mewhat to narrow down the time
of the year at which Joshua's miracle can have taken place, and from an
astronomical point of view this is very important. The Israelites had
entered the land of Canaan on the 10th day of the first month, that is
to say, very shortly after the spring equinox--March 21 of our present
calendar. Seven weeks after that equinox--May 11--the sun attains a
declination of 18 deg. north. From this time its declination increases day
by day until the summer solstice, when, in Joshua's time, it was nearly
24 deg. north. After that it slowly diminishes, and on August 4 it is 18 deg.
again. For twelve weeks, therefore--very nearly a quarter of the entire
year--the sun's northern declination is never less than 18 deg.. The date of
the battle must have fallen somewhere within this period. It cannot have
fallen earlier; the events recorded could not possibly have all been
included in the seven weeks following the equinox. Nor, in view of the
promptitude with which all the contending parties acted, and were bound
to act, can we postpone the battle to a later date than the end of this
midsummer period.

We thus know, roughly speaking, what was the declination of the
sun--that is to say, its distance from the equator of the heavens--at
the time of the battle; it was not less than 18 deg. north of the equator,
it could not have been more than 24 deg..

But, if we adopt the idea most generally formed of the meaning of
Joshua's command, namely, that he saw the sun low down over Gibeon in
one direction, and the moon low down over the valley of Ajalon in
another, we can judge of the apparent bearing of those two heavenly
bodies from an examination of the map. And since, if we may judge from
the map of the Palestine Exploration Fund, the valley of Ajalon lies
about 17 deg. north of west from Gibeon, and runs nearly in that direction
from it, the moon must, to Joshua, have seemed about 17 deg. north of west,
and the sun 17 deg. south of east.

But for any date within the three summer months, the sun in the
latitude of Gibeon, when it bears 17 deg. south of east, must be at least
56 deg. high. At this height it would seem overhead, and would not give the
slightest idea of association with any distant terrestrial object. Not
until some weeks after the autumnal equinox could the sun be seen low
down on the horizon in the direction 17 deg. south of east, and at the same
time the moon be as much as 17 deg. north of the