Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

You may well be right, except that "the ancients" are not the authors  
of the
Hebrew bible. As I understand it, XUG is 'arch, vault', referring to  
the overhead sky.

In 2Ch. 4:2 we find written:
ויעש את-הים מוצק עשר באמה משפתו אל  
שפתו עגול סביב
וחמש באמה קומתו וקו שלשים באמה יסב אתו  
סביב

"Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim,
round in compass; and the height thereof was five cubits;
and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about"

Here, עגול סביב AGOL SABIYB evidently means a complete circle,
evenly bent all around, in the true geometrical sense of the word,
and with Pi, the ratio circumference/diameter, given as 3.

Etymologically, עגול AGOL is a variant of AKOL עקול (Hab. 1:4  
and Is. 27:1),
and עקלקל AKALKAL (Judges 5:6), 'bent, crooked'. Also of GAL,  
'mound, wave'.

SBB סבב is a variant of צב CB and צבב CBB, 'pile up, swell'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Aug 26, 2012, at 10:34 AM, Cliff Moody wrote:

> I fail to see why the ancients couldn't look at the moon, observe  
> the phases
> replete with monthly crescents (as well as occasional lunar  
> eclipses), and
> not be able to conclude that the moon is a sphere as opposed to a  
> flat disk,
> and by association, conclude that the sun and earth, also  
> celestrial bodies,
> were spherical. Does that seem so far fetched?