Scripture for Today, 6-18-20: Sun Stood Still

Sunday, June 21, 2020: Rare Ring of Fire Eclipse from Book of Joshua ​to Appear Over Israel
"the sun stood still & the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies [the Amorites]. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven & hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man [Joshua]: for the LORD fought for Israel."

Joshua 10:13-14; Isaiah 38:8; Habakkuk 3:10-13

​History: On August 21, 2017 the complete solar eclipse transversed the continental United States many believe it ushered in the most devastating hurricane season in US history. Eclipse of the Sun is considered a bad omen.

Sunday, June 21, 2020, 7:26 to 9:26 am in Israel
Annular Solar Eclipse Will Occur

6-16-20, Breaking Israel News -- A rare annular solar eclipse will appear in the heavens over Israel on Sunday, June 21, 2020. According to experts, this type of eclipse described as a “ring of fire” was responsible for Israel's victory under Joshua against the Amorites and the miraculous ‘stopping of the sun’ during battle exactly 3,227 years ago.

The eclipse will be visible in appx 37 mile wide path traversing Israel, Africa, Pakistan, India and China. It will be visible in Israel for two hours from 7:26 AM to 9:26 AM local time, reaching its peak one hour later about 8:26 AM and disappear at 9:26 AM. The sun will be 99% obscured by the moon, making the sun’s corona appear as a "ring of fire" [Zechariah 2:5] around the dark circle of the moon. 

In its discussion of eclipses, the Hebrew Talmud that is commentative and interpretative writings that hold a place in the Jewish religious tradition  (Sukkot 29a) specifically described solar eclipses as being a bad omen for the nations who base their calendars on the solar cycle. “When Israel does the will of the place (God), they have nothing to fear from all of this,” citing the Prophet Jeremiah as a source. [Jeremiah 23:3; Zechariah 1:12, 16] Thus said Hashem [God]: Do not learn to go the way of the nations, And do not be dismayed by portents in the sky; Let the nations be dismayed by them! Jeremiah 10:2

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Researchers Attribute the Bible Account of the Sun Stopping for Joshua to an Annular Eclipse: In a paper published in the scientific Journal Astronomy and Geophysics in 2017, researchers from England’s Cambridge University confirmed a theory first suggested by Israel's Ben Gurion University researchers: that Joshua’s miraculous ‘stopping of the sun’ during a battle to allow the Israelites more time to defeat their enemies was actually an annular solar eclipse.

They even pinpointed the exact date – the afternoon of October 30, precisely 3,224 years ago when Joshua led the Israelites into battle with the armies of five kings in order to help the besieged Gibeonites, with whom they had signed a peace pact. In the battle as the Israelites began to gain the upper hand, Joshua prayed for the sun and the moon to stand still in order to complete the defeat. His prayers were answered. Joshua 10:13 -->

<-- The Cambridge researchers understood this passage as an important historical account: ​“Modern English translations, which follow the King James translation of 1611 Bible, usually interpret this text to mean that the sun and moon stopped moving, but going back to the original Hebrew text, we determined that an alternative meaning could be that the sun and moon just stopped doing what they normally do: they stopped shining. In this context, the Hebrew words could be referring to a solar eclipse, when the moon passes between the earth and the sun and the sun appears to stop shining.”

He added that the interpretation was supported by the fact that the Hebrew word meaning ‘stand still’ shares a root with a Babylonian word describing eclipses found in ancient astronomical texts.

The Ben Gurion study based its conclusion on how it was even described in the Book of Joshua as being an annular eclipse because the Bible specifies that the moon was also involved. [As described above, an annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes in between the sun and the earth.] They interpreted the word “dom,” which only occurs one other time in the Bible (Psalms 37:7), not as “stand still,” which is how it is traditionally read, but to mean “become dark.”
Their research revealed that there was only one total solar eclipse that occurred in the region between the years 1500-1000 BC, when the Israelites are believed to have entered the land. ​

The eclipse allowed them to date the battle precisely to 4:28 p.m. on October 30, 1207 BC.

With the help of the Merneptah Stele, an Egyptian artifact which independently confirms the Israelites’ presence in Canaan, historians have dated Joshua’s entry into the land to between 1500 and 1050 BC. Using complex calculations, the researchers determined that the only annular eclipse visible from the Canaan during that period took place in October of 1207 BC. The path of this eclipse passed directly over Canaan.

​*Excerpted and adapted full original report here