If the earth is round, how to explain the expression "four quarters of the earth"

[MarcR]

Re: If the earth is round, how to explain the expression "four quarters of the earth"

Isaiah 11:12
He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

the word for corners is kanaph which means wings or extremities, not corner.

You would be correct if kanaph stood alone; but preceded by mayarbah (from four) idiom requires corners.

 

[tourist]

Re: If the earth is round, how to explain the expression "four quarters of the earth"

Even and orange can be cut in four quarters. Don't know what that has to do with being round.

An orange is round except when it's a lemon. Then it would be oblong.

 

[Laish]

Re: If the earth is round, how to explain the expression "four quarters of the earth"

You would be correct if kanaph stood alone; but preceded by mayarbah (from four) idiom requires corners.

You said it ! Idiom . That's precisely what it is . The phrase " four corners of the earth " is a idiom . Like it's raining cats and dogs .
Blessings
Bill

 

[jaybird88]

Re: If the earth is round, how to explain the expression "four quarters of the earth"

You would be correct if kanaph stood alone; but preceded by mayarbah (from four) idiom requires corners.

ypu may be right on that. i was checking the DSS and LXX and both have corners. i always thought it was wings.

 

[EarnestQ]

Re: If the earth is round, how to explain the expression "four quarters of the earth"

I read years ago that the earth is not a perfect sphere. Rather, there are four mild points on the sphere. So even though the earth is roughly spheroid, it still has four corners.

 

[IamWhoIam]

Re: If the earth is round, how to explain the expression "four quarters of the earth"

Circle and round did you know this is a basic eye perception, another reason why the earth is mentioned with these two words in the bible. It how the human eyes view the moon, it's a circle and it's round, but we can't see with the naked eye the full 3 dimensional aspect of it, unless you can get closer to it. a example is place a basketball on a outdoor table, a foot away from it you can see the full sphere of the ball, the more you move away from it the less you can see the sphere and the more it just becomes a 3D round circle, move really far back and it's just a 2D circle.

a ball sphere has three basic dimensions height, width and circumference, a micro human standing on a ball sphere can't see the full dimension of any of the three above so your eyes can not percieve the sphere, the horizon will flatten out because your eyes can't fully view the 3D sphere earth.

3d street is cool, you can't make your eyes see in the photo below look 2D in which yes it is painted on a flat 2D surface yet appears 3D