Why We Don't Need the Extra Day Theory to Explain Joshua 10 or 2 Kings 20

Missing Day Confirmation Hoax

As a young man growing up in an evangelical church, I encountered many examples of apologetic arguments and evidence that claimed to be undeniable “proof” of what the Bible taught. Some of these arguments can be compelling (and indeed they are), while others were… less so. Though as an impressionable youth, even the bad arguments were convincing enough for me. One of these arguments was the “missing day theory”.

Perhaps you remember a story that circulated about a NASA scientist who, when performing spaceflight orbital computations, discovered a missing day in his calculations. He turned to his trusty Bible and found the explanation there in book of Joshua where God stopped the sun and the moon from moving in the sky for an entire day during the battle of Gibeon so the Israelites could defeat the Amorites. A similar miracle can be found in 2 Kings 20:8-9 where God performed a sign for king Hezekiah by turning back the sun on the dial by ten steps confirming his promise to the sick king to extend his life another 15 years.

This was very exciting to hear, scientific evidence that substantiated Biblical claims. Later I learned that the whole story about the scientists at NASA was just a hoax, a myth cooked up by a man named Harold Hill back in 1970. At the time, Hill was President of Curtis Engineering, a consultant to the space program. The official-sounding title gave Hill’s story a certain credence. However, when contacted for a comment, representatives of NASA denied any such events ever took place. Later, when Hill was asked to provide documentation or specifics about his claims, his details were vague and remained unconfirmed despite his insistence that he “had it on good authority”.

I won’t take the time to explain why Hill’s story about the NASA scientist isn’t scientifically feasible, but if you’re interested in more of the specifics, you can click here for the full story. Even Answersin Genesis, a conservative Christian organization, warns well-meaning Christians that this is an example of “another argument Christians should not use”. While Hill may have had good intentions to spin a story that would combat the creeping religious cynicism of the scientific age, his claims sadly had the opposite effect once they were uncovered as mere fabrication. I’m sure that for many, this deception and others like it functioned only to sow doubt and push them further away from the faith.

Not All Arguments Are GOOD Arguments

Now at this point you might be thinking that the purpose of this post is to convince you that the Bible is just a myth, a collection of fairy tales concocted by ancient story-tellers thousands of years ago. But the truth is just the opposite. The problem is that for some people, ANY arguments in favor of what they already believe are automatically deemed as GOOD arguments, despite the quality (or lack thereof) of evidence or sound reasoning. When these arguments are shown for the shams they are, it can actually do more harm than good. This is why I wanted to revive this platform (I finally came up with a name!) and give it a new purpose, to point out bad arguments that are intended to persuade or reinforce faith. And perhaps, I may offer what I consider to be some sound arguments and compelling reasons to believe that may yet convince others that this whole “Christianity thing” may not be so ridiculous as it seems. Anyhow, back to Joshua and the mystery of the stationary sun.

Singing Hey-O, Galileo

If you and I were living in ancient times, our view of the cosmos would most likely have been a geocentric one (geo = earth; centric = centered) which places the earth at the center of the solar system. In this model, the sun, moon, planets and stars all revolve around the earth. This model assumed that the apparent motion of objects through the heavens corresponded to their actual movement. I.E. the sun appears to move across the sky during the day, therefore it must actually be moving.

Thanks to pioneering astronomers like Copernicus and Galileo, that system was jettisoned in favor of the heliocentric model (helios = sun; centric = centered) where the sun lies at the center of the solar system and all the planets revolve around it. This currently is the accepted model, and the one we all learned in grade school. In this model, the apparent motion of the sun is explained by the rotation of the earth. Day and night are simply the result of the earth’s spinning motion relative to the sun.

According to the heliocentric model, in order for the sun to appear to stop moving or travel backwards through the sky altogether, the earth itself would have to stop spinning, rotate backwards (or retrograde) then stop once more before continuing on with its typical rotation. Detractors from the Biblical narratives love to point out the absolute devastation such a phenomena would unleash, and they’d be right!

The sudden pausing and reversing of the earth’s gargantuan mass in a single day would undoubtedly lead to mega-tsunamis of unimaginable size, global earthquakes and volcanic eruptions of unprecedented destructive force. Not to mention the collapse of the earth’s magnetic field, which is the result of geodynamism generated by the spinning of the earth’s core. Without our magnetic field, solar winds would blast away our atmosphere, exposing earth’s surface to lethal doses of solar radiation and making it very difficult to breathe in the process.

So how did God get the sun to pause in the middle of the day without unleashing absolute Armageddon upon the entire planet? Some may simply argue, “God is all-powerful, I’m sure he could figure out a way to make it happen.” Well, I offer what I consider to be a plausible explanation for how that might be possible. If you disagree, or see problems with my logic, let me know in the comments. I’d love to get some feedback and kick around some ideas around with you.

Here Comes the Sun?

The idea came to me while watching Neil Degrasse Tyson’s Cosmos series. Ironically, Tyson is a self-proclaimed atheist who often blames religion for impeding scientific achievement and intellectual development throughout history. I wonder how he’d feel about these ideas being used in a Christian apologetics blog. But I digress. In episode 5 “Hiding in the Light”, Tyson is walking along the beach in the wee hours of the morning. He points out to the horizon and declares “That sun - it’s not really there… Sunrise is an illusion.” Tyson goes on to explain how the Earth's atmosphere bends the incoming rays, like a lens or a glass of water. “So we see the image of the sun projected above the horizon before the physical sun is actually there.” It was at this point that you could say the lights came on.

Remember that when we look at the sun or the moon (or any object in space) all we're really seeing is a mirage, an image produced by light emitted from distant objects. When we look at the sun, we're not seeing it as it is right now, but how it appeared 8 minutes ago. When you see a sunset or sunrise, you're not actually seeing the sun, but light from the sun being bent around the curve of the earth by the atmosphere.

Astronomers have also observed a phenomenon known as “gravitational lensing”, the process of bending or warping light as it passes through an immensely strong gravitational field. To get the sun and moon to appear to stop moving or reverse their course in the sky, you don't need to alter the rotational period of the earth or the position of the sun and moon. You simply need to change the trajectory of the light being emanated from its source to an observer. Theoretically, this effect can be achieved with atmospheric refraction or a sufficiently strong gravitational field.

When Joshua and the Israelites observed the sun hovering stationary in the sky for several hours, or Hezekiah watched the sun dial turn backwards, it wasn’t the actual sun they were seeing, but light from the sun somehow being redirected during its 93 million-mile journey through space to the earth; all without the need to pull a Superman and reverse its spin. Was this a naturally occuring phenomenon caused by physical yet unseen forces making their way through the cosoms or the supernatural hand of God guiding the light according to his whims? 

Whatever the explanation, it's possible that the people of Israel weren't the only ones to witness these astounding astronomical events. I do find it interesting that throughout the world there appear to be numerous mythologies which include a similar theme of the sun and moon exhibiting strange behavior at some point in the distant past. Aztec accounts tell of a time when the sun and moon failed to arrive on schedule, resulting in an extended night. The Greek myth of Phaethon disrupting the chariot of the sun, and Māori tales of Māui slowing the sun down with ropes also speak to a similar event.  Herodotus the Greek historian relates how Egyptian priests showed him temple logs describing a period in deep history where the sun allegedly acted unusually or rose differently. While lacking verifiable dates, is it possible that all these myths are somehow connected to the same phenomena described in the Biblical account, or are they simply the result of an overactive imagination? In any case, let me know what you think, and thanks for reading.