Acts 10:34-48
Joshua 9-10
Job 25
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Thoughts and Commentary on Today's Reading:
Today I will focus on the miraculous story of Joshua, from our reading. What a powerful statement we find here: that Yahweh fought for Israel that day. He heard Joshua's prayer and stopped the rotation of the earth, delaying the advancing of the clock for about 24 hours.
There is an urban myth going around that NASA computers were able to find the long day, thereby proving Joshua's story to be true. But science well knows that this is impossible. We can astronomically determine the positions of the heavenly bodies, but without a planetary clock which has kept record of time since Bible times, scientifically proving the long day is impossible.
When Christians unknowingly perpetuate the myth, they unintentionally validate atheistic jabs at the Word of God. But actually, there is evidence to support the story we read in Joshua today. It isn't scientific evidence. Rather it is historical evidence. Consider the following:
...“It is reported by historians that records of the Chinese during the reign of Emperor Yeo, who lived at the same time as Joshua, report ‘a long day.’ Also, Herodotus, a Greek historian, wrote that an account of ‘a long day’ appears in records of Egyptian priests. Others cite records of Mexicans of the sun standing still for an entire day in a year denoted as ‘Seven Rabits,’ which is the same year in which Joshua defeated the Philistines and conquered Palestine.” (Bible-Science Newsletter, Daily Reading Magazine, Supplement, Vol. VIII, No. 5, May 1978, Caldwell, Idaho.)
Herodotus
Additionally, the historical lore of the Aztecs, Peruvians, and Babylonians speak of a “day of twice natural length.” See http://www.zetatalk.com/theword/tword16a.htm; see also Immanuel Velikovsky’s “Worlds in Collision.” If Joshua’s long day (not “missing” day) occurred—and of course I believe that it did—then we would expect its effects to show up in the historical records of other nations, and that is exactly what we find. (https://bible.org/question/has-%E2%80%9Cmissing-day%E2%80%9D-joshua-been-proven-scientifically)
The Aztecs kept sophisticated calendars
And there is more archaeological evidence than this to support the Biblical account of Joshua and Israel's conquest of Canaan. Consider Dr. Bryant G. Woods explanation of the find of ancient Jericho, which is now called Tell es-Sultan:
Arial View of Tell es-Sultan (ancient Jericho) ...Scarred with the trenches of past digs, the impressive mound stretches from top to bottom in this overhead view. Jericho is doubly unique: With its Neolithic settlement dating to 8000 B.C.E., Jericho lays claim to being the world’s oldest city; located 670 feet below sea level in the great rift valley, it is the world’s lowest city as well. Jericho’s abundant water supply, favorable climate and geographic location made it a key site in ancient Canaan. Anyone who wished to conquer the central hill country from the east, as the Bible describes Joshua and the Israelites doing, would first need to secure Jericho...
(Notably) a walled city existed at Jericho until about 1400 B.C.E. when it was destroyed in a conquest strikingly similar to the Biblical account. The 1400 B.C.E, conquest would match the chronology derived from the Bible. However, it is about 150 to 200 years earlier than the time most scholars believe the Israelites were to be found as a people living in Canaan.
City IV at Jericho – the city that all scholars agree was violently destroyed – was a fortified enclave, (shown above)... The city’s outer defenses consisted of a stone revetment wall at the base of the tell that held in place a high, plastered rampart. Above the rampart on top of the tell was a mud-brick wall which served as Jericho’s city wall proper. The approximate line of this wall is indicated by the dashed line.
In the 1930s, British archaeologist John Garstang excavated a residentialarea, marked "A," just west of the perennial spring that supplied the city’s water and which now fills the modern reservoir. (A significant portion of the tell was destroyed to make way for the modern road.) Signs of a fiery destruction and his dating of the remains led Garstang to conclude that the Israelites had indeed put the city to the torch about 1400 B.C.E., in harmony with the Biblical narrative.
John Garstang
This photo (above) was taken at the first major excavation at ancient Jericho, conducted by Sellin and Watzinger. On a diagonal at lower right is a portion of the stone revetment wall, rising to a height of some 15 feet; its scale is evident from the man at far right. The revetment wall surrounded the city at the base of the sloping earthen rampart and provided a first line of defense for the city at the top of the slope (see plan above). Atop this revetment wall a mud-brick parapet wall is clearly visible. Behind the parapet, across the center of the photo, are the remains of houses inside the revetment wall on the top of the rampart. These same buildings can be seen on the plan opposite.
These houses seem to have been on the "wrong side of the tracks" in ancient Jericho; their walls were rather flimsy – only one brick thick. Author Wood suggests that Rahab, the prostitute who assisted Joshua’s spies, might have lived in one of these houses on the sloping rampart between the revetment wall encircling the bottom of the hill and the city wall that surrounded the top of the tell.
Among the interesting discoveries at Jericho, which support the Bible story, is how the city was destroyed. Evidence at the site showed that both an earthquake and an invading army were part of Jericho's demise. When the earthquake struck, the rocks of the city's walls tumbled down forming crude ramparts, allowing the invaders to climb them, easily overpowering the exposed city. This description, although given through non-Christian, archaeological observations at the site, clearly support the Bible story!
Once again, even the rocks are crying out to show us that the Bible is reliable.
