The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 84: The Sun Stands Still (2023)

Episode Date: March 25, 2023

Fr. Mike offers us different ways we can interpret the miracle of the sun standing still in Joshua 10, and also reminds us that God always desires unity for us even though we often face war and division in this world. Today's readings are Joshua 10-11, and Psalm 128. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is now currently day 84, and we are reading today from Joshua chapter 10 and 11, and we're praying Psalm 128, one or more of those Psalms of Ascent. The Bible translation that I am reading from is the Revised Standard Version,

Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plans, you can see where we're coming, see where we've been, see where we are. You can go to ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. If you want to subscribe in this podcast app, please do that to receive daily episodes. Those daily episodes come out pretty much every day. This is why we call them daily episodes. And it is incredible to be able to listen to the Bible in these 365 days. As I said, it's day 84, reading Joshua 10 and 11 and Psalm 128. Let's get started. The book of Joshua chapter 10, the sun stands still. When Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he

had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, he feared greatly because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty. So Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, sent to Hoham, king of Hebron, Piram, king of Jarmuth, to Japhia, king of Lachish, and to Dibir, king of Eglon, saying, Come up to me, and help me, and let us strike Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel. Then the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jermuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered their forces, and went up with all

their armies, and encamped against Gibeon, and made war against it. And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, Do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us. For all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the hill country are gathered against us. So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. And all the mightycent of Beth-horon, and struck them as far as Azekah

and Makedah. And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down great stones from heaven upon them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the men of Israel killed with the sword. Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the men of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel, Son, stand still at Gibeon, and you, moon, in the valley of Ai-Jalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since

when the Lord listened to the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal. The five kings defeated. These five kings fled and hid themselves in the cave at Makedah. And it was told Joshua, the five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makedah. And Joshua said, roll great stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them. But do not stay there yourselves. Pursue your enemies, fall upon their rear. Do not let them enter their cities for the Lord your God has given them into your hand. When Joshua and the men of Israel had finished slaying them with a very great slaughter until they were wiped out, and when the remnant which remained of them had entered into the fortified cities, all the people returned safe to Joshua in the camp at Makedah.

Not a man moved his tongue against any of the sons of Israel. Then Joshua said, open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me from the cave. And they did so and brought those five kings out to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lashish and the king of Eglon. And when they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. Then they came near and put their feet on their necks.

And Joshua said to them, Do not be afraid or dismayed. Be strong and of good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight. And afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hung them on five trees. And they hung upon the trees until evening. But at the time of the going down of the sun, Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees, and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves. And they set great stones against the mouth of the cave which remain to this very day. And Joshua took Makeda on that day and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed every person in it. He left none remaining and he did to the king of Makeda as he

had done to the king of Jericho. And Joshua passed on from Makeda and all Israel with him to Libna and fought against Libna. And the Lord gave it also and its king into the hand of Israel, and he struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it, he left none remaining in it. And he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. And Joshua passed on from Libna, and all Israel with him, to Lachish, and laid siege to it, and assaulted it. And the Lord gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he took it on the second day and struck it with the edge of the sword and every person in it, as he had done to Libna. Then Horam, king of Gezer, came up to help

Lachish, and Joshua struck him and his people until he left none remaining. And Joshua passed on with all Israel from Lachish to Eglon, and they laid siege to it and assaulted it. And they took it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword and every person in it, he utterly destroyed that day as he had done to Lachish. Then Joshua went up with all Israel from Eglon to Hebron and they assaulted it and took it and struck it with the edge of the sword and its king and its towns and every person in it, and he left none remaining, as he had done to Eglon, and utterly destroyed it with every person in it. Then Joshua, with all Israel, turned back to Debir, and assaulted it, and he took it with its king, and all its towns, and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly

destroyed every person in it. He left none remaining, as he had and the Negev, and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings. He left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed as the Lord God of Israel commanded. And Joshua defeated them from Kadesh-Berniah to Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, as far as Gibeon. And Joshua took all these kings and their land at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. Chapter 11. The United Kings of Northern Canaan Defeated. When Jabin, king of Hazor, heard of this, he sent to Jobab, the king of Madan, and to the kings of Shimran, and to the king of Ashaf, and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Ereba, south

of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in Naphoth-da-Ar, to the west, to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Per the west, to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. And they came out with all their troops, a great host, in number like the sand that is upon the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. And all these kings joined their forces, and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight with Israel. And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them slain to Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots

with fire. So Joshua came suddenly upon them with all his people of war by the waters of Merom, and fell upon them. And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them as far as great Sidon and Mishraphoth Maim, and eastward as far as the valley of Mizpah. And they struck them until they left none remaining. And Joshua did to them as the Lord bade him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire. And Joshua turned back at that time and took Hazor and struck its king with the sword, for Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms. And they put to the sword all who were in it, utterly destroying them. There was none left that breathed. And he burned Hazor

with fire. And all the cities of those kings and all their kings Joshua took and struck them with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. But none of the cities that stood on mounds did Israel burn, except Hazor only, that Joshua burned. And all the spoil of these cities and the cattle the sons of Israel took for their booty. But every man they struck with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any that breathed. As the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses. Summary of Joshua's conquests. So Joshua took all that land, the hill country, and all the Negev, and all the land of Goshen,

and the lowland, and the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel, and its lowland, from Mount Halak that rises toward Seir, as far as Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon, below Mount Hermon. And he took all their kings and struck them and put them to death. Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the sons of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took all in battle. For it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle in order that they should be utterly destroyed and should receive no mercy but be exterminated as the Lord commanded Moses. And Joshua came at that time and wiped out the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country

of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain. So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to the tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war. Psalm 128, the happy home of the faithful, a song of ascents. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands.

You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house. Your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. Father in heaven, we know that you have revealed yourself to us, and so we thank you.

We know that what you have revealed is you desire justice, you desire peace. You are the God of peace. In fact, you revealed to us fully that yourself revealed fully in the revelation of Jesus is that he is the prince of peace. And yet when we hear so many stories of war and of battle and of violence, it can cause us to question. So we ask you, Lord, please, just to give us interior peace, give us a sense of understanding of what it is that you want to teach us today and what it is that you want us to receive today. We make this prayer

in the name of the Prince of Peace, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, so praise the Lord. Oh my gosh. Okay, I want to talk about two things today, and those two things have to do with, again, the book of Joshua, which makes sense. That's where we are. But what we heard was the sun standing still. And I know there's a lot of people, a lot of Christians, in fact, who might find themselves hearing the story of the sun standing still. And I know there's a lot of people, a lot of Christians, in fact, who might find themselves hearing the story of the sun standing still in Joshua chapter 10. And they think of things like Galileo, or they think of things like the Copernican revolution of recognizing that the earth revolves around the sun. And they think, okay, so how is this

possible? It seems like people were pointing to, Christians or Christians, Catholic scholars were pointing to Joshua chapter 10 as an argument against Galileo, which may or may not be accurate. And in fact, I think it's a little less accurate than it is completely accurate. One of the things we realize is that the issue of Galileo was not an issue of science versus faith. It was an issue of one ego versus another ego. That's a whole nother story.

The ego of Galileo and the ego of the Pope at the time. But it wasn't a battle of science versus faith because what we had before was a Copernicus. Copernicus, who was a Catholic cleric and a scientist who had already discovered and made a claim that the earth revolved around the sun. And that was not met with any religious arguments because a lot of the religious people at the time were very interested in science. In fact, the Pope who got into this kerfuffle with Galileo had previously been one of Galileo's patrons. He had supported Galileo's scientific research. And so, as I said, there's more to the story, but one of the things we can know is that good faith and good science never contradict. What contradicts are bad faith or bad science. And so, or one or the

other, right? Because good faith is pursuit of what? Pursuit of truth. And good science is a pursuit of what? Pursuit of truth. What we know is that truth can never contradict truth. And so the pursuit of truth that faith pursues is supernatural truth. And the pursuit of truth that science pursues is natural truth. And those are both very good things. And those things will never be in conflict with each other as long as they are true. So what we look at, we look at Joshua chapter 10, and it is very rare, although you find some people who will claim that this is a description of an actual day that was extended to be as long as two days, right?

That the sun actually stood still or the earth rotation stopped, you know, another way to say it. And that what people were able to see was for, you know, day plus to two days, we're able to see the sun in the midst of the sky. Now, one could be, could be exactly supernatural miracle. I say that because there was a similar miracle roughly a hundred years ago in a place called Fatima. At Fatima, there was, if you know the story, in October of 1917, Mary, Our Lady, had appeared to some children there and on a number of occasions,

at one point, she said that something was going to happen. There was going to be a sign on this particular date, on the 13th of October in 1917, in this particular place. And so on that date and that place, a number of people, in fact, I think the number is like tens of thousands, if I'm not mistaken, tens of thousands of people showed up, many of them believers, but also many of them skeptics, many of them atheists, and many of them simply out to see the show to disprove the fact that nothing happened, there was no miracle, there was no sign. What happened was at some point, the sign was involved the sun in the sky. And at one point, the claim was everyone saw who was gathered there, whether they were believers or not. They

saw what they would describe later on as the sun dancing in the sky, which made it look like the sun was shimmering and then began to move around the sky. We know that it's solarly impossible. That does not happen according to nature, because if that were to be the case, then the entire solar system would be thrown way out of whack, and everyone would have noticed it, even not just the people who were at that location in Fatima, but also around the world. And yet, what was interesting is people in the local area saw it, but nowhere else was it registered. And yet again, you have multiple news sources, people who showed

up intending to disprove that anything had happened. And every single one of them experienced this thing that's called the miracle of the sun from Fatima. So in that case, was there a violation of the laws of nature, a violation of the laws of sun and moon and orbit and all those things? I don't know if it was a violation of it, but what the experience of it was for the people who were there was unmistakable and undeniable. It was a miracle that did not throw all of the cosmos into chaos. And so could something like that have happened in Joshua chapter 10? Absolutely. I mean, it happened 104 years ago. So yeah, it could absolutely something like that could have happened. But also we recognize that sometimes scripture uses figures of speech,

right? Sometimes uses figures of speech or like a poetic language to say that, yeah, the battle was so fierce that, and that was went for the Israelites so well that the amount of win they got, the amount of victory they got was like a battle that had gone on for two days. So whether someone reads it poetically and says, kind of like when we read Genesis 1 through 11 in a poetic way, that's great. Or we say, yeah, God can perform miracles. He has done it even more recently where there has been even, I guess we'd say for lack of a better term, photographic evidence or evidence of people who were skeptics and atheists and

there to disprove the miracle, who experienced the miracle. God can do those kinds of things and has done those kinds of things. So Joshua chapter 10 should not bother us because good faith and good science never, ever contradict. One last thing. I have mentioned this before, and I'm going to mention it in a maybe more in-depth way in the next few days. But when it comes to all these battles, we recognize that this isn't necessarily God's plan. What I mean by that is it's not necessarily God's first plan. God's first plan is that his children will belong to him, that the whole world

would know him, that we would say yes to him with everything we are. That's God's first plan, is that we would live in harmony with each other and live in harmony with him. That is God's original plan for humanity. That's God's original plan for all the nations, for all races, for all peoples, for all of it. That's God's original plan is that we live in harmony with him and harmony with each other. God's original plan is not death, is not destruction, is not violence. It is only a result of our broken humanity and our brokenness that God allows in his plan, what we just read and what we're going to read in the next couple of days. Because the book of Joshua is a book of violence and it's a book of violence in which God is somehow mysteriously, but actually involved. And that is very problematic for a lot of us because we're so used to God

saying, you know, he's a God of peace. As I mentioned, he is Jesus, the Prince of Peace. And yet, if we look back over the entire story, one of the things we're reminded of, and I just want to remind all of us, we're going to go a little bit more deeply into this in the next couple of days, but we're reminded of the fact that this is not part of God's original plan. That original plan is not that people of Israel would wage war against men, women, children, all these kinds of things. It is only a result of this brokenness in the world. It is only the result of the fact that we do not live in harmony with each other, but it is not God's original plan. It started out as peace on earth, peace with him, peace with us, peace within us, and it ends with peace. Again, that's the thing. It's like you go to the end of

the story. What's revealed to us, what God reveals is like, no, no, Again, that's the thing is like, you go to the end of the story, what's revealed to us, what God reveals is like, no, no, no, that all tribes, all nations, all races, and even read the book of Revelation, it's everyone. And in fact, John writes in the book of Revelation that he saw a multitude of people, again, from every tribe, every nation on earth, every race, every ethnicity, all peoples gathered into one, being once again reunited as one holy family, one kingdom on earth and in heaven. And so this is not a battle of races. This is not a battle of ethnicities. This is not a battle of peoples, ultimately, that God wants. What he wants is the triumph of his name and that all people, all people, even in the midst of this broken world, will come to know him and come to be united once again with each other. But along the

way, it is very, very messy and is very, very troubling. And we experience it even today. But it's not what God wants. What God wants ultimately is our unity. What he wants ultimately is our peace because he reveals that yes, the way to that might be this difficult indestruction. But there's something at the end of chapter 11 where just that last line said, and the land had rest from war. And that is what God wants for us in our hearts, in our countries, in our world to finally at some point have rest from war. Let's keep praying for each other because sometimes it is hard to wrap our hearts

and minds around these things. And so what we do is we just say, okay, God, let's keep on reading. Let's keep on moving forward. Let's keep on trusting. Let's keep on fighting, not against each other, but keep on fighting for each other. That's why we pray for each other. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.