In light of Isaiah 11:12, which indicates the world is square or flat, and Isaiah 40:22, which indicates the world is round, can’t you see this is a contradiction in the Bible?
That’s a very interesting question. Let’s read Isaiah 11:12 which says, “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH.”
We get a similar expression in Ezekiel 7:2 which says, “Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE LAND.”
Revelation 7:1 says, “And after these things I saw four angels standing on THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.”
Revelation 20:7-8 says, “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE EARTH, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.”
Job 37:2-3 says, “Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth. He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.”
How are we to understand these expressions? Does the Bible teach that the world is a square? In fact, the Bible teaches that the world is round! We read in 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.” “Circle” here is literally “globe” and is translated as globe in the Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition…an older and trusted translation. Is the Bible contradicting itself by speaking of the four corners of the earth and then letting us know the earth is a globe-shaped object?
I believe that to refer to the four corners of the earth is to use an idiom. Idioms are words or phrases that aren’t meant to be taken literally. Webster’s New World Dictionary says “(An idiom) has a meaning that differs from the literal meaning of its parts taken together.” For example, if you say someone has “cold feet,” it doesn’t mean their toes are actually cold. Rather, it means they’re nervous about something. A couple more examples of common idioms are saying someone is ‘bent out of shape’ to say that the person is very upset. To say, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, really means that we will not worry about that right now. To speak of the four corners of the earth is to refer to the entirety of the earth.
Understanding this, we see there is no contradiction at all here. The Bible does not teach the world is flat or square, but rather it definitely declares the world is round. If we believe we have found a contradiction in the Bible, that simply means we need to “dig a little deeper” (an idiom) until, with the Lord’s guidance, we allow the Bible to show us the truth. (CC) (589.2)