The missing day.............yes 24 hours...........
Obviously these early versions of the story do not have computers or NASA in them! But their structure and many of the details are the same. Rimmer's account shows this:Someone, a scientific person skeptical of the literal truth of the Bible, accidentally discovers (through astronomical calculation) that "the earth is twenty-four hours off schedule." Prof. Totten says, "Of course, just check your Bible to see if you can account for your missing time."
The skeptic reads Joshua and finds that only 23 hours and 40 minutes were lost when Joshua made the sun stand still. "If the Bible made a mistake of forty minutes, it is not the Book of God!"
Totten points out that the Bible didn't say that a whole day was lost at the time of Joshua. It says "about the space of a whole day."
The skeptic took up his Bible reading again, and finally came to a passage in the 38th chapter of Isaiah. King Hezekiah was gravely ill, and in response to his prayer, God promised to add fifteen more years to his life. To confirm the truth of His promise, God offered a sign. He would make the sun advance 10 degrees. He said, "Go out in the court and look at the sundial of Ahaz. I will make the shadow on the sundial back up ten degrees!"
In 2 Kings 20:9-11 an additional detail is given, which is not in Isaiah. God offers as a sign to make the sun advance 10 degrees. Hezekiah answered "It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees." God was apparently in a good mood that day, and accepted the modification of the original plan. Why, one wonders, is it a "light thing" to make the shadow advance ten degrees, but miraculous to make it go back ten degrees? Of course the natural direction of shadow motion is an advance. Surely God wasn't proposing the normal rate of advance, but must have been proposing something miraculous, like a sudden advance. Let's credit God with some intelligence! I'd certainly be equally impressed with a sudden motion of the shadow in either direction.
Rimmer concludes, This settles the case, for ten degrees on the sundial is forty minutes on the face of the clock!"
Comments (10)
Can you explain '"It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees' to me please?
It means it's easy for the shadow of a sundial to move forward, because that's its normal direction.
Another translation of 2Kings 20 - 10 ...
New Living Translation
“The shadow always moves forward,” Hezekiah replied, “so that would be easy. Make it go ten steps backward instead.”
"Make it go ten steps backward instead.”
Means that the shadow of the sundial (and so presumably the Sun) appeared to move backward.
I lack even the most basic knowledge of astronomy, so help me out some more: this is about the year not being exactly 365 days of 24 hours each, the reason we have February 29th every four years, right?
1NewMoon
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sabbath
9 10 11 12 13 14 15Sabbath
16 17 18 19 20 21 22Sabbath
23 24 25 26 27 28 29Sabbath
(30)
Again, the first visible crescent not only began each new month, it also restarted the weekly
cycle. As a result, the seventh-day Sabbath always fell on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29t
Personally I just took it at face value ,one day = 24 hours ..................
The Torah, the book of OWYEZ / Yahusha..
...Enoch..Daniel...et Cetera
Are Scientifically stating the Mechanics of
Ye Flat Earth Model.....Enoch describes the completion of a year as 364 days..
365 & 1/4...are arrived at using Vatican / Jesuit math.
Enoch further warns of a Curse upon those following that Calendar.....worldly wizards have also added a 13th Astro $ign....that story is in R. Skiba's, Babylon Rising.....