11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Here the Prophet refers to another history; for we know that when Joshua fought, and when the day was not long enough to slay the enemies, the day was prolonged according to his prayer, (Joshua 10:12.) He seems indeed to have authoritatively commanded the sun to stay its course: but there is no doubt, but that having been answered as to his prayer, when he expressed this, he commanded the sun, as he did, through the secret impulse of the Holy Spirit: and we know that the sun would not have stopped in its course, except the moon also was stayed. There must indeed have been the same action as to these two luminaries. Hence Habakkuk says, that the sun and moon stood still in their habitation; that is, that the sun then rested as it were in its dwelling. When it was hastening in its course, it then stood still for the benefit of God's people. The sun then and the moon stood,--How? At the light of thy arrows shall they walk. Some refer this to the pillar of fire, as though the Prophet had said, that the Israelites walked by that light, by which God guided them: but I doubt not but that this is said of the sun. The whole sentence is thus connected--that the sun and moon walked, not as from the beginning, but at the light of God's arrows; that is, when instead of God's command, which the sun had received from the beginning as its direction, the sun had God's arrows, which guided it, retarded its course, or restrained the velocity which it had before. There is then an implied contrast between the progress of the sun which it had by nature to that day, and that new direction, when the sun was retained, that it might give place to the arrows of God, and to the sword and the spear; for by the arrows and the spear he means nothing else but the weapons of the elect people; for we know, that when that people fought under the protection of God, they were armed as it were from above. As then it is said of Gideon, "The sword of God and of Gideon;" so also in this place the Prophet calls whatever armor the people of Israel had, the arrows of God and his spear; for that people could not move--no, not a finger's breadth--without the command of God. The sun then was wont before to regard the ordinary command, of which we read in Genesis; but it was then directed for another purpose: for it had regard to the arrows of God flying on the earth as lightning; and it had regard to the arrows, as though it stood astonished and dared not to advance. Why? because it behoved it to submit to God while he was carrying on war. [1] We now then perceive how much kindness is included in these words. What, therefore, we have already referred to, ought to be borne in mind--that in this place there is no frigid narrative, but such things are brought before the faithful as avail to confirm their hope, that they may feel assured, that the power of God is sufficient for the purpose of delivering them; for it was for this end that he formerly wrought so many miracles. It follows--
1 - There is much beauty and force in this explanation: and accordant with it is the version of Henderson. But that of Newcome is somewhat different-- The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation: By their light thine arrows went abroad; By their brightness, the lightning of thy spear. To avoid the insertion of so many words in italics which are not in the original, I would render the verse thus-- The sun! the moon! -- it stood -- she remained stationary, For light to thine arrows which went forth, For brightness to the flashing of thy spear. The genitive case is often to be rendered as a dative, as in Jeremiah 31:35, [l'vr lylh], "for the light of the night;" that is, "for light to the night." There are twelve MSS. which have "and," [v], before "moon:" but it is not wanted, the verb "stood" being singular; and it is followed, as I conceive, by another verb in the singular number, and in the feminine gender, while "stood" is in the masculine, and refers to the moon, and the last refers to the sun; which is sometimes feminine, while moon is ever the masculine. The verb [zvl] is not properly to dwell, but to continue fixed, or to remain stationary. The order in our language would be this-- The sun remained stationary, the moon stood. --Ed.
Sun and moon stood still (as one act retiring into) in their habitation - They withdrew, as it were, in the midst of the great tempest, wherein Joshua 10:11-13. "God cast down great stones from heaven upon" His enemies and they died; and "the sun stood still, and the moon stayed." The sun too withdrew itself in the great darkness at the crucifixion, as not bearing to look upon the death of its Maker, when the majesty of the Sun of Righteousness was darkened o'er; and signs in the sun and in the moon there shall be to the end.
At the light of Thine arrows they went - A. E.: "There was no need of the sun by day, nor of the moon by night; for by the light of Thine arrows can the sons of men hold their way." Tanchum: "This is a mystical interpretation, as you see; this is like the promise of the Most High; Isaiah 60:19. 'the sun shall be no more for thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, and the Lord shall be to thee an everlasting light.'" The judgments of God are a light to His people, while they are the destruction of His enemies; in them they "learn righteousness" Isaiah 26:9. The arrows are God's judgments, as they threaten and wound from afar;
The shining of Thy glittering spear - literally, of the lightning of Thy spear, when close at hand. When all other light is withdrawn, and the Sun, our Lord, is hardly beheld in the darkness of the last days, and the moon, the Church, shall not give her light, Christ not shining upon her as before, because "iniquity shall abound, and the love of many shall wax cold," and "stars," many who seem to shine with the light of grace, "shall fall from heaven," His own shall walk on and advance in holiness. Dion.: "from strength to strength, Psalm 84:7. from good to better, from the way to their home," by the bright light of the lightning of God's Judgments, wherein His glory shall be manifested. Arrows and spears are part of the spiritual armory of God, wherewith the people are subdued unto Him. Cyril: "armory, not wherewith He is girt but which He giveth to those who are meet; bright and as it were full of lightning. For most transparent is virtue." They went then at the light of Thine arrows. Cyril: "because to those who love sin virtue has no beauty, nor, as yet, any brightness. But to those who know her she is nothing less than lightning, bright and transparent, so that whoso hath her is easily known to all around. The disciples then, first having the lightning of Thine arms, shall lead others also to its Light. Admiring and conceiving in themselves those virtues which are the arms of Christ, they shine forth to others, a gleam, as it were, of the bright flash of light inherent in those graces." Rup.: "They were enlightened and began, by preaching, to send forth shining words of truth. But those words are Thine arrows, shining arrows, showing by their light the way of life, and by their sharp point pricking the hearts of people unto repentance."
The sun and moon stood still - This was at the prayer of Joshua, when he fought against the Amorites. See Joshua 10:11-12 (note), and the notes there.
At the light of thine arrows they went - I think we should translate: -
By their light, thine arrows went abroad; By their brightness, the lightning of thy spear.
Calvin very justly remarks that the arrows and spears of the Israelites are called those of God, under whose auspices the people fought: the meaning is, that by the continuation of the light of the sun and moon, then stayed in their course, the Israelites saw how to continue the battle, till their enemies were all defeated.
The (o) sun [and] moon stood still in their habitation: (p) at the light of thy arrows they went, [and] at the shining of thy glittering spear.
(o) As appears in (Joshua 10:12).
(p) According to your command the sun was directed by the weapons of your people, that fought in your cause, as though it dare not go forward.
The sun and moon stood still in their habitation,.... This is generally thought to refer to the miracle in the times of Joshua, Joshua 10:12 but a different word is there used, especially of the standing still of the sun; nor are the sun and moon said there to stand in their habitation; nor will the series of the history of times past, or the thread of prophecy of things to come, admit of this reference; nor do the words express the clear shining of the sun and moon at their standing still, but the reverse; for the phrase, "in their habitation", may be rendered, "within their tent" (p), or pavilion; See Gill on Psalm 19:4; which is no other than their being encompassed and covered with clouds; which is just such a pavilion as God is said to be in, when "darkness was his secret place; his pavilion round about him dark waters and thick clouds of the skies", Psalm 18:11 and so is expressive of the dark times of antichrist, which followed, when the Pagan persecutions were over, Christianity supported by secular powers, and the Christian churches raised to the height of riches and honour; and then the man of sin showed himself, the pope of Rome took upon him the title of universal bishop, and introduced false doctrines, strange worship, and bad discipline, into the church, and obscured the glorious light of it; and Mahomet also arose with his locusts, the Saracens, out of the bottomless pit opened, from whence came a smoke which darkened the sun and air, Revelation 9:1,
at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear; the commonly received sense of the words is, either at the light and shining of the sun and moon, when they stood still in Joshua's time; the arrows of the Almighty, and the lightning of his spear, that is, hailstones mingled with fire, and thunder, and lightning, which the heathens call Jupiter's arrows; these steered their course, being directed against the enemies of the Lord's people, and fought for them, Joshua 10:10 or at the light of these, which looked very bright and dazzling through the rays of the sun upon them, the Israelites marched against their enemies, and avenged themselves on them: but these bright arrows and glittering spear, and the light and shining of them, seem to design no other than the weapons of the Christian ministry or warfare; the Gospel, and the doctrines of it; the light of which broke forth at the Reformation, the same that is meant by the "morning star", Revelation 2:28 irradiated by which, the ministers of it especially went forth with courage against their antichristian enemies, and prevailed, and spread the Gospel in many countries. It may be rendered as a petition, "let them walk at the light" (q), &c.; a prayer of faith that it might be, and which is a prophecy that it would be.
(p) "intra habitaculum", Cocceius, Van Till, "vel in tugurio", ib. (q) "ambulent ad lucem", &c. Van Till.
sun . . . moon stood still--at Joshua's command (Joshua 10:12-13). MAURER wrongly translates, "stand" (withdrawn, or hidden from view, by the clouds which covered the sky during the thunders).
light of thine arrows--hail mixed with lightnings (Joshua 10:10-11).
they went--The sun and moon "went," not as always heretofore, but according to the light and direction of Jehovah's arrows, namely, His lightnings hurled in defense of His people; astonished at these they stood still [CALVIN]. MAURER translates, "At the light of Thine arrows (which) went" or flew.
The chaotic condition into which the earth has been brought is heightened by the darkness in which the heaven clothes itself. Sun and moon, which give light to day and night, have put themselves, or entered, into their habitation. זבוּל with ה local, a dwelling-place, is, according to oriental view, the place from which the stars come out when they rise, and to which they return when they set. Nevertheless it is not actual setting that is spoken of here, but simply their obscuration, which is not the effect of heavy clouds that pour out their water in showers of rain, but is caused by the shining of the arrows of God (ל in לאור and לנגהּ denoting the outward cause or occasion). It is not, however, that they "turn pale in consequence of the surpassing brilliancy of the lightnings" (Ewald), but that they "withdraw altogether, from the fear and horror which pervade all nature, and which are expressed in the mountains by trembling, in the waters by roaring, and in the sun and moon by obscuration" (Delitzsch). The idea that this verse refers to the standing still of the sun and moon at the believing word of Joshua (Joshua 10:12.), in which nearly all the earlier commentators agreed, is quite untenable, inasmuch as עמד זבוּלה cannot mean to stand still in the sky. The arrows and spear (chănı̄th) of God are not lightnings, as in Psalm 77:18-19; Psalm 18:15, etc., because this theophany is not founded upon the idea of a storm, but the darts with which God as a warrior smites down His foes, as the instruments and effects of the wrath of God. A brilliant splendour is attributed to them, because they emanate from Him whose coming, like the sunlight, pours out its rays on both sides (Habakkuk 3:4). בּרק חנית has the same meaning here as in Nahum 3:3 : the flashing, because naked and sharpened, spear. And just as we cannot understand the "bright sword" of Nahum 3:3 as signifying flashes of lightning, so here we cannot take the arrows as lightnings. יהלּכוּ is to be taken relatively, "which pass alone, or shoot by."
Stood still - At the prayer of Joshua. In the light - Which was most miraculously continued.
*More commentary available at chapter level.