Fascinating question!
There do seem to be legends from various cultures that support the
story of “Joshua’s long day.” I am going to focus on telling you about
these various legends and where you can find more information about
them. I did try to check them for authenticity, but this is not easy
to do considering there are several “hoax” papers floating around.
See this page for more information about the hoax (one version of it
and a good response which shows that there is some grounding in other
cultures having records of a long day, but dispels several untruths in
circulation): http://www.bible.org/docs/qa/qa.asp?StudyID=81
One of the first (and best) pages I came up with was “The Long Day of
Joshua” and can be found at:
http://www.grmi.org/renewal/Richard_Riss/evidences/7longday.html
It would probably be worth it to read through this article and some
similar articles I have chosen at the bottom.
The following page gives a non-literal interpretation of Joshua 10:13,
but goes on to say in the footnote that “It is reported that there is
independent historical confirmation of a long day in the writings of
other people.” They also recommend the book “Can a Young Man Trust His
Bible,” by Arthur Gook who verifies the story of the “long day” using
other culture’s histories.
The Miraculous
http://www.bbie.org/WrestedScriptures/C01Miracles/Joshua10v13.html
I will now go over some of the different cultures and the stories they
have which seem to support the long day, and provide links relating to
the cultures:
During the reign of Emperor Yeo, Buddhist Legends talk of a “long
day.” Emperor Yeo ruled at during the same time as Joshua.
“In the ancient Chinese writings there is a legend of a long day. The
Incas of Peru and the Aztecs of Mexico have a like record, and there
is a Babylonian and a Persian legend of a day that was miraculously
extended. Another section of China contributes an account of the day
that was miraculously prolonged, in the reign of Emperor Yeo.
Herodotus recounts that the priests of Egypt showed him their temple
records, and that there he read a strange account of a day that was
twice the natural length.” (Richard M. Riss) quoted from:
Christian Evidences, Part I
http://www.grmi.org/renewal/Richard_Riss/ev1.html
The Latin Poet Ovid and his narrative of Phaeton and his day driving
the sun (who was a Canaanite, the people Joshua was fighting at the
time) is often used to support the “long day.” See this excerpt:
“The clouds begin to smoke, and the mountain tops take fire; the
fields are parched with heat, the plants wither, the trees with their
leafy branches burn, the harvest is ablaze! But these are small
things. Great cities perished, with their walls and towers; whole
nations with their people were consumed to ashes!”
Mythology Guide – Phaeton
http://www.online-mythology.com/phaeton/
From India is the legend of Matanga: “He accepted the challenge boldly
and did not leave the place. He instead demonstrated his power by
stopping the sun to rise for seven days. The people then got annoyed
with the brahmin, because he had insulted Matanga, who in turn had
stopped the sun-rise.” (deviation with the seven days, but it is cited
in some articles).
Jataka Stories – Matanga
http://ignca.nic.in/jatak043.htm
In the URL’s mentioned so far you will find references to the Incas of
Peru and the Aztecs of Mexico who “have record of a prolonged day.
Apparently there's a Babylonian and a Persian legend of a day that was
miraculously extended. Now it's quite difficult to validate whether
all of these cultures had these kinds of stories.” (Rev. Peter Ma)
CPCN Paster Pete
URL (Google cache: ://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:4iuVwrfK00sC:www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/8774/Sermons/outrageousStories2.html+incas+peru+%22long+day%22+joshua&hl=en&ie=UTF-8)
It is hard to validate all of these legends, especially online. My
best advice to you would be to read through the links and decide for
yourself, and possibly see if your library has the books that are
mentioned on the various sites. There certainly appear to be several
cultures who have references to a longer day, or extra days, but
finding out whether these are coincidences or if it is fabrication and
misuse of evidence is another matter entirely.
Other Links you might find useful:
You might be interested in obtaining a copy of “Worlds in Collision,”
by Immanual Velikovsky. It is an old book dated 1950, but seems to be
the most intense investigation into the “premise that the account of
the long day in Joshua is accurate.”
http://www.grmi.org/renewal/Richard_Riss/evidences/7longday.html
Another book: “Boyds Bible Handbook,” by Robert Boyd might be an
interesting read.
AIP Synergy:
http://members.aol.com/biblprof/synergy2.htm
Blue Letter Bible:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/nbi/625.html
Joshua’s Missing Day Found?
http://answering-islam.org.uk/Hoaxes/joshua2.html
The Old Testament Roots of Greek Mythology
http://cbia.israelite.info/MythGrek_files/MythGrek.htm
I hope this was the reply that you were looking for and that it will
point you in the right directions to investigate this further. If you
need any clarifications please let me know, and I will do my best to
further assist you.
tisme-ga
Search Strategy:
"sun stopped" bible legends
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emperor yeo "long day"
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bible legend joshua
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