Author Topic: In Light of Breishit 8:22 How could Yehoshua stop the Sun from Going Down?  (Read 2018 times)

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Offline edu

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Breishit/Genesis 8:22 is a Biblical verse that is somewhat difficult to translate, since it is phrased in such a way that lends itself to more than one possible translation.
To get the discussion going I will quote from the Living Torah translation of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, although one should keep in mind that a better or more exact translation might lead us to different conclusions.
Rabbi Kaplan translates:
Quote
As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night, shall never again cease [to exist].
With this in mind how do we understand the book of Yehoshua/Joshua 10:13 that due to the command of Yehoshua the Sun did not go down on time, but instead delayed going down for about a whole day to help the children of Israel win their battle against the enemy. Why is this miracle not a violation of  Breishit/Genesis 8:22?
Now it might be possible to resolve the seeming contradiction by redefining what it means, that day and night shall never cease, to exclude the case of Yehoshua.
But perhaps someone has a better answer.

Offline Zelhar

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If the sun had stood still for half a day, it would be a global phenomenon and likely there would be historic echoes from other civilizations who would took notice of such event.

That is why I conclude if that miracle had actually happened it was limited to the theater of events in Israel and didn't interrupt the entire world.

Offline edu

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Yehuda Eisenberg in a hebrew article seems to take your approach Zelhar that the miracle of Yehoshua / Joshua was a local miracle, just as the plague of darkness in Egypt was a local miracle.
see http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/tanach/melech/10-2.htm
He even understands that this is Rambam's opinion although his proof is debatable.

Does anyone else have any other decent answers to the question I raised?