Did Jesus know the world is round?

[theophilus]

It is a popular belief that in the past everyone thought the world is flat. I have heard it said that Christopher Columbus proved the world was round when he discovered America. The peasants might have thought the world was flat but the educated people knew it’s true shape. They didn’t think Columbus would sail off the edge of the world. They thought it was impossible to reach Asia by sailing west because the distance was too great. If the American continents didn’t exist they would have been right.

Columbus believed the world was smaller than it actually is and that Asia was larger. That is why he thought the land he discovered was in the East Indies. That is also why the aboriginal Americans are still called Indians.

There is also a widespread misconception that the Bible teaches that the world is flat. I haven’t studied much of what the Bible says on this subject but there is one thing I know for sure. Jesus knew that the world is round. Here is what he said about his return.

I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left.There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left
Luke 17:34,35 ESV

He said that two would be in one bed. People sleep at night. He said that two women would be grinding. People work during the day. He knew that when he returned it would be night in one part of the world and day in another. That could only be true if the world is round.

Jesus was not only a man but was also God. As God he made the world, so it isn’t surprising that the knows its shape.

[sky]

Originally Posted by theophilus

It is a popular belief that in the past everyone thought the world is flat. I have heard it said that Christopher Columbus proved the world was round when he discovered America. The peasants might have thought the world was flat but the educated people knew it’s true shape. They didn’t think Columbus would sail off the edge of the world. They thought it was impossible to reach Asia by sailing west because the distance was too great. If the American continents didn’t exist they would have been right.

Columbus believed the world was smaller than it actually is and that Asia was larger. That is why he thought the land he discovered was in the East Indies. That is also why the aboriginal Americans are still called Indians.

There is also a widespread misconception that the Bible teaches that the world is flat. I haven’t studied much of what the Bible says on this subject but there is one thing I know for sure. Jesus knew that the world is round. Here is what he said about his return.

I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left.There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left
Luke 17:34,35 ESV

He said that two would be in one bed. People sleep at night. He said that two women would be grinding. People work during the day. He knew that when he returned it would be night in one part of the world and day in another. That could only be true if the world is round.

Jesus was not only a man but was also God. As God he made the world, so it isn’t surprising that the knows its shape.

I think Isaiah said something about the Earth being a Circle so it was known .

[inavalan]

Originally Posted by theophilus

It is a popular belief that in the past everyone thought the world is flat. I have heard it said that Christopher Columbus proved the world was round when he discovered America. The peasants might have thought the world was flat but the educated people knew it’s true shape. They didn’t think Columbus would sail off the edge of the world. They thought it was impossible to reach Asia by sailing west because the distance was too great. If the American continents didn’t exist they would have been right.

Columbus believed the world was smaller than it actually is and that Asia was larger. That is why he thought the land he discovered was in the East Indies. That is also why the aboriginal Americans are still called Indians.

There is also a widespread misconception that the Bible teaches that the world is flat. I haven’t studied much of what the Bible says on this subject but there is one thing I know for sure. Jesus knew that the world is round. Here is what he said about his return.

I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left.There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left
Luke 17:34,35 ESV

He said that two would be in one bed. People sleep at night. He said that two women would be grinding. People work during the day. He knew that when he returned it would be night in one part of the world and day in another. That could only be true if the world is round.

Jesus was not only a man but was also God. As God he made the world, so it isn’t surprising that the knows its shape.

I read the whole context of your quote. I didn't see anything pointing to your interpretation.

[inavalan]

Great story:

How an ancient Greek mathematician calculated the Earth's circumference. In the mid-20th century, we began launching satellites into space that would help us determine the exact circumference of the Earth, 40,030 km.

But over 2,000 years earlier in ancient Greece, a man arrived at nearly that exact same figure by putting a stick in the ground. That man was Eratosthenes. A Greek mathematician and the head of the library at Alexandria.

Eratosthenes had heard that in Syene, a city south of Alexandria, no vertical shadows were cast at noon on the summer solstice. The sun was directly overhead. He wondered if this were also true in Alexandria.

So, on June 21 he planted a stick directly in the ground and waited to see if a shadow would be cast at noon. It turns out there was one. And it measured about 7 degrees.

Now, if the sun's rays are coming in at the same angle at the same time of day, and a stick in Alexandria is casting a shadow while a stick in Syene is not, it must mean that the Earth's surface is curved. And Eratosthenes probably already knew that.

The idea of a spherical Earth was floated around by Pythagoras around 500 BC and validated by Aristotle a couple centuries later. If the Earth really was a sphere, Eratosthenes could use his observations to estimate the circumference of the entire planet.

Since the difference in shadow length is 7 degrees in Alexandria and Syene, that means the two cities are 7 degrees apart on Earth's 360-degrees surface. Eratosthenes hired a man to pace the distance between the two cities and learned they were 5,000 stadia apart, which is about 800 kilometres.

He could then use simple proportions to find the Earth's circumference — 7.2 degrees is 1/50 of 360 degrees, so 800 times 50 equals 40,000 kilometers. And just like that, a man 2200 years ago found the circumference of our entire planet with just a stick and his brain.

[inavalan]

Originally Posted by sky123

I think Isaiah said something about the Earth being a Circle so it was known .

I googled for the info. They talked about "corners". "Circle" could still mean "flat". Nobody said "round", or "sphere", as far as I searched. The Greeks hypothesized the Earth's spherical form (see above post), but I'm sure that that knowledge wasn't widespread, and definitely was irrelevant to most people.

[sky]

The Bible indicates that the earth is round. Consider Isaiah 40:22 which mentions the “circle of the earth.” This description is certainly fitting—particularly when the earth is viewed from space; the earth always appears as a circle since it is round.

Another verse that indicates the spherical nature of our planet is Job 26:10. This verse teaches that God has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness. This boundary between light and darkness (day and night) is called the “terminator” since the light stops or “terminates” there. Someone standing on the terminator would be experiencing either a sunrise or a sunset; they are going from day to night or from night to day. The terminator is always a circle, because the earth is round.

https://answersingenesis.org/astrono...rms-the-bible/

[inavalan]

I understand what you're saying, but "circle" is a 2D not a 3D concept. Night and Day were just created.

Most translation of Job 26:10 don't use the word "circle".

https://biblehub.com/job/26-10.htm

I really believe that's a stretch to say that the Bible mentions a spherical Earth, but ... it doesn't matter to me.

[Ordnael]

He knew all truth, what is known and what is unknown, what is recognized and what is not recognized, but the Bible is a book that mentions him.

[Busby]

This sort of thing has frustrated me for years. It's obvious that Christ (should he ever had existed) being the son of God (presumably) would have known everything there was to know.
He could have told us about the Earth being a globe (although the Greeks and Egyptians had worked it out long ago and all eastern philosophies knew it too). He could have explained that the sun was the centre of our solar system and that most of the bodies seen in the sky were suns, he could have explained how tides work, that there are polar caps, that planets circle the sun, that there are great oceans on our planet, that, that, that…
Had he done this it would have saved a lot of suffering and blood later in history and would have given us 2000 years later the knowledge that he knew what he was talking about.

But he didn't.

[Ordnael]

In my view, he either thought the information wasn't relevant at the time for their Salvation (they didn't need to know that much), or he was censored by orthodoxy. I believe in the latter.