the thin
pale arch of light, which would have been all that the moon could then
have presented to him. Therefore the one must have been rising and the
other setting, and Joshua must have been standing between Gibeon and the
valley of Ajalon, so that the two places were nearly in opposite
directions from him. The moon must have been in the west and the sun in
the east, for the valley of Ajalon is west of Gibeon. That is to say, it
cannot have been more than an hour after sunrise, and it cannot have
been more than an hour before moonset. Adopting therefore the usual
explanation of Joshua's words, we see at once that the common idea of
the reason for Joshua's command to the sun, namely, that the day was
nearly over, and that he desired the daylight to be prolonged, is quite
mistaken. If the sun was low down in the sky, he would have had
practically the whole of the day still before him.

2.--BEFORE THE BATTLE

Before attempting to examine further into the nature of the miracle, it
will be well to summarize once again the familiar history of the early
days of the Hebrew invasion of Canaan. We are told that the passage of
the Jordan took place on the tenth day of the first month; and that the
Feast of the Passover was held on the fourteenth day of that month.
These are the only two positive dates given us. The week of the Pascal
celebrations would have occupied the time until the moon's last quarter.
Then preparations were made for the siege of Jericho, and another week
passed in the daily processions round the city before the moment came
for its destruction, which must have been very nearly at the beginning
of the second month of the year. Jericho having been destroyed, Joshua
next ordered a reconnaissance of Ai, a small fortified town, some twenty
miles distant, and some 3400 feet above the Israelite camp at Gilgal,
and commanding the upper end of the valley of Achor, the chief ravine
leading up from the valley of the Jordan. The reconnaissance was
followed by an attack on the town, which resulted in defeat. From the
dejection into which this reverse had thrown him Joshua was roused by
the information that the command to devote the spoil of Jericho to utter
destruction had been disobeyed. A searching investigation was held; it
was found that Achan, one of the Israelite soldiers, had seized for
himself a royal robe and an ingot of gold; he was tried, condemned and
executed, and the army of Israel was absolved from his g