Question:
Was not the Sabbath day thrown out of its order, was not a day lost when Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, or when time when backward in the days of Hezekiah?
Answer:
No. The record says: “Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.” (Joshua 10:12-14). That day was about as long as two ordinary days, yet it was only one day; the sun set only once. Consider a passage in the Apocrypha. The writer speaking of Joshua, says, “Did not the sun go back by his means? and was not one day as long as two?” (Sirach 46:4). There it is: there was no day lost, but one day was as long as two. That week in which the sun hastened not to go down and the moon stood still had seven days in it, like any other; however, it was twenty-four hours longer than usual. And the seventh day of that week was the Sabbath, just as the seventh day of every week before it had been, and as has been the seventh day of every week since.
The Lord requires us to keep only the seventh day, not the seventh part of time. In other words, the seventh day is set apart and blessed as a day of rest in the order of its arrival, not absolute time. The day is to be reckoned from sunset to sunset. (See Genesis 1:5, Leviticus 23:32, Deuteronomy 16:6, and Mark 1:32). Hence this was to be counted only one day and in no manner affects the reckoning of the week. On this principle, the difference in time between East and West, and the differing length of days between North and South, are easily reconcilable with the Sabbath law and institution.
The same principle holds good when the sun turned back ten degrees in the time of Hezekiah. (See Isaiah 38:8). This day was also longer than usual. Yet it was only one day, as in the case of Joshua.
(See also “OLD STYLE VS. NEW STYLE” concerning the weekly cycle.)
