Mental Snacks
hidden prebiblical books, eclipse times and the stories behind our stories
FIRST OF ALL— Did you hear the news?
Zoom salons are back! Zoom salons are back! Get in on it now:
We're speedrunning through the Book of Joshua – this week is it, really. We won't spend a lot of time with the narrative– you can DIY if you'd like (with the Fox commentary, I'd recommend). Because, honestly, a lot of what I have to say about it is covered by the various pieces we've covered already on conquest (also linked below).
But it turns out some of the details I've been chasing down really get to the theme of uncovering the stories underneath our stories. (Maybe everything does.) Here are a couple of yummy small bites for you.
1) One of the more interesting little side events in Joshua is that, deep in the Israelites struggling in battle, there's a dramatic depiction of an eclipse:
On that occasion, when God routed the Amorites before the Israelites, Joshua addressed God; who said in the presence of the Israelites:
“Stand still, O sun, at Gibeon, O moon, in the Valley of Aijalon!”
And the sun stood still, and the moon halted, while a nation wreaked judgment on its foes—as is written in the Book of the Upright.
Thus the sun halted in midheaven, and did not press on to set, for a whole day; for God fought for Israel. Neither before nor since has there ever been such a day, when God acted on words spoken by someone else. (Joshua 10:12-14)
Did you catch this?
"as is written in the Book of the Upright."
(We also see a mention of this in II Sam 1:17-18.)