Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Kevin P. Edgecomb" <kevin AT bombaxo.com>]

Quoting George Athas:
> Kevin, the 'storm' hypothesis makes this event far from unique. You  =20
> have similar storming theophanies in Exod 9; Jdg 4-5; 1 Sam 7 and  =20
> 12. Are you arguing that the author of Joshua did not know of these  =20
> other traditions? Alternatively, the uniqueness of the event, which  =20
> the text is so adamant to maintain, is totally nullified. If,  =20
> however, the text is really trying to describe what it seems to say  =20
> at face value - that the sun and moon stood still in the sky - then  =20
> the uniqueness of the event is upheld.

I write:
George, as it says in verse 14, the only thing the narrator describes =20
as unique is that "There has been no day like it before or since, when =20
the LORD hearkened to the voice of a man" (RSV).  That makes quite =20
clear that the emphasis of the narrator is upon Joshua's request being =20
immediately answered in exactly the way that he requested:  a big storm.

Harold Holmyard writes:
> God answered the voice of man in prayer in warfare situations on
> many occasions, so that would not be unique. There is God answering
> Moses and parting the Red Sea when the Egyptians were attacking, and
> then causing the Egyptian soldiers to drown when they chased Israel into
> the sea. There is Moses praying with arms upraised while Joshua fought
> the Amalekites. There is God answering David's prayer in the midst of
> battle in Psalm 18:6-14 to give him the victory. There is story after
> story along these lines.

I write:
Harold, the difference is that Moses didn't request for God to part =20
the sea. Nor is Moses say to pray, "God I'm going to lift up my staff; =20
make it so that we beat the Amalekites as long as I can hold it up."  =20
Instead, in Jos 10, we have a prayer specifically and precisely =20
answered, and this is what is celebrated by the narrator in verse 14, =20
as I quoted above.  The Psalm example you give is a psalm, poetry with =20
no narrative.  Even so, David does not pray, "God, hit these enemies =20
of mine with the plague" and they're hit with the plague.  That's the =20
difference.  Joshua's precise request was granted, in a completely =20
unique experience, as the narrator puts it.

Also, I don't see WL) )C LBW) KYWM TMYM as anything other than "And =20
[the sun] did not hurry to set for the whole day," which is still =20
reflecting the idiom of its "standing still," i.e., the storm lasted =20
all day. The idiom appears to reflect a cosmological conception that =20
if one can't see the light of sun or moon behind thick cloud cover, =20
they were considered not to move.  And as the clouds cleared, the =20
sun/moon would "hurry" back into the position they would normally be =20
in their course.  This could be a kind of natural reasoning =20
explanation of crepuscular rays, those pretty rays of sunlight that =20
appear to change angle as breaking clouds pass before the sun.  =20
Relatedly, it's only in very large storm systems that very large and =20
dangerous hailstones are built up.

Regards,
Kevin P. Edgecomb
Berkeley, California