Modern Science and The Long Day of Joshua By Harry Rimmer, Sc.D.*
O NE of the most difficult tasks that faces the instructor is that of correcting a false impression in the student mind. The present genera tion of college students has been so in doctrinated with the false idea that mod ern science and the Word of God are at hopeless variance, that it is a con stant struggle to make the truth known to them. There is no question that we have met in student conferences oftener than the query concerning the long day of Joshua. This is perhaps the last and most fre quently used argument which is directed against the authority, credibility, and scientific accuracy of the Bible. Many questions about this miracle occur, no doubt, because of the paucity of details in Joshua’s account of the battle of Beth-horon. This ancient battle was one of the greatest that is recorded in the annals of history. The significance of this fact is largely overlooked, but there was no single battle in the recent world war that could compare with this one in far-reaching significance and re sults. To some extent, every nation and land under the sun has been affected by Joshua’s victory at Beth-horon. In this b a t t l e Joshua crushed the powerful league which opposed the people of Jehovah in their entrance into the land where Messiah must be born. As a re sult of Joshua’s victory, the way was opened for prophecies to be fulfilled in the most literal fashion. The crushing victory of Joshua at Beth-horon was the means of the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham, and gave this land of Canaan to Israel. From this time on, the various battles of the Israelites might be referred to as “mop ping up” operations, for this was the end of organized opposition. The most powerful alliance of which the enemy were capable opposed Joshua on the plains of Beth-horon. When the five kings died there and the army of the allies was smashed, the entire land was open to the possession of the chil dren of Israel. As a result of that battle nations were exterminated. The citizen- ry, government, culture, and destiny of a great land were changed in that hour of victory. Through the Hebrew conquest of the land of Canaan, even the destiny of the United States of America, then un- *Reproduced by permission from the book T he H armony of S cience and S cripture . Copyright by Research Science Bu reau, Inc.
dreamed of, was definitely shaped. For as a result of this battle, Jesus was born (in accordance with the prophecies) in the land that then and there changed ownership. This battle may be likened in its far- reaching effects to the Battle of Water loo. Yet the entire account of Joshua’s victory, from the setting forth of the army on their forced march from Gilgal until their return, is given in just two hundred and seventy-one words. There have been many more than that number of volumes written about the Battle of Waterloo! So the details in this ac count are necessarily meager. Every word( in this record must be studied carefully, and the casual and careless reader will certainly think this account is highly improbable, without realizing that it is his own ignorance which makes it seem so. The setting of the battle is of tre mendous importance. The reader will recall that the book of Joshua contains the record of the conquest of the land of Canaan by the army of Israel. It would be of value at the outset of this study to refresh the memory with a sum mary of the account of this conquest, as given in the book of Joshua. Chap ters one to five deal with the entrance of the people into the land, their prep aration for the great conquest, and the consecration of the nation to this task. The story of the conquest really begins in chapter six, which deals with the capture of Jericho. The strange incidents in connection with that event have long been a source of delight to the skeptic, who has imagined that the falling of the walls of Jericho constitutes a quaint fable and has no historical value. The light of the lamp of archeology, however, has illumined the events that transpired at Jericho and has established the record of the sixth chapter as being historically unquestionable. The great Marston ex pedition, under the leadership of Dr. Garstang, has not only established the historical accuracy of this sixth chapter of Joshua, but has brought to light de tails of the conquest that prove the book of Joshua to have been written by an eye-witness of the fall of Jericho. The ablest of archeologists of the twen tieth century have proved beyond ques tion that the events of chapter six hap pened exactly as they were written by the pen of Joshua. The seventh chapter deals with the defeat of Israel at Ai. The sin of Achan was then discovered and purged. As a result, in the eighth chapter the record is given of the capture of Ai and the
extermination of its populace of some twelve thousand. This recapitulation brings us to the stirring events of the ninth and tenth chapters of the book of Joshua. In the path of Joshua’s march of conquest, there were six great and powerful na tions. These nations are named as the Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Jebusite, Perizzite, and Hivite peoples. One of the most important, for the purposes of the narrative, is the nation called the Hi- vites. Their capital city was Gibeon, and numbered about thirty thousand in habitants. This city of Gibeon was next in Joshua’s line of march, and was a walled city, well defended and skillfully protected. Among the reigning monarchs of these six nations was a crafty and able states man whose name was Adoni-zedec, a man famed in his day not only for political craft but for military genius. He had been observing with deep con cern the advance of Israel, and as he saw their invincible progress, he realized that no single nation of Canaan would be able to stand before them. So he called together the other five reigning kings and proposed a league of nations. This league was to be composed of the six remaining nations of Palestine, of which league Adoni-zedec was to be the head. The nations of Palestine eagerly accepted the proposal and the league of defense was formed. May we pause to remind the reader that these ancients were real people. It is sometimes hard to understand that the people and nations that occur as names in old records were actual folks of flesh and blood as we are. They had the same ambitions, the same passions, pleasures, and sorrows that stir our feelings today. They lived and they died, they laughed and they wept, they worked and they rested, and they had the same problems to face that any nation faces today. So the Hivites, stirred with concern behind their massive walls, were so ex cited by the thought of the coming seige and battle as would your city be today, if an alien army suddenly appeared on the horizon, threatening to loot and de stroy your habitations. The history and • the records of the Hivite people appear in the findings of archeology, where they are known as the Hivite nation. Adoni-zedec, the head of this ancient league of nations, was informed of the overthrow of the city of Jericho, and was possessed of the details of the cap ture of Ai. He knew that he faced a tremendous power. His strategy called
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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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