(December 9, 2008 at 5:48 pm)leo-rcc Wrote: Why is that the most accepted view?
As neighbors, the ancient Hebrews had the Egyptians to the southwest and the Babylonians to the northeast. Both civilizations had flat-earth cosmologies. The Biblical cosmology closely parallels the Sumero-Babylonian cosmology, and it may also draw upon Egyptian cosmology.
Quote:“Circle of the Earth” (Isaiah 40:22). The common view of the earth in ancient times was that it was a flat circular disc as seen in drawings from Babylon to Egypt. The sky above was a solid dome (Job 37:18). The Hebrew chug means circle or vault, not a sphere. The Bible also mentions the “circle of the sea” (Job 26:10) that surrounded the circular earth, and the “circle of the heavens” (Job 22:14).
The neighbors differed quite a bit on their views on astrology and other things so take that for what it is worth. They (Hebrews) tended to get into trouble by adopting some of the pagan thinking - with idols and things of that nature, so it is possible that they were influenced their neighbors.
Really, though, we are talking about the Hebrew word chugh, and specifically how Isaiah, under inspiration, used the word more than what the people thought. Chugh can mean spherical, as Davidson's Concordance of the Hebrew and Chaldee Scriptures agrees.
I am almost sure that I posted on this at least once here but I have no idea where it is.
The Hebrew word raqia (expanse) was translated into the Greek stereoma which means a solid structure and the Latin firmamentum and from the Septuagint and Vulgate the early translations in English held the view of a flat earth with a solid vaulted ceiling from that belief of the time. So you have the dark ages thinking influencing the meaning in a translation more so than the original language.
Diagrams of a solid vault with sluice holes through which rain could enter were included in Bible dictionaries and some translations. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia: "But this assumption is in reality based more upon the ideas prevalent in Europe during the Dark Ages than upon any actual statements in the O[ld] T[estament]." - Edited by J. Orr, 1960, Vol. I, p. 314.
