body was calcined “ ut quam clementissime et citra sanguinis effusionem, puniretur.” (118)
Had Lanci never turned bis vast Semitic acquirements to any other Scriptural text but
Joshua Xth, 12,13, astronomical posterity should weave for him a wreath of laurels. Bui,
to appreciate his labors, one must bestow a final smile of pity upon thc forty-seven.
Z. — Joshua x. 12, 13, 14.
“ Then spake Joshua to the lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the child«
of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Qibeon, and thou, Moon,
in the valley of Ajalon.. . . And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people hid
avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the hook of Jasher! , So the n
stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.. . . Andtta,
was no day like that before it or after 1 that the lord hearkened to the voice of a man: for U,
Lord fought for Israel.”
So far « authorized version! ” and, in lieu of examining whether the ancient Text hui
been truthfully rendered, those among whom knowledge has not yet advanced beyond fc
theological grade are lavishly vituperative of scholars who’, knowing the English transMn
of this passage to be an absurdity, despise the commentaries upon it as a sham.
To place the reader at our point of view, let us first ask the question what is this “toil
of Jasher ?” One of the twenty lost books of the Hebrews cited in the Old Testament, i
the facile reply. “ The book of Jasher, that is, the Righteous. (Josh. x. 13; 2 Sam. i. 1«
This book must have been of no very ancient date, for it contained the Lamentations t!
David on the death of Saul and Jonathan. A spurious work with this title has come dm
to us containing the history recorded in the first seven books of the Old Testament.” (Ilf
According to Cahen (vii, pp. 121-124; 2 Samuel i. 17-27), the verse r u n s -
“ 17. David composed this lament upon Saul and upon Jonathan his son. — 18. M
ordered to be taught to the children of Judah [the elegiac Lament called] the Sow; Lehold,
it is written in the book of JasEer.”
Then follows the lament itself, from verse 19 to 27: in which David, in poetic strain,
says (v. 22, 23) —
« The bow of Jonathan never retreated ;t
The sword of Saul never returned empty:
(Oh) Saul and Jonathan! ” >
Consequently, David, about b . o. 1056, had composed this beautiful ode; and a later wit
says, “ behold, it is written in the Book of Jasher;” that is, David’s ode is. Ergo, this*
of Jasher was a collection of poems compiled after B. 0. 1056. Now, the writer of “ Jos I
Xth” quotes, from this same Book of Jasher, the passage which in king James, sverai
runs — “ So the sun stood still in theTuidst of heaven and hasted not to go down aboil
whole day;” continuing his citation down to “ the Lord fought for Israeli” Hencejt
positive that “ Joshua-6«-NUN,” could not have been the author of the “ Book ofJoshui
because, having departed this life about B. c. 1426, he could have known nothing of art
sequent collection of poems that contained the lamentations of David upon events
happened some 370 years after Joshua himself was dead and buried. Moses is the™
man who is privileged by orthodoxy to describe hiB own demise: (120) a second ins»
cannot be tolerated. Now, this author of “ the Book of Joshua ” is utterly unknown,«
its date is very modem, perhaps as low as the sixth century b . c. ;(121) as are liW
the “ Books of Samuel.” J
The.next point, to which attention is invited, regards the sentence—“ Is not this wn«
in the Book of Jasher?” What was written in the said book? Commentators, igno'i
of Oriental usages, concur in the notion that those passages which precede the book 8»
were contained in the said book. Such opinion is fallacious, because, as Orientalists m
it is the universal custom of Semitio writers to quote the authorities they introduce
(118) H um b o ld t : Cosmos; transl. Otti; New York, 1861; iii. p. 17.
(119) L b W e t t e : i. p. 411. , „
(120). Deuteron, xxxiv. 5-12. N. B. The dates are from the margin of our English Bihle.
(121) De W e t t e : ii. pp. 186-191; and p. 228, for Samuel.
the extracts ,or citations they make from the latter's works;., so that, what follows the
words “ Book of Jasher” must be the quotation from that book.
The literary criticism of age, manner, and authorship, being briefly defined, we glance
next at the topography; observing, that any proposed verifications of the latitude and longitude
of Gibeon and Ajalon by tourists in modern Palestine are mere “ traveller’s tales:” for
Gabh-Os, “ occultation of the sun,” and At'aZ-ON, (122) “ dawning of the sun,” refer respectively,
the former to the West, the latter to the Easj, as points of the compass. Now, sup-
i pose two towns, one on either side of a valley, opposite to each other;. the one, Gabd-O n ,
L on the western summit; the other, Aial-ON, on the eastern; while a battle was raging be-
I tween Israelites and Ammonites in the valley between and beneath. Suppose, again, by
I anticipation of the text (and you have as much right to suppositions, in this case, as the
forty-seven collectively ), that the twenty-four hours during which this fight went on occurred
| at an equinox; and that it so happened, by a singular juncture of the solar and lunar motions,
that, at six o’clock p. m. precisely, the sun set in the West at the same apparent moment
that a full moon rose in the East; you'would have light for twenty-four hours in the
| valley; or twelve hours of sunlight through the day, and twelve hours of moonlight through
I the night. Such combinations are so natural, although rare, that if any tourist were to furnish
f an astronomer with the exact latitude and longitude of such a valley in Palestine, the latter
I could calculate the precise day when such celestial combinations occurred, and thus fix the
[era alluded to in the “ Book of Joshua.” Finally, in the Hebrew, these two lines are rhyth-
t mical, besides containing a play upon the words GBaUN and AILUN, by poetic license: —
“ To the eyes of Israel, 0 Sun! in the hUls [B-GB&tJN] even hide thyself:
But thou, O Moon! he most resplendent in the [B-&MKAILUN] vdMey.*
\ We conclude with the lesson of that sage from whom both text and commentary are
I derived. (123)
“ In precisely that day that IeHOuaH [the document is Jehovistic] delivered up the Amo-
t rean in face of the children of Israel, Joshua spake to IeHOuaH and said: To t h e e y e s
1 01 ISBAEL, 0 SUN ! IN THE HILLS EVEN HIDE THYSELF: BUT THOU, 0 MOON ! BE MOST
I r es pl end ent in t h e v a l l e y . And the sun set, and the moon endured until the multitude
(.glutted (their) vengeance upon their e n emi e sAn d is it not written in the book [entitled]
I the Just ? [here follows the quotation] ‘ The sun which, running along the meridional parti-
liiwi of the heavens [t. e. along the equinoctial line], goes down [sets], was not as precise
I [true, exact], as by day, intent upon new-birth ?’ For certainly there was not before, nor
(.after, a day equal to that in which, IeHOuaH having ■ listened to the voice of man,
[IeHOuaH (himself) fought for Israel.”
| It may be prudent to observe that a passage in Isaiah, and another in Ecclesiastes, pro-
[ perly translated, lend no support to the supernaturalist commentary. That of Babakkuk
|(m. 11) has no relation to the event; as, with “ one longing, lingering look” at king
LJames’s translation, we prove by the subjoined rendering: — “ Sun and moon set at
1 their season; by the light of thy arrows they shall march, by the splendor of the lightning
luf thy lance.” (Referring probably to a night attack.)
t Thus vanishes “ J o sh u a ’s miracle! ” The late Rev. Moses Stuart, than whom as a
I Hebraist, and upright champion of theology, none superior have yet appeared in these
(United States, supplies this definition of a “ miracle ” .— “ I have it before me, in a letter
[from one of the first philologists and antiquarians that Germany has produced. It is this:
¡ ‘The laws of nature are merely developments of the Godhead. God cannot contradict, or
I be inconsistent with himself. But inasmuch as a- miracle is a contradiction of the laws of
I Eature, or at least an inconsistency with them, therefore a miracle is impossible.’ ” (124)
Reader! We have submitted seriatim to your judgment a positive example of the errors
| of our truly-vulgar version for every letter of the English alphabet. We have kept no
(122) Like BeUoON — “ House of the Sun ” ; or ON, the Sim, Hebrew name for Heliopolis.
(123) L a n c i : Paralipomeni ; ii. pp. 381-390. It is of no use to consult C a h e n on these passages, except for the
[ftti (points deducted); vi. pp. 88, 39.
(124) Crit Hist, and Defence, &c.; Andover ; 1845; p. 19.