BIBLE REFUTERS REFUTED
GOD AND Π (PI)
The extract here is a very good example of how the so-called scientific wise men judge God and
His Word on the basis of their own ignorance. Their brains are incapable of registering what they
read and their conclusions reflect their prejudice against an unseen God, a Being that can be
justified by the Absolute Truth of His word. In this blog I want to start by proving that God
knows ALL about the value of π (pi), and that Hiram could not have done it without His
Inspiration and the two different writers of the Text could not have done it without God inspiring
their thoughts.
Scientific errors in the Bible
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Scientific_errors_in_the_Bible
The value of π (pi)
The mathematical number π is the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference. The value of π
truncated at 10 digits is 3.141592653.[5] The bible itself gives us a different value of π in 1 Kings 7:23:
Then he made the molten sea; it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high. A line of
thirty cubits would encircle it completely.[6][7][8]
A circle with a diameter of 10 units should have a circumference of about 31.4159265358979 (…) units
(10×π) and not 30. Alternatively, if we used these numbers to calculateπ (circumference ÷ diameter) we
would get a result of precisely 3.[9] There is nevertheless some controversy over this error.
Some may take it as God being powerful enough to change the value of π. In this case, however, it is a
bronze-worker named Hiram that is the "he"[10]—God only comes into it with the belief that the Bible is His
inerrant word, in which case you would think he'd He'd be a little more precise. On the other hand, the
Hebrew of the book doesn't have capital letters, so ... if your head is not spinning by now, you
are abnormally inert and should seek medical advice.
On the other hand, perhaps the circumference is accurate at 30 cubits, and the diameter,
9.5492965855137(…) cubits, has been rounded off to the nearest cubit, i.e, 10 cubits. While from context it
would appear that it is the diameter (the 10 cubits) that is most strongly defined, coming first and all with
the other measurement seeming more of an afterthought, it should be noted that a few verses earlier we
have:
1 Kings 7:15
For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass
either of them about.
…a circumference defined but not a diameter. We report, you decide!
The three cardinal mistakes the writer of the article above makes is: he doesn’t take both
accounts into consideration; he also does not apply his imagination in thinking how a brass mold
of this size is cast. The third mistake is simply that he doesn’t read the instructions Hiram had to
follow carefully. Let us look at the two texts:
2 Chronicles 4:2-5
“Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five
cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. And
under it was the similitude of oxen, which did compass it round about: ten in a cubit,
compassing the sea round about. Two rows of oxen were cast, when it was cast. It stood
upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west,
and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was
set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. And the thickness of it was
an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of
lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths.”
1 Kings 7:23-26
“And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all
about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round
about. And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a
cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was
cast. It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking
toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east:
and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. And it
was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup,
with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths. (1 Kings 7:23-26)
The one thing that inspires me about the Bible writers is that their texts sometimes differ when
they write about the same subject and the Editor do not compare notes and “edit” the texts to be
nicely synoptically. He knows something the refuters don’t! The Inspired eye also sees the
differences, but instead of regarding it as contradictions he regards it rather as added information
for the sake of getting a clearer picture. Now let us see:
The molten sea is made in three pieces, the inner sea, the outer sea and the brim. This can be
clearly deduced from the fact that there are references to oxen twice, but they are there in
different aspects. In the first instance the oxen, referred to as “knobs” in the 1 Kings version,
were images embedded in the inner sea, just above the water level, encompassing the top of the
inner sea in two rows. The outer sea has four triple sets of oxen facing the four main directions of
east, south, west and north. These oxen are also cast in one piece with the outer sea.
Then there was the brim of the sea. It consisted of a ring that would nicely fit over the two edges
of the inner and outer seas. This brim was decorated with “flowers and lilies”. The brim was
exactly a “hand breath” wide, which will allow us now to have a closer look at the dimensions
and how 30 cubits was the exact circumference of the molten sea, yet the outside dimensions of
the sea was exactly 10 cubits. The simple sketch I’ve made will hopefully help you to see the
error in the reasoning of the writer of the article I have quoted. Now let us just see how the lineal
measurements worked which Hiram used. The cubit was the main measurement and it was
subdivided in 2 spans, every span in 2 hand breadths and every hand breadth consisting of five
fingers. If we regard every finger then about equal to the today’s ‘inch’ or 25.48mm, it means
that a ‘hand breath’ will be 127.4mm, a span 254.8mm and a cubit 509.6mm, which will fit in
nicely with the “Royal Cubit” of Ezekiel 40:5.
This means that the casting of the inner as well as the outer seas was ½ a finger thick (12.74mm).
With the brim being a ¼ of a cubit wide (a hand breath = 127.4mm) and the outside diameter of
the outer sea 10cubits, that means that the outside diameter of the inner sea was 9.55cubits. If
one uses π NOW to work out the circumference, you will see that “a line of thirty cubits did
compass it round about” just about exactly. The answer to the nearest 10 digits will be
30.0022098417! Please note: I only included some modern-day dimensions here to facilitate
easier visualizing. The point of the argument is whether God and his worker Hiram knew about
the value of π or not. The calculations are done with cubits.
Also, before the Bible is accused of giving two different capacities for the sea, just take note that
the 3000baths of 2 Chronicles 4 refers to the capacity of the inner sea if it was filled to the brim.
The 2000baths of 1 Kings 7 refers to the level the sea was filled up to. The feet of the lower row
of oxen would just have touched the water, creating the idea of them walking on the water.
DIMENSIONS OF THE SEA
10.00cubits
9.95cubits
9.55cubits
9.50cubits
0.25c
0.20c
This here is just but one example where so-called ‘specialists’ make fools out of themselves by
commenting on something they do not comprehend fully. I just hope that they are big enough to admit
that they were wrong and firstly exhaust all possibilities before ever deciding on debasing God and His
Word.