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Joshua's
Long Day (Joshua X. 12-14).
If there is one Bible
story which is cavilled at more than another, and deemed absolutely
unscientific, it is probably this story of what is known as Joshua's
long day; and yet there are few passages of Scripture which are
supported by such remarkable corroborative evidence, both from an
historical and scientific point of view, as this story is.
First of all it
should
be noticed that Joshua's prayer, translated, "Sun, stand thou still,"
should be rendered, as in the margin, "Sun, be silent," or "be
inactive."
We have already seen
that light is vocal, and it is generally held among scientific men that
it is the action of the sun upon the earth that causes the latter to
revolve upon its axis. So that Joshua's words appear to express with
striking scientific accuracy exactly what, on this hypothesis, would
have to take place to provide for an unusually long day—viz. the
rotation of the earth upon its axis would have to be "slowed down" by a
temporary diminution of the action of the sun.
Newton has
demonstrated
how quickly the earth-motion might be slowed down without appreciable
shock to its inhabitants.
For instance, the
window of many an optician's shop contains a small apparatus, with four
fans, which revolve rapidly when exposed to the light—the revolution
being at once considerably retarded if anything is placed against the
window which interrupts the action of the sun's rays falling upon it.
Some would explain
away
the miracle by what is known as the refraction of light, i.e. owing to
the different media, or varying densities of the gases composing the
air through which the sun's rays pass, those rays become deflected or
bent out of their true course, just as a walking-stick appears to be
bent when partly placed in water. In this way it is possible for the
sun to appear above the horizon for some time after it has really set.
Many instances are on record.
But, while a slight
lengthening of the day—which at most could not possibly exceed an
hour—might be accounted for in this way, it is quite impossible that
refraction could account for the light continuing "for about a whole
day." Other explanations have also been attempted. The truth, however,
is that no man really knows how this long day of Joshua's was
accomplished; but it must have been accomplished somehow, for astronomy
demands that something of the kind must have happened, while history
declares that it actually took place.
Professor Totten, of
America, has studied this subject from an astronomical point of view;
and has published the result in an elaborate mathematical calculation
with the following remarkable conclusion, that, by taking the
equinoxes, eclipses, and transits, and working from the present time
backwards to the winter solstice of Joshua's day, it is found to fall
on a Wednesday; whereas, by calculating from the prime date of creation
onwards to the winter solstice of Joshua's day, it is found to fall on
a Tuesday; and he argues that by no possible mathematics can you avoid
the conclusion that a whole day or exactly twenty-four hours has been
inserted into the world's history.
But more than this,
Mr
E.W. Maunder, F.R.A.S. late of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in an
article in the Sunday at Home for Feb., 1904, traces not only
the spot on which Joshua must have been standing at the time, but the
date and the time of day when this remarkable phenomenon took place.
The statement, too,
in
Joshua X.14, that "there was no day like that before it or after it,"
is equally accurate; for there is no room mathematically in the world's
history for another such long day. Professor Totten affirms that "not
before nor since…has there been a date which will harmonise with the
required relative positions of the sun, moon, and earth, as conditioned
in the Sacred Record."
But even this is not
all. It is written in Joshua x.13, "So the sun stood still in the midst
of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day."
Now Professor Totten
shows in his calculations that this long day of Joshua did not consist
of the addition of a full day of twenty-four hours, but only
twenty-three and one-third hours—in remarkable accord with the words,
"about a whole day." While the full day which astronomy demands should
be accounted for, is exactly made up by the fact that, in Hezekiah's
time, the shadow on the dial of Ahaz was made to go back ten degrees,
or forty minutes (2 Kings XX.II)—the balance to a minute of two-thirds
of an hour wanted to make up the twenty-four hours!
Then, after a long
and
elaborate astronomical calculation, he says: "It is patent that the
human race never lost the septenary sequence of week days, and that the
Sabbath of these latter times comes down to us from Adam, through the
flood, past Joshua's long day, by the dial of Ahaz, and out of the
sepulchre of the Saviour, without a single lapse! No day is missing; no
cycle calls for less; all call for the same, and all unite in a concert
of testimony not to be shaken by any ingenuity of man or devil!" 1
But, as we have
already
said, this remarkable event is not only corroborated by astronomical
calculation; it is also confirmed by history, and that from six
independent sources, including that of Jasher's (the Upright), who was
a contemporary of Joshua's and knew the facts so well that he actually
wrote a separate account of it, which Joshua deliberately referred to
(Josh. x.13).
Now, the three great
record-keeping countries of the world were Greece, Egypt, and China,
and these, with India, have all had the record of a long day.
Herodotus, "the
Father
of History," who lived 480 B.C., himself a Greek, has left it on record
that the priests of Egypt told him of a time when "the sun had four
times risen out of his usual quarter, that he had twice risen where he
now sets, and twice set where he now rises."2 This is
believed to be a distorted reference to Joshua's long day.
The Chinese record,
which is most remarkable, occurs in the Essays of the famous Chinese
Taorist philosopher and alchemist, Huainan Tzu, thus:—
"Duke Yang of Lu
(B.C.
1058-1053), being engaged in a bloody battle with the army of the Han
state, and fearing lest evening should close in and interfere with his
victory, he raised his spear and shook it at the declining sun, which
straightway went backward in the sky to the extent of 3 zodiacal
signs!" (6 hours).
While the Indian
account, which is equally striking, is preserved in Hamilton's Key
to the Chronology of the Hindus, Vol. II, page 224, as follows:—
"It is recorded in
the
life of Chrishnu (the black shepherd prophet of the Hindus), that in
the Cali year 1651 (which corresponds with our 1451 B.C., the very year
in which Joshua entered Canaan), the sun delayed setting to hear the
pious ejaculations of Akroon, who descanted on the virtues of Chrishnu,
as he journeyed to Bindreben. And that, on his arrival to safety, that
planet went down, making a difference of about twelve hours."
Now, it is not
difficult to trace in all these strange stories the corrupted remains
of the true Bible account; each country, however, substituting the name
of some National Hero in the place of Joshua, while the stories
themselves are naturally coloured with the necessary local conditions
which the particular country required.
The fact, however,
remains that, in the providence of God, we have today these independent
testimonies from such widely separated parts of the world, all of which
verify in a most remarkable way the truth of this ancient inspired
Bible story!
1 Our Race, by Prof.
Totten
2 Bohn's Classical
Library, Herodotus, translated by Cary, 1865, page 152
(Pages
284-288)
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