The Long Day of Joshua
Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still 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. Joshua 10:11-14
While the Israelites were battling the Amorites, the scriptures record that the sun stood still (Joshua 10:12). Opponents of this biblical account claim that it would have been the earth and not the sun that stopped. They further protest that since the earth rotates at a speed of over a thousand miles per hour, an abrupt halt would have destroyed most of all life. These critics fail to take into account a gradual deceleration that would not have caused any damage. In analyzing this event, one must remember the navigational concepts of relative and true bearing. For example, the newspaper reports the time that the sun will rise and set; this being a form of “relative bearing”. In other words, the sun did not actually “rise” but from one’s perspective on earth this appears to be the case. In true bearing, the earth is rotating while the sun is stationary. In Joshua’s account, the scriptures record relative bearing which gives the impression that the sun and moon stood still.
Scientific “Proof” for a Missing Day
Many articles have been published about a problem scientists encountered in the space program. These stories tell of a “missing day” based on computer positions of the sun and moon from past centuries. When the long days of Joshua and Hezekiah were entered into the computer, it “solved” the problem. Though this sensationalized account seem to prove the Bible, computers are unable to decipher such an equation. The computer would have to know the exact position of the sun and moon before the change and this is not verifiable. Even though it is impossible to prove this phenomenon scientifically, history bears record to its validity.
Historical Proof for a Missing Day
Even though the missing day cannot be proved scientifically, many historical records validate this event.
The Empires of Culhuacan, were conquered In the 16th century by the Spanish Conquistadors. While priests were learning the language of this conquered people, annals were discovered that contained a story of a cosmic catastrophe that occurred in the ancient past where the night was unusually long.
The Midrashim Books, which document ancient secular traditions, records that the sun and moon stood still for an additional 18 hours. Further historical evidence is found in the writings of Spanish philosopher, Sahagun (1499-1590) , who came to America in the early 16th century and collected the traditions of the American Indians. He wrote of an event, which took place when the sun rose just over the horizon and remained there for several hours.
The Orphic Humns, where Bacchus (a god-man), arrested the course of the sun and the moon. Also, the Chinese people have a legend of the sun standing still.
The amazing thing about these historical documents is the resource where I got these was from a freethinker (one who thinks with out God, today he would have been known as an atheist). He was using these records to say that Joshua stole the ideal from these records.
Still the event happened!
These things point that the Bible is the very word of God, and if that is true, then I would like to ask you a question?
How does anyone get to heaven?
First realize that they cannot get to heaven on their own merits. The Bible says that “For all have sinned and come short (that means everybody can’t get to Heaven on their own) of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
Jesus Christ (who is the Son of the living God) came to earth and was born of a virgin woman (therefore he was not born of the curse of mankind) he lived a sinless life and died on a cross for all the sins in the world. Three days later, God the Father raised Him from the dead. He was seen of 500 witnesses and returned to heaven. God’s word says that if we believe these things and call upon the Lord, we will be saved. Romans 10:9 - 13