“THE
EARTH IS NOT FLAT”
Job
26.10; Proverbs 8.27; Isaiah 40.22
Quickly
turn in your Bible to Job 26.10: “He hath compassed the waters with bounds,
until the day and night come to an end.” Look at the word “compassed.” It means
to draw as a circle.[1]
Now
turn to Proverbs 8.27: “When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when
he set a compass upon the face of the depth.” Look at the word “compass.” Solomon
refers to the curvature of the horizon as you look out over the ocean. It means
to draw a circle.[2]
Finally,
turn to Isaiah 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.” In
this verse I want you to consider the phrase “the circle of the earth.”
Dr.
Henry Morris comments, “40:22 circle of the earth. Hebrew khug is
translated ‘compassed’ in Job 26:10 and ‘compass’ in Proverbs 8:27. All three,
in context, clearly refer to the sphericity of the earth.”[3]
The
Mac Arthur Study Bible comment reads, “40:22 sits above the circle of the
earth. The word ‘circle’ applies to the spherical form of the earth, above
which He sits. This implies that God upholds and maintains His creation on a
continuing basis.”[4]
You
have probably been taught that in olden times, men thought the world was flat. But
historians debunk that as nonsense. Throughout history, most who have thought
about such things have thought the earth was a sphere, especially seafaring
men.
There
was a time when the Roman Catholic Church advanced the silly notion that the
earth was flat, but that notion did not come from the Bible, as we see from
these three verses we have read. Where did the flat earth idea come from?
I
have a suspicion. Listen to these excerpts from a book written by a former
Muslim. The book is titled Behind The Veil, and I read from pages
175-177:[5]
Several thousand years ago, the Holy Bible clearly recorded that
the earth is round and that it is hung on nothing.
“It is He who sits above the circle of the earth” (Isa. 40:22).
“He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth
on nothing” (Job 26:7).
Yet, the Qur’an challenges these established scientific facts. In
many places, it alludes to the fact that the earth is flat and its mountains
are like poles which create a balance so that the Earth does not tilt. Let us
consider what the Qur’an says about the Earth:
In chapter 88:17,20, it is recorded,
“Will they not regard the camels how they are created...and the
Earth how it is spread?”
In page 509, the Jalalan says,
“In his phrase, ‘how it is spread’, he denotes that the earth is
flat. All the scholars of Islamic law agree upon this. It is not round as the
physicists claim.”
The Qur’anic teaching is obvious from the comment of Jalalan that
“the earth is flat and not round as the scientists claim”. What made Jalal
al-Din say so is that the Qur’an hints in many chapters that the earth is flat
(refer to 19:6, 79:30, 18:7, and 21:30). Also, the Qur’an indicates that:
“We have placed in the earth firm hills lest it quake so as not
to sway and hurt people” (21:3 1).
Scholars who agree upon the meaning of this verse believe as the
Jalalan states (pp. 270-271),
“God has founded firm mountains on earth lest it shake people.”
On page 429, al-Baydawi says,
“God has made firm mountains on earth lest it sway people and
quake. He also made heaven as a ceiling and kept it from falling down!”
The Zamakhshari agrees with the above authors and reiterates the
same words (refer to Zamakhshari part 3, p. 114).
In the Qur’an (chapter 50:7), we find another verse which carries
the same meaning,
“And the earth have we spread out, and have flung firm hills
therein” (Surah Qaf: 7).
This is accompanied by the same comment by the above Muslim
scholars (refer to Jalalan, p. 437; Baydawi, p. 686, Tabari, p. 589, and
Zamakhshari, part 4, p. 381). All of them assure us that “if it were not for
these unshakable mountains, the earth would slip away.”
Zamakhshari, the Baydawi and the Jalalan say: “God has built
heaven without pillars but He placed unshakable mountains on Earth lest it
tilts with people.” Concerning chapter 50:7, the Suyuti says that scholars
indicate that “Qaf is a mountain which encompasses the entire earth” (refer to
Itqan, part 3, p. 29). Qaf is an Arabic L like K.
These are the comments of the ancient Muslim scholars word for
word. Even some Saudi scholars wrote a book a few years ago to disprove the
spherical aspect of the earth and they claimed that it is a myth, agreed with
the above mentioned scholars, and said we must believe the Qur’an and reject
the spherical aspect of the earth.
It is also well-known that the Qur’an proclaims that there are
seven earths-not just one (refer to the commentary of the Jalalan, p. 476,
al-Baydawi, p. 745 as they interpret chapter 61:12, Surah Divorce: 1 2).
It is very clear that the sun does not traverse the heaven and
set down in a murky, muddy well, or slimy water, or a place which contains both
of them as the Baydawi, Zamakhshari, and the Qur’an remark.
Nor is the earth flat and the mountains the pillars and the
towerings which prevent the earth from moving as the Qur’an and the scholars
said. Nor is there a mountain which encompasses the whole earth-nor are there
seven earths.
Neither is the lightning an angel whose name is Rafael, nor is the thunder an angel. It never happened that the angel Gabriel inspired Muhammad to write a complete chapter about his friend the angel thunder! The thunder and lightning are natural phenomena and not God’s angels like Michael and Gabriel as the prophet of Islam claims.[6]
I
suspect that somehow, perhaps in Spain, where the Muslim Moors and the
Catholics lived together for some centuries, the Muslim belief that the earth
is flat was adopted by Catholic “scholars.”
Whatever
really happened, the Bible has been correct for 3,500 years in showing that the
earth is a sphere. Thus, you can trust the Bible to be truthful and accurate.
[1] Francis Brown, S. R. Driver & Charles A. Briggs, The
New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew And English Lexicon, (Peabody,
MA: 1979), page 295.
[2] John Joseph Owens, Analytical Key to the Old
Testament, Volume 3, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1989),
page 543.
[3] See footnote for Isaiah 40.22 from Henry M. Morris, The
Defender’s Study Bible, (Grand Rapids, MI: World Publishing, Inc.,
1995), page 754
[4] See footnote for Isaiah 40.22 from John MacArthur, The
MacArthur Study Bible, (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1997), page 1014
[5]
Abd El Schafi, Behind The Veil: Unmasking Islam, (1996).
[6] Abd El Schafi, Behind The Veil, (1996),
pages 175-177.
