Five kings of the Amorites JOSHUA. make war on the Gibeonites. mouth of the cave, and set a watch to keep it, while Israel were pursuing their enemies, 16-19. The Israelites return to Makkedah, bring forth the five kings, then slay and hang them on five trees, 20–27. The Israelites take and destroy Makkedah, 28, and Libnah, 29, 30, and Lachish 31, 32, and defeat Horam king of Gezer, 33, and take Eglon, 34, 35, and Hebron, 36, 37, and Debir, 38, 39, and all the country of the hills, south, vale, and springs, and the whole country from Kadesh-Barnea to Gibeon, 40-42. They return to Gilgal, 43. A. M. 2554. B. C. 1450. An. Exod. Isr. 41. Anno ante a A. M. 2554. An. Exod. Isr. I. 41. Anno ante NOW it came to pass, when the king of Jerusalem, the king 1. Olymp. 674. d e 2 That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities; and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.. 3 Wherefore Adoni-zedec king of Jerusalem said unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish; and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying, 4 Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua, and with the children of Israel. 5 Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, a Chap. vi. 21.—6 Chap. viii. 22, 26, 28. Chap. ix. 15. d Exod. xv. 14, 15, 16; Deut. xi. 25.- e Heb. cities of the kingNOTES ON CHAP. X. g 6 And the men of Gibeon, sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us. 7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour. 8 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; I there shall not a man of them stand before thee. 9 Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, Ch. v. 10; Ch. i. 5. dom. Ver: 1; chap. ix. 15.- Chap. ix. 2. Piram king of Jarmuth] There were two cities Verse 1. Adoni-zedec] This name signifies the of this name; one belonged to the tribe of Issachar, Lord of justice or righteousness; and it has been see chap. xxi. 29; that mentioned here fell to the tribe conjectured that the Canaanitish kings assumed this of Judah, see chap. xv. 35; it is supposed to have name in imitation of that of the ancient patriarchal | been about eighteen miles distant from Jerusalem. king of this city, Melchizedek, whose name signifies king of righteousness, or my righteous kings a supposition that is not improbable, when the celebrity of Melchizedek is considered. Japhia king of Lachish] This city is celebrated in Scripture; in that city Amaziah was slain by conspirators, 2 Kings xiv. 19. It was besieged by Sennacherib, 2 Kings xviii. 14, 17; and without effect by Jerusalem] Yerushalam. This word has the king of Assyria, as we learn from Isa. xxxvii. 8: been variously explained; if it be compounded of shalam, peace, perfection, &c., and 7 raah, he saw, it may signify the vision of peace-or, he shall see peace or perfection. 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, chap. ix. 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. 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. Debir king of Eglon] Where this city was situated is very uncertain; but we learn from chap. xv. 39, that it fell to the lot of the tribe of Judah.. 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, chap. xv. 63; those of Hebron were Hittites, Gen. xxiii. 2, 3; xxv. 9, 10; and the Gibeonites were Hivites, Josh. ix. 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 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 Judg. iv. 15; 1 Sam. vii. 10, 12; Psa. xviii. 14; Isa. xxviii. 21. Ch. xvi. 3, 5. Ch. xv. 35.--P Psa. xviii. 13, 14-; lxxvii. 17. about eighteen or twenty miles; and, having fallen so unexpectedly on these confederate kings, they were immediately thrown into confusion. 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-horom. There were two cities of this name, the upper and tower, both in the tribe of Ephraim, and built by Sherah, the daughter of Ephraim, 1 Chron. vii. 24. The situation of these two cities is not exactly known. them A. M. 2554. 41. Anno ante I. Olymp. 674. unto Azekah, and they died: An. Exod. Isr. S Isa. xxx. 30; Ecclus. xlvi. 6; Rev. xvi. 21.- -4 Isa. xxviii. 21, Hab. iii. I; Ecelus, xlvi. 4. Heb. be silent.— Judg. xii. 12. 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 ar To Azekah, and unto Makkedah.] These two cities my were in the Arabian mountains, in the vicinity of were in the tribe of Judah, chap. xv. 35–41. the Dead Sea, they suffered incredibly from horrible Verse 11. The Lord cast down great stones from hail, terrible frost, and indescribable rain and snow, so heaven upon them] Some, have contended that stones, that thirty of his men perished by them. His words in the common acceptation of the word, are intended are: "Sexta-vero die montanis permensis, in extremo here; and that the term hail-stones is only used to illorum cacumine maxima pertulerunt pericula, in point out the celerity of their fall, and their quantity. GRANDINE horribili, in GLACIE terribili, in PLUVIA et NIVE That stones have fallen from the clouds, if not from a inaudita, quorum immanitate, et horrore ingruente ad greater height, is a most incontestable fact. That triginta homines pedites præ frigore mortui sunt.”these have fallen in different parts of the world is also Hist. Hieros., p. 307. I conclude, therefore, that true; the East Indies, America, France, Germany, a shower of hail-stones may be meant; and that England, Ireland, &c., have all witnessed this pheno- this shower, though natural in itself, was supermenon of such stones possess and have seen seve-naturally employed on this occasion, and miraculously ral fragments; some considerable pieces may be seen directed to fall where it did, and do the execution in the British Museum. That God might have cast described. 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 the note on Exod. ix. 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. II give the table, and leave the reader to decide, in the have known a cannon ball go through a square of glass present case, for aeroliths or hail-stones, as may seem in the cabin window of a ship, and make precisely the to him most congruous to the fact here related, 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 aeroliths 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, 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 : Period of their fall. Under Tullus Hostilius Consuls, C. Martius and M. Torquatus Second year of the 78th Olympiad Year before J. C., 452 January, 1706 .. In 1510. November 27, 1627 In 1768. March 17, 1798.. July 3, 1753 April 5, 1800 Livy. Testimony. J. Obsequens. Ch. of Count Marcellin. Carden, Varcit. Gassendi. De La Lande. De La Lande. Gurson de Boyaval. St. Amand, Baudin, &c. - Le Lievre and De Drèe. Philosophical Magazine. Acad. de Bourd. Fourcroy. Their specific gravities are generally about three or 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 Schroeter. 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, At the command of Joshua. A. M. 2554. B. C. 1450. A. M. 2554. B. C. 1450. of heaven, and hasted not to go | LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man for the LORD fought An. Exod. Isr. for Israel. An. Exod. Isr. down about a whole day. 41. Anno ante 1. Olymp. 674. 14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the ▾ See Isa. xxxviii. 8. 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, Summisere oculos cum duce turba suos, Decidit, a pupulo clamor ad astra venit. ·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 Aerolith. 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 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 permit ted 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, I 41. Anno ante 15 And Joshua returned, and 1. Olymp. 674. Ver. 43. w Deut. i. 30; ver. 42; chap. xxiii. 3.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 docs 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. found hidden in a cave. A. M. 2554. 17 And it was told Joshua, say- -41. Anno ante 18 And Joshua said, z Roll I. Olymp. 674. great stones upon the mouth of the cave, Ver. 22; Psa. xviii. 37-41. REACH amad, And the sun was dumb or silent and the 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 su-sured: but, on the contrary, had the sun been about perstition. 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. the setting, when both the pursuers and to 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 8. I consider that the terms in the text employed which alone they could expect to elude the pursuing to describe this miracle are not, when rightly under- Israelites. And the Israelites themselves must bestood, contrary to the well-established notions of the hold with astonishment and wonder that the setting true system of the universe; and are not spoken, as sun hasted not to go down about a whole day, affordsome have contended, ad captum vulgi, to the preju-ing them supernatural time totally to destroy a routed dices 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 :— foe, which otherwise might have had time to rally, |