Does the Bible Claim that the Sun and Moon stopped in their Tracks?

By Mark Chavalas

The sun and moon have been in the news lately; Pastor John Hagee has claimed that recent blood moons (a popular phrase for a total lunar eclipse) have biblical significance of cataclysmic proportions concerning modern day Israel. A discussion of what the Bible actually says of the movement of heavenly bodies is therefore in order.

The passage in Joshua 10:12-15 appears to claim that the “sun stopped in Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Aijalon.” Ancient Jewish and Christian scholars interpreted it literally; they also argued that the purpose of the miracle was to allow the Israelites more daytime to defeat their enemies. If taken literally, one would think this miracle would have significant cosmic consequences, to say the least! However, one must first interpret the Bible in its ancient context.

According to Joshua 10, the Israelite leader, Joshua, made a “mad dash” to get to Gibeon to protect that town against a coalition of Amorite kings. Like any good military leader in antiquity, Joshua inquired of God about his chances in battle; God guaranteed victory, which was all Joshua needed to know.

The lyric poetry of Joshua 10:12 states that the sun halted in Gibeon, and the moon in Aijalon. This signifies that the sun was in the east, and the moon in the west, meaning it was morning, not evening. Thus, Joshua was certainly not asking for more sunlight (after all, the day had just begun). Furthermore, the event was considered unique, not because of any astronomical abnormalities, but because God listened to the voice of a man and fought for Israel (v. 14).

So, what on earth was Joshua asking for? Though I am not an astronomy geek, I am a Mesopotamia geek. The phraseology in Joshua 10:12-13 sounds suspiciously like the vocabulary used in Mesopotamian celestial omen texts (something first observed by John Walton of Wheaton College). In fact, it is clear that the relative position of the sun and moon played a role in determining military movements. Kings consulted omen priests who told them whether a particular solar/lunar juxtaposition was propitious for victory.

For example, one Neo-Assyrian omen from Nineveh states, “When the moon and sun are seen with one another on the 14th {14th day since the last full moon}, the land will be satisfied.” This was a good omen. However, another Neo-Assyrian tablet notes that “when the moon and sun are seen with each other on the 15th day, a powerful enemy will raise his weapons against the land,” clearly a bad omen.

Many of the technical phrases in these omens concern the “stopping” and “waiting” of the heavenly bodies. From the standpoint of the viewer on earth, the sun and moon ‘stopped and waited’ for each other (that is, they were seen together, a bad omen for the 15th day after a full moon). The phraseology is not unlike Matthew 2:9, which states that the Christmas Star stood over Bethlehem (this makes sense from the standpoint of the traveler, of course).

Celestial omen observation was not just prevalent in Mesopotamia but northwest in Syria at the sites of Ugarit, Mari, and Emar (all in regions with significant Amorite connections). The Biblical text and Joshua’s poetic statement about God’s favoring Israel with the motion of the sun and the moon were part of a broader ancient Near Eastern tradition of asking for divine help on the battlefield.

But this context also helps answer an easily anticipated question: why would a follower of the God of Israel ask for an omen, a practice that was considered divination and regarded as a capital crime? The answer is that the Bible recasts the omen. Joshua was not asking for a celestial phenomenon for himself, or even for Israel, but probably for the enemy; he must have known what it meant for them to have the sun and moon aligned on the 15th day, presumably the day of battle. If they received a bad omen, it would have significantly lowered their expectations of victory, to say the least!

Jews and Christians believe that God can do whatever He pleases, including violating natural laws (e.g., causing the sun and moon to stop in their tracks). But one does not have to manufacture a miracle where the biblical text does not call for it. To be correctly understood, the Bible must be read in its historical and literary context; only then can we mortals respond in awe.

Mark W. Chavalas is Professor of History at University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse

For Further Reading

John H. Walton, ‘Joshua 10:12-15 and Mesopotamian Celestial Omen Texts’, in Faith, Tradition and History: Old Testament Historiography in its Near Eastern Context, eds. A. R. Millard, J.K. Hoffmeier, and D.W. Baker. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1994: 181-190.

For a collections omens, including those from Nineveh cited here, see R. Campbell Thompson, Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon (London: Luzac, 1900), and H. Hunger, Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings (State Archives of Assyria VIII; Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 1992).

For more reading on this subject, see J. Cooley, Poetic Astronomy in the Ancient Near East (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2013), F. Rochberg, The Heavenly Writing: Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in Mesopotamian Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), and F. Rochberg, In the Path of the Moon: Babylonian Celestial Divination and Its Legacy (Leiden: Brill, 2010).

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