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If you were right about erets, Genesis 1:1 would read that "God made the heavens and some ground." Doesn't quite have that same ring to it hey?
If you need it to refer to the entire planet, no it doesn't have the same ring. It's not about ring, but reality. Yes, eretz refers to the ground beneath one's feet, but at that time the writer couldn't have been referring to the entire globe unless he knew it existed. The writer was referring to land as opposed to the sky.
Genesis 1 was a Priestly writing, which was written between 722 and 609 BCE. Show me that the writer knew he was standing on a globe. Show me that he was referring to more than what he had knowledge of.
Spherical EarthThe concept of a spherical Earth dates back to ancient Greek philosophy from around the 6th century BCE,[1] but remained a matter of philosophical speculation until the 3rd century BC when Hellenistic astronomy established the spherical shape of the earth as a physical given.
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Maybe I'm going out on a limb here but "the name of the planet on which man dwells" kinda sounds like a reference to the planet Earth to me.
Dictionaries include meanings as they evolve. Earth didn't mean the name of the planet until it was deemed a planet and named. (1400 CE) Smith's Bible Dictionary is dated 1884. It was the name of the planet at that time. Show me it was considered the name of the planet at the time of the Priestly writer.
The A&E story was predominately the J&E writers. They wrote before 722 BCE. Show me they had a name for the planet or were referring to more than what they knew was inhabited.
Even
Ptolemy's world map from 150 CE could only include the lands known to them.
Map
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Do you still want to pretend erets never refers to the planet earth? Doesn't matter to me either way since the truth of the matter is pretty obvious.
I don't need to pretend. I didn't say the word never refers to the planet earth. I said erets doesn't mean planet (which it doesn't) and that it isn't used as the name of the planet in the Bible because they didn't know they were on a planet.
It does refer to the ground beneath one's feet as opposed to the sky above. It can refer to all the land known to man at the time or part of it.
Show me the writers knew there was a whole globe to refer to.
Show me that the writers were concerned with the globe as opposed to their own people and land.
The world according to Hekateaus.
Map 500 BCE
IMO, the Bible writers were not concerned with global issues. They were concerned with their people, their land, and their interactions with the peoples and kingdoms around them. The Bible writers weren't writing about science. They were writing about social issues. They described their environment creatively in poetic writings. They may be reflecting the belief of the time or just creatively describing how things look from a human viewpoint. They could also be using descriptions that are familiar to their audience regardless of what they themselves know.
I don't feel the writers were referring to a planet or a globe when they wrote for their audiences. I feel they were referring to the more limited known area around them.
Show me otherwise.
ABE: Words can have many meanings and acquire more meanings over time, but the correct meaning from the correct time has to be used within a sentence. It matters what meanings were available for the word then, not now. IOW, we can't use a meaning before its time.
Edited by purpledawn, : Added thought
Scripture is like Newton’s third law of motionfor every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
In other words, for every biblical directive that exists, there is another scriptural mandate challenging it.
-- Carlene Cross in The Bible and Newton’s Third Law of Motion