Is it true that the sun stood still?

Response

Joshua 10:12–14 recounts one of the most remarkable miracles in history—the day the sun stood still. “On the day the Lord delivered the Amorites into the hands of Israel, Joshua spoke 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, until the nation had avenged itself on its enemies. . . . 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!” God miraculously provided twenty-four hours of light to assist Israel in defeating their foes, the Amorites.

Various interpretations have been proposed regarding this event. Some suggest a “local miracle” where God allowed light to remain in Gibeon, similar to how the Hebrews had light while the Egyptians were in darkness (Exodus 10:23). However, the text appears to describe an actual alteration in the earth’s rotation, as it mentions the sun not setting.

Others argue that the passage’s language is poetic and should not be taken literally. This perspective raises other issues. Mainly, how can a reader discern when this event is symbolic and when it is not? Applying symbolic interpretations to challenging biblical passages does not fully resolve the complexities.

Another perspective seeks to explain the event as an eclipse that created the illusion of an extended day with the sun not setting. Alternatively, a combination of an eclipse and refracted light in the atmosphere might have made the day seem longer than usual. God orchestrated the event to miraculously assist Israel.Meticulously coincide with Joshua’s prayer and moment of need. The main weakness of this view is that an eclipse typically lasts for minutes rather than hours.

Probably the best explanation is simply to take Joshua 10 at face value—God performed a stupendous miracle, causing the sun to delay its “setting.” God stopped the motion of the earth. There are objections to this explanation, based on the physics of motion, but the God who created the world and established natural laws is perfectly capable of compensating for any collateral complications. We may not have a scientific explanation of how God performed this miracle, but He did.

Interestingly, Israel’s enemies worshiped the sun and moon. The arrest of the motion of heavenly bodies and the extended period of light to help Israel clearly affirmed the Lord God as the true God. The Amorites’ own gods were powerless to aid their cause as the God of Israel moved heaven and earth to grant His people the victory.

Joshua described the miracle just as we might describe it, from an earth-bound perspective. From the perspective of someone standing on the earth, it does appear that the sun moves. We ourselves commonly speak of “sunrise” and “sunset”; it is the way we express ourselves.

While we may not fully understand how this “long day” occurred, a miracle does not have to be scientifically proven—just accepted. Joshua prayed, and God supernaturally provided the light necessary for Joshua’s army to win its battle.

The lengthened day was indeed unlike anything ever seen, but in Joshua’s mind the greater miracle may just have been that God listened to him and answered such an amazing prayer.