Upon the Miracle of the Sun stopp’d by Joshua.
Barbanel, de miraculosa statione So- lis tempore Josue, ex vers. Joan. Buxtorf. He speaks of this Miracle in the Preface to his Comment, printed at Lipsick, in 1686, in fol. and at Hamburg, in 1687. an Edition enlarged with a Spicilegium of Observations. John Buxtorf put out this Preface in Latin, in his Dissertations, at Basil, 1662, in 4to.
See our Dissertation on Joshua’s commanding the Sun to stand still, in our Comment on this Book; and in the Collection of our Dissertations, tom. 2. p. 105.
John James Holsac, a German Lutheran, wrote upon the same Subject, at Wittemberg, 1678, in 4to. This is all that he has written. He lived about the end of the 17th Age.
Emmanuel Porto, an Italian, of the seventeenth Century, join’d what he wrote upon this Miracle with what he had said of the Sun’s Retrogradation under Hezekiah; at Padua, 1643, in 4to.
Upon the Geography of the Holy Land.
See the Authors mentioned in the Article of Sacred Geography. Moreover, St. Jerom, de Terra Promissionis, epistola ad Dardanum; & Epitaphium Paulæ. Lastly, his Book of Hebrew Places; which we speak of largely in the same Article.
D. Paul Pezron, in a Letter mentioned, Ibid. endeavours particularly to find out which were the true and ancient Limits of the Promised Land. He, at first, proposes to himself the following very natural Objection: What, don’t we see sufficiently, by reading Scripture, what the Confines were of the Land promised to the old Patriarchs, and after them to Moses? Can any one who has the least Tincture of Knowledge in the sacred Writings, be ignorant that the Land promised to these divine Men is that which we call the Holy Land, and which is so often called the Land of Canaan? And who is there that does not know, at this time of day, that the Country possessed by the Canaanites, was extended only from Dan to Beersheba, or from Mount Libanus to the Brook of Egypt: for the sacred Writings do frequently explain themselves thus, as to this Matter; and, consequently, the Limits of it reached no farther than from the City of Gaza to that of Sidon; or from Idumæa, or Edom, to the Springs of Jordan?
To this he replies: It is true; and this is the Occasion of the Mistake, that the Land taken from the Canaanites, and afterwards possessed by the Children of Israel, had no other Boundaries than Idumæa and Mount Libanus. But the Land promised to their Fathers, I mean the old Patriarchs, and whereof they enjoyed a part only, by reason of their continual Prevarications, was of a quite different Extent northward: which he endeavours to prove from the Scripture; as may be seen in the Memoirs of Trevoux, for the Year 1705. where this Letter was printed. Upon the Shower of Stones, the Gibeo- nites, and Jericho.
See our Dissertation upon the Shower of Stones which fell upon the Canaanites; another upon the Country whither the Canaanites fled, before the Face of Joshua; and our Inquiries relating to the Geography of the Holy Land, prefixed to our Comment upon Joshua. They are likewise in the Collection, tom. 2, p. 120.
Nicolai Serrarii Josuani Sacerdotes; this is the first of his Opuscula.
John Fecht published a Disputation upon the 9th chapter, relating to the Religion of the Gibeonites, at Durlach, 1709, in 4to. See above.
Daniel Pfeiffenger wrote likewise concerning these People, and the others mentioned in the same chapter. See upon Haggai.
John Francis Buddæus has a Dissertation on the Ruins of Jericho, at Jena, 1690, in 4to. John Andrew Schmidt wrote upon the same Subject at Jena, 1690, in 4to. See hereafter.
Upon many different Subjects in Joshua.
Henry Bunting made a Treatise relating to the Distribution of the Land of Canaan into twelve Tribes, in his Chronicon Ecclesiasticum, at Madgeburg, 1597, in fol. This M. Du Pin calls a Comment upon Joshua. He was of Hanover; Lutheran Minister of Goslar, about 1590. He is styled learned, a Man of Wit, accurate, and industrious.
Andrew Kempfer has treated of the Israelites passing thro’ the Jordan; at Giessen, 1696, in 4to. which he has join’d with the Passage of the Red-Sea. He was a German Lutheran.
F. Alexander, in his twelfth Dissertation of the fourth Age of the World, speaks of Joshua’s Swearing to preserve the Lives of the Gibeonites, p. 40, of the 2d Tome. In the thirteenth he treats of the Miracle wrought by God in stopping the Sun; and proves the Truth of it against those who dare deny it, Ibid. p. 43. In the fourteenth he examines what the Sabbatical and Jubilee Years were; their Epochs, and the different Opinions thereupon, Ibid. p. 46. In the fifteenth he shews that Joshua governed the Commonwealth of the Hebrews but 17 Years, Ibid. p. 49. In the sixteenth he affirms that we do not know who was the Author of the Book of Joshua, nor when he wrote, Ibid. p. 50.
D. Petit-Didier, in his twenty-second Dissertation, confirms the Truth of the Sun’s stopping miraculously at the Voice of Joshua; and compares this Miracle with that of its Retrogradation under Hezekiah. He proves both against the Præadamites, who disputed against the Reality of them, p. 192, &c. In the twenty -third he embraces their Opinion, who believe Joshua to be himself the Author of the Book which goes under his Name; and answers their Objections, who say the contrary.
That which deserves most to be examined into, is the antient Abode of the Canaanites, and the pretended Usurpation from the Sons of Shem. See the Memoirs of Trevoux, for the Month of July, 1704. tom. 2. p. 1214.