Joshua's Long Day

[JesusAddicted]

Hi! I was reading the Bible and I got a question about that day when Joshua said
„Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” I don't have a problem believing that God has done this for people of Israel, I've read some scientific evidences about this, even people from other countries have noticed that long day. But I can't understand one thing: if the Earth stopped, how everyone and everything remained on the planet? I mean, according to the laws of physics, if it will stop, we would be litterally "launched" into a fly at a great speed (which we don't feel now because of the gravity).
Can you explain this? ...

 

[friend of]

flat earth theory

 

[Dave-W]

If God can stop the rotation of the earth, why would He not be able to also stop inertia for that moment?

OR - perhaps it was a time bubble. God put Joshua and Israel into a bubble where time was moving much more slowly. From inside the bubble it would appear to have stopped.

What is equally interesting is in 2 Kings 20 where the "shadow went back ten steps."

8 Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?” 9 Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” 10 So Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.” 11 Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and He brought the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

Isaiah also recorded the incident:

Isa 38.7 This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken: 8 Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.

So in this instance either the earth REVERSED its rotation for a few moments, or the time bubble had time going in the reverse direction.

 

[sdowney717]

God put the sun moon stars in the firmament as lights to shine onto the earth for signs and seasons.
So as you read what their purpose is for, then that is what God would alter, their courses and movements, not a 'spinning earth' stopping, since God says the earth is fixed, immovable and also His footstool. God saying they are for days and years signifies time, so they are what God would alter when modifying time, not the earth. God tells us in His word, what He will do, but people make up myths and stories when saying the earth stopped.

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

 

[JesusAddicted]

God put the sun moon stars in the firmament as lights to shine onto the earth for signs and seasons.
So as you read what their purpose is for, then that is what God would alter, their courses and movements, not a 'spinning earth' stopping, since God says the earth is fixed, immovable and also His footstool. God saying they are for days and years signifies time, so they are what God would alter when modifying time, not the earth. God tells us in His word, what He will do, but people make up myths and stories when saying the earth stopped.

So you're saying that God moved the sun instead of stopping the Earth?

 

[sdowney717]

So you're saying that God moved the sun instead of stopping the Earth?

God would stop or move the Sun, moon, stars not the earth.

Psalm 104:5
You who laid the foundations of the earth, So that it should not be moved forever,

I take it that movement of the earth is out of consideration for the Joshua verses.

 

[Steve Petersen]

Hi! I was reading the Bible and I got a question about that day when Joshua said
„Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” I don't have a problem believing that God has done this for people of Israel, I've read some scientific evidences about this, even people from other countries have noticed that long day. But I can't understand one thing: if the Earth stopped, how everyone and everything remained on the planet? I mean, according to the laws of physics, if it will stop, we would be litterally "launched" into a fly at a great speed (which we don't feel now because of the gravity).
Can you explain this? ...

To say nothing of the oceans suddenly sloshing over the land. Hit the accelerator on your car while drinking a cup of coffee sometime and you will see what I mean.

 

[miamited]

Hi! I was reading the Bible and I got a question about that day when Joshua said
„Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” I don't have a problem believing that God has done this for people of Israel, I've read some scientific evidences about this, even people from other countries have noticed that long day. But I can't understand one thing: if the Earth stopped, how everyone and everything remained on the planet? I mean, according to the laws of physics, if it will stop, we would be litterally "launched" into a fly at a great speed (which we don't feel now because of the gravity).
Can you explain this? ...

Hi Jesusaddicted,

There are two possibilities to explain the sun standing still in the sky. One is as you have suggested that the earth stops turning. Yes, if God wants the earth to stop turning and everybody and everything to stay on it and in its place, He can do that!

However, there is a second possibility to be considered and I honestly couldn't tell you if either one of them was the correct answer. The entire universe can turn with the earth, or at least our solar system. So, the earth continues to rotate, but our sun and all the planets and moons associated with our solar system would spin around the earth while maintaining each objects relative position to the sun. This would also cause the sun to appear to stand stationary in the sky. Fortunately there is a vast amount of empty space around our solar system, and so there is plenty of room for our entire solar system to spin as one entity for a short period of time without ever being in danger of hitting anything else out there in the universe.

This answer, if it were only our solar system involved, would mean that the stars we see in the sky are not in the same positions that they would have been before the event, but if we do allow that in the entire universe the earth momentarily became the center and everything spun around the earth, then relative positioning would remain largely the same.

Of course, you're going to come against those who categorically deny the possibility of such a thing happening because it is just impossible. But, we serve the God of the impossible. A God for which everything that He does, is impossible. He is not like us. He is not bound by the same abilities and strength and knowledge and wisdom that we have. There are no, what we call 'physical laws', that He cannot break to suit His purposes. He has already proven that He can make water stand on its head for a span of at least an hour or so as He led His people to safety from the fleeing Egyptian army. He has already shown that He can send fire down from heaven with the pinpoint accuracy to burn up only a fire pit and not harm a single person standing around that pit as Elijah beseeched God to show Himself to His people. He can make normal days of sunlight shine all around the globe, but in one small defined area of the land of Egypt, make it pitch dark for three days. God can do the impossible!

There are many, many examples of God stepping into this realm of His creating and doing things that are absolutely and completely impossible according to our knowledge and wisdom of what is possible. The greatest example? He caused a young Jewish woman who had never had sexual relations with a man to be the single woman among all women ever born upon the earth to conceive and deliver a baby. His Son. Our Savior, Jesus. Friend, by all known knowledge and abilities of mankind, that is impossible and yet God did it that you and I and all those who will believe and trust in Him may have eternal life with Him. Praise God for both His great goodness and power and wisdom and knowledge, but also His abounding mercy. His great love for those who love Him.

Let me take a moment to encourage you in your faithfulness to trust God. God has given us a clear and fairly concise account of all that He has done to create this realm of living that we call the universe. Much of the explanation for its existence just seems profound and impossible to our feeble thoughts. But Abraham was declared righteous because He believed God. I firmly believe that that is exactly what God is asking of each of us who desire to be His. Believe Him and trust Him.

God bless you,
In Christ, ted

 

[Radrook]

To say nothing of the oceans suddenly sloshing over the land. Hit the accelerator on your car while drinking a cup of coffee sometime and you will see what I mean.

I once asked my teacher why the Earth didn't spin under my feet and I crashing against a moving wall if indeed the Earth was spinning 1000 mph. He said that since I am spinning as well I keep my position above it when I'm in the air. Same as when we are travelling on a train,or airplane. If we jump we land exactly on the spot we were stand and not smashed against the caboose or the tail end of the airplane.

However, if the Earth would suddenly stop, then momentum would hurl things at approx. 1000 mph in the direction of Earth's rotation which would be East. The stress would topple structures and tsunamis would happen.

BTW
I once read that Joshua was merely reporting what he was seeing and how seeing what seemed to him. The Red Sea is described as being congealed when God parted it by what seemed to the Israelites as a wind. Both descriptions are the impression of what they beheld and perhaps a scientific investigation at that time would have revealed something entirely different.

 

[Phil 1:21]

But I can't understand one thing: if the Earth stopped, how everyone and everything remained on the planet? I mean, according to the laws of physics, if it will stop, we would be litterally "launched" into a fly at a great speed (which we don't feel now because of the gravity).
Can you explain this? ...

God is not subject to His own creation.

 

[JesusAddicted]

God would stop or move the Sun, moon, stars not the earth.

Psalm 104:5
You who laid the foundations of the earth, So that it should not be moved forever,

I take it that movement of the earth is out of consideration for the Joshua verses.

Anyway the Earth is moving, you know what I mean... the spinning and the rotations etc. But how about stopping?

 

[sdowney717]

Anyway the Earth is moving, you know what I mean... the spinning and the rotations etc. But how about stopping?

I believe the earth is not moving, and everything else is going around the earth, so no problems with it stopping and everything being destroyed as would naturally occur, if the earth was a planet it would 'naturally' tear to pieces if suddenly stopped. Look what happened with Noah's flood, it rained a lot and God broke up the foundations of the great deep. So the earth sunk like a floating boat.
Apostle Peter said the earth was brought up out from the water at God's creation. Earth is floating in a giant lake of water called the great deep, or the deep.

"the earth standing out of water and in the water"

2 Peter 3:4-6New King James Version (NKJV)
4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.

I admit 'supernaturally' this is no problem for God to stop a rotating earth instantly, but why would God do that? God has interacted with the earth from the beginning by telling people everything He has done. No surprises.
You just don't read about a spinning ball earth in scripture.

 

[prodromos]

God who spoke the universe into existence, is Himself not bound by any of the "natural laws". Supranatural events are so called because they themselves occur contrary to the natural laws. Because we experience the effects of inertia many times daily in our every day life we take it for granted that it will always apply. However that is not a given at all if God intervenes.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Hi! I was reading the Bible and I got a question about that day when Joshua said
„Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” I don't have a problem believing that God has done this for people of Israel, I've read some scientific evidences about this, even people from other countries have noticed that long day. But I can't understand one thing: if the Earth stopped, how everyone and everything remained on the planet? I mean, according to the laws of physics, if it will stop, we would be litterally "launched" into a fly at a great speed (which we don't feel now because of the gravity).
Can you explain this? ...

Realize that at the time from Creation until well past the first century,
no one thought the earth was moving at all.
It was the center around which everything else moved.
Look this up online if you are further interested.
It is hard (very hard) to find, but rewarding.
Trying to discus this in most forums results in senseless squablling.

 

[JesusAddicted]

Realize that at the time from Creation until well past the first century,
no one thought the earth was moving at all.
It was the center around which everything else moved.

But if someone THINKS that earth is not moving it doesn't mean that it's not moving

 

[Dave-W]

I believe the earth is not moving, and everything else is going around the earth,

OK - explain then how even the nearest star system (Alpha, Beta and Proxima Centauri) which is about 4 light years from earth is going at an orbital rate of moving 12 light years every 24 hours.

 

[sdowney717]

OK - explain then how even the nearest star system (Alpha, Beta and Proxima Centauri) which is about 4 light years from earth is going at an orbital rate of moving 12 light years every 24 hours.

Because the entire systematic universe of massive stars and planets and gravity and dark matter is a faked contrivance of man, the bigbang never occured. All science fiction movies teach a universe that is just unreal and fake. What they show you in pictures such as planets is fake CGI.
Stars and planets are actually part of the host of heaven, designed by God to give light and mark time onto the earth and they have a spiritual life. And they can move around as fast as required. At the end when Jesus said the stars will fall to earth, they are transformed no longer to be lights in the sky to shine on the earth as God originally designed them. Christ is and will then be the light of the world, their light will no longer be needed to shine on the earth.

I am not a naturalist deist kind of believer, everything is supernatural in origin and character and purpose. If you read Enoch the stars in the sky are actually angels and the book of Enoch has the universe described correct.

The universe as taught by science is a godless place of random chaos. God is Christ, Christ is God, and if they say a god made everything they are thinking abstractly and not of a personal creator. Christ however made the entire universe and He is a personal being, someone you can know.

The sun, moon, stars are designed as lights to mark times and seasons on this earth, nothing is said of them of possessing any physical characteristic or substance.

At the very end of this age, God makes a new heaven and a new earth.

The host of heaven worships God, if they were just glowing rocks how could they do that, so they must have some kind of spiritual life in them.

Nehemiah 9:6
You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.

Stars also sing to the Lord.
If they were dead glowing hot gasses, nuclear furnaces would they sing praise?

Job 38:1-7New King James Version (NKJV)
The Lord Reveals His Omnipotence to Job
38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:

2 “Who is this who darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
3 Now prepare yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?


Genesis 2:1
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.

Deuteronomy 4:19
And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.

Deuteronomy 17:3
who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded,

1 Kings 22:19
Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left.

Jude describes lost people as wandering stars, so stars can have sentience, be alive and aware.

Jude 1:13
raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

People will be be transformed and shine like stars. The universe is alive with spiritual life. Stars are cast to the earth, if they were humongous glowing balls of energy, millions of times the size of earth, they would not do that. Satan can not transform humongous glowing stars into small objects to be cast to the earth and then trample them. But this could happen if the host and stars were of a spiritual nature.

Daniel 8:10
And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them.

Daniel 12:3
Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.

 

[Dave-W]

Because the entire systematic universe of massive stars and planets and gravity and dark matter is a faked contrivance of man

Not really, and you do not have ANY biblical reference to back that up.

If you read Enoch the stars in the sky are actually angels and the book of Enoch has the universe described correct.

The book of enoch is a lie.

 

[sdowney717]

Not really, and you do not have ANY biblical reference to back that up.

The book of enoch is a lie.

The scriptural evidence is every man is a liar and the entire world is under the sway of Satan, so then when speaking about the true nature of the universe, it will be a lie what man says is it's true nature as it will be Satanically distorted.

Jude quotes from the book of Enoch.
Is Jude a lie also if Jude uses it as a reference?

 

[Jadis40]

The Book of Enoch is nonsense. Stars are not angels. They're not spiritual beings. They cannot fall from the skies. And yes, they are non-sentient objects.

Paul quoted Greek poets, that doesn't make them authoritative. The Book of Enoch isn't either.

Also, the earth is mobile. It rotates on its axis once every 24 hours as it revolves around the sun in 365 days.