{"id":53702,"date":"2019-04-14T22:11:59","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T19:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=53702"},"modified":"2022-11-06T16:03:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T14:03:47","slug":"extra-short-battle-not-extra-long-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/extra-short-battle-not-extra-long-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Extra Short Battle, Not Extra Long Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[366,384,471,434],"acf":{"old_id":"53702","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":53309,"related_cahpter":"197","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"God did not formulate perfect laws in order to upset them without good cause","content":"

At least one of the medieval commentaries was loath to adopt the simple reading of our text, for to do so would allow Joshua\u2019s deed to easily eclipse the miraculous exploits of his own mentor Moses. Rabbi Levi ben Gershom, who was active in fourteenth-century France and known as Gersonides or Ralbag, explains that the thrust of the passage does not concern supernatural celestial events, but rather, the victory of the Israelites. Joshua\u2019s plea was that:<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the sun had set at Givon or the moon at the valley of Ayalon, the people of Israel would complete the rout of their foes…. The people were able to miraculously avenge themselves…in such a short time…for God\u2019s abilities are not limited…and He heeded Joshua\u2019s prayer. (Gersonides on Josh. 10:12)<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, the miracle was not that the sun actually stood still, but rather that the people of Israel succeeded in thoroughly trouncing the southern kings in such a very short time, before the sun completed its course and began to set. The physical motion of the sun did not slow, but rather Israel was able to inflict a crushing defeat that should have taken a much longer period of time to accomplish. God acceded by granting them a swift and utter victory, \u201cbecause God waged war for Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides being an accomplished biblical commentator and philosopher, Gersonides was also an astronomer and a mathematician. Gersonides\u2019 interpretation is a function of his scientific empiricism and its downplay or dismissal of miracles. The natural laws are God\u2019s ultimate creation and the universe is governed in accordance with them. God did not formulate perfect laws in order to upset them without good cause. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is important to emphasize that Gersonides does not question God\u2019s ability to slow or stop the sun\u2019s progress, but rather His willingness to do so: \u201cGod, blessed be He, does not affect miracles except for some pressing need or in order to inculcate true opinions, and here neither of these conditions applied.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Why, avers Gersonides, need God intervene to halt the motion of the sun if the point of the matter was for Israel to achieve victory? They could well accomplish that aim without an overt display of divine prowess. The text casts the matter in a purely utilitarian light: God interceded so that Israel might militarily prevail, not so that they may come to appreciate some abstract truth about His governance of the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

iryna1\/shutterstock.com<\/span><\/p>\n

from: <\/span>Joshua: The Challenge of the Promised Land<\/em> <\/span>(Jerusalem: Koren, 2015); chapter: \u00a0\u201cMiracles and Men\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":53703,"id":53703,"title":"jo10-galileo-r","filename":"jo10-galileo-r.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/extra-short-battle-not-extra-long-day\/jo10-galileo-r\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo10-galileo-r","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":53702,"date":"2019-04-14 19:11:42","modified":"2019-04-14 19:11:52","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":722,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r-212x300.jpg","medium-width":212,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r-722x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":722,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r-722x1024.jpg","large-width":722,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r.jpg","1536x1536-width":722,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r.jpg","2048x2048-width":722,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r.jpg","post_full_size-width":722,"post_full_size-height":1024,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r-296x420.jpg","home_baner-width":296,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Extra Short Battle, Not Extra Long Day","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"God did not formulate perfect laws in order to upset them without good cause","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":53703,"id":53703,"title":"jo10-galileo-r","filename":"jo10-galileo-r.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/extra-short-battle-not-extra-long-day\/jo10-galileo-r\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo10-galileo-r","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":53702,"date":"2019-04-14 19:11:42","modified":"2019-04-14 19:11:52","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":722,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r-212x300.jpg","medium-width":212,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r-722x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":722,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r-722x1024.jpg","large-width":722,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r.jpg","1536x1536-width":722,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r.jpg","2048x2048-width":722,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r.jpg","post_full_size-width":722,"post_full_size-height":1024,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-galileo-r-296x420.jpg","home_baner-width":296,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53702"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109039,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53702\/revisions\/109039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}