Earth in Biblical History

Bible History

Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
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What is Earth?
EARTH
The word first occurs Gen 1:2. The Hebrews made the usual distinction between the earth as the planet which we inhabit and the earth as the soil which we cultivate, by employing altogether different words for these different ideas. But like other ancient nations, they had vague and inaccurate ideas in regard to the size of the earth. The phrases "the ends of the earth," all the "kingdoms of the earth," "the whole world," really took in only a limited extent. Geographical terms were loosely used. For example, the same word (yam, which means "sea") is applied to the Mediterranean, to the lakes of Palestine, and to great rivers such as the Nile. But they were much more definite when describing localities with which they were intimately acquainted, and these descriptive words for the minor features of the country are often singularly correct, and at the same time poetical. We can mark a progression in geographical knowledge from the days of the patriarchs to those of the N.T. Jews. As nation after nation was brought into contact with them their notions of the character and extent of the world enlarged. Owing to the highly poetic nature of the language in which descriptions of the earth as a whole are given, it is impossible to decide upon the ordinary ideas on this subject. Like other nations of antiquity, and like most people in all ages, the Hebrews viewed the world from a geocentric standpoint, as if the earth were the centre of the universe, every other heavenly body being formed for it and playing a subsidiary part. The heavens were conceived of as an inverted bowl, which rested on the flat earth at its edges, holding up the snow and rain, which came through when a window was opened. Gen 7:11; Isa 24:18. All natural phenomena are traced directly to the almighty will of God, without taking into account (yet without denying) secondary causes. The thunder is his voice, the lightning his arrows, the storm and the wind his messengers. Job 37:5; Ps 77:17; Ps 148:8. When he drew near, the earthquake, the eclipse, and the comet were the signs of his presence. Joel 2:10; Matt 24:29; Luke 21:25. We should remember that this is to this day the language of poetry and religion, and that it represents one and the most important aspect of truth, the primary cause; while prose and science view the other aspect, the secondary and finite causes -- that is, the laws of nature, which are the agencies of the almighty will of God. If all things in heaven above and earth beneath were created by the word of God, they were as certainly created for the sons of God -- for man. To the Hebrew nothing existed independent of some effect, good or bad, upon man. Ps 104:14, Heb 12:23 expresses in poetry his sober opinion. The earth spoke to him likewise of orderly and preconcerted progress. From one day to the other, as he read the account in Genesis, there was development of higher from lower forms, until, as the crown and lord of all creation, man stood in Eden.

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'earth' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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