BOOK IV
THREE ASTRONOMICAL MARVELS
Chapter I. Joshua's Long Day
- Method of Studying the Record—To be discussed as it stands—An early Astronomical Observation. Before the Battle—Movements of the Israelites—Reasons for the Gibeonites' Action—Rapid Movements of all the Parties. Day, Hour, and Place of the Miracle—Indication of the Sun's Declination—Joshua was at Gibeon—And at High Noon—On the 21st Day of the Fourth Month. Joshua's Strategy—Key to it in the Flight of the Amorites by the Beth-horon Route—The Amorites defeated but not surrounded—King David as a Strategist. The Miracle—The Noon-day Heat, the great Hindrance to the Israelites—Joshua desired the Heat to be tempered—The Sun made to "be silent"—The Hailstorm—The March to Makkedah—A Full Day's March in the Afternoon—"The Miracle" not a Poetic Hyperbole—Exact Accord of the Poem and the Prose Chronicle—The Record made at the Time—Their March, the Israelites' Measure of Time [351]
Chapter II. The Dial of Ahaz
- The Narrative—Suggested Explanations—The "Dial of Ahaz," probably a Staircase—Probable History and Position of the Staircase—Significance of the Sign [385]
Chapter III. The Star of Bethlehem
- The Narrative—No Astronomical Details given—Purpose of the Scripture Narrative—Kepler's suggested Identification of the Star—The New Star of 1572—Legend of the Well of Bethlehem—True Significance of the Reticence of the Gospel Narrative [393]
- A Table of Scriptural Reference [401]
- Index [405]
