And indeed if we consider how violently, in after-ages, the Israelites were oppressed From Josh. i. by their enemies, and by many battles and captivities, harassed and diminished in their to the end. numbers, we shall find no necessity of enlarging their possessions; because the country, which they conquered in the first six years, was spacious enough to contain them. (a) The promise, however, which God made, was sufficiently accomplished in the reigns of David and Solomon, when the kingdom of Israel was in its zenith; and though its territories did not extend to the Euphrates, yet its dominion did, since all that tract of land between Jerusalem and that great river was either subdued or made tributary to them.

Upon the whole therefore, it is evident, that the author of the book of Joshua, (be he who he will) in the three instances which we have been considering, has left no imputation upon God; forasmuch as though he commanded Achan to be put to death, yet it does not appear that his children suffered with him; or if they did, there is presumption to believe that they were accomplices in his crime: Though he ordered the taking of Ai by a stratagem, yet the whole form and contrivance of it he left to the general; and though the Israelites did not actually possess all that he had promised them, yet this was occasioned by their own disobedience and cowardice, and the falsification of those conditions upon which the full conquest of the land of Canaan was suspended. There is but one objection more, in the course of this period, which is usually aliedged against the Sacred History, and that is, the seeming contradiction of the ark's being said to be at Shechem, when it was, in reality, at Shiloh: But, in answer to this, some have imagined, that, as Joshua was now grown old and infirm, the ark, (b) upon this occasion, was removed from Shiloh, the settled place of the Divine residence, to Shechem, the place of Joshua's habitation, that he might with greater solemnity, and in the presence of God, (whereof the ark was the proper emblem) deliver his charge to the people. But other learned men have observed, that (c)" by the sanctuary of the Lord," we are to understand, not the ark of the covenant, but only some certain place of religious worship, such, very probably, as the Jewish oratories were. That the holy ark was not, on this occasion, set up here at Shechem, is evident, they say, from that prohibition given by God, (d) "Thou shalt not plant a grove of any trees, near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee, neither shalt thou set up a pillar which the Lord thy God hateth :" Whereas, in this sanctuary, we read both of an oak planted, and a pillar or statue erected under it; which is certainly such a violation of the Divine command, as Joshua upon no occasion can be supposed capable of incurring. (e) It is a very probable opinion therefore, that the place where Joshua set up this monumental pillar, was one of those which the tribe of Ephraim (to whom Shechem belonged) had consecrated and set apart for a proseucha, or a place to assemble in for public prayer; and that they made choice of this, rather than any other, to perform their devotions in, because it was that particular spot where God appeared to Abraham, and promised his posterity the possession of the land of Canaan.

* That there were such oratories, or places of public prayer, among the Jews, and

tans) had places for religious worship of the same de-
nomination, he proves from the Acts of the Apostles,
(chap. xvi. 13.) where Lydia is said to have met St
Paul, and to have heard him preach in that place,
which idóne Toos #goσeuxès rival, seemed to be a place
of prayer. There is also at Shechem, (which is now
called Neapolis) continues he, about a mile without
the city, a proseucha, a place of prayer, like a thea
tre, which was built in the open air, and without a
roof, by the Samaritans, who affected to imitate the
Jews in all things. Juvenal in his 3d satire, descri-
bing the manner in which some wild young fellows

A. M. 2553, that they were generally beset or shaded with trees, is evident from such a variety of &c. or 3803. testimonies, that it can hardly be contested; but whether they were of so early a date 1451, &c. or as Joshua's time, or not rather introduced after the captivity of Babylon, is a question

Ant. Chris.

1608.

not easy to determine. In the main, however, we may conclude, that whether the ark
of the covenant was occasionally brought to 'Shechem, or at Shechem there happened to
be such an oratory, as, in after-ages, became frequent in Judea, there can be no incon-
gruity in the sacred penman's saying, that the sanctuary of the Lord (since either the
ark or the oratory might merit that name) was at Shechem. There is another solution
however of this difficulty, which ought not to be disregarded. (a) Shechem and Shiloh
were about twelve miles distant from each other, and in the mid-way between them was
Timnah-Serah, the place where Joshua lived. Since therefore the text informs us, that
(b)" he gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for their elders, for their
heads, for their judges, and for their officers, and they presented themselves before
God;" we may reasonably suppose, that though all the people met at Shechem, yet
their elders and chief officers only presented themselves before God.
That so great a
multitude could not meet together, and encamp in any place, but where there is a pro-
portionable compass of ground, is a matter self-evident; and that, in the confines of
Shechem, there was a large and open country, extending perhaps as far as Shiloh, and
very commodious for their reception, we have the attestation of holy writ. But then,
since it is impossible for one man to speak to such a number of people and be heard,
Joshua, very probably, singled out the chief and principal of them, such as he foresaw
would succeed him in the government after his demise, and these he took with him to
Shiloh, a place in the neighbourhood, where was the ark or sanctuary of the Lord, that
he might there with the greater solemnity give them his final charge, which they,
in their turns, might deliver to their respective tribes.

Thus we have endeavoured to satisfy the several objections which are usually made against some passages in the Sacred History during the government of Joshua: And if

were wont in their drunken frolics to affront and a
buse every poor man they met in the streets in the
night time, brings them in speaking thus:

Ede, ubi consistas, in qua te quæro proseucha?

Sat. iii. Whereby he either intimates, that he was some poor wretch who dwelt in an house, that could not keep out wind and weather, but like the Jewish proseuchæ, was all open above; or he alludes to the state of the Jews at that time, who were banished out of Rome by Domitian, and had no place of shelter, but their oratories which were without the walls of the city. For that the Jews had their proseuchæ about the city of Rome is evident from that passage in Philo, (de Legatione ad Caium) wherein he commends the clemency and moderation of Julius Cæsar, who knew that the Jews had such places of public worship, where they always assembled on the sabbath day, and yet gave them no molestation, as Caius had done. Josephus (in his life, sect. 54.) makes mention of a proseucha at Tiberias in Galilee; and in several places in the New Testament, the same term is made use of in the same signification. Vid. Mede's Discourse 18. But then the question is, whether it be not a mistake in some learned men, to apply an usage that is mentioned at such and such a time, to a people who lived many ages before?

Philo Judæus, (de Legat. ad Caium) speaking of the barbarous outrage of some Gentiles against the

Jews, dwelling then at Alexandria, acquaints us, that
of some of their proseucha, they cut down the trees,.
and others they demolished to the very foundations..
The poet Juvenal alludes to the very same custom of
having trees planted where the Jewish oratories were,
when speaking of a fortune-teller of that nation, he
thus describes her:

Arcanum Judæa tremens mendicat in aurem,
Interpres legum Solymarum, magna sacerdos
Arboris, & summi fida internuncia cœli..

Sat. vi..

And in another place, complaining, that through the
corruption of the times, the once sacred grove of Ca-
pena, which had formerly been the habitation of the
muses, and the place where Numa was wont to meet
the goddess Ægeria, was now let out to the beggarly
Jews for a proseucha, his expressions are these:

Hic, ubi nocturnæ Numa constituebat amicæ,
Nunc, sacra fontis nemus, & delubra locantur
Judeis; quorum Cophinus, foenumque supellex.
Omnis enim populo mercedem pendere jussa est
Arbor, & ejectis mendicat Sylva Camænis.

Sat. iii. For it is hard to conceive, what affinity there should be between Jews and trees, unless it be from the custom that their oratories were usually shaded with them.

(a) Shuckford's Connection, vol. iii, lib. xii.
(b) Josh. xxiv. 1.

profane testimonies would be of any force, we might produce the accounts which their From Josh. i. historians give us of Neptune's drying up the river Inachus, and of Agamemnon's de- to the end. nouncing a curse against any one that should repair Troy, to justify the narrative we have in Scripture of the miraculous passage of Jordan, and the resentment and indignation which Joshua conceived against Jericho. The ancient Hercules was certainly the same with Joshua. He is said to have waged war in behalf of the gods against Typhous, and the rest of the giants of old, even as Joshua fought the battles of the Lord against the inhabitants of Canaan, men of a vast stature, and, at that time, under the displeasure of heaven. In conformity to the sacred record of God's destroying the confederate army of the Amorites with hail-stones, the ancient heathens say, that Hercules was thus assisted in his war against the sons of Neptune; and Plutarch, in his life of Timoleon, tells us, that a terrible storm of hail, in the face of the Carthaginian army, gave him (though he had but very few forces to encounter them) a complete victory over them. The sun's standing still is no new story: Callimachus (a) represents him as stopping the wheels of his chariot to hear the melody of a chorus of nymphs, wherewith he was so delighted, that it made him prolong the day; and though they are mistaken in the cause, yet the ancient poets discover a tradition of this miraculous event, * when they describe the heaven's blushing, and the sun's standing still, at the sight of the unnatural murder which Atreus committed. For if Statius mistake not, this bloody fact happened in the time of the Theban war, which, according to the best chronologists, was much about the time of Joshua's conquest of Canaan. But even supposing Statius, or any other author from whom he took the hint, are mistaken in their chronology, *2 the time of Phaeton's life (whose story of misguiding the chariot of the sun is supposed to take its rise from hence) will synchronize with the year of the sun's standing still in the days of Joshua. So that, as to the most wonderful transactions, which, in this space of time, we meet with in holy writ, "God has not left himself without a witness;" forasmuch as the heathen writers (though with some variation or disguise, according to the humour of their mythologists) are known to relate the same things.

DISSERTATION I.

OF THE SHOWER OF STONES, AND THE SUN'S STANDING STILL.

Of all the miraculous things that happened in Joshua's wars with the people of Canaan, the shower of stones which God sent upon his enemies while they fled, and the stop which he put to the course of the sun, that he might have a longer space to detroy them in their flight, are the most remarkable, and do therefore deserve a more particular consideration.

The former of these events the Sacred History represents in this manner-(b) "And

(a) His word are these :

Θεὸς οὔποτ ἐκεῖνον

"Ηλθε πάς Ηλιος καλὸν χόρον· ἀλλὰ θεῆται

Δίφρον ἐπιστήσας τὰ δὲ φάεα μηκύνονται.
Callimachus in Dianam.
* Tardius humenti noctem dejecit Olympo
Jupiter, et versum miti, reor, æthera curâ
Sustinuit, dum fata vetant; nec longius unquàm

Cessavere novæ, perfecto sole, tenebræ.
Statius Theb. lib. i. et v.

** The sun stood still in the days of Joshua, A. M.
2554, when Phaeton was about twenty-four years old,
an age of ambition enough to desire, though not of
ability to execute, the difficult province which he un-
dertook. Shuckford's Connection, vol. iii. lib. xii.
(6) Josh. x. 11.

Art. Chris.

A. M. 2553, it came to pass, that as they (viz. the army of the Amorites) fled from before Israel, &c. or 3803, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, the Lord cast down great stones from 1451, &c. heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died. They were more which died of the or 1608.___hailstones than they which the children of Israel slew with the sword." But the difference among commentators is, whether we are to understand this miracle of a shower of stones, properly so called, or of a shower of hail?

The learned Calmet, in a dissertation prefixed to his commentary upon Joshua, has taken a great deal of pains to show, that the stones which the Lord is said to have cast upon the Amorites, were not ordinary hailstones, (since it would be incongruous, as he thinks, to interest God in so common an occurrence) but real solid stones, which he supposes might have been engendered in the air by a whirlwind carrying up sand or gravel into a cloud, and there mixing it with some such oily or nitro-sulphureous matter, as might consolidate, and form it into a combustible body; that so, when, by frequent agitation, it came to be fired, it might burst through the cloud, and scattering itself upon the explosion, might fall down upon the earth in the nature of a perfect shower of

stones.

That great quantities of stones have in this manner been discharged from the clouds, is evident from several histories. Diodorus Siculus (a) informs us, that as the Persian army was on their march to plunder the temple at Delphos, thunder and lightning, and a violent storm of stones fell in their camp, and destroyed a great number of men. (b) In the reign of Tullus Hostilius, when news was brought to the government that it had rained stones upon Mount Alba, those who were sent to inquire into the matter, brought word, not only that the fact was true, but that these stones had fallen from the skies with an impetuosity equal to the most violent storm of hail. (c) Not long after the battle at Cannæ, the same author assures us, that a storm of the same kind fell on the same mountain, which lasted for two whole days; and events of this nature, attested by the best authors, have been so frequent at Rome, at Capua, at Lavinium, and several other places in Italy, that a man must be destitute of all modesty who pretends to deny them absolutely.

Nay, not only great quantities of smaller stones, but sometimes stones of a prodigious size, have been known to fall from the clouds, whereof a learned author, (d) among many others, gives us several instances, both of ancient and modern date. But then it is justly to be questioned, whether these authors have not suffered themselves to be imposed on by the too confident narrations of others. We may suppose indeed, that whirlwinds or hurricanes may raise the sand or gravel, and carry it on high, or some sudden eruptions of subterraneous fire may discharge great quantities of cinders or ashes into the air, where, meeting with some exhalations of a sulphureous, oily, or nitroline quality, they may, by the pressure of the clouds, be condensed and hardened into a stony substance; yet, how any cloud should be able to support such a quantity of smaller stones, much more of vast massy ones, as would be necessary to destroy the army of the five confederate kings, and to continue falling down upon them from Bethhoron to Azekah, places which lay in different tribes, and can hardly be supposed less than twelve or fourteen miles distant (to say nothing of the many apertures in the earth, which must have been seen afterwards in these parts, upon supposition that the thing was effected by vulcanos), is a matter not altogether so credible.

The truth is, there is no reason for carrying this miracle so high; since a shower of hailstones will not only do the work every whit as well, but seems to be the genuine import of Joshua's words; who, having acquainted us, that the Lord cast down great stones upon the Amorites, adds, by way of explication," that they were more that died by the hailstones than by the sword;" where it is reasonable to suppose, that had there (c) Ibid. lib. 25, 30, 34.

(b) Liv. lib. i. Dec. i.

(a) Vol. ii. lib xi.
Dissertation who has given us a large account hereof.

(d) See Saurin's

been great stones, as well as hail, the death of the greater number of those that perish- From Josh. i, ed would not have been attributed to the hail only.

It is some confirmation of this exposition, that we find the Septuagint, in both places of the text, translating it Aíbus Xans, which Josephus (a) calls " a violent tempest of hailstones of a prodigious size;" and the author of (b) Ecclesiasticus thus recounts the whole matter;" with hailstones of a mighty power, he made the battle to fall violently upon the nations, and in the descent of Beth-horon he destroyed them that resisted.

The prophet Ezekiel, in his predictions against Gog, introduces God as threatening that (c) he would plead against him with pestilence, and with blood, with an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone:" And in another place, speaking of false prophets, who seduced his people into an opinion of their security as if they had been fortified within a wall, he pursues the metaphor, and tells those who "daubed it with untempered mortar, (d) that it should fall; for there shall be an overflowing shower (says he) and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall, and a stormy wind shall rent it." So that from these, and several other passages of the like nature, we may learn, that, in executing his judgments upon the face of the earth, hailstones are very frequently arrows in the hands of the Almighty: And of what force they are to do execution we are advertised in what befel the Egyptians, when (as the Sacred History has related it) (e)" the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran upon the ground: And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt; so there was hail, and fire mingled with hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote, throughout all the land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast: It smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field." Nor are there examples of a later date wanting (especially in our philosophical transactions) of the vast havock and destruction that hailstones (from (ƒ) one to five pounds weight) have done in several places; killing both man and beast, and laying the whole country waste for some sixty or seventy miles round. And therefore, since it is agreed on all hands that hailstones have frequently fallen, large enough to destroy never so great a number of people when naked and defenceless against their blows, what need is there for our having recourse to any other solution?

A shower of hail, indeed, may be supposed to proceed from a more natural cause: but when the event happened at the very instant wherein God promised to assist his people against their enemies; when, though it might have annoyed either army, it fell only on that which God had before determined to ruin; and fell so very heavily upon it, as to destroy more than the sword of the conquerors had done; such an event as this, I say, cannot but be looked upon as a miraculous interposition of Providence, how fortuitous soever the concourse of second causes may be. In working miracles God usually employs natural causes and productions. He does not create any new thing for the purpose, but makes use of what is already created in a new and extraordinary manner: And therefore, though the shower of hail, and probably the wind too, which made it fall with such impetuosity, were both of them natural; yet the sending them at the very nick of time, and directing them to fall upon the enemy only, in this there was manifestly the hand of God, and something supernatural.

The other miracle is thus related in Holy Writ. (g)" Joshua said, in the sight of all Israel, sun stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves of their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day: And there was no day like that, before or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man; for

to the end.