"The Hebrew word that is used in Isaiah 40:22 (חוּג,
chug) does not at all imply a spherical earth. The root word only occurs in the Hebrew Bible once as a verb (Job 26:10). In nominal forms, the same root occurs four times, three as the noun חוּג (
chug; Job 22:14, Prov 8:27, Isa 40:22), and once as the noun מְחוּגׇה (
mechugah; Isa 44:13). This term refers to a "circle instrument," a device used to make a circle, what we call a compass.
Isaiah 44:13 refers to this "circle instrument."
Isa 44:13 The carpenter stretches a line, marks it out with a stylus, fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he makes it in human form, with human beauty, to be set up in a shrine. [NIV]"
Dr. Dennis Bratcher
The Circle of the Earth: Translation and Meaning in Isaiah 40:22
This Dr. Dennis Bratcher is a complete fraud. Where do you find these pseudo-scholars? He's a complete impostor and charlatan. There is only one verse in the whole Bible that contains H4230 מְחוּגָה mᵉchûwgâh.
"The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house" ( H4230: מְחוּגָה mᵉchûwgâh, Isaiah 44:13 -- KJV).
So where is the mention of the shape of the earth? Where is the context of God's creation and dominion over the earth? Its not there! This is because once again we've run into the "there, their, they're" mistake except in this case Bratcher is using the wrong circle in his rather absurd rant. So if what he says is right, then Isaiah 40:22 describes an instrument compass as the shape of the earth.
Here is a picture of the shape of the earth according to how Dr. Dennis Bratcher reads Isaiah.
Here we are talking about the difference between a compass and compass. Chuwg is that other compass.
"COMPASS,
verb transitive
1. To stretch round; to extend so as to embrace the whole; hence, to inclose, encircle, grasp or seize; as, to
compass with the arms.
2. To surround; to environ; to inclose on all sides; sometimes followed by around, round or about."
Websters Dictionary 1828 - Webster's Dictionary 1828 - Compass
Proverbs 8:31,
"As for the rounde compasse of this worlde I make it ioyfull: for my delite is to be among the chyldren of men" (1568 Bishop's Bible).
While this verse does not use chuwg, it does use that other word (tebel) which does not contradict chuwg. Proverbs 8:27 (chuwg) and Proverbs 8:31 (tebel) are only 4 verses apart. There is no way such a contradiction will be made here. But Dr. Dennis Bratcher does not understand the rule of contextual application in Hebrew. He's trying to con people using a "there, their, they're" argument.
Again:
Proverbs 8:27,
"When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth" (KJV).
Proverbs 8:31,
"As for the rounde compasse of this worlde I make it ioyfull: for my delite is to be among the chyldren of men" (1568 Bishop's Bible).
Which compass is Pro.8:27?
"I was there when He established the heavens,
when He laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean" (HCSB).
"In His preparing the heavens I [am] there, In His decreeing a circle on the face of the deep" (YLT).
"For when he made the heauens, I was present, when he compassed the deapthes about" (1568 Bishop's Bible).
"I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep" (NIV).
And remember who the Greek scholar translated Isaiah 40:22: "the one who possesses the circumference of the earth". I.e. "The whole earth".
Job 26:10 analysis,
"Day and night complete the revolution ordained by Him, and neither interferes in the least with the other" (Clement of Rome, 20: 2).
It seems clear enough to me that he is reading from the Book of Job chapter 26 verse 10...
"He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end" (KJV)
"He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,
At the boundary of light and darkness" (NKJV).
...and Job 38:14,
"It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment" (KJV).
"It turneth itself as clay of a seal And they station themselves as clothed" (YLT).
Then we have that other grammar error atheist scholars claim would have been the word used by Isaiah if he was describing a globe. I'm referring to H1754 דּוּר dûwr.
Contextual Application: Process of elimination
Which words and verses do not fit the context of God's creation of earth, His dominion over the earth and its inhabitants, and the earth or it's shape?
1. "The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house" ( H4230: מְחוּגָה mᵉchûwgâh, Isaiah 44:13 -- KJV).
2. "He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end" (Strong's H2328: חוּג chûwg; Job 26:10 -- KJV).
3. "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" (Strong's H2329 חוּג chûwg, Isaiah 40:22 -- KJV).
4. "Yea euen the Lorde of hoastes that with his power made the earth, with his wisdome prepared the round world, and with his discretion spread out the heauens" (Strong's H8398: תֵּבֵל têbêl Jeremiah 51:15 -- 1568 Bishop's Bible).
5. "He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house" (Strong's H1754: דּוּר dûwr, Isaiah 22:14 -- KJV).
"And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee" (Strong's H1754: דּוּר dûwr, Isaiah 29:3 -- KJV).
"Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein" (Strong's H1754: דּוּר dûwr, Ezekiel 24:5 -- KJV).
The answer is #1 and #5.
Lastly, the hypocrisy of atheists is in overdrive on the issue of chûwg vs. dûwr, and which of the two Hebrew words better describe a globe. Atheists say dûwr is the better choice. But lets look at the definition of dûwr:
H1754 דּוּר dûwr: "דּוּר dûwr, dure; from
H1752; a circle, ball or pile:—ball, turn, round about."
Genesis 1:1 (NASB)
Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon
Excuse me but do I not see the word "circle" in that definition? So atheists are fine with circle? Since when? I thought a circle was strictly a 2D flat object? But atheists say the circle of Isaiah 22:14; 29:3; Ezekiel 24:5 is the word that means sphere that Isaiah didn't use? This is how dûwr would translate if applied 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."
No difference in English. But atheists prefer the
circle of dûwr over the
circle of chûwg? Do you not see how ridiculous this is now?
If Isaiah wanted to describe the earth as flat like a plate as flat earthers have often told me, there are Hebrew words that mean flat.
There's
H8478 תַּחַת tachath -- “that the wall fell down flat
" (Joshua 6:20). But there is actually another choice Isaiah could have used which may have been a much better choice.
H4227 מַחֲבַת machăbath:
The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible,
"4227. machabath, makh-ab-ath'; from the same as 2281; a pan for baking in:--pan [5x]. See TWOT -- 600b; BDB -- 292b, 561d”
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament,
TWOT 600b: “flat plate, pan, or griddle (e.g. Lev. 2:5; 6:14; Ezk 4:3)”.
Isaiah 40:22 could have easily been translated as “...the pan of the earth” or “the griddle of the earth" or "the plate of the earth" (H4227 מַחֲבַת machăbath) -- "the flat earth" (H8478 תַּחַת tachath). But it wasn't.
Seems like liberal scholars are unable to grasp the globular meaning of chuwg. They can't even find the right word that would mean flat earth.