Sun Standing Still (Joshua 10:12)
Question
“Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord made the Amorites lose the war against the sons of Israel. He said, in the eyes of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon. O moon, stand still in the valley of Aijalon.” (Joshua 10:12)
This seems very strange to me since if sun does not move, there would be trouble with the functioning of the universe.
So, what happened at that time?
Answers
It is certainly a complicated issue. Most of the commentaries understand the narrative in its simplest way: the sun stood still in relationship to the entire world. But, the very fact that God – the Creator of the world – was causing this to happen meant, by definition, that there was no damage done to the world.
However, according to some of the commentaries, the only “part” of the sun that stood still was the spiritual dimension. That means that the sun continued on its physical path, but the inner dimension that brings benefit to the world was not there. Others are of the opinion that the sun stood still only in the valley of Givon. The remainder of the world was unaware of what had happened, as “their sun” continued in its path around the world.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team