Re: [asa] Turning back the sun

If we want to be hyper-literal in interpreting this passage in Joshua, then we should be hyper-literal in interpreting related passages, too.? Like this one:

Jeremiah 33:25-26
25"Thus says the LORD, 'If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established,

?26then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...'"

He says the pattern of day and night are not merely a "fixed pattern" that he established, but actually it is at the level of being a "covenant".? God made a covenant that the day and night would be "fixed" (unchanging) patterns.? Did God break his covenant with the day and night in Joshua 10 by deviating from the fixed pattern?? Even worse, here in Jeremiah 33 is God now making a promise to Israel regarding the utter unbreakableness of his covenant, and doing so with an example of a covenant that He knows full well He has already broken once before, back in the time of Joshua??

We can make a similar argument from Jeremiah?31:35-36.??

?35a? Thus says the LORD,
?????????Who gives the sun for light by day
?????????And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
?????????...
?36?? "If this fixed order departs
?????????From before Me," declares the LORD,
?????????"Then the offspring of Israel also will cease
?????????From being a nation before Me forever."
?
How believable would God's promise be if we were to understand that his "fixed order" wasn't really so fixed back in Joshua?

Let's not get hyper-literal where the text doesn't demand it.? If we can see that poetry is being used in Joshua 10, then let's recognize that it is poetry.? The text allows us to do this, so why would we want to get bent out of shape with theories about the Earth slowing down?? God didn't need to stop the entire Earth from spinning to defeat the Amorites.

One clue that might be considered as to why Joshua said what he did is the fact that it actually crossed his mind to be concerned about the moon.?

It is a standard element of Hebrew poetry to refer to the sun and moon together.? In fact, when we see this standard, parallel?language about the sun and moon, it alerts us that the text is poetic.? Here are just some of the examples, all taken from sections of Hebrew poetry in the Bible:

Habakkuk 3:11?????????
???????? Sun and moon stood in their places;
?????????They went away at the light of Your arrows,
?????????At the radiance of Your gleaming spear.? (NASB)

Isaiah 13:10

???????? For the stars of heaven and their constellations
?????????Will not flash forth their light;
?????????The sun will be dark when it rises
?????????And the moon will not shed its light.? (NASB)

Isaiah 24:23
???????? Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed,
?????????For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
?????????And His glory will be before His elders.? (NASB)

Ezekial 32:7
???????? And when I extinguish you,
?????????I will cover the heavens and darken their stars;
?????????I will cover the sun with a cloud
?????????And the moon will not give its light. (NASB)

Joel 2:10
???????? Before them the earth quakes,
?????????The heavens tremble,
?????????The sun and the moon grow dark
?????????And the stars lose their brightness.? (NASB)

Amos 8:9
???????? "It will come about in that day," declares the Lord GOD,
?????????"That I will make the sun go down at noon
?????????And make the earth dark in broad daylight. (NASB)

Job 31: 26-27
???????If I have looked at the sun when it shone
?????????Or the moon going in splendor,?
????? And my heart became secretly enticed,
?????????And my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

Psalm 104:19
????? He made the moon for the seasons;
?????????The sun knows the place of its setting.

Psalm 72:5??
???????Let them fear You while the sun endures,
?????????And as long as the moon, throughout all generations.

Note also that the book of Jashar is quoted one other time in the Bible:? 2?Samuel 1:18?references "The Song of the Bow" that is written in the book of Jashar.? A song is also a poetic work, just like this poem about the defeat of the Amorites referenced in Joshua 10.

?Also, note that the poem in Joshua 10 does not end with the quotations that were added in the English translation:?

?

?12Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
?????????"O sun, stand still at Gibeon,
?????????And O moon in the valley of Aijalon."
????13? So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
?????????Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies?
?Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

We identify Hebrew poetry by its rhythm, parallism, and poetic language.? We can see that the poetry in this verse goes from "O sun..."? until "...of their enemies" and so the NASB indents it (as shown above) to indicate that it is all poetry.? But note that only the first half of this poem has quotes around it, added by the English translators.? This makes it seem like Joshua spoke half a poem, and then later the editor of this book added the second half of the poem onto what he said.? But that doesn't make sense!? The entire poem was most likely composed together, and so if it was Joshua's quote, then all of it was Joshua's quote to the end of the poem.? But because the second half of this poem is speaking of the battle in the past tense, then Joshua must have spoken it later in the day after the end of the battle.? (That is probably why the translators ended the quote at verse 12.? They were presuming it was spoken before the battle as a prayer and so they made this unnatu
 ral and inexplicable split with the end-quote right in the middle of the poem, and they were wrong for doing so.)? So, since the poem must have been spoken after the battle,?it can't be taken as a request for God to?stop the sun and the moon during the battle.? It is a poetic outburst rejoicing after-the-fact about what God did.
?
When verse 14 refers to the LORD listening to the voice of a man, it might have been a reference to earlier in the day, when God spoke to Joshua?in verses 8.? Joshua was surely praying about the upcoming battle when God spoke to him and promised to deliver Israel.? Then, when the hailstones came down and slew the enemy, Joshua knew how fully God had heard his voice and answered.? It doesn't say that God listened to a?the voice of a man to stop the sun; it says He listened to the voice of a man to fight for Israel (which He did by sending the hailstones).

OK, I've done my best to argue the case that it is poetic and so I will stop posting from here on out because I'll only become repetitive.

:-)

God bless,
Phil

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Received on Sat Sep 29 00:26:53 2007