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| The Sun Stands Still |
| Soon after entering Canaan and conquering Jericho with God's help, Joshua and his Lsraelite army were forced into battle at the town of Gibeon, 10 miles northwest of Jerusalem. The battle raged all day, and the Israelites were winning, aided by a violent hailstorm of huge ice balls that killed many of their enemy. As evening neared, Joshua realized he needed more daylight hours to finish the battle, so he prayed to God and included an astounding request: "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon" (Josh 10:12). Then to everyone's astonishment, the sun and moon stopped moving "for about a whole day" until Joshua's men were victorious. This miracle of the sun was so dramatic that even the writer who recorded the incident was amazed. "There has been no day like it before or since," he wrote, "when the Lord heeded a human voice; for the Lord fought for Israel" (Josh 10:14). People have developed all sorts of theories to try to explain this miracle. They have said there might have been an eclipse or a comet, or the sun and the moon might have appeared in the sky at the same time. But according to the Bible, the meaning of miracle is clear. God, who created the heavans and the earth, was using his power to help the Israelites win their battles amd conquer the land he had promised them. Did you know? Joshua's prayer to stop the sun was first recorded in The Book of Jashar, a lost collection of poems about Israel's early heroes. This collection was written before the Book of Joshua. |