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Hey friends let’s continue on our journey to find out what the Biblical authors cosmological worldview was by looking at the flat earth they believed to live on.
This is yet another installment in our What is the Bible Series and like the rest of the teaching this too will be building on previous installment. If you haven’t been able to go through the prior material in this series yet, we suggest you do first before continuing in this teaching.
To get caught up on what we have learned so far click here.
Quick Review
The Bible is a collection of ancient Near Eastern literature comprised of every conceivable literary device known to man. This handheld library was created in the ancient Near East and its initial audience was people living in this same shared context.
The more we understand their culture the better we will be able to apply the intended meaning of the Biblical text into our modern worldview.
70 nations
The setting of the Bible is only comprised of the 70 nations found in Genesis 10
Three tiered Cosmology
The Biblical authors believed in a three tiered cosmology made up of the Heavens, a Flat Earth that rested on pillars, and the great deep of the Sea/ The Underworld.
The Heavens
Last time on Critical Thinking Aloud we went over how the Biblical authors shared similar concepts about the heavens as their neighboring nations. Every one in the ancient Near East believed in the Heavens that rested upon a solid dome in the sky separating the Heavenly waters from the Earth.
To learn more about the Biblical authors view of the Heavens click here.
Today we are going to learn about the second tier of the ancient Biblical authors cosmology, the flat earth.
How we are going to learn
Today we will be looking at the topic of the flat earth in the ancient Near Eastern cosmology. As I have done in the past with other teachings I want to quote from scholarly sources to make my point. I do this in hope that you will see this isn’t just my interpretation of the Scriptures but that this view is steeped in acadeemia.
We will be using two amazing sources which we highly recommend.
- Faithlife Study Bible: This is an amazing resource that is free if you download the app or use it online. To download the app or use this resource online visit their website here. This resource is also available in print which you can purchase here.
- The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: This is my favorite resource for gaining a better understanding for the ancient Near Eastern worldview of the Biblical authors. This is available in a multitude of variations all of which you can find on our resource page here.
Let’s get started.
The Flat Earth
Remember God Chose an unenlightened people to preserve His love story for all people. His intention was to teach humans theology not science. Therefore we must learn about what the Biblical authors thought to be true about the universe and not import our modern “scientific” worldview on the text.
A great example of this is the Biblical authors and the constituents view of the Earth.
In previous episodes we pointed out how the Biblical narrative centers around 70 nations all located in the ancient Near East. In this teaching we are going to look at how these nations all believed that the earth was a flat disc held up by pillars in the deep.
Here are some quotes from our sources to help us out.
“It was common in the ancient world to think of the earth as a single continent in the shape of a flat disc. Likewise in Genesis, the waters are all gathered into one place, and land appears, presumably in one place.”
The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Notes on Genesis 1:9 pg 5
“The Hebrew word translated “deep” (tehom) in this verse is the same Hebrew word used in 1:2. It refers to the great cosmic ocean that not only surrounds the land, but is that on which the land floats (cf. Ps 24:1-2)
The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Notes on Genesis 7:11 pg 19
Here is another quote from our other resource
“The earth sat atop the watery deep. The “waters below” refers not only to waters that humans use but also the deeper abyss. Thus, the earth was seen as surrounded by and floating upon the seas (Gen 1:9-10), having arisen out of the water (2 Peter 3:5). The earth was thought to be held fast by pillars or sunken foundations (1 Sam 2:8; Job 38:4-6; Psa 104:5).”
Faithlife Study Bible: in the Article: The Old Testament and the Ancient Near Eastern Worldview under the notes of Genesis 1:1-7
Floating Disc
As we read in the quotes above the common cosmological perception among the ancient Near East was that the Earth consisted of a flat disc that floats upon the waters. This is the cosmological world view of all the of the ancient Near East including the Biblical authors.
This may come as a little bit of a shock to you. While talking to others about this I have heard many times before that “God cannot be scientifically inaccurate therefore this cannot be true, I simply cannot accept this is what the biblical authors believed”.
We live an such a vastly different time period that it is hard for us to comprehend that anyone could think this way. These people had no way to prove the earth was round. They did not have rockets or modern technology, nor did they climb the highest mountains.
Is science the end all ?
We know that being “scientifically accurate” did not matter to God. He chose these people to preserve His word and did not correct what appears to us scientifically as “a faulty way of thinking”.
In His wisdom God preserved in the Biblical narrative what the biblical authors thought to be scientifically true at the time when they composed their works. He did this so that these authors would not be relating information that could only be fully understood by us in our 21st century modern era.
God chose the unenlightened people in the ancient Near East to preserve His word so that all people throughout all time can understand clearly who He is and what He has done for us.
Gods word could only be proved false by its scientific inaccuracy if one presumes that the purpose of Gods love letter was to teach humanity science.
This is simply not the case and as we attest to here on Critically Thinking Aloud Gods word has nothing to do with teaching us science. God wants us to know Him which is theology and chose to reveal who He is in the form of ancient Near Eastern Literature.
Pangea ?
In the biblical authors ancient Near Eastern cosmology this floating disc was made up of what we would call one big landmass connected by its foundations. They also believed that under this foundation were pillars which held up the land.
This is not our first encounter with these foundations. In our last installment we talked about how the solid dome in the sky was also thought to have foundations rooted in the deep. (See the picture above)
In this worldview the tops of the mountains upheld the dome in the sky (again have a shared space between the Heavens and Earth). In the same way this worldview believed that at the bottom of the mountains or at the roots of the mountains there is a shared space with the underworld.
Remember
In our teaching on Eden: The mountain of God we talked about the ancient Near Eastern thought that mountain tops were gateways to the heavens. This stemmed from their belief that these remote areas were where deities resided. For more information on this check that teaching out here.
People in the ancient Near Eastern also believed that at the roots of these mountains there was a gateway to the underworld.
We will talk about The Underworld in more detail next time on Critical Thinking Aloud as we look at the third tier of the ancient Near Eastern cosmology.
Check out this short video series on Spiritual beings by our friends over at The Bible Project by clicking here. They are amazing and super helpful to better grasp what we will be covering in this series.
Citations:
Faithlife Study Bible. J. D. Barry et al. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2012.
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Grand Rapids, Michigan USA Zondervan 2016
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