Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined (Isa 38:8).
9 And Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” 10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” 11 And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz (2 Kgs 20:9-11).
i) Some commentators compare Joshua's Long Day to Judges 5:20. However, I think the "sundial" of Ahaz is a better comparison.
ii) Nothing would be more familiar than the uniform, daily direction of sunlight from east to west. In a way, this is more dramatic than Joshua's Long Day, for this involves a counterclockwise motion.
iii) One interpretation is that God temporarily reversed the earth's axial rotation. People raise scientific objections to that interpretation, but that misses the point. It's a miracle. It's supposed to be unnatural. And if that's the correct interpretation, God would of course keep other things in place.
iv) One objection to that interpretation is that this was evidently a local miracle, confined to the land of Judah (2 Chron 32:31). Had it been a global phenomenon, Babylonian emissaries wouldn't travel to Judah to enquire about the sign. Rather, they were following up on a report–given Babylonian interest in astronomical portents and prodigies.
v) Although it may not involve a miracle of the sun, it surely involves a miracle of sunlight. What was witnessed was the effect, not the cause.
And the same explanation might well apply to Joshua's Long Day.
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