Avodah Zarah, Daf Kaf Heh, Part 3
Introduction
Our sugya talks about other cases in Jewish history where the sun stood still.
תנא כשם שעמדה לו חמה ליהושע כך עמדה לו חמה למשה ולנקדימון בן גוריון
יהושע קראי
נקדימון בן גוריון גמרא
A Tanna taught: Just as the sun stood still for Joshua, so did the sun stand still for Moses and for Nakdimon b. Gorion.
[As to the case of] Joshua, there are the scriptural verses; [that of] Nakdimon b. Gorion is a tradition;
That the sun stood still for Joshua is in the Bible itself. There is an unrecorded oral tradition that the sun stood still for Nakdimon b. Gorion, a wealthy member of the elite in Jerusalem around the time of the destruction of the Temple. Rashi says it refers to an instance in Taanit 19b where Nakdimon borrowed 18 springs for the pilgrims to Israel to use. When the time came to pay back the water, and the springs were empty, a miracle occurred and the heavens opened and water filled up the springs. But the king who loaned him the springs claimed that Nakdimon was late and that the day ended without him paying back his debt. Nakdimon prayed and the clouds departed and they saw that it was day.
למשה מנלן? אתיא אחל אחל כתיב הכא (דברים ב, כה) אחל תת פחדך וכתיב התם ביהושע אחל גדלך
ורבי יוחנן אמר אתיא תת תת כתיב הכא אחל תת פחדך וכתיב ביהושע (יהושע י, יב) ביום תת ה’ את האמורי
ר’ שמואל בר נחמני אמר מגופיה דקרא שמעת ליה (דברים ב, כה) אשר ישמעון שמעך ורגזו וחלו מפניך אימתי רגזו וחלו מפניך? בשעה שעמדה לו חמה למשה
From where do we know about Moses?
It may be derived from the identical [expression] I will begin [used in both cases]. Here it is written, I will begin to put the dread of you (Deuteronomy 2:25), and there, referring to Joshua, it is written, I will begin to magnify you (Joshua 3:7).
R. Yohanan said: It may be derived from the identical expression put [used in both cases]. Here is written, I will begin to put the dread of you , and there, concerning Joshua, it is written, In the day when the Lord put the Amorites (Joshua 10:12).
R. Shmuel b. Nahmani said: You can detect it in the very wording of the verse itself, [This day will I begin to deliver the dread of you and the fear of you upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who,] when they hear the report of you, shall tremble and be in anguish because of you (Deuteronomy 2:25): When did they tremble and were in anguish because of you? When the sun stood still for Moses.
The amoraim here try to prove that the sun stood still for Moses. The first two amoraim learn this through an exegetical trick called a gezerah shavah. This is when the same word appears in two contexts and they say that information stated in one context could also apply to the other.
The third amora learns it from his analysis of the verse itself. He assumes that people would have trembled in front of Moses only if he performed something truly awesome, such as getting the sun to stand still.
מיתיבי ולא היה כיום ההוא לפניו ואחריו
איבעית אימא שעות הוא דלא הוו נפיש כולי האי
ואיבעית אימא אבני ברד לא הוו דכתיב (יהושע י, יא) ויהי בנוסם מפני בני ישראל הם במורד בית חורון וה’ השליך עליהם אבנים גדולות מן השמים עד עזקה וימותו
They raised a difficulty: [Does not it say in the case of Joshua] And there was no day like that before it or after it? (Joshua 10:14).
If you want you may explain that there was no day that lasted as long as that one;
Or if you want, you may say it means that there were no hailstones [as in the case of Joshua], of which it is written, And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, while they were in the descent of Bet-Horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azeka and they died (Joshua 10:11).
The Talmud asks the obvious difficulty it says explicitly in the book of Joshua that there was no day like that in all of history. So how can we say it happened two other times!
The Talmud offers two solutions 1) the sun stood still longer for Joshua; 2) There were hailstones in the time of Joshua, but not during the time when the sun stood still for Moses or Nakdimon.
This verse from Joshua is of particular appeal to me. I drive home every day past Bet Horon, on my descent to Jerusalem. And I frequently ride my bike past a junction called Azeka for it is near Tel Azeka. I don t think that Bet Horon today is where ancient Bet Horon really was, but Azeka probably is. Pretty cool to live in Israel.