"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon!"

The above text is often quoted as not being in accordance with the present state of our astronomical knowledge, and many well-known commentators on the Bible have adopted the same opinion. I find Kitto, in the *Pictorial Bible*, characterising it as "an example of those bold metaphors and poetical forms of expression with which the Scriptures abound." Scott (edit. 1850) states that "it would have been improper that he (Joshua) should speak, or that the miracle should be recorded according to the terms of modern astronomy." Mant (edit. 1830) says: "It is remarkable that the terms in which this…