And the Sun was still,

And the Moon stood,

Until 'the nation'1 had avenged them upon their enemies.

And the sun stood in 'the very midst of the heavens,

And hasted not to go down for a whole day.

And there was no day like that before or after it,

That JEHOVAH heard the voice of a man,

For JEHOVAH fought for Israel,2

And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp in Gilgal.

Third stage

So ended the second stage of the flight. In the lengthened day thus given to Joshua's prayer, comes the third stage. 'The Lord smote them to Azekah and unto Makkeof the battle. 'dah, and these five kings fled and hid themselves "in the cave at Makkedah.' But Joshua halted not when he was told; the same speed was still required-the victory was not yet won. The mouth of the cave was blocked by huge stones, and a guard stationed to watch it whilst the pursuit was continued. We know not precisely the position of slaughter of Makkedah; but it must have been, probably, at the the kings. point where the mountains sink into the plain, that this last struggle took place; and thither, at last, 'all the 'people of Israel returned in peace; none moved his tongue 'against any of the people of Israel.' A camp was formed round the royal hiding-place. It was a well-known cave, 'the 'cave,' 3 overshadowed by a grove of trees. The five kings were dragged out of its recesses to the gaze of their enemies. Their names and cities were handed down, in various versions,4

The

1 Until God. LXX.

2 I have given at length what appears to be the extract from the Poetical Book (Josh. x. 12-15). In some respects it seems to be better preserved in the LXX.; in others, in the Received Text. The LXX. has given the first portion (verse 12) in the metrical form, which the Received Text has reduced to prose; and has left out the reference to the Book of Jasher, which the Received Text inserts in the middle of the extract. On the other hand, the LXX. leaves out the closing verse of the extract (verse 15), from the just feeling that it

interrupts the historical narrative; but apparently overlooking its connexion with the distinct document from Jasher. Besides the metre of the passage, some of the phrases seem to indicate its poetic character. For example, the unusual use of the word Goi (nation), for the people of Israel (in verse 13), and the expression of the sun 'being silent,' as if awe-struck.

3 The cave in the Hebrew and in the

LXX. Josh. x. 16, 17. For the trees, see

X. 26.

* The variations appear in the LXX.

to later times. Hoham or Elam, of Hebron; Hiram or Phidon, of Jarmuth; Japhia or Jephtha, of Lachish; Dabir or Debir, either of Eglon or Adullam; and their leader, Adonizedek or Adoni-bezek, of Jerusalem. If the former ('the Lord 'of Righteousness') is the name, it suggests a confirmation of the tradition that the Salem where Melchi-zedek, 'the King of 'Righteousness,' reigned, was Jerusalem, thus conferring on its rulers a kind of hereditary designation. If the latter, he must have had a connexion, more or less close, with the terrible chief who had seventy captive princes grovelling under his table, after the savage custom of Oriental despots. An awe is described as falling on the Israelite warriors, when they saw the prostrate kings. At the Conqueror's bidding, they drew near; and, according to the usage portrayed in the monuments of Assyria and Egypt, planted their feet on the necks of their enemies. It was reserved for Joshua himself to slay them. The dead bodies were hung aloft, each on its own separate tree, beside the cave, and remained (so it would seem) ' until 'the evening,' when, at last, that memorable sun 'went down.' The cave where they had been hid became the royal sepulchre. The stones which on that self-same day 2 had cut them off from escape, closed the mouth of their tomb; and the destruction of the neighbouring town of Makkedah 'on that day," completed their dreadful obsequies.

So ended the day 3 to which, in the words of the ancient Sacred song, 'there was no day like, before or after it.' The

1 Judg. i. 7.

2 See Keil on Josh. x. 27.

3 This first victory of their race may well have inspirited Judas Maccabeus, who, himself a native of the neighbouring hills, won his earliest fame in this same 'going

up and coming down of Beth-horon,' where in like manner 'the residue' of the defeated army fled into the plain,' 'into 'the land of the Philistines.' And again over the same plain was carried the great Roman road from Cæsarea to Jerusalem, up which Cestius advanced at the first onset of the Roman armies on the capital of Judæa, and down which he and his whole force were driven by the insurgent

Jews. By a singular coincidence the same scene thus witnessed the first and the last great victory that crowned the Jewish arms at the interval of nearly fifteen hundred years. From their camp at Gibeon, the Romans, as the Canaanites before them, were dislodged; they fled in similar confusion down the ravine to Beth-horon, the steep cliffs and the rugged road rendering cavalry unavailable against the merciless fury of their pursuers: they were only saved-as the Canaanites were not saved -by the too rapid descent of the shades of night over the mountains, and under the cover of those shades they escaped to Antipatris, in the plain below.

possession of every place, sacred for them, and for all future ages, through the whole centre and south of Palestine,Shechem, Shiloh, Gibeon, Bethlehem, Hebron, and even, for a time, Jerusalem,-was the issue of that conflict. 'And all 'these kings and their lands did Joshua take at one time, 'because the Lord God fought for Israel.' 'And Joshua 'returned, and all Israel with him,' unto the camp to Gilgal.' It is the only incident of this period expressly noticed in the later books of the Old Testament. 'The Lord shall rise up as ' in Mount Perazim; He2 shall be wroth as in the valley by 'Gibeon.' The very day of the week was fixed in later traditions. With the Samaritans 3 it was Thursday; with Importance of the battle. the Mussulmans it was Friday; and this has been given as a reason for that day being chosen as the sacred day of Islam.

Immediately upon its close follows the rapid succession of victory and extermination which swept the whole of Southern Palestine into the hands of Israel. It is probable, indeed, from the subsequent narrative, either that the subjugation and destruction were less complete than this story would imply, or that the deeds of Joshua's companions and successors are here ascribed to himself and to this time. But the concentration of the interest of the conquest of this one event, if not chronologically exact, yet no doubt justly represents the feeling that this was the one decisive battle, involving all the other consequences in its train.

There are two difficulties which have been occasioned by this event, or rather by its interpretation, which have Difficulties. not been without influence on the history of the

Christian Church.

I. The first has arisen from the words of Joshua, 'Sun "be 'thou still" on Gibeon, and thou, Moon, over the valley of

Josh. x. 28-43.

2 Isa. xxviii. 21.

3 Sam. Joshua, ch. 21, where the news of the victory was brought to Eleazar by a carrier pigeon.

Buckingham's Travels, p. 302. Jel. aleddin, Temple of Jerusalem, 285.

5 For example, Hebron and Debir are taken or retaken (Judg. i. 10). Compare also Joshua xi. 18-21: Joshua made war 'a long time with all those kings. 'And at that time came Joshua and cut 'off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir,' &c.

The sun standing still.

Ajalon :' or, as read in the Vulgate, which first gave the offence, 'Sun, move not thou towards Gibeon; nor thou, 'Moon, towards the valley of Ajalon.' These words in the Book of Jasher were doubtless intended to express that in some manner, in answer to Joshua's earnest prayer, the day was prolonged till the victory was achieved. How, or in what way, we are not told and if we take the words in the popular and poetical sense in which from their style it is clear that they are used, there is no occasion for inquiry. That some such general sense is what was understood in the ancient Jewish Church itself, is evident from the slight emphasis laid upon the incident by Josephus1 and the Samaritan Book of Joshua, and from the absence of any subsequent allusion to it (unless, indeed, in a similar poetic strain 2) in the Old or New Testament. But in later times men were not content without taking them in their literal prosaic sense, and supposing that the sun and the moon actually stood still, and that the system of the universe was arrested. It was this interpretation which invested the passage with a new and alarming importance when the Copernican system was set forth by Galileo; when it appeared that the sun, being always stationary, could not be said to stand still or to move. Round this famous prayer was fought a battle of words in ecclesiastical history hardly less important than the battle of Joshua and the Canaanites. It raged through the lifetime of Galileo; its last direct traces appear in the preface of the Jesuits to their edition of Newton's Principia, defending themselves for their apparent, but (as they state) only hypothetical, sanction of a theory which, by supposing the earth's motion, runs counter to the Papal decrees. It continues still in the terrors awakened in many religious minds by the analogous collisions between the letter of Scripture and the advances of science in geology, ethnology, and philology,. But, in fact, the victory was won in the person

1 Ant. v. 1, § 17. He then heard that God was helping him, by the signs of 'thunder, lightning, and unusual hailstones; and that the day was increased, lest the night should check the zeal of 'the Hebrews. That the length of

་

'the day did then increase, and was

'longer than usual is told in the books laid up in the Temple.' The Samaritan book simply says, 'that the day was prolonged at 'his prayer' (ch. 20).

2 Hab. iii. II.

of Galileo. Even the court of Rome has since admitted its mistake. It is now universally acknowledged that on that occasion 'the astronomers were right, and the theologians were 'wrong.' The principle was then once for all established, that the Bible was not intended to teach scientific truth. This incident in the Sacred narrative has thus, instead of a stumbling-block, become a monument of the reconciliation of religion and science; and the advance in our knowledge of the Bible since that time has still further tended to diminish the collision which then seemed so frightful, because it has shown us far more clearly than could be seen in former times, that the language employed is not only popular, but poetical and rhythmical; and that the attempt to interpret it scientifically is based on a total misconception of the intention of the words themselves. But, even with the imperfect knowledge of Biblical criticism then possessed, the defence of their position by the two great astronomers sums up the question in terms which not only meet the whole of this case, but apply to any further questions of the kind which may meet us hereafter.

Answer of

1

Galileo, with the caution which belonged to his character and situation, mainly relies on the authority of others. But these were almost the highest that he could have Galileo. named. The first is Baronius, the chief ecclesiastical historian of the Roman Church: The intention of Holy Scripture is to show us how to go to heaven, not to show us ' how the heaven goeth.'2 The second was Jerome, the author

1 It is well known that various scientific expedients have been invented to solve the question. Some have imagined a longprepared scheme for the arrest of the solar system, and a succession of secret miracles to avoid the consequences of such a universal shock. Others have supposed a refraction, a parhelion, or a multiplication of parhelions. Others have seen in the passage the intimation of a suspended deluge. To those who may regard any of these explanations as authorised either by reason or Scripture, what has here been said will be superfluous. But, if there be any to whom such explanations appear not

only improbable in themselves, but contrary to the plain tenor of the Sacred narrative, it may be a satisfaction to adopt the statement given above, which is, in fact, the unanimous opinion of all German theologians of whatever school. The expres sion, 'the stars in their courses fought 'against Sisera' (Judg. v. 20), has never been distorted from its true poetical character, and has, therefore, given rise to no alarms and no speculations.

2 Galileo's Tract on Rash Citations from Scripture (Salusbury's Mathemati cal Tracts, i. 436).