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Jos_10:1-27
a. Investment of Gibeon by the five allied Kings
Jos_10:1-5
Jos_10:6-15
12Then spake Joshua to the Lord [Jehovah] in the day when the Lord [Jehovah] delivered up the Amorites before the children [sons] of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel:
Sun, stand thou [omit: thou] still on Gibeon,
And thou [omit: thou], Moon, in the valley of Ajalon!
13And the sun stood still,
And the moon stayed,
Until the people [nation] had avenged themselves upon their enemies.
Is not this written in the book of Jasher [Fay: the upright (Rechtschaffenen) Luther: pious; De Wette: just [Redlichen]? So [And] the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. 14And there was no day like that before it or [and] after it, that the Lord [Jehovah] hearkened unto the voice of a man; for the Lord [Jehovah] fought for Israel. 15And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.
Jos_10:16-27
20And it came to pass, when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying [smiting] them with a very great slaughter [stroke], till they were consumed, that the rest which remained of them entered [Fay: but those that remained 21of them escaped and came] into [the] fenced [fortified] cities. [,] And [that] all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: none moved 22[Fay, properly: pointed] his tongue against any of the children of Israel. Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings unto me out of the cave. 23And they did so, and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and [omit: and] the king of Eglon. 24And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains [ ÷ְöִéðִéí , leaders] of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near and put their feet upon the necks of them. 25And Joshua said to them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong, and of good courage [firm, Jos_1:6], for thus shall the Lord [Jehovah] do to all your enemies against whom ye fight. 26And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening. 27And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave’s mouth, which remain [omit: which remain] until this very day.
a. Investment of Gibeon by the five allied Kings (Jos_10:1-5),
Jos_10:1. àֲãֹðִéÎöֶãֶ÷ = Lord of righteousness. Better known than this Adoni-zedek is îַìëִּéÎöֶãֶì = King of righteousness (Gen_14:18; Psa_110:4; Heb_5:6-10; Heb_6:20; Heb_7:1; Heb_7:10 and often), who was likewise king of Salem (Jerusalem). éְøåּùָׁìַíִ also éְøåּùָׁìַéִí (the latter form here and there in Chronicles, e.g.,1Ch_3:5, also on the coins of the Maccabæan age, while others have also the defective form, Gesen.), abbreviated, ùָׁìֵí (Gen_14:18; Psa_76:3), from which it is evident that the proper pointing is éְøåּùָׁìֵí , as further, the Aram. éְøåּùְּׁìֵí , Ezr_4:20; Ezr_4:24; Ezr_5:1, and éְøåּùְׁìֶí Ezr_5:14; Ezr_6:9, go to show. The Keri perpetuum — ִַ , which is a dual form, is explained (Fürst) as having arisen with reference to the double city (upper and lower), or, without respect to that, from the fact that the later Hebrews understood – ֵí to be an old dual form (still appearing in ùְׁúֵּéí , ùְׁðֵéí and the nom. prop ùׁåּðֵí , òָðֵéí , and had substituted for it the customary – ַéִí
The etymology is doubtful. Gesenius maintains the interpretation, supported by the translation of Saadjas: dwelling of peace. On this view, éְøåּ would be from éָøָä = dwelling or foundation, and ùָׁìåֹí = ùׁìֵí , which is favored by the Greek mode of writing Óüëõìá (Josephus, Ant. i. 10, 12; Paus. 8, 16, 3) and the Latin, Solyma (Mart. 10, 65, 5). Ewald holds the first part of the word to be an abbreviation of éְøåּùׁ = possession, and explains, possession of Shalem.” Hitzig (on Is. p. 1, ff.) goes back to éøåּùָׁä = possession, district, “district or possession of Salem.” More recently he holds, on Psa_76:3, that éøåùׁìí should properly have been written éְøåּàùָׁìֵí which he translates (History of the People of Israel, i. 140) by: “Fear ye God undividedly.” Here it is to be further observed that according to Hitzig’s views ùָׁìֵí , in the southern Arabic = a stone, was, with the Amorite éְáåּí , the old Canaanite name of the city [Jebusalem], which David changed into Jerusalem, while Hitzig adds that the city was earlier called Salem (?).
Fürst decides for the old etymology, appealing also to Saadjas on Isa_44:28; Isa_51:17; Isa_60:1; Isa_62:1; Isa_62:6, taking ùָׁìֵí , however, = ùָׁìåֹí , as an epithet of the most high God, as in àֲáִéùָׁìåֹí . Thus éøåùׁìá would be equal to éְøåּàֵì , 2Ch_20:16, meaning “foundation (or place, dwelling) of El,” and that as the Peaceful. It is striking that Fürst interprets ùָׁìֵí , Gen_14:18; Psa_76:3, where it stands alone, without éְøåּ by “hilly place, summit,” from a supposed stem ùׁìí , to be high. But it would be more obvious to explain it, in accordance with the meaning given to ùׁìí in éøåùׁìí , as “place of the Peaceful,” that is, of God.
“The later Arabic name of Jerusalem, el-Kuds or Beit el-Mukaddas, is only a circumlocution like òִéø ä÷ּãֶֹùׁ in the Hebrew (Neh_11:18).” Fürst. On the topography of Jerusalem and its neighborhood, comp. Dr. E. G. Schultz, Jerusalem; W. Krafft, The Topography of Jerusalem; Tobler, Memoranda of Jerusalem, and, Topography of Jerusalem and its Vicinity, as also Menke’s Bible Atlas, map v., where on very carefully drawn side-maps the views of Tobler, Kiepert, Ferguson, Robinson, Krafft, and Sepp, concerning the plan of the city, are delineated.
Jos_10:2. It is emphatically mentioned concerning Gibeon that it was a great city, “like one of the cities of the kingdom,” that is, perhaps, like a city in which a king dwelt, like a “royal city.”
Jos_10:3. Hebron, chaps, Jos_10:36; Jos_15:54, Jarmuth, Jos_15:35, Lachish and Eglon, Jos_15:39, lie in southern Canaan.
Jos_10:4. The enterprise is not directly against Joshua, but against Gibeon, because Gibeon has made peace with Joshua and the children of Israel.
Jos_10:5. The four kings hear the summons, and encamp around Gibeon. The names of the kings are not given here a second time, but the names of the cities over which they ruled, and in the same order as in Jos_10:3. The former names, however, are significant throughout, for Hoham is probably “whom Jehovah drives,” Piram “the wild ass” (similar designations among the aborigines of N A.), Japhia “splendid,” Debir “the writer,” on which the Lexicons may be consulted.
b. Battle of Gibeon, Jos_10:6-15.
Jos_10:6. The Gibeonites send to Joshua at Gilgal and implore help, and indeed, as the form of their expression indicates, immediate help. Observe the climax; slacken not thy hands (2Sa_24:16)—come up to us quickly—and save us—and help us. A very similar tone is adopted by the persecuted Christian congregation, Act_4:24-30, especially Jos_10:27-29.
Kings of the Amorites—a common designation of the five princes.
Jos_10:7. Joshua responds to the appeal and hastens marching all night long to reach them (Jos_10:9), and that with a select portion of the army— âáּåֹøֵé äֶäéִì , Jos_1:14. The åְ is to be taken as explicative, as Gen_3:16; comp. also Jos_14:6.
Jos_10:8. An encouraging address from Jehovah.
Jos_10:9. A more particular statement of what has been told (Jos_10:7).—Suddenly comes he upon them because he has marched the whole night. In the morning he stands before them, when they believe him to be yet at his head-quarters on the Jordan. These rapid marches illustrate the true energy and efficiency of great military commanders. This is perceived also in modern and even the most recent history.
Jos_10:10. “Jehovah scattered ( åַéְäֻîֵּí ) the enemy before Israel. The latter smote them in a great defeat at Gibeon and pursued them northwestward on the way to the ascent ( îòֲìֵä á× ) of Beth-horon. So likewise he followed them in a southwesterly direction and smote them even unto Azekah and Makkedah.” So Knobel. According to his view, therefore, the whole pursuit occurred simultaneously, towards the northwest and the southwest. But that is not the sense of Jos_10:10-11. Rather all Israel pursued the enemy in a northwesterly direction towards the pass of Beth-horon, and from thence through the pass down into the plain, where probably Azekah and Makkedah lay. By what means Jehovah discomfited the enemy, or “scattered” them, as Knobel translates, is not told; for the hail comes later. So Jehovah once discomfited the Egyptians, also, Exo_14:24; and Exo_23:27 the promise is given that God will always do so with the foes of Israel. In 1Sa_7:10 we are told of a tempest which Jehovah brought up when, at Samuel’s prayer, he caused it to thunder against the Philistines, and then it is said: åַéְäֻîֵּí —the same word which is used here. Probably also the storm came on during the battle. It thundered and lightened. Jehovah fought for his people out of the clouds. The enemy trembled and lost heart. They fled. During their flight the storm broke upon them in full fury; hailstones fell on them and of such size that more died from these than were slain by the sword (Jos_10:11). By a very similar mischance the Austrians were overtaken in 1859 at the battle of Solferino.—We have translated îַòֲìֶä in Jos_10:10 “ascent” and in Jos_10:11, “descent.” It means both alike, as in 1Ma_3:16; 1Ma_3:24, both stand together in reference to this place: ἀíÜâáóéò êáὶ êáôÜâáóéò Âáéèùñῶí . If “pass” were not so modern it would best express the meaning of this word. This Pass of Beth-horon is still very rocky and rough (Robinson, iii. 59–63), and leads from the mountain down into the western plain, whither Joshua pursued the enemy even to the places lying there, Azekah (Jos_15:35) and Makkedah (Jos_15:41).
Jos_10:11. That by the great stones, not stones literally as rained down (Grotius, Calmet, Ilgen), but hail-stones are to be understood, appears from the second half of the verse, “A hail-storm is meant, in relation to which àֶáֶï áָּøָã occurs also Isa_30:30; comp. Eze_13:11; Eze_13:13. Jehovah in contending with his enemies employs the hail also (Job_38:23; Isa_32:19) as he did e.g. in Egypt, Exo_9:19; Exo_9:25” (Knobel).
The verses which now follow, 12–15, deserve a particularly careful examination, and that (1) in reference to the criticism of the text; (2) as regards their contents. As to the former it is obvious that the whole passage, Jos_10:12-15, might be removed from the context entirely, without in the least mutilating the narrative; rather, Jos_10:16 connects itself with Jos_10:11 as its proper continuation. It is further manifest that Jos_10:13 itself refers to another writing as its source, and that the same author cannot possibly have written Jos_10:15 and Jos_10:43. For, according to Jos_10:15 Joshua had returned immediately after the battle at Gibeon into the camp at Gilgal, while in Jos_10:43 this return takes place only after the completed conquest of southern Canaan.
We have therefore to consider here an inserted passage. Knobel calls it “a fragment from the first document of the Jehovist.” This first document of the Jehovist is, as may have been already perceived from the Introd. (§ 2), according to Knobel’s view, the ñֵôֶø äַéָּùָׁø here cited—the “Law-book” as he calls it,—composed in the Northern kingdom. From this first document the whole episode here is taken, as he supposes, except the words, “is it not written in the Sepher Jaschar?” which he explains as an addition of the Jehovist, “who in a thing so unheard of and incredible thought himself bound to quote his authority expressly.” As we have not been able to assent to this view, but are rather obliged, with the whole body of critics, to regard this ñֵôֶø äַéָּùָׁø , mentioned only here and 2Sa_1:18, as a poetical book, we cannot by any means refer the whole passage to the “Book of the Upright,” but only a part as is afterwards shown. In this assumption that the whole passage, with the exception of the formula of quotations, is taken from the “Book of the Upright,” there agree with Knobel: Hengsten berg in the Evang. Kirchen-Zeitung, 1832, No. 88, ibid. 1868, No. 48; Hävernick, Einl. ii. 1, p. 50, Keil, Comm. p. 255 ff. [Bibl. Comm. ii. 1, 76 ff.]. The latter remarks, at the end of his exposition: “The only plausible consideration which can be brought against this view, and which has been adduced with great emphasis by two anonymous writers in the Evang. Kirchen-Zeitung, 1833, No. 17, p. 135 f., and No. 25 f. p. 197 f. and 211 f., consists in this, that the formula of citation, ‘Is not this written in the Book of the Upright?’ stands in the middle of the passage quoted, while elsewhere this and similar formulas stand either at the beginning of the quotation, as Deu_21:14-23, or at the end of it, as generally in the books of Kings and Chronicles. But from both cases it does not follow that this is a rule without exceptions.” Keil labors to prove this, quite fruitlessly, in our opinion; Hengstenberg also, in his second essay, seeks to obviate the striking fact that the citation occurs in the midst of the passage, by assuming that the author has communicated, out of the Book of the Upright, two lyrical fragments, which he separates from each other by the intervening phrase of quotation (ubi sup. p. 580). But, granting that Jos_10:13 b–15, together with the very prosaic conclusion, “and Joshua returned and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal,” must be a lyrical fragment, would it not then have been more natural for the writer to repeat the formula somewhat in this manner: Is not this also written in the Book of the Upright?—Bleek has left the question unsettled, saying, “How far the quotation here extends, and where the historian resumes, is not quite clear” (Introd. to the O. T. p. 349). Kamphausen on the contrary (Stud. und Kritiken, 1863, p. 866), assumes that the author of Jos_10:12-15 was a historian who names expressly the source from which he draws, and plainly distinguishes, the lines which he extracts therefrom from his own prosaic narrative. To the same result must we also come, and for the following reasons: (1.) The fact that the formula of citation here occurs in the midst of the passage, constitutes for us an insuperable objection to referring the whole to the Book of the Upright, since everywhere else, such formula comes in either at the beginning or end of the words cited. (2.) The exclamation which is put in the mouth of Joshua, breathes in every aspect the spirit of Hebrew poetry. It is sublime in its import, rythmical, and strictly observing the parallelism in its form, in its choice of words also poetical (notice åַéִּãֹּí , ãּåֹí ); while afterwards the discretion of the historian manifestly comes into play, since he mentions only the sun; lets it stand in the midst of heaven, then continues with the observation that it hasted not to go down almost a whole day; in Jos_10:14 expounds verbally the poetical language, and concludes, finally, with a wholly prosaic notice.
Verses 13 b–15, accordingly, do not belong to the Book of the Upright. But how with verse 12 a? It is possible that these words may have formed the historical introduction in that Book of Heroes, to Joshua’s exclamation, as Exo_15:1, “Then sang Moses,” etc., but it is also possible that they belong to the same author as Jos_10:13 b–15, from whom other sections likewise wrought into the body of the history may have been derived. On this see the Introduction.
Having dealt with the criticism of the text, we proceed (2) to a consideration of the meaning of the passage, which especially needs to be exegetically settled. Jos_10:12, àָæ , pointedly “at that time,” as Gen_12:6, Jos_14:11, in contrast with òúָּä ; LXX. ôüôå , Vulg. tunc. This àָæ is more closely defined by áְּéåֹí úֵּú åâå× , “in the day when Jehovah delivered up,” etc. The battle at Gibeon is intended. The promise, Deu_1:7-8, is to be remembered. On this day, Joshua spake to Jehovah, .… and he said in the sight of Israel. We should have expected rather, “in the ears of Israel.” The same kind of expression is used in Num_20:8, in a passage which probably has the same author as ours, and in Deu_31:7. Quite correctly ìòéðé ô× is used, Gen_23:11; Gen_23:18; Exo_4:30. Here it is to be taken = coram, as the Vulgate translates, correctly as to the sense. Then follows what Joshua said. ùֶׁîֶùׁ , as also éָøֵçַ , is without the article, according to the usage of poetry, as Job_16:18, àֶøֶõ (O earth), while in prose the article in this case is more common to distinguish the noun in some manner (Ewald, Lehrg. § 327). ãּåֹí , Imp. Kal from ãָּîí , prop., to be dumb with astonishment, then to be silent, then to rest, to be quiet, to keep still, as one who is silent does. So Psa_4:5; 1Sa_14:9; Job_31:34; Lam_2:18; Job_30:27. Knobel remarks also that äֶçֱøִéùׁ , Gen_34:5; Exo_14:14, is used in the same way of rest, inactivity. “Sun, stand still on Gibeon,” is accordingly, = keep thyself quiet and inactive, stand still. Keil indeed will not grant this, but translates ãָּîַí here and 1Sa_14:9, by “wait.” But both here and there òָîַã stands immediately parallel to ãָּîַí , and òîã means unquestionably to stand, stand still, remain standing, for which 1Sa_20:38 may be superfluously compared. Besides, how can the sun wait, without standing still. It is better, therefore, to translate poetically, with force and boldness, “stand still,” than tamely “Sun, wait at Gibeon and moon in the Valley of Ajalon.” So also the LXX., ÓôÞôù ὁ ἥëéïò êáôὰ Ãáâåþí , êὰé ἡ óçëÞíç êáôὰ öÜñáããá Áéëþí ; and the Vulgate: “Sol contra Gabaon ne movearis et luna contra vallem Ajalon!” Quite erroneous is the attempt of Dr. Barzilai in the brochure, Un Errore di Trente Secoli (Trieste, 1868), to translate the ùֶׁîֶùׁ ãּåֹí by “Sun, be silent, cease to shine!” by which an eclipse of the sun would be made out of his standing still. Zöckler, in a treatise (Beweis des Glaubens, iv. p. 250), remarks on this: “The untenableness of this explanation appears not only from the fact that ãָּîí , ‘to be silent’ (as well as its synonym ääøéùׁ , in Gen_34:5; Exo_14:14), according to 1Sa_14:9, may very well signify in general, the holding in, or ceasing from any activity, and particularly resting from any movement, the holding still or standing of a moving body (comp. also Psa_4:5; Job_31:34; Lam_2:18), while its application to the self-concealment of a luminous body, can be supported by no example,—but furthermore also from the connection with what follows. This, as definitely as is possible, presents the actual standing still of the sun, as the result of the mighty injunction of Joshua, the believing warrior.”
The Valley of Ajalon lies to the west of Gibeon. Knobel says on this, at Jos_19:42 : “Ajalon, in whose vale Joshua bade the moon stand still (Jos_10:12), allotted to the Levites (Jos_21:24; 1Ch_6:54), often mentioned in the wars with the Philistines (1Sa_14:31; 1Ch_8:13), fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch_11:10), taken from Ahaz by the Philistines (2Ch_28:18), lying, according to the Onom., s. v. “Ajalon,” two miles east of Nicopolis; at the present day, a village Jalu, Jalo, in a fertile region on the north side of a mountain ridge, from which one overlooks the beautiful and wide basin Merdj Ibn Omeir stretching away to the north. Rob. iii. 63, 64; Later Bibl Res. 145, Tobler, Dritte Wanderung, p. 188 f.” To this position of Ajalon, westward from Gibeon, where Joshua joined battle with the Amorites, the place of the moon suits well. It stood in the west, near its setting, over Ajalon, and was still visible although the sun was shining. Let the two heavenly bodies stand where they stood and there would continue to be day; and if there continued to be day there would still be a possibility of completely destroying the foe. And that was precisely Joshua’s wish, that they might stand where they stood in order that he might annihilate the enemy. Hengstenberg (ubi sup. p. 558) will not allow this, but explains that the “simultaneous appearance of the sun and moon” was “something entirely unusual, which ought not to be so readily taken for natural.” This joint apparition, however, is not very unusual; on the contrary it may be witnessed in a clear sky at any time, during the moon’s first quarter, in the afternoon, and during the last quarter, in the forenoon: and indeed, from what is kindly communicated to me by the astronomer Mädler, it may be seen, in the much clearer southern heavens, early in the afternoon, during the moon’s first quarter, and until late in the forenoon during her third.
Knobel, for his part, supposes that “the separate mention of the sun and moon on Gibeon and Ajalon has, in the poetical parallelism, as e.g. in Hos_5:8; Amo_1:5; Mic_3:12; Zec_9:10; Zec_9:17, no significance.” That, however, is questionable, in view of the fact that the assignment of the two heavenly bodies to their respective positions suits so perfectly to the place of Joshua, and the more so because it is to us very doubtful whether the names in Hos_5:8, Amo_1:5, Zec_9:10, are connected merely for the sake of the parallelism, which we admit only as to Mic_3:12. But if the sun and moon simultaneously stood still in the heavens, and so that the sun rested over Gibeon east of the field of battle, and the moon over Ajalon in the west, the battle must have been going on in the morning, and Joshua have uttered his invocation at this time, perhaps toward midday. So it is understood also by Keil, Knobel, and Zöckler, who writes (ubi sup.): “The mention of the moon with the sun in Jos_10:13 is to be explained simply from the circumstance that it also was yet visible in the sky, and that the prayer, directed toward a prolongation of the day, could only be fully expressed, positively as well as negatively, if it at the same time called for the delay of the night, or, which is the same thing, a standing still of the planet which governed the night (Gen_1:16).”
Gibeon and Ajalon are named as stations of the sun and moon, because Joshua when he engaged in the battle was probably west of Gibeon, in a place from which he saw the sun shining in the east over that city, and the moon in the far west over Ajalon.
As the probable hour of the conflict we may infer, partly from this situation and partly from the sun standing still “in the midst of the heaven” (Jos_10:13), that it was in the middle part of the day, and probably still in the forenoon, hardly the late afternoon as Corn. a Lapide, Clericus, J. D. Mich. et al. have supposed. Hitzig also decides in favor of the forenoon: “As Saul upon the king of Ammon, Joshua fell on the Amorites early in the morning. When, soon after, the battle took a favorable turn, the sun had already risen and stood over Gibeon behind the combatants, while in the far west, the moon had not yet gone down” (ubi sup. p. 102). Most recently of all A. Hengstenberg in Bochum has also published a contribution (Beweis des Glaubens, vol. v. pp. 287, 288) toward the explanation of our passage, in which he agrees with Zöckler in regard to the question at what time of day the battle was fought and Joshua uttered his call to the sun. Ewald, on the contrary (Gesch. d. v. Israel, 2, p. 325, 326), thinks of the afternoon. In regard, further, to the relation between the hail-storm mentioned Jos_10:11 and Joshua’s exclamation, we must remember that the author of the “Book of the Upright,” knew nothing of this hail-storm, but the writer who gave the Book of Joshua its present form, inserted not only the supposed citation (Jos_10:12-13 a.) but the whole passage (Jos_10:12-15) into the midst of the history of the pursuit, so that he appears certainly to have conceived of the hailstorm as a preceding event.
Jos_10:13. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed until the nation had avenged themselves on their enemies. Joshua’s wish is fulfilled. The heavenly bodies pause in their course and stand still. When once we remember that the poet says this, the same poet who has previously put in Joshua’s mouth this grand, poetical exclamation, reminding us of Agamemnon’s wish (Il. 2, 413 ff.), we have found the key to Jos_10:13, the most striking parallel to which is Jdg_6:20. When it is there said that the stars out of their courses ( îîñìåֹúí ) fought against Sisera, no one, so far as we know, has ever supposed that this poetical trope was to be literally understood. Rather it is there, as here, the heavenly powers, nay Jehovah himself (Jos_10:14) who fights for Israel. It is not “an unheard of, astronomico-mechanical miracle” with which we here have to do, but “the most glorious typical occurrence, which illustrates how all nature, heaven and earth, is in league with the people of God, and helps them to victory in their battles of the kingdom” (Lange, Com. on Gen. pp. 86, 87).
The standing still of the sun and moon is no more to be understood literally than that fighting of the stars down out of their courses, or the melting down of the mountains (Isa_34:3 : Amo_9:13; Mic_1:3), the rending of the heavens (Psa_18:10), or the skipping of Lebanon (Psa_29:6), the clapping of hands by the trees in the field (Isa_55:12), the leaping of the mountains and hills (Psa_114:46), the bowing of the heavens (Psa_18:10). It is the language of poetry which we have here to interpret, and poetry, too, of the most figurative, vehement kind, which honors and celebrates Joshua’s confidence in God in the midst of the strife; that “unique assurance of victory on the part of Joshua” (Lange, ubi sup.) which the Lord would not suffer to be put to shame. In this the most positive interpreters (Keil, Kurtz, both Hengstenbergs), however they may differ as to the particulars, and to textual criticism, are perfectly at one, against a literal apprehension of the passage. Nor can Hab_3:11, be adduced in favor of a literal interpretation of the passage. For if it is said, Hab_3:11, “Sun, moon, æְáֻìָä òָîַã ,” this is not to be translated as Hengstenberg (ubi sup.) and Keil, on the one side, and Hitzig (Kl. Propheten), on the other have shown, “The sun, and moon remain in their habitation,” but rather: “The sun, the moon enter into a habitation,” i.e as we should say: “into the shade,” namely, “behind the stratum of clouds” or, “they are darkened.” “The friendly lights grow pale, while on the other hand, there shines for the enemies of God and his people, another, an ungenial light, which brings destruction, the lightning, God’s spears and arrows” (Hengstenberg). This passage has therefore nothing at all to do with the one before us. And when Jesus Sirach in his enumeration of the exploits of Joshua, asks (Josh 46:4), Ïὐ÷ὶ ἐí ÷åéñὶ áὐôïῦ ἀíåðüäéóåí ὁ ἥëéïò êáὶ ìßá ἡìÝñá ἐãåíÞèç ðñὸò äýï ; he makes out of the standing still of the sun, a going back, something like Isa_38:8, and speaks at the same time of lengthening one day into two. He is not therefore correct in his representation of the occurrence. The same is true of Josephus (Ant. v. 1, 17), when he speaks only of an increase, i.e. lengthening in general of the day.
Is not this written in the Book of the Upright?i.e. “Lo, this stands written in that book and may there be read expressly. On äֲìֹà for äִðֵּç comp. Num_22:37; Deu_11:30. So very often in citations; 1Ki_11:41; 1Ki_14:29; 1Ki_15:7; 1Ki_15:23; 1Ki_15:31; 1Ki_16:3; 1Ki_16:20; 1Ki_16:27 and often” (Knobel).
And the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. áְּçֲöִé here used of place, in Jdg_16:3 of time; in the middle, a more precise designation of the sun’s standing, which is omitted in the poetical part of this episode.
And hastened not to go down. The verb àåּõ is used once besides in our book (Jos_17:15), and in the sense “to be narrow,” and again in Exo_5:13, where the Egyptian task-masters are spoken of, in the sense of “to oppress.” It is not employed in poetry alone, as Zöckler (ubi sup.) maintains, in order to support his view that these verses also, at least to the close of Jos_10:14, breathe “a poetically exalted” strain. Or should Exo_5:13 also be regarded as a poetical passage? A certain elevation is, indeed, not to be denied to the narrative here, but that we find also in places, like Joshua 8, which yet is unquestionably prose.
About a whole day. úָּîִéí , elsewhere commonly of moral integrity, is used in the original sense, “complete,” “entire,” in Lev_3:9; Lev_25:30, in the latter passage of time, namely, of the year ùָׁðָä äְîéîָä , as here of the day éåֹí úָּîִéí Plainly, the author of this verse understands the poetical citation from the Book of the Upright, literally, which does not hinder us from going back to the original sense, as we have done above. That he, like all the Scripture writers, thought of an “anti-Copernican” system, as Zöckler expresses it, or as we might more correctly say, that he spoke of what was immediately perceptible, is evident without discussion. We think with Zöckler (p. 250) “it is lost labor to put upon the expressions of holy Scripture concerning the magnitudes and movements of the heavenly bodies, a heliocentric sense, by allegorical artifices, since the childishly simple view of the universe, which perceives in the earth the fixed centre, must necessarily have possessed the Biblical writers also as children of their time.”
Jos_10:14. And there was no day like that before it and after it ( ìִôָðָéå , åàַçøָéå ) that Jehovah hearkened ( ìִùְׁîֹòַ ) unto the voice of a man; for Jehovah fought for Israel. The war was not merely a war of men, Jehovah himself rather was its leader, as was promised the Israelites, Exo_14:14, by Moses. Comp. Deu_1:29-30; Deu_3:22; Deu_20:1; Deu_20:3-4; Deu_31:6. Hence Jehovah is called precisely àִéùׁ îִìְçָîָä , “man of war” (Luther: der rechte Kriegsmann), Exo_15:3. He has heard the call of Joshua and held the sun still in his course (of the moon nothing more is said), and so, according to the view of the author of13 b–15, has performed an objective astronomical miracle, of which the poet from whom the quotation is made, had no thought, and of which we, following him (the poet) have no thought.
Jos_10:15 b. Hengstenberg would refer this prosaic statement still entirely to the poetry (which Zöckler does not do), and quotes in support of this (Exo_15:19) the close of Moses’ song of triumph, which is also found Exo_14:22. It is not found, however, in precisely the same words (in the latter passage áà , in the former the more graphic äìêְ ), nor with the same arrangement of the words, which in Exo_15:19 has the rythmical cadence. We cannot, therefore, allow force to this example, but believe, rather, that to this, certainly if to any of the vers. (13 b–15) the “words of Maurer apply: Quœ ante formulam citandi leguntur, sunt poesis; quœ post pura puta prosa.”
“This wonderful victory was celebrated by Israel in a war-song which was preserved in the Book of the Pious. Out of this book the author of the Book of Joshua inserted here the passage which commemorated the wonderful work of Jehovah toward Israel and toward his enemies, the Amorites, for the glorification of his own name. For, that we have in Jos_10:12-15 a poetical extract from the ñֵôֶø äַéָּùָׁø is universally acknowledged. This insertion and the reference to this writing is analogous to the quotation from the Book of the Wars of the Lord (Num_21:14), and the lyrical strophes woven into the historical narrative. The object is not to confirm the historical report by reference to an older authority, but only to render more vivid to future generations, the striking impression which those wonders of the Lord had made upon the congregation.”
Keil’s account of the Book of the Pious is the same as that of Fay and most others. He distinctly assumes, however, what doubtless should be understood by all, that this progressively accumulated anthology of pious hymns in praise of the covenant God was interspersed with explanatory historical notices. Thus there is no difficulty in supposing Jos_10:15 also to have been copied from this poetical book. Keil then proceeds: “The citation from it proves itself at once to have been taken from a song, by the poetical form of the language and by the parallelism of the members. The quotation begins, however, not with åַéֹּàîֶø , Jos_10:12 b, but with áַּéåֹî úֵּú , Jos_10:12 a, and to it belong also Jos_10:13-14, so that the reference to the source of the quotation is inserted in the middle of it. Such formulas are generally met with, indeed, elsewhere either at the beginning of the passage adduced, as Num_21:14; Num_21:27; 2Sa_1:18, or at the close of it, as generally in the books of Kings and Chronicles. But it does not follow that such position was a rule without exceptions, especially since the reference to sources in the books of Kings has a quite different sense, the citations being not documentary proofs of the occurrences before reported, but references to writings in which more complete accounts might be found concerning fragmentarily communicated facts. In Jos_10:13 also the poetical form of the discourse leaves no doubt that Jos_10:13-14 still contain words of the ancient poet, not a prosaic comment of the historian on the poetic expressions which he had quoted. Only Jos_10:15 presents a pure historical statement which is repeated (Jos_10:43) at the end of the narrative of this victory and war. And this literal repetition of Jos_10:15 in Jos_10:43, and still more the fact that the statement that Joshua returned with all the people into the camp to Gilgal anticipates the historical order of events, and that in a very striking manner, renders it highly probable, if not altogether certain, that Jos_10:15 also is taken from the Book of the Pious.”.…
Keil’s conception of the circumstances and progress of the battle, and of the position of the parties in reference to the standing still of the sun and moon, agrees in every important point with that of Fay.
“How then shall we make real to ourselves this wonderful occurrence? An actual standing still of the sun at some place in the heavens, about the zenith, is not clearly expressed. If one were disposed to insist on the åַéַּòֲîåֹã , “the sun stood (held his position) in the midst of the heavens,” which is added as if in explanation of åַéִּãּåֹí in such a way that it must express a miraculous obstruction of the course of the sun, this would hardly be consistent with the phrase ìֹà àָõ ìָáåֹà , “it hastened not to go down,” for this strictly taken, means only, as several of the Rabbins long ago remarked, a more tardy progress of the sun. Plainly intimated in Jos_10:12-13 is so much only, that at Joshua’s word the sun remained standing almost a day longer in the heavens. To this is added (Jos_10:14), “That there was no such day before and afterward, that Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a man; for Jehovah fought for Israel.” This expression, again, should not be too hardly pressed, as the analogous utterances, “there was none like him,” etc. 2Ki_18:5; 2Ki_23:25, show. They convey only the thought, a day like this which God so marvelously lengthened has not been before nor since. So much therefore lies unambiguously in the words, that the singer of the ancient song, and after him also the author of our Book of Joshua, who inserted these words into his narrative, was convinced of a wonderful prolongation of that day. Here, however, it is carefully to be observed that it is not said, that God did at Joshua’s request increase the length of that day by about a whole day, or cause the sun to stand still for nearly a whole day, but only that God hearkened to the voice of Joshua, i.e. did not let the sun go down until Israel had avenged themselves upon their enemies. The difference is not unimportant. For a marvelous prolongation of that day took place not only if, through the exertion of God’s Almighty power, the course of the sun or his going down was delayed for many hours, or the day lengthened from say twelve to eighteen or twenty hours, but also on the supposition that the day appeared to Joshua and to Israel wonderfully lengthened, the work accomplished on that day being so great that it would without supernatural help have required two days.
To decide between these two views is not easy, nay, if we go to the bottom of the matter, is impossible. [And no more necessary, it might be added, viewing the account as poetry, than to try to discover the exact proportion between David’s glorious hyperboles in Psalms 18 and the actual events of the deliverance which he there celebrates.—Tr.] When we cannot measure the length of the day by the clock, we may, especially in the crowd of business or work, with extraordinary facility be deceived in regard to its length. But the Israelites had neither sun-dials nor any clocks, and amid the tumult of the conflict hardly would Joshua, or any other one engaged in the strife, have repeatedly noticed the shadow of the sun, and inquired after its changes in reference to a tree, for example, or other such object, so as to perceive from its possibly remaining stationary and unaltered, for some hours, that the sun had actually stood still. Under these circumstances it was quite impossible for the Israelites to decide whether that day was really, or only in their conception, longer than other days.
Besides this we must take into account the poetical character of our passage. When David praises the wondrous deliverance which he had experienced at the hand of the Lord, in the words: “In my distress I called upon the Lord .… and he heard my voice out of his heaven, .… and he bowed the heaven and came down, …… he stretched his hand out of the height, took me and drew me out of many waters” (Psa_18:7-17), who imagines that these words are to be understood literally, of an actual descent of God out of heaven and stretching out of. his hand to draw David out of the water? Or who will take the words of Deborah: “Out of heaven was the battle waged, the stars out of their courses fought against Sisera,” in a literal sense? The truth of such expressions lies in the subjective field of the religious intuition, not in the rigorous interpretation of the words. In a similar way may the verses before us be understood without prejudice thereby to their real import, if that day had been merely subjectively prolonged to the religious apprehension of Israel.
But if the words had expressed even an objectively real and miraculous extension of that day, we should still have had no valid ground for doubting the truth of this statement of facts. All objections which have been raised against the fact or the possibility of such a miracle, appear, on a closer examination of the matter, nugatory. Thus, that the annals of the other peoples of the earth give no report at all of a miracle which must have extended over the whole earth, loses all importance when we perceive that no annals at all of other nations of that period are extant, and that it is extremely doubtful whether the miracle would have extended far beyond the bounds of Palestine [!] Again, the appeal to the unchangeableness of the movement of the heavenly bodies fixed by eternally unalterable laws, is not suited to show the impossibility of such a miracle. The eternal laws of nature are nothing more than modes of manifestation, or phenomena, of God’s creative power, the proper nature of which no mortal has yet found out. May not then the Almighty Creator and Preserver of nature and all her powers, be able also so to direct and control the powers of nature according to his own will that they should contribute to the realization of his ends in salvation? Finally, the objection also that the sudden arrest of the revolution of the earth upon its axis, must have demolished all the work of human hands upon its surface, and hurled from its orbit the earth itself and her attendant the moon, proves nothing, since it is forgotten in all this, that the almighty hand of God which not only created the stars but also lent to them and to all worlds the power to run their course with regularity, so long as this world stands, that that hand which bears, upholds, controls all things in heaven and on earth, is not too short, to guard against such ruinous consequences.
To this may still be added that even the most rigorous apprehension of the words does not compel us, with the fathers and older theologians, to suppose a miraculous obstruction of the sun in his course, but only an optical pause of the sun, i.e. a miraculous arrest of the revolution of the earth on its axis, which would have appeared to the observer as a standing still of the sun. Knobel is entirely wrong when he pronounces this view of the fact contrary to the text. For the Scriptures speak of things of the visible world according to their appearance, as we also still speak of the rising and setting of the sun, although we have no doubt of the revolution of the earth about the sun. Such an optical stand-still of the sun, however, or rather merely a longer standing and visibility of the sun in the horizon, might be effected through God’s omnipotence in an astronomical phenomenon unknown to us and wholly incomprehensible by natural philosophy, without interfering with the general laws of the rotation of the heavenly bodies. Only we must not, surely, reduce this exertion of the divine power to a mere unusual refraction of the light, or a storm of lightning lasting through the whole night, as has been variously attempted.” Bibl. Com. ii. 1, p. 76–81.]
Having thus treated of this difficult passage in reference to the criticism of the text, and also to the purport of it, it remains for us still to glance at the history of its interpretation.
Although Jesus Sirach and Josephus had, even in their day, betrayed a disposition in the passages above cited, to change the phraseology of our verse, in the sense of a not entirely literal conception of it, still the overwhelming majority of ancient Jewish and Christian interpreters understand here an objective, astronomical miracle, an actual standing still of the sun. So Justin Martyr in Dial. cum Tryph.; Ephraem Syr.; Tertullian, De Jejunio, i. 10; Jerome c. Jovin. i. 11; Chrysost. Hom. 27 in Epist. ad Hebr.; Augustine, De Civit. Dei, xvi. 8 ; Theodoret, the Rabbins, Serarius, Masius, C. a Lapide, Calvin, Osiander, et mult. al. Exceptions are (the Ev. Kirchen-Zeitung, ubi sup. p. 555), Maimonides and Rabbi Levi ben Gersom, who advocate the non-literal view. “The wish of Joshua,” explains the latter, “aims only at this, that that one day and night might be long enough for the overthrow of the so numerous forces of the enemy. It was the same as if he had said: Grant, Almighty Father, that before sun and moon go down, thy people may take vengeance on this multitude of thy foes. The miracle of that day was, that at the prayer of a man God effected so great a defeat in so short a time.” How tenaciously the Roman curia, on the contrary, in their Jesuitically inspired proceedings against Galileo (1633), held fast to the opposite view, is well known.
As however the Copernican system nevertheless found adherents, and indeed, even among orthodox Protestant theologians out of opposition to Rome, these thought to help themselves by the assumption of an optical pause of the sun (statio optica), that is, they assumed that the earth was hindered by God in its revolution on its axis, by which a lengthening of the day was produced. So Lilienthal, Gute Sache, v. p. 167 ff.; Mosheim apud Calmet, p. 45 ff.; Bastholm, Jüdische Geschichte, ii. p. 31 ff.; Zimmermann, Scriptura Copernizans, i. 1, p. 228. In recent times this view is maintained by Baumgarten (Herzog’s Realencyk. vii. 40) According to this writer, Joshua, in the full confidence of being the dispenser of divine vengeance against the corrupt Canaanites, called, as nigh threatened to overtake them, to the heavenly luminaries, and the day was by nearly its full length, “prolonged through the apparent pause of the heavenly bodies which govern day and night, but through the actual pause of the globe in its diurnal revolution.” Such an exorbitant miracle came to pass because “the destination of Israel was something infinitely transcending, in its dignity and significance, the entire natural order of things.” This relation between Israel and the “system of the universe” Joshua apprehended in a “moment of daring faith,” “assumed the immediate realization of the same,” and Jehovah “sealed this venture of faith by his work and word;” and it is for us “simply to believe, that this was done.”
The editor of the Encyklopädie has made on this representation the ve