An error in the Bible?

Question

1 Kings 7:23, 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.

When I was in school, I learnd that the circumfrence of a circle was pi, not 3.

Any smart christians out there???

Answer 1

No error. If you read down a couple of more verses, it says that the thickness of the bowl was a hand breath. The diameter would have measured form the outside rim to the outside rim on the other side:10 cubits. The line of 30 cubits that compassed around it would have measured the inside of the rim, which would hold the water. If you take into account the handbreath thickness of the bowl, and measured the outside circumfrence which the diameter went to, you would get the measurement of pi.

No error. The Bible doesn't make errors. Only fallable people do.

Answer 2

The circumference of a circle is CERTAINLY NOT PI. PI is the expression of a ratio between a radius of a circle and its circumference. No matter how large or small the circle, that ratio boils down to 22/7, aka 3.14159287..., aka PI.

Now, if you think a minute, you will realize it is possible to create a circle with a circumference of 30 cubits. A cubit, btw, is about 18 inches. A 30 cubit length of rope, therefore, would measure about 540 inches, or 45 feet long. Can you take a 45-foot long piece of rope, and make a circle out of it? Yup.

Perhaps you need to go back to Geometry 101, and PAY ATTENTION this time!

Answer 3

This is old; if you read the rest of the passage, you will see that the basin was not intended to be a perfect circle. It was shaped like a lily.

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...It seems that none of those who so compared the diameter and circumference of Solomon’s Sea of Bronze, as reported in 1 Kings 7:23 and 2 Chronicles 4:2, bothered to read on. Both accounts state three verses later that the rim of said vessel was

“made like a cup, shaped like the calyx of a lily”.

In other words, the rim was flared, and the ten- cubit diameter measured across its top from rim to rim was therefore larger than that of the vessel’s body which “took a line thirty cubits long to go around it”.

The surveyors would hardly have tried to stretch their measuring rope around the proud outside of that rim where it would never stay up. The only practical way to measure such a flared vessel is to stretch the rope around the body below that rim, as suggested on the picture above.

The circumference and diameter reported were thus not for the same circle, and deducing an ancient pi from these unrelated dimensions would be about as valid as trying to deduce your birth date from your phone number.

Answer 4

Ancient people approximated pi in a variety of ways, 3 being among them. Heck, the Michigan State Legislature tried to pass a law a few years ago that would have made pi legally equal to 3. (That story may be an urban myth, but I'm sticking to it.)

The Bible is not a science or mathematics textbook. In many places, it accurately records the beliefs of the ancient peoples who wrote it - such as, for instance, Joseph's belief that having animals see striped patterns while mating would cause them to have striped young. That does not make the Bible inaccurate - quite the opposite, actually, if you think about it.

Answer 5

Since the bowl had a thickness of "a hand", from outside edge to outside edge (as the verse says it was measured) could be 10 cubits. But the INSIDE measurement of the bowl could be 30 cubits

Answer 6

This is not an error. The Biblical record of the various measurements of the different parts of the temple are not necessarily designed to provide precise scientific or mathematical calculations. Rather, the Scripture simply provides reasonable approximation. The rounding of numbers or the reporting of approximate values or measurements was a common practice in ancient times when exact scientific calculations were not used.

Answer 7

Ted Nardo - gave you an appropriate answer - but even so, I would like to remind you, the Bible is NOT a science journal. You wont find words like.., "So God said let there be carbon based life forms, with the genetic DNA code of...." - these are words and concepts of our day. If you haven't guessed, we drive cars now, something someone in Moses day would have no real means of describing scientifically.

The Bible is cheifly about the origins of creation, human history and its relationship with God. Its not a science journal or scientific technical manual.

Answer 8

Maybe not a perfect error, but still their is the typical variance of Bible contradicts Bible.

"He made the Sea of cast metal;" is the first phrase of 7:23 in the Oxford study Bible.

This from a Pagan and not a cited word from the Christians.

Answer 9

such as these men used.. an arm to measure a cubit - roughly 18 inches.. lets see anyone get a precise calculation of the modern pi...

the value of pi is (so we are told by the mathematicians) one of those things that we can never provide the "correct" answer for because it goes on an on and on.

Answer 10

Pi rounded off is 3. And I consider myself to be pretty smart. Isn't the circumference of a circle 2 π r?