“The terms in this command are worthy of particular note: Joshua does not say to the sun, _Stand still_, as if he had conceived _him_ to be _running his race round the earth_; but, be _silent_, or _inactive_; that is, as I understand it, _restrain thy influence_; no longer act upon the earth, to cause it to revolve round its axis; a mode of speech which is certainly consistent with the strictest astronomical knowledge: and the writer of the account, whether Joshua himself, or the author of the Book of _Jasher_, in relating the consequence of this command, is equally accurate, using a word widely different, when he speaks of the _effect_, the retention of the solar influence had on the moon: in the first case, the sun was _silent_, or _inactive_, דום _dom_; in the _latter_, the moon _stood still_, עמד _âmad_. The _standing still_ of the moon, or its continuance above the horizon, would be the natural effect of the cessation of the solar influence, which obliged the earth to discontinue her diurnal rotation, which, of course, would arrest the moon; and thus both it and the sun were kept above the horizon, probably for the space of a whole day. As to the address to the _moon_, it is not conceived in the same terms as that to the _sun_, and for the most obvious philosophical reason: all that is said is simply, _and the moon on the vale of Ajalon_, which may be thus understood: ‘Let the sun restrain his influence, or be inactive, as he appears now upon Gibeon, _that_ the moon may continue as she appears now over the vale of Ajalon.’ It is worthy of remark, that every word in this poetic address is apparently selected with the greatest caution and precision. “At the conclusion of the 13th verse, a different expression is used when it is said, _So, the sun stood still_, it is not דום _dom_, but עמד _âmad_; ויעמד השמש _vai-yaâmod ha-shemesh_, which expression, thus varying from _that_ in the command of Joshua, may be considered as implying, that in order to _restrain his influence_, which I have assumed to be the _cause_ of the earth’s motion, the sun himself became _inactive_, that is, ceased to revolve round his own axis; which revolution is, probably, one cause, not only of the revolution of the earth, but of all the other planetary bodies in our system, and might have effected all the planets at the time in question: but this neither could, nor did produce any disorder in nature; and the delay of a few hours in the whole planetary motions, dwindles away into an imperceptible point in the thousands of years of their revolutions. I need scarcely add, that the _command of Joshua to the sun_, is to be understood as a _prayer to God_ (from whom the sun derived his being and continuance) that the effect might be what is expressed in the command; and therefore it is said, verse 14, ‘that the LORD HEARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF A MAN, _for the Lord fought for Israel_.’”