Where is it stated that the earth is "flat?"
Domes aren't flat, they are curved.
Domes are not used to cover spheres—they are used to cover flat surfaces such as cake plates.
The earth was covered with a "dome" (thick layer) of water, called the firmament, around "the circle (sphere) of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22), which firmament came down on Noah.
In the
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, we find an excellent article (Vol. III, pp. 568-569 [two lengthy columns of fine print per page] on the word רָקִיעַ. Of special importance is the following from the article,
The verb רָקַע, raká, means to expand by beating, whether by the hand, the foot, or any instrument. It is especially used, however, of beating out metals into thin plates (Exod. xxxix, 3, Numb. xvi, 39), and hence the substantive רַקֻּעַים “broad plates” of metal (Numb. 16:38). (The italics are theirs).
Furthermore, the Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Brown, Driver, and Briggs published by Oxford University gives us the following meaning of the word רָקִיעַ in Gen. 1:7, “the vault of heaven, or ‘firmament,’ regarded by Hebrews as solid, and supporting ‘waters’ above it.” (p. 956). Moreover, John Skinner, the late Principal and Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature at Westminster College, Cambridge, in his commentary on the Hebrew text of Genesis, writes,
6-8 Second Work: The Firmament.—The second fiat calls into existence a firmament, whose function is to divide the primeval waters into an upper and lower ocean, leaving a space between as the theater of further creative developments. The “firmament” is the dome of heaven, which to the ancients was no optical illusion, but a material structure, sometimes compared to an “upper chamber” (Ps. 104:12, Am 9:6) supported by “pillars” (Jb 26:11), and resembling in its surface a “molten mirror” (Jb 37:18). Above this are the heavenly waters, from which the rain descends through “windows” or “doors” (Gn 7:11, 8:2, 2 Ki 7:2, 19) opened and shut by God at His pleasure (Ps 78:23).
I suspect he believed Isaiah 40:22.
Are we to believe that Jesus was so stupid that He did not know the difference between a circle and a sphere? The Hebrew word חוּג is never used in ancient Hebrew literature to mean a “sphere,” but rather a circle, circuit, arch, vault, or horizon. On page 152 of Vol. 2 of his commentary on the Hebrew Text of Isaiah, Franz Delitzsch writes,
The prophet now proceeds to describe the God whom both His works and word proclaim. The participles which follow are predicates of the subject, which filled the consciousness of the prophet as well as that of every believer. “He who is enthroned above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants resemble grasshoppers; who has spread out the heavens like gauze, and stretched them out like a tent-roof to dwell in.” He, the manifested and yet unknown, is He who has for His throne the circle of the heavens (chūg shâmayim, Job_22:14), which arches over the earth, and to whom from His inaccessible height men appear as diminutive as grasshoppers (Num_13:33); He who has spread out the blue sky like a thin transparent garment (dōq, a thin fabric, like daq, fine dust, in Isa_40:15), and stretched it out above the earth like a tent for dwelling in ('ōhel lâshebheth). The participle brings to view the actions and circumstances of all times. In the present instance, where it is continued in the historical sense, it is to be resolved into the perfect; in other cases, the preservation of the world is evidently thought of as a creatio continua (see Psychol. P. 111).
Notice that he correctly translates the word חוּג as “vault.” The Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Brown, Driver, and Briggs published by Oxford University, on page 295, gives the following meaning of the word, “vault, horizon; of the heavens and earth,” and cites Job 22:14, Prov. 18:27, and Isa. 40:20 as examples. In Isa. 44:13 we find the related word מְחוּגָה,
Isaiah 44:13. The craftsman stretches out his rule, he marks one out with chalk; he fashions it with a plane, he marks it out with the compass, and makes it like the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house. (KJV)
You, nor anyone else, knows what knowledge the Father, with whom he was in constant communication (John 12:49-50, John 14:10, John 4:24, John 8:28), gave him about creation.
These verses do not support your assertion.
There is nothing more important to me than the truth. Therefore, I have never posted any of my interpretations of Scripture without first ascertaining that my interpretations are in full agreement with the Scriptures in the languages in which God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to give them to us. Furthermore, I have never posted any of my interpretations of Scripture without first ascertaining that my interpretations are in full agreement with the very finest biblical scholarship, and that my interpretations are nothing new, but have been taught throughout the entire history of church. Therefore, I have every reason to be confident in the accuracy of my posts.
