Pages  9-11: winter 1990

THE FLAT-EARTH BELIEF OF BIBLE WRITERS

                         Adrian Swindler 

   All Christian sects recognize the Bible as the primary source of revela-
tion.  This compiled material was allegedly inspired by God and written by 
chosen authors to reveal him and his will to man. The Bible, then, is the 
foundation of the Christian religion.  To Christian fundamentalists who believe 
in verbal inspiration, the Bible is an infallible foundation.  They claim that 
"the Holy Spirit so dominated and guided the minds and pens of those who 
wrote (the Bible) as to make their writings free from mistakes of any and all 
kinds, whether it be mistakes of history or chronology or botany or biology 
or astronomy, or mistakes as to moral and spiritual truth pertaining to God or 
man, in time or eternity," (Wilbur F. Tillett, "The Divine Elements in the 
Bible," The Abingdon Bible Commentary).  

   Despite the obvious sincerity of those who so view the Bible, the inerran-
cy doctrine has no basis in fact.  That the Bible contains mistakes in every 
area mentioned by Mr. Tillett is a truth  widely recognized by reputable Bible 
scholars.   One of the most consistent scientific errors that Bible writers 
made concerned their misconception of the earth's shape.  In Psalm 24:2, for 
example, it was said that "the world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; 
the earth and all who live on it are his.  He built it on the deep waters 
beneath the earth and laid its foundations in the ocean depths," (GNB).

   This passage and others like it in the Bible make no sense until they are 
interpreted in terms of the ancient Hebrew conception of the world as repre-
sented in     the graphic illustrations on the following page that were pub-
lished in the New American Bible  and The Interpreter's Dictionary of the 
Bible.  (Similar ones appear in other Bible dictionaries.) If you will study the 
graphics and then read the above quotation again, the psalmist's meaning will 
become quite clear.  He thought the earth rested on foundations or pillars 
that God had set in the ocean depths.  Needless to say, modern science 
knows better.

   Here are just a few of the many other passages that prove Bible writers 
were ignorant of Earth's spherical shape:

   Daniel 4:7-8, "I saw a tree of great height at the center of the world.  It 
was large and strong, with its top touching the heavens, and it could be 
seen from the ends of the earth."  This was allegedly an inspired dream, yet 
it conveys a flat-earth concept, because no matter how tall a tree would be, 
people on the other side of a spherical earth could not see it.

   Matthew 4:8, "The devil took him (Jesus) to a very high mountain and 
displayed before him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence...." 
The only plausible reason for the "very high mountain" was that the altitude 
would make it possible to see to the ends of the earth.  Only on a flat earth 
would this be remotely possible, so the New Testament writers were as igno-
rant as the Old.

   In Genesis 11:4, the people wanted to build a tower up to heaven.  If you 
look at the graphics above, you  can see their concept of heavenly bodies 
under the dome, not all that  far away.  Presumably,  the Lord was afraid 
they would be able to accomplish their plan, so he caused them to speak 
various languages. This, of course, is not the reason people speak different 
languages, but nothing is too fantastic for the ignorant to believe.


   The following references show that Bible writers thought there was water 




above a solid dome with floodgates (look at  the graphics again) that could be 
opened to make it rain:

   Job 38:22, "Have you entered the store- house of the snow, and seen the 
treasury of the hail?"  Look at items two and three in the  graphic from the 
Interpreter's Dictionary, and the intended meaning of this statement becomes 
very clear.

    Psalm 104:3, 13, "You stretch the heavens out like a tent, you build your 
palace on the waters above....  You water the mountains from your palace." 
Here God dwells in a palace above the waters over the firmament or dome. 
To water the mountains, he opens the floodgates. Quite unscientific! 

   Genesis 1:6-7, "Let there be a dome to divide the water and to keep it in 
two separate places... and it was done. So Godmade a dome, and it  separat-
ed the water under it from the water above it."  So the NAB and The Inter-
preter's Dictionary of the Bible are quite correct in their graphic representa-
tions of what the Bible writers believed and taught.  How many of you read-
ers believe the earth is flat?  The Bible teaches it is!

   Christian fundamentalists have used  various scriptures to try to prove 
that Bible writers knew the earth was round. Since I  have  already  shown 
that  these writers thought the earth is flat, if some verses actually do teach 
that it is round, then there is a contradiction in the Bible and the fundamen-
talists lose anyway.

   Job 38:13-14 is sometimes quoted as a round-earth text: "Hast thou 
commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know 
his place; that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked 
might be shaken out of it?  It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand 
as a garment."

   Claim is made that the statement about the earth "turn(ing) as clay to the 
seal" was a reference to the earth's rotation, but this passage has nothing to 
do with movement. The word used was haphak, which meant "to convert, to 
change,  or to make clear."  It is the same word that was used in Exodus 7 
in reference to Aaron's rod turning into a serpent and the waters of Egypt 
turning to blood, so rather than the word meaning turning in the sense of 
movement, it meant turning in the sense of changing.  The GNB clarifies the 
meaning in Job 38:14: "Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out like the 
folds of a garment, clear as the imprint of a seal on clay." So, far from 
teaching the revolution of the earth, this was merely a reference to the ef-
fects of sunlight in the morning. Notice also that the KJV refers here to "the 
ends of earth."  This would indicate a flat earth, since there are no ends to 
a globe.

   Job 26:7 has also  been cited as proof that the writer of this book knew 
that the earth was a sphere: "He stretcheth out the north over  the empty 
place and hangeth the earth upon nothing."  An NAB footnote at this verse 
says, "The North: used here as a synonym for the firmament, cf. Is. 14:13," 
(emphasis inserted).  Thus, we read, "He stretches out the dome (firmament) 
over the empty space."  In other words, the dome was unsupported in the 
middle.  The reference in Isaiah 14:13 says, "You (King of Babylon) were 
determined to climb up to heaven and place your throne above the highest 
stars (see the graphics).  You thought you would sit like a king on that 
mountain in the north where the gods assemble."  The "north" was indeed 

used as a synonym for the heavens or firmament, so the passage was actually 
speaking of a "mountain in the heavens where the gods assemble."

   "He... hangeth the earth upon nothing" simply expressed a Hebrew belief 
that the flat earth, although supported by pillars, did not rest on the back 




of Atlas or a turtle or an elephant, as their pagan neighbors believed.  In 
this Job was right but not because he was inspired; otherwise, he wouldn't 
have said in the same context, "The pillars of the heavens tremble (see the 
graphics) and are stunned at his thunderous rebuke," (26:11).  He thought 
the thunder was God's voice!

   Fundamentalists use Isaiah 40:22 to argue that Earth's rotundity was 
known to the writer: "It is he (God) that sitteth upon the circle of the 
earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out 
the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in." 
They misunderstand the first half of the verse, which is clarified by the 
placement of "God's throne" in the NAB graphic, and they avoid the second 
half. The NAB gives us a proper translation of the verse: "He sits enthroned 
above the vault (dome) of the earth....  He stretches out the heavens like a 
veil, spreads them out like a tent to dwell in."  See the graphic illustrations 
again and check the Hebrew concept of firmament as explained in Eerdmans 
and other reliable Bible dictionaries.

   The Hebrews were inspired by nothing more than their political and reli-
gious motivations.  Thus, being ignorant of scientific facts, they thought the 
earth was flat, that sick people were possessed by demons, and that essen-
tially everything was caused by either gods or demons. Un-  fortunately, 
many people are still just as ignorant.

   (Adrian Swindler's address is P. O. Box 695, Elmwood, IL 61529.)

                 ********************************

     FREE SUBSCRIPTION: A free one-year subscription to The Skeptical 
Review can be obtained by writing to P. O. Box 617, Canton, IL 61520-0617.




































