he Israelites had done their best, and the heat and their long
exertions had nearly overpowered them, Joshua was compelled to recognize
that he had been but partly successful. He had relieved Gibeon; the
Amorites were in headlong flight; he had cut them off from the direct
road to safety, but he had failed in one most important point. He had
not succeeded in surrounding them, and the greater portion of their
force was escaping.

5.--THE MIRACLE.

It was at this moment, when his scouts announced to him the frustration
of his hopes, that Joshua in the anxiety lest the full fruits of his
victory should be denied him, and in the supremest faith that the Lord
God, in Whose hand are all the powers of the universe, was with him,
exclaimed:

"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon,
And thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon!"

So his exclamation stands in our Authorized Version, but, as the
marginal reading shows, the word translated "stand still" is more
literally "be silent." There can be no doubt that this expression, so
unusual in this connection, must have been employed with intention. What
was it that Joshua is likely to have had in his mind when he thus spoke?

The common idea is that he simply wished for more time; for the day to
be prolonged. But as we have seen, it was midday when he spoke, and he
had full seven hours of daylight before him. There was a need which he
must have felt more pressing. His men had now been seventeen hours on
the march, for they had started at sunset--7 p.m.--on the previous
evening, and it was now noon, the noon of a sub-tropical midsummer. They
had marched at least twenty miles in the time, possibly considerably
more according to the route which they had followed, and the march had
been along the roughest of roads, and had included an ascent of 3400
feet--about the height of the summit of Snowdon above the sea-level.
They must have been weary, and have felt sorely the heat of the sun,
now blazing right overhead. Surely it requires no words to labour this
point. Joshua's one pressing need at that moment was something to temper
the fierce oppression of the sun, and to refresh his men. This was what
he prayed for; this was what was granted him. For the moment the sun
seemed fighting on the side of his enemies, and he bade it "Be silent."
Instantly, in answer to his command, a mighty rush of dark storm-clouds
came sweeping up from the sea.

Refreshed by the sudden coolness, the Isr