Search This Blog

Did God really stop the sun?

On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel:
“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
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. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a human being. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel! Joshua 10:12-14

The book of Joshua says that when the Israelites fought against the Ammorites in the Promised Land, Joshua asked God to stop the sun until the battle was won. The Bible says the sun was stopped. There are a few explanations for this miracle:

1. The day appeared to be longer since things were going so well (their perspective of the day made it seem longer though it was only 24 hours)
2. The earth stopped rotating (the rest of the solar system continued moving)
3. The entire solar system stopped.
4. All time stood still.
5. God made the battle go quicker than expected.

Most of the evidence points to a miracle/God-intervention of some kind, unexplainable and amazing (ruling out Explanation 1), all of them certainly possible in the hands of the Creator. God would want the enemies that were defeated in this battle to know who was in charge. If God could split a sea open and stop a rushing river, can’t he control the earth’s rotation or time itself?