Commentary on the Six Days of Creation · §29 · Eustathius of Antioch

Divine Intervention and Joshua's Victory

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To God, so that He might not let the day pass by nature, having stopped the sun at Gibeon and the moon at the valley of Aijalon (Joshua 10:12-13). And God stopped the sun and the moon until he struck down the enemies in the midday.

But Jesus the son of Nun, finding the five kings of the nations hiding, fallen into a cave upon the earth, commanded that they be thrown, and having made them be trampled by the people upon the neck, he killed them (Joshua 10:25-27); and having hung their bodies on wood, he later shut them into the cave.

And having plundered all their cities, he subjected all the mountain and the plain. And Asor, King Jabin, having taken kings as allies around him, gathered much power, as the multitude of their army seemed to be like the innumerable...

Greek

τῷ Θεῷ, ὅπως τὴν ἡμέραν παρὰ φύσιν μηκύνῃ αὐτοῖς στήσας τὸν ἥλιον κατὰ Γαβαὼν, καὶ τὴν σελήνην κατὰ φάραγγα Ἀρνῶν. Καὶ ἔστησεν ὁ Θεὸς στάσει τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην, ἕως οὗ παηνμέριον τοὺς πολεμίους ἥλω. 793 Τοὺς δὲ πέντε βασιλεῖς τῶν ἐθνῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ κρυπτομένους εὑρὼν, εἰς σπήλαιον ὑπτίους ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ῥιφῆναι αὐτοὺς προσέταξε, καὶ καταπατεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ τραχήλου ποιήσας, ἀπέκτεινε· καὶ τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν ἐπὶ ξύλου ἀναρτήσας, ὕστερον εἰς τὸ σπήλαιον αὐτὰ κατώρυξε. Πάσας δὲ τὰς πόλεις ἐκπορθήσας αὐτῶν, πᾶσαν τὴν ὀρεινὴν καὶ τὴν πεδινὴν ὑπέταξε. Ἀσὼρ δὲ, ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰαβὶν, συμμάχους τοὺς πέριξ λαβὼν βασιλεῖς, πολλὴν συνήγαγε δύναμιν, ὡς εἰκάσαι τὸ πλῆθος τῆς στρατείας αὐτῶν τῇ ἀναριθμήτῳ τῆς

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About this text

A commentary on the six days of creation, credited to Eustathius of Antioch but printed among works not by him.

This commentary was written in Greek under the name of Eustathius of Antioch (fl. c. 320–337), the bishop of Antioch in the early fourth century. The text as it survives was composed later, between the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and draws on Basil the Great's Homilies on the Hexameron, Josephus, and other sources. It was written to defend the biblical account of creation against Greek philosophical and mythological alternatives and to show God's order and providence in the world.

The work is a verse-by-verse exposition of the six days of creation in Genesis, followed by a long retelling of biblical history from Cain and Abel through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses to the conquest of Canaan under Joshua. Along the way the author argues that Moses is older than all Greek sages, so his account is the most ancient and divinely inspired truth. A reader will meet the patriarchs, Pharaoh, Mary and her parents Joachim and Anna, Herod, Zechariah, John the Baptist, and many others, with direct quotations from figures such as Abraham, Isaac, Tamar, Judah, Zechariah, and Herod.

The translation uses 'providence' for God's ordering care of creation, 'creator' for God as maker, 'firmament' for the structure made on the second day, 'light' for the great lights of sun and moon, 'flood' for Noah's deluge, 'ark' for Noah's vessel, 'covenant' for God's binding promise, 'circumcision' for the sign of that covenant, 'genealogy' for the line from Abraham to Christ, 'virgin' for Mary, 'resurrection' for the rising of the dead, 'authority' for the power given to sun and moon, 'sign' for heavenly and divine markers, 'first-fruits' for offerings like Abel's, and 'blessing' for Jacob's words to his sons. The author uses Septuagint book names and Psalm numbering, so where the Hebrew numbering differs, the notes will indicate it. Some unexplained names and terms from Greek myth and ancient science appear in the text, such as Inachus, Cecrops, the rape of Kore, Sesostris, Darius the Mede, the Wain, counter-suns, Aspidochelone, forty stadia, eutokion, peridexion, seleucis bird, and charadrius; readers can pass over these without losing the main argument.

Printed text used

Translated from PG 18 (Greek)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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