Joshua's Long Day

The Bible talks about how Joshua's battle to help Gibeon went on for a full day that was the duration of 2 days because God stopped the sun's travel accross the sky (Joshua 10:12-14).
"12 Then spoke Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the men of Israel; and he said in the sight of Israel, "Sun, stand thou still at Gibeon, and thou Moon in the valley of Ai'jalon." 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD hearkened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel."Now, that would require stopping the significant momentum of the Earth's rotation, and subsequently starting it back up again. I can not even imagine the violation of physics that this would necessitate. Just the shear-force of braking down the Earth would tear the planet apart.So how can this be justified as literally true?

Before I begin, this is a consensus of ideas from different sources dealing with the issue, and not all my own belief.Some people say that refraction in the atmosphere could cause the sun to appear to stand still, and cause it still to provide light, for the length of time involved.Others (or at least one) think that the Sun turned 180 degrees round the EarthThere are also clues to another solution in the previous verse:"As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the LORD hurled large hailstones down on them from the sky, and more of them died from the hailstones than were killed by the swords of the Israelites"There are theories that these were particles from the tail of a giant meteor, a meteor big enough, perhaps, to alter the spin of the Earth?Some say there was a "wobble" in the Earth's axis that caused the Sun to take a different apparent path - perhaps also caused by a meteor or comet.Even a slowing or stopping of the Earth (by supernatural means) would not cause too many problematic consequences.Any way he chose to do it, a God who created the Earth, Moon and Sun could cause them to stop (or appear to stop) without difficulty or subsequent ill effect.See Missing Link | Answers in Genesis for more detail on some of that.{edit to add following}A similar event happened in the rule of Hezekiah, where the Sun (or its shadow) actually went backward by ten steps (some translations degrees):" "This is the LORD's sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz." So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down."
- Isaiah 38:7-8This message has been edited by Jex, 07-05-2004 05:36 PM

One of the most interesting things about this story is that Gibeon and the valley of Aijalon are apparently about fifteen km apart - I forget which east and which west. Exactly why did ol' Joshua need the moon to stand over the valley - particularly when the altitude of the Sun would be less than a quarter-degree different at the two spots? Did the writer have a modern sextant to measure which was above which? If the moon was a few arc-minutes from the sun, would it be a big enough crescent to add much light in the middle of the day?Why didn't the Chinese or Egyptians notice this anomalous day? Both groups were pretty salty astronomers....

It only stopped part of the Earth. The plain on which they fought rose up about 200 sacred inches. That is proven by the diameter of the doorknob on the entrance to the Queens Chamber in the Great Pyramid which has a flat surface on one edge representing the Earth with the plain missing because it was raised up. In the originial construction of the Great Pyramid the representation of the plain was included however it was looted by Muslims.The rest of the Earth kept rolling along and the land under Josh got back on the trolley when it next passed by. The outrageous slings and arrows that rained down on the enemy were but the normal debris as the world swept by beneath them at near 1000 miles an hour.That explains all parts.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Doh!

maybe god is a quantum magician?

I think all things are possible to God. Is it easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven? With men this is impossible. But do you think God could do this if he is the one who invented the physics? Christ says it's easier for the laws of physics to be broken, than it is for a richman to enter heaven. Yet he admitts these things are impossible with men, what do you think he's then saying? Would it be easy for God to break the law of physics? Or hard?

I think it's far more likely that it is literary liberties.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Your reply doesn't make sense. The sun goes along in its normal path, reaches zenith, and then STOPS and stays there for a whole extra day, before continuing and setting. That is NOT "refractions," which frankly sounds like a desperate attempt at explaining what really can't be explained. If the claim is that the Bible is literally true on this point, then the laws of physics would be completely destroyed for 24 hrs, then stared up again as if nothing had even happened.THAT is clearly nonsense and so pathetically reaching for justifiaction that it is illogical to even try for. The LOGICAL explanation is that the Bible simply is wrong.

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Is it easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven?

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Well, that's the inherent socialism in Jesus' teachings. It really doesn't have relevance to the impossible physics of abruptly stopping the Earth in its rotation.

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But do you think God could do this if he is the one who invented the physics?

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Funny that the Bible doesn't make that claim. Again, we seem to have to rely on INTERPRETATIONS to make the Bible seem literal?

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Christ says it's easier for the laws of physics to be broken, than it is for a richman to enter heaven

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Nope, just that rich people can't go to heaven.

First, obtain a camel and an industrial-duty kitchen blender.

What kind of stuff in the atmosphere that caused this refraction? He is asking how this was done. Do you have a clue to how big our planet is? No comet's tail can take away such an enormous rotational momentum. If the spin is altered, where the heck did the energy go? Again, this requires an enormous amount of kinetic energy that would have destroyed all civilization on earth... and possibly most life on earth. This is probably the best answer to the main question.This reminds me of the movie "The Core". I was probably the only person in the theater that had this question in mind, "if the core stopped spinning, where the heck did all the energy go?"

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The Laminator

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Remember, I never said that was my answer. I dont think refractions do answer the problem adequately, but I was listing a consensus of ideas.

Krypton, apparently, though i don't think it sounds quite right anyhow.

Do you know how fast the Earth and everything on it is moving at that locale?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion