Ishinan, I suspect the reference to four 'corners' reflects more the English idiom than the actual Hebrew phrase. The words used in this kind of expression simply refer to the 'edges' or 'extremities' rather than 'corners' per se. And the notion of four probably comes from the cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west). In any case, even the Hebrew idioms here seem to reflect an earth of which one could reach the edge—that is, a flat earth of some kind.
GEORGE ATHAS Dean of Research, Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au) Sydney, Australia From: Ishnian <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Date: Thursday, 23 August 2012 5:01 PM To: B-Hebrew <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Circle ??? K RANDOLPH wrote : So what I am saying is that we cannot rule out that "sphere" was meant in Isaiah 40:22 and Proverbs 8:27. In fact, the Isaiah verse reads better as a sphere. ------------------------------------------------------------- ISHINAN: Then, how would you explain the phrase: The " FOUR CORNERS" of the earth in (Isaiah 11:12)? The very same idea is expressed in Greek in the Revelation to Saint John Chapter 7 "1kai meta tauta eidon tessaraV aggelouV estwtaV epi taV tessaraV GWNIA V thV ghV kratountaV touV tessaraVanemouV thV ghV ina mh pneh anemoV epi thV ghV mhte epithV qalasshV mhte epi pan dendron" ( I saw four angels standing on the FOUR CORNERS of the earth, etc.) In Greek 'GWNIA' literally means angles! The Greek GWNIA is the source of the Latin 'CUNEUS' and the French 'COIN' (Literally: a corner) We all know that a 'SPHERE' does not have angles! (especially four of them as expressed in the Scriptures) . Instead the idea of an unambiguous term for SPHERE could only by expressed in Hebrew by using the term 'duwr' (see Strong # 1754 ): a ball/sphere; see Isa 22:18 below: "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". Ishinan Ishibashi _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
