Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to re:I snapped a bit too.

There is not any "there" there.
ER — (archived)

Give it up J. There is nothing mysterious about this. It is an old text in translation. The ancient Hebrews thought the "earth" was the entire universe, minus a few lights in the sky. We don't even know what the word "earth" was translated from. Was it the Hebrew for "Universe", "cosmos", "the land", "dirt", who knows? They certainly didn't mean "planet", they didn't know the world was a planet. To them, planets were stars that moved. You can analyze it all you want but there is nothing of value there, at least the kind of value you seek.

They did communicate a feeling of the mysterious, the power of their god, the beauty of a beginning, the wonder and glory of a young world as they understood it. But that's not science, its literature. You are not only reading the religious thought of the Bronze Age, but you are quoting from a translation in English from a time when the English language had reached it's peak in power and beauty and expressiveness, and its poets were at the top of their arc.

You don't read the Iliad for military tactics, and you don't read the Odyssey for navigation and seamanship. Don't try to see science in Genesis. But beware, if you stare long enough at anything you will eventually see anything you want.

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