Short Bible Lessons

Sun Stop (Text)

Many say that the Bible is unscientific.  Einstein said science without religion is crippled; religion without science is blind.  There is a way that both science and religion can make sense together so that we can understand the Bible correctly.  The Bible contains God’s truth.  The problem is how we understand it.  We should not interpret the Bible literally.  We cannot read the Bible without considering the political, geological, social, economic, religious, and cultural background of the time.

Joshua 10:12-14

[12] On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” [13] So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. [14] There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!

• Do you think the sun literally stood still?
• Do you think this is a legend?
• Do you have no opinion?

Let’s look at the background of Joshua 10:12-14.

The Israelites had just come out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt prior to Joshua leading them into the promised land, Canaan.  Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt with the hope of bringing them to Canaan.  Almost at the end of their journey, 12 leaders from the 12 tribes of Israel had gone to Canaan as spies.  But only two of these leaders, Joshua and Caleb, had enough trust in God’s providence that they were willing to proceed.  The other 10 leaders did not trust God strongly enough to believe they could defeat the people living in Canaan at the time.  As a result God did not let the Israelites go on until most of that generation had died in the desert.  Eventually Moses died in Moab and Joshua took over Moses’ mission.  He led the Israelites over the Jordan river.  They then fought against 31 city kingdoms one by one. 

Our scripture passage, Joshua 10:12-14, describes the battle with the Amorites.  Joshua was fighting well according to God’s command.  But, when victory was in sight, the sun started to set.  If the sun went down, the Israelites would be at a disadvantage since the Amorites were the natives and familiar with the features of the land.  It was then when Joshua prayed, “Sun, stand still!” 

• Did the sun stand still?
• Which one is moving, the sun or the earth?

It was not until the 16th Century AD, the time of Copernicus and Galileo, when we understood that it is the earth which revolves around the sun and not vice versa.  At the time of this battle, around 1400 BC, people firmly believed that the sun rotated around the earth. 

Therefore Joshua prayed boldly for the sun to stop.  However, Joshua’s prayer is actually not about stopping the sun but to have enough TIME to win the war.  God answered Joshua’s prayer by letting him win the war in such a limited amount of time, that Joshua thought God had stopped the sun for him.  God did not stop the sun, but instead God helped them to win the war by other means. 

Let’s look at Joshua 10:10-11:

[10] The LORD threw them into confusion before Israel, who defeated them in a great victory at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. [11] 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.

Thus, God helped the Israelites to win the war and Joshua’s army could destroy the enemy before the sun set.  Joshua felt as if the sun had stopped.

God is a God of both religion and science.  He did not divide them, but we did out of ignorance.  We must reexamine our religious attitude, which interprets the Bible putting monumental importance on miracles based on literal interpretations.

Sun Stop (Audio)

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