Page 292 - Lunacy and the Age of Deception

Whereas the authors of the Logos Bible Software are suggesting that men such as Moses, Job, David,
and Solomon were ignorant and fanciful in their conceptions of the heavens and the Earth, or equally
bad, they are suggesting that these men’s words are to be understood literally and represent the true
state of the cosmos, the true ignorance lies with modern men who are failing to discern when poetic
language is being used in the Bible. The ancient writers of Scripture, and their hearers, recognized
symbolic speech when it was employed. Men do err today when they assume that our early
forefathers were ignorant and unsophisticated in their thinking. Such a conclusion is a myth
perpetuated by proponents of pseudo-science who depict man’s forebears as living in caves and
being primitive in their thinking. Such a depiction does not accord with the description of man’s
creation in Genesis, nor the accomplishments ascribed to antediluvian men whose lives extended
nearly 1,000 years.

Many of the passages which the flat-Earth proponents reference are from the book of Job, a book
filled with poetic language. Job and his friends take turns conversing, and each speech is a
masterpiece of poetry. Even when Yahweh speaks at the end of the book, He employs poetic figures
of speech. The images above presenting models of what is supposed to be the ancient Near East
worldview contain many details taken from the book of Job. The storehouses of snow, hail, and
water which are figured above the vault of the heavens are details taken from the book of Job. So
too are the pillars which support the heavens and the Earth, and the foundation upon which all rests.

Job 38:1-11
Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words
without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me! Where
were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. Who
determined the measures of it, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? Whereupon were the
foundations of it fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and
all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth from the
womb, when I made clouds the garment of it, and wrapped it in thick darkness, marked out for it my
bound, set bars and doors, and said, ‘Here you may come, but no further; Here shall your proud
waves be stayed?’”

Do you perceive the analogy being employed here by Yahweh? I am confident the ancients did.
Yahweh is comparing His handiwork to man’s. Man’s greatest creations are the buildings he
constructs, perhaps a palace or a grand mausoleum. To construct such works in ancient times men
would employ building techniques which are equally ancient. They would lay a foundation and
fasten it in place. They would stretch forth the plumb line, and the level. They would lay a
cornerstone and erect pillars. Yahweh speaks of His own creation using this same language. By
doing so He intentionally shows how puny man’s works are in comparison to His own. What kind
of foundation could one lay for the Earth? How could one stretch out a plumb line to align it
properly, or stretch out a measure to mark its length and breadth and height? What sort of
cornerstone could one set in place to mark the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the
Earth? What type of doors could be put in place to hold back the seas?

Brothers and sisters, it is great folly to suggest that in the book of Job we find an actual description
of the world as conceived by men of the ancient Near East. Yet this is precisely what some
misguided Bible teachers and adherents of the flat-Earth model are suggesting. I have watched their