Chapter VII

The Long Day of Joshua

circa October 25, 1404 B.C.

This chapter concerns the famous if never understood “Long Day,” which was indeed longer, but not as long as tradition states. There were other days, both before and after, when Earth's spin axis relocated or shifted, but the shift on each of the other crisis days was not quite like the shift or relocation of this day. We will offer a reason why.

This chapter will consider astronomical, geographical and historical aspects of this renowned day. There were two spin axis precessions within 50 years of each other in this catastrophic century, the fifteenth century B.C., and there was little guarantee (to the ancients) that there would not be more. If so, sightings of the marauding planet would be ever more necessary, and the locations of due east, due north, the rising and setting of the Sun in the several seasons and of the solstices, and other astronomical data would be essential to gather and to understand.

We believe this was the reason for the construction of many ancient sun or planet temples, obelisks and gnomons, sun caves and astronomical charts. We suspect that the astronomical temple of Stonehenge in England was constructed before, not after this crisis day, and in response to the Tower of Babel event rather than to this particular catastrophe. However, the two crises were quite similar. Both were “Case Two” crises. Both occurred in late October, one in 1404 B.C. and the other in 1930 B.C.

Dating The Catastrophe

THE DATING OF THE LONG DAY OF JOSHUA Will be considered in four ways. One is by the resonant model for the ancient Martian orbit. A second is based upon the chronicles of Scripture. A third is based on the records of Josephus, and Talmudic information. (Josephus is somewhat sketchy, but both are helpful.) Our fourth perspective in dating is not concerned with the year date, or the day of the month, but rather with the observation that heavy holocausts tended to bunch in pairs every five to six centuries.

Dating By The Resonant Orbit Model

Figure 24 illustrates again the resonant orbit model as it applies to the fifteenth century B.C. and the Long Day of Joshua. This is the century of the Long Day of Joshua and its immediate predecessor, the Exodus Catastrophe. According to our model, catastrophes or threatening catastrophes should be expected once every 54 years, or once every 108 years on the average. We observe the following:

This geometry is a repeat of the Tower of Babel event some 526 years earlier, and the Joel-Amos event 648 years later. This event may be the basis for the Phaethon story (see Figures 40 and 41), or it may possibly be a return performance of the Phaethon story, thus a reinforcement of the frightful story in Greek cosmological lore.

Note that 216 years, the suspected interlude between the Deborah Debacle and The Long Day, is a multiple of 108. This list suggests that there were six full cycles of inferior conjunctions, six pendulums of 108 years, between the Joel-Amos event and the Joshuaic event, or 648 years. This makes an impressive list if one can allow that minor holocausts may have threatened or even occurred in 1080 B.C., 1188 B.C. and 1296 B.C., and for which there are few extant records.

This may not be a complete analysis. We have not searched the records of the Vedas of India nor the spectrum of other ancient literatures including Greek, Persian, Chinese and others. We understand that catastrophic themes are easily recognizable, but to date them is difficult and elusive. Hebrew history, on the other hand, is generally well-dated. ¹

Dating By Scriptural Chronologies

First of all, Scripture indicates that the Exodus events occurred during the year 1447 B.C. as we now calibrate time. This was just 480 years earlier than the laying of the foundation, and the building of Solomon's temple. This is recorded in I Kings 6:1. If David died in 971 B.C., which is established, and if Solomon had no co-regency with David, then Solomon's temple was started in 967 B.C. The four year interval between 971 B.C. and 967 B.C. was the period when Solomon consolidated power and finished the architectural plans.

And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.
(I Kings 6:1)

Following the Exodus events of 1447 B.C., such as the flight from Egypt, the astronomical passover, the sea-swelling and the giving of the Decalogue on Mt. Sinai, there ensued 40 years of Wandering in the wilderness. This continued through 1407 B.C. Following this were the conquests of Bashan and Gilead east of the Jordan, and the crossing at Jericho which we believe was captured in the spring of 1404 B.C. Its walls shuddered and collapsed about the time of the vernal equinox. ² Following the capture of Jericho was the assault on the Central Highlands, especially on Ai and Gibeon. By the time the Canaanite armies federated, gathered and challenged the Hebrew invasion, it was autumn of 1404 B.C., and the day of celestial crisis was approaching.

Dating By The Works Of Josephus

If we assume from Scriptural chronologies that 1447 BC. was the year of the Exodus, then Josephus records that by 1402 B.C., two years after the Long Day of Joshua, Hebrew forces had conquered Eastern Palestine, Central Palestine, and Southern Palestine, as well as a good portion of Northern Palestine.

The fifth year was now past, and there was not one of the Canaanites remained any longer, excepting some that had retired to places of great strength. ³

Thus we conclude that the campaign of Joshua in Central Palestine, and the battle at Bethhoron (on the Long Day) was in 1404 B.C., or less likely, in 1406 B.C.

The Talmud also indicates Canaan was subdued within 47 years of the Exodus Catastrophe, or by 1400 B.C.

At the end of seven years of warfare, Joshua could at last venture to parcel out the conquered land among the tribes. ⁴

Centuries Of Double Catastrophes

The phenomenon of heavy twin catastrophes across the centuries should be observed. If a century had one very severe holocaust, very likely it also had another. See figure 34, chapter IX.

Thus, double catastrophes occurred in the eighth century, the fifteenth century, the twentieth century and perhaps the twenty-fifth century B.C. This phenomenon could be explained by the theory that approximately every five centuries, literary figures with cosmic styles just happened to blossom. This would be the “chance” theory. However, this phenomenon of twin catastrophes every five or six centuries may be a result of a grander cycle. A discussion of the grand cycle of catastrophism, involving cycles of 500 to 600 years, is reserved for Chapter X. It concerns the influences of both Jupiter and Saturn on the orbit of Mars.

We have discussed the two-year cycle of the period of the former Martian orbit. We have also discussed the 108-year average cycle of inferior conjunctions of Earth and Mars. Now we note the possibility of yet another, greater cycle operating, one yielding particularly severe crises (in pairs) every five to six Centuries. This grander cycle may well be the basis for ancient Writers who discuss world ages coming to abrupt closes, followed by successive world ages. Ovid is one example of this (in his discussion of the four ages) and Josephus is another example.

Now when Noah had lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood... and because their food was then fitter for the prolongation of life, might well live so great a number of years: and besides, God afforded them a longer time of life on account of their virtue, and the good use they made of it in ASTRONOMICAL AND GEOMETRICAL DISCOVERIES, which would not have afforded the time for foretelling [the periods of the stars], unless they had lived six hundred years, for THE GREAT YEAR IS COMPLETED IN THAT INTERVAL. ⁵

Characteristics Of The Long Day Of Joshua

There are five characteristics which we look for in the later Mars catastrophes, discussed in Chapters II through VII. They are:

1. Threatening conditions should occur every 54 years or every 108 years.
2. Major holocausts should occur on or about March 20/21 or October 25th.
3. Such should involve the dumping of meteoritic and bolidic materials on Earth.
4. Such should involve earthquakes and perhaps spin axis wobbles.
5. Such should include descriptive cosmic developments or scenery.

Dating By Day And Month

If our dating of this holocaust is correct, it occurred just exactly 216 years, 324 years, 432 years, 540 years and 648 years earlier, respectively, than the later catastrophic days just discussed.

There is only one way, other than circumstantial evidence, of deducing that the Long Day of Joshua was in the autumn; however the model dictates this. There is a strange passage in the Talmud accompanying the general discussion of the parceling out of the land of Canaan among the Israelites. (The Hebrew month of Marchesvan may have been named after ma'or or Mars and began about October 7.) This strange statement teaches that persons living in that era could freely travel until about from the close of the harvest season (roughly July) the seventeenth day of Marchesvan, after which travel was dangerous and not recommended. Any who died in travel during this period after Marchesvan 17 were to be buried “on the spot” and not given burial ceremonies. ⁶ Marchesvan 18 in the Hebrew calendar (October 25) is the day we presume for the Long Day of Joshua in 1404 B.C.

Meteoritic And Bolidic Materias

This is one of the two great features of the Long Day of Joshua. On this day of celestial warfare, perhaps a third of a million men met on the field of battle at Bethhoron, the Canaanite general militia and the Jewish invading hordes.

And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down GREAT STONES ⁷ from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with HAILSTONES ⁸ than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
(Joshua 10:11)

In the Greater Davidic Catastrophe, 972 B.C., 70,000 men (perhaps 5% of the populace) were destroyed. In the Isaiahic Catastrophe, 701 B.C., an even greater number of casualties occurred. If the Canaanite armies numbered 200,000 men (not an unreasonable possibility) and half perished, then the number of casualties approximated the toll of the Greater Davidic Catastrophe. Some we believe were slain by meteoritic hits, some by sweeping prairie fires, but most by exploding bolides. Bolides, like the Tunguska Bolide, can explode with forces rivaling nuclear bombs.

Earthquakes And Earth-Shakings

Earthquakes are defined as crustal tremblings, fractures and faulting of the crust. Earth-shakings we define as spin-axis shifts or precessions. There are no records of earthquakes in the Bible, nor in Josephus nor in The Book of Jasher, during the Long Day of Joshua, but there is record in the Talmud:

The earth quaked and trembled from the noise of Thy thunder against them....⁹

Concerning “earth-shakings,” spin axis shifts, the one of the Long Day of Joshua is the one which has received the most publicity, although we doubt that it was the worst in terms of distance for polar migration or for change in tilt.

Then spake Joshua to the Lord... and he said in the sight of Israel, SUN, STAND THOU STILL upon Gibeon [to the east]; AND THOU, MOON, in the Valley of Ajalon [to the northwest].
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed. ... So the Sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
(Joshua 10:12-13)

The following account describes a similar event, coming from the neighboring Greece, the famous Phaethon story of Greek cosmo-mythology:

Phaethon, in Greek mythology, was the son of Helios, the sun-god, and the nymph Clymene. He persuaded his father to let him drive the chariot of the sun across the sky, but he lost control of the horses and, driving too near the earth, scorched it. To save the world from utter destruction Zeus killed Phaethon with a thunderbolt... ¹⁰, ¹¹

Among many other nations, including the Maori or Polynesian story of Maui (discussed in Chapter II), there are similar traditions. Early morning in Palestine (the Long Day of Joshua was a morning phenomenon), was late afternoon or evening in Maori-land. Perhaps the Maori rendition of a spin axis precession comes from the Long Day of Joshua. It could also have originated during the Exodus Catastrophe of 1447 B.C., when the height of the catastrophe was at the midnight hour, Palestine time, and was early afternoon in Polynesia. We are not sure.

Traditionally, in the “intellectual circles” of Western society, the Phaethon story has been classified as fanciful myth along with the Long Day of Joshua. This is partly because there has ben no place for catastrophism in the popular if feeble evolutionary nebulous hypothesis. This is also partly because “rationalists” have had a major influence on Western education and have been hostile to the good history of the Scriptures.

The Phaethon story is not an ancient Greek yarn; it does contain a significant core of truth: a crazily wandering sun in the sky and scorching bolts falling on Earth. Ancients, of course, lacked telescopes, lacked celestial mechanics and gravitational theory, lacked most forms of calculus and mass publication. However, since they lived during the era of the fearful Martian holocausts, this kind of “Phaethon” explanation helped satisfy the Greek mind. The human mind indeed has a need for explanation. (That such stories have amused some of today's “experts” is insignificant because the theories of some contemporary “experts” may indeed amuse future experts of another century.)

Gyroscopic theory informs us that a sphere, or for that matter a cylinder, can, while rotating, be caused to precess and/or to spin about a second axis. Examples are numerous. A bicycle wheel that is spinning and held by one hand on one end of the axis will precess. If it is tossed in the air while precessing then the gravitational force causing the precession is removed, and the wheel will spin around a new axis. This appears to the eye as a wobble. In the Earth the analogy is a geographical relocation of the spin axis on the Earth, which defines a new north pole. The Earth is a giant gyroscope with an 8000 mile diameter traveling freely in space while rotating. Under the proper conditions, Earth too can wobble, or precess. The question surrounding the Long Day of Joshua is not “Was there a spin axis precession on that day?,” but rather, “What kind of spin axis precession occurred?”

There are several different possible geometries for the Martian fly-by. Hence there can be many directions of polar migration plus two directions for a shift in tilt. Also there can be several different distances possible for the fly-by causing different intensities of interaction. Therefore a variety of distances of polar migration are possible as well as many different directions possible.

If Mars was on a fly-by pattern about 70,000 miles distant and passed almost directly over the North Pole, the spin axis would precess first in one direction and then another. This is a unique type of spin axis precession, first forward and then backward; first one way and then the other. This, we propose, is why “there was no day like that before it or after it.” (Joshua 10:14)

The Lengthening Of The Day

The Book of Jasher has an interesting account of this unique day. This has come from ancient Hebrew sources and its authority has been questioned; however, we feel it is of historical value. Its account is as follows:

And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Joshua, and the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens, and it stood still SIX AND THIRTY MOMENTS,* and the moon also stood still and hastened not to go down a whole day.
(Chapter 88:64) ¹²
* עֲמַיִם , literally times; what portion of time, I cannot understand by this term, never used in scripture to express any division of time, so I have translated it “moments.” ¹²

The word for “day” in Joshua 10:13 is yowm in Hebrew. It is used to describe several divisions of time, not just 24 hours as it is used today. It often connotes “a time” such as a time of day or a time of year or a time of a season.

The exact amount of lengthening of the day may have been due in part to a change in latitude, and in part to a re-tilting of the spin axis. This resulted in a lengthening of the afternoon and evening. The lengthening may have been of the order of two to four hours. The change in the spin rate would have been negligible. The precession phenomenon could have made this autumn day like a midsummer day in length.

Scriptures hint that the spin axis shift was a matter of two to four hours in the following verse:

And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, UNTIL the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher?...
(Joshua 10:13)

Up to this point a two-to-four hour extension of the day with shifting polar locations is within the text. But, not the following:

...So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down ABOUT A WHOLE DAY.
(Joshua 10:13)

Our conclusion is that in the original text some kind of tie increment was indicated, but that the word used was misunderstood by later rabbinical translator and translated into some thing they could grasp. This is probably because the later rabbis could not conceive of the nature of the planet nor the nature of the spin axis shift. They had to write in terms which they could understand.

This problem of translation is related to the problem of the rabbis who criticized Hezekiah for adding a whole month onto the calendar between Nisan and Ziv, the first and the second months, (This would be like inserting a special month between January and February to users of the Julian calendar.) The rabbis felt it would be more logical to add one month at the end of the year, However, they asked the wrong question, “Why did Hezekiah add a month after Nisan?” should have been rephrased “Why did Hezekiah have to add a month at all to the ancient calendar?” This is one example of translators and copyists asking the wrong questions and coming up with dubious answers. Many have thus made calendric errors, Similarly, we suspect that an addition to, or a corruption of, this original text occurred, The translator of The Book of Jasher is probably closer to the original meaning than are the modern Bible translations in this case. The time increment was two to four hours rather than “about a whole day.”

Descriptive Cosmic Movements

This is the fifth of five categories for which we look in the ancient astronomical holocausts and their literatures, We believe that the Phaethon story of Greece applies to this particular catastrophe. If so, this is an example of descriptive cosmic movements, for it is a word picture of the Sun moving in an abnormal path across the sky, amid falling thunderbolts on Earth. We believe there is nothing in the Biblical record and almost nothing in the Talmud describing the actual pass over of Mars. However, there is an interesting description in the book of Judges which may possibly be a double description, applying first to the Long Day of Joshua, and secondly to the Deborah Debacle some 216 years later.

They fought from heaven;
the stars [planets] in their courses fought against Sisera.
(Judges 5:20)

Thus the four of the five types of phenomena we expect for holocausts have all been detected concerning the Long Day of Joshua. The spin axis precession indicates that Mars passed over particularly closely, and perhaps uniquely over the North Pole sector.

The Geographical Scene Of This Catastrophe

Then spake Joshua ... and he said in the sight of Israel,
Sun, stand thou still UPON GIBEON
[in the eastern or morning sky]...
(Joshua 10:12)

The Scriptural account suggests the major spin axis shift started in the very early morning, whereas the bolidic and meteoritic dumps arrived some two to three hours later, arriving at relative speeds of about 30,000 miles per hour. ¹³ It was a long afternoon, especially for the Canaanite forces which were decimated, if not annihilated. Gibeon was at the crest of the Central Highlands, the mountainous spine of Palestine running north and south. It was to the east of the battle scene around Mount Perizim and Bethhoron. This suggests the Martian fly-by was an early morning fly-by. The timing of the Phaethon story is similar; the Sun began to wander crazily across the morning sky. The bucking steeds drawing the solar chariot began bucking in the morning.

...and thou, Moon, IN THE VALLEY OF AJALON.
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed...
(Joshua 10:12-13)

The Valley of Ajalon, on the other hand, is northwest of the battlefield scene, and at a lower elevation. It is a wadi ¹⁴ running into the Mediterranean Sea. The Moon (in the western sky) was out of the way of the onrushing Mars. It, did not become cratered or tidally disfigured on this fly-by. Figure 25 illustrates the geography of the battle site.

Earth's spin axis and the Martian spin axis are almost equal in angle but opposite in direction of tilt, an indication of interaction causing mutual processions. Were the spin axis angles equal but parallel, it would be a contradiction to the rationale and celestial mechanics of catastrophism. This is another evidence favoring the catastrophic model.

At this juncture in the development of the Long Day of Joshua, another issue must come to the forefront, and then we shall return to the ancient accounts of this particular holocaust. Thus we shall take a small excursion into the effects of the Long Day of Joshua on modern thought. Modern Western Civilization emerged out of the Medieval Era, about the time of Columbus, Copernicus and Luther, circa 1450 A.D. to 1550 A.D.

On Cosmology In Western Civilization

In ancient times, there is ample evidence that a heliocentric viewpoint of the solar system predominated, both in the Mediterranean area and in the Near East. It fell into disfavor gradually as interest in cosmologies, such as the Olympic deities, waned. Largely through the influence of Claudius Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer and geographer in Alexandria, Egypt, in the second century A.D., a “geocentric” view of the solar system was undisputed in academic circles. Most people assumed Ptolemy knew his material, and Ptolemy assumed that the Sun, like the Moon and the few planets, went around the Earth. For 13 centuries throughout Christendom, Islam and Judaism alike, Ptolemy's view went unchallenged.

By the fifteenth century A.D., in the zone of Christian civilization in Europe, some profound questions were beginning to be asked both in astronomy and in geography by such men as Copernicus and Columbus. One of these venturesome thinkers, Copernicus, lived near the banks of the Vistula river in Kulm, in what is now Poland. Nicolas Copernicus, or Koppernik, was more of a German than a Pole in his methodology and language of thought. Copernicus was a clergyman, an astronomer, a skilled medic, and a bishop of some authority. He wrote his great work, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestim, beginning about 1505 A.D., although its final publication occurred in 1543. This work described the theory that the planets revolve around the Sun, and that the turning of the Earth on its axis accounts for the apparent rising and setting of the stars. It became the basis for modern astronomy. (Incidentally, the first copy arrived from the printer's shop on the day Copernicus died.)

Martin Luther, by this time a very important figure in the German theological scene, was severely disturbed by the theories of the clergyman Copernicus.

But even before the publication of his book, Copernicus had been severely criticized by Luther, who, in conversation, used to denounce “the new astronomer who wants to prove that the Earth goes round, and not the heavens, the Sun, and the Moon; just as if someone sitting in a moving wagon or ship were to suppose that he was at rest, and that the Earth and the trees were moving past him....The fool will turn the whole science of Astronomy upside down. But, as Holy Writ declares, it was the Sun and not the Earth which Joshua commanded to stand still.”

Luther's colleague, Philip Melanchton, also argued against the Copernican theory in a little book on physics which he published some six years after the astronomer's death. Like Luther, he laid especial stress on texts in the Bible which seemed to suggest that the Earth was at rest. ¹⁵

In all fairness, it is to be observed that another Lutheran clergyman, Rheticus, did champion the Copernican system. In fact, De Revoutionibus Orbium Coelestium would never have been published but for the insistence of Rheticus. Some clergymen also took the lead in the defense of Copernicus, even as others took the lead in the discreditation campaign.

Two facets in the Copernicus question need to be examined more closely than is usually the case. One concerns Luther's evaluation and the other concerns contemporary evaluation of revolutionary theory.

Luther was a theologian who was not able to synthesize new scientific data with the ancient Biblical record because of a narrow frame of reference. His concern was that this new theory might disprove the Bible. Due to his lack of astronomical understanding, ¹⁶ his only alternative was to claim that the Copernican theory was totally wrong. He considered theology to be the queen of the sciences.

Conversely, today, we have a heritage in Western Civilization in which much of the academic establishment harbors an anti-Biblical prejudice, often based on misinformation and erroneous assumptions. This prejudice exists in almost every field from cosmology to geology to biology. Simultaneously, the fundamentalist theologians, insisting on the historicity of the Scriptures but unable to explain the details, claim that every time there is an upheaval difficult to understand, such as the Long Day of Joshua, God waved His hand, and everything fell into place. This is a “theomagical” approach. ¹⁷

We must assert that neither the “theomagical” nor the “nebulous” ¹⁸ approach (as postulated by Darwin and Kant) is valid. This is important to recognize, because it is into one or the other of these two wide ruts which almost all of today's thinking in cosmology has been channeled. Neither channel is satisfactory.

It is widely asserted that there is some kind of conflict between the Bible and science. In this conflict, the Bible is said to be unscientific because it does not agree with the “scientific” theories currently in vogue. We propose that there is indeed a conflict, but that this conflict exists because the history ¹⁹ in the Bible is accurate, and popular evolutionary theory is in error.

One conflict, for example, is between the evolutionary cosmology and the catastrophic evidences present and observable in our solar system, in Earth's crust, in Mars' crust, and in the lunar crust. Historical holocausts are not “bunny-out-of-the-hat” propositions. These ancient astronomical crises did occur, they were astronomical, they were mechanical, and they were divinely guided and providential, in our view.

Concerning the anti-Biblical prejudice, we note that several of the earliest proponents of the Copernican system were clergymen, both of Catholic and Protestant persuasion, even as was Copernicus himself a man of the cloth. Why, then, has so much unfavorable recognition been given to Luther, and so little favorable recognition been given to Rheticus? Why is it not well known that Copernicus, apart from his astronomical work, was an esteemed clergyman, known for his piety? Might the answer to this seeming perversion of reformation era history be due to the fact that humanists generally have an emotional block against the church and the Scriptures? Could it be that discredit to the church satisfies their inner harmony, and credit given to a God-centered view frustrates their inner harmony?

The same issue recurred in the Galileo controversy, almost 100 years later. The scene changed and the religion changed, but human nature was the same. Galileo wished to offer evidence for the legitimacy of Copernicus' basic insight, which would incidentally undermine Aristotelian physics and Ptolemaic astronomy. This Greek view of science had became establishment view (i.e. “scriptural”). Important churchmen including Cardinal Bellarmine and, temporarily, Pope Urban, encouraged Galileo's quest for knowledge, part of his appreciation of God in nature.

But others reacted with alarm, anxiety, bewilderment, confusion and doubt. In time his opponents (through an ecclesiastical commission) succeeded in suppressing his doctrine and making him suspect of heresy. This is reaction in the history of the church.

But establishment scientists opposed Newton, Pasteur, Semmelweiss, Einstein, Jenner, Joule, Lister, and inflicted much punishment on them in the name of science. And the list of examples is of mistreatment in the history of science is rather long actually. Mendel is another passing example, whose theories were spurned during his lifetime by scientists. So this reactionary tendency should not be attributed to one religion, or all religions, but rather to a fossilized, self-centered human nature, of which we all participate in considerable degree.

Finally, we must observe that with all of its failures, still, Christendom has led to the productive climate of human grace, of which Copernicus himself is as good an example as any. And this attitude of grace has been the cradle of science, as well as the bedrock of Western Civilization. On this note, we return to the ancient accounts.

The Historical Scene Of The Long Day Of Joshua

Ancients fought and won or lost a thousand battles, very few of which had much real significance on the flow of history. This was one of those few battles which completely changed the course of history.

THE SECOND GENERATION OF ISRAEL. The first generation of Israel died in the wilderness, by and large an unfaithful generation in the eyes of the prophets. In contrast, this second generation was hardy, buoyant, valorous and faithful to Divine precepts. They met and conquered many enemy armies. (Some are mentioned in the Biblical account and others are not mentioned.) On some occasions, with divine guidance, they annihilated enemy armies which were larger. This aggressive generation firmly rejected idolatries, astrologies and other decadent depravities. They were a staunch, hardened, cooperating people, and as such, they broke the back of Amorite power which had dominated the Middle East for perhaps as much as 600 years, almost back to the era of Nimrod of Chaldea. This was an empire-breaking campaign which Joshua led. The critical battle of the Palestine campaign occurred on or about October 25 (Marchesvan 17 or 18) of 1404 B.C. This particular conflict was not just a battle, but was the “Gettysburg”, the “Stalingrad”, the “Waterloo” of the entire campaign.

There were four phases of the Israelite invasion of the promised land, of which the critical stage was the second. These four stages were:

1. The Eastern Theatre: Bashan, Gilead, Jericho, the Jordan Valley
2. The Central Theatre: Central Highlands, Gibeon, Plain of Sharon
3. The Southern Theatre: Hebron, Debir, Azekah, Makkedah, The Negev
4. The Northern Theatre: Galilee, Valley of Megiddo, Palestinic League.

The 40 years in the wilderness transformed the people from paganism and slavery into monotheism and martial spirit. The society in one generation changed from one of slaves, complaining and touchy, into freedom fighters valuing liberty and property (the promised homeland) very highly. Faith, hardship and cooperation transformed the national character in just one generation.

In stage 1 of the campaign, the Israelites conquered Bashan and Gilead, and parried with the Moabites and Edomites. They defeated the Ammonites, a division of the Amorites, and a strong incursion of Midianites from the upper Mesopotamian Valley. Israelite victories east of the Jordan were no great threat to the powers west of the river Jordan. However, when Jericho and Gilgal fell in the Jordan Valley, the league of Amorite princes was duly alarmed, and the word for battle went up and down Amorite provinces ranging from the border of Egypt to the border of Chaldea.

Upon the fall of Jericho, whose walls fell about March of 1404 B.C., the Israelites assaulted the heart of the promised land. Onward, upward and westward their forces moved, some- times with defeat but usually with victory. Ai is an example of an exceptional but small defeat; Gibeon is an example of a diplomatic victory, since the city surrendered without a shot fired (or an arrow shot). Now the Israelites occupied high ground. Beyond was the productive, well-watered plain of Sharon, and beyond that the shimmering Mediterranean Sea. The Hebrew armies encamped in twelve divisions just west of Gibeon. The Amorite League, composed of about twelve tribes of Canaanites, made their bivouac just across the wadi (or valley) at Bethhoron. ²⁰ Both armies probably planned to join the battle on the same day as the expected cosmic crisis. ²¹

In mid-morning, before the maneuvering armies entered into a full engagement, the spin axis precession was effecting an abnormal path of the Sun in the eastern sky. Soon, the expected astronomical holocaust began, involving bolides and meteorites, which exploded, decimating the Canaanite forces. Perhaps exploding bolides consumed most of their northern flank, an experience similar to that of Sennacherib some 700 years later.

...the Lord cast down great stones from heaven
upon them unto Azekah, AND THEY DIED:
THEY WERE MORE WHICH DIED WITH HAILSTONES
THAN THEY WHOM THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SLEW WITH THE SWORD.
(Joshua 10:11)

And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.
(Joshua 10 :10)

The riddled, ravaged, decimated armies of the Canaanite League withdrew, mostly to the southwest about 20 miles, to two or three walled cities. It was a long, long day for the vanquished. In fact, it was a “long day” for the victors as well.

After the Israelite soldiers broke Canaanite resistance in the Central Highlands and on the Plain of Sharon, stage three of the campaign began immediately, winter rains and winds not- withstanding. The assault on the holed-up Amorite forces in Southern Palestine became simply a “mopping up” operation. After the “mopping up,” the full attention of Joshua could be (and was) directed to Northern Palestine, Galilee and the Valley of Esdraelon (or Megiddo). Here again, Joshua and his divisions were successful, although their success was not total as it had been in the first three stages of the campaign. The assault on Central Palestine, stage two, was the critical phase of the entire campaign, a highly offensive campaign (which might compare with the assaults of Attila or Genghis Khan). The critical battle at Bethhoron was decided more by cosmic forces from on high than by Hebrew forces positioned on the ground.

There are significant comparisons, but also significant contrasts between this military encounter and the encounter in 701 B.C. The Joshuaic campaign was an offensive one, whereas the effort of Hezekiah was a defensive one, to hold Jerusalem. Catastrophism occurred in the mid-morning in the Long Day of Joshua, whereas it occurred in the evening in the Hezekiah- Sennacherib encounter. The 1404 B.C. event pitted Israel against the Canaanite-Amorite League, one that had been generally in power for 600 years and had treated Israel badly over the centuries. (Amorite kings introduced anti-Semitism and slavery into Egypt, for instance.) The 701 B.C. event pitted Israel against Assyria, Jerusalem against Nineveh. Assyria was a young nation, Nineveh was a young city. In 1404 B.C. the Canaanite armies were chewed up piecemeal by bolides, whereas in 701 B.C. the destruction of the bulk of the Assyrian army was caused by a single, large bolide.

Cosmic Intervention In History

The broadest view of catastrophism concerns its effect on national thinking, not just its effect on the society's architectures, agriculture, army or navy. Of prime consideration is the Deluge, or Flood Catastrophe, the greatest of them all. In that catastrophe the human race was nearly obliterated, leaving Noah, his three sons and three daughters-in-law to repopulate several continents. It also left them free to develop an entirely new society, based on principles of a theocracy, a government of God. The former society, reportedly, was hopelessly involved in corruption, sorcery, tyranny and violence. Catastrophism in that case resulted in (1) a new start for the human race, and (2) a residue of trillions of fossils. This is not just Hebrew tradition; originally, it was the heritage of all peoples, ²² but the Hebrews preserved the records more carefully than did other peoples.

The Tower of Babel Catastrophe was a twentieth century B.C. holocaust. Nimrod, tyrant of Chaldea, astrologer magnus mediocrita, had completed the Tower of Babel and was completing the outlying buildings and streets when disaster from the planetary regions overtook him and his efforts. What was to be the United Nations building of the twentieth century B.C. was destroyed, partly through fire falling from heaven, partly through earthquakes. Both the astrological system and the Chaldean tyranny suffered a setback of major proportion. (This was “good.”)

The Sodom-Gomorrah holocaust overtook two, perhaps as many as five, cities in a once fertile region, and left them in shambles, amid cinders, ash and lava. Sodom was known for its extremes in moral depravity; Gomorrah was known far and wide for its cruelties. These corrupt societies ceased to exist and plague their neighbors. (This was “good.”)

The Exodus Catastrophe involved the flight of Israelites from Egyptian slavery into the freedom of Sinai. (This was “good.”) It involved the water destruction of Pharaoh's army, bent on recapturing the fleeing fugitives. (This was “good.”) Amid thunderings, earthquakes and some lava outflow from the volcanic Sinai they received the decalogue, the Ten Commandments. This became the constitution of what developed into the greatest commonwealth in human history. (This was “very good.”)

The four preceding providential events were very much in the minds of the Hebrew people. Now, a fifth astronomical holocaust, cosmic intervention on an appointment day, resulted in the conquering of Canaan, in fulfillment of an old covenant from the Lord dating back reportedly to the era of Noah, Ham, Shem and Japheth. ²³ After this fifth illustration of providential intervention and/or protection for Israel from on high, it was concluded that there was a Divine plan or a Divine Protector for Israel.

Later, minor catastrophes such as the Elijahic and Samuelic were considered providential, but the heavier Greater Davidic and Joel-Amos events were interpreted by the prophets as judgments on the unfaithful nation.

Thus Israel had approximately six providential experiences with catastrophism. In these experiences, Amorite armies, Assyrian armies, Egyptian armies and Philistine armies all suffered severely on catastrophic occasions. Therefore, high councils of prophets and priests came to the conclusion that God would always deliver Jerusalem from foreign armies, normally by an intervention from the heavens. Reasoning in this way, the clergy, in alliance with heretical commercial groups, counseled the king in 590 B.C, to resist Babylonian vassalage, even as Hezekiah had resisted Sennacherib in 702 B.C.

However, Jeremiah sensed coming national discipline and total divine disfavor on the city given to idolatries and harlotries. The cosmic good fortune which the council of high clergymen relied on for assistance in 587 B.C. did not come. The surrounded city starved and capitulated in 586 B.C., and was obliterated, As Jeremiah had predicted, there was no deliverance this time.

The same pattern occurred in New Testament times. Most of the populace, including the leaders, required some kind of “sign from heaven” before they would consider the Nazarene to be the Messiah. ²⁴ As it had been in the time of Isaiah, and again in Jeremiah's time, high councils chose to rebel once more. This time the rebellion was against Rome. Once again, no sign from heaven appeared, and no cosmic deliverance occurred as Roman legionnaires systematically surrounded and destroyed the holy city, a rebellious city.

Times had changed as the solar system became reorganized. Planets had become sorted out, each into its own non-catastrophic orbit. ²⁵, ²⁶ The general climate or environment for mankind changed after 701 B.C., and this discussion reflects how catastrophism was helpful to Israel on certain occasions. (Isaiah in 701 B.C. is the supreme example, as is Moses in 1447 B.C) An unrealistic reliance on catastrophic deliverance (a sign or intervention from heaven) was part of the disaster of 586 B.C, and the disaster in 70 A.D.

Thus when all is considered, even though the Biblical account of the Long Day of Joshua is not as precise as one would wish, its date can be carefully reconstructed by various methods. Not only was Joshua correct in his observations; it would seem that Deborah, one of the judges, was quite accurate in her post-dated description of a similar fly-by 216 years later.

They fought from heaven, the stars [planets] in their courses fought against Sisera.
(Judges 5:20)

And there was no day like that before it or after it.
(Joshua 10:14)

Conclusion

Thus, when all is considered, the Biblical account of the Long Day of Joshua is neither as detailed as one would wish, nor even as precise. Nevertheless it is of superior literary quality to either the Maui story or the Phaethon story in both its datability and in the eye-witness preservation of the account. Joshua was correct in his historical observations.

The question for centuries has been, “How many spin axes did the Earth have during this remarkable, unique day?” Luther's retort was none since he believed the Earth didn't rotate. Bellarmine and other Biblicists also concluded none since somehow a brake temporarily had occurred on the normal spin axis. Galileo affirmed that no braking effect could be applied to such a dynamic planet and have it survive; therefore Earth rotated around but one unchanging spin axis. Galileo's assumptions have been similar to the assumptions of modern rationalists and cynics who usually are hostile to the Scriptures. Galileo had no hostility to the Scriptures but he required horizontal and vertical consistency between history and science, and he had no understanding of gyroscopes or the nature of gyroscopic precession.

Our analysis is that neither the traditional Biblicists (advocating an unexplained braking effect) nor the rationalists (advocating a uniformitarian rationale) have properly understood the nature of that catastrophic day. Earth, like any gyroscope, can rotate around two spin axes simultaneously under the proper conditions. And the proper conditions existed on that particular day, which was October 24th or more likely October 25th of 1404 B.C. Thus not zero, not one, but TWO spin axes is the solution for that particular, renowned unique day.

SUMMARY

*The Long Day of Joshua may have occurred with a Mars fly-by above the North Pole.

Let us first sweep away some cobwebs. One of these is the contention that whereas science encourages the critical attitude, religion is based solely on uncritical acceptance of authority.
-Robert E. D. Clark

It is easy to speculate that science might have been able to develop in the absence of Christianity, but in fact it never did. Why?
-Robert E. D. Clark

NOTES