Joshua 10:12 "Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, sun stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, moon upon Ajalon. 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. 14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.
There was a story put out by Harold Hill that NASA had discovered this missing day. NASA answers the question on their website imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970325g.html:
"Can the event that took place in Joshua 10:13 be confirmed, for example by counting the positions of heavenly bodies backward in time?"
"According to the laws of physics, there are only two possible explanations for having the Sun stand still in the sky for a day: (1) the Earth would essentially have to stop spinning on its axis...for which there is no evidence. -or- (2) the Sun would have to start moving about in the solar system in a very specific way so that it appeared to us on our spinning Earth to be standing still. There is no evidence of this occurring either."
The possibility God moved the sun around the earth has been a very rewarding research project. More realistic than stopping earth's rotation and starting it again. If God moved the sun halfway around the earth the sun could stand still in the middle of the sky for 12 hours for Joshua and this would be a day as in the Hebrew word Yom. The Hebrew for "the sun stood still in the midst of heaven" really states "the sun stood still from the half of heaven". That is, the sun stood still in the sky while earth continued to rotate to the other half of the night sky. Which they would notice that night. Now the sun is now on the other side of the earth. Earth must continue in its forward momentum now in reverse around the sun. Earth must keep the same distance from the sun as it normally would. Earth must also keep the same number of days, 365 days, in a year. Earth really rotates 366 times a year. We lose a day because our orbit is with rotation. Now if we go in reverse around the sun orbit is against rotation and at the same velocity of 67,000 miles per hour we would have one more day than the 366 rotations a year, 367 days. Inorder to have 365 days a year earth's orbit must be sped up by two days or 48 hours. Earth already speeds up and slows down in our ellipical orbit of the sun. So speeding up earth's orbit would cause no noticeable effect. Next the sun must move 180 degrees again and earth flow out of the reverse orbit. For earth to keep in the same season both times earth must shift on a vertical axis. Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees from the vertical. This is what makes our seasons as earth travels around the sun each year. The next time earth can shift back the same amount and keep in the same season is half an orbit later. Now if God wanted to leave no missing time we now have the mechanics to do this. If the sun moved 180 degrees east for Joshua this is 12 more hours of elapsed time. If the sun again moved 180 degrees east when it returned and earth flowed out of the reverse orbit this is 12 more hours of elapsed time. 24 hours of elapsed time. Earth must speed up in half an orbit about 24 hours. 24 hours of elapsed time countered by 24 hours of missing time. Now to be more exact we need the time of year of Joshua's long day. There are two good records:
"King Wan dreamt that he was clothed with the sun and the moon. In the first month of spring (January 20 - February 20), on the 6th day, the five planets had a conjunction in Fang. Afterwards a male and female phoenix went about Wan's capital with a writing in their beaks, which said: 'The emperor of Yin has no principle, but oppresses and disorders the empire. The great decree is removed: Yin cannot enjoy it longer. The powerful spirits of earth have left it; all the spirits are whistled away. The conjunction of the five planets in Fang brightens all within the four seas.'" The Annals of the Bamboo Books, Part V the Dynasty of Chow, The Chinese Classics
The setting sun in China would be the noon sun in Israel. The phoenixes were the Feng bird which carried the sun when there was a sun miracle. The first month of spring was in February. Then how could the Chinese even see the five planets at 5AM when Fang or Scorpius rose? Was this not rather a 12 hour long sunset ending with Scorpius overhead with the five planets in the western quadrant. And when the stars appeared the five planets were centered around Fang? Then the sun must be on the other side of earth and earth flow into a reverse orbit. This may have been what made the computer put up a red light. This record may have been what made the spacemen notice they were missing 24 hours. Because if earth flowed into a reverse orbit of the sun earth must speed up 24 hours in half an orbit to leave 365.24 days in a year.
"The State Archives of Assyria Volume VIII report 310 says, "If in Adar (February 20 - March 20) the sun stands still in the middle of noontime: the land will experience siege (and) misery."
The only time the land really experienced siege and misery was when Joshua conquered it.
Then Joshua's long day must have been in February. There are 186.4 days from the spring equinox to the fall equinox because earth is in an elliptical orbit around the sun and is closest in winter, January 3, thus moving slower away from the sun in summer. In 1238 BC earth was furthest from the sun from this February 26 to September 1. In 1250 AD earth was closest to the sun December 20. Then spring was equal to fall and spring and fall were 186 days and 14 hours. For earth to keep in the same season earth must shift on the vertical 70 degrees clockwise on February 26 and 70 degrees counterclockwise half an orbit later, 186.6 days later, by September 1. 186.6 days later because Joshua's long day must have been 36 days before the spring equinox and thus half an orbit after February 26 must be September 1 inorder for earth to reorient. To reorient both to the time of the year and to the polar axis position and for the sun to move exactly 180°. Thus earth would flow out of the reverse orbit and reorient. 186.6/365.25 X 48 = 24:31 hours. The sun must return 2 AM September 1 to leave no biological trace. Countered by the 24 hours of elapsed time. This leaves 31 minutes of missing time which could be rounded up to 40 minutes. This missing time can be multiplied many times over in the 50 or more reverse orbits indicated by ancient records. Thus the missing 31 minutes had to be found. The only way to counter the 31 minutes of missing time is by another reverse orbit starting this time in fall. There are 178.6 days from the fall equinox to the spring equinox. Thus 178.6/365.24 X 48 = 23:29 hours missing time. The total missing time for the year adds up to 48 hours. The total elapsed time for the year adds up to 48 hours also. Leaving no net missing time. Thus the 31 minutes of net missing time could be countered by a second reverse orbit of 31 minutes of net elapsed time leaving a net of no missing time. Thus there cound be no missing time at all from these sun miracles. There is no way around these mechanics. Earth continued to rotate as normal. Then the second correcting reverse orbit soon after the first was necessary for eclipse paths to cross the locations where eclipses were recorded and expected. In between the moon must be moved to produce the expected eclipse path. My calculations show Joshua's long day occurred February 26 1238 BC. The Exodus April 4 1279 BC and Joshua crossed the river Jordan 40 years later April 12 1239 BC. Then Joshua's long day must have been the following February 26 1238 BC. The second correcting reverse orbit must have occurred right after the reverse orbit of Joshua's long day ended 2AM September 1 when the sun rose in the west and stood still in the noon position for 36 hours and be 5AM September 1 1238 BC when the sun suddenly rose in the east, and may be found in Judges 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 rather than the Sign for Hezekiah which happened about 700 BC. Judges 5:20 "They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." Judges 5:31 "So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might." Judges 8:13 "And Gideon the son of Joash, returned from battle before the sun." That is Gideon returned after chasing the Midianites 60 miles on foot from 11PM till sunrise. The word for before, Mahaleh - same as the feminine for steps on a sundial as in Hezekiah's Sign when the sun retreated 10 steps (not degrees) in 2 Kings 20:9, means ascending an elevation. Thus perhaps the confusion with Hezekiah's Sign when Hezekiah was asked if the shadow should go forward 10 steps or backwards 10 steps to the beginning, the horizon. Then if the shadow were to go ahead the sun would suddenly move west. Just as it may have September 1 1238 BC, suddenly ascending in the east. Probably the sun rose in the west at 2 AM September 1 to stand still in the sky for 36 hours. Then the sun set and Gideon returned before it suddenly rose in the east. That is, probably the sun moved 540° east to rise in the west and stay for 36 hours. Then 18 hours after the 36 hours that night the sun moved 180° west to suddenly ascend the sky. This would mean the sun should stand still again 12 PM February 27 1237 BC in the month of Adar. The Assyrians would record this omen "If in Adar the sun stands still at noon time the land will experience siege and misery". Because this second sun miracle of the sun standing still in Adar, February, was in Syria at the battle of Merom, Joshua 11. These movements would mean there would be no net missing time after February 27 1237 BC. The long days must add up to the 48 hours of missing time in that year. Then + 12 hours February 26, + 36 hours 2AM September 1, - 12 hours September 1 and + 12 hours February 27 = 48 hours. Other than the wrong verse containing the word Mahaleh the Missing Day Story adds up quite well.
There is a book by Prof. C A Totten of Yale, written in
1890....
Professor Totten wrote of a fellow professor, an
accomplished astronomer, who made the strange discovery that
the earth was twenty-four hours out of schedule! ... Prof.
Totten challenged this man to investigate the question of the
inspiration of the Bible. ... Some time later ... his colleague
replied: "In the tenth chapter of Joshua, I found the missing
twenty-four hours accounted for. Then I went back and checked
up on my figures, and found that at the time of Joshua there
were only 23 hours and 20 minutes lost."
... the astronomer ... read on until he came to the 38th
chapter of the prophet Isaiah (NOTE by JEK: this recounts the
same episode as 2 Kings 20).... So the accuracy of the book
was established to the satisfaction of this exacting critic.
This story Totten probably made up must have been what Harold Hill thought closely paralleled what he had heard NASA discover. Thus, many have totally disbelieved the NASA Missing Day Story as made up by Mr. Hill. However, there is no way around these calculations of mine that show 24:31 hours of missing time and a net of 31 missing minutes. So the NASA scientists may very well have discovered the same mechanics and Harold Hill heard the part that sounded like Totten's account. A computer service technician from NASA who started work just after the Missing Day Story came out emailed me from a newsgroup in about 2000 that these computers often put up a red light and had to be seen to.
My research does not depend on the NASA proof. All my evidence and calculations can be found at sunnyokanagan.com/joshua/ Andrew Bennett
The "Missing Day" Story
Did you know that the space program is busy proving that what has been called myth in the Bible is true? Mr. Harold Hill, President of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore Maryland and a consultant in the space program, relates the following development:
I think one of the most amazing things that God has for us today happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt, Maryland. They were checking the position of the sun, moon, and planets out in space where they would be 100 years and 1000 years from now.. We have to know this so we won't send a satellite, up and have it bump into something later on during its orbits. We have to lay out the orbits in terms of the life of the satellite, and where the planets will be so the whole thing will not bog down..
They ran the computer measurement back and forth over the centuries and it came to a halt. The computer stopped and put up a red signal, which meant that there was something wrong either with the information fed into it or with the results as compared to the standards. They called in the service department to check it out and they said what's wrong?
Well they found there is a day missing in space in elapsed time. They scratched their heads and tore their hair. There was no answer. Finally, a Christian man on the team said, You know, one time I was in Sunday school and they talked about the sun standing still. While they didn't believe him,they didn't have an answer either, so they said, Show us. He got a Bible and went back to the book of Joshua where they found a pretty ridiculous statement for any one with common sense.
There they found the Lord saying to Joshua, Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee. Joshua was concerned because he was surrounded by the enemy and if darkness fell they would overpower them. So Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun stand still! That's right---The sun stood still and the moon stayed---and hasted not to go down about a whole day!
The astronauts and scientists said, There is the missing day! They checked the computers going back into the time it was written and found it was close but not close enough. The elapsed time that was missing back in Joshua's day was 23 hours and 20 minutes---not a whole day. They read the Bible and there it was about (approximately) a day.
These little words in the Bible are important, but they were still in trouble because if you cannot account for 40 minutes you'll still be in trouble 1000 years from now. Forty minutes had to be found because it can be multiplied many times over in orbits..
As the Christian employee thought about it, remembered somewhere in the Bible where it said the sun went backwards. The scientists told him he was out of his mind, but they got out the Book and read these words in 2 Kings: Hezekiah, on his death-bed, was visited by the prophet Isaiah who told him that he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for a sign as proof. Isaiah said Do you want the sun to go ahead 10 degrees? Hezekiah said, It is nothing for the sun to go ahead 10 degrees, but let the shadow return backward 10 degrees. Isaiah spoke to the Lord and the Lord brought the shadow ten degrees backward! Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes! Twenty three hours and 20 minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in Second Kings make the missing day in the universe!
Isn't it amazing? Our God is rubbing their noses in His Truth! References:
Joshua 10:8 and 12,13
2 Kings 20:9-11