Joshua 10:12

Then spake Joshua to the Lord The quotation probably commences with the 12th verse and extends to the end of the 15th. It begins as follows:

"Then spake Joshua unto Jehovah,

In the day Jehovah delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel."

Then The crisis of the battle had now arrived. The day had far advanced since Joshua had emerged after his night-march through the passes of Ai. It was noon, and the sun stood high in the midst of heaven above the hills which hid Gibeon from his sight. "In front, over the western vale of Ajalon, was the faint figure of the crescent moon visible above the hailstorm (Jos. Ant. 5:1. 17), which was fast driving up from the sea in the valleys below." Beneath him was the Amorite host rushing in wild confusion down the western passes. The furious storm was obscuring the light of day, and the work was but half accomplished. Was the foe to make good his escape? Was the speed, with which he had "come up quickly, and saved, and helped" the defenceless Gibeonites, to be robbed of half its reward? Oh that the sun would burst forth once more from amidst the gloom that had obscured it! Oh that the day, all too short for his great undertaking, could be prolonged "until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies"! See Stanley's Sin. and Pal. p. 210; Edersheim's Israel in Canaan, pp. 81, 82.

spake Joshua Then it was, standing on the lofty eminence above Gibeon, "doubtless with outstretched hand and spear," that Joshua burst forth into that ecstatic prayer of faith, which has been here incorporated into the text from the "Book of Jasher."

and he said in the sight of Israel literally, before the eyes of Israel, in the sight or presence of Israel, who were witnesses of his words,

Sun, stand thou still Literally, as in the margin, " be silent," comp. Leviticus 10:3, "And Aaron held his peace." The word denotes (i) to be dumb with astonishment; (ii) to be silent; (iii) to rest, or, be quiet. Comp. 1 Samuel 14:9, "If they say thus unto us, Tarry (or be stillas in marg.) until we come to you;" Job 31:34, "Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence?" Keil would translate it "wait." The Vulgate renders it, "Sol contra Gabaon ne movearis et luna contra vallem Ajalon;" Wyclif thus, "Sunne, Aзens Gabaon be thow not meued, and mone, aзens the valey of Haylon."

Gibeon … Ajalon These spots are named as stations of the sun and moon "because Joshua, when he engaged in the battle, was probably west of Gibeon, in a place where he saw the sun shining in the east over that city, and the moon in the far west over Ajalon." The hour of utterance contemplated was probably still in the forenoon.

in the valley of Ajalon i.e. "the valley of the gazelles." It is represented by the modern Merj Ibn Omeir, "a broad and beautiful valley" running in a westerly direction from the mountains towards the great western plain. The town of Ajalon was afterwards, the conquest being concluded, in the territory of Dan (Joshua 19:42), and was assigned to the Levites (Joshua 21:24; 1 Chronicles 6:69). Here the Philistines were routed by Saul and Jonathan (1 Samuel 14:31), and the place is often mentioned in the wars with that people (1 Chronicles 8:13; 2 Chronicles 28:18).