"_Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon!_"--The above text is often quoted as
not being in accordance with the present state of our astronomical
knowledge, and many well-known commentators on the Bible have adopted the
same opinion.
I find Kitto, in the _Pictorial Bible_, characterising it as "an example of
those bold metaphors and poetical forms of expression with which the
Scriptures abound." Scott (edit. 1850) states that "it would have been
improper that he (Joshua) should speak, or that the miracle should be
recorded according to the terms of modern astronomy."
Mant (edit. 1830) says: "It is remarkable that the terms in which this
event is recorded do not agree with what is now known rewarding the motion
of the heavenly bodies."
Is it certain that Joshua's words are absolutely at variance and
irreconcileable with the present state of astronomical knowledge?
Astronomers allow that the sun is the centre and governing principle of our
system, and that it revolves on its axis. What readier means, then, could
Joshua have found for staying the motion of our planet, than by commanding
the revolving centre, in its inseparable connexion with all planetary
motion, to stand still?