[b-hebrew] "the Silver Scrolls"
Harold Holmyard
hholmyard3 at earthlink.net
Tue Jan 27 12:01:42 EST 2009
Stephen,
> It should be noted that the only accurate way people had of measuring
> time of day in biblical times was using the position of the sun.
> Therefore, even if Joshua did tell the sun and moon to stand in place,
> there would be no way for people then to know whether it acutally
> happened. People fighting the battle may have felt that it was
> dragging on indefinitely and wondered when it would end. If afterwards
> they heard that Joshua had told the sun and moon to stay in place,
> they may have believed it happened with no way of determining if it
> were true.
> Stephen Segall
>
HH: This seems like contradiction of the text. The text says something,
and somebody three thousand years later comes along and denies what it
says. The Egyptians used a waterclock at night. Sand clocks could be
made (the hourglass), though their known origins don't go back to the
time of Joshua:
http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Ancient+ways+of+telling+time
http://ezinearticles.com/?Watches---So-How-Did-They-Tell-Time-In-Ancient-Egypt-Anyway?&id=471281
Another historical instrument is the clepsydra or water clock. The
principles behind its use were very simple. In the beginning, it was a
vessel of water that had a small hole at its base that allowed water to
drip out drop by drop. As the level within the container was lowered it
showed the time upon a scale. There were issues with the rate of
dripping, the size of the hole and the regular refilling of the vessel
but once these were resolved one had a very practical means of telling
time. The sundial could not be used indoors, at night or in stormy
weather but the clepsydra worked equally well anywhere regardless of the
weather.
The hourglass in principle was similar to the clepsydra. It simply
permitted a flow of fine sand through an opening at a uniform velocity
from one funnel shaped compartment to another until one of the
compartments had emptied itself. All that needed to be done after that
was to turn the hourglass upside down to start the cycle again. The
hourglass possessed solid advantages over the clepsydra. It would not
freeze or spill and it did not need refilling. It was also run at a
steady rate whether the reservoir was full or near empty and it was
cheap to make. The origins of the hourglass date back to the third
century BCE.
HH: And there were various biological clocks that could record the
passage of time. If babies require breastfeeding a certain number of
times a day, mothers who gave suck more than the normal amount of times
could sense that a longer period than a normal day was in view. Cows and
goats need regular milking, so if they required more milking than in a
normal day, one could sense that something odd was happening. Sleep
cycles would be another possible giveaway to passage of time, if
children went to sleep more than the normal times in a day.
HH: According to sources, stars could be used to measure the passage of
time.
http://books.google.com/books?id=KwTzo4GMlewC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=telling+time+by+star+movement&source=web&ots=gayePxZnJn&sig=VVfLWMPf3s2u6C-2HNog3MLPpfA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result
"Before the advent of modern timekeeping devices, people used the
position of stars to estimate the time of night." Here is an explanation
of a way to do this:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/14166/how_to_tell_time_without_a_clock.html?singlepage=true
One way to tell the time at night, however, is by using the stars. The
Big Dipper constellation, one of the more easily found and recognizable
of the constellations, can serve as a fairly accurate measure of time,
and even of the seasons.
If you look at the two end points of the dipper, and follow the line
created by these two points of light, you will be directed at Polaris,
also known as the Pole Star. We call this the Pole Star because it is
the one star in the sky that never moves, no matter the time of night or
the season. It is a fixed constant. Ancient mariners would use the Pole
Star to get their bearings (following it always points to the north).
We, however, can also use it to help us tell the time. The Big Dipper is
not fixed in the night sky, and moves in rotation around the Big Dipper.
By following its movement and its position in relation to Polaris, we
can tell the season and also use it as a way to us of the exact time on
any given night.
In order to do this, you must first know where the Big Dipper is in
relation to Polaris at the beginning of the night, then how it moves
during the night. It rotates around Polaris, almost like the way a clock
moves. Firstly, find the Big Dipper, then watch where it is at different
times of the night. Check your watch to see where it is at different
times. Then you will be able to tell what time it is by its position!
More than anything, telling time without a clock takes practice. The
more you watch the Sun and the stars, and pay attention to what time it
is, the better you will be. You might even get to the point where you
don't need a watch at all!
HH: The ancients were careful observers of the sky. Anyway, we should
not assume that the document cannot be telling the truth, or that people
had no ways of determining the passage of time besides the sun.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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