The Bible: Commentary and Controversy

The city of Gibeon is being attacked  by the armies of the five kings because the inhabitants have made peace with Joshua and the Israelites. So the men of Gibeon send word to Joshua, who is camped about twenty miles away at Gilgal. Joshua and his army march all night and reach Gibeon the next morning, catching the five kings and their armies by surprise. Then the Lord steps in and causes confusion in the five kings’ armies, raining great stones on them from the heavens – referred to as hailstones in many translations — letting Joshua’s forces slaughter and chase after them as they try to escape to the hills.

Worried that his enemies might return to their homes under cover of darkness, regroup, and return in force, Joshua makes a request of the Lord, saying: “Sun — in Gibeon stand still; and moon — in the valley of Ajalon.” In other words, “give me time before night falls to complete this victory.”

“And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.” Obviously there is a tremendous amount of controversy about this verse. Unfortunately, there seems to be no way of scientifically proving whether or not it really happened, since there is no information from precise instruments from that period in time. However, it has been scoffed at by a vast majority of scientists, astronomists, and just about everyone else, except for true believers.

Problems abound such as “for that to really happen the earth would have to stop rotating, or as least slow down dramatically, which would cause catastrophic damage to life everywhere.” The atheistic view was propounded in the classic play about the Scopes “Monkey Trial,” “Inherit the Wind.” Drummond asks “Have you ever pondered just what would naturally happen to the earth if the sun stood still? If they say that the sun stood still, they must’ve had a notion that the sun moves around the earth. Think that’s the way of things? Or don’t you believe the earth moves around the sun?”

Brady responds that he has faith in the bible.

Drummond: “Now if what you say factually happened— if Joshua halted the sun in the sky— that means the earth stopped spinning on its axis; continents toppled over each other, mountains flew out into space. And the earth, arrested in its orbit, shriveled to a cinder and crashed into the sun. How come they missed this tidbit of news?”

He goes on to ask if Brady believes in natural law, to which Brady responds: “Natural law was born in the mind of the Heavenly Father. He can change it, cancel it, use it as He pleases. It constantly amazes me that you apostles of science, for all your supposed wisdom, fail to grasp this simple fact.”

A perfect answer from a true believer’s point of view. After all, if God is able to stop the rotation of the earth He’s certainly capable of keeping everything in place when He does it.

In searching for a reasonable explanation, some have suggested a brilliant comet came into view at that moment, and not only lit up the area, but also rained “stones” down on the five kings armies. That would either have been one of history’s biggest and most fortuitous coincidences, or, of course, it would have been placed there by God.

The problem, it seems to me, is a too literal interpretation of the words by non-believers. Looking past what was said to the effect, we find there was “daylight” for 24 hours. The suggestion of the comet might work. Another possibility is simply the creation of a great light in the sky – much like the light that heralded the birth of Jesus. As for the “stones,” hailstones the size of a bowling ball have been reported, which – falling at a speed of one hundred miles an hour — would certainly kill anyone they hit. Act of God not necessary for a hailstorm; just another fortuitous coincidence.

Like pretty much everything else in the bible, though; anything is possible for God. Whether you believe or not is up to you.