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 When all other light is withdrawn, and the Sun, our Lord, is hardly beheld in the darkness of the last days, and the moon, the Church, shall not give her light, Christ not shining upon her as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 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.

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."

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 Jos 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.

3:11 Stood still - At the prayer of Joshua. In the light - Which was most miraculously continued.

at the light...: or, thine arrows walked in the light

Margin at the light

Or, thine arrows walked in the light, etc.

11. sun . moon stood still-at Joshua's command (Jos 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 (Jos 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.

3:3-15 God's people, when in distress, and ready to despair, seek help by considering the days of old, and the years of ancient times, and by pleading them with God in prayer. The resemblance between the Babylonish and Egyptian captivities, naturally presents itself to the mind, as well as the possibility of a like deliverance through the power of Jehovah. God appeared in his glory. All the powers of nature are shaken, and the course of nature changed, but all is for the salvation of God's own people. Even what seems least likely, shall be made to work for their salvation. Hereby is given a type and figure of the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ. It is for salvation with thine anointed. Joshua who led the armies of Israel, was a figure of Him whose name he bare, even Jesus, our Joshua. In all the salvations wrought for them, God looked upon Christ the Anointed, and brought deliverances to pass by him. All the wonders done for Israel of old, were nothing to that which was done when the Son of God suffered on the cross for the sins of his people. How glorious his resurrection and ascension! And how much more glorious will be his second coming, to put an end to all that opposes him, and all that causes suffering to his people!