SCIENCE

It is claimed by scientists that the earth's motion upon its axis has not varied a second for thousands of years. In view of this how shall we account for the statement of `Joshua 10:13`, "The sun and moon stood still and the sun hasted not to go down about a whole day." Does this record imply that the earth's motion upon its axis was stopped or its velocity lessened? (J.W.A.)

<ANSWER>--A critical examination of this passage in the Hebrew language in which the Old Testament was written, discloses the fact that Joshua never requested the Lord to cause the sun and moon to stand still. His request was that the sunlight and the moonlight might be restrained, or prevented from shining through the dark clouds of the storm mentioned in `verse 11`, in which great hailstones had been formed, and doubtless were accompanied by thunder and lightning, all of which would strike terror into the hearts of the Amorites. Had the dark clouds rolled away and the sun shone forth, the enemies of Israel, who were sun worshippers, would have plucked up courage and resisted the onslaughts of Joshua and his army. So the sunlight and the moonlight remained dim (Hebrew, <dum>) about a whole day, "until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies." The scientists are right and in harmony with the Scriptures, for the earth did not cease to revolve upon its axis, but continued to pursue the even tenor of its way. The Bible rightly interpreted and understood is consistent with reason and with facts.

Are there not remains of buried cities in Egypt containing evidence, pictorial drawings, hieroglyphics, etc., which antiquarians are in general agreed evidence a civilized, prosperous, and opulent people living about 7,000 years before the Christian era? And how many more thousands of years must it have taken for these to rise from conditions of barbarism--the universally conceded, primitive state of the entire human race? (R.J.S.)

<ANSWER>--It is passing strange that antiquarians which acknowledging the skill, ingenuity and wisdom of the ancients, evidencing a degree of civilization far in advance of any other prior to that of the present day, persist in calling the earlier peoples of the earth, "barbarous" and "primitive." The Egyptian ruins have been and are the marvels of modern times. Engineers and architects who have examined those mighty monuments of a former age, have declared that with all of our boasted civilization and enlightenment, it is doubtful if there is sufficient wisdom and knowledge in the world today to even duplicate those wondrous structures. The oldest building in Egypt is conceded by all recognized authorities to be the Great Pyramid, and the date of this construction is well established, about 2170 B.C. It is still the wonder of the world as it was in ancient times, when placed by the Greeks at the head of the list of the "Seven Wonders of the World." The seven thousand years antiquity of the buried cities of Egypt, has long been recognized as being fictitious, as pictorial representations of the Pyramid have been discovered in all of those ruins showing that they were erected after the Great Pyramid had been built. Therefore, there is nothing in Egypt to disprove the Bible chronology, to the effect that the race had its origin 4128 B.C.