One of the greatest miracles described in the books of the Old Testament was accomplished when God stopped the sun in heaven to help the Israelites, His chosen people. Led by Joshua, they continued their journey to the Promised Land (Canaan) after the fall of Jericho. Adronizedek, king of Jerusalem, called for the help of his allies, the five kings of the Amorites, to stop the progress of the Israelites, and the two armies met in the battle of Mount Gavaon. The Israelites triumphed and pursued their enemies "on the way to the Bethroon Hills. Here the first miracle happened: God came to the aid of the Israelites, killing the amorites who were trying to escape.
"When they fled from the Israelites on the slope of Mount Bethoron, the Lord threw big stones at them from heaven to Azek, and they died; there were more of those who died from the stones of the hail than those who were killed by the sword of the children of Israel. (Joshua, 10:11.)
Joshua wanted to destroy his enemies completely, and pleaded with God to prolong the day:
Joshua called upon the Lord on the day on which the Lord of Amorrhea delivered them into the hands of Israel when he had beaten them in the face of the children of Israel, and cried out before the Israelites, "Wait, the sun, over Havana, and the moon, over the valley of Ayalonia! And the sun stood still; and the moon stood as long as the people avenged their enemies. Isn't that what the Righteous One wrote in his book: "Was the sun standing in the midst of heaven and in no hurry to the west almost all day? And there was no such day before or after the day on which the Lord would hear the voice of man... (Joshua, 10:12-14.)
The biblical description of such an amazing event was regrettably short. The story of "the long day of Joshua" is not like most other biblical miracles. Many people, for example, believe in the miraculous healings performed by Joshua Christ and the prophets - perhaps seeing them as acts of healing by faith. Others are prepared to believe that Daniel somehow managed to survive the night in a cave with lions and come out unharmed, or that God turned to Moses from the burning bush. But the most zealous Jews and Christians find it hard to digest the idea that the sun was once motionless, just to satisfy the thirst for the blood of Joshua and the victorious Israelites.
For the sun to stop moving in the sky, it is necessary to interrupt the movement of the earth somehow. Even believers are curious enough to wonder what mechanism the almighty Lord used to produce such a miracle. As a result, a few lines from the Old Testament have long been the object of speculation and speculation by academicians, from Bible researchers to prominent astronomers.
The Old Testament contains many descriptions of miracles, which have a natural explanation. In particular, other miraculous events described in the book of Joshua can no longer be considered as folklore stories without scientific or historical content. When the Israelis began to conquer Canaan (probably between 1450 and 1300 BC), Jericho was the first city they captured. The city certainly existed, and the walls, which "collapsed to their foundations" when Joshua's army surrounded them seven times, can be identified with the ruins of the walls of Jericho in the Middle Bronze Age. There is also geological evidence that the Jordan River could have been crossed "by land", a feat that Joshua and the Israelites had done shortly before the attack on Jericho. The city of 0erihon is located on a major fracture in the Earth's crust, which is prone to strong and sudden earthquakes. In ten of the 30 earthquakes recorded, including one in 1927, mudslides blocked the Jordan River channel and stopped it for one or two days. Events such as the stoppage of the river and the destruction of the Jericho walls could well have been caused by a single earthquake. Armed with this information, let us now look at the various theories offered to explain one of the most striking biblical miracles - the day the sun stopped.