Seriously? Are you saying that you think the Earth was flat? (or even worse, is flat?) You testify against your own self that you are not familiar with the Word of God. The Word of God reveals that the Earth was round. Even during the days that most people on Earth believed the Earth was flat, only if they would have believed the Word of God they would have known it was round and not flat, and would not have need of any proof that it was round, because the Word of God told them it was round. But like them, even as it is with this generation, They do not believe the Word of God and what it plainly says.
Isa_40:22 It is He 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:
So if people would have merely just believed the Word of God, they would never have believed the false doctrine that the Earth was flat. If people in the last days generation would merely believe the Word of God and what it says, they would not believe the false doctrines being spewed out of this generations mouth, saying such things like the flood did not happen. Which is contrary to the Word of God. How will these escape His wrath when it comes upon the whole Earth?
It just happens to be Book that is TRUE. What it says is TRUE.
The Bible is true when read as the word of God rather than an old story about a man and his boat!
Isaiah 40:21. Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22. It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
23. who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
24. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25. To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26. Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing. (NRSV)
The Hebrew word חוּג is never used in ancient Hebrew literature to mean a “sphere,” but rather a circle, circuit, arch, vault, or horizon. On page 152 of Vol. 2 of his commentary on the Hebrew Text of Isaiah, Franz Delitzsch writes,
The prophet now proceeds to describe the God whom both His works and word proclaim. The participles which follow are predicates of the subject, which filled the consciousness of the prophet as well as that of every believer. “He who is enthroned above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants resemble grasshoppers; who has spread out the heavens like gauze, and stretched them out like a tent-roof to dwell in.” He, the manifested and yet unknown, is He who has for His throne the circle of the heavens (chūg shâmayim, Job_22:14), which arches over the earth, and to whom from His inaccessible height men appear as diminutive as grasshoppers (Num_13:33); He who has spread out the blue sky like a thin transparent garment (dōq, a thin fabric, like daq, fine dust, in Isa_40:15), and stretched it out above the earth like a tent for dwelling in ('ōhel lâshebheth). The participle brings to view the actions and circumstances of all times. In the present instance, where it is continued in the historical sense, it is to be resolved into the perfect; in other cases, the preservation of the world is evidently thought of as a creatio continua (see Psychol. P. 111).
Notice that he correctly translates the word חוּג as “vault.” The Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Brown, Driver, and Briggs published by Oxford University, on page 295, gives the following meaning of the word, “vault, horizon; of the heavens and earth,” and cites Job 22:14, Prov. 18:27, and Isa. 40:20 as examples. In Isa. 44:13 we find the related word מְחוּגָה,
Isaiah 44:13. The craftsman stretches out his rule, he marks one out with chalk; he fashions it with a plane, he marks it out with the compass, and makes it like the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house. (KJV)
However, we do learn from the Old Testament that the ancient Jews believed that the earth was flat and covered with a dome. This cultural belief is reflected in Gen. 1:6.
Gen. 1:6 And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” (NRSV, 1989)
The NRSV correctly translates the Hebrew word רָקִיעַ (râqı̂ya‛) as “dome.” The evidence for the correctness of this translation is found in the use of this word in ancient Hebrew literature. Based upon this usage, the Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Brown, Driver, and Briggs published by Oxford University gives us the following meaning of it in Gen. 1:6, 7, and 8, “the vault of heaven, or ‘firmament,’ regarded by Hebrews as solid, and supporting ‘waters’ above it.” (p. 956)
On page 21 of his commentary on Genesis, the late John Skinner, Principal and Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature, Westminster College, Cambridge, writes,
6-8 Second Work: The Firmament.—The second fiat calls into existence a firmament, whose function is to divide the primeval waters into an upper and lower ocean, leaving a space between as the theater of further creative developments. The “firmament” is the dome of heaven, which to the ancients was no optical illusion, but a material structure, sometimes compared to an “upper chamber” (Ps. 104:12, Am 9:6) supported by “pillars” (Jb 26:11), and resembling in its surface a “molten mirror” (Jb 37:18). Above this are the heavenly waters, from which the rain descends through “windows” or “doors” (Gn 7:11, 8:2, 2 Ki 7:2, 19) opened and shut by God at His pleasure (Ps 78:23).
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary gives us the following,
Full Definition of FIRMAMENT
1: the vault or arch of the sky :
heavens
2: obsolete :
basis
3: the field or sphere of an interest or activity <the international fashion firmament>
Origin of FIRMAMENT
Middle English, from Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin firmamentum, from Latin, support, from firmare
Notice especially definition 1: the vault or arch of the sky.
Moreover, if the earth was not covered with a very sturdy, solid dome with a massive amount of water above it (in agreement with ancient Hebrew cosmology), the great flood of Genesis would not have been possible!
Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. (KJV)
If the “windows of heaven” are to be understood figuratively rather than literally, we still have the problem of where the water actually came from if it did not come through the windows in the dome. (The earth’s atmosphere is not capable of holding even one millionth of the amount of water described in Genesis).
Moreover, flat discs, like cake plates, can be covered with a dome, but spheres cannot be covered with a dome. Furthermore, the concept of the dome comes from the very same Hebrew cosmology as does the flat earth. The personalities and cultures of the men whom God chose to pen His Scriptures are reflected in the Scriptures, giving us the following in the KJV of the Bible,
Isa. 11:12. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Matt. 4:8. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9. And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Rev. 7:1. And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Rev. 20:7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8. And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
The passage in Matthew’s gospel is especially important because Matthew tells us that the mountain was “exceeding high” in order to give us surety that from such an altitude Jesus actually could see all the kingdoms of the world, and that this was an actual, historical event made possible by the height of the mountain!
The references to the “four corners” and “four quarters” of the earth gave rise to today’s expression, “the four corners of the earth.” (In the Greek text, the same word (
γωνία) is used, but translated inconsistently in the KJV as “corners” and “quarters”).
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