Isaiah 40:22 - Proper Exegesis

In other words, you have no good answer, or you understand the implications.

What kind of monk charges $500/hr to answer a question? Come to think of it, what kind of monk has a problem with evolution? The Roman Catholics don’t. The Anglicans don’t. Not sure about the Orthodox. Not sure what other traditions have monks. Now I’m really curious...

A “monk” who spam-pastes from his own site, lies about other people, and avoids questions that challenge his unsupportable assertions.

Here is 4th century Bishop Ambrose giving a reading from Isaiah 40:22.


Now do you have a more ancient quotation of Isaiah 40:22 that says it means flat earth? If not, you lose your argument. 

I never said we cannot know what it means. Quote me. You're lying here.

Not quite. That's a translation of an ancient quotation. Not the ancient quotation.

Various Christian authorities on Isaiah 40:22

🌎Bible Commentaries:


✅Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Commentary on the Whole Bible,


“It is he--rather, connected to the last verse, Have ye not known?--have ye not understood Him that sitteth...? (vs.26) [MAUDER]. Circle--applicable to the globular form of the earth, above which, and the vault of the sky around it, above it, He sits. For “upon” translate “above.” as grasshoppers--or locusts in His sight (Num.13:33), as He looks down from on high (Ps.33:13, 14; 113:4-6).”


✅The MacArthur Bible Commentary


"40:22 sits above the circle of the earth.
The word circle is applicable to the spherical form of the earth, above which He sits. This implies that God upholds and maintains His creation on a continuing basis (Col. 1:17; Heb.1:3). As He looks down, people seem like insects to One who has stretched and spread out the universal heavens."


✅Matthew Henry's Commentary,


"Now that which is here said of God is (1.) That he has command of all creatures. The heaven and the earth themselves are under his management: He sits upon the circle, or globe, of the earth, v. 22. He that has the special residence of his glory in the upper world maintains a dominion over the lower world, gives law to it, and directs all the motions of it to his own glory. He sits undisturbed upon the earth, and establishes it. He is still stretching out the heavens, his power and providence keep them still stretched out, and will do so till the comes that they shall be rolled together like a scroll. He spreads them out as easily as we draw a curtain to and fro, opening these curtains in the morning and drawing them close again at night. And the heaven is to this earth as a tent to dwell in; it is a canopy drawn over our heads, et quod tegit omnia coelum --- and it encircles all. --Ovid. See Ps.104:2 (2.) That the children of men, even the greatest and mightiest, are as nothing before him. The numerous inhabitants of this earth are in his eye as grasshoppers in ours, so little and inconsiderable, of such small value, of such little use, and so easily crushed. Proud men's lifting up themselves is but like the grasshopper's leap; in an instant they must stoop down to the earth again. If the spies thought themselves as grasshoppers before the sons of Anak (Num.13:33), what are we before the great God? Grasshoppers live but awhile, and live carelessly, not like the ant; so do the most men. (3.) That those who appear and act against him, how formidable soever they may be to their fellow-creatures, will certainly be humble and brought down by the mighty hand of God."


✅The Bible Knowledge Commentary (1985 Edition)


“God’s sovereign control over the world (40:21-26). 40:21-22. From His sovereign position in heaven God watches over His created universe. You (used four times in v.21) refers to people in general. The force of the first question, for example, is “Doesn’t everyone know this?” (cf. v. 28) The Lord is like a king sitting enthroned above the circle (hug, “horizon,” which is circular; cf. Job 26:10: Prov.8:27) of the earth and over His people who by comparison seem like mere grasshoppers. The heavens (the sky) are pictured as spread out like a tent for Him to live in (cf.Ps.104:2). Isaiah was not presenting a detailed idea of God’s abode. He was merely using imagery that his readers would easily understand.”


✅Henry Morris Study Bible,


“40:22 circle of the earth. Hebrew khug, translated “compassed” in Job 26:10 and “compass” in Proverbs 8:27. All three, in context, clearly refer to the spherical shape of the earth.
40:22 stretcheth out the heavens. This phrase is possibly a reference to the expanding universe, as envisioned by modern astronomers. There are numerous references in Scripture to the “stretching-out” or “spreading-out” of the heavens (space) when God created the universe. See, for example, Job 9:8; Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 42:5; 44:24; 51:13; Jeremiah 10:12. Alternatively, the “heavens” referred to here may refer simply to the atmospheric heavens, spread out like a curtain or “tent to dwell in” around a circle of the earth. This atmospheric “tent”, refracting and spreading light over the hemisphere, is sharply distinct from the darkness outside.”


✅Here is 4th century Bishop Ambrose giving a reading from Isaiah 40:22.


"And further on: 'Who sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts, who stretcheth out the heavens as an arch?' Who, then, ventures to put his knowledge in the same plane with that of God?” (St.Ambrose, "Hexameron" The Fathers Of The Church series translated by John J. Savage, p.231).


Modern scholars agree with ancient scholars.

The point is that quoting an English translation to justify your case for the translation is quite obviously illegitimate.

By your same standard all English Bibles are illegitimate. No, the translation stands. You're just too immature to accept facts. You don't want to believe the Bible teaches globe earth because then you have to question your blind faith in evolution. But I can do this all day. Every non-point you make I can refute with a solid point. I have led the movement against flat earthers and contributed a great deal of useful theology on the subject. I know my subject very very well, with a full mastery. I do have even older church fathers to draw from as well as Jewish works. I just figure that starting in the 4th century is strong enough to refute the atheist claim that Chritians only began interpreting globe earth into the Bible after Columbus. There are so many ways I know how to refute that atheist claim. When all is done you are left with a world of evolutionists who are busted in their lies. Why trust liars? I surely don't.

By the way, in your other thread, the Clement one (that’s locked for some reason), you have some questionable history. You say that “By the 1st century A.D. the Hebrew language had nearly become extinct.” That’s a direct quote (see how that is done?).

But the majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls are written in Hebrew and some date to at least the 4th century. They’re cool. I’ve seen some in person, including the impressive Isaiah scroll.