Joshua's Long Day

It’s great to be in the house of the Lord on Sunday – to share fellowship with friends and loved ones, to praise and worship the Lord.

We began the day’s activities with Bible Study at 9.30 a.m. We are still doing Joshua and we came to the 14th lesson – Joshua 10. The enemy forces formed a coalition to fight Gibeon a nation which had allied itself to Israel. Joshua and his army went to the rescue and mighty battles were fought and won.

We came to the part where God performed a miracle in response to Joshua’s prayer. “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” This great miracle is called “The day the sun stood still” or “Joshua’s longest day.” Why did Joshua address the sun rather than the earth? Joshua was simply using the language of observation; he was speaking from the perspective and appearance of things on earth. We still do the same today, don’t we when to refer to ‘the four corners of the earth’ or ‘the dew falls on the ground.’

It was a great miracle to enable Joshua to continue fighting and subduing the enemy. God is sovereign, He is the God of nature and He can do what He likes with His creation! And God is working miracles today. I believe in miracles because the word of God tells us so and our experience proves this to be true.

It is interesting to read that in Chinese annals during King Yao’s reign the sun remain in the sky so long that many feared the world would be set on fire. The reign of Yao is said to correspond with the time of Joshua. Herodotus, a Greek historian wrote and account of ‘an extra long day’, left to us by the Egyptians. Others cite records of the Aztecs reporting the sun standing still, in about the time that Joshua defeated the enemy. Other cultures, Incas of Peru, Babylonians, Greeks, Persians etc refer to ‘the sun standing still’ or ‘the extra long day.’ It’s interesting and exciting to search the Scriptures.

We have a team of very keen students of the word and they use different versions to compare notes. Bruce Gale always turns to the Indonesian translation and it’s interesting to read it in that language. Mrs. Lim Li Ching has her Chinese translation and often throws new light on the word. Actually the one hour is insufficient, but we have no choice for we need to vacate the room for the Sunday School following our Bible class.

I thank God for the privilege of conducting the Adult Bible class. It is good to keep my mind active. I do my research and preparation every day of the week. This practice has brought me much blessing.