Bible Cosmology (6)

Earth
Dropping down to earth, the picture is very different from the modern view. Earth is set on foundations (1 Sam.2:8; 2 Sam.22:16; Job 38:4,6; Psa.82:5; Psa.104:5); the sun, moon, and stars are all in “the expanse of the sky” but below the firmament that holds up heaven. There is water above that firmament and water below it. The waters below are the oceans we are familiar with. Isaiah talks about the “ends of the earth” (Isa.41:5) and the Psalmist says “their words [go] to the ends of the world” (Psa.19:46; Psa.22:27; Psa.72:8; Isa.13:5) —something that a globe doesn’t have but a flat earth does. Again, a globe hardly fits the picture when Zophar talks about the mysteries of God, that “their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.” (Job 11:8,9) In fact, the Lord suggests that the dawn “might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it.” (Job 38:12,13) In the same vein, the Psalmist talks about the sun, when “it rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other” (Psa.19:4-6) —or the whole span of the earth “from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting” (Isa.45:6; Mal.1:11) — again, not unique places on a globe, but well-defined on a flat earth. And when the same prophet refers to God, Who “sits enthroned above the circle of the earth” (Isa.40:22), there is really no question of a spherical shape because all other references are to a flat earth. The “circle” is the horizon, which stretches in equal distances in all directions and so constitutes a circle, with the viewer at the centre. Job and the Psalms mention how the pillars of the earth can tremble. (Job 9:6; Psa.82:5) At the same time, the Lord questions, “on what were its footings set?”(Job 38:6), and Job even goes so far as to say that “he suspends the earth over nothing.” (Job 26:7) It seems that these pillars hold the earth out of the sea. (Psa.24:1,2) If these pillars fail, the earth will give way and fall into the sea. (Psa.46:2) Along this line, Psalm 136 talks about God, “who spread out the earth upon the waters.” (Psa.136:6) Peter talks about how “long ago by God’s word…the earth was formed out of water and by water.” (2 Pet.3:5)

Matthew tells of how the devil took the Lord ‘to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.” (Mat.4:8) Once again, this is not something you could show from any mountain on a globe, but it would be theoretically possible on a flat earth.

Isaiah says that “all the starry host will fall,” (Isa.34:4) and this would only be possible on the view that they are attached to a dome above the earth and are small but powerful lights. Obviously, one star as we know it, falling to earth, would destroy it instantly. In Mark, even Jesus uses this language of accommodation when He quotes Isaiah: “The stars will fall from the sky.” (Mark 13:25)

Terminology has gotten much more specific in 2000 years. At one time “stars” could mean “stars”, but also “planets” (wandering stars) and meteors and comets, as well as conjunctions of planets. We shouldn’t fault the ancients for semantics.

Martin Luther’s Lectures on Genesis give a similar picture: “Scripture simply says that the moon, the sun, and the stars were placed in the firmament of the heaven, below and above which heaven are the waters…It is likely that the stars are fastened to the firmament like globes of fire, to shed light at night.”