Copernicus Redux

We’ve known since the beginning of the scientific revolution that the large features of the universe (moon, planets) move in orderly and predictable paths. The Biblical story of Joshua notwithstanding, the sun does not slow its orbit (a mistake in the thinking of Biblical writers) to allow anyone a chance to slaughter more enemies, and the moon, which actually has an orbital path, does not ordinarily swerve for any known reason.

However, I can personally testify, on the basis of my own eyewitness experience, to a distinct aberration in the moon’s celestial motion on the first night of a Bible as Literature class several years ago.

This was an introductory meeting, in a basement classroom—i.e., below ground level. The windows looked out upon the bushes. I was explaining the whats, whys, and wherefores of the class when I noticed a movement outside one of the windows. Some passerby, in a moment of idle whimsy, dropped his pants and exposed his white anterior globes to the class. Their rapt attention was entirely fixed on me, of course, but one or two happened to catch the same glimpse I did.

Then the moon, as it always does, after its brief appearance, disappeared once again into the night and left us to light our way by intellect alone.