Human fingerprints in the Bible - Geocentric Orbits (part 1)

The Bible seems to teach, or at least validate, geocentricity. 

Geocentric orbit is the theory that all heavenly bodies (i.e., the sun, moon, the planets, and all the stars) revolved around the earth. This was the popular (if not universal) understanding worldwide until the invention of the telescope.

Galileo had a telescope and could see that moons revolved around Jupiter, not earth. Plus, he could also discern phases of planets in relation to the sun.

Galileo pieced it all together and figured that the rotation of the nearby planets around the sun comprised the solar system. This is known as heliocentricity. Therefore, the quick movement of the heavenly bodies in the sky in one night is caused by the rotation of the earth. Their slower movement across the background stars is caused by their movement around the earth, as perceived from earth.

If God created the world and universe, then God should know about this. However, the Bible makes no mention of this. If God fully wrote the Bible, then it should. Or, it should disavow geocentric orbits

Instead, it seems to validate the geocentric perspective. Let’s examine a few passages.

In Genesis 1:16-18, God creates the sun, moon, and starts and puts them in the sky. This assumes that the sky is a fixed medium in which light sources can be embedded. I think of rhinestones being glued to a disco jacket. Well, both the rhinestones and disco jacket are fixed media.

In actuality, these heavenly bodies were never "put" in our sky. If they were “put” anywhere, they were put very far away from the earth. For example, the sun was "put" 93 million miles away from earth. From there, its light pierces our sky.

From the perspective of humans without any knowledge of this, it is understandable to then say that the sun was 'put' in our sky.

In another passage, Job 26:9, it states that "he covers the face of the full moon, spreading clouds over it." We know that this is physically impossible, given that the moon is 300,000 miles from the earth, which is far beyond the altitude of clouds. So, we are constrained to read this passage metaphorically.

However, if a person literally believed the sun, moon, and stars were embedded in the sky, then this passage makes literal sense. The clouds physically cover the full moon, as perceived on earth without the basic astronomy that we take for granted today.

Nonetheless, on a literal level, it is consistent with a view that the heavenly bodies are embedded in our sky and rotate around.

Further support that the Biblical authors believed in the geocentric orbit comes from other passages as well.

Joshua 10 recounts a famous story whereby Joshua prays for the sun to “stop”. Verse 13 tells us the “sun stood still and the moon stopped”. Well, the sun has always been stationary it's the earth that rotates.

First Chronicles 16:30 states that the “world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.” Psalm 96:10 also says the phrase, “The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved”.

Psalm 104:5, “he set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.” Ecclesiastes 1:5, “the sun rises and the sun sets, and hurried back to where it rises.”

These are all consistent the human perspective that the sun and planets revolve around a stationary earth.