Why did God stop the sun??

[Jeffinator]

In Joshua 10:1-15 in order to win a battle against his enemies Joshua asked God to stop the sun and moon in its tracks so they could keep fighting. Except for the sun and the moon dont move, the earth does. Is this just old world thinking about how everything revolves around the earth??

Plz help.

[scourge39]

In Joshua 10:1-15 in order to win a battle against his enemies Joshua asked God to stop the sun and moon in its tracks so they could keep fighting. Except for the sun and the moon dont move, the earth does. Is this just old world thinking about how everything revolves around the earth??

There's no conclusive solution to interpreting the event, but 3 options have been put forth:

1) The sun simply stood still, implying that enough light was provided for him to win the battle. The sun's eastern position suggests this took place in the afternoon, making additional hours of daylight unnecessary.

2) The request was referring to a solar eclipse, which would've only hindered the pursuit of the battle rather than help Israel win it.

3) Seeing the sun and moon simultaneously on days other than the fourteenth day of the month was seen as a bad omen to Canaanites according to their astrological practices. It may have remained in place for one day, serving as a positive sign for Joshua and a negative one for his enemies. This interpretation has much going for it, although we don't fully understand astrological practices at that time.

[livingword26]

Its common language even today, to speak of the sun and the moon moving accross the sky. We talk about the sun rising, and the sun setting, When it actually just sets there. Its the easiest way to describe the movement.

[zombieCat]

So you're saying when the bible clearly contradicts scientific evidence, it should be taken allegorically? Good point.

[BrckBrln]

So you're saying when the bible clearly contradicts scientific evidence, it should be taken allegorically? Good point.

It's hardly contradicting science. It's what livingword said. If you went outside and the sun stayed in the same spot for five hours, you would say the sun stood still.

[zombieCat]

It's hardly contradicting science. It's what livingword said. If you went outside and the sun stayed in the same spot for five hours, you would say the sun stood still.The example you reinforced is indeed allegory. If taken literally, as we're supposed to with the Genesis account of creation, yes the passage does contradict science. This is one of the passages that kept people from accepting the scientific evidence that the earth revolves around the sun. Only after there was unequivocal proof otherwise did people say, "Yeah, I guess it is just allegorical."

[crawfish]

The example you reinforced is indeed allegory. If taken literally, as we're supposed to with the Genesis account of creation, yes the passage does contradict science. This is one of the passages that kept people from accepting the scientific evidence that the earth revolves around the sun. Only after there was unequivocal proof otherwise did people say, "Yeah, I guess it is just allegorical."


"There is talk of a new astrologer who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes around instead of the sky, the sun, the moon, just as if somebody were moving in a carriage or ship might hold that he was sitting still and at rest while the earth and the trees walked and moved. But that is how things are nowadays: when a man wishes to be clever he must needs invent something special, and the way he does it must needs be the best! The fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside-down. However, as Holy Scripture tells us, so did Joshua bid the sun to stand still and not the earth."

- Martin Luther on Copernicus


I think few of us have a problem with understanding that what the scripture refers to is the perception of the author and not the physical reality. The human author didn't need to understand or explain the true state of the earth and the solar system; he simply needed to explain the miracle of God extending the daylight hours.

FYI to the OP - while the suns movement is simply a perception due to the revolving of the earth, the moon in fact DOES move around the earth. Two actions at a minimum are required here: 1) the earth stops revolving, and 2) the moon stops orbiting. According to the scriptures it is only one action, though.

This does force us, however, to accept the fact that God does (at times) communicate through perspective rather than scientific reality. It opens the door to acceptance that we aren't always told how he does things, only how those things appear from our ability to perceive them.

[zombieCat]

"There is talk of a new astrologer who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes around instead of the sky, the sun, the moon, just as if somebody were moving in a carriage or ship might hold that he was sitting still and at rest while the earth and the trees walked and moved. But that is how things are nowadays: when a man wishes to be clever he must needs invent something special, and the way he does it must needs be the best! The fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside-down. However, as Holy Scripture tells us, so did Joshua bid the sun to stand still and not the earth."

- Martin Luther on Copernicus


I think few of us have a problem with understanding that what the scripture refers to is the perception of the author and not the physical reality. The human author didn't need to understand or explain the true state of the earth and the solar system; he simply needed to explain the miracle of God extending the daylight hours.

FYI to the OP - while the suns movement is simply a perception due to the revolving of the earth, the moon in fact DOES move around the earth. Two actions at a minimum are required here: 1) the earth stops revolving, and 2) the moon stops orbiting. According to the scriptures it is only one action, though.

This does force us, however, to accept the fact that God does (at times) communicate through perspective rather than scientific reality. It opens the door to acceptance that we aren't always told how he does things, only how those things appear from our ability to perceive them.I agree with everything you said.

[Richard H]

In Joshua 10:1-15 in order to win a battle against his enemies Joshua asked God to stop the sun and moon in its tracks so they could keep fighting. Except for the sun and the moon dont move, the earth does. Is this just old world thinking about how everything revolves around the earth??

Plz help.
Hi Jeff,
The Discovery Channel is full of shows seeking to explain (rather to explain away) the miracles of God.
In “explaining” the Red Sea, nowhere do they touch on the multiple times the River Jordan was parted the same way.

Astronomically, the darkening that occurred at the death of Jesus cannot be explained by an eclipse.
Mathematical calculations show that there was no eclipse at that time.

Now that we are called to live by faith, God does not seem to perform these sorts of events anymore, but He is certainly able to perform that which is impossible.
Else, we have no hope.

Richard

[petepet]

In Joshua 10:1-15 in order to win a battle against his enemies Joshua asked God to stop the sun and moon in its tracks so they could keep fighting. Except for the sun and the moon dont move, the earth does. Is this just old world thinking about how everything revolves around the earth??

Plz help.


Strictly speaking Joshua asked the sun and moon to 'be silent'.

10.12-13a ‘Then spoke Joshua to Yahweh, in the day when Yahweh delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
"Sun on Gibeon be silent (still),
Moon in the vale of Aijalon,
So the sun was silent (still) and the moon stayed,
Until the nation was revenged on its foes."

Thus it is not quite clear what happened or when it happened. Does the reference to Gibeon mean that it happened while they were at Gibeon? If so it was while the sun was rising (verse 9) which is supported by the fact that the moon was still visible. But why then ask for the sun to stand still at that point? If he wanted light there would be plenty of time still left in the day. It is more probable that he would want it to be ‘silent’, NOT to rise so as to be able to continue the advantage of the night attack. Thus ‘be silent’ could mean stay dark. This would tie in with the visibility of the moon over Aijalon, the remarkable weather conditions, and the later hailstorm that destroyed the enemy from a black sky (verse 11). It would also tie in with the fact that Joshua was making a night attack (verse 9). It should be noted that there is no suggestion in the actual historical account of an excessively long day.

For the meaning ‘be silent’, which is the primary meaning of the verb, compare Amos 5.13; Leviticus 10.3; Psalm 4.4 (5); 31.17; Job 31.34. For the meaning ‘be still’ compare Jeremiah 8.14; 47.6; 1 Samuel 14.9, but these could equally be rendered by ‘silence’, it was the stillness of silence, non-activity.

We are not incidentally to see in it the literal adding of a twenty four hour period. The ‘about a whole day’ in question would be in terms of the period between sunrise and sunset.

10.13b-14 ‘And the sun stayed in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Yahweh heard the voice of a man. For Yahweh fought for Israel.’

This could mean that the sun having begun to appear simply disappeared because of the thick, threatening clouds which resulted, among other things, in the hailstorm. As far as they were concerned it ‘stopped’ in the midst of heaven. (The word in Hebrew means to stand still, stop still. Thus here possibly meaning that they saw its movement no longer. As far as they were concerned it had stopped moving. It no longer produced any effect. And the day had gone very dark. They were describing what they saw. So that day there was no sun seen hasting to go down. And it was all due to Joshua’s request, God’s response to the latter being a unique event in history.

Given the unusual weather conditions, the appearance of the moon, and the rare nature of the hailstorm, it seems more probable that the reference is to a dark day not a light one.

All we can really say with certainty in the end is that there were hugely remarkable events affecting the weather and the heavens which were seen as the work of Yahweh in direct response to Joshua’s prayer, an event unique in history up to that time. And they described it in terms of what they saw. The important thing to the writer was that Yahweh fought for Israel.

[Marc B]

Makes good sense your heavy overcast analogy. Anyone who is up before sunrise will know that an overcast sky to the east will delay their perception of sunrise marked by a brightening sky. A totally dark day is certainly not impossible. Since God created the laws of physics it's not unreasonable to assume He uses them to do His bidding.