Question XXVIII. How could Joshua, and the whole people, bear the weight and heat of so long a day?

Behold, the whole night Joshua the leader made [the] journey, and with [their] leader the Israelitic people. In the morning they rushed upon the enemy. And from morning right up to evening they fought — “to evening,” I say, which at last came not after twelve hours, as is the custom at other times, but after twenty-four, or after twenty-six and thirty [hours]. But who [is] of so iron a body, [with] hands or feet so adamantine, that he could bear so long-lasting a labor of fighting, running, [and] slaughtering? Especially when [there was] no rest interposed, no meal, no food. There is indeed sometimes, in a great multitude, some one [person] of such bodily strength, such greatness of soul, and such endurance of labors, that he could bear two whole days, or three, [of] hunger, thirst, and all bodily exertion; but that so many [men], so different in bodies and souls, should persevere so long in these troubles and labors — that, indeed, is very unusual and very wonderful. And so we see that Jonathan bore ill the fasting enjoined by his father Saul, while Israel pursued the enemy (1 Kings [1 Samuel], chapter 14, verses 29 & 30). But I think that God — who had inspired into Joshua that thought of staying the Sun — breathed into him, and into all the rest of his soldiers, a certain bodily force, so that what they otherwise either could in no way [do], or certainly scarcely [do], they now bore most excellently. And this was either some quality infused into their bodies, or rather a supernatural and extraordinary sustaining, by divine influx, of the powers which they had naturally — so that neither were the organs of motion wearied, nor did the vital spirits either fail or grow faint. For if God could check the headlong impetus of the Sun and Moon, much more could He blunt and drive away the flux of the natural humors and spirits, and hunger, and weariness. If some natural [things] are — in one respect, [as the Greek says,] “unseen,” in another “breathless,” in another “untouched” — why could He not also equip the Israelites against the very troubles and necessities of [their] bodies, and would the Lord not will [it] at such a time and place? And this divine antidote [alexipharmacon] against weariness and hunger and thirst lasted until — [the enemy] being conquered on that day — [they] came either to Gabaon, or to some neighboring safe place, where hunger was taken away by feasting, and the bodies refreshed by sleep.