Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 6, 1955
THE FIELD IS THE WORLD, TWE SCfrD S THE WORD
OE GOD
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VOLUME LIV WEDNESDAY, JAUNARY 19, 1955 NUMBER 3
When Joshua Stopped the Sun
By M. A. Arthur
All through the ancient writings of the different peoples of the world
there is this story of a day that lasted twice as long as it should. The ancient
Egyptian priests showed the Greek historian Herodotus records which
spoke of this long, long day. In the ancient writings of the Persians, it is
found. Even among the Polynesian peoples of the islands in the South Seas
there is a legend of a time long, long ago, when the sun seemed to stay and
did not go down until a day later. The Chinese have preserved it, claiming
it was in the reign of Yeo, a ruler of China who was a contemporary of
Joshua. The Bible has the solution and gives the original account.
If you read the tenth chapter of the Book of Joshua, you will find that
as the battle progressed between the Israelites and their foes and the day
began to wear on to the afternoon, Joshua commanded the sun to stand still
until he had finished the battle and won.
The late Professor Charles A. L. Totten, of Yale University, made a
study once of "Joshua's long day."
Joshua's long day, when he won the battle, it will be recalled, was not
a complete day. It lacked forty minutes of being twenty-four hours. In the
20th chapter of the second Book of Kings, you will find another stepping
back of the calendar which rounds out the time to a full day.
Hezekiah, king of Israel at the time, became very ill. He wanted to live
a little longer and prayed to the Lord, whereupon God promised him fifteen
years more of life. As a token that this would happen, Hezekiah was told
that the shadow of the sun would