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Article CORRESPONDENCE. ← Page 3 of 5 →
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Correspondence.
Lord , " who had discomfited them before Israel , " * " cast doAvn great stones upon them unto Azekah , and they died . "f But , in this battle , " the Lord fought for Israel , J and not Joshua fought for the Lord . " The miracle , also , is not greater than the fall of the walls of 3 ericho at the blast of the trumpet , & c . ; nor is this contest to be designated as "the battle of the Lord" fought by Joshua , more than
any other of the many victories gained for the Israelites b y the special interference of God in their favour under Joshua ' s leading . Again , let us inquire if Joshua took any special position in praying fervently that the light of day might be prolonged to enable him to complete the overthrow of his enemies . Scri pture contains no warrants for assuming such to be the case ; neither can it be assumed from that authority that Joshua , mi tins occasion , prayed at all . But
Joshua " spoke to the Lord , " and he said in the sight of Israel , " Sun , stand thou still upon Gibeon , and thou moon in the A'alley of Ajalon . " § " And the sun stood still , and the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon THEIR enemies . " " And there ivas no day like that , before it nor after it , that the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man '' || Now it must , I think , be conceded , that the Lord had often hearkened to the voice of a man before this , —e . g ., Abraham , Isaac , Jacob , Lot , Moses , Aaron , & c , when spoken to in . the attitude and
language of fervent prayer . Nay , even in rebellious complaint and over-bold remonstrance ( so much so , as even to merit and receive rebuke and punishment ) , the voice of man had often reached the ear of his Maker ; and yet , in Joshua ' s case , the speaking to the Lord , and his hearkening "to the voice of a man , " Avere of so singular a kind of speaking and hearkening , as to designate the day as a most remarkable occasion . Ajidunless we come to the conclusion that
, Joshua did not assume the attitude , or use the language of fervent prayer , Ave must conclude that the 14 th verse of the lOfch chapter of Joshua is divested of any sensible meaning . Nay , more , the miraculous events recorded in this chapter loose their force altogether , unless we alloAV that Joshua ( doubtless inspired and permitted by the Almighty ) did , on this occasion , exercise a poioer of arresting the sun
and moon in their course , and exhibited this power to the Israelites and their enemies in a AA'ay to strike the terror of despair into the hearts of the latter , when they saw their Gods , the sun and moon , obey the openly-uttered command of the Israelitish captain . I think enough has been said to show all " F . C . who are Scripture readers and believers , that it is altogether in vain to look to the battle began at Gibeonfought in the Avay going up to Bethoronand
, , in the way going doAvn to Bethoron unto Azekah and Makkedah , for the types of the 2 nd E . C . sign , or the traditional origin of that sign . It now remains , either to conclude thafc there is or is not scripture Avarrant for the position , and for a traditional history of that position .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
Lord , " who had discomfited them before Israel , " * " cast doAvn great stones upon them unto Azekah , and they died . "f But , in this battle , " the Lord fought for Israel , J and not Joshua fought for the Lord . " The miracle , also , is not greater than the fall of the walls of 3 ericho at the blast of the trumpet , & c . ; nor is this contest to be designated as "the battle of the Lord" fought by Joshua , more than
any other of the many victories gained for the Israelites b y the special interference of God in their favour under Joshua ' s leading . Again , let us inquire if Joshua took any special position in praying fervently that the light of day might be prolonged to enable him to complete the overthrow of his enemies . Scri pture contains no warrants for assuming such to be the case ; neither can it be assumed from that authority that Joshua , mi tins occasion , prayed at all . But
Joshua " spoke to the Lord , " and he said in the sight of Israel , " Sun , stand thou still upon Gibeon , and thou moon in the A'alley of Ajalon . " § " And the sun stood still , and the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon THEIR enemies . " " And there ivas no day like that , before it nor after it , that the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man '' || Now it must , I think , be conceded , that the Lord had often hearkened to the voice of a man before this , —e . g ., Abraham , Isaac , Jacob , Lot , Moses , Aaron , & c , when spoken to in . the attitude and
language of fervent prayer . Nay , even in rebellious complaint and over-bold remonstrance ( so much so , as even to merit and receive rebuke and punishment ) , the voice of man had often reached the ear of his Maker ; and yet , in Joshua ' s case , the speaking to the Lord , and his hearkening "to the voice of a man , " Avere of so singular a kind of speaking and hearkening , as to designate the day as a most remarkable occasion . Ajidunless we come to the conclusion that
, Joshua did not assume the attitude , or use the language of fervent prayer , Ave must conclude that the 14 th verse of the lOfch chapter of Joshua is divested of any sensible meaning . Nay , more , the miraculous events recorded in this chapter loose their force altogether , unless we alloAV that Joshua ( doubtless inspired and permitted by the Almighty ) did , on this occasion , exercise a poioer of arresting the sun
and moon in their course , and exhibited this power to the Israelites and their enemies in a AA'ay to strike the terror of despair into the hearts of the latter , when they saw their Gods , the sun and moon , obey the openly-uttered command of the Israelitish captain . I think enough has been said to show all " F . C . who are Scripture readers and believers , that it is altogether in vain to look to the battle began at Gibeonfought in the Avay going up to Bethoronand
, , in the way going doAvn to Bethoron unto Azekah and Makkedah , for the types of the 2 nd E . C . sign , or the traditional origin of that sign . It now remains , either to conclude thafc there is or is not scripture Avarrant for the position , and for a traditional history of that position .