| The best evidence that the Bible teaches that
the earth is flat is found in the following passages. The first is in
Matthew:
"[T]he devil taketh him up into an exceeding high
mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of
them"
(Matthew
4:1-12)
Certainly, if the earth were flat, standing atop
"an exceedingly high mountain" would allow Jesus to see the whole earth,
but there is no mountain tall enough to allow him to see the other side of
a spherical earth. At most, one hemisphere would be seen, but not the other,
unless the Bible is teaching us that Jesus has Superman-like "X-ray vision"
which enabled him to see through the earth to the other side.
The other passage is in Daniel:
The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these:
I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth; and its height was great.
The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was
visible to the end of the whole earth. (Daniel 4:10-11)
The "whole" earth? No matter how tall the tree
was, it would not have been visible from the other side of the
earth.
Hopeful believers in the scientific
wisdom found in the Bible ignore the verse above and point to a verse in
Isaiah which they think shows that the Bible writers knew the earth was a
sphere. They
believe that the word "circle"
could actually mean "sphere," since both are round, but they ignore Isaiah's
use of a different word in another verse where he speaks of a "ball."
Here are the two verses:
 To
whom then will ye liken God? ....It is he that sitteth
upon the circle (chuwg) of the earth
(Isaiah
40:18-23
He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a BALL
(duwr) into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots
of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house. (Isaiah
22:18)
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The Hebrew word used in scripture for "circle" in
the verse above is chuwg. If the Bible writer had meant for
us to believe that "circle of the earth" meant that the earth was round,
the writer would have used the Hebrew word for "ball," which is duwr.
The fact that Isaiah didn't use duwr shows that he wasn't trying
to tell us the earth was like a ball.
Furthermore, there exists a simple interpretation
of "circle of the earth" which does not imply a spherical earth. On a hill
overlooking a wide expanse free of tall trees and other hills the horizon
appears as a perfect circle, 360 degrees of blue sky. If Isaiah meant
to tell us the earth was a globe, he would have used another word. A circle
is not a ball, nor is a ball a circle. Everyone knew what a "circle" was
in those times; it meant the same then as it means today.
For a far more in-depth discussion
of the Bible's teachings on the shape of the earth and its relationship to
the sun, moon, and stars, the reader should consult
The Shape of the
Earth, which contains a comprehensive listing of all of the verses which
show that the writers believed the earth was flat, unmoving, and the center
of the universe.
See also,
The
Flat Earth Bible
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