Question XXII. In what month, day, [and] hour did the Sun and Moon stand still?

First: it is an almost universally-spread saying among the Jews that this happened in the month Tamuz, which is the fourth month of the year (reckoned from the vernal equinox by the [lunar] illumination), and corresponds to our [calendar] partly [in] June, partly [in] July. “The wars,” says the Seder Olam (chapter 11), “of Jericho and Ai and Gabaon were done within a three-month [span]; on the third day of Tamuz. And Joshua said before all Israel: ‘Sun, against Gabaon move not, and Moon against the valley of Aijalon’; and the Sun and Moon stood still, until the nation should avenge itself on its enemies.” Which day R. Joseph hands down to have fallen on the summer solstice. Whence we gather that the beginning of the month Nisan, or [our] March, was in that year the day of the vernal equinox; the same think Arias [Montano], Lyranus [Nicholas of Lyra], [and] Genebrardus. But when I consider the deeds [actually] done up to this point, it seems that these starry standstills fell at the beginning of the third month — which is called Sivan, and corresponds to our [calendar] partly [in] May, partly [in] June — or at the end of the second [month], which is our Iyar and April and May. For, as was concluded above (questions 29 & 31): Jericho was set aflame on the 29th day of the first month. The two Israelites, then, could have advanced on the 30th day toward Ai — [those] who were repelled with disaster and disgrace. But be it so: granted there was still rest in the camp on that day, and indeed on the following day, which

was the New-moon of the second month, and for this reason a feast[-day] — [then] at least on the second light [day] of the same second month, the same [Israelites] assailed the city of Ai, and from it were then cut down and put to flight. There followed, on that very day, the lamentation and prayers, and at the same time the oracle concerning the casting of lots, and the casting of lots itself. On the third day Achan was burned. On the fourth, Ai was taken and burned. The fifth was the Sabbath, and so [there was] rest. On the sixth, [they] went to the mountains Garizim and Ebal. There they stayed the whole week. Thence the return to Gilgal was on the 13th. With the Gabaonite envoys the treaty was concluded on the 14th. On the sixteenth day, their fraud was detected. And from that 14th day, the rumor concerning the Gabaonites was spread far and wide, and [the kings] hatched various plans for besieging them, and the Kings made themselves ready for twelve or thirteen days — namely on the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th — and then Joshua was able to rush upon them, and to forbid the Sun its course. Nor does it seem necessary to add more days, if we look at the nearness of those Kings, the sudden rush to arms of those times, and the necessity of the danger hanging over those same Kings — as you see in this table.

Days of the Second Month

Secondly. The Rabbis who assign the rest of the Sun and Moon to the fourth month of the year [do so] all either on the third day of that month (as we heard above from the Seder [Olam]), or certainly hand down that it happened immediately after the new moon — as Radak and R. Isaiah. But I ascribe it rather to the fourth day of the third month; because, although the days of the second month marked above would suffice, yet [the events] seemed to be more conveniently accomplished…

(col. 1021)

…all [the more conveniently], if we reckon somewhat more days. For perhaps there was not such haste in each [event], and perhaps more time was spent at Gerizim and Ebal, and likewise in preparing the Gabaonite siege. Secondly: because the Moon was more to the east than the Sun — for the [Sun] was in Gabaon, the [Moon] in Aijalon, as was expounded above (question 21). Now there is an Astrological canon: “Whenever the Sun is low above our horizon, and the Moon, more to the east, is above the horizon, [the Moon] is always either full, or certainly tends toward the full.” And therefore the Moon could not then be at the end of the second month, when it loses almost all its light and hastens toward the new moon, with which the following month begins; but after this new moon had begun, it was now rather going toward the greater perfection of [its] light. Now the fourth day of the third month was a Sunday [dies Dominicus], because by the Gentiles it was once called “the day of the Sun,” der Sonntag. For since the last day of the preceding second month was the fourth weekday [Wednesday], the third month will begin on the fifth weekday [Thursday], and therefore the fourth day will thus be Sunday:

Rabbi Eliezer too (chapter [51]) thinks it was the Day of Preparation, or the eve of the Sabbath [Friday]. But what R. Joseph said above — that it was the summer solstice — falls [to the ground] from all these [considerations]. And indeed this miracle would have been less wonderful (at least to the common [people]) if the Sun had stood still on the solstitial day. But Isaiah (chapter 28) proclaims the supreme admirableness of this miracle.

Thirdly. Concerning the hour of the day, the Authors think in three ways. Some suppose it was the evening time, when the Sun was near to setting — so Cajetan in this place, Abulensis (question 12, and after [question] 86), and likewise of old Sulpitius [Severus] (book 1 of the History), as far as I can understand him. Reason one: because Joshua would have asked for the Sun to stand still in vain, [had he not] feared the impending night. Reason two: the same Joshua saw the Moon; therefore the Sun was already setting, which would otherwise have obscured it by the brightness of its light. Reason three — so Cajetan puts it: “By saying ‘wait,’ [Joshua] insinuates that the Sun was setting; for unless he had seen the imminent setting of the Sun, he would not have said to the Sun, ‘wait.’” Others, however, say it was the noon hour — whether “midday” be taken strictly, or broadly and commonly for the time around midday. So Lyranus [Nicholas of Lyra], Vatablus, Arias [Montano], and Radak. Masius thinks both opinions probable. To me the middle [view], which fixes [it at] midday, seems the more probable. First: because above (question 1) it was understood that the Sun stood still “in the middle of heaven,” which is effected by the meridian circle. Secondly: because this is for the most part the opinion, even of the ancients. For Sedulius (book 1):

The Sun stood still in Gabaon, and on the summit of mid-heaven [stood] fixed: unwonted to rein in the panting light, the day [thus] drawn out toward evening; nor did the Moon run on, sluggish in its own order, until the burning sword [of Joshua], with ravaging arms, should consume the huge [host of the] enemy, the very pole conspiring [with him]: even then the attendant stars beheld the [Lord] to come, foreshown by the name JESUS [= Joshua].

Theodoret (question 13 on Joshua): “This,” he says, “also prefigures the prodigious deed of the Savior. For just as, when the Prophet fought, the Sun stood still, so, when our Savior by His death dissolved death, the Sun at midday held back its rays, and filled the earth with darkness.” The Author On the Marvels of Sacred Scripture (book 2, chapter 4): “Jesus, son of Nun, Prince of the people of Israel, commanded the Sun, at mid-day, that it should not move.” There can be added the Rabbis cited at the end of the previous question, when they say that the Sun rested not only toward the west, but even in mid-heaven. But does R. Eliezer, cited before — when (in chapter 51) he says it was the eve of the Sabbath — thereby deny it was midday? For from this [midday] [the eve of the Sabbath] is wont to begin, as is clear from chapter 46, where he calls the sixth hour of the day “the eve of the Sabbath.” Thirdly: if it had been the evening hour, Joshua would have had the setting Sun before his eyes, because he was going toward Maceda, to the west; but it was said above (question 21) that the Sun stood still in Gabaon [behind him]. Fourthly: the Moon was in Aijalon, therefore in the part of the Zodiac nearest [to the Sun]; therefore it was very thin, and so could likewise have been obscured by the Sun’s rays. Fifthly: the [arguments] objected can be easily resolved.

To the first: Joshua was aiming at the fullest victory in his mind, and the utter slaughter of the enemy; and therefore he judged that more hours than would remain on that day were needed for the matter — especially since the multitude of the enemy was great, and the flight manifold. To the second: first, it is not even necessary that the Moon was seen by Joshua; it is enough that he was not ignorant that it was at that time near the Sun. Secondly, the Moon is often seen by day, even when near the Sun, on account of its very great nearness to the earth above all the stars — on account of which, too, although smaller than almost all the others, it nevertheless appears much larger. Thirdly, Abulensis himself does not hold that the Sun was then setting, yet holds that the Moon was seen by Joshua. To the third: “the Sun hastened not to set” means only that it did not set so quickly as it ought otherwise, by its custom, to have set. For otherwise it always hurries, and with most rapid course, where it has risen, hastens to its setting, [and] where it sets, to its rising — so that, in the space of one hour, it is handed down by the Astrologers to run through more than 162,000 miles. And the Hebrew verb does not properly mean “wait,” but either “be silent” or “be still,” as above (question 13); for although one who waits is still, yet not everyone who is still waits.