flat world

December 5, 2016

The whole world (Jer 25:26-25:26)

“I went to

All the kings of the north,

Far and near,

One after another,

All the kingdoms of the world

That are on the face of the earth.”

Having mentioned all the known areas around Israel, Jeremiah now continues his world wide tour by actually going to all the kings to the north, far and near. He would go one after the other to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.   Did he go to China or Asia? Did he go to southern Africa? Did he go to northern Europe? We are pretty certain that he did not go to North and South America or the Pacific islands, including Australia. The view of Jeremiah and his contemporaries was that the flat world was limited to what they knew.

November 27, 2015

Yahweh as the creator of earth (Ps 104:5-104:9)

“You set the earth on its foundations.

Thus it shall never be shaken.

You cover it with the deep

As with a garment.

The waters stood above the mountains.

At your rebuke

They fled.

At the sound of your thunder

They took to flight.

They rose up to the mountains.

They ran down to the valleys.

They all went to the place that you appointed for them.

You set a boundary.

They may not pass this boundary.

Thus the waters might not again cover the earth.”

The earth had foundations like any building in a very static way. There was no hint of a round world in this flat world concept of the earth. However, they did seem to understand that the solid earth came from the waters. At the command of Yahweh, the waters receded, much like at the time of Noah in Genesis, chapters 6-10. The thunder served as the voice of Yahweh telling the waters to recede, which they did. Then the earth was formed as the mountains rose and the valley sunk, all due to the water that had been there. Everything took its place as it was appointed by Yahweh. Yahweh put boundaries on the waters so that they would never again cover the earth. This was the victory of Yahweh over the chaos of the waters.

July 29, 2015

The hymn to the divine power over the climate (Job 36:24-36:37)

“Remember to extol his work!

Men have sung to his work.

All people have looked on it.

Everyone watches it from far away.

Surely God is great!

We do not know him.

The number of his years is unsearchable.

He draws up the drops of water.

He distils his mist in rain.

The skies pour down rain.

Rain drops upon mortals abundantly.

Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds?

Can anyone understand the thundering of his pavilion?

See!

He scatters his lightning around him.

He covers the roots of the sea.

For by these he judges peoples.

He gives food in abundance.

He covers his hands with the lightning.

He commands it to strike the mark.

Its crashing tells about him.

He is jealous with anger against iniquity.”

Elihu wanted Job to understand and extol the power of God over the climate we live in. Interesting enough I began working on this the day that Pope Francis I issued his encyclical on the climate “Laudato Si.” Yet here, Elihu in his hymn clearly sees God as the controller of the climate. God controls the rain, so that quite often we pray to God for more or less rain. This is especially true in strong farming communities. They also pray for good harvests from the land. We have seen both drought and over flooding this year in the USA. God has control over thunder and lightning as well as the seas.   God is jealous and angry against the wicked. Perhaps we do not pray to God enough about the climate. Just as we have moved from the poetic flat world concept of sunrise and sunset to the earth moving around the sun, so too we might see climate as not the poetic unique concern of God alone, but see the impact of human actions on the climate also.