Let me help you with this, Chris. The word "circle" is used here in the bible to indicate that the Earth is a flat disk...like the flat disk that makes up the floor of a tent (see Isaiah 40:22)
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
For primitive people this was easy to understand. Just walk outside and look at the horizon where the dome of the sky meets the Earth (in a manner of speaking). Turn all around. What do you see? Of course! You are standing on a flat disk! Now look at Genesis:
1:6
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
1:7
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
1:8
And God called the firmament Heaven
God worked all day to build a firmament to divide the water from the water. This prevents the upper water from falling to the Earth (all at once, as it were). This firmament is heaven, and is likened to a huge tent in ISAIAH. Modern people know that this firmament does not exist, and they understand that the sky (firmament) is not a physical barrier that is holding up an ocean of water.
The bible was written (in part) by prehistoric priests, with only superstition to guide and inform their beliefs. If you take a serious look at the bible as a whole, you will see that it is replete with the misconceptions that are commonly held (and are, indeed expected) in primitive cultures, and in their mythologies.
Again, look at Daniel:
4:10
Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great.
4:11
The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth.
Ancient people knew that the higher one climbed the further they could see. Daniel dreams of a tree so tall that one can see the end of the earth. This would be possible on a flat earth, if one discounts the natural limitations of vision.
Look at Revelation:
7:1
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree
John believes the earth has four corners, and that this is where wind comes from. To the primitive mind wind was a mystery: It blew on the water and made great waves, it blew on the earth, and it blew on trees. Where did it come from?
Take a look at Mark:
4:8
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.
This is more of the same idea that the higher one climbs, the further along the surface of the earth's disk one is able to see. The devil takes Jesus to a really, really, really high mountain: So high, in fact, that they can see all the kingdoms of the world. This seems reasonable on a flat disk.
In all other areas, superstition and magic reigned supreme. Medicine was the art of exorcising demons with witchcraft, and magic rituals, and sacrifices. The purpose always being to purchase supernatural intervention. Thus we have the high priest giving God's cure for leprosy as set down in Leviticus:
14:2
This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
14:3
And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;
14:4
Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean , and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
14:5
And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:
14:6
As for the living bird, he shall take it , and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:
14:7
And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.
In Leviticus we are given an example of the rituals that were used to get supernatural assistance:
8:23
And he slew it,; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.
8:24
And he brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet: and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about
Amusingly, we are also shown that there were some practical benefits that devolved from this witchcraft: The priest and his sons got to eat a great deal of this food that was brought in to be sacrificed!
8:31
And Moses said unto Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and there eat it with the bread that is in the basket of consecrations, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.
One of the most horrific examples of this primitive mindset is shown in NUMBERS:
14 And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled: 15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and shall bring her oblation for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is a meal-offering of jealousy, a meal-offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before Jehovah: 17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water. 18 And the priest shall set the woman before Jehovah, and let the hair of the woman's head go loose, and put the meal-offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal-offering of jealousy: and the priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that causeth the curse. 19 And the priest shall cause her to swear, and shall say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou have not gone aside to uncleanness, being under thy husband, be thou free from this water of bitterness that causeth the curse. 20 But if thou have gone aside, being under thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee besides thy husband: 21 then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, Jehovah make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when Jehovah doth make thy thigh to fall away, and thy body to swell; 22 And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, and make thy body to swell, and thy thigh to fall away. And the woman shall say, Amen, Amen.
23And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness: 24 And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causeth the curse; and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her [and become] bitter. 25 And the priest shall take the meal-offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the meal-offering before Jehovah, and bring it unto the altar: 26 And the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27 And when he hath made her drink the water, then it shall come to pass, if she be defiled, and have committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her [and become] bitter, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away: and the woman shall be a curse among her people. 28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
29 This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside, and is defiled; 30or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then shall he set the woman before Jehovah, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. 31And the man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.
Remember that this is being taken from the dirt floor of some sacrificial slaughterhouse--God's holiest place. The walls and floor are sprayed and soaked in blood--offal is everywhere; Pinworms, hookworms, and parasites galore make their home in this offal. Every kind of disease bacteria multiplies beneath the feet of these trampling priests of blood and death. The woman is forced to drink this diagnostic medicine. The luck of her immune system will determine her guilt. If the husband's suspicions were false, it is of no matter.
These were not happy times for most humans, Chris. They were particularly bad times for women, as they were considered to exist only for the purpose of serving man and for sexual intercourse. This idea is also prevalent in the New Testament. Women were mere chattel...no different than a goat or an ass.
There are thousands of biblical examples that show these primitive people had no knowledge of science, and were guided in all their affairs by supernatural beliefs; Also that their primary method of exercising control over their lives was through rituals of magic and witchcraft. This was still prevalent in the New Testament.
I should not need to say it but I will: When I say "primitive", it is not meant to ascribe fault or to be unkind. We are all primitive, and it just awaits our being found out. |
