Signs and eclipses
The solution to the mystery of Joshua's "long day" seems to have been the favourite pastime of Bible researchers in the middle of the 20th century. Professor John Bright, one of the leading Bible scholars, suggested that the story may have come from a misunderstanding of Joshua's prayer. According to Bright, the Israelis planned a surprise attack under the cover of dense morning mist, and Joshua prayed that the sun would not appear too quickly and not dispel the fog. Bright's theory does not explain the biblical story so much as it refutes it. The Bible says nothing about fog or a sudden attack.
In another hypothesis put forward by Bible explorer R.K. Fuller, the fall of "giant stones" is interpreted as a strong hail. Fuller suggested that the storm continued all day, covering the sun and moonlight. Like Bright, he tends to deny the clear meaning of the biblical text - for in the book of Joshua it is not about the disappearance of the sun and moon, but about the unnatural extension of the daylight.
A more balaced approach was proposed in 1968 by archaeologist and Middle Eastern historian John S. Holladay in the article under the provocative title "The day (days) when the moon stopped". Although most of the commentators focused on the movement of the sun, Holloway drew attention to the fact that Joshua had also addressed the moon in his prayer. According to Hollaway, the key to understanding this mysterious Bible verse is that the sun and moon were being asked to be in heaven together on the day of the Battle of the Amorites.
According to Hollaway, in the light of these texts, "the meaning of verse 12 and 13 in Joshua's chapter 10 can hardly be clearer. It was a prayer for a favorable omen that the sun and moon would be in heaven at the same time ("in opposition") throughout the day of the battle. It is possible that the ancient Jews shared the faith of the Babylonians: if the moon leaves its "partner" at the beginning of the day, there will be an accident. In Hollaway's interpretation, "stop" does not mean "stop moving", but rather "be in your place".
However, Hollaway's graceful explanation only refers to Joshua's prayer, and not to the next verse, which shows that it was the sun and not the moon that played a more important role in this story: "The sun stood in the sky and did not hurry to the west almost all day. Holladay had to assume that this was a later comment, added by a scribe who misunderstood the true meaning of Joshua's prayer. Therefore, although Holloway cunningly took a new meaning from the text, it was, in his own words, unacceptable to the ancient Israelites. The Jewish historian Josephus Flavius, who in the first century AD rewrote and presented the biblical story to the Greek-Roman readers, obviously would not agree with the opinion of Hollaway.
Hollaway's arguments are beginning to collapse, given that the ancient Jews had to fight and win many battles, including on the 14th of the month. Why was this case so special that it was written about: "And there was no such day before or after"?
The study by historian John Sawyer, published in 1972, suggests that the Israelis have indeed witnessed the amazing celestial phenomenon associated with the sun, namely the complete solar eclipse. Sawyer began with an interesting fact: a complete solar eclipse gives the impression that it lasts much longer than it actually does. For example, to eyewitnesses of solar eclipse in northern England in 1927 it seemed that it lasted about half an hour, though actually its duration was 25 seconds. The solar eclipse observed in Dongola (Sudan) in I860 lasted 1 minute and 50 seconds, but according to eyewitnesses its duration was about two hours. Sawyer believes that this well-known illusory effect of "stretching" time, accompanied by the appearance of the sun in another part of the sky, could be the source of the legend of the sun stopped. The Hebrew verb daman, "to stop", is interpreted by Sawyer as "to be immobile, inactive"; in other words, "to stop glowing".
Both versions are quite original. In the following articles we will continue this intriguing theme.