Isaiah 40:22

[Mark Wuest]

In article <Jun.21.19.01...@geneva.rutgers.edu> m...@sitar.hr.att.com (Mark Wuest) writes:
>In article <Jun.17.02.27...@athos.rutgers.edu> tr...@gandalf.rutgers.edu (Richard Trott) writes:
>>Somebody told me that Isaiah 40:22 indicates the Earth is round. My
>>Bible says: "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth..."
>
>"I took you from the ends of the earth,
>from its farthest corners I called you."
>
>[I'm not sure how Mark meant this, but it suggests to me that
>both images are intended as poetic images, not scientific description.
>--clh]

Oops, I wasn't clear enough. If someone uses Isaiah 40:22 to prove
that Isaiah had "scientific foreknowledge" about the shape of the
earth, they are going to have problems with the shape he thinks
it has just a few verses later.

Yup, I'm pretty sure it's poetic...

Mark
--
Mark Wuest | *MY* opinions, not AT&T's!!
m...@violin.hr.att.com (Sun Mailtool Ok) |
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[Len Howard]

In article <Jun.17.02.27...@athos.rutgers.edu> tr...@gandalf.rutgers.edu (Richard Trott) writes:
>Somebody told me that Isaiah 40:22 indicates the Earth is round. My
>Bible says: "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth. . .
>"

>This sounds very flaky to me. Does anyone know if the (Hebrew?
>Greek?) word that is translated as "circle" means "disk" or "sphere"
>or something a little more specific than "circle"? (Or maybe it means
>"circle" as in a two-dimensional surface?)
>Thanks.
>
Richard, Isaiah 40:22 is the classic understanding of the world in the
OT era. God sits on the throne in heaven. The earth is a flat
surface of land and sea. The sky is a dome over the earth on which
the stars are hung, and the moon and sun travel on this dome. There
are shutters in the dome that occasionally open and allow the water
that is held back by the dome to fall as rain. So the circle of the
earth referred to in 40:22 is a flat world, as know the the Hebrews.

Shalom, Richard. Len

>rich
>tr...@gandalf.rutgers.edu
>
>P.S. Please note followups.