Scientific ACCURACIES in the Bible

[Drich]

On the circle of the earth passage, I have this to quote from a recent book:

What was the shape of the earth according to the Bible? Isaiah 40:22 provides the answer: "It is he that sitteth upon the circle (Hebrew, chug) 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." Because this passage mentions "the circle of the earth," some people interpret it as a description of a spherical earth. But they are ignoring the context of the verse that has nothing in it implying sphericity, only "tent-icity," since God "sits upon the circle" and spreads heaven out like a "tent to dwell in." The Hebrew word chug has a primary meaning of "circle" and no lexicon of ancient Hebrew offers "sphere" as a meaning for chug. Moreover, see the previous section on Mesopotamian cosmology for references to "circle of the earth," and other phrases they employed with "circle" in them to depict the earth, including the Babylonian map of the world that depicts the limits of the flat earth's surface as two concentric circles. Therefore, the phrase "circle of the earth" is not unique at all and was already in use by flat-earth-believing Mesopotamians long before the book of Isaiah was written. Elsewhere in Isaiah, the most the author says of the earth is that God "spread it out" (literally pounded or flattened it out) at creation (Isaiah 42:5 and 44:24). So there does not appear to be a single verse in the Bible that depicts the earth as a sphere.-

John W. Loftus. The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails (Kindle Locations 1518-1526). Kindle Edition.

Perhaps the problem is Mr. Loftus was looking up the wrong word. The Word acconding to Strong Concordance is:chuwg
Gesenius's Lexicon defines it as Circle, Sphere, Compass/Use of the Arch or vault of the Sky.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexi...2329&t=KJV

As for 'chug' I guess it can mean anything Mr.loftus wanted it to mean.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/tr...chug&t=KJV

Gesenius's Lexicon

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1) Like Tegh posted, there are 2 hebrew words for circle, one meaning circle one meaning sphere. In this case, the word meaning circle is used. Even if the word meaning sphere was used, it would still be wrong, as the actual shape of the Earth is an oblate spheroid. I'd expect a "close enough for the time" response for this point, but seeming as christians believe their book is handed down from god, who is all-knowing, they should be able to get it correct.

Appearently not.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/tr...here&t=KJV