Chapter Ten

Battle at Gibeon. 12. Standing of the sun. 16. Conquest of southern Canaan.

Joshua 10:1. When Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and devoted it to destruction, and that just as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king, and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace [with Joshua and] with Israel and remained among them, Joshua 10:2. then he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and greater than Ai, and all its inhabitants were mighty men. Joshua 10:3. Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying: Joshua 10:4. Come up to me and help me to strike Gibeon, because it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel. Joshua 10:5. They came together and went up—five Amorite kings: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, they and all their armies—and encamped against Gibeon to make war against it. The warlike movement against the Israelites, which had seized the Canaanite kings (Josh 9:1), was even more intensified by news of Gibeon’s defection to the Israelite side, which opened to them the way into the very heart of the country. The immediate threat was felt first by Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, who was closest to Gibeon, and who turned for help to the kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon to conquer Gibeon. Jerusalem, identical with Salem (see note to Gen 14:18), in ancient times was still called Jebus (Josh 15:8) from the Canaanite tribe that dwelt in it, and from David’s time bore his name (2 Sam 5:9). Regarding Hebron, see note to Gen 13:18. Jarmuth, today the village of Yarmuk with remnants of ancient city walls, was located on the western side of the Judean hills about 14 versts west of Bethlehem; later it belonged to the tribe of Judah (Josh 15:35). Lachish, which later also fell in the portion of the tribe of Judah (Josh 15:39), was a fortified city in the time of Joshua, whom he took only “on the next day” after attacking it (Josh 10:32), which is not said of the conquest of other cities. It was located to the northeast of Gaza in the plain (Shephelah), on the hill of Umm Lachis, now covered with ruins. Excavations conducted by the German scholar Petrie in 1890 showed the great antiquity of this city, which at the beginning of its historical existence was destroyed and rebuilt eight times from its ruins. The origin of the city dates to 1700 years before the Christian era. Eglon was located not far from Lachish, to the east of it. The low hill in the middle of the plain on which it was situated is called Ajlun.

Joshua 10:6. The inhabitants of Gibeon sent to Joshua in the camp [of Israel], to Gilgal, saying: Do not abandon your servants; come up to us quickly and save us and help us; for all the Amorite kings who dwell in the hills have gathered against us. Joshua 10:7. Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. Joshua 10:8. And the Lord said to Joshua: Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hand; none of them shall be able to stand before you. Joshua 10:9. And Joshua came upon them suddenly, [because] he marched all night from Gilgal. The forces of Gibeon and three cities allied with it were insufficient for successful struggle with the kings of southern Canaan, who held fortified cities and possessed an army trained in war, as the Gibeonites expressed when they sent word to Joshua that “all the Amorite kings who dwell in the hills” had gathered against them. Defense of the allied cities required from the Israelites a full exertion of their strength; for the first time they were obliged to enter into battle with the united forces of the Canaanite kings, upon the outcome of which depended the decision of the question about their position in the Canaanite land. Joshua fully understood the great importance of the impending battle, which is rightly counted among the greatest battles in the history of mankind 84, and therefore he moved against the enemy with all his forces, “all the people of war,” and all his mighty men. The Lord through a special revelation encouraged the Israeli leader with the promise of His almighty help, in reliance on which Joshua quickly, in the course of one night (cf. Josh 9:17), accomplished under the command of his army the difficult march from Gilgal to Gibeon (about 17 versts 85 of the way) with an ascent to the mountains, which is indicated by the use of the verb “ala” in the Hebrew text, which properly means “ascended,” in describing this path “all night went.” Thanks to this swift march, the Israelite army fell upon the enemy suddenly.

Joshua 10:10. And the Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, and defeated them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah. The unexpected attack in the early morning (see note to Josh 10:12) by the Israelites, confident in divine help, produced a striking effect upon the armies of the allies; they could not withstand the blow and suffered a great defeat under the walls of Gibeon. This victory the biblical writer, expressing, of course, the view of the battle’s participants, wholly attributes to the Lord. “The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, and defeated them at Gibeon with a great slaughter.”

Joshua 10:11. When they were fleeing before Israel by the descent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw large stones from heaven upon them until they reached Azekah, and they died; more died from the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword [in the battle]. Here the biblical writer explains how the Lord “pursued and struck down” (Josh 10:10) the Canaanite warriors when, after their defeat at Gibeon, they turned in confusion to flee and made their way along the road passing near Gibeon, westward toward the well-known Beth-horon ascent (in Hebrew “maaleh,” at the Septuagint ἀναβασις—“ascent”), located between Upper (Josh 16:5) and Lower (Josh 16:3) Beth-horon. The location of both these cities is well known: the first was located at the place of the present village of Beit Ur al-Foka, the second at Beit Ur al-Tahta; the first was situated on a high promontory of a mountain, between two valleys west of Gibeon at about 10 versts distance (in 2 hours of travel). Between Upper and Lower Beth-horon is a steep, uneven ascent (or descent) of an hour’s journey among overhanging mountains. When the warriors of the Canaanite kings rushed down this slope into the valley, the Lord “threw large stones from heaven.” These stones in the Septuagint and in the Book of Sirach (Sir 46:7) are understood as large hailstones (λίθοι χαλάζης—“stones of hail”), falling from a storm cloud, which served as a weapon to strike down the Canaanite army. The occurrence of such an extraordinarily large hail, causing injury and death, is certainly not in itself anything unique or unparalleled. Examples cited from times nearest to the present of this phenomenon 87 show only that what the biblical writer said about “large stones falling from heaven” was not exaggerated. And the fact that this unusual hail fell precisely upon the Canaanite warriors seeking safety in flight serves to indicate the supreme help which the Lord sent to His people in their struggle with enemies. The hail-bearing cloud inflicted deadly blows upon the Canaanite army even after it emerged from the Beth-horon pass until Azekah and Makkedah (Josh 10:10). Both these cities, which later belonged to the tribe of Judah (Josh 19:35), were located on the plain between the shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the hills of the tribe of Judah (Josh 15:33), but the exact location of each is not determined with certainty: Azekah, based on 1 Sam 17:1, was located not far from the city of Socoh or Sochoh (regarding the location of the latter, see Josh 15:35), and some 88 place it at Deir el-Aasek, about 10 versts (8 English miles) north of Socoh. Makkedah was located, according to some, at the place of the present village of Summayl at 2½ hours of travel to the northwest of Eleutheropolis 89, and according to others, at the place of the village of El-Mugar (which means “cave”), about 3 versts (2 English miles) to the southeast of Ekron (regarding Ekron see Josh 13:3), near which are caves (Josh 10:16), which, however, remain unexplored 90. In any case, the named cities are placed to the southwest of Beth-horon; in this same direction, closer to the latter, lay also the extensive Aijalon valley, which from the south of the city of Aijalon (Josh 19:42), at the place of the present village of Yalo, stretches to the northeast, in the direction toward Beth-horon.

Joshua 10:12. Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorite into the hand of Israel, when He defeated them at Gibeon, and they were defeated before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: Stand, sun, over Gibeon, and moon, over the valley of Aijalon! After the Gibeon battle, the Lord, in answer to Joshua’s prayer, performed another extraordinary deed, to which the biblical writer devoted a special brief section (Josh 10:12-14), similar to chapters III–IV, beginning with an indication of the time of the event. It occurred on the day in which the Lord “gave the Amorite”—that is, the army of five Canaanite kings—“into the hand of Israel,” or, as it is clarified in the Slavonic-Russian translation in agreement with the Greek, after the defeat “of them at Gibeon.” The words “when He defeated them at Gibeon and they were defeated before the sons of Israel” are absent from the Hebrew text, but appear in the oldest and many later lists of the Septuagint translation; they serve as a clearer indication of the time of the event being described. When, according to the sense of the quoted words of the biblical text, the battle under the walls of Gibeon had ended and the defeated enemy, in confusion, turned to flight, heading along the road toward Beth-horon, Joshua, pursuing him, saw both a large number of the Canaanite army still surviving and the possibility of its complete defeat in its then condition—defeat on this very day, before it recovered and took shelter in its cities. Filled with this thought and seeing at the same time how high the sun had already risen, Joshua, with the boldness characteristic of men close to God, in the presence of the soldiers surrounding him (“in the sight of Israel,” literally from the Hebrew “before the eyes of Israel”) called out to the Lord: “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.” This is how this prayer is rendered in the Septuagint translation (Στήτω ὁ ἥλιος κατὰ Γαβαων καὶ ἡ σελήνη κατὰ φάραγγα Αιλων). This translation, rendered word-for-word in the Slavonic Bible, has the advantage over the commonly used today: “Stand, sun, over Gibeon, and moon, over the valley of Aijalon,” in that it fully corresponds to the prayer that was addressed to the Lord, not to the sun and moon (the Hebrew verb “dom” appearing in these words is placed, one must think, in the infinitive form, which in Hebrew speech was often used, as is known, in the sense of the imperative, so it is grammatically correctly translated in the Septuagint with the words “let it stand”). This prayer, the Israeli leader pronounced, as one may suppose, at the very time when he, pursuing the enemy, reached the Beth-horon height and from it saw before him, to the west, the extensive plain with the Aijalon valley to the southwest, and in the Beth-horon pass—a mass of the enemy army descending through it, while behind him, on the eastern side, was the just-abandoned Gibeon, over which towered the midday luminary. The sun had risen quite high since he had approached Gibeon in the early morning of this day, but not yet so bright was its radiance that the moon was completely hidden; its pale disc was still visible on the western side over the Aijalon valley. Such a position of the heavenly bodies, indicated by the words of Joshua’s prayer, naturally leads to the understanding that the latter was pronounced not in the evening, but in the forenoon hour, when the sun was visible still in the east and the moon in the west; in the evening the position of the heavenly bodies would, of course, be the reverse. The purpose of the prayer was that the Lord would prolong this fortunate day, marked by victory, for the complete defeat of the enemy. Expressing this prayer, Joshua used the ordinary figure of speech, formed under the influence of simple direct observation of the heavenly bodies and their relation to the earth, one that continues to be used even now, despite the knowledge since Galileo that it is not the sun that moves around the earth, but the opposite.

Joshua 10:13. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is not this written in the Book of the Righteous: “The sun stood in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to set for about a whole day”? Joshua 10:14. And there has not been a day like that before it or after it, in which the Lord listened to the voice of a man. For the Lord fought for Israel. Despite the extraordinariness of the request, it was heard by God and granted: the light of the sun continued all the time “until the people,” or according to the oldest Greek lists 91, with which the Slavonic Bible here agrees, “God 92 took vengeance on their enemies” (or “upon them”), that is, as long as the pursuit of the Canaanite army continued on this day. Indicating the fulfillment of Joshua’s prayer, the biblical writer was fully conscious of the extraordinariness of what was accomplished, and therefore he, “fearing that others might not believe this account, says that it is found in an ancient writing” 93. According to the Hebrew text, with which many Greek lists agree (with the exception, however, of the oldest 94), the biblical writer refers here to the Book of the Righteous, saying: “Is not this written in the Book of the Righteous?” The Book of the Righteous, lost in ancient times, is mentioned only in 2 Sam 1:18 as such a book in which was recorded David’s song on the death of Saul and Jonathan, written in Hebrew verses. Neither its author nor the time of its writing is known. From the fact that it contained David’s song, it does not follow that before this time there was no such book or that it was completed in David’s time. This book, one must think, had its beginning before that of this king-psalmist and contained in its composition songs from the time of the conquest of the Canaanite land. From the reference to it by the writer of Joshua it is evident that the song about the Gibeon victory contained in it was well known among the Israelite people in the writer’s time and could therefore serve as a living reminder of that extraordinary day of victory. From the Book of the Righteous the biblical writer drew, as one may suppose, the words of Joshua’s prayer and its fulfillment, contained in the second half of Josh 10:12 and the first Josh 10:13 verse, in the structure of which Hebrew commentators perceive peculiarities of Hebrew poetic speech 95, corresponding to the character of this book as containing songs like David’s song. But the further words in the second half of Josh 10:13 and in Josh 10:14, written in the usual simple speech of biblical narrative 96, belong to the writer of Joshua himself. In them he with complete clarity and decisiveness confirms what is drawn from the Book of the Righteous. Foreseeing the perplexity that the narrated event would raise, the biblical writer describes again in two consecutive sentences the extraordinary event that occurred on the day of the Gibeon battle. It consisted in the fact that the sun, having reached, as it is commonly said even now, its highest point on the heavenly vault, continued to shine with full radiance: “stood in the midst of heaven,” or literally from the Hebrew “in the middle of heaven,” not hastening toward the setting, with the result that this day lasted longer than usual, “for about a whole day.” To this description the biblical writer adds an indication of its extraordinariness in the history of God’s relations with men: “And there has not been a day like that before it or after it, in which the Lord listened to the voice of a man,” or according to the Greco-Slavonic translation and the ancient Slavonic version, “hearkened to a man” 97. And in conclusion the biblical writer indicates the reason for the unparalleled fulfillment by the Lord of Joshua’s request, which consisted in the fact that “the Lord fought for Israel.” The words “before it or after it” suggest that a considerable time had passed since the day of the Gibeon victory, which gave reason to point to the unprecedented nature of the accomplished event. Three consecutive similar expressions in which it is described show that the biblical writer indeed saw in the fulfillment of Joshua’s prayer an astronomical miracle, truly conceived of the day of the Gibeon battle as prolonged beyond the usual by the action of divine omnipotence. Such was the understanding of this event among the ancient Jews, as is evident from the Book of Sirach (Sir 46:5) and the “Antiquities” of Josephus (Iud. Antiquities 5:1, 17), as well as among the ancient Christian writers. According to Justin the Philosopher: “Jesus stopped the sun, being beforehand renamed with the name of Jesus and having received power from His Spirit” (Dialogue with Trypho, § 113). Proclus of Gaza in the prolongation of day by Joshua’s prayer sees a foreshadowing of a more prolonged day for the struggle against enemies granted by Jesus Christ to the believers (Migne. Patrologia graeca. Vol. LXXXVII, 1021). By what means the Lord prolonged the day of the Gibeon victory remains beyond the limits of human knowledge.

Joshua 10:15. Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, returned to the camp at Gilgal. Comparison of this verse with Josh 10:43 shows the exact similarity of their content, and consideration of what follows Josh 10:15 with equal clarity indicates that Joshua did not return to Gilgal after pursuing the Canaanites to Azekah (Josh 10:10), but continued his march further south and eastward (Josh 10:39-40) and only after this returned with his army to Gilgal. The question of what the return of Joshua to Gilgal mentioned in Josh 10:15 according to the present Hebrew text means is resolved for the Orthodox reader of the Bible by the Septuagint translation, in the oldest lists of which (in the Vatican and Alexandrian) this verse is not read, and as it agrees with them, it was not read in our ancient Slavonic translation 98. It was first introduced into the Slavonic translation by the Ostroh editors on the basis of the Aldine and Complutensian editions 99, relying on later Greek lists, whose text is supplemented from the Hebrew text.

Joshua 10:19. but you, do not stop here; pursue your enemies and smite the rear guard of their army and do not allow them to go into their cities, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand. “Smite the rear guard of their army,” that is, those who had fallen behind on the march from the Canaanite army (Deut 25:13). Joshua himself did not participate, as is evident from Josh 10:21, in this pursuit, remaining at Makkedah.

Joshua 10:21. all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace, and no one dared to move his tongue against any of the sons of Israel. “No one dared to move his tongue against the sons of Israel,” that is, no one disturbed their peace (Exod 11:7) and offered no resistance to them. The Greco-Slavonic translation of these words “no one dared to move his tongue against any of the sons of Israel” expresses a different understanding, not corresponding to the context of speech.

Joshua 10:24. When they brought these kings to Joshua, Joshua called all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him: Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. They came near and put their feet upon the necks of them. Joshua 10:25. Joshua said to them: Do not fear nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage; for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you fight. The command to the Israeli military leaders to place their feet on the necks of the defeated kings in the presence of all the troops was to make clear to everyone their complete victory over the Canaanites; hence the expression “place at the footstool of the feet” (Ps 109:1). This symbolic rite, serving to indicate the complete defeat of enemies, was also used in the Byzantine Empire.

Joshua 10:26. And after that Joshua struck them and killed them and hung them on five trees; and they hung on the trees until the evening. Besides the shameful rite, the defeated kings were not subjected to torture before death, as was done among other ancient peoples: hanging, as a symbol of shameful death, was carried out upon the corpses (cf. Josh 8:29). The same, one must think, was done with the king of Makkedah as well.

Joshua 10:29. And Joshua and all Israel with him went from Makkedah to Libnah and made war against Libnah; Joshua 10:30. and the Lord gave it and its king into the hand of Israel, and he struck every person in it with the sword, devoting it to destruction: he left none remaining in it [whom might be saved]: and he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. The location of Libnah, which later belonged to the tribe of Judah and was located on the plain (Josh 15:33), is not determined with certainty. Eusebius and Jerome place Libnah generally in the region of Eleutheropolis, which among geographers of Palestine 100 is usually identified with Beit-Jibrin of Greco-Roman writers, the present city of Beit-Jibrin, which is located to the southeast of Askelon 101. In the region of Eleutheropolis, namely in “Arak el-Manjiyeh,” as a hill covered with ruins is called, about 7 versts (5 English miles) away, some 102 place the location of Libnah. This location of Libnah (to the south of Makkedah, which is placed at this point directly to the east of Askelon) is consistent with the fact that Joshua, after conquering Makkedah, turned against Libnah, and from there—to Lachish 103.

Joshua 10:31. From Libnah Joshua and all Israel with him went to Lachish and encamped against it and made war against it; Joshua 10:32. and the Lord gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he took it on the second day and struck it with the sword and every person in it, [and destroyed it] as he had done to Libnah. Joshua 10:33. Then Horam king of Gezer came up to the aid of Lachish; but Joshua defeated him and his people, [with the sword] so that none remained [to be saved]. Regarding Lachish, see notes to Josh 10:3. In speaking about the king of Gezer who came to aid Lachish, the biblical writer does not mention the taking of the city probably because Joshua limited himself to defeating the army, and Gezer, as lying considerably further north of Lachish (see Josh 16:3), he left unconquered during this campaign, which, after the conquest of Eglon, ascended from the plain into the mountainous part of southern Canaan (for the designation of which in Josh 10:36 in the Hebrew text instead of “went” it says “went up”—“vayyaal”).

Joshua 10:37. and they took it and struck it with the sword and its king and all its cities and every person in it; he left none remaining, just as he had done to Eglon; he devoted it to destruction and every person in it. Joshua 10:38. Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned to Debir and made war against it; The name of the Hebronite king is not given here, but it was certainly the successor of the one killed at Makkedah, who had taken the throne during the time in which Joshua was conquering the cities named above. In the conquest of Hebron, Debir, and other cities, “every person” was put to death, that is, all the inhabitants that were in them, but of the latter many or some may have fled beforehand to other cities or to the numerous caves in the mountainous Judea and then, after the conclusion of the campaign, returned to their cities, as a result of which in Hebron and Debir, according to Josh 15:14, the Anakim appeared again.

Joshua 10:40. And Joshua struck all the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings; he did not leave any remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded; Joshua 10:41. Joshua defeated them from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza, and all the land of Goshen, as far as Gibeon; Joshua 10:42. and Joshua took all these kings and their lands at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. Josh 10:40-42 These verses present a general survey of what was conquered by Joshua during his campaign into southern Canaan: “Joshua struck all the hill country,” that is, the mountainous elevation, later the hill country of Judah (Josh 15:48) with the cities situated on it, “and the Negev,” according to the Hebrew text—Negev (in the Septuagint and Slavonic Bible this name is left untranslated as a proper noun), as was called “the southern part of the Canaanite land,” stretching from the hills of Judah to the Desert of Paran (Num 13:1-18) and—from the end of the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, having a considerable number of cities (Josh 15:21-32); further—“the lowland,” or plain, according to the Hebrew text Shephelah (Josh 15:33-47); finally—“the slopes” (according to the Hebrew text “gaashedot,” in the Slavonic Bible Asidof), as was called (Josh 12:8 and others) the hilly region, the region of mountain slopes and hills, lying between the plain and the mountainous elevation of the hill country of Judah. “All that breathed he devoted to destruction,” that is, he struck all the people who inhabited the mentioned localities, according to Deut 20:16. By the words “defeated them from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza” the southern boundary line is designated, determined by the two named cities, lying to the east (Kadesh-barnea) and to the west (Gaza). At present, thanks to the investigations of Rowland, Palmer, and Trumbull, it is well established that Kadesh-barnea was not located in the valley of the Arabah, at Ain-el-Weyba (see Interpreted Bible, Vol. I, p. 235), but on the southwestern side of the hills of Azazimeh in Wadi Kadis. By the words “all the land of Goshen as far as Gibeon” the extent of the land conquered during this campaign from south to north is determined. The land of Goshen, without doubt different from that mentioned in Gen 46:28, Goshen (in Hebrew also Goshen), was located in the southern part of the territory of the tribe of Judah (Josh 15:51), but in particular, which locality is meant by this name, is not precisely determined. Perhaps by “all the land of Goshen” is meant that mountainous district in which were located the cities enumerated in Josh 15:46-51, to which class belonged also Goshen. Conjecturally the location of the latter is recognized by some 104 as Rapha, as are called extensive plains with remains of a Christian church, one hour’s journey to the north of Jattir (regarding the location of the latter in Josh 15:48). * * * A. Stanley. Lectures of the Jewish Church, 1:204. Cook, Commentary, 2:49. Literally from the Hebrew “before Israel.” The verb “struck” is placed here in the singular in the Hebrew text and in the Septuagint: συνέτριψεν, after which in some Greek lists even Κύριος follows; with these lists agrees the ancient manuscript (V. Lebedev, p. 227) and present Slavonic translation: “the Lord struck.” According to the Hebrew text the same subject, that is, “the Lord,” is implied even in the following verbs “pursued” and “struck,” as is evident from the Latin translation: persecutus est… percussit—“pursued, struck”) and some later Greek lists (Parsons), in which it reads: κατεδίωξεν, κατέκοπτεν. Instead, in the oldest (Vatican, Alexandrian, and Lucianic) lists it reads, however, κατεδίωξαν, κατέκοπτον, with which in the ancient Slavonic translation—“pursued” (see V. K. Lebedev, p. 214) and in the present it reads: “pursued... struck,” that is, the Israelites. From these inconsistent Greco-Slavonic translations the advantage of original accuracy belongs to the Hebrew text and agreeing with it Latin translation and later Greek lists, in whose readings is expressed the understanding of the biblical writer that the Gibeon victory the Israeli people wholly owed to the Lord God of Israel. Western and Russian biblical scholars (see A. P. Lopukhin “Biblical History of the Old Testament,” Vol. I, 883) point to a severe thunderstorm in 1859 during the battle of the Austrians at Solferino and to severe hail in 1831 at the Bosphorus, which caused injury and death to people. Tristram. Bible places, 45. Keil. Joshua, 79, based on investigations by van de Velde. Regarding the location of Eleutheropolis, see 10:29. Tristram. Ibid., p. 42. In the Vatican and Alexandrian lists it reads: ἕως ἠμύνατο ὁ θεὸς τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτῶν. The Lord was read here also in the ancient Slavonic translation V. K. Lebedev, p. 385. Works of Blessed Theodoret, Vol. I, p. 281. In the Vatican and Alexandrian lists the reference to the Book of the Righteous is absent. Despite this, Blessed Theodoret and Proclus of Gaza (Migne, Patrologia Ser. graeca, t. LXXXVII, p. 1020) were acquainted with it. See, for example, Cook, Commentary, 2:56. The view of the frequently mentioned Protestant commentator Keil on the 2nd half of Josh 10 and Josh 10:14, as written in poetic speech and likewise borrowed from the Book of the Righteous, is not recognized as correct by other commentators. See, besides the mentioned commentary of Cook, the commentary of Dillmann. According to the Vatican and Alexandrian lists ὥστε ἐπακοῦσαι θεὸν ἀνθρώπου, with the omission of φωνῆς—“voice.” The same is how these words are rendered in the ancient manuscript Slavonic translation: “the Lord heard... a man” (V. Lebedev, p. 231). The opinion of the author of this work that “the Lord” instead of “God” in the Greek lists arose from the copyist’s incorrect reading of the abbreviated word “voice,” does not seem plausible, because in that case the verb “heard” would not have a subject, that is, a divine name, which according to the Greek lists is “God,” and according to the Hebrew text “the Lord.” Might the influence of the Hebrew text on the ancient Slavonic translation not show itself in the introduction of this latter divine name? V. Lebedev, 85. In the Muscovite Greek Bible Josh 10:15 reads, as also in the Lucianic lists. Ibid., p. 361. οὐκ ἔγρυξεν—“did not murmur, did not dare to speak.” K. Raumer. Palastina; Riess. Bibel-Atlas. Description of Eleutheropolis with its extensive caves in the work “Holy Land,” 2:144–160. Cook. Commentary, 2:52. Tristram. Bible Places, 44. Tristram. Bible places, 44–45. Tristram. Bible places, 60.