Did God really stop the world for a double day?
HG Wells, in his novel /The Man Who Stopped The World/, aimed at discrediting Joshua's report of a day with nearly 24 hours' sunlight. At about midday Joshua shouted to God "O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the valley of Aijalon. So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jasher. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day" (Joshua 10:12-13). The Book of Jasher records it. The Book of Joshua records it. History also records it!
Heroditus, the great historian of ancient times, said that the priests of Egypt showed him in their records the existence of an unusually long day.
Of six independent records from antiquity, the Indian Hindu account says "In the life of Chrishnu, the sun delayed setting to hear the pious ejaculations of Akroon; that planet went down to make a difference of about 12 hours. Date, about 1400 BC.
Professor Totten wrote "... by taking the equinoxes, eclipses and transits, and working backwards to the winter solstice of Joshua's Day, it is found to fall on a Wednesday; whereas by calculating forwards to the winter solstice of Joshua's Day, it is found to fall on a Tuesday. So a whole day of 24 hours has been inserted into the world's history.... Not before or since has there been a date which will harmonise with the required relative positions of the sun, moon and earth as,conditioned in the Holy Scripture.".
EW Maunder FRAS, a former Superintendent of Greenwich Observatory, noted from Joshua 10:12-13 that the sun was at midday and the moon at the horizon - the valley - which is north- west at Aijalon. With this astronomical information, he was able to project back and find that it happened on 21st July 1400 BC.
Astronomers find that nearly a whole day has been added to the astronomical calendar. The final 40 minutes or so (10 degrees) would be what was added as a sign to Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:10.
Sir Ambrose Fleming suggested that a large meteor shower might be responsible for the perception of an extra long day "...the LORD hurled large hailstones down on them from the sky..." (Joshua 10:11). Sir Ambrose added that the 'krypton' in the air would change the refractive index of the atmosphere, causing the sun to light both hemispheres at once.
In the end, HG Wells had to admit that Joshua had a point. If you wish to believe in Joshua's double day, you cannot be said to be ridiculous in so doing.
Ben "Dr, errrm, who?" Crick