{sigh} I still get Christians sending me Isaiah 40:22 allllllllllllllllllllllll the time claiming the authors of Scripture (specifically Isaiah) allegedly knew the Earth was a globe. To be fair, I have used the same argument before myself. But that was when I was doing the same thing these people are doing, which is grossly mangling the text to force meanings it does not support. Words mean things and sorry, but circle does NOT mean ball/sphere/globe!

Today, someone sent this video to me:

At the beginning of this episode, Eric Hovind says, “This is the show where we believe the Bible is literally true and scientifically accurate in every single detail.” Oh really? I think not. Not that I don’t think the Bible can be taken literally or believe that it is scientifically inaccurate, but rather I said “I think not” because I don’t believe the hosts are doing either one of the things they hold up as a foundational truth for their show. They are not taking the Bible literally, and their view of “science” is directly opposed to what the Scriptures actually say.

Frankly, this is becoming an epidemic among those who claim to believe the Bible, while simultaneously believing many of the demonstrably false claims of modern “science” (especially as it pertains to Creation vs Evolution). It is most disturbing coming from the likes of Kent and Eric Hovind, David Reeves and others, who do an otherwise amazing job of obliterating the false claims of evolutionary biology and geology, which are in direct opposition to the Biblical narrative – while somehow still maintaining absolute faith in modern cosmology – the very thing that gave birth to the false claims of all the other “ologies” to which they are so articulately opposed in the first place. I’ll deal with this issue a lot more in a future post. For now, I want to address Eric Hovind’s and Paul Taylor’s comments regarding the Biblical support of a flat Earth cosmology.

At 19:50 minutes into the above video, they talk about Isaiah 40:22. Then Paul Taylor says, “What’s interesting though is that the Hebrew word (chug) that is translated as ‘circle’ is actually used in so many places to mean a sphere! It’s a three dimensional circle.” I don’t know what kind of drugs this man must be on, because that statement is patently false – at least according to the Scriptures and I will prove it in a moment. But first, let’s talk about how the Scriptures do have a word used for a spherical object…

circleorball

As the above graphic shows, Isaiah knew the difference between a ball (sphere) and a circle – and so did the KJV English translators. Speaking of, {a-hem} I must point out that KJV only types need to take note because you are contradicting these “inerrant” 1611 scholars by forcing them to agree with notions of a spherical Earth versus what they actually stated – i.e. that it is a circle. You can’t do that. By your own dogmatic attitude (psychosis) you demand that it is a “perfect translation.” According to you, it has absolutely no errors! Remember, YHWH Himself “preserved His word” (7 times I’m told) through these men and through them alone. I hear your (bogus) arguments alllllllll the time. I get it. OK. So, I’ll hold you to your own standard (are you paying attention Mike Hoggard, Kent Hovind and Steven Anderson?). Therefore, you can NOT twist their 1611 circle into a sphere! They obviously knew the difference between a ball/sphere/globe and a circle and being brutally honest with the text, they chose to translate it as circle.

Now let’s look at the words Isaiah used in Hebrew. I know KJV only types hate that, but believe it or not, the Scriptures didn’t originate in English. The “perfect” 1611 scholars, derived their English from the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. So, we should be able to do the same. In Isaiah 22:18, we find the first use of the word “dur” (ball) in the Scriptures:

Dur

As you can see, the same word shows up 2 more times: once more in Isaiah (29:3), describing someone completely surrounded and again in Ezekiel 24:5, describing something rounded like a pile or a mound set up for burning. The word carries the meaning of something spherical-like in nature (or as in Isaiah 29:3 as something that is all around you).

Whereas, the word in question (“chug”) concerning the Scripture’s description of our world is defined as:

Chug-1

Once again, we have a word that is only used only 3 times in Scripture. But let’s apply the “law of first mention” to see how it was initially introduced to us in the Bible:

Job 22:14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

Is YHWH walking on a sphere or a “circuit” up there? Well, what is a circuit? The dictionary defines it as:

circuit

It is a circular path. I see no mention of anything in that, which would demand a definition of a sphere. YHWH is walking on a circular path.

Then we come to Proverbs and Solomon describes how the dry land “appeared” in Genesis 1 by saying:

Proverbs 8:27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:

Set a compass on the face of the deep? What does that mean? This?

deep

Well, no… not exactly. Although it is interesting that a compass is used to draw a circle, which is what Isaiah later describes. In the KJV, we aren’t really getting the full picture. It just says “set a compass,” but in the Hebrew, the word used for “set’ is:

Incribe

What was inscribed? A “compass?” Well… Solomon used the same word Isaiah did for circle  (Isaiah 40:22′ “chug”). Ahhhh… OK. So now we’re getting somewhere. Isaiah’s “circle” was – according to Solomon – inscribed into something! Here are a few other examples of how this word “chaqaq” was used (by Isaiah):

Isaiah 22:16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?

Isaiah 49:16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

With the above in mind, we find that the New American Standard Bible gives us a clearer rendering of Solomon’s words based on a more accurate representation of the Hebrew word “chaqaq”:

Proverbs 8:27 When He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

Or in the King James 2000 Bible we see:

Proverbs 8:27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he drew a circle upon the face of the depth:

How do you inscribe or draw a ball into something? You can’t. No. In each of these cases, we are talking about a circle. According to the Concordance, the Hebrew noun “chug” comes from the verb form of the same word:

Chug-2verb

Note, that this form is used only once, in the first book of written (canonized) Scripture:

Job 26:10 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.

What does it mean to have “compassed the waters”?

compassed

In every single case, the word “chug” is used (both as a noun and a verb) to describe something circular, not spherical!

Watching the above posted video, you will also note that Eric and Paul conveniently ignored the issue of Job’s description of the Earth as a “seal.”

Job 38:14 It {the Earth} is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.

Backing up to the previous verse, we see:

Job 38:13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?

Where are the “ends of the Earth” to take “hold of” on a ball? This description fits perfectly with a circular Earth, which is pressed as a seal though. This is clarified a bit more in the English Standard Version:

Job 38:14 It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment.

Get some wax and a seal. Press the seal into the wax and you will get the picture: you end up with a circular, pressed flat seal with raised features on it.

ClaySealEarth

And… LOL! Please don’t even try to use the KJV’s use of “turned” to try and “spin” some notion of Biblical support for the Earth’s rotation/orbit. Please – don’t. I’m begging you. The Bible consistently describes this place as stationary and firmly set on pillars.

“Circling” back around to Isaiah 40:22, the last and final (Biblical) use of the word “chug,” there is simply no way you can force it into meaning a sphere. So, Paul Taylor is lying to you and people like Kent and Eric Hovind, David Reeves and others are choosing to remain willfully ignorant of the literal truth of Scripture, which is in direct contradiction to the “science” (falsely so-called) that they are believing in, and trying to manipulate the Bible into supporting.

Like it or not, believe it or not, accept it or not, your Bible is a flat Earth book! Deal with it however you must, but don’t try and force it to say something it absolutely does not even remotely support. Thus, for the love of all that is Holy, sane and true, please stop sending me Isaiah 40:22 and stop trying to use it to justify your belief in a spinning, heliocentric, globular Earth!

Thanks.

  • Rob Skiba