Answer # 69

The men of God in ancient times possessed basic knowledge of God's vast creation. The expression "the four corners of the earth" is merely a figure of speech. Isaiah used the phrase to paint a word picture of how God will rescue His people from captivity and bring them back from the extremities of the earth to establish the Kingdom of God on this planet.

The word translated "corners" can mean wings or skirts. On many occasions God pictures the earth as an extended garment over which He has an all-embracing power (e.g., Job 38:13).

It is clear that men of God understood that this earth is an orb, not flat and four-cornered. Notice Isaiah 40:22: "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in."

While the Bible is not a textbook on science, it is the foundation of all truth and knowledge.