A Scientific Explanation of Joshua 10:11–14?

You know the Biblical story. Joshua leads the Israelite army to destroy the city of Jericho. The walls came tumbling down, and as the inhabitants tried to escape, stones fall from the sky and the Sun stood still in the sky so Joshua could pursue his enemies.

The book Ancient Mysteries by Peter James and Nick Thorpe has a possible scientific explanation of what happened that day. It is one of those rare times you are reading a book, and you sit up straight, the hair on the back of your neck bristles, and you think to yourself, did I really read what I think I just read. You go back and read it over a few more times.

The explanation involves a Tunguska-like event. Over a remote part of Siberia called Tunguska in 1908, a mysterious fireball exploded, destroying 830 square miles of trees. Today, most scientists believe that a part of a comet entered the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded above Tunguska.

Think linking Tunguska to a Biblical event is crazy? I can understand that, but read on and think about the explanation before dismissing it.

From the Bible, we know that the walls of Jericho crumbled, stones fell from the sky and then the sun apparently stood still in the sky. A comet similar to the Tunguska event could certainly explain the walls of Jericho crumbling (an earthquake cause by the cometary impact). A comet similar to Tunguska could certainly explain stones falling from the sky. But how would a comet explain the sun appearing to stand still in the sky?

The evening following the Tunguska explosion, a very unusual phenomenon was observed and documented all over Europe. According to British archaeologist John Phythian-Adams:

The weather was very fine and hot and feeling disinclined for sleep, we strolled for a considerable time about the town. It was then that we noticed the night was strangely light. It was near midsummer, but this fact could not account for the illumination. At 11:30 P.M. one was able to read the print of a newspaper without any difficulty…

So a Tunguska-like explosion could also account for the appearance of continued daylight, long after the sun should have set. It accounts for all the elements of the story of Joshua. The authors conclude: “The Sun and Moon did not actually ‘stand still’ in the sky, but it may well have seemed to Joshua’s army that they did.”