Of course, but my point is it makes no sense as a metaphor when they would indeed have known the earth is spherical and not a flat surface with a spherical sky on top.
No. They didnt know that the earth was a sphere, but God knew. But the references to the "ends of the earth" and the "four corners" still retain their inspired meanings, regardless of the shape of the earth. They simply refer to the four directions.
At least we agree now that it makes sense to assume that the authors of the Bible did not know.
So... the only reason the text makes some sort of sense now, is because we've changed it's original most likely interpretation.
If God meant wind directions, why didn't he said so? Being more specific in this case would clarify a lot. I take it in all his wisdom "God" decided it would be best for the people to stay ignorant a little bit longer or something?
I think it's a classic example of knowledge that got lost and was discovered/reinvented on a later date again. After all, the Sumerians knew a lot about earth, stars and so on, so did the Egyptians. I'm quite sure the shepherds of Israel simply didn't understand when they tried to copy the texts as in the Sumerian myths there's a lot more information about moving stars and the rebirth of the sun and so on,
Cheers
