Biblegems
# 287
Earth: NASA files (public domain)
Question: Science has clearly proven the
earth is a sphere, but does the Bible contradict this by describing it as a
flat disk?
The question goes to the issue of biblical accuracy
and authority. If the Bible is indeed to be treated seriously as scientifically
and historically reliable, then it should line up with the facts.
So…what does the Bible teach regarding the shape of
the earth?
The Bible
clearly states, repeatedly and in a variety of ways, that God brought the earth
and the universe into existence in its present, mature state.
Ps. 33:6 By
the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the
breath of his mouth.
Genesis
1:1-2 presents what is intended to be an accurate account of the formation of
the earth in the larger context of the creation of the entire universe. Verse
two specifically describes the first moments of earth’s existence as “unformed and uninhabited” (“formless and empty”—NIV), with the
basic elements of water (Heb. Tohum—“the
deep”) and the chemical properties of the material universe (Heb. eretz—“earth”) swirling in the darkness of
newly created space (Heb. shamayim—“heavens”),
even before the formation of the stars (see vv. 14-19).
This
formless mass of water and earth’s elements is next described in Genesis 1:2 as
having been acted upon by the Holy Spirit and sent into a highly energized
motion (Heb. rachaph: “to shake” or “flutter”—“hovering” [NIV]). The book of
Proverbs also speaks to this early shaping of the earth into its current form:
Prov. 8:24 When there were no watery
depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water…
“No watery depths” (NIV) means before the oceans were
formed. The passage goes on to read:
Prov.
8:27 I was there when he set the heavens in
place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep…
“Marked out” (NIV) in Proverbs 8:27 translates the
Hebrew word “chug,” which literally means to inscribe or trace a circle.[i]
This same word is used in Isaiah where God is described as looking upon the
earth and space from a distance, seeing earth as a “circle” or "sphere" in space, and space
itself as stretched out like a vast canopy:
Is.
40:22 He sits enthroned above the
circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out
the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
Way ahead
of the times scientifically, the Bible accurately describes the earth as shaped
by God, who applied powerful waves of energy to the formless glob of the
universe’s basic elements, into a a circular sphere He then suspended in space:
Job 26:7 He…suspends the earth
over nothing.
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