Someone is
sure to ask, “What does it mean, ‘The sun stood still’?” Did the earth stop rotating? Is it just some kind of metaphor? What’s going on? I’ll give you my answer. “I don’t know.” There.
Here’s a link you can go to. I
have no idea who the author is; I’m not saying that I agree with any of his
conclusions. But at least he lists out
some of the possibilities: http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/stewart.cfm?ID=625.
I
understand our concern to understand. I
understand these are questions that bother us and undermine our confidence in
the Bible. I get that, but I would say
that those are not questions the Bible is interested in answering. So, at the risk of dismissing hard questions
with a wave of the hand, let me just say, “Let’s not miss the main point.”
The main
point, of course, is that the Lord gave the victory. And notice that the Lord gave the victory in
defense of the Gibeonites. The
Gibeonites had tricked Joshua into a treaty and were cursed to be ‘woodcutters
and water carriers.’ Still, the
Gibeonites were under the umbrella of Israel and therefore under the protection
of the Lord. It is a small indication
that the Lord had never intended that Israel to be completely impermeable. Israel’s life and existence was for the sake
of the world. The embrace of the Gibeonites—even
in a small capacity—is a small indication of that greater purpose for Israel.
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