The earth is round
It would be wrong not to start with this one. For years it was generally understood that the world was flat. The common thought was that eventually there would be a point where you would get to the end of the earth and fall off! Whilst some of the great early thinkers held this view, you only need to look to the Bible where it states God ‘sits enthroned above the circle of the earth’ (Isaiah 42:20) and that ‘He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness’ (Job 26:10), revealing the truth well before Eratosthenes presented the idea that the earth was in fact spherical in 240 BC.
The air has weight
We all know we can’t see air with the naked eye, so to believe that it had no weight would be the logical conclusion. Galileo Galilei eventually managed to disprove this assumption with a clever experiment, but long before he did this, the book of Job revealed that God ‘imparted weight to the wind and meted out the waters by measure’ (Job 28:25). Whether or not Galileo caught wind of this and decided to test it out is up for debate!
Mountains under the sea
Only as far back as last year, there were a number of news reports that scientists have found new mountains deep under the sea. These mountains have clearly always been there, but only now with the right technology at our disposal have we been able to prove their existence. Jonah’s experience with the big fish is something of legend itself, but whilst recalling his time underneath the ocean he writes ‘I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever’ (Jonah 2:6). It’s clear that Jonah went to the very depths of the sea to make such a statement!
The blood is the source of life
Remarkably, only up until recent centuries, a process known as bloodletting was used to attempt to cure diseases. The procedure involved the withdrawal of blood in mass and traces its roots back to ancient Egypt. Whilst giving the law to the Israelites in Leviticus, God informed the Moses that ‘The life of the flesh is in the blood’ (Leviticus 17:11). With that said, it is surprising that the practice of bloodletting carried on for so long.
The earth is held in place by gravitational forces
This is one fact that perhaps took longer to prove than the others. Evaluating the way things work around us, it would be hard to believe that something as heavy as the earth could float in mid-air without any visible support. Ancient civilisations often believed that there was a god holding up the earth himself (see the Greeks and Atlas, although he was said to be holding the whole universe!), but the Bible affirms that God ‘hangs the earth on nothing’ (Job 26:7). This early explanation of gravitational forces has only been affirmed in recent centuries, but again shows the profound knowledge that scripture displayed.
Do you know anymore biblical facts that have been proven by science? Comment below.
Marcus N Jones