely inspired at this very time for this purpose. And yet it intimates to us the prevalency of prayer in general, and may mind us of that honour put upon prayer, concerning the work of my hands command you me.

Verse 12. Then spake Joshua to the Lord] Though Joshua saw that the enemies of his people were put to flight, yet he well knew that all which escaped would rally again, and that he should be obliged to meet them once more in the field of battle if permitted now to escape; finding that the day was drawing towards a close, he feared that he should not have time sufficient to complete the destruction of the confederate armies; in this moment, being suddenly inspired with Divine confidence, he requested the Lord to perform the most stupendous miracle that had ever been wrought, which was no less than to arrest the sun in his course, and prolong the day till the destruction of his enemies had been completed!

Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.] To account for this miracle, and to ascertain the manner in which it was wrought, has employed the pens of the ablest divines and astronomers, especially of the last two centuries. By their learned labours many difficulties have been removed from the account in general; but the very different and contradictory methods pursued by several, in their endeavours to explain the whole, and make the relation accord with the present acknowledged system of the universe, and the phenomena of nature, tend greatly to puzzle the plain, unphilosophical reader. The subject cannot be well explained without a dissertation; and a dissertation is not consistent with the nature of short notes, or a commentary on Scripture. It is however necessary to attempt an explanation, and to bring that as much as possible within the apprehension of common readers, in order to this, I must beg leave to introduce a few preliminary observations, or what the reader may call propositions if he pleases.

1. I take it for granted that a miracle was wrought as nearly as circumstances could admit, in the manner in which it is here recorded. I shall not, therefore, seek for any allegorical or metaphorical interpretations; the miracle is recorded as a fact, and as a fact I take it up.

2. I consider the present accredited system of the universe, called sometimes the Pythagorean, Copernican, or Newtonian system, to be genuine; and also to be the system of the universe laid down in the Mosaic writings-that the SUN is in the centre of what is called the solar system; and that the earth and all the other planets, whether primary or secondary, move round him in certain periodical times, according to the quantity of their matter, and distance from him, their centre.

3. I consider the sun to have no revolution round any orbit, but to revolve round his own axis, and round the common centre of gravity in the planetary system, which centre of gravity is included within his own surface; and in all other respects I consider him to be at rest in the system.

4. I consider the earth, not only as revolving round the sun in 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 48 seconds, but as revolving round its own axis, and making this revolution in 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds; that in the course of 24 hours complete, every part of its surface is alternately turned to the sun; that this revolution constitutes our day and night, as the former does our year; and it is day to all those parts which have the sun above the horizon, and night to those which have the sun below it; and that this diurnal revolution of the earth, or revolving round its own axis, in a direction from west to east, occasions what is commonly called the rising and setting of the sun, which appearance is occasioned, not by any motion in the sun himself, but by this motion of the earth; which may be illustrated by a ball or globe suspended by a thread, and caused to turn round. If this be held opposite to a candle, it will appear half enlightened and half dark; but the dark parts will be seen to come successively into the light, and the enlightened parts into the shade; while the candle itself which gives the light is fixed, not changing its position.

5. I consider the solar influence to be the cause both of the annual and diurnal motion of the earth; and that, while that influence continues to act upon it according to the law which God originally impressed on both the earth and the sun, the annual and diurnal motions of the earth must continue; and that no power but the unlimited power of God can alter this influence, change, or suspend the operation of this law; but that he is such an infinitely FREE AGENT, that HE can, when his unerring wisdom sees good, alter, suspend, or even annihilate all secondary causes and their effects: for it would be degrading to the perfections of his nature to suppose that he had so bound himself by the laws which he has given for the preservation and direction of universal nature, that he could not change them, alter their effects, or suspend their operations when greater and better effects, in a certain time or place, might be produced by such temporary change or suspension.

6. I consider that the miracle wrought on this occasion served greatly to confirm the Israelites, not only in the belief of the being and perfections of God, but also in the doctrine of an especial providence, and in the nullity of the whole system of idolatry and superstition.

7. That no evil was done by this miraculous interference, nor any law or property of nature ultimately changed; on the contrary, a most important good was produced, which probably, to this people, could not have been brought about any other way; and that therefore the miracle wrought on this occasion was highly worthy of the wisdom and power of God.

8. I consider that the terms in the text employed to describe this miracle are not, when rightly understood, contrary to the well-established notions of the true system of the universe; and are not spoken, as some have contended, ad captum vulgi, to the prejudices of the common people, much less do they favour the Ptolemaic or any other hypothesis that places the earth in the centre of the solar system.

Having laid down these preliminaries, some short observations on the words of the text may be sufficient.

Joshua’s address is in a poetic form in the original, and makes the two following hemistichs:—

דום בגבעונ שמש

אילונ qm[b jryw

Shemesh begibon dom:

Veyareach beemek Aiyalon.

Sun! upon Gibeon be dumb:

And the moon on the vale of Ajalon.

The effect of this command is related, Joshua 10:13, in the following words:- dm[ וירח השמש וידם vaiyiddom hashSHEMESH veYAREACH amad, And the sun was dumb or silent and the moon stood still. And in the latter clause of this verse it is added: And the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

It seems necessary here to answer the question, At what time of the day did this miracle take place? The expression השמים yxjb bachatsi hashshamayim, in the midst of heaven, seems to intimate that the sun was at that time on the meridian of Gibeon, and consequently had one half of its course to run; and this sense of the place has been strongly contended for as essential to the miracle, for the greater display of the glory of God: “Because,” say its abettors, “had the miracle been wrought when the sun was near the going down, it might have been mistaken for some refraction of the rays of light, occasioned by a peculiarly moist state of the atmosphere in the horizon of that place, or by some such appearance as the Aurora Borealis.” To me there seems no solidity in this reason. Had the sun been arrested in the meridian, the miracle could scarcely have been noticed, and especially in the hurry and confusion of that time; and we may be assured, that among the Canaanites there were neither clocks nor time-keepers, by which the preternatural length of such a day could have been accurately measured: but, on the contrary, had the sun been about the setting, when both the pursuers and the pursued must be apprehensive of its speedy disappearance, its continuance for several hours above the horizon, so near the point when it might be expected to go down, must have been very observable and striking. The enemy must see, feel, and deplore it; as their hope of escape must, in such circumstances, be founded on the speedy entering in of the night, through which alone they could expect to elude the pursuing Israelites. And the Israelites themselves must behold with astonishment and wonder that the setting sun hasted not to go down about a whole day, affording them supernatural time totally to destroy a routed foe, which otherwise might have had time to rally, confederate, choose a proper station, and attack in their turn with peculiar advantages, and a probability of success. It appears, therefore, much more reasonable that Joshua should require this miracle to be performed when daylight was about to fail, just as the sun was setting. If we were to consider the sun as being at the meridian of Gibeon, as some understand the midst of heaven, it may be well asked, How could Joshua know that he should not have time enough to complete the destruction of his enemies, who were now completely routed? Already multitudes of them had fallen by the hail-stones and by the sword: and if he had yet half a day before him, it would have been natural enough for him to conclude that he had a sufficiency of time for the purpose, his men having been employed all night in a forced march, and half a day in close fighting; and indeed had he not been under an especial inspiration, he could not have requested the miracle at all, knowing, as he must have done, that his men must be nearly exhausted by marching all night and fighting all day. But it may be asked, What is the meaning of השמים yxjb bachatsi hashshamayim, which we translate in the midst of heaven? If, with Mr. Bate, we translate hxj chatsah, to part, divide asunder, then it may refer to the horizon, which is the apparent division of the heavens into the upper and lower hemisphere; and thus the whole verse has been understood by some eminently learned men, who have translated the whole passage thus: And the sun stood still in the (upper) hemisphere of heaven, and hasted not to go down when the day was complete; that is, though the day was then complete, the sun being on the horizon; the line that to the eye constituted the mid heaven-yet it hasted not to go down; was miraculously sustained in its then almost setting position; and this seems still more evident from the moon’s appearing at that time, which it is not reasonable to suppose could be visible in the glare of light occasioned by a noon-day sun. But the main business relative to the standing still of the sun still remains to be considered.

I have already assumed, as a thoroughly demonstrated truth, that the sun is in the centre of the system, moving only round his own axis, and the common centre of the gravity of the planetary system, while all the planets revolve round him, Prop. 2 and 3; that his influence is the cause of the diurnal and annual revolutions of the earth; nor can I see what other purpose his revolution round his own axis can possibly answer, Prop. 5. I consider that the word דום dom, in the text, refers to the withholding or restraining this influence, so that the cessation of the earth’s motion might immediately take place. The desire of Joshua was, that the sun might not sink below the horizon; but as it appeared now to be over Gibeon, and the moon to be over the valley of Ajalon, he prayed that they might continue in these positions till the battle should be ended; or, in other words, that the day should be miraculously lengthened out.

Whether Joshua had a correct philosophical notion of the true system of the universe, is a subject that need not come into the present inquiry: but whether he spoke with strict propriety on this occasion is a matter of importance, because he must be considered as acting under the Divine influence, in requesting the performance of such a stupendous miracle; and we may safely assert that no man in his right mind would have thought of offering such a petition had he not felt himself under some Divine afflatus. Leaving, therefore, his philosophic knowledge out of the question, he certainly spoke as if he had known that the solar influence was the cause of the earth’s rotation, and therefore, with the strictest philosophic propriety, he requested that that influence might be for a time restrained, that the diurnal motion of the earth might be arrested, through which alone the sun could be kept above the horizon, and day be prolonged. His mode of expression evidently considers the sun as the great ruler or master in the system; and all the planets (or at least the earth) moving in their respective orbits at his command. He therefore desires him, in the name and by the authority of his Creator, to suspend his mandate with respect to the earth’s motion, and that of its satellite, the moon. Had he said, Earth, stand thou still, the cessation of whose diurnal motion was the effect of his command, it could not have obeyed him; as it is not even the secondary cause either of its annual motion round the sun, or its diurnal motion round its own axis. Instead of doing so, he speaks to the sun, the cause (under God) of all these motions, as his great archetype did when, in the storm on the sea of Tiberias, he rebuked the wind first, and then said to the waves, Peace! be still! Siwpa, pefimwso, Be SILENT! be DUMB! Mark 4:39; and the effect of this command was a cessation of the agitation in the sea, because the wind ceased to command it, that is, to exert its influence upon the waters.

The terms in this command are worthy of particular note: Joshua does not say to the sun, Stand still, as if he had conceived him to be running his race round the earth; but, Be silent or inactive, that is, as I understand it, Restrain thy influence-no longer act upon the earth, to cause it to revolve round its axis; a mode of speech which is certainly consistent with the strictest astronomical knowledge; and the writer of the account, whether Joshua himself or the author of the book of Jasher, in relating the consequence of this command is equally accurate, using a word widely different when he speaks of the effect the retention of the solar influence had on the moon: in the first case the sun was silent or inactive, דום dom; in the latter, the moon stood still, dm[ amad. The standing still of the moon, or its continuance above the horizon, would be the natural effect of the cessation of the solar influence, which obliged the earth to discontinue her diurnal rotation, which of course would arrest the moon; and thus both it and the sun were kept above the horizon, probably for the space of a whole day. As to the address to the moon, it is not conceived in the same terms as that to the sun, and for the most obvious philosophical reasons; all that is said is simply, and the moon on the vale of Ajalon, which may be thus understood: “Let the sun restrain his influence or be inactive, as he appears now upon Gibeon, that the moon may continue as she appears now over the vale of Ajalon.” It is worthy of remark that every word in this poetic address is apparently selected with the greatest caution and precision.

Persons who are no friends to Divine revelation say “that the account given of this miracle supposes the earth to be in the centre of the system, and the sun moveable; and as this is demonstrably a false philosophy, consequently the history was never dictated by the Spirit of truth.” Others, in answer, say “that the Holy Spirit condescends to accommodate himself to the apprehensions of the vulgar. The Israelites would naturally have imagined that Joshua was deranged had he bid the earth stand still, which they grant would have been the most accurate and philosophical mode of command on this occasion.” But with due deference both to the objectors and defenders I must assert, that such a form of speech on such an occasion would have been utterly unphilosophic; and that the expressions found in the Hebrew text are such as Sir Isaac Newton himself might have denominated, every thing considered, elegant, correct, and sublime. Nor does it at all appear that the prejudices of the vulgar were consulted on this occasion; nor is there a word here, when properly understood that is inconsistent with the purest axiom of the soundest philosophy, and certainly nothing that implies any contradiction. I grant that when the people have to do with astronomical and philosophical matters, then the terms of the science may be accommodated to their apprehensions; it is on this ground that Sir Isaac Newton himself speaks of the rising and of the setting of the sun, though all genuine philosophers know that these appearances are produced by the rotation of the earth on its own axis from west to east. But when matters of this kind are to be transacted between God and his prophets, as in the above case, then subjects relative to philosophy are conceived in their proper terms, and expressed according to their own nature. At the conclusion of the 13th verse a different expression is used when it is said, So the sun stood still, it is not µsd dom, but dm[ amad; השמש ויעמד vaiyaamod hashshemesh, which expression, thus varying from that in the command of Joshua, may be considered as implying that in order to restrain his influence which I have assumed to be the cause of the earth’s motion, the sun himself became inactive, that is, ceased to revolve round his own axis, which revolution is probably one cause, not only of the revolution of the earth, but of all the other planetary bodies in our system, and might have affected all the planets at the time in question; but this neither could nor did produce any disorder in nature; and the delay of a few hours in the whole planetary motions dwindles away into an imperceptible point in the thousands of years of their revolutions. But the whole effect mentioned here might have been produced by the cessation of the diurnal motion of the earth, the annual being still continued; and I contend that this was possible to Omnipotence, and that such a cessation might have taken place without occasioning the slightest disturbance in the motions of any others of the planetary system. It is vain to cry out and say, “Such a cessation of motion in one planet could not take place without disordering the motions of all the rest;” this I deny, and those who assert it neither know the Scripture nor the power of God; therefore they do greatly err. That the day was preternaturally lengthened, is a Scripture fact. That it was so by a miracle, is asserted; and whether that miracle was wrought as above stated, is a matter of little consequence; the thing is a Scripture fact, whether we know the modus operandi or not. I need scarcely add that the command of Joshua to the sun is to be understood as a prayer to God (from whom the sun derived his being and his continuance) that the effect might be what is expressed in the command: and therefore it is said, Joshua 10:14, that the LORD HEARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF A MAN, for the Lord fought for Israel. I have thus gone through the different parts of this astonishing miracle, and have endeavoured to account for the whole in as plain and simple a manner as possible. It is not pretended that this account should satisfy every reader, and that every difficulty is solved; it would be impossible to do this in such a compass as that by which I am necessarily circumscribed; and I have been obliged, for the sake of brevity, to throw into the form of propositions or observations, several points which may appear to demand illustration and proof; for such I must refer the reader to Astronomical Treatises. Calmet, Scheuchzer, and Saurin, with several of our own countrymen, have spoken largely on this difficult subject, but in such a way as, I am obliged to confess, has given me little satisfaction, and which appears to me to leave the main difficulties unremoved. Conscious of the difficulties of this subject, I beg leave to address every candid reader in the often quoted words of an eminent author:—

Vive, Vale! si quid novisti rectius istis,

Candidus imperti; si non, his utere mecum.

HOR. Epist. l. i., E. vi., ver. 68.

Farewell! and if a better system’s thine,

Impart it frankly or make use of mine.

FRANCIS.

Book of Jasher] The book of the upright. See the note on Numbers 21:14. Probably this was a book which, in reference to Joshua and his transactions, was similar to the commentaries of Cæsar, on his wars with the Gauls. Critics and commentators are greatly divided in their sentiments relative to the nature of this book. The opinion above appears to me the most probable.

Verse 12. Then spake Joshua — Being moved so to do out of zeal to destroy God’s enemies, and directed by the motion of God’s Spirit, and being filled with a holy confidence, that what he said would be accomplished. And he spake it in the sight — That is, in the presence and audience; of all Israel — That they might be witnesses of the fact. Sun, stand thou still — Joshua does not speak according to the terms of modern astronomy, which it would have been highly improper for him to have done, as he would not have been understood by the people that heard him, but according to the appearance of things. The sun appeared to the Israelites over Gibeon, the moon was over the valley of Ajalon, which we may suppose to be situated in a different direction; and there, in the name of God, he commanded them to continue to appear, which they did for a whole day — That is, either for the space of twelve hours, or for the time of one whole diurnal revolution. “Nothing,” we may observe in the words of Dr. Dodd, “is more common in Scripture than to express things, not according to the strict rules of philosophy, but according to their appearance, and the vulgar apprehension concerning them. For instance, Moses calls the sun and moon two great lights; but however this appellation may agree with the sun, it cannot in the same sense signify the moon, which is now well known to be but a small body, and the least of all the planets, and to have no light at all but what it borrows by a reflection of the rays of the sun; appearing to us larger than the other planets, merely because it is placed nearer to us. From this appearance it is that the Holy Scriptures give it the title of a great light. In like manner, because the sun seems to us to move, and the earth to be at rest, the Scriptures represent the latter as placed on pillars, bases, and foundations, compare the former to a bridegroom issuing from his chamber, and rejoicing as a giant, to run his course, and speak of his arising and going down, and hastening to the place from whence he arose, &c., when it is certain, that if the sun were made to revolve round the earth, the general laws of nature would thereby be violated, the harmony and proportion of the heavenly bodies destroyed, and the economy of the universe thrown into confusion and disorder. The general design of God, when he inspired the sacred writers, having been to form mankind to holiness and virtue, not to make them philosophers, it no way derogates from the respect due to the Holy Spirit, or from the consideration which the writings of those holy men merit, whose pens he directed, to suppose that, in order to accommodate themselves to the capacity, the notions, and language of the vulgar, they have purposely spoken of the phenomena of nature in terms most conformable to the testimony of the senses.” Add to this, those who are best informed in, and most assured of, the system of modern astronomy, and therefore well know that the succession of day and night is not caused by any motion of the sun and moon, but by the rotation of the earth upon its own axis; yet continually speak of the rising and setting, ascending and declining of the sun and moon, according as they appear to our senses to do. Indeed, if they spoke otherwise they would not be understood by people in general.

Ver. 12. Sun, stand thou still. Consequently it was noon at Gibeon for the space of ten or twelve hours. The moon, as seen from the valley of Ajalon, about to set in the western sky, lingered to shroud herself below the horizon. The whole heavens delayed their course to see the victories of the Lord; or rather, the earth stopped her diurnal motion, to prolong the day for the Lord’s servant to avenge his quarrel. Kimchi gives us a Hebrew tradition, that the sun and moon stood still for thirty six hours. The battle being fought on the eve of the sabbath, Joshua, fearing lest the Hebrews might profane the sabbath, spread his hands abroad that the sun might stop his course on the sixth day, according to the measure of the sabbath. Agamemnon seems to have known all this, when he rose in the council of the Grecian kings, and prayed, “Oh Jove, first in glory, Being supreme, high ruler of storms! Oh dweller of heaven, Jove, let not the sun go down, nor darkness shroud the silent world, till I shall throw down the proud towers of aged Priam, till with hostile fire I consume the gates of the devoted Troy. Edit. Macpherson.

Astronomy being one of the earliest studies of humankind, the double length of this day must very much have struck and alarmed the world. And as it happened but a few ages before the commencement of Grecian literature, tradition must have conveyed it to their poets and historians, who, in conformity to the taste of the age, dressed up all the traditions of antiquity in curious fables. Hence we find that Statius had heard of it, and supposed it to have happened about the time of the Theban war, when Atreus made an inhuman banquet of Thyestes’ children. Other writers imagined it to have been in the days of Phaeton, and Ovid has beautified the fable told of him, that he occasioned it, by having obtained leave to guide the chariot of the sun that day, which he was in nowise able to manage. Thus the heathen poets and mythologists dressed up and disfigured the hints which they found in ancient records. Atreus was father of Agamemnon, and lived but a generation before the Trojan war, and therefore the sun’s standing still in the days of Joshua could not have happened in his time; so that Statius, or any other writer from whom he took the hint, was not true in their chronology; but Phaeton lived much earlier. The sun stood still in the days of Joshua, in the year of the world 2554. Phaeton was then about twenty four years old; and thus the time of Phaeton’s life may synchronize with the year of the sun’s standing still in the days of Joshua. The fable told of him might have its first rise from a fact recorded to have happened in his youth, dressed up and diversified with the various fictions of succeeding mythologists, until it was brought up to what Ovid left it.

On recurring to the history of China, we there find historical facts relating to the subject before us. The very ancient records of the Chinese report, that in the reign of their emperor Yao, the sun did not set for the space of ten days, and they feared the world would be involved in a conflagration. Yao, according to Martin, was the seventh emperor of China, Fohi being the first: and as he computes, from the first year of Gohi’s reign to Yao’s, are three hundred and eighty seven years. Fohi reigned one hundred and fifteen years; after him Xin-num, one hundred and forty; Hoang-ti one hundred, Xaohaon eighty four, Chuen-hio seventy eight, Cou seventy, and next to him succeeded Yao. The first year of Fohi’s reign in China was in the year of the world 1891: count down from hence 587 years, and the first year of Yao will be the year of the world 2479. Yao reigned ninety years, in the year of the world 2560. The year in which the sun stood still in the days of Joshua, was in the year of the world 2554, in about the seventy fifth year of Yao’s reign. And thus what is recorded in the Chinese annals synchronizes to the fact related by Joshua. The Chinese records are said to report, that the sun did not set for ten days: but we suspect our European writers have not here exactly hit the meaning of the Chinese annals, and that the word they have translated days, may perhaps rather signify a space of time little more than one of our hours. If so, the sacred historian, and the Chinese annals agree minutely in their time of the duration of this miracle. In Herodotus we have a clear and undisputed testimony to the same effect. The priests of Egypt shewed him a record of a long day. See Isaiah 38.

THE SUN AND MOON STAND STILL, 12-15.

We are not to regard these remarkable verses as giving an unauthentic and merely poetical description of the victory, as rationalistic expositors teach, but rather a parenthesis thrown into the narrative, by the author himself, or by a later hand, and taken from the book referred to in verse 13. This may be clearly seen from the statement, in verse 15, that Joshua returned to Gilgal, which he did not do until the close of the campaign, as stated in verse 43. On the supposition that verse 15 is the conclusion of the quotation all the confusion is cleared up. We may admit that this quotation from the Book of Jasher was inserted here some time after the Book of Joshua was otherwise completed. The Book of Jasher was not completed, possibly not composed, until the time of David. See note on verse 13. But from this admission it does not follow that the passage is unhistorical, or to be explained merely as poetry.

12. Then spake Joshua to the Lord — What Joshua said to the Lord we do not know, unless we are to construe the command to the sun and moon as Joshua’s prayer, “O Lord, let the sun stand still.” But it is more probable that the great captain, standing on the mountain summit, and seeing his fugitive enemies hastening for their lives far down in the valley below, ejaculated a prayer to Jehovah for supernatural aid, and that he was, in answer to prayer, suddenly endowed with the gift of faith to believe that the laws of the universe would be suspended at his command. The difference between the grace of faith and the gift of faith is this: The trust which Joshua reposed in God’s promise at Gilgal, verse 8, was an exercise of the grace of faith, which has a moral character, inasmuch as its opposite, a disbelief of God’s word, would have been sin; while the gift of faith is an extraordinary endowment, enabling the possessor to ask for things for which he has no specific promise, the non-exercise of which faith would not be sinful, inasmuch as it does not discredit God’s word. The Lord had never promised to arrest the sun in answer to Joshua’s command. Hence it would have been the highest presumption for Joshua to command a thing so extraordinary on the ground of God’s general promises. But being endowed with this miraculous gift of faith, the act of Joshua in giving orders to the sun and moon to halt in their march through the heavens — given, doubtless, in the name of Jehovah — becomes perfectly proper. He said in the sight of Israel — That is, in their presence, or in sight of the army. This was done in their presence, in order that they might know to what cause to attribute so remarkable an occurrence, and might glorify God, who had given such power to a man. They could afterward attest to their children the truth of an event of which they had been eye-witnesses. Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon — [Verse 12 and the first part of verse 13 may be thus poetically rendered:

Then spake Joshua to Jehovah.

In the day of Jehovah’s giving the Amorite

In the presence of the sons of Israel;

And he said in the eyes of Israel:

Sun, in Gibeon be still,

And moon, in the valley of Aijalon.

Then still was the sun, And the moon stood,

Until a nation should take vengeance on its enemies.]

Various have been the theories devised to explain the manner of this stupendous miracle. Some assert that the passage is merely a poetical interpolation to adorn the narrative and heighten its effect. They allege that it is never quoted in the catalogues of Old Testament miracles. To this we reply, that, as we never find any exhaustive catalogues of those miracles, the omission of this proves nothing. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews omits the striking and unquestioned miracle of the passage of the Jordan. See Hebrews 11:29-30. Others explain this miracle as merely a poetical statement of the fact that the Israelites, in answer to Joshua’s prayer, were endowed with power to do two days’ work in one; a theory too absurd to call for sober refutation. There are others who insist that the earth’s motion on its axis was actually arrested, causing a cessation of the apparent diurnal revolution of the sun and moon. Our objection to this theory is, that it involves several secret miracles. A sudden check in the velocity of rotation of the earth on its axis would violently throw down objects on its surface, especially near the equator. If a resisting force were gradually applied, like a brake to a car-wheel, Prof. Mitchell has ascertained that “in forty seconds the motion might cease entirely, and the change would not be sensible to the inhabitants of the earth, except from the appearance of the heavens.” But this would require a direct interposition of a secret miracle to keep the ocean, which is sustained at a higher level in the equatorial regions by the centrifugal force, from flowing toward the poles, and from submerging much of the continents, and to keep the Mediterranean Sea from dashing over Palestine. Again: By the recent discovery of the correlation of forces it has been demonstrated that a force requisite to arrest the revolution of the earth must convert momentum into heat equal to that generated by the burning of a mass of anthracite coal fourteen times as large as the globe itself. Another secret miracle would be required to prevent this universal conflagration. But secret miracles, so far as we know, have no place in the divine system, since they cannot authenticate a revelation, or demonstrate to man the interposition of God’s hand in the course of nature. We, therefore, with a large number of commentators and Christian philosophers, adopt the theory that the standing still of the sun and moon was optical, and not literal — that we have a description of phenomena as presented to the eyes of the spectators. The language of the Scriptures is evidently popular, and not scientific; as when they speak of the earth as standing still and the sun as rising and setting. By the supernatural refraction, or bending of the rays of light, the sun and moon might maintain a stationary appearance for several hours. Even by natural refraction we daily see the sun before he has risen above, and after he has gone below, the horizon. The miraculous receding of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz (2 Kings 20:11; Isaiah 38:8) was probably caused by a similar supernatural refraction of the sun’s rays. This explanation of these astronomical miracles involves the principle which is found in nearly all miracles, namely, the intensifying of some natural agency rather than the violation of any natural laws. As in the case of the widow’s cruse and the feeding of the multitudes, new oil and new loaves were not created, but that which was in existence was multiplied, so do we believe that instead of a new and strange force brought to bear on nature the natural law of refraction was intensified in both of these miracles.

There is no astronomical difficulty in the statement of the positions of the sun and the moon at that time. To Joshua, standing at Upper Beth-horon, the direction of Gibeon was southeast, which would also be the direction of the sun in the early part of the day, at which time the moon might have been in the southwest, above the valley of Aijalon, approaching its setting. See map of the scene of the battle, page 74. To the question why Joshua should ask for the day to be lengthened while more than half the day was still unspent, we reply that the account does not say that he asked for such a miracle. He “spake to the Lord.” We are left to supply the subject-matter of his prayer, which would most naturally be for aid to annihilate God’s foes. He receives no answer, but is suddenly endowed with the gift of faith that at his command to the sun and moon God will work an unheard-of miracle, for the demonstration of his sovereignty over physical law, and of his interest in his people.

It is quite probable that the sun and the moon, the gods of so many pagan nations, were the divinities of the Canaanites, to whom they were then appealing for aid against the victorious Hebrews. If this be true, there is a peculiar appropriateness in this miracle, strikingly demonstrating to both armies the superiority of the God of Joshua.

The absence of any account of this miracle in the annals of other nations should have little weight with us, since the records of nearly all the contemporaneous nations have perished, and none of them have histories containing complete accounts of that early period.

V. 13. Avenged them on their enemies-That is, till they bad utterly destroyed them. Book of Jasher-This book was written and published before Joshua wrote his, and so is fitly alluded here. But this, as well as some other historical books, is lost, not being a canonical book, and therefore not preserved by the Jews with the same care as they were. The sun stood-Here is no mention of the moon, because the sun’s standing was the only thing which Joshua desired and needed; and the moon’s standing he desired only by accident to prevent irregularity in the motions of those celestial lights. And if it seem strange to any one, that so wonderful a work should not be mentioned in any Heathen writers; he must consider, that it is confessed by the generality of writers, Heathens and others, that there is no certain history or monument in Heathen authors of any thing done before the Trojan war, which was a thousand years after Joshua’s time; and that all time before that, is called by the most learned Heathens, the uncertain, unknown, or obscure time. A whole day-That is, for the space of a whole day. Understand an artificial day between sun-rising and sun-setting; for that was the day which Joshua needed and desired, a day to give him light for his work.

Verse 13. And the sun stood still — God heard Joshua’s request, and gave him the thing he asked for, a prolongation of the day to near twice the length of any other day. This is the fact here attested, and this we are bound to believe on the divine testimony. But as to the manner in which this wonderful miracle was accomplished, God has not informed us; and to make inquiries concerning it would be a mere waste of time, being beyond our discovery and comprehension. Until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies — That is, till they had utterly destroyed them. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? — This book was written and made public before Joshua wrote his history, and is therefore properly alluded to here. It was probably a collection of records, or of poems, concerning the principal events of these wars, and no doubt gave a further account of this miracle. But this and some other books of these ages have long been lost, not being canonical, and therefore not preserved by the Jews with the same care wherewith they guarded their inspired writings. If it seem strange to any one that so wonderful an event as is here recorded should not be mentioned by any heathen writers, it may be answered, 1st, That many learned men have shown that there is a great appearance of its being alluded to in many of the fables of the heathen poets, and mythologists of Greece and Rome, and in the histories of the Chinese. But whether or not, it must be observed, 2d, That it is confessed by the generality of writers, heathen and others, that there is no certain history or monument in heathen authors of any thing done before the Trojan war, which happened a thousand years after Joshua’s time, and that all the ages preceding that war are termed, by the most learned heathen, the uncertain, unknown, or obscure time.

Ver. 13. The book of Jasher. See on Numbers 21:14. 2 Samuel 1:18.

13. The book of Jasher — This was a poetical book in praise of the heroes of the theocracy — a collection of national songs. Both its name and extant fragments seem to show that it was composed to celebrate upright men in Israel, like Joshua and Jonathan. Jasher signifies the upright. It was probably written in the reign of David, or soon after. It may have been compiled gradually through a long course of years, one national song after another being added to the collection, but it certainly was not completed till David’s time, for it contained his elegy on Saul and Jonathan. See 2 Samuel 1:18. Furst is of the opinion that Jasher is a collective term for Israelites, and that it should be translated the book of the Israelites, that is, the national book. We are ignorant of its author or compiler. If it had been divinely inspired, Providence would doubtless have preserved it for the benefit of mankind. The modern works bearing its title are later and spurious. About a whole day — The exposition of Bush, who translates this passage as at the perfect day, signifying only that the sun did not go down at its usual time at the close of the day, but pretty soon after, is rather far-fetched. The Vulgate version, “Nor was there before nor afterward so long a day,” contains the true explanation of this expression, namely, that the day was greatly extended, perhaps nearly doubled in length. A study of the whole chapter, and a consideration of the many acts performed by Joshua and his army, would seem to require about two days for their accomplishment.

V. 14. No day like that-Namely, in those parts of the world in which he here speaks, vain therefore is that objection, that the days are longer near the northern and southern poles, where they are constantly longer at certain seasons, and that by the order of nature; whereas the length of this day was purely contingent, and granted by God in answer to Joshua’s prayer. The Lord hearkened to a man-Namely, in such a manner to alter the course of nature, and of the heavenly bodies, that a man might have more time to pursue and destroy his enemies. The Lord fought-This is added as the reason why God was so ready to answer Joshua’s petition, because he was resolved to fight for Israel, and that in a more than ordinary manner. But this stupendous miracle was designed for something more, than to give Israel light to destroy the Canaanites. It was designed to convince and confound those idolaters, who worshipped the sun and moon, by demonstrating, that these also were subject to the command of the God of Israel: as also to signify, that in the latter days, when the world was covered with darkness, the sun of righteousness, even our Joshua, should arise, and be the true light of the world. To which we may add, that when Christ conquered our enemies upon the cross, the miracle wrought on the sun was the reverse of this. It was then darkened, as if going down at noon. For Christ needed not the light of the sun, to compleat his victory: so he made darkness his pavilion.

Verse 14. And there was no day like that] There was no period of time in which the sun was kept so long above the horizon as on that occasion. Some learned men have supposed that the Fable of Phæton was founded on this historic fact. The fable may be seen with all the elegance of poetic embellishment in the commencement of the second book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses; but I confess I can see nothing in the pretended copy that can justify the above opinion.

Verse 14. There was no day like that — Namely in those parts of the world in which he here speaks. Vain, therefore, is that objection, that the days are longer near the northern and southern poles, where they are constantly longer at certain seasons, and that by the order of nature; whereas the length of this day was surely contingent, and granted by God in answer to Joshua’s prayer. The Lord hearkened to a man — Namely, in such a manner as to alter the course of nature, that a man might have more time to pursue and destroy his enemies. The Lord fought — This is added as the reason why God was so ready to answer Joshua’s petition, because he was resolved to fight for Israel, and that in a more than ordinary manner. We may observe here how remarkably pertinent both the miracle of the hailstones, and this of the sun’s being arrested in his course, were to the circumstances of the persons concerned in them. All nations had at this time their several tutelar deities, to whose protection they committed themselves and their country, and to whose power they imputed their successes in war. Now, the three principal deities whom the inhabitants of Canaan adored, were the sun, moon, and heavens, or air. To convince them, therefore, that the gods in whom they trusted were subject to the God of Israel, and to punish them, at the same time, for the false worship they paid them, “the Lord showered down great hailstones from the heavens, or air, which slew vast numbers of their powerful army; and then stopped the two great luminaries in their course,” which gave the Israelites time and opportunity to complete their victory over the remainder. It may be thought, perhaps, that the whole motive which induced Joshua to put up his prayer for the prolongation of the day, was only his zeal and eagerness for gaining an entire conquest over his enemies; but we cannot imagine that Joshua should, without a special intimation from heaven, have addressed unto God the prayer concerning the sun and moon, which he is recorded to have done in the sight of Israel; for of what an extravagance would he have appeared guilty, if an effect had not been given to what he asked for? Or how could he be so wild as to think of an accomplishment of so strange an expectation as this would have been, had it been only a thought of his own heart to wish for it? But unquestionably the same Lord who spake unto him before the battle, who bade him not fear the armies of the Canaanites, who assured him that they should not be able to stand before him, directed him to ask for this wonderful miracle, and in granting what he asked for, gave a full testimony, both to the Israelites and their enemies, that the gods of the heathen were but idols, and that it is the Lord that made (and that ruleth in) the heavens.

14. No day like that — No day was ever before or since supernaturally extended at the command of man. God had often before this hearkened unto the voice of man, but never before to the voice of a man inspired with miracle-working faith to control the movements of the heavenly bodies.

V. 15. Joshua returned-Not upon the same day, but after he had dispatched the matter which here follows; as appears by ver. 43, where the very same words are repeated. And they are put here to close the general discourse of the fight which begun ver. 10, and ends here; which being done he particularly describes some remarkable passages, and closeth them with the same words.

Verse 15. And Joshua returned-unto the camp to Gilgal.] That the Israelitish army did not return to the camp at Gilgal till after the hanging of the five kings and the destruction of their cities, is sufficiently evident from the subsequent parts of this chapter. When all this business was done, and not before, they returned unto the camp to Gilgal; see Joshua 10:43. This verse is omitted by the Septuagint and by the Anglo-Saxon; and it does not appear to have existed in the ancient hexaplar versions; it stands in its proper place in Joshua 10:43, and is not only useless where it is, but appears to be an encumbrance to the narrative. Should it be considered as genuine and in its proper place, I would propose that hdqm makkedah should be read instead of hlglg gilgalah, for we find from Joshua 10:21 that Joshua had a temporary camp there. Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to MAKKEDAH; after which we may suppose that Joshua having secured the cave, sent some detachments to scour the country and cut off all the remaining straggling Canaanites; when this was done they also returned to the camp at Makkedah, as is related Joshua 10:21, and when the business was completed they struck the camp at Makkedah, and all returned to their fortified camp at Gilgal, Joshua 10:43.

Verse 15. And Joshua returned — Not immediately, but after he had performed what is related in the following part of this chapter, as appears by verse 43, where the very same words are repeated.

15. And Joshua returned — This must be regarded as the close of the quotation from the book of Jasher. The writer of that book drops all the further acts of the campaign, and speaks of its conclusion. See note introductory to verse 12.

V. 16. A cave-A place of the greatest secrecy; but there is no escaping the eye or hand of God. At Makkedah-Heb. in Makkedah, not in the city, for that was not yet taken; but in the territory of it.

Verse 16. Hid themselves in a cave] It is very likely that this cave was a fortified place among some rocks; for there were many such places in different parts of Palestine.

Verse 16. These five kings — hid themselves in a cave — A place of the greatest secrecy; but there is no escaping the eye or hand of God, who here brought them into a net of their own making. At — Hebrew, in, Makkedah — Not in the city, for that was not yet taken; but in the territory of it.

THE PURSUIT AND SLAUGHTER OF THE AMORITES, 16-21.

16. The thread of the narrative, broken at the end of verse 11 by the quotation from the Book of Jasher, is here resumed. Five kings — See verse 3. A cave — Caves still abound in that region. Beth-horon signifies a house of caves. Travellers relate that these hiding places are found in all parts of Palestine. “The rocks are perforated in every direction with ‘caves’ and ‘holes’ and ‘pits,’ crevices and fissures sunk deep in the rocky soil.” — Stanley.

THE PURSUIT AND SLAUGHTER OF THE AMORITES, 16-21.

16. The thread of the narrative, broken at the end of verse 11 by the quotation from the Book of Jasher, is here resumed. Five kings — See verse 3. A cave — Caves still abound in that region. Beth-horon signifies a house of caves. Travellers relate that these hiding places are found in all parts of Palestine. “The rocks are perforated in every direction with ‘caves’ and ‘holes’ and ‘pits,’ crevices and fissures sunk deep in the rocky soil.” — Stanley.

18. Roll great stones — The cave when thus barricaded would require but a small guard. The rest of the men could be employed in the pursuit. The golden hour for the victor is the time when his enemies are fleeing disordered and panic-stricken. The rigorous commander in such an hour neglects even his own wounded and dying that he may make his victory decisive.

V. 19. Enter their cities-Whereby they will recover their strength, and renew the war. God hath delivered them-Your work will be easy, God hath already done the work to your hands.

Verse 19. Suffer them not to enter their cities — Whereby they would have recovered their strength, and renewed the war. God hath delivered them — Your work will be easy; God hath already done the work to your hands.

19. Pursue after your enemies — The excitement of such a victory would in a wonderful manner keep up the strength of the soldiers, and perhaps supernatural vigour was also imparted to them. For the Lord… hath delivered — Compare notes on Joshua 6:2; 8:1. But though the enemies’ destruction is a foreseen certainty in the Divine Mind, the conditions, pursue, smite, are insisted on.

V. 20. The children of Israel-That is, a party of them by the command of Joshua; for Joshua himself went not with them, but abode in the siege before Makkedah, ver. 21.

Verses 20, 21. Joshua and the children of Israel — Rather, the children of Israel, by the command of Joshua; for Joshua himself went not with them, but abode at the siege before Makkedah. And all the people returned to the camp — To the body of the army, who were encamped there with Joshua, to besiege that place. In peace — That is, in safety; all that detachment sent to pursue the enemies came back safe to the camp; not a man of them was lost, or so much as wounded. None moved his tongue — Not only their men of war could not find their hands, but they were so confounded that they could not move their tongues to reproach any of the children of Israel, as doubtless they did when the Israelites were first repulsed and smitten at Ai: but now they were silenced as well as conquered.

20. Till they were consumed — That is, utterly defeated, demoralized, and dispersed. That the rest which remained — These words and the restof this verse should be put in parentheses and rendered, And the survivors escaped from them and went into fortified cities. The sense of this passage is, therefore, well expressed by Keil: “Only a remnant of them was left, and they took refuge in the fortified cities.” The parenthesis thus qualifies the clause till they were consumed.

V. 21. To the camp-To the body, of the army which were engaged there with Joshua to besiege that place. None moved his tongue-Not only their men of war could not find their hands, but they were so confounded, that they could not move their tongues in way of insult, as doubtless they did when the Israelites were smitten at Ai; but now they were silenced as well as conquered: they durst no more provoke the Israelites.

Verse 21. None moved his tongue] The whole transaction of this important day had been carried on so evidently under the direction of God that there was not the least murmuring, nor cause for it, among them, for their enemies were all discomfited. There is an expression similar to this, Exodus 11:7, on which the reader is requested to consult the note.

Verses 20, 21. Joshua and the children of Israel — Rather, the children of Israel, by the command of Joshua; for Joshua himself went not with them, but abode at the siege before Makkedah. And all the people returned to the camp — To the body of the army, who were encamped there with Joshua, to besiege that place. In peace — That is, in safety; all that detachment sent to pursue the enemies came back safe to the camp; not a man of them was lost, or so much as wounded. None moved his tongue — Not only their men of war could not find their hands, but they were so confounded that they could not move their tongues to reproach any of the children of Israel, as doubtless they did when the Israelites were first repulsed and smitten at Ai: but now they were silenced as well as conquered.

21. All the people — The army that had pursued the foe. None moved his tongue — Or, pointed his tongue. None uttered an impious or threatening word against Israel. The enemy was reduced to the most abject silence. This is the Hebrew way of expressing the complete subjection of all that region. Compare Exodus 11:7.

THE FIVE KINGS EXECUTED, 22-27.

V. 24. Put your feet on the necks-This he did not from pride and contempt; but as a punishment of their impious rebellion against their Sovereign Lord; in pursuance of that curse of servitude due to all this people, and as a token to assure his captains, that God would subdue the proudest of them under their feet.

Verse 24. Put your feet upon the necks of these kings.] This act was done symbolically, as a token, not only of the present complete victory, but of their approaching triumph over all their adversaries, which is the interpretation given of it by Joshua in the succeeding verse.

Verse 24. Put your feet on the necks, &c. — This he commanded, not in insolence and pride, but in token that these kings and their countries were brought into an absolute subjection to the Israelites, that God had fulfilled his promise in part, (Deuteronomy 33:29,) and to assure his captains that he would completely fulfil it, and subdue the proudest of their enemies under their feet.

24. Called for all the men of Israel — This must be limited to the bravest warriors; those only were at Makkedah; the rest of the people were at Gilgal. See verse 7, note, also verse 43. A grand assembly of the army was made for the formal humiliation and public execution of the five kings. It was desirable to make the execution as impressive as possible. Put your feet upon the necks of these kings — Symbolical actions are very common in the East, such as passing under yokes and kissing the conqueror’s feet, and in case of extreme and perfect subjection the victor proclaimed his triumph by treading on the neck of his conquered foe. This impressive act inspirited the Israelites, and struck terror into their enemies yet unconquered. Some regard this as the fulfilment of the prophecy of Moses in Deuteronomy 33:29. It also explains the expression, “to make one’s enemies his footstool.” Psalm 110:1.

25. Thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies — Unless ye forfeit my favour by your sin, as in the first battle with Ai. Thus every Christian, if faithful to Christ, will “find his latest foe under his feet at last.”

Verse 26. Smote-slew-and hanged them on five trees] Hanging alive seems a barbarous custom: among the Hebrews, criminals were first deprived of life; this was the debt required by justice: then they were hanged up, perhaps generally by the hands, not by the neck; this was done by way of example, to deter others from committing the crimes for which those had suffered: but they were never permitted to hang thus exposed all night, as this could have answered no purpose, either of justice or example, as they could not be seen in the night-season. One day also was deemed enough for their exposure, it being thought sufficient to show the public that justice had been executed; and to have exhibited them longer would have appeared to be a barbarous cruelty which attempted to extend punishment beyond the possible requisitions of justice. See Clarke’s note on “Deuteronomy 21:23”.

26. Joshua smote them — Here observe, they were slain before they were hung. This summary infliction of capital punishment so abhorrent to the humane spirit of our Christian civilization, was in accordance with the character of that age and people, who would have construed mercy as cowardice. European nations in their wars with the semi-barbarous Orientals of modern times are compelled to adopt the severe war-code of those nations. Compare the note on Joshua 8:29. Hanged them on five trees — As a mark of further indignity, and to strike the enemy with increased terror. Until the evening — See on Joshua 8:29.

V. 27. Took them down-That neither wild beasts could come to devour them, nor any of their people to give them honourable burial. Thus that which they thought would have been their shelter, was made their prison first, and then their grave. So shall we surely be disappointed, in whatever we flee to from God.

Verses 27-29. They took them down — That neither wild beasts might come to devour them, nor any of their people to give them honourable burial. Thus, that which they thought would have been their shelter was made their prison first, and then their grave. So shall we surely be disappointed, in whatever we flee to from God. And that day — On which the sun stood still. Nor is it strange that so much work was done, and places so far distant were taken in one day, when the day was so long, and the Canaanites struck with such a terror. He let none remain — From the severity wherewith this and the following cities were treated, and the command given, (Deuteronomy 20:10,) it has been inferred, with much probability, that offers of peace had been made them by Joshua before he fought against them, and that they had rejected these offers. All Israel with him unto Libnah — Namely, all who were with him in this expedition.

27. Cast them into the cave — The place of their concealment was made their sepulchre. Until this very day — See note, Joshua 8:28.

V. 28. And that day-On which the sun stood still. Nor is it strange that so much work was done, and places so far distant taken in one day, when the day was so long, and the Canaanites struck with such a terror.

Verse 28. That day Joshua took Makkedah] It is very possible that Makkedah was taken on the evening of the same day in which the miraculous solstice took place; but as to the other cities mentioned in this chapter, they certainly were subdued some days after, as it is not possible that an army, exhausted as this must have been with a whole night’s march, and two days’ hard fighting, could have proceeded farther than Makkedah that night; the other cities were successively taken in the following days.

Verses 27-29. They took them down — That neither wild beasts might come to devour them, nor any of their people to give them honourable burial. Thus, that which they thought would have been their shelter was made their prison first, and then their grave. So shall we surely be disappointed, in whatever we flee to from God. And that day — On which the sun stood still. Nor is it strange that so much work was done, and places so far distant were taken in one day, when the day was so long, and the Canaanites struck with such a terror. He let none remain — From the severity wherewith this and the following cities were treated, and the command given, (Deuteronomy 20:10,) it has been inferred, with much probability, that offers of peace had been made them by Joshua before he fought against them, and that they had rejected these offers. All Israel with him unto Libnah — Namely, all who were with him in this expedition.

CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE, 28-43.

28. That day — Joshua and a part of the host took Makkedah while the rest were pursuing the flying foe. Destroyed… all the souls — All the human beings. For considerations justifying this indiscriminate extermination of the Canaanites, see note, Joshua 6:21.

V. 29. All Israel-Namely, who were with him in this expedition.

Verse 29. Fought against Libnah] This city was near Makkedah, see Joshua 15:42, and fell to the tribe of Judah, Joshua 10:20, 42, and was given to the priests, Joshua 21:13. Sennacherib besieged it, after he had been obliged to raise the siege of Lachish. See 2 Kings 19:8; Isaiah 37:8.

Verses 27-29. They took them down — That neither wild beasts might come to devour them, nor any of their people to give them honourable burial. Thus, that which they thought would have been their shelter was made their prison first, and then their grave. So shall we surely be disappointed, in whatever we flee to from God. And that day — On which the sun stood still. Nor is it strange that so much work was done, and places so far distant were taken in one day, when the day was so long, and the Canaanites struck with such a terror. He let none remain — From the severity wherewith this and the following cities were treated, and the command given, (Deuteronomy 20:10,) it has been inferred, with much probability, that offers of peace had been made them by Joshua before he fought against them, and that they had rejected these offers. All Israel with him unto Libnah — Namely, all who were with him in this expedition.

29. Libnah, according to Stanley and Robinson, is the present Tel-el-Safieh, which is only a mile from Eleutheropolis, in the plain of Judah; but Van de Velde, with more probability, identifies it with Arak el-Menshyeh, a hill about five miles west of Eleutheropolis, and showing signs of having been an ancient fortified place. But the identity is far from certain. It was a city of Judah (Joshua 15:42) appropriated to the priests, Joshua 21:13. In the reign of Jehoram it revolted from Judah, (2 Kings 8:22,) and still later was besieged by Sennacherib. 2 Kings 19:8.

CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE, 28-43.

28. That day — Joshua and a part of the host took Makkedah while the rest were pursuing the flying foe. Destroyed… all the souls — All the human beings. For considerations justifying this indiscriminate extermination of the Canaanites, see note, Joshua 6:21.

31. Lachish — See verse 3, note.

Verse 32. Lachish] It appears that this was anciently a very strong place; notwithstanding the people were panic-struck, and the Israelites flushed with success, yet Joshua could not reduce it till the second day, and the king of Assyria afterwards was obliged to raise the siege. See above, and see Clarke’s note on “Joshua 10:3”.

32. On the second day — The second day of the siege.

Verse 33. Horam king of Gezer] It is likely that Horam was in a state of alliance with the king of Lachish, and therefore came to his assistance as soon as it appeared that he was likely to be attacked. Joshua probably sent a detachment against him, before he was able to form a junction with the forces of Lachish; and utterly destroyed him and his army. Gezer is supposed to have been situated near Azotus. See 1Mac 16:34. It fell to the tribe of Ephraim, Joshua 16:3, but was probably taken afterwards by some of the remnant of the Canaanitish nations; for we find it was given by Pharaoh to his son-in-law Solomon, 1 Kings 9:16, which proves that it had got out of the possession of the Israelites previously to the days of Solomon.

33. Horam, like the other ill-fated kings mentioned in this chapter, has left no other record. Gezer must have been between the Lower Beth-horon and the sea. It does not seem to have been destroyed by Joshua. Some identify it with the village Jazur, four or five miles east of Joppa, but this is uncertain. [It was an important city of the Caaaanites, and fell within the borders of Ephraim, (Joshua 16:3,) but that tribe failed to drive out the original inhabitants. Judges 1:19. Subsequently Pharaoh, king of Egypt, captured it, slew its Canaanitish inhabitants, and presented it to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. Pharaoh burned the city, but Solomon rebuilt and fortified Joshua 2:1 Kings 9:16, 17.]

Verse 34. Eglon] It is likely that this town was not any great distance from Lachish. See Clarke on “Joshua 10:3”.

34. Eglon — See on verse 3.

V. 35. On that day-On which they first attempted it.

Verses 35-37. They took it on that day — On which they first attempted it. Unto Hebron — The conquest of Hebron, here generally related, is afterward repeated, and more particularly described, chap. 15:13, 14. And the king thereof — Their former king was one of the five whom Joshua had lately killed and hanged, but it seems they had now set up a new sovereign, their city being of great note, since it had other cities depending on it, and subject to its jurisdiction, as appears from the next words.

CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE, 28-43.

28. That day — Joshua and a part of the host took Makkedah while the rest were pursuing the flying foe. Destroyed… all the souls — All the human beings. For considerations justifying this indiscriminate extermination of the Canaanites, see note, Joshua 6:21.

V. 36. Unto Hebron-The conquest of Hebron is here generally related, afterwards repeated, and more particularly described, Joshua 15:13,14.

Verses 36. - 37. Hebron-and the king thereof] See the note on Joshua 10:3. From Joshua 10:23 we learn that the king of Hebron was one of those five whom Joshua slew and hanged on five trees at Makkedah. How then can it be said that he slew the king of Hebron when he took the city, which was some days after the transactions at Makkedah? Either this slaying of the king of Hebron must refer to what had already been done, or the Hebronites, finding that their king fell in battle, had set up another in his place; which was the king Joshua slew, after he had taken the city and its dependencies, as is related Joshua 10:37. It appears that the city of Hebron had fallen back into the hands of the Canaanites, for it was again taken from them by the tribe of Judah, Judges 1:10. Debir had also fallen into their hands, for it was reconquered by Othniel, the son-in-law of Caleb, Judges 1:11-13. The manner in which Calmet accounts for this is very natural: Joshua, in his rapid conquests, contented himself with taking, demolishing, and burning those cities; but did not garrison any of them, for fear of weakening his army. In several instances no doubt the scattered Canaanites returned, repeopled, and put those cities in a state of defence. Hence the Israelites were obliged to conquer them a second time. This is a more rational way of accounting for these things, than that which supposes that the first chapter of Judges gives the more detailed account of the transactions recorded here; for there it is expressly said, that these transactions took place after the death of Joshua, (see Judges 1:1,) and consequently cannot be the same that are mentioned here.

Verses 35-37. They took it on that day — On which they first attempted it. Unto Hebron — The conquest of Hebron, here generally related, is afterward repeated, and more particularly described, chap. 15:13, 14. And the king thereof — Their former king was one of the five whom Joshua had lately killed and hanged, but it seems they had now set up a new sovereign, their city being of great note, since it had other cities depending on it, and subject to its jurisdiction, as appears from the next words.

CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE, 28-43.

28. That day — Joshua and a part of the host took Makkedah while the rest were pursuing the flying foe. Destroyed… all the souls — All the human beings. For considerations justifying this indiscriminate extermination of the Canaanites, see note, Joshua 6:21.

V. 37. All the cities-Which were subject to its jurisdiction; this being, it seems, a royal city as Gibeon was, ver. 2, and having cities under it as that had.

Verses 36. - 37. Hebron-and the king thereof] See the note on Joshua 10:3. From Joshua 10:23 we learn that the king of Hebron was one of those five whom Joshua slew and hanged on five trees at Makkedah. How then can it be said that he slew the king of Hebron when he took the city, which was some days after the transactions at Makkedah? Either this slaying of the king of Hebron must refer to what had already been done, or the Hebronites, finding that their king fell in battle, had set up another in his place; which was the king Joshua slew, after he had taken the city and its dependencies, as is related Joshua 10:37. It appears that the city of Hebron had fallen back into the hands of the Canaanites, for it was again taken from them by the tribe of Judah, Judges 1:10. Debir had also fallen into their hands, for it was reconquered by Othniel, the son-in-law of Caleb, Judges 1:11-13. The manner in which Calmet accounts for this is very natural: Joshua, in his rapid conquests, contented himself with taking, demolishing, and burning those cities; but did not garrison any of them, for fear of weakening his army. In several instances no doubt the scattered Canaanites returned, repeopled, and put those cities in a state of defence. Hence the Israelites were obliged to conquer them a second time. This is a more rational way of accounting for these things, than that which supposes that the first chapter of Judges gives the more detailed account of the transactions recorded here; for there it is expressly said, that these transactions took place after the death of Joshua, (see Judges 1:1,) and consequently cannot be the same that are mentioned here.

Verses 35-37. They took it on that day — On which they first attempted it. Unto Hebron — The conquest of Hebron, here generally related, is afterward repeated, and more particularly described, chap. 15:13, 14. And the king thereof — Their former king was one of the five whom Joshua had lately killed and hanged, but it seems they had now set up a new sovereign, their city being of great note, since it had other cities depending on it, and subject to its jurisdiction, as appears from the next words.

CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE, 28-43.

28. That day — Joshua and a part of the host took Makkedah while the rest were pursuing the flying foe. Destroyed… all the souls — All the human beings. For considerations justifying this indiscriminate extermination of the Canaanites, see note, Joshua 6:21.

V. 38. Joshua returned-He is said to return thither, not as if he had been there before, but because having gone as far westward and southward as he thought fit, even as far as Gaza, ver. 41, he now returned towards Gilgal, which lay north-ward and eastward from him, and in his return fell upon Debir.

Verse 38. Joshua returned — to Debir — Joshua had not been there before, but having advanced as far south and west as he thought expedient, even as far as Gaza, which was in the western coast, (verse 41,) he now returned toward the camp at Gilgal, which was north-east from him, and in his march thither took Debir, which afterward was a city of Judah, (Joshua 15:49,) and one of the cities of the priests, Joshua 21:15.

38. Hebron — See on verse 3. As the king of Hebron had been executed at Makkedah, his successor is probably referred to as killed in this siege. [38. And Joshua returned… to Debir — Debir has not been with certainty identified with any modern name. Van de Velde finds it in a place called Dilbeh, six miles southwest of Hebron. Compare Stanley’s note at Joshua 15:18. Others suppose it to have been nearer Hebron, on the west. Dr. Rosen places it, with much probability, at Dewirban. Its earlier name was Kirjath-sepher, (Joshua 15:15,) which means book city, and intimates that the original Canaanitish inhabitants were acquainted with writing and books, and that their city became noted for learning. The same place is called Kirjath-sannah in Joshua 15:49, a name of similar meaning.]

Verse 39. Destroyed all the souls] vpn lk ta wmyrjyw vaiyacharimu eth col nephesh, they brought every person under an anathema; they either slew them or reduced them to a state of slavery. Is it reasonable to say those were slain who were found in arms, of the others they made slaves?

CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE, 28-43.

28. That day — Joshua and a part of the host took Makkedah while the rest were pursuing the flying foe. Destroyed… all the souls — All the human beings. For considerations justifying this indiscriminate extermination of the Canaanites, see note, Joshua 6:21.

V. 40. All that breathed-That is, all mankind, they reserved the cattle for their own uses. As God had commanded-This is added for the vindication of the Israelites, whom God would not have to suffer in their reputation for executing his commands; and therefore he acquits them of that cruelty, which they might be thought guilty of, and ascribes it to his own just indignation. And hereby was typified the final destruction of all the impenitent enemies of the Lord Jesus, who having slighted the riches of his grace, must for ever feel the weight of his wrath.

Verse 40. All the country of the hills] See Clarke’s note on “Deuteronomy 1:7”.

Destroyed all that breathed] Every person found in arms who continued to resist; these were all destroyed,-those who submitted were spared: but many no doubt made their escape, and afterwards reoccupied certain parts of the land. See Joshua 10:36, 37.

Verse 40. All that breathed — That is, all mankind; they reserved the cattle for their own uses. As God had commanded — This is added for the vindication of the Israelites, whom God would not have to suffer in their reputation for executing his commands; and therefore, he acquits them of that cruelty which they might be thought guilty of, and ascribes it to his own just indignation. And hereby was typified the final destruction of all the impenitent enemies of the Lord Jesus, who, having slighted the riches of his grace, must for ever feel the weight of his wrath.

Ver. 40. So Joshua—left none remaining, for reasons assigned in the law. Leviticus 18:24, 25.

40. Country of the hills — The mountain ridge, which is the backbone of the Holy Land, is cut up into hills by ravines which stretch away to the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. The heads of these valleys often interlap for a considerable distance, forming numerous steep hills. The south — The Negeb. This term designates that territory which was subsequently occupied by Judah and Simeon, and also a portion of Edom. It is a geographical term, used constantly to designate the land lying to the south of Palestine, and should always be translated the south country, as it is in Genesis 20:1. In later Hebrew writers it extended from Southern Canaan to Arabia Petraea and Egypt. The vale — The shephelah. This word, with one exception, (Joshua 11:16,) always designates the maritime plain of Philistia, from Joppa to the borders of Egypt. The springs — twdva, slopes where torrents flow together; ravines.

V. 41. Kadesh-barnea-Which lay in the south of Canaan, Numbers 34:4 Deuteronomy 1:19 Joshua 15:3. Gaza-Which was in the south-west of Canaan. So he here signifies, that Joshua did in this expedition subdue all those parts which lay south and west from Gilgal. Goshen-Not that Goshen in Egypt, but another in Judah.

Verse 41. And all the country of Goshen] Calmet contends that this was the very same country in which the Hebrews dwelt before their departure from Egypt; and according to this hypothesis he has constructed his map, causing it to extend from the Nile, which was called the river of Egypt, along the frontiers of the land of Cush or Arabia. It however appears plain that there was a city named Goshen in the tribe of Judah, see Joshua 15:51; and this probably gave name to the adjacent country which may be that referred to above.

Verse 41. From Kadesh-barnea — Which lay in the south of Canaan, (Numbers 34:4; Deuteronomy 1:19,) and belonged to the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:3. Gaza was a city of the Philistines, in the south-west part. So he here signifies that Joshua did, in this expedition, subdue all those parts which lay south and west from Gilgal. All the country of Goshen — There was a city in the tribe of Judah of this name, which, like Hebron, was situated in the mountains, in the southern part of the country, (Joshua 15:51,) from which city the adjacent region was called the country of Goshen. This tract was enriched with excellent pasture lands and plenteous streams, like that country in Egypt of the same denomination, and thence was called Goshen, as Pellicanus conjectures; because the Hebrew word geshem signifies copious showers, which impart fertility to the earth. Even unto Gibeon — Which was in the more northerly part of the country. And therefore, as the former account specified the conquests of Joshua from the south to the west, so here his conquests from the south to the north are related.

41. [Kadesh-barnea was a most important station in the southern border of the Holy Land, the starting-point of the forty years’ wandering, the place where Miriam died, and whence the spies went out to explore the Land of Promise. There has been uncertainty as to its exact location. Stanley proposes to identify it with Petra, the modern Wady Mousa; Robinson locates it at Ain el-Weibeh, twenty miles northwest of Mount Hor; but more recently Captain Palmer argues for the opinion first maintained by Dr. Rowlands, that the ancient Kadesh-barnea is represented by the modern Ain Gadis, a fountain in the plateau of Jebel Magrah, some forty miles west of Mount Hor. This view will probably gain general acceptance.] Gaza is still standing, and is a place larger than Jerusalem, situated on the Mediterranean Sea in Southern Palestine. It has been the scene of many remarkable events. See at Genesis 10:19. Country of Goshen — A city and district generally supposed to be in the mountains of Judah, though some think that it was on the plain. Its name suggests that it may have been founded by a colony from Goshen in Egypt.

Verse 42. Did Joshua take at one time] That is, he defeated all those kings, and took all their cities, in ONE campaign; this appears to be the rational construction of the Hebrew. But these conquests were so rapid and stupendous, that they cannot be attributed either to the generalship of Joshua, or the valour of the Israelites; and hence the author himself, disclaiming the merit of them, modestly and piously adds, because the Lord Good of Israel fought for Israel. It was by this aid that Joshua took all these kings and their land at one time-in a single campaign. And when all the circumstances related in this chapter are properly weighed, we shall find that GOD alone could have performed these works, and that both reason and piety require that to HIM alone they should be attributed.

1. THE principal subjects of this important chapter have been considered so much in detail in the preceding notes, that there is little room to add any thing to what has already been said. The principal subject is the miracle of the sun’s standing still; and to assert that all difficulties have been removed by the preceding notes and observations, would be to say what the writer does not believe, and what few readers would perhaps feel disposed to credit. Yet it is hoped that the chief difficulties have been removed, and the miracle itself shown to have nothing contradictory in it. If, as is generally believed, the sun and moon were objects of the Canaanitish adoration, the miracle was graciously calculated to check this superstition, and to show the Israelites, as well as the Canaanites, the vanity of such worship, and the folly of such dependence. Even their gods at the command of a servant of JEHOVAH, were obliged to contribute to the destruction of their votaries. This method of checking superstition and destroying idolatry God adopted in the plagues which he inflicted upon the Egyptians; and by it at once showed his justice and his mercy. See the concluding observations on Clarke “Exodus 12:51”.

2. The same God who appeared so signally in behalf of his people of old is still the governor of the heavens and the earth; and, if applied to, will do every thing essentially necessary for the extension of his truth and the maintenance of his religion among men. How is it that faith is so rarely exercised in his power and goodness? We have not, because we ask not. Our experience of his goodness is contracted, because we pray little and believe less. To holy men of old the object of faith was more obscurely revealed than to us, and they had fewer helps to their faith; yet they believed more, and witnessed greater displays of the power and mercy of their Maker. Reader, have faith in God, and know that to excite, exercise, and crown this, he has given thee his word and his Spirit; and learn to know that without him thou canst do nothing.

JOSHUA

42. At one time — During one campaign, which commenced with the great battle of Gibeon and Beth-horon. Because the Lord… fought for Israel — The unprecedented rapidity and success of Joshua’s movements is here ascribed to his great ally, Jehovah. The only miraculous interposition in aid of Joshua was on the memorable first day of the campaign; but the marvellous victories obtained in quick succession over a foe which, forty years before, by reason of their stature and the strength of their walled cities struck terror into the hearts of the Hebrew spies, show that God was the author of that courage which now nerved the people, and also of that despair which paralyzed their foes so perfectly that before they could reorganize a combined resistance they were cut off, city by city.

43. All Israel — All who had served in this campaign. Gilgal — The old camp in the Jordan valley. See note on Joshua 9:6; also 10:9. The transfer of this statement to verse 15 shows the passage in verses 12-15 to be an interpolation.