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  • From: "Kevin P. Edgecomb" <kevin AT bombaxo.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Sun and moon in Joshua 10 (was "Silver Scrolls")
  • Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:07:18 -0800

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




  • Re: [b-hebrew] Sun and moon in Joshua 10 (was "Silver Scrolls"), Kevin P. Edgecomb, 01/27/2009

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