Re: [asa] a theological exercise

It is quite common in the Hebrew Bible for damam to mean cease. So the
question in Joshua 10 would be "cease from what?" I first encountered an
alternative interpretation of the Joshua account in a commentary on Joshua
by Hugh J. Blair in The New Bible Commentary, which was published in 1953
by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He suggests that Joshua wanted the
darkness prolonged. If so, Joshua might have thought about the moon too as
a giver of some light, not heat. Blair, however, thinks that the quote
from the book of Jasher begins in verse 12, which does not seem at all
obvious to me, and that the hailstorm is the answer to Joshua's prayer.

Gordon Brown (ASA member)

On Wed, 4 Jun 2008, D. F. Siemens, Jr. wrote:

> Taking /damam/ to mean "to be silent" surely clarifies matters. Evidently
> the sun was noisy till Joshua told it to be quiet, and it has not made
> noise since. But a rational approach requires us to take the locations
> given in Joshua 10:12, 13 seriously, so the meaning cannot have to do
> with silence. Note that /`amad/, "to stay.' is used of the moon, and
> there are more meanings given for /damam/ in Strong's. TWOT notes; "Those
> who explain this miracle in terms of silencing the sun's heat have a more
> difficult time, especially in view of the parallelism with the moon." (p.
> 193).
> Dave (ASA)
>
> On Tue, 3 Jun 2008 19:40:24 -0600 (MDT) gordon brown
> <Gordon.Brown@Colorado.EDU> writes:
>> On Tue, 3 Jun 2008, Dennis Venema wrote:
>>
>>> It¹s not just verses about the sun rising: Psalms speak of the
>> Lord
>>> establishing the earth that it might never be moved, and Joshua¹s
>> ³long day²
>>> specifically refers to the sun stopping, not the earth.
>> Ecclesiastes also
>>> states that the sun moves relative to the earth as it hastens back
>> to the
>>> place of its rising.
>>>
>>>> Yet, maybe that reflects my own historical situatedness to some
>> degree.
>>>
>>> I would say so: this was no trivial discussion when it took
>> place.
>>>
>>> Here¹s Luther¹s take on the issue:
>>>
>>> ³People gave ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that
>> the earth
>>> revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon.
>> Whoever
>>> wishes to appear clever must devise some new system, which of all
>> systems is
>>> of course the very best. This fool [or Œman¹] wishes to reverse
>> the entire
>>> science of astronomy; but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua
>> commanded
>>> the sun to stand still, and not the earth.² ‹ Martin Luther, Table
>> Talk
>>
>> Luther's argument depends on understanding the Hebrew verb damam to
>> mean
>> stand still, whereas its literal meaning is to be silent. The verses
>> that
>> I know of that speak of the earth not moving appear to me to say
>> that it
>> cannot be moved off its foundation. Therefore I think that the real
>> issue
>> ought to be the meaning of the earth's foundation rather than the
>> meaning
>> of motion.
>>
>> Gordon Brown (ASA member)
>>
> ____________________________________________________________
> Make your vacation more memorable with a luxurious vacation rental. Click now!
> http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3nLyTUTjTBLX4Xq4B6NhZ4iANoXtEaHeNV4w6IaFCFJxdKtl/
>

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Wed Jun 4 23:48:40 2008