So Joshua and his soldiers chased the enemy down the long valley. And somebody told Joshua where the kings had gone, and he had his men block up the mouth of the cave and leave a guard there, while the rest of the army fought the battle. Now in the afternoon, as the sun began to go down and the moon began to shine with a faint light, like a dim ball of gray silver, Joshua wished that the day might last all night. For he knew that as soon as it became dark the battle would be over and the enemy would escape. So he cried aloud and said. “Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.” And it seemed as if the sun and moon stood still, that day was so long and the victory was so great. And long after, the soldiers sang about it in their war songs: how the stars in the sky fought on the side of Israel, and the sun and moon stood still to see the battle.
But at last the soldiers came back from following the enemy. And Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave, and bring those five kings unto me out of the cave.” So they took away the great stones and brought the five kings. And Joshua made the five kings lie upon the ground before all the army, and he called his captains and said, “Come near, and put your feet upon the necks of these kings.” And they came near and put their feet upon the necks of them. And Joshua said, “Fear not, be strong and of good courage; for thus shall the Lord do unto all your enemies against whom ye fight.”
XVII
THE BATTLE OF THE GREAT PLAIN
IGHT across the Promised Land, between the river and the sea, lay a great plain. Mountains stood about it on every side, and through the midst of it ran a winding river, called the Kishon. Some of the tribes of Israel had settled among the hills on the north; others had settled among the hills on the south. But the plain itself was held by the enemy. They had a king named Jabin, and a general named Sisera, and nine hundred chariots of iron. And for twenty years, they mightily oppressed the Children of Israel. They were so strong and cruel that the Children of Israel did not dare to show themselves, but went along the by-paths, or through the woods, keeping out of sight. And none of them had either shield or spear.
Now there was a woman in the land who was braver than any of the men, and her name was Deborah. She was not only brave, but wise, so that people used to come to her from all directions to ask her questions, and she told them what to do. Thus she sat every day under a palm tree, listening to the people and answering them. Many who came told Deborah how poor and miserable they were, and how King Jabin’s men, the Canaanites, troubled them, and stole all that they had, and were very bad to them. So Deborah knew how the land was filled with suffering.
At last, one day, she sent for a man named Barak. “Barak,” she said, as he came under the palm tree, “you know how the Canaanites are treating our people, day by day, and year by year, and how since Joshua died we have no leader. We must stop it. You must take the lead. God has spoken in my soul, and has told me that you are the man, and that this is the time. Go now, and get an army.”
But Barak said, “Deborah, we are all afraid, and we have no shields or spears, nothing but sticks out of the woods, and Sisera has nine hundred chariots of iron. Am I to do this thing alone, or will you go with me? If you will go with me, I will go: but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”
And Deborah answered, “I will surely go with you, but it will be a woman and not a man who shall have the honor of the victory.”
So Barak sent messengers to all the tribes who lived among the hills by the Great Plain. Some of the tribes said that they would not come, some said that they would think about it; but Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali sent soldiers, until Barak and Deborah had ten thousand men. In the meantime, Sisera gathered his great army, thousands upon thousands of footmen, and thousands upon thousands of prancing horses, and nine hundred chariots of iron. And Barak and his soldiers were on the side of Mount Tabor, and Sisera and his soldiers were in the Great Plain. And there came a storm out of the north, as if the clouds were an army in the sky pouring water out of great buckets. And Deborah cried, “Up, Barak; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand.” And Barak rose up and his men with him, and down they charged over the side of the mountain. And the Great Plain was filled with mud by the beating of the rain, so that the wheels of the chariots sank like the wheels of Pharaoh’s chariots in the Red Sea. And the Kishon overflowed its banks. And the army of Sisera fled east and west, and the army of Barak followed them.