There are several passages in the Bible which seem, to the educated reader, to present serious scientific problems. Most of these difficulties are connected with events which seem to violate the laws of nature. No honest inquirer should brush aside such questions, and therefore we will examine a few of the seemingly most difficult passages.

I) DID THE SUN STAND STILL: In the tenth chapter of Joshua we read about a very long day. Joshua ordered the sun to "stand still" and it did so. Since the motion of the stars and the planets cannot be tampered without interfering with the celestial mechanics and the possible resultant catastrophe, it is natural to wonder if the sun stood still (or, literally, if the earth stopped or slowed down its rotation).

If we believe that the Universe is God's Creation, it should not be difficult for us to believe that He can choose to interfere in the movements of a tiny planets like the earth. This, however, does not prevent us from a scientific-historical investigation of the whole problem. The passage is like this:

On the day that the Lord gave the men of Israel victory over the Amorites, Joshua spoke to the Lord. In the presence of the Israelites he said, sun, stand still over Gibeon; Moon, stop over Aijalon valley. The sun stood still and the Moon did not move until the nation had conquered its enemies. This is written in the book of Jashar. The sun stood still in the middle of the sky and did not go down for a whole day. (Joshua 10:12-13).

The phrase "stand still" is the translation of the Hebrew word "DAMAM". It literally means be "silent". So Vs. 12 literally says "Sun, be silent", and Vs. 13 says, "The Sun was silent". Therefore, what this passage intends to say is that the sun tarried in the sky, or that the sun's disappearance from the sky was delayed.

The word translated "in the middle" is "CHASTI" in Hebrew. It literally means "in the half of the heavens". In effect, Joshua had asked the sun to tarry (remain) in one half of the heavens (or, sky). There are two halves to the visible sky: the half that is visible to us, and the other half that is visible to the people on the other side of the globe.

So what the Bible tells us is that the Sun remained visible in the skies for a whole day (i.e. nearly for 24 hours). The Bible does not mention, and we do not yet know exactly how this effect was produced in Joshua's days, but we know definitely that such an effect can be produced even without any crash in the laws of our Universe. Certain combinations of refractive index of air, reflections because of several atmospheric phenomena, and certain magnetic effects can make the sun visible in the skies for 20 hours or more.

A few years ago a Canadian friend told me of such incidents in North Canada. He said that during certain seasons of the year, the sunlight is visible there for so many hours into the night that they have to use curtains and shades to be able to sleep at night. If this can happen within the jurisdiction of natural laws, then Joshua's long day can also be explained without violating natural laws.

It must be noted, however that we do not yet know the means (divine or natural) whereby the above-mentioned effect was produced, but history does testify to such a day in the past.

If such a long day has occurred, then many races of people must have seen it. Since it was surely an unusual incident, it must have left its impression on their memories. This is exactly what we find from numerous historical records outside of the Bible.

Herodotus, the great Greek historian, says that the priests of Egypt showed him their temple records where he read the strange account of a day which was twice the normal length. It must be remembered here that Egyptians were highly advanced in astronomical observations, and they used to keep exact record of stellar events.

The Chinese writings tell us that there was such a long day during the reign of the their emperor Yeo, and Yeo is supposed to have lived exactly at the time of Joshua. The Mexicans have record about a long day, and the time they point to for this incident is the period in which Joshua lived. The Incas of Peru, the Babylonians, the Persians and the Polynesians also speak of such a long day.

During my graduate studies I happened to mention Joshua's long day while speaking in a debate competition. Prof. Vagh of the Military Science Department, a keen student of the Indian history and archaeology, latter told me that the ancient Indian literature also mentions such a long day, and that too, in connection with a battle.

When a large number of diverse historical records refer to a "long day" for which all of them assign dates that agree with that of the Biblical record, no one can doubt the historicity of the event.


II) The Dial of Ahaz: This incident is somewhat similar to the story of Joshua's long day. King Hezekiah was sick and was given only a short period to live. When he cried before the LORD, He sent Isaiah to Hezekiah to tell that his prayer has been heard. As a sign the King could ask for the shadow on the sun-dial to go forward or backward (II King 20 and Isaiah 38).

"And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do one thing that He hath spoken : shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees. And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz." (II Kings. 20:9-11).

Many types of sun-dials were known in the past. All of them reckoned time by the position of the shadow. There were hollowed out hemispheres with lines drawn on the inside so that the shade would intersect the various lines and indicate the time. Then there were pillars or obelisks with steps around it. As the sun moved in the heavens, the shadow would fall on different steps giving an indication of time. Still another type of dial was in the form of a series of steps leading from east to west. The position of the shadow would indicate the day-time. There were many other types of sun-dials too.

What happened to the dial of Ahaz is obvious. The shadow went ten degrees opposite to that in which it should have gone. This cannot be explained by a mere cloud passing over the dial, as that would not only overshadow the entire sun-dial but also be noticed by the people as a non-miraculous event. Hence whatever happened was a divine intervention.

The precise method by which the LORD did this is not known to us, but a reference to our discussion on Joshua's long day will suffice to make it clear that such phenomena could happen without violating scientific laws. Several researchers have shown that some unusual things did happen on this day, and this might indicate the truthfulness of the Biblical story.


III) Jonah And The Whale: The story of Jonah and Whale is known even to non-Christians. Some scientific objections have been raised against this story which merit an investigation.

It is claimed that the structure of a Whale's mouth and the configuration of its throat is such that it would be impossible for a full-grown man either to pass through the sieve in its mouth or the narrow orifice of its throat. Then there is the question of survival for three days and three nights.

We must start by pointing out what animal it really was : Bible nowhere says that Jonah was swallowed by a "Whale". Jonah 1:17 just says that the LORD "prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights". It does not say that it was a whale : The word used in Hebrew just means a 'great fish'.

Since the title "Jonah and Whale" is very popular, everyone associates the fish with "Whale". So much so that the translators of the Authorized and the Revised Version translate Matthew 12:40 to say that Jonah was three days and three nights in the "whale's belly". The correct translation here is "a great aquatic animal" or "sea monster" as mentioned in the margin of the Revised Version. The Septuagint translates it as "a great aquatic animal".

Keeping in mind that it was not a "whale" we can search the scientific literature to see if sea creatures have existed which can swallow a whole man : Torrey tells of now extinct dog shark of the Mediterranean sea which could swallow not only a whole man but a whole horse : "It is recorded that a man fell over-board in the Mediterranean and was swallowed by one of these sea monsters. The monster was killed and the man rescued alive. A whole horse was taken out of the belly of another".

There is evidence that some species of whales can swallow bodies with large volumes. Torrey again mentions of one whale which was caught and killed. "The ejected food from whose stomach was in masses of enormous size..... some of them were 8 feet by 6 feet ". Such an animals would not find it difficult to swallow Jonah.

There still remains one more problem. The effect of gastric juices on a man. It is said that they would have killed him. Also, he needed air to breathe.

It seems evident that the digestive activity will not begin till the swallowed creature is dead. Morris and Clark mention two well documented cases where men rescued from the stomachs of such animals survived. They mention a third man (James Bartley, in 1895) who survived a day and a half inside a whale's belly before being rescued.

From these references it is clear that in the story of Jonah there is neither a scientific problem nor absurdity.

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Original article contributed by Dr. Johnson C. Philip. Revised by:

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